Aging Gracefully

So I'm not exactly going backwards, I'm skipping around a bit.  

I can't mention one birthday without mentioning another, it just wouldn't seem fair.  Because of the busy-ness around here, and because, perhaps, once you are married and officially out of the house it is no longer viewed as your mother's responsibility to plan, create, and provide the celebration (it certainly doesn't mean she doesn't love you like the dickens), Taylor's birthday last Saturday was quietly celebrated via cell phone towers and memories shared amongst his parents and siblings.  

At least on our end.

Taylor worked a nice long shift until 10:30pm... welcome to adulthood, son :-)

I would have liked to post something sentimental and sweet, but, as all bloggers know and pretend not to, posting takes time.  And those endearing, tender, thoughtful posts take even more.  Time to sit, reflect, and write is becoming more of a rarity, so I have to take whatever time I find and do the best I can with what I have.

In retro-celebration, I thought I would post a few recent pics I have of the eldest child-of-my-womb, fruit of my loins (Biblical descriptions are the best, don't you think?  So... descriptive), aging ever-so-gracefully.

 He was in desperate need of a trim when he came to visit for Lex's graduation.  I don't believe he'd had a haircut since his wedding... 5 months earlier.  Oh my.  I couldn't wait to get my hands scissors on him.

 That's better ;-)

We loved having him and Lynnea here for a few days, even if they were packed full of long graduation-related ceremonies.

Taylor loves to ham it up for pictures.  I keep telling him that someday he'll regret that nearly every picture of him is silly... he doesn't seem to believe me.  Besides, who am I to say?  Maybe he'll be glad he pulled a crazy face or a quirky pose every time a camera turned in his direction. 

(So sweet.  I love Lynnea's hand on his waist, and his on her arm.  Ahhhh... young love.)

Tay and Dakota.  Double bacon cheese.

Happy Birthday week, Tay!

We love you!!

Super Suh-WEET

What a week.

I've decided to work backwards and start my string of posts with the most recent occurrence:

Shilo's Super Sweet 16.

Before you get your hopes up that we celebrated in the obscenely extravagant way all soon-to-be-16 teenagers dream of, shown regularly on a TV station we no longer have access to (good riddance), know that we are on a budget around here... with our money AND our time.

Lucky for us, Shi did not have high expectations, just a few simple requests:

Clothes for EFY; mainly colored jeans - the rage around these parts 

(thanks to some thrifty shopping, she ended up with 5 pairs of pants and some sandals on her limited budget)

Dinner at Crave

Blue Bell Coconut Fudge Ice Cream

I had a few simple celebratory surprises up my sleeve, too.

Since Shi was returning from Youth Conference the day of her birthday, and since the entire group would be unloading and picked up by parents from our cul-de-sac, I thought I would make sure everyone knew it was her birthday with a custom made-with-love birthday banner.  The day before I did a quick search on Pinterest, just to get a few ideas, then I set to work making this little baby:

It took practically the whole day to complete, but with Mar's assistance, it turned out as lovely as I had hoped.  Then I put together a few of these darling balloon flowers:

(Idea and tutorial here... although I skipped a few steps and just eyeballed the balloon size.  Easy peasy and oh-so-cute.)

I baked up some cupcakes, figuring those youth returning from 3 days of camping might like a little treat.

(Not necessarily my best cupcake day, but it would have to do.)

Mar was determined to decorate Shi's bedroom, so she whipped together this little ensemble in under 15 minutes.  

She had asked, begged, pleaded with me to help her fill Shi's bedroom with balloons, but I was all ballooned out, so she came up with this brilliant idea moments before the first carloads of youth were dumped across the street.  Who knew you could make such an awesome display with one simple balloon and a stack of post-it notes?  She's a creative genius, that girl.

The happy campers, Shi and Chey.  Not pictured:  Lex and Bill.  Happy, too, btw.

That evening we headed to Crave, where Shi ordered a Popper.

We've been wanting to try this fairly new burger joint out for a while, and sampled fried pickles (good, but salty), a s'more milkshake (burned edges of marshmallows included... yum), and fried cheese on our burgers.  Other than the "hottest thing I've ever had in my mouth" jalapenos on Shi's burger (she removed them from the fried - yes, FRIED - cream cheese after she tasted the first one), I think we would give them a thumbs up.  Probably not a place I would frequent OFTEN (a bazillion calories in a single meal), but a fun place for an occasional binge.  Lex even said they were "almost" as good as Five Guys, her burger obsession.

By the time we arrived back home, we were all too full for cupcakes and ice cream, so we decided to wait a few hours.  Shi unwrapped her gifts,

and then Bill took a dozer while Shi, Chey and I (it rhymes) went for a practice drive test.

When we got back home, we STILL weren't hungry, but decided that we certainly must sing and do candles anyway.

FYI.  Sixteen candles can fit onto your average-sized cupcake.

(I know... I'm singing - if you can call it singing - awfully and loud.  Probably just trying to compensate for those not as enthusiastic about giving things a party atmosphere.  Can you tell we were all tired?)

The finale:  a Shilo sandwich.

Love you, girlie!

Damages

I'm a bit blue today.

Yesterday, what started out like this:

(No, "Holy crap," is not a commonly used phrase around here.  I'm not sure I've heard Mar use it before...)

Turned into this:

Then this:



And this:

And it didn't end there.  Unfortunately.

We had our first midweek RS meeting as a new ward last night.  I waited out the initial hail storm at home, then ventured out to pick up one of my VT sisters before heading down to the church.  I figured that the worst was over.  I've never seen a double hit hailstorm before.  Usually around these parts, it hails just enough to spoil the garden - oh, about 10 minutes or so - and then it nearly always stops as quickly as it started, often followed by a rainbow, sunshine, and pleasant weather.

This storm was already an exception to the rule, with a good solid 30 minutes of pounding hail.

I didn't know it would hail again.

Smack dab in the middle of making charity quilts for children.

The damages:

Tomato plant.

The whole garden is gone, baby, gone.  I'm still debating if it's worth replanting.
(It turns out that Shi already had her Faith value project done, but she had been dutifully watering the garden daily anyway.)

The hostas.

The peonies.  {So sad.}

One of not-a-few stripped trees.

The depressed momma bird Mar had referred to in the first clip.  Her poor little tail feathers tell the story of her valiant efforts to keep her eggs safe.

Sadly, her best efforts weren't good enough.  Mar and I got the ladder out this morning to take a peek in the nest.  We already knew what we would find, since the uber-protective mother bird was not dive-bombing us... her usual antic to keep any and all away from her developing babies.
Little blue egg shells, crumbled to pieces.  I wanted to cry (again).

The hail still on the ground this morning.

The puddles of water in our crawlspace.  My friend Steph, the girls, and I spent the morning clearing out all the crap items stored there, then shop-vaccing the water up and towel-drying.
Total pain in the hiney.  And the back.

Did I mention the car?  Like hammered copper.  No lie.

Just not as pretty.

Busted!

On Monday I took Mar to the doctor to have her hand checked out.  I had written the previous post earlier in the week, even though it didn't post until... Saturday?  Sunday?  Her fingers were giving her grief pain every morning, so I called on Friday, but OF COURSE, couldn't get in until after the weekend.

I took her to the old standby orthopedic doc.  Not my fave, but close and familiar (from Taylor's numerous visits).  The x-ray tech took a few shots of her hand, and, within minutes, the doc informed us that yes, she had two broken fingers.  Broken at the growth plate, but only on rare occasions does a break like hers inhibit finger growth.  If it does, she can always have surgery down the road.  (He was very unconcerned and matter-of-fact.)  

He selected to use a partial cast with a wrap, which I was all for, since those hard casts get nasty so fast.  I was secretly hoping Mar could just use the tongue depressor/waterproof tape method Dr. Dad had prescribed, but the doc said that would be a no-go.  (Yes, I actually asked.)  I would love for Mar to be able to continue swimming on the community team this summer.  We will miss the last two regular season meets (we will be in UT... I can't wait), so she really only has the next three meets to participate in before Prelims.  She would need to "casted" for 3 weeks.  Absolutely don't get it wet.

My critique of the wrap job:  fair-to-poor.

We have already had a do-over... with Mar greatly concerned that I wouldn't get it "right."
I told her I had experience.  I could do it better.  Trust me.

It looks much neater, cleaner, and more efficient now.  Less fuzzy white padding sticking out all over.

We'll see if it lasts ;-)

In a JAM

A week ago, Mar jammed her fingers doing a cartwheel.  Ouch.

At least it wasn't a broken arm doing a front-handspring on a trampoline... it definitely could have been much worse:

(Shilo August 2005)

Instead of heading off to the emergency room (it was Saturday, of course), 

Mar had Dr. Dad take care of her.

It's amazing what some medical tape and tongue depressors can do.

Her hand has been slowly healing and getting better.  The tongue depressors (okay, they're really craft sticks) have become shorter, down from 4 to 2, now down to one.  Mar has managed swimmingly.  Literally.  Swim practice for the summer team has started, and Mar has done great, despite the swollen joints and blue fingers.

I think Bill missed his calling.

They're BACK

Images of pre-surgery pups:

They are still in their cones, wouldn't touch the pain medicine (it had to taste BAD, since they wouldn't even take it covered in cheese), and certainly aren't at 100%, but they are BACK.  Jack snapped out of his depression.  They are trying to figure out how to chew through the cones.  They are perky and on the mend.  Hooray!

Continuing On

(First day of 5th grade)

(Last day of 5th grade)

Mar's Continuation ceremony was on Wednesday.  She is the only one of my original FIVE who has had any kind of special celebration... graduation... promotion... continuation... upon leaving elementary school.

 Shaking hands with Principal Muma, who is battling colon cancer.  We hope he can beat it.

 Mar and Mrs. Laviaguerre.  Mrs. Lavi for short.

 With Miss Jones, Mar's student teacher.

 (Flower redemption.  Thanks, Lex and Shi!)

We love you, Mar, and know you will do great in middle school!