Abide

Just Because

 

I can't decide which is my fave so I kept all three. 

Daddy Pig Forever

Display Anna made for Josh from Lasa's favorite show ... that we all sort of enjoy along with her. 😜

Noah's Elementary Run: Done!

I guess it's a hazard of homeschooling that I didn't notice and/or memorialize the end of elementary school for Noah this month when we finished.  It took all our public school friends' FB posts comparing first day to last day of elementary today for me to go, "OHMYGOODNESS, it's the end of an era! I almost missed it! I MUST collect our yearly pics and compare!" and finally take an End of Elementary School pic!  It's a few weeks off from our official last day of school, but close enough.  Wow.  From first day of kinder to end of elementary entirely.  Just wow!

 

 

 (kinda mad at myself now for not doing solo First Day pics these last two years)

And the newest addition - capping this elementary run ...

Letting the passage of time/preciousness sink in side-by-side style...
Start of Kinder/Finish of 5th.

 

So amazing to take in.  So thankful to have lived it. Also so glad about that hybrid year we squeezed in there awhile back. 👍🏻  Noah, you rocked grade school! So proud of you.

Land

That hubby of mine continues to always be scoping out land nearby. He dreams of us getting some one day, whether we ever move onto it or not.  I feel the air shifting around this dream as he calls realtors and he and Anna go scope out properties and then he sends me screen shots and brings it up in conversation all the time with me and with friends.  I don't see how this is anything we could do anytime at all in the near future, but there it is.  The hubby is dreaming and loving dreaming of getting some land to play on and camp on and build a tiny structure on and escape to on the weekends.

 

 

 

 

This particular property he is fixated on at the moment is located in Westmoreland, which does not appeal to me at alllll.  Except for the phat creek.  I like the creek.

Lovely Violin

Did I tell y'all that Anna is going to give an instrument a try finally?  This fall she will be participating in a Beginner Violin class at CHET.  We found a great deal on a brand new violin on Craigslist earlier this month and last week Becky tuned it up a bit for us and showed Anna a few basics for making pretty sounds on it.  Eeek!  It's so lovely and I am in love with the idea of Anna playing violin.  Lord, let her love and excel at this, pretty please???  😍

 

 

 

 

 

Lasa's Ears: Another Day, Another Doctor

Sigh.  This infectious pus keeps forming up in Lasa's ears.  It's been two months of this.  And I keep scooping it out with the back end of a bobby pin and drowning her ears in antibiotic ear drops ... all to no avail.  And her darn ENT keeps wanting to throw our money in the air by suggesting we do another surgery all willy nilly so he can clear her ears out.  This would make 3 surgergies in 18 mos. Ummmm, nope.  There had to be a more common sense answer.

So we hit up the allergist a couple weeks ago for a different perspective. That was sort of helpful?  Maybe?  We are presently cutting out milk and doing extra allergy meds. and talking about ripping out carpets. 😐

 

And then today we traded in our local ENT for a pediatric ENT at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital instead, hoping for more common sense and answers and action-oriented results.  We opted for the first available appt, which took a month to get here, but we got it and drove an hour away to Murfreesboro for it, and today was the day.  Josh even took the day off to go with us.  

Lasa did more hearing tests and showed mild hearing loss in the offending ear.  Then she added a second ear vacuuming experience to her resume and lots of screaming and crying and moaning and groaning.  She survived and was spoiled with much bubble gum and many hugs.

 

 

And when all was said and done and he could finally get a clear look in her dang ear (the one where the tube fell out a couple months ago), he determined THIS infection to be only involving the skin in her ear canal!  Not inner or middle ear.  That threw me for a loop. I was not expecting that. I give up!  We have strict orders to stop scooping out her ear (fine by me!) and to double up on ear drops and to come back in two weeks so he can see how it looks once all that angry stuff heals.  Please Lord let it heal so I can ask the rest of the ear issue questions I have about her usual offending ear infections. Also, now that I think about it, I wonder if the tube that fell out is what scratched her ear in there?  Or the pediatrician when he dislodged it?  The world may never know.

Silver lining today -  we met our deductible for the year.  Ha!  Now we can stop paying full price for all these dang appts and settle into a more comfy 30%.  🤑

Bunnies on Leashes

Because we are apparently those people...  bunnies on leashes.  It scared the poor things out of their minds and they wouldn't move an inch.  But Anna was thrilled to be using her new purchase.  We'll try it again soon so they can warm up to the idea of freedom ... on a leash. 🤣

 

Molly would not let the kids catch her so she didn't get a turn, which is too bad since she is the most active and adventurous of the three.  Next time!

Gardens and Cousins

This past weekend, we finally checked a spot off our To Do list - Huntsville Botanical Gardens.  Emily and fam have a membership there already.  We went while a Lego exhibit was still on display and while they had a 30% discount.  Bonus that Lasa is still 2 and got in for free. 👍🏻  It was stinking hot but such a great trip.  Afterwards, we hung out at Emily's until we had to drag ourselves outta there for the drive home that night.