Catching Up

I have gotten a bit behind on blogging because I haven't felt well.  Starting late last week I started having severe abdominal pains that kept getting worse and caused me to be in so much pain I could barely stand up.  Saturday morning about 4am I woke up from the pain and it was clearly in my right side.  I wondered if I had appendicitis.  My dad amazingly came over early Saturday morning while the kids were still sleeping so Paul could take me to the ER and get it checked out.  All tests came out healthy, and it appears that I pulled an interior abdominal muscle (while shoveling snow?) and that the only way to get it better was to lay down, rest, and not lift, twist, move, etc at ALL.  This was very hard for me, as I am a very active person, always doing something, with two active kids who are always doing something!!  Thankfully, it was the weekend, so Paul was absolutely beyond incredible taking care of all meals, dishes, cleaning, laundry, groceries, kids, discipline issues, etc, etc, etc from morning til night, and I stayed on my back only getting up to go to the bathroom or eat.  Today my mom came over so I could do the same thing (thank you, mom!!).  It is SO much better now.  I can still feel a bit of pain when I move, but it is finally livable!  Wow, I have so much respect for anyone that lives with chronic pain, because it was so horrible!

Anyway, now that I can sit up a bit and use the computer, I will try to catch up a bit on a few pictures and videos from the past two weeks....it will be a random assortment I assure you!

Playing music together...

Playing piano together

Ready to go shovel (and play) in the snow!

Mommy and kiddos

Poor Colton could hardly walk or hold anything when he was bundled up!

Summer was as busy as usual, quickly picking up on how to shovel the snow, and enjoying doing it like a "big kid"

She really did a great job!

Cheese!

Colton going nowhere fast ;)

Kids playing hair salon... Colton was the barber...

Cutting Summer's hair

Deciding what to do next...

Hair dryer!

Summer's turn...

Taking Tucker in for his Dr. Appointment

He did great for his shots, has "model ears", and "a nice waistline" according to the vet.  They also said he is so healthy he could likely live to be 20!

Summer update:  Summer has been such a sweetheart lately.  Several people I have talked to have apart from each other mentioned that they saw a big change in her ever since she asked Jesus to take her sins away.  I agree.  Her attitude toward doing wrong and getting in trouble has dramatically changed.  Her heart feels sad when she does wrong in a way unlike several months ago and she truly desires to "be perfect all day".  The way she treats Colton, her forgiving heart toward him, her desire  help others, and her truly caring spirit are so incredibly sweet.  She continues to crack us up with her outgoing nature. She will walk up to anyone and strike up a conversation!  She will walk right up to a male highschool student who is waiting for his turn to be tutored and introduce herself and start talking his ear off.  She will proactively engage our older gentleman neighbor in a lively dialogue.  It doesn't matter to her if the person is shy, un-talkative, etc, she will chat away until the conversation becomes two sided, and win over the heart of whomever she is talking to (she reminds me of the little girl in the movies Heidi).  I am excited to see how God will continue to use this trait in her to love on others.  I love you Summer!

Here are her last two verse of the week videos:





Colton update: Colton is growing more and more into a little boy.  I laugh at how different he is from Summer (who is and always has been very typically girl).  He loves to destroy, mess up, rough house, tackle (often an unsuspecting Summer), spit, pretend to be an airplane while he is eating complete with sloppy and noisy sound effects, throw, move, and do anything physical.  He will "play cars" for hours and drive anything he can get his hands on, including his vegetables at dinner.  He has amazing tone for a kid his age when he sings he has better pitch than Summer currently does.  We have been having quite a few issues with him lately purposefully and without reason, pulling Summer's hair, pushing her, and (not hard, but still) hitting her.  It is largely related to when he does not get his energy out in positive ways (which can be so tricky when it is single digit temperatures outside!!)  He has spent quite a bit of time in time-out lately....!  After we pray together and he asks God forgive him and help him to be gentle toward his sister and obedient to his mommy and daddy he will always go running to Summer, give her a big hug, and say "I sorry Summer".  Adorable.  Colton give the best hugs (might be termed "Tackle-Hugs" since he comes running at you full steam with arms wide open and plows into you!!!) and is the most affectionate little boy.  I absolutely love hugging that little kiddo and stealing a few cuddle moments right after he wakes up.  I love you, Colton!!

Here is a little video of one way we have tried to get Colton's energy out in a positive way lately...(if you have other ideas and are reading this post please leave them in the comment section!!!)