Rain, Rain, Come Again!

How did we get so lucky. Rain wasn't even in the forcast for today. But it came. The roll of thunder greated us at about 4:00 in the afternoon and by 4:45 the drops started. We never actually saw the lightning but heard lots of rumbles.

 Of course the kids got excited and enjoyed dancing around in our short down pour.

 Wait.... where is Henry in all this? He was getting ready for his soccer clinic. Even though it was raining we headed over to the field for some soccer time.

 The dark clouds kept rolling in and drops kept falling. Look there is even a rainbow in the sky.

 The soccer clinic was cancelled because of the thunder and possible lightning. So our trip to the field didn't last long and we headed back home.  When I walked in the door Ian was laying on the trampoline getting soaked in the rain and our kitty looking out at the wet world. Even she was amazed by the falling water from the sky. It just doesn't or hasn't happen very much, so two days in a row was rather exciting.

Hopefully this is the beginings of many more wet days to come. We could sure use the rain. Then I won't feel so guilty when I take 5 min showers instead of 2 or add an extra rinse when I run the laundry through.

Wireless

 Here we are outside the Orthodontist's office. She is so excited for this visit because the braces are coming off.  The second round of braces is complete.  This is a big day for a girl who has had almost two years of braces this time around.  She is looking forward to getting to eat popcorn again.  I guess that means I need to buy a new popper because Henry burned the motor out of our popper a few months ago.

 Here is the before.

 And now the after! The teeth are so shiny because she has a temporary plastic retainer over her teeth at the moment.  We get to go back for her actual retainer next week. We were told the retainer will have a tooth included to fill the spot where the cleft left her toothless.  Evidently there isn't enough bone in the gap left by the cleft in her upper jaw to actually put an implant.  I just hope this is the end of orthodontics and surgery. Guess we will see what the Cranial Facial team say about her mouth when we see them next.

For now this girl is happy and looks so good with her now wireless grin.

Rain

After months and months of nothing we actually got rain. It only lasted about 20 min. But it wasn't just a misting or a sprinkle it poured. Not for long but it was a start. 

 We sure hope there is more to come in the near future.

Ringworm

A little over a week ago I noticed Ian had a red mark on his face. When I asked him about it he said it was because Henry threw a tennis ball at his face. I gave Henry a lecture about throwing things and went about my day. The next day the red splotch was bigger and now bumpy. This wasn't a mark from a ball this was something else. It looked like a rash. I set up an appointment to take him in to see the doctor the next morning. We spent 40 min waiting either in the lobby or in the exam room waiting to see the doctor. She walks in takes one look at him and says it looks like ring worm. Evidently it is athlete's foot but on his face and it is treated with a cream that you can buy over the counter at any pharmacy. 

We have a nurse friend who happened to see Ian running around at an activity later that day and he knew just what it was and told us that the best treatment was tabacco. The actualy leaves, wet down and spread on the rash was going to kill it faster than the creams.

We figured we would give it a try. But having never purchased tabacco leaves or products ever we didn't know exactly where to go to get some.  So we headed to Walmart. You can find everything at Walmart. Not my favorite shopping place but handy. After asking several people that work there where the tabacco products were we finally found a bag of tabacco leaves as pure as we could find.

Ian got the tabacco treatment. He really didn't like it. I think part of it is that he knows our family and religions stand on smoking tabacco and he was a little uncomfortable about using it on his skin.  We had to break out the Doctrine and Covenants and look in section 89. Verse 8 says : And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

 It was smelly and he said it really stings. But stinging is good since then you know it is killing or cleaning out the fungus. 

The red patch is still with us. It can take 2-4 weeks to go away but the tabacco treatments have seemed to help. We are doing both tabacco treatments and the cream and the red spot is getting less red and we like to think it is getting smaller. It doesn't seem to phase him much. 

Just Busy

I don't really know where to begin. We have been running ourselves ragged lately. It takes us a long time to get through all our school work each day and then we run off to Scouts, Soccer, Young Women's activities or Primary Meetings.  We fall into bed each night way later than should be heading to bed and then get up the next morning to do it all over again. Life has always seemed to be in fast forward but lately it is almost rediculusly speedy. We are rushing here and there and trying to get this and that done.  Community band started up again this past week and I really want to play but I just can't bring myself to add one more item into our schedule. It will have to wait until at least soccer is over the season. I just can't juggle it all.

 I ended up somehow being made the assistant couch for Henry team. It is fun to get to know the kids but honestly I don't know anything about soccer. The couch, who happens to be a friend of mine and a lady I work with in Primary, needed someone the first day to help run drills so I jumped up from my camp chair on the sidelines to help. I now at least know the rules of soccer, more or less.  This being Henry's first year playing he isn't every skilled but he makes up for it in desire. He loves to run and is quick. He just needs to work on his kicking and passing. See... I am starting to get the hang of coaching! No... mostly I just hang out and help when I can and during games keep track of the kids who have subbed in and out.

Being the Primary president of our ward has really been one of the most time consuming things I have on my plate right now. There is endless meetings! I have 150 active kids each week and about 30 teachers... oh wait... I forgot nursery... make that about 36 teachers. Plus cub scouts and activity days to make sure are staffed and happening and at the moment we also have the primary program, but that is next Sunday so I can strike that off our list of projects to get done.  I know I have help getting all this done, 2 councilors and 2 secretaries, but I get consulted on almost everything and am expected to know everything that is going on everywhere.  My kids seem to think I am either constantly on the phone or headed to another meeting.

Oh and I am homeschooling too. This is really where my focus should be and usually is.  Our whole family life revolves around learning. Learning about the Civil War, Latin Grammer, Physics and what ever else comes up.

Molly has math, reading, and piano everyday. It is my goal to also read her at least three picture books as well.  This doesn't happen nearly often enough. Poor girl!

Sophie is doing her Williamsburg and I am really taking a minimal role in making sure she gets her work done. I do occationally help her with an assignment and sometimes have to remind her to get back on task when I find her lollygagging  but mostly she is on her own and seems to be doing pretty well staying on top of her assignments each week.

Ian is taking some online classes as well and that is keeping him busy. I consider these classes as a warm up to him joining the Willimsburg Intermediate classes next year. He seems excited! I do have to prod him along to get his work done but so far so good.

Henry decided to take an online art class and he loves that. I don't know if he just loves the fact that he has a class or if he really likes art but he is happy and the boys love the class. It is Henry's class but Ian always sits in and listens.

 We did make it up to Grandma's house last weekend. There were all sorts of cousins there to play with and mostly swim with.

 I know this isn't a flattering picture but  I had to post it.  Grandma jumped off the board. That is a moment to record!

So even with our busy lives we do find some time to enjoy life. I just wish there was a bit more leasure time.  I work really hard to squeeze in reading time. Novels of course. It is what keeps me sain. Those precious moments where I get to jump into another time and place are something I can't live without. 

I really shouldn't complain. It is a good life full of good things. I just don't have as much time, inclination or desire to post much here on the blog. I don't even take many pictures anymore.

Forever Friday - Book Review

I had forgotten to review this book way back when I read it last year.  I received it through Blogging for Books and just never actually sat down to write up my thoughts on it.

On the amazon page for this book it has these three lines:

Every Friday, a postcard.
Every Friday, a love poem.
Every Friday for sixty years.

That about sums up this book. A guy sends his wife a postcard with a love poem every Friday.  Another guy goes through the personal effects of a lady as he prepares her house for an estate sale. He finds these postcards and gets wrapped up in their love story.

I remember thinking this was a little over the top for the schmaltzy love story genre and I almost had trouble finishing. This is a story withing a story. The letter were found and read and they effect the live of the man who finds them. I wish this portion of the story had been more developed. It was a little flat and wasn't explored as much as I expected or wanted.

This was a great book for those that want a love story. It reminded me a lot of a Nicolas Sparks like novel. It just needed to move along a little more quickly and I really wanted more from the modern parts of storyline.

As You Wish

 Everyonce in awhile I get to read and review some really fun books.  One day while looking through availiable book on Netgalley I saw As You Wish with a picture of "the man in black" on the front cover I quickly asked to review it.  And shortly the book was sent for me to read on my kindle.

This is a book written by the Man in Black himself, Cary Elwes. He recounts his experiences associated with his role in the movie The Princess Bride.

This movie came out in 1987. I was only 12 years old.  I don't think I got to see the movie in the theater but I know we watched it plenty on VHS.  Through high school and even college it was a movie we watched over and over again because everyone could watch it and everyone enjoyed it.  I know for a fact we wore out our VHS tape and had to buy another one. Thank goodness DVD last through more watchings.

It is one of the films I have introduced to my kids and they too love it. It apeals to my boys as well as my girls. But anyway.. enough about the movie. I am supposed to be talking about Cary Elwes's book.

Making movies sure sounds like a lot of fun. He also doesn't gloss over the amount of time and work went into the making of this classic film.  His recollections are also interspursed with quotes and memories from many of the cast,  Rob Reiner the director, and William Goldmen the writer/screenwriter. 

Since I had a kindle version of the book, the formating was a little wonky. The thoughts from the different people interupted the ongoing flow of Cary Elwes's tale. I had to often flip forward a few screens to finish a sentence from Cary's thoughts and then back a few screens to catch all the great little added tidbits from the recollections of the others that had been popped in.  A hard copy would most likely be a better format for this type of book. I also would have loved some pictures. Perhaps the hard copy will have a few added in.

For anyone who is a fan of The Princess Bride than this book will make you laugh and cry and want to watch the movie one more time to see if you can see the pain in the eyes of the man in black when he delivers the line "Life is pain, Highness! Anyone who says differently is selling something" and knowing why.  Or Westley limping toward the fire swamp. I certainly will never look at the sword fight the same way again knowing how much Mandy Patinkin and Cary Elwes had to do to make that epic battle come to pass.  I am sure I will watch the movie with new eyes and see aspects of it in a different way because I read this book about the making of the Princess Bride.  

Henry's Busy Weekend

Henry celebrated his "Day of All Days" this week. He has been counting down the days and minutes until he could open presents and have his party. 

 His morning present was a rip stick.  It certainly kept him busy most of the day. He kept going outside to try it out again. He got a bit frustrated at first because it was more difficult than he thought it would be. But after a few hundred tries he started to get pretty good. He loves it now.

 He asked for an orange cake. Orange like Emmett the contruction worker. Henry's birthday was all about legos and especially the Lego movie.  He had a few friends over for pizza and to watch the Lego movie. It was pretty funny to sit in a room with 9 young boys who all love the film and have seen it dozens of times. They were all reciting lines and talking about which characters, contraptions or events were the coolest or most Awesome!

 Today was also Henry's first soccer game. He decided to join a team this year and give it a go. He isn't the most skilled player since this is more or less. He did play when he was about 4 but I don't think he even remembers it. He plays hard. We have some skills to work on but he loves it.