Healing

 As I think about this week, I think about all the time and effort that has been put into healing. For Carrigan this week has definitely been a mixed bag. We had missed school, sleepless nights, a missed game and practice and horrible panic attacks. On the other hand, we had PT appointments, exercises, effort, and periods of hope.

This weekend in particular has been a positive one. It didn't start out that way with CC not feeling well enough for her game on Saturday morning, but then a switch flipped mid day. She wanted to choose dinner, she wanted to go the store and help make her dinner idea, she was dancing around and telling jokes. This morning the glimmer continued. She's playing with Elsie, dancing around, being silly. I don't know how long this will last, and it's definitely a lot for the boys in the house who have gotten used to a more subdued CC, but for me it represents hope, something I haven't felt in a while.

I also have been working hard this week on healing my ankle. Sometimes, that also feels like an impossibly long road, but I can already see how far I have come and I know we will get there eventually.

Yesterday, Merrick had a fight of his own. His basketball game yesterday afternoon was not going well. They were down by 15 and, after an injury in the first half, they had no subs. They were exhausted but he (and they) continued to fight. The game ended in a tie. Overtime ended in a tie. They ended up winning the game in sudden death after Merrick got the jump ball to start the sudden death period.

Life has been hard lately, but we continue to fight and not give up. Maybe that is the family theme of the week.

Fall Fun and Falling (Not So Fun)

 Friday the kids had the day off of school. Because our weekends are so busy, I knew we were not likely to have much time for a pumpkin patch this year and this day off might be our only chance. Jeremy decided to take the day off and I used some flextime at work so we could all have a fun day at the patch.

The day started off rough for our CC girl and I didn't think we were going to make it, but she ended up rallying. We headed out, stopped for an early lunch and made it to the patch before noon. It was the perfect day for a pumpkin patch adventure. It was sunny and warm, but not at all hot. The crowds were also small because most kids were in school. It was awesome.

We started the day at the corn maze, but I'm sorry to say that after a long time of wandering, the exit we found was actually the entrance- we failed. We planned to come back and try again at the end of the day, but that wasn't in the cards.

Over the the next serval hours we visited the petting zoo and fed the animals, rode slides, played in the nut house, jumped on the jump pad, did the ropes obstacle course, played miniature golf and played on the inflatable obstacle course.

Unfortunately, that is where things took a turn. Through a series of events that one of my children may have had a direct role in (but I won't fully rat them out), I ended up falling backwards off a climbing tower and re-rolled my ankle. The reaction was immediate and severe. My ankle ballooned to about 3 times it's normal size within seconds and they had to call for a ATV to give me a ride to my car. It was an abrupt end to an otherwise fabulous day.

This is definitely a set back I didn't need and, truth be told, I am having a hard time taking it in stride. I guess the silver lining is I know exactly the PT exercises I need to do and I am making a plan for a very quick recovery.

Oh, one other thing. Elsie had her annual Fun Run at school this week. I was at the office so Jeremy stepped up to go cheer her on. It was a great time, as always.

Another Week Gone By

What to report on this week? As I look through my pictures of the week, I don't see fun things, I see real life. I see pictures from work events, pictures of receipts from bills paid and activities registered for. I don't see much that makes for a fun and exciting blog.

This week was actually really difficult. CC was not feeling well. Lots of tears were shed by her and by me. She has started having panic attacks and that compounds the situation. Tuesday, we were both at our breaking point and we ended up at the ER, just to leave without answers once again. Thankfully, we had a great follow up appointment with the doctor on Wednesday and came away with some solid action steps. We are not over this, not by a long shot, but we started having a few glimmers of hope later in the week.

Adding to this, work has been crazy for both Jeremy and I. He was only able to work from home one day last week and I had multiple evening work activities for the second week in a row. I just have to make it through one more week of September and then work should calm down significantly for me. 

While this week was tough, we ended with some fun yesterday. It was another busy Saturday. We had a volleyball game, a soccer game, and two basketball games. We never have a shortage of things to do.

Next week, Merrick is scheduled to take his driving test for his license, so stay tuned for more on that next week. Fingers crossed for him!

Fall Sports

 As promised last week, I'm here today with an update on the kids' fall sports that are now in full swing.

Merrick- Merrick is playing fall basketball. He tried out for two club teams, and made both teams, but decided to play for a team that our family friend put together. They will be called Willamette Select. They started practicing this week and games start next week. He is pretty excited for the fall season and thinks his team is going to be pretty good. I don't have any game pictures yet, but I do at least have a picture of the jerseys.

Merrick is also assistant coaching Elsie's soccer team, the "Fire Pugs". He is really pulling his weight as the assistant coach this year. Jeremy got caught at work on Thursday and Merrick ran practice all on his own. The girls did not make it easy on him, but he held his own!

Carrigan- Carrigan is doing both dance and volleyball, when she is well enough to participate that is. Dance is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and volleyball is Tuesday and Thursdays with games on Saturdays. She is very busy and we are working REALLY hard to find out what is going on with her and get her feeling better so she can keep up.

Elsie- Elsie had her first "Fire Pugs" game on Saturday. While it did not go the way we would have wanted, she had a great time. She is loving having her dad and brother as the coaches.

As for Jeremy and I, we are just trying to keep our heads above water. We have both been really busy at work. On top of that, helping CC is becoming a full-time job in and of itself. It's a busy season for sure, but we will get through this. We always do.

Merrick's Sweet 16

 What a whirlwind week it has been. Do I also say that? Why does life never seem to slow down? In any case, here we are again at the end of another week. This week fall sports started up again. Merrick had basketball tryouts with a few different teams, Carrigan started dance and volleyball (all while feeling terrible and barely making it through most days), and Elsie started soccer.  I’ll probably save pictures and a more in depth discussion of all that for next week. Today I want to talk about the biggest event of the week, Merrick’s 16th birthday.

How is it possible that Merrick is 16? For years we have told the kids they could not eat on the couch until they had a driver’s license because 16 seemed impossibly far away. And now, inexplicably, we are here. Unfortunately for Merrick, DMV appointments are ridiculously hard to come by these days so he won’t get his license for a couple of weeks, but we still celebrated him as best as we could.

On Friday, his actual birthday, we started the day off with birthday cinnamon rolls. He then had to rush off for seminary and school but I excused him from one class so he could go take an extra long lunch with his friends. After school, we went to the rec center so he could workout and shoot while I took Elsie swimming. We then went to dinner and came home for presents and his request of birthday rainbow sherbet. For his birthday he got some golf balls from his sisters, some money and gifts cards from his grandparents, some random gifts, like a new watch and sweatpants from Jeremy and I. His big gift was a shooting machine that we preordered and should hopefully be delivered this month. While I hope he felt like his birthday was special, our hands were a little tied with school and work, but we were able to make up for that yesterday.

Yesterday, Jeremy and I took Merrick and Colvin down to the U of O game in Eugene. Jeremy had gotten AMAZING tickets through work and we made a day of it. We left early to get down there so we would have time to get some lunch before heading into the stadium. The game itself was tons of fun! It was a complete blowout, we won 69 to 3, but the energy in the stadium was fantastic. After the game we went down to the field and got to exit out through the tunnel. We stopped for dinner on the way home and battled traffic along the way. In the end, it was about a 12 hour day but such a blast!

I’m so glad we had the last few days to celebrate Merrick. The last 16 years have certainly had their ups and downs but being his mom was worth every second. I hope he always knows how special he is and how much we love him.

First Day of School 2025

It's late Sunday night and full disclosure, my energy for the weekly update is waning. That said, we just wrapped up the first week of the new school year and I would be remiss if I didn't post our first day of school pictures. So without further ado, I present the first day of school 2025-26.

Merrick- 10th grade

Carrigan- 7th grade

Elsie- 2nd grade

Last Hooray

This was the last full week of summer vacay for the kids and we went out with a bang. The week started with the wrap up of Carrigan's summer dance intensive and a family performance. CC is really looking forward to the upcoming dance season and she enjoyed getting a jump start.

We also blew out summer with a trip to Oaks Park. Elsie was much more adventurous this year and she went on all but one of the rides CC wanted to go on. Merrick brought Colvin along so they mostly were off on their own.

Brendon came to town for a few days this week and we all got together for a family dinner. The girls did less time eating and more time creating dances and routines.

We also had CC's last summer market this week. Jeremy and Merrick had a church activity at the same time. That just left Elsie so she got to tag along with Jeremy for an epic night of slip and slide. She was a little scared to begin with, but ended up sliding more times than anyone else.

After a whirlwind week, I capped it all off with a quick 48 hour trip to Arizona. Carolyn had a stitching convention she was running and Mike, who usually lives with Grammy was also out of town. That meant that Grammy was going to be alone all weekend. I hopped on a plane and spent 48 hours at Grammy's side. As a huge added bonus, I got to hug all my cute nieces and nephew and hold my newest niece, Sally, for the first time.

I just walked in the door and I'm exhausted so that's all for now.