Fall Sports in Full Swing

Last Tuesday I got the kids off to school and headed to Home Depot. I had to pick up the replacement glass for the boys’ fan, return the other that was too big and went ahead and got some landscaping materials since I had a coupon. I just plan on storing it away until next spring and will hopefully be able to use another coupon to get the actual plants. After that I went to my first physical therapy appointment. I am still having quite a bit of pain while running and wasn’t quite sure how to improve it. Plus we have met our deductible for our insurance, so I thought I would give it a try and hope that things get better. After some stretching and examination (she asked if I had been on crutches because I did have some atrophy on my left side), the physical therapist gave me some stretches and exercises that I need to do twice a day at home and check back with her once a week. She said it would probably take 10 days to 2 weeks but I should start seeing some improvement. She also said I shouldn’t be running if it is still hurting, which it is.

When I picked up the twins, Miles was excited to show me a paper plate that he had painted and Bennett was upset because his didn’t get put in his backpack. I told him we could get it the next day so he was fine and ready to eat lunch. Andrew didn’t come home to eat with us and instead met Kevin Harrison for lunch. The twins played in the playroom after lunch while I finished laundry and got dinner going in the crockpot.  We actually had a night at home which was nice. Well, all of us except Ellie. She had her first night of gymnastics at the YMCA in Macon and the other mom in our carpool took her. Her class started at 5 and went for an hour so she was gone for a couple of hours. While she was gone the kids played outside and we ate dinner without rushing around. We were still outside when Ellie got home but she went in to eat and just relaxed for a bit. She was excited about her class but also mentioned that there were kids in there that were very young and couldn’t do cartwheels. I take her next week since the other girls are going to be out of town so it will be interesting to see how it all works. She could possibly move up to the next level that meets at the same time except she has no experience on the apparatus.

Wednesday morning was the usual schedule for me-clean, take the kids to school, swim, clean some more and get ready, pick up the twins from school, prep for small group, and pick up the other kids from school. The twins and the older two had school pictures so we had to make sure they were all ready for them. I have a feeling that Miles’ will look similar to Lissy’s first preschool picture. When I picked the twins up, their teachers had to tell me that another boy had just bit Miles on the shoulder. It was red and you could see some marks but it thankfully didn’t break the skin. They said it was unprovoked and he handled it well. So we went home, got some lunch and he played with his train and forgot about it. I surprised the kids after we picked the older ones up from school and we picked up some Dairy Queen. It has been unseasonably warm, so it was a welcomed treat. We just sat outside when we got home and ate our ice cream and then the kids played for a while.

I have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird again so I brought my book out and read while they all played. Andrew came home early and took Jackson to pick out some football gloves which Jackson was excited to get. Then it was time for them to get ready for football practice while I finished up preparations for small group. We have a new format for small group this semester so I was interested to see how it went. We watched what was pretty much a video sermon and then went through some discussions provided by a study guide. We are doing a series called To Live is Christ to Die is Gain by Matt Chandler that is based on the book of Phillipians. There is a book that pretty much says the same thing as the video but I was glad I read through the chapter first to have a better idea of what he was talking about in the video. Even though our group was pretty small, we ended up having some pretty good discussion and everyone is excited to go through this series.

The next morning I heard little feet running around as I was getting ready to get on the bike. It was before six, so I was surprised to hear it. I went out into the living room to find Miles getting his LeapPad out of the office. I guess he had a bloody nose early in the morning and Andrew took care of it without waking me and then just turned on some cartoons for him and went to the office. The Miles had another one at school and it continued on the way home. I was just getting ready to leave to pick them up when Andrew called to say he was one his way home and could get them. So when he brought them in, I just ended up having Miles get in the shower and let it finish up in there while he played. Sometimes it is our best option. After he finished up, they ate lunch and then played with their wooden trains/tracks, their toy of choice for the week that they drag upstairs and spread throughout the family room.

While they napped I finished up laundry and made some cookies for Sharon as a thank you for always giving Andrew some jambalaya whenever she makes it. When we got the kids home from school I suggested that Jackson may want to get his kite out since it was pretty windy. It was fun for a little while until the string got stuck on the roof of the LaBeth’s front porch. That evening he had another practice. Thankfully this was the last week for three practices. Ellie also had dance, so we got her dropped off and then just had leftovers for dinner since we had quite a bit. Then some storms started rolling in and it poured for a little bit. Jackson’s practice ended up getting cut short and they were home at about 6:30. It was nice to not have to load everyone up in the car to pick up Ellie for dance. But then a little after we got home we were placed under a tornado warning. But it was actually for the western part of Adair County and didn’t include Kirksville so we weren’t quite sure what to do. Andrew said he would stay upstairs and be on the lookout while we sent the kids downstairs. I eventually made my way down there too but there really wasn’t any reason to worry. It rained more throughout the night but there weren’t any bad storms.

Since the twins don’t have school on Fridays, Andrew took the others to school and I got on the bike. I also ended up finishing To Kill a Mockingbird since I just had a few chapters left. When we picked up the kids later that day Lincoln was excited to tell me that he got Kirk’s Kid for his class for the month, which is a good behavior reward. There wasn’t anything in his backpack about it but he said he got to take a picture with their stuffed tiger. I was so happy for him. We actually didn’t have anything going on that evening which was nice. I made pork chops, green beans and cornbread for dinner and then Andrew took the kids outside to play some football while I cleaned up. The twins even got to play this time. I got a video of it but my picture wasn’t that great.

Saturday morning Andrew let Jackson sleep in a bit (past 7 J) and then they went out to the ranch. Lincoln had a soccer game at 11, so I did a short run/walk on the treadmill. I was able to run about ¾ of mile before it really started hurting so then I walked for a bit before running again. That afternoon Lincoln had a soccer game at 11. Andrew and Jackson still weren’t home so they met us there later. We have been pretty fortunate to have nice weather the first couple of games. And Lincoln did another great job and hustled out there. The other team had a very good little player and Lincoln was so impressed by him. He just kept smiling and saying, “He is so good.”

After the game, I thought about taking some of the kids up to Red Barn but they ended up just playing with their friends. We ate lunch, finished up laundry and got stuff ready for Jackson’s football game that evening. He had to be there at 4 and it was in Kahoka so we left around 2:45. We dropped Jackson and Andrew off at the football field and then I took the others to a park. When Jackson had his swim meet in Kahoka last summer, the kids got to play on a playground that was next to their pool. So that is where we headed and they had a lot of fun. More fun than they would have had sitting at the stadium. They had a couple playsets, a merry-go-round and even a stair-stepper. 

We got back to the stadium a little before the game started and made the trek to the guest bleachers. It wasn’t the best set-up for watching the game though. We were looking into the bright sun and the bleachers were low which made seeing over the cheerleaders and kids/coaches standing on the sidelines kind of hard. I thought I would have to keep after the twins to make sure they didn’t fall through the bleachers since they were pretty far apart but they found another way to keep themselves busy-using all of their little tractors we brought to dig up the dirt under the bleachers and put it up on the seat in front of them. Thankfully there was enough room and no one had to sit right in front of us. My parents showed up about a ½ hour into the game and Lincoln immediately requested that they go to the concession stand which was on the other side of the track. I had snacks with me, but they didn’t suffice.  So my dad was so nice to go get them something and take them to the bathroom. Then I had to make another trip to the bathroom with Bennett. I was just thankful they were able to hold it since they were so far away. As far as the game, Jackson and his team did a great job. Like I said, it was hard to see, but I could catch glimpses of Jackson here and there. He did a good job blocking and I did see where he got a tackle which he was pretty excited about. He did get to do “his” play one time but actually fumbled it which he and his dad were bummed about. But in the end, his team ended up winning 12-6 and they were pretty excited. I got the kids all ready to head back to the car when I realized that they were wanting the 5^th grade boys to play for a little bit against their 4^th graders. I didn’t think it would take too long, so we went ahead to the car. But it was probably another 45 minutes and, of course, Miles had to pee. I was kind of stuck at that point so I just had him pee in the parking lot by the car since there weren’t many people around at that point.  But then he got some on his shoes and underwear, so we just took those off and put his pants back on. We finally got home a little after nine and Andrew gave the younger three a bath while I got everything put away from the game.

Sunday was pretty low-key for us. We went to early service and then I did my grocery shopping while Andrew fed the kids lunch. Then Andrew went to the office for the afternoon while I worked on Halloween outfits. I know it is still over a month away but it was nice to get that off of my to-do list. I put black pipe cleaners in a yellow knit cap for Ellie’s minion outfit. Then she got to spray paint the rims some canning jar lids for the goggles. I glued them together and then we glued some elastic to them. The twins were excited to try on their “muscle man” outfits. They are going to be Hans and Franz from Saturday Night Live so I got them gray sweat suits. The tops are actually some girl sweatshirts but they were the only ones in their size and I am able to just turn them inside out. I made muscles out of quilt batting. I just cut up pieces and wrapped them around their arms and chest. I ended up just using masking tape to put them together but it actually worked pretty well so we may just use it again. We even did a video chat with Lissy so they could show them off and say their tag line, “We’re going to pump you up.” And I was excited to see I already had some brown felt that I cut out to make their belts. So by later that afternoon I had everything pretty much ready to go. While I worked on that, the older kids spent a lot of time outside playing with their friends and on the trampoline. It was so nice out that it was nice to see them take advantage of it. And we took advantage of it at dinner time and at outside.