This Week

Our grandson has discovered how to video call us and the results are amazing. He runs around the house jabbering about his world in a language we don't yet understand but delights us, none the less. And when he is finished or his mom catches on to his antics, he quickly hangs up with his famous send-off, "bye you".

Every night,  Ty and I read together. If we are running behind, Oliver will be waiting on Ty's bed. If we get started early, he comes running into Ty's room and quickly settles in to also enjoy a bedtime story. Our current book is Hatchet,  a survival story.

We finally received Ty's pulmonary test results and it has been determined Ty has  asthma. We are attempting an inhaler prior to exercise as a first line of treatment. He dropped cross country when the practices were making him sick so we hope to find a workable solution soon. Kate's started like this and escalated quickly. Our prayer is his doesn't and they both outgrow it.

On Sunday I experienced my first autoimmune flare in over six years. It wasn't as intense as they were prior to my dietary changes but it was pretty rough and the residual effects lasted well into the week. I am still rather disheartened but trying to keep perspective. I work with approximately two hundred children each day and am clearly bombarded by a variety of germs. My immune system is likely overreacting and will hopefully settle down in time. But not being able to walk upstairs unsupported and the fatigue that settled in for days left me fighting tears of frustration in the tougher moments.

This dog. She reads situations all wrong. Consistently. I was up reading at four in the morning because I ached too much to sleep and she was sure it was playtime. Not only did she keep bringing me a toy but she ran through the house tossing a ball all over the place despite being reminded people were sleeping repeatedly. She is as delicate as a herd of elephants in any given social situation. In a nutshell, she fits right in around here. But we think she misses Erin's cat because she is acting out a bit during the day after at least a year of model behavior. We are back to reminding her she is supposed to guard the house, not destroy it. But I suppose Ada provided the entertainment factor she craves as that darn cat was constantly into some shenanigan or other.

Kate enjoyed her choir concert for this quarter and was delighted to show me her art work on display at school. She is working on another project she talks about quite a bit. I am a little disappointed she isn't going to have room in her high school schedule for either music or art because they both clearly breath life into her creative soul. Despite our prompting to enjoy school, most of our kids have been sucked into the world's philosophy that academic success is priority and it needs to be intense. Obviously we want them to do their best but it doesn't have to be at the expense of feeding their creative minds. It's no wonder most of us struggle to find balance when even our tiniest students are measured and tested every day.

Makenna and Noah have been dating for a year now and wanted a quick session to mark the anniversary. They couldn't stop laughing to pose so the shoot was a good time and honest reflection of their relationship.

Kate bathes Pip every other weekend. He hates it. I happened to walk in on today's grooming and decided he might be cute. We aren't friends but his little face is growing on me.