It's tough for these homebody parents to extend the daily and weekly routines into the after dinner time and into the much treasured weekends. However, we recognize that this time won't last forever, just like the struggles and joys of the little years didn't last forever. We value the life lessons and experiences of the outside activities so we know it is not in everyone's best interest to stay huddled up in our home together all the time. As such, we will do our best in the coming years to make time for ourselves individually, our marriage relationship, our family togetherness, and now the rest of life.
What are all of these extra demands, you may be wondering? Not much when you consider them individually, but when all of the dates and activities get added to the calendar, the sum of them can be overwhelming. During the month of October, Anna has first communion classes every Wednesday evening across town at church. She and her fellow fifth graders (all 13 or 14 of them) get together for dinner, fellowship, and a class portion taught by one of the pastors.
With Kate starting 4H this year, there are monthly meetings, at least one extra activity each month, and responsibilities such as fund raising, project work, and planning for meetings. Plus, now that Kate is in 3rd grade and has a nice group of friends, there are things like birthday parties we have to consider :) In addition, the 3rd graders in our congregation receive a special Bible during a Saturday morning breakfast which also happens in, you guessed it, October.
Besides those extracurriculars, October and November usually contain some kind of open house for each child's school, at least one field trip for each kid, and then parent-teacher conferences for all three kiddos now, too.
Like I said, not a lot when looked at individually, but every week/weekend in October has multiple nights with extra responsibilities.
Then there was that whole surgery thing for Anna.
Speaking of which, Anna is well on her way to recovery. Her eyes look so much better healed already than they did for most of the summer, although she is still complaining of a headache off and on. Our theory as of now is that the headaches are related to the extra strain on her eyes and brain as everything tries to work together again.
Anna was back at school again last Friday. She probably could have managed it on Thursday, too, but we had an appointment scheduled across town to get her new AFOs fitted. Unfortunately, that appointment was cancelled about an hour prior to its scheduled time due to circumstances at the office. Oh, well. Anna came along to my weekly Bible Study time and then she was a trooper for her therapy that afternoon.
Tuesday was the one-week check-up with the ophthalmologist. He is happy with how things look right now, even though Anna still sees double at distance. He believes this will continue to subside, but if she still has double vision at her next check-up in December, she may be in the market for another set of prism lenses.
Here's his current theory for the crazy eye-turn in the summer months. Every once in awhile, a kid's body overreacts to the surgery and his table of measurements that usually works, doesn't. He figures that Anna is one of those kids. It's just another way that she stands apart, I guess. This man has been doing this kind of eye surgery every Monday for the last twenty years and now Anna's eyes and body have surprised him on more than one occasion.
Let me end this post with a couple of fun pictures. First is Ethan. After a month or so, he has finally figured out how to have fun playing independently in the afternoons again. Here's a few race tracks he designed and built in his bedroom.
He has also enjoyed playing with the marble run, tinker toys, and lincoln logs. The piano still gets a lot of love from our boy. It's been fun to watch his personality and interests continue to develop.
Along with many Lutheran churches, ours will be holding a special celebration this October for the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing his 95 theses to the church door. Part of the celebration has included short announcements from a few puppets (Martin Luther, Katherine Von Bora Luther, and Philip Melanchthon) performed by Matt and me. Another part of the celebration has been an opportunity to build a scene or design related to the Reformation with Legos. Last Saturday afternoon was rainy and cool, so the girls and I got out the Legos. Kate made a peasant home/street scene whereas Anna and I used an online model to made Luther's Rose. It turned out pretty well :)
Now it's on to another week/weekend of fall!
No comments:
Post a Comment