One notable event that is missing from this August is Anna's MRI. Woohoo! Not only is it pretty awesome that her oncologist is comfortable with the once-a-year schedule, it means we have so many fewer appointments in August. For that, I am extremely thankful :)
Kate, on the other hand, had her check-up last week. Hers are not too eventful, but she is getting old enough to have questions/concerns to ask the doctor. Everything is fine and she feels more comfortable now asking her doctor questions and not always having to filter them through me.
The big news from Kate's appointment is how much she grew in the last year ... 4 inches! Apparently, that's the kind of growth that a teenage boy might experience in a year, but not necessarily a 9 year old girl. She went from about the 70% to the 95%. We were thinking that this kid was outgrowing her clothes and shoes faster than she had been previously.
In addition to the harvest and Kate's appointment, we've been working our days around Anna's daily music lesson mid-morning. I was somewhat frustrated when I knew that two of my August weeks were going to be confined to driving Anna back and forth to McFarland, but we figured out a way to carpool with a friend on the first day and that has made it all more manageable for me.
Because of the lack of MRI appointments, but the addition of the music lessons, we had to adjust our yearly trip up north to visit my parents. We ended up leaving on Thursday afternoon and came back around dinner time on Sunday. (Actually, we didn't even pack up to leave until after lunch on Thursday ... such is life right now.)
The trip provided Matt an opportunity to be (and feel) productive at home for a few days and gave me a chance to sit, relax, and spend some quality time with our kids, in addition to giving the kids a chance to spend time with their grandparents.
Ethan loves his grandpa very much and tends to follow him around like a puppy when we're up there.
Or course everyone took multiple rides around the property in the gator.
Anna and grandma had a fairly epic game of dominoes going on during our stay. I don't think they quite finished this one.
We also made our annual trip to pick blueberries. In fact, my dad and I got up early another morning to make a second trip, too.
It was the end of the season, though, and we didn't get nearly as many the second day as our whole group got on the first morning.
We all took our fair share of walks in the woods. Actually, I think Kate and I did at least one walk each day. She's a fan of the toads, the fungus, and the blackberries, but not necessarily the spiderwebs.
Anna also managed a walk in the woods with me one morning. I think we were out there for about 45 minutes ... way to go, Anna. What's more important than the time, though, is that she truly enjoyed herself doing it.
Kate and Ethan discovered that they could send an old metal dump truck down the steep part of the driveway and sometimes it would make it all the way down.
I don't even know how many times they ran up and down that driveway!
It has become our tradition now to visit a local county park beach one afternoon. Since we opted for a Saturday on a hot and humid weekend, the beach was the busiest that we have ever seen it. That didn't stop us, however, from enjoying the water, sand, playground, and grandma's kayak.
Worship on Sunday was followed by more delicious food, more gator rides, more walking in the woods, and more dominoes before it was time to leave. The ride home took longer than expected due to extra traffic, but we managed just fine. We came home to a clean house, tidy yard, and a happy Matt. He tells us that our home feels much emptier without the four of us around for a weekend.
This week is going to include quite a bit more harvesting and preserving, mostly involving tomatoes, but I'm hoping that we can throw in a bit of fun, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment