Evelyn Turns 11! Lindsey Stirling! Baby Misha!

The big events this week were: Evelyn turned 11 on Tuesday! I cannot fathom she will graduate to YW in January, growing up too fast. A girl date to a Lindsey Stirling concert. Also, Jeremy and Yulia came to visit us for the weekend with their newest Misha baby. 

Monday morning I finally saw an orthopedic doctor about my knee, a Dr Lawler. First thing he requested x-rays before he came to visit with me. As I suspected, whatever is ailing my knee is not bone related. It does appear my knee caps are not quite centered which can be corrected with PT. Next week I go in for an early morning MRI on my right knee. His best guess due to swelling and pain points around my knee is the meniscus is torn or my knee needs to be “cleaned” out. I had to make up substitute plans for the second day of school, which was challenging because the students have not logged in on computers yet. I had the substitute try which was a rat race according to one of the aides. 

Tuesday Evelyn finally woke up an 11 year old. She opened up one of her gifts to wear to school, a shirt of a jet plane and aviator glasses. Evelyn helped me make her cake the night before. She really wanted a rainbow rolled Swiss cake. It took 4 sets of hands to hold the frosting bags while I pipped the alternating colors onto the pan. Justin brought her a happy meal for lunch and joined her for lunch. Evelyn helped me make buttercream frosting for her cake after school. The cake did not roll like it was supposed to, guess I overbooked it by a couple of minutes. We filled in the cracks with more icing. Evelyn wanted baked potatoes with toppings for her birthday meal! Easy Peasy. After dinner she opened the rest of her gifts: OG Doll, gum, cards, watch, earrings, and a digital camera! Evelyn is a very thoughtful girl. She loves to make cards and sweet letters for her favorite people. At school Evelyn is helpful, a leader, an example to others, and friend to all. I sure enjoy her creativity and quirky nature. She is quite the little singer. This past week the girls decided Mom and Dad could finally stop staying in their room until they are asleep (mostly Evelyn). I, for one, am extremely grateful. She did not come into our room at night last week either. Whoop, whoop. Maybe I can actually get some sleep now. 

Thursday was a very exciting day. Josie woke up very sneezy and a mediocre runny nose. It got worse until after lunch I sent her to the nurse. She was running a mild fever so got to go home. Amelia picked her up 45 minutes later on her way home from school. Josie took a 2 hour nap with the hope she would feel better before the concert. Poor kid looked all congested, her eyes were weeping from congestion. She rallied, really wanting to attend the concert. Justin was very cute, he made sure we had extra batteries and gave us $20 to spend at the concert. The girls were on the road! Lindsey Sterling…here we come! But first, a stop at Walmart for DayQuil and immune boosting supplements for Josie. The line was long but went quickly once the gates opened. I was dismayed we could not bring in our water bottles. I read the items allowed list but did not catch the caveat about only disposable water bottles allowed. Amelia ran back to the van with the water while we went ahead to grab a decent spot. Evelyn and Josie found a great spot at the top of the grassy area for our chairs and blankets. They secured our spot while I went back to the gates to help Amelia enter. The 2.5 hour wait went by quickly with an opener act and snacks to amuse us. Lindsey was absolutely stunning! The concert was so entertaining and colorful. I loved how creative she was with all of the choreography and lighting for each song. For one number she was evening playing violin upside down spinning in the air. Evelyn ran off to dance with a pack of other girls dancing their hearts out. Josie was feeling so poorly she crawled into my lap for snuggles. I loved catching snippets of Amelia as she threw me excited glances when her favorite songs come on. 

Originally Jeremy and I planned for them to drive up Thursday afternoon. My family vetoed that plan because they needed some time to decompress after a long school week and my communication regarding our plan was not heard by most everyone in my family. We needed a few hours to tidy up the house and prepare a room for the Lances to stay in. I drove the band carpool kids for Friday morning practice, went grocery shopping, then picked up the band nerds on my way home. The Lances arrived shortly after we got the groceries put away. Oh those cute babies! We had so much fun entertaining the babies for hours. Pasha played with the boys. The girls soon had princess dresses on and nails painted. Yulia and I visited while I tidied up the girls room so they could sleep there. Amelia’s hips were hurting terribly so she requested her room stay in her possession for the visit. It’s magical what a small tent will do to entice little ones to sleep in a small space. Natalya’s pack n’play was confined to the closet since she was not keen on sleeping. We went on an excursion to the library because I had some items to return. We stopped at my classroom for a short moment to tour my space and grab some coupons. Evelyn was running ragged chasing after Ksenia! I giggled when she asked me to take a turn! Girl…you ran me ragged! Amelia and Justin stayed at home, got to snuggle sweet Misha until he was not so sweet and hungry. We used our last Arctic Circle coupons for free ice cream sundaes as a treat. 

I got Urban Air tickets with Sara a couple weeks ago for a last week of summer vacation hurrah. I was too overwhelmed at the time to make that work so we opted to go on the 31st instead. All the extra hands helped entertain the babies at the jump park. Phillip was a really big helper following Nadia and Ksenia around. Evelyn, Oliver, and Lyla were a really fun group to watch playing around. Baby Natalya was not feeling too well, her eczema flared up making her little legs and arms itchy. Seemed like she was running a fever as well. She and I had fun for a while throwing balls, bouncing, and “playing” mini golf. She can throw a decent tantrum for a 19 month old baby! We stayed long enough to work up a decent appetite so threw in the towel and ordered expensive pizza for lunch. Sara had room to bring Evelyn and Everett home so they stayed an hour longer. The rest of the afternoon I worked on Misha’s newborn photos. He was not settled at all, took me 20+ minutes each pose just to settle him for 1-2 photos. I was sweating after two long hours. Jeremy, Justin, and the older kids all went to the gun range, Justin had a new scope to dial in. Yulia worked equally hard keeping her 3 kids entertained and away from what I was working on. Someone put Natalya in bed after the jump park, still don’t know who put her to bed but she napped for 4 hours! She woke up with her eczema cleared up, a much happier kiddo. After dinner we nabbed a kid to get ready for pictures, washed up, dressed, and fixed hair. The kids did a lovely job taking photos with their new brother. Misha was completely zonked out, I got more done in 30 minutes than in the 2 hours I fought through earlier in the day. We ended the night watching Frozen then singing Primary songs for devotional. 

This morning I finally got a calling! I was called to serve as the ward choir director. Amelia was called to be the ward chorister! Finally! I am sad to not serve in the YW, that would be so fun to be with my girls. The Lances left soon after church was over. Watching them was like peeking back on our crazy life with 5 little kids. They are doing so well and making great strides to raise their children. 

I started using an intermittent fasting program to lose some weight. I am quite motivated after being “burned” so many other times and failing, just want my joints and knee to feel better. I am trying out the 16-17 hour fast from dinner to lunch and smaller healthy meals with one snack. So far it’s going pretty well, except for celebrating birthdays with treats after 8 pm. It helps to be at work with little to no downtime for snacking. I’ve never been much of a snacker, I prefer meals. I’m praying that as I attempt something new that my body will be responsive. I’ve lost about 6 pounds in two weeks so that is not too shabby. The test comes in the next few months when the plateaus come.