Cutie

Our girl in her new glasses:

18 Month Stroke Update

I just posted stroke news, a year and a half into recovery, over at StrokeOfGrace.blogspot.com, for anyone interested in the progress. :) I also shared about my newest chronic illness diagnosis.

math wizard

My 7-year-old (who is whizzing through and about to finish his 4th grade math book), grasps most math concepts incredibly well, but we realized we need to readdress fractions tonight! He came in from feeding the chickens and informed his dad that they still had 1/3rd of 10/3rds of the container of water. Say what???

I think the statement would be totally age appropriate. I wouldn't have really even given it a second thought past the initial giggle, had I not seen him work out many much more complex fractions in the past!

Nail Polish on Linoleum

For what it's worth, Borax seems to be a workable solution to the issue that greeted me when I got up this morning, nail polish on the kitchen linoleum floor. We Googled so many options and most recommended nail polish remover, with the caution to try a test patch first as it could well damage the flooring. One lady shared what she had stumbled upon by trail and error, so it was our first option and seems to be non-toxic, non-damaging and seems to be working. Our daughter is mopping now then we will go back to tackle the remnants of the stain.

"Fun" Times

It has been an interesting 24 hours at our house. The 7-year-old has missed two major outing / privileges for refusing to do as he's told and vehemently arguing with me. He has lost 7 trash bags full of things from his room (about 5 bags worth hidden in his bed!) that haven't been cared for or put away in nearly two weeks. This was 2 hours after he first informed me his room was "clean" and he was given clarified instruct on what my definition of clean actually meant, along with multiple opportunities to make a serious effort to meet that definition.

Meanwhile, my husband (who has been sick, in bed, since Thursday) went to the back yard to check on our 10-year-old, only to find her happily painting our chickens' claws with nail polish! No words...

Here's what else is going on with my health: New Issues

Tall "Baby" Boy

I walked up to our oldest son this morning to give him a before-school hug. He was in shoes, I was barefoot. But he was taller than me. Literally overnight! Yesterday, it wasn't by much, but I was still the second tallest in the family, second only after my husband.

Start of last school year, 7th grade.

 So when he took off his shoes for me, we measured again. I am still technically taller than J., but only by a fraction of an inch, not much more than a hair width. For all intensive purposes, we are exactly the same hight now.

I think this was 6th grade???

I'm not sure how my Mommy heart feels about this. I have laughed and felt proud as my handsome young man passes up other adults. There are plenty of young men in my life that are taller than me. I have always known he woulod likely grow to be much taller than I am.

August, 2011 (about 2 1/2 months before my strokes).

But this is my baby we are talking about here. The one that, just 13 too-short years ago, weighed less than 5 pounds. I am thrilled for him, excited, proud, but a little sad too. It is kind of unsettling to look him eye-to-eye, to know sooner (probably even sooner than I want to think), I will be looking up to look him in the face.

Our kids last October, 2012, dressed as "Black Eyed Ps". :)

 He's been growing up much to fast for a while now. But how on earth did this happen???

First day of school, last year, fall 2011.

Grrr. Somewhere I've got a second semester, 8th grade (2013) shot of J. in his school uniform this past winter. It is a couple months old, but what I was going to post. After a half hour of not finding it, I will have to come back to edit it in when it is located!