The First Day of Kindergarten and a Kidney Stone

Porter had been counting down the days til kindergarten! He was so very excited! We decided to send him to 1/2 day kindergarten,with smallish class sizes, at the Christian School . . .and a few wks before school started he met a boy on our block who also loves to ride bike and is at the same school! We have hit the point where neighbor kids are coming and going in our house/yard and they tell me they think they can stay til the treats in my oven are done :) GooF and I were sitting outside together recently and no kids were "needing" us. You know, for so long, little ones have "urgent needs". . .food, bathroom help, clothing help, immediate love and attention. And now I feel like we're hitting this point where my to do list is long, and life is busy, but every day they are becoming more independent. Before school started, Porter met his teacher and did excellent on his eval. . she said he was ready, and he couldn't wait to start learning to read and making new friends! How many more days? Until finally, the day was here. . .
I was so proud of him! After his first day (when mom gets to stay for part of the day), he was ready for the next day of kindergarten to come so he could go without a parent and have recess and snack :) No tears from any of us. That night as he was going to bed, he asked his dad what he was doing the next day (like he always does). Not sure he completely gets that kindergarten will be every day :) Also,

The night before Porter started kindergarten, I was saying to him, "Where did my baby go?" To which Trey was like,duh "Daddy is holding him!" (Daddy was holding baby Ryker :) ) Porter may not be my baby anymore, but here is baby Ryker at ten months and toothy!



He likes to eat rocks :)

Ainsley started 2nd grade! We had intentions of sending her to school this year, but there were some changes, and she had been saying she wanted to be homeschooled again. After much prayer, thought, and discussing, we decided to homeschool her again.
She is such a good student and a joy/help to have around! When we asked her why she wanted to be homeschooled, she said because she likes to have me as her teacher and the days aren't so long.

She picked out a new backpack this year with her name monogrammed on it, and was very excited the day it arrived!
I do enjoy teaching her. The hardest part is just making sure I take time to do things that the little ones will enjoy too. Although they love when she plays with them! Ainsley started a "doll school" this year so we went shopping for doll sized supplies :) (Porter and I also went on a date for school supplies but all he wanted were skechers :) ) Here she is on her first day of 2nd grade!
So that's the 1st day of school wrap up. Later that night, after a picnic at school, I thought I had a UTI, so I went to hyvee for cranberry juice and I was pretty uncomfortable so I bought 3 bottles of it :) I started downing them on the way home. When I got home I downed another glassful and started getting REALLY bad pains in the lower left side of my back, wrapping around to my tummy. I called ask a nurse as I was curled up on my bed and she was not helpful. I called my mom to come over so GooF could take me to the ER. I was a mess in the van. . just ask GooF. . .I was curled up on my seat, pretty much sounding like I was in labor, til I decided I should buckle up. Once I was buckled up, I was in so much pain I was pressing my feet against the front window of our van. At which point, MY FOOT PUT A CRACK IN THE VAN WINDOW! At that moment, I did not even care. I think I told my husband I would call an ambulance to get us there faster. Did I mention I was in pain, and a lot of it? I walked briskly into the ER, hunched over, where the guy at the front desk asked me if kidney stones run in my family. The first nurse I saw said, "You look like a kidney stone patient." Everyone on the waiting room probably thought I was in labor as I was curled up on the waiting room chair doing deep breathing. . .he he hoo, he he hoo. After a back rub from my husband and some drugs through an IV, I was MUCH more comfortable. And then it hit me, I PUT A CRACK IN THE FRONT VAN WINDOW WITH MY FOOT. GooF and I both started laughing. I am SO thankful for my good natured husband, who is slow to anger about things like that. SO thankful. SO very thankful we can laugh about things like that. Then I looked at him and asked, "What kind of person gets a kidney stone?!" After a few tests and a CT scan, a kidney stone was confirmed. Although I could have just been diagnosed by the guy working at the front desk :) I told him on the way out that his diagnosis by just looking at me hunched over was right on! The good news? It was small enough that it would come out on its own? Wait? It has to come out? So that's good news? I guess so, after they explained the other option. Well, in all actuality, it hasn't been so bad since that ER visit. All is well that ends well, right? And I just hope I never have another one of those. But just in case, I have 3 bottles of cranberry juice in my fridge. Oh wait, cranberry juice will do nothing for what I had. And hopefully when we get the van window fixed, the car guy doesn't ask what happened. . .