Cowed

Just arriving at the softball game last night, Ranne had in his hand a small stuffed cow that 'moos'. He squeezed it to emit the noise and, with delight, called up to a large crowd in the bleachers, "It cowed! It cowed!" Very funny.

Scott did great, I thought. He was involved in a very exciting double play? I don't really know terms, but it was a fun one to watch.

Retreat, Retreat!

Today was the much anticipated doctor visit. I was hoping this doctor, Dr. Hurley, was related to some family friends/church family, but alas, it was not the case.

We spoke to a genetics counselor as well as the doctor. She did a rough graph of our family tree, saying that I 'contracted' the faulty gene from only one parent. That doesn't mean that both parents don't/didn't have it, but if my dad doesn't, it likely came from my mother. My children have a 50% chance of also having the gene, it's something that goes generations down the line and is very common, especially among 'whites'.

They also said if my immediate family has current blood clotting problems, they would strongly suggest I take blood thinners in the later part of pregnancy and the four weeks after labor. The doctor doubted the past two pregnancies were from Factor V Lieden since they occurred early in the pregnancy rather than later. They really seemed not bothered and said their involvement would mainly be to do more ultrasounds, checking for clots throughout the pregnancy in the placenta and cord. If any were seen, they would do blood thinners for sure.

So, that's the health update. SEVERAL things have gone on since the last blog, namely the Softball Tournament that raised 3,600 dollars for the CSC, Run for the Cure (breast cancer run on Father's Day), and the Summer Inspirational Retreat at the apple orchard. We've stayed very busy and will be even more so in the four weeks as we have several commitments this week and will be out of pocket for the next three for family vacation and bible camp teaching.

While I have no pictures of the run we did for breast cancer, it was very fun. Several of us CSC folk got together at 7am at the Balloon Fiesta Park for the 5k run. It was Father's Day and Scott's amazing fathering was especially displayed as he cooked muffins for the boys and him, took the breakfast to the church building and fed the boys and himself there while setting up for the bible class that involves table clothes, coffee for probably 60-70 people, and more. I have been trying to make it up to him ever since.

Around the house pics of the kids are fun:

Sadly blurry, but they make me smile.

Silly Ranne as "Bug Boy" and with Mama:


Awesome quiet time:


SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT:

Mmmm. Dirt.


Sign-in table crew.


The Games.

INSPIRATIONAL RETREAT:



First study at the 'Falls". We're definitely in the desert! Garrett was our inspired teacher, teaching on the book of Philemon. He did GREAT.


Chase and Ranne watching the Tree Swingers.

Our three Tarzans.

Flying.

The sweet ladies.

Bloody News

Quick update: boys are sick again, I think. Snot, cough, etc....

The midwife called me about the blood work I had done a couple weeks ago. I tested positive for Factor V Leiden, which is a genetic blood clotting problem. It would explain the last two miscarriages and could prove future pregnancies difficult. Today I began taking baby aspirin for all this as we begin trying for another baby and have also set up an appointment with a perinatologist on the 23rd of June. So, please keep us in your prayers.

Other than that, life is busy until end of August. We have men's and ladies events with the student center this weekend, help my brother move into their new house, a breast cancer run/class set-up for the church/Father's day on Sunday, a retreat the following weekend, Taco Hut dinner the next, vacation the following two weeks, teaching at camp the next and then a trip to Golden, Co. for the end of July. After that will be family camp and college retreats.

Pics will come later. There really haven't been any.

OH, today Ranne did his first, official schoolwork which consisted of worksheets out of a couple pre-school books I found. Two pages a day should be plenty. He also helped me wash the car and set the table for lunch.

Quiet time went well, though Ranne fell asleep. Both boys have not gotten to bed until 10pm the last couple nights and Ranne didn't sleep well with his cough.

Recent sweet: Ranne has a hard time sleeping when he's excited to go to someone's house or play with a new person. He knew we were going to our friends the Bowles home for dinner last Friday night. As he went down for his nap I told him, "Now, Ranne. We are going to the Bowles house tonight, you know. It is very important that you sleep before you go so that you 1) can feel good and 2) be happy and pleasant while we are there." He slept for a couple hours and woke saying, "Mama, my sleep gave me some giggles."

OH!

Oh, and I dusted today!

Frees in Trees

Tonight the boys and I head out to watch a tiny part of a softball tournament Scott plays in. Proceeds go to the CSC. His game begins at eight. Tomorrow it should last all day, so we will, I hope see more then.

Wow, everyone. Another busy weekend, yet it seemed sane and blessed. Last Saturday morning Scott helped some friends move into a new house in Rio Rancho. It's a great place for their hospitable family. We're thrilled for them! That afternoon, Scott worked on our garage, getting it ready for a new door.

Sunday morning went smoothly, despite my attitude. The boys did amazingly well, as usual, during the service except for Toby falling and hitting his head on the pew in front of us. He recovered quickly and was happy as a lark, even with the dent on his hairline. Poor thing. I don't enjoy when those accidents happen due to their smallness and lack of agility.

We then joined Brendan for lunch and Scott went up with him to Rio Rancho to help pack all the Johnson's belongings into a truck. They sold their home and are working on signing papers for another. LOTS of progress going on around us! I picked Scott up in the evening. The boys were surely in the way, tromping up and down the semi's ramp, but they had a blast being there and returned home in the best way: dirty.

Monday, amazing friend Peter came and helped Scott most of the day to finish up the door leading into the garage. While they did that, and watched the boys, I went to the Johnson's and worked a little more out there with them to clean for the new buyers. While gone, the guys did a lot of work and the door functions great!


After they wrapped that up, we headed out for friend Ethan's #3 birthday party. It was a blast: sugar, kids everywhere, lots of fun people. Ethan's dad designed and made this very creative cake.


Toby and his friend Jordy played in this bin of water most of the time. They really do get along great. Jordy and his brother are greatly enjoyed by our boys. All fun kids.


Ranne's friend Liam is shooting someone. HE is amazing. Very agile and strong and EXCITING.


Peter and a friend: Courtney (Shelton) Foust


Toby posing just for you.

Scott and I had a date planned for probably three weeks. It was canceled three hours before we were supposed to leave for a baseball game, which was a huge bummer. Ranne, in fact, cried when his dear lady friend was not coming over to play.
We had a very pleasant evening at the park with our boys anyway. Ranne pulled the wagon less than usual, but both seemed to enjoy the outing. We met some very nice Mennonite/Amish? people and their three little ones who were a BLAST.


Wednesday Scott and Garrett planned on going to an apple farm. The owners are generously allowing them to use it for an "Inspirational Retreat" for the Student Center. They were going to 'scope it out' to see the lay of the land and decide how to schedule the events. Well, the grandson-in-law of the owners was going to take them. His wife (the granddaughter), who has her name willed on some of the property, decided she'd take their boys and invited Ranne, Toby, Garrett's family, her sister and me to come as well, offering to make a big pot of green chili stew and chicken nuggets for everyone's lunch. It's not what the guys planned, but it was fun for all of us. The sights that were most fun: the supposed second-largest cottonwood anywhere; a copse of cottonwoods with a rope swing, a water supply piped in, and an electrical box; a spring; a dam; the apple trees, of course; and a big stone overhang where they plan to put the fire the night everyone arrives.

Here are some of the orchards.


Can you see the people at the very base of the tree in the top picture?

I'm not easily frightened, but could not watch Scott climb this high, or climb down. The bark flaked off with every effort to find a handhold. He was in tree heaven. The ladies mostly stood waiting on the guys as they had their fun.

Muffed Up

Rainbows have occurred frequently around here. This is one that Ranne spotted out his window last week.


Scott let me take an evening walk the other day. It had rained most of the early hours, so the air was breezy, clean and cool, full of varying clouds. The sun was setting through them, hotspots adding depth to the greening mountains across town. Looking toward the mountains, an Aurora Borealis of rain was streaking the sky and led vision to a rainbow, so bright that the mountains couldn't be seen through it. Wow, it was really a blessing to be out there then. The jets from the airbase seemed to take the strange weather as an opportunity to play/practice (maybe not, but there was a lot of activity). That was fun. I still daydream of flying, so being out there to watch all that made the walk especially enjoyable.


Here's Scott's latest project. He's adding a concrete step-up so we can put in a door and secure our garage. Once that's done, plumbing can be moved to accommodate the washer and drier. He then plans to install a floor level with the kitchen out into the garage, after framing a laundry room there. Lots of work. Very brave husband.

This morning, Scott prepared for us (how spoiled are we?)a breakfast of homemade oatmeal muffins, eggs and bacon. Ranne helped his dad make the muffins, pouring and mixing as he was able. As we sat around the table, ready to dig in, Ranne pointed to the biggest, tallest muffin in the pan, saying, "I want the one that's all muffed up! I helped make THAT one."

Last Christmas, Grandpa Free put balls in the boys' stockings that are made up of suction cups. When played with in the tub, they stick VERY well to the walls. Ranne threw the ball up high enough that he couldn't reach to get it down. So, he threw a rubber frog to try and knock it off the tile. This is what happened:

Old, but Quick

Heehehe.

Some spontaneous errands were run today after Scott so generously watched the boys so I could jog before breakfast. The wind is strong again, so it was good to get out before it picked-up.

When leaving our neighborhood in the car with the boys and waiting to get on the main street, I was very slow pull into traffic, letting several opportunities go by. After mumbling that the car behind me must think some granny was getting out on the town and taking forever, Ranne said, "Well, you are old Mama." Nice. Thanks so much. He then continued to ask questions like, "Why are you so old Mama?"

After a trip to the produce store, Sunflower Market, the boys and I visited a second-hand children and women's clothing store to look for Ranne some sandals. We found shorts, no shoes, and waited at the register for the woman to ring us up. Ranne stood on the side of the cart while Toby sat in the basket with his little arm folded through and around the top wiring. As I saw the whole cart tip over on top of Ranne, I quickly snatched it, just keeping Ranne from being pinned underneath. Ranne cowered underneath and Toby's left arm was being twisted and caught under his weight falling against the cart. Both were screaming at the top of their lungs. It was really quite hilarious because both were looking at each other like, "What do we do?!" The neat part was both know we discourage any fussing unless major pain is being experienced. After they were righted and dusted off, both were fine and calmed almost immediately. Everyone around us seemed quite impressed with their fearful attitudes' quick readjustment to safety and silliness. Very fun.

We played catch after lunch and had an awesome quiet time, 25-minutes of both sitting PERFECTLY quiet to play with small toys (Toby) and look at books (Ranne). They're so capable and smart.