What’s Been Going On

Life has really picked up since Kimmy has been home.  Ben and I tried to count and we think we’ve done the drive to Seminole 10 of the last 15 days or something like that.  It’s been busy!

So, before I forget all that we’ve done I figured I should try to briefly record it.  I know I say this a lot but if it weren’t for photography I would never be able to remember all the things we do.  It is my memory!  I’m so grateful I take pictures and I always regret it when I forget my camera because I so quickly forget what we do which days.  It’s been such a blessing.  Thanks for getting me into it Sarah.

Well, last Saturday I took family pictures of the Sheltons in the morning.  Then I think I went Christmas shopping and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  That afternoon was when McKay broke his leg.  That was a long and sad night 🙁

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Sunday we had Kimmy’s homecoming talk so we went to Seminole ward for church.  The boys had runny noses so we only stayed for sacrament meeting.  We had lunch at the homestead after church and then in the evening we went to Night in Bethlehem with Dad, Kimmy, Mike, Sarah and fam.  It’s a live nativity performance.  The kids loved it except Jax was scared by the neighing of the horse/donkey.

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On Monday we went to see Dr. Beck and get McKay’s cast put on.  He cried – no great surprise there.  It was really quick and easy and painless, though.  The cast is waterproof.  The only no-no we have to stay away from is sand.  They told us that he would definitely be walking on it within a week.  Well, I think McKay heard that and took it as a personal challenge to prove them wrong.  They specifically said they’ve never had a child go the entire three weeks without walking on it.  I’m pretty positive McKay will be their first to break that streak.  The appointment was in St. Pete so that was another driving filled day.  That evening we went to Mike and Sarah’s for dinner.  I forgot to take pictures.

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Tuesday my mom was kind enough to come up so I could take headshots of the staff at a doctor’s office.  It took longer than expected but the boys were napping peacefully when I came home.  She’s amazing!   Ben worked late every night last week so it was nice to have a few hours ‘off’.

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On Wednesday we had Jocie, Sadie’s friend from church and preschool, come over so her mom could get a few things done.  The kids adore her!

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On Thursday Christy and Matt arrived.  We had a normal morning around the house and then headed down to Seminole after I picked Sadie up from preschool.

If it sometimes seems that I have more pictures of McKay than the other children it’s because I do.  He takes up 92% of my time and focus.  If I take my eye off of him for 12 seconds to get a picture of another child he’s probably in danger, in trouble, or crying for attention.

Christy and Kimmy have been so patient, yet persistent at getting McKay to warm up to them.  McKay only likes Ben, my Mom, my Dad, Joseph, Cricchio and me.  Any other adult he detests!  So I was pretty much in shock when he fell in love with them this one afternoon.  I love that they care enough about him that they keep trying and trying.  There are enough other little kids around that they could just give up and play with them instead (they do play with them, too, of course).  But, they make a special effort to built a relationship with each child.  Even my challenging one 🙂  They care enough to invest the time and effort to build trust with him and form a relationship.  They’re just great!

The cute neighbor boys were over playing, too.  One of them ran off and we didn’t know where he had gone until he yelled, “Help!”  We turned around to find him dangling from our tree.  He was able to climb back up on the limb he was hanging from, and then Matt got a ladder and helped him down.  It was a Christmas miracle 🙂

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Well, still lots more catching up to do, but that will have to do for one night.

I love my kids.

I love my Ben.

I love our parents.

I love our siblings.

I love our siblings’ spouses and families.

Life is about relationships.  I feel blessed to have the ones I do.