A Day in the Life...

Micah's belt exam was this morning and she literally leveled up in belt color but leveled up in performance. Her precision was spot on. She got to pick her choice of weapon to perform with and picked the nun-chucks, with the highest level of Kata, which meant she was solo for her performance. Her sensei said, "Micah, this is your worst nightmare... everyone watching just you..." She did amazing! She hates sparring and she killed it; she didn't hold back. She's in newer sparring gear (black this time), and her old gear is turquoise, so don't mix her up in the pictures. She's the one hitting a ton of points during it. I'm so grateful to her dojo and her sensei's.  She loves Ms. Kassie and has a lot of respect for Sensei Jordan. I love his standards and what he expects of his students in and outside of his dojo. It's been the best thing for her.  She is now invited to attend their karate seminars in California each year to prepare for her brown be...

Dakota impulsively turned on the wheat grinder without the bowl underneath... so it was super fun cleaning up thin layers of flour allllll over the kitchen.... the picture shows maybe 15% of it... Stare off in between Red and Mia... I saw this and thought it was pretty accurate; I liked it well enough to take a picture... I also like these flowers I saw during a break at a recent conference... This week Micah had a private lesson with Ms. Kassie in order to prep for her belt exam.  She was ready! Tie Dying shirts at Oma's... We got a new crab game. It's a hit.... And Dakota's latest plea, this time in presentation form: Me: Dakota, this was an excellent presentation. I still don't allow friends to sleep over.  Dakota:  And a few weeks ago I gave a little family lesson on values; I love how Copper wrote hers down in her school binder to take a look at.... I liked these painted murals we saw on the outside trailers during back to school night and made the girls stand by t...

These two started 7th grade with their own day to get used to the school and change of classes.  They came home and said people swore a lot and it was hard not to get pushed around in the halls because it gets so busy. Welcome to junior high, ladies. On the first "real" day of school, Copper was gone by 6:45 a.m. because she signed up for early morning seminary.  Nineth grade now!  She was stinking excited for school, unlike the other two who shrug their shoulders and said (of the first week): "It was okay...."  

 Tim can't lift anything for quite awhile so I'm doing things around the house I normally would totally avoid.... such as: Filling up our dog food bucket; doesn't sound like a big deal but it is... Taking out all the garbage bags and cans out to the road; also doesn't sound like a big deal except it's been his chore the length of our marriage... Lifting anything heavier than 10 pounds... And lifting/moving things like this: Our washer broke the day after Tim's surgery, so that timing was perfect. I'm not complaining- the beaut lasted 16 years and had slowly been dying. I went and picked one out, paid for it, set up the delivery and installment, and came home to tell Tim. I'm not sure he was coherent enough to know what was going on.  I should have also bought us a cruise or something... Anyway, a few days ago  I unhooked it and Copper and I moved it from the laundry room to the living room so I could clean behind it and get ready for a new one. I'm a...

 Tim's surgery finally happened a few days ago. The surgeon said it would take around 1.5 hours but it took double that. They had to go through the front of his neck (to avoid the spinal cord) and chip away parts of his bone so the artificial disk would slide in there (like a gear with cut teeth connecting); they had to chip away more than expected. So, it took almost three hours for the surgery.  Then it took two hours for him in recovery to start breathing enough on his own to be wheeled back into the room, then another two hours for him to be conscious enough to go home. I took pictures, did computer work for my job, read a book, wrote in my journal, played phone games, tried to take a nap, and got covered in warm blankets when I told the nurse her hospital was freezing. Look at these beauts of "underwear" he had to change into. Purple gown and blue underwear for the win. Amber just had her rib removed and she said she went into surgery with blue underwear and a purple...