We Now Own Crutches

 You would think we would have picked up crutches sometime in the past 10 years when there were a lot of injuries occurring here,  but no, we didn't. Victoria and Kade both borrowed them for a short time. It was for Kade's knee and Victoria's ankle, but they were never told they needed them, we just borrowed them because it would help the healing process go more quickly. We own a pair now, and luckily, the few days Erik used them were sufficient. And we have crutches to lend out!

Here's the story. 

Remember Erik's last game of the season in June? He had injured his ankle pretty badly. The coach had to carry him off the field. We declared it sprained, without seeing a doctor, because it didn't have any outward signs of a break and he ended up walking on it okay. Jason got him a brace to wear at try-outs for Plymouth Reign, which he didn't play as well because of his injury, but it eventually healed. 

Well, last week at school he played soccer and I guess he rolled that same ankle, though that was news to me as he never mentioned it until Monday when he did the same thing at soccer practice. Tuesday was his xc meet and the terrain was a little rough, so by the end, he was in a lot of pain. I had to help him limp back to the car. When we got home, he was writhing in pain and I couldn't get him out of the car. I was starving, so I finally convinced him to let me help him out so we could eat. I called Jason as well and we decided I should take him to the urgent care after we ate. Since it was in the evening and they were closing in a couple hours, the backups were there. After his x-ray, they told me that it looked like the growth plate had been separated, but he couldn't tell for sure. He would call us at 8 when they closed after the other tech got a look at it. In the meantime, after watching Erik limp on it, he declared they wrap it with the hard brace and Erik get crutches. If it wasn't actually broken, we could take the hard brace off and wrap it in whatever we liked. 

He finished the meet, even in pain!

He got to ride in a wheelchair at the UC.

And we still can't see the braces on his teeth here...

I went to my first night of tap class directly afterward, so Jason took the call. It isn't broken, but Erik used the crutches the next few days at school to make sure he stayed off his ankle and could rest it. We also got this nice brace that he's been able to use without the crutches now. We're hoping if he stays off it for this week, he'll be able to go back to some soccer and xc again. Luckily, kids heal so quickly! I just hope he doesn't reinjure it again!

Here's his new brace. It's pretty good.

A Lot Can Happen in a Week!

 Last weekend Victoria was still here,  Kade wasn't planning on going to Homecoming, Austin was on JV, Erik's soccer team was down, and everyone was healthy.

This weekend, Victoria is back in Idaho, Kade went to the HOCO dance last night, Austin ran for Varsity yesterday, Erik's team was ahead and played much better (though it ended in a tie), and everyone, except me, has a big bad cough (it's pretty much what goes around at the beginning of each school year- we call it the PCEP Plague.)

Victoria worked her last day at Red Bell on Thursday when I was there too. We didn't work in the same room, but I saw her around, which was fun. It was a little sad when she said goodbye after spending over a month with some of those kids. She has grown a lot as an employee at Red Bell. She has been getting over her cough for a few weeks now, so I don't think she had the PCEP Plague. 

Last day!

Downtown Plymouth Dairy King!

The Kishs came over last Sunday for dinner.

Kade went with his best senior friends to the homecoming dance last night. He had stayed home from school Friday when he had the worst of the "plague", but was feeling a little better yesterday afternoon, which was good since we had just bought tickets a few days earlier. They went to Applebee's beforehand and about 4 additional kids came over afterward to hang out in our basement and eat popcorn and chips. It was a happening night since Jason and Erik were watching the BYU and Nebraska games and Austin was out at a friend's watching the BYU game. I was in bed!

Lookin' good!

Austin was promoted to run with Varsity since he had the 4th fastest time in the team, among Varsity and JV, from last week. Since he woke up still sounding awful from his cough, Jason and I fully expected him not to set a PR. I thought he might have an okay race, but I didn't think he could go faster than last week. I was at Erik's game at 1:20 in the afternoon in the 82-degree weather with sunshine and high humidity, thinking, "There's no way Austin's going to do well with his cough and this extreme heat" during the moment he started running. Less than 20 minutes later, Jason texted me that Austin had come in sub 17! His time was 16:57, whereas last week it was 17:12. The amount of time he cut-off again is unbelievable! He was the second of our varsity runners to come in and is now the 3rd fastest runner on the team. He placed 21st overall in the meet out of 157. They're Division 1. I'm totally shocked he did that. I'll now put my plug in for healthy eating: he has been so mindful in his eating lately that I think it's really making a big difference. He needs a tad more sleep, but it's not bad for a 15-year-old boy who goes to early morning seminary!

It was a tough course, too!

He's right behind Jack, another freakishly fast Sophmore. 

Getting their medals.

Erik's game was also in that heat and he has a small cough, but not near as bad as Austin or Jason (who of course has the worst cough). He played really well in their first game, not counting the cup from last week. The team worked well together and scored their 3 points right at the beginning. Unfortunately, the opposing team caught up by the very end, but I think the boys felt more confident since their last game. Thanks to Jason, Erik has been eating some little hamburger patties, which will definitely help him grow more and gain more strength for his xc and soccer. Erik has liked sausage patties for a while (thanks McDonald's) and Jason has been formulating a plan to make a look-alike patty out of ground beef that has a similar flavor to what Erik likes in the sausage patty, making it healthier for him and something he can eat more often. Another benefit to Austin's improvement in running and his change in eating habits is that Erik is noticing. While he is still pretty particular with what he eats, he wants to eat more of his favorites that are more nutritious, like eggs and my smoothies with spinach in them. Look out world, here comes Erik!

(I don't have pics of Erik's game, but I do have some of his first xc meet!)

Erik came in 14th place on his first xc meet for the season.

His time was 14:46 for 2 miles. Here he is passing the one in the yellow just before the finish line!

Back to School 2024-2025

This summer flew by. Before we knew it, we were back in school! And now it's Kade's senior year! Austin is a sophomore and Erik is in 7th grade. This is my 8th year teaching at Red Bell. I'm going in 15 minutes earlier this year since I have a lot of early drop-offs in my class and they're a young group. This week has been fun going back to Red Bell because Victoria is still here and she's been working many morning shifts there, so I get to see her on the playground sometimes! She's worked some afternoon shifts as well and it's fun discussing the students from my class that she works with in the afternoon. The most interesting thing we had to discuss this week was one of my students told another one about a gun his dad has. We actually reported it to my boss because of the nature of the conversation, who then got the police involved. They had to go into the family's home to make sure it is locked up properly. The next day, the kid who talked about his dad's gun, hit the same student on the face with a pan from the sandbox, during Victoria's afternoon shift. It was quite the first week! We also had plenty of sweet moments and lots of growth already!

Kade will probably start working at Red Bell after school after Victoria leaves this week. Then he and I can discuss all the preschool drama! Kade is taking fun classes from honors zoology to a sketch class. He's in his 7th year of the orchestra, my kid to last the longest there! He's hoping to join the electrical orchestra and be in the pit for the school spring play. Here are some of my favorite senior pics of him. 

Some of the seniors like to get a child's backpack for their senior year.

Austin practiced hard over the summer for cross country and it has shown! In the first meet of the season, two weeks ago, he hit a PR of 17:41 on his 5k, coming in 3rd, just behind his best friend, Owen. For today's meet, Owen and Austin were to be the fastest in the JV race. Well, Austin surprised everyone by leading the entire JV race and coming in first, 30 seconds before the second-place finisher! Owen still did really well, but he didn't beat his PR. He came in 3rd. Austin beat his PR by 29 seconds! He ran it in 17:12! Victoria and I had to sprint back and forth to make sure we saw him, especially at the big sledding hill they ran up twice! It was very exciting. Austin's got some good classes as well, including Spanish, finally!

2 weeks ago. Max, Owen, and Austin for most of the race. 

5 Salem boys are up on the screen, making up the top 7! Today's meet had 7 Salem boys in the top 10!

Here's where Austin started to break away more, at the base of the hill the first time. 

He was way ahead of everyone the rest of the time. 

The second time up the hill.

Coming in for the finish!

He soaked it all in!

Owen, Austin, Sam, and Max. All such good friends and really good runners!

Erik made the travel team for soccer for the Plymouth Reign club, so that'll keep him busy, especially since he'll be doing cross country through his school as well. He has a tournament this weekend and so far his team isn't doing great, but they're new together, and young, so they'll get better! And it's one of the best soccer clubs in our area. He's going to continue playing the trombone in the band and his science teacher is already excited about his help with the other students in their tectonics unit as the students need a basic understanding of geography for that. She told me he would be bored, since he not only knows the continents and oceans, which is all they need to know, but also every single other country in the world! (plus their flags and their surrounding countries and many of their capitals...) 

Erik's in the middle, defending those guys in red. 

He had just kicked the ball here.

We have loved having Victoria here when school started, last year she was already in Idaho by now. She's got a fun semester ahead with classes such as a kinesiology class and a choreography class. She's got great friends and roommates and is loving living in an apartment! We'll miss her when she leaves in 6 days. 

We'll post this on FB when she actually starts school.

Jason is still doing his thing with Ford and he was really helpful today for the xc meet. He went really early to set up our generator for the music and microphone since our team was hosting. Then he went on to take Erik to his two games today, an hour and a half away. Way to jump right in! 

Happy School Year!

FYI, Erik now has braces, since these were taken, but he hasn't let me take a picture of them yet....

Soaking Up Summer

 We went to the Kish's lakehouse a couple of weeks ago to enjoy the weekend with them on Long Lake. It was so nice to be there with good friends and all 6 of us, though I didn't get any pictures of all 6 of us together, for some reason. 

The night we arrived.

Karyn and Joe are so giving!

Ready for a ride!

Erik took a turn out on the paddleboard when the clouds started moving in. 

Then the sun came out again!

Jason and I went on a little ride around on the paddle boat, not to be confused with the paddleboard.

Victoria's been working a lot at Red Bell when she's not hanging with any of us or at the Kish's lakehouse which she has gone to 2 other weekends without us. She didn't have to work on Thursday and had been wanting to go to Lake Michigan sometime during the 6 weeks of her summer here, so we went! Unfortunately, Jason had to work, so he missed out, but the kids and I enjoyed a lovely day on Lake Michigan.

A beach lunch!

Soaking up the sun!

Boogie boarding

Football; and our paddleboard is out there with Austin on it and Victoria swimming next to it. 

They even tried skimboarding on the boogie board.

The damper on Lake Michigan for Erik and me was that we were overcoming some horrible rashes from poison ivy that almost prevented us from going. I am highly sensitive to that plant, as I am learning more and more. The last time I got it, about 2 years ago, I know I didn't touch it, but touched plants that were near it. This time, I was so confused when I saw a rash on my shoulder on Saturday morning. I thought, "That looks like poison ivy, " but I hadn't even done yard work, so I dismissed the thought quickly. When I saw a rash on Erik's leg later that day, I was curious. To my knowledge, he hadn't been anywhere with poison ivy either. But then I realized I hadn't seen him much on Thursday because I was preparing for Red Bell. Victoria said when she picked him up from his friend's house, he was in a field running around. So, he must have encountered it and scratched that rash, and then when he put his arm around me that evening, which I do remember his little hug, I got the oils on me. By the time this all connected, it was Sunday morning. That's when I noticed his rash and my rash spreading. I ended up having it all over both my arms, and even had new spots forming by Wednesday, despite the constant washing of clothing, towels, and sheets. I covered it up, scrubbed it a couple times a day with a special poison ivy scrub, and applied calamine lotion afterward. It was miserable! Add to that, Erik woke up Monday morning with it all around his eyes, which were swollen. It was behind his ears and on his neck and ended up spreading to both legs and his stomach a couple of days later. Monday, when I saw his face, I took him to the doctor and they gave him steroids. With him taking steroids and me not, it was hard to see who healed faster, but I just didn't know what was going to happen if it was on his face, so it was a good decision to take him in. During his last week of summer, for most of the week, he lay on a towel and watched TV. All he ate for a few days was popcorn and my homemade smoothies. Poor kid. I tried to do as much as I could to do what the other kids needed me for and to keep the household moving, but I was pretty uncomfortable. Even as I write this, I still feel itchy, though I am healing. 

So miserable!

This is when my arm was oozing.

My shoulder that started it all.

Another day, another rash, but this was a few days after it started to heal.

When the oozing stopped it started to look really red. The spot on my wrist is the newest one. 

When Erik and I decided to go to Lake Michigan on Thursday, we hadn't had any new spots since the day before and I really wanted him to get out of the house. At first, we didn't want to get in the water, but when we did, it felt so good on our rashes! Since I only sprayed myself with sunscreen because I was afraid of rubbing it around on my skin, I got a nice burn on my back which evened out the pain of the rashes. Erik wore his swim shirt but didn't get any sunscreen. His face didn't look burnt because it was already red from the rashes. I'm hoping the sun did more good than damage to our skin. 

So, we soaked up a lot of good water and sun this month of August and even soaked up some poison ivy, but hopefully, we mostly remember the better times!