Our Week - with a Visit to Shriners

We've been busy this week!  I love summertime.  The more relaxed pace gives the kids so much opportunity for free play, and it's fun to see what they come up with.

The cat was feeling neglected.  He's not normally one to aggressively pursue affection, but maybe I don't realize how often I pet him ordinarily.  He needed a little reassurance that the toddlers who chase him around haven't taken up all my energy and attention.

The teens developed a new game:  Fishing For Toddlers.  They're a little bit like kittens, the way they're fascinated with the moving bright paracord.

These dresses from Zulily were supposed to be the girls dresses for church 4th of July weekend, but they ended up not arriving in time, so they wore them this week instead.  I can't get over how lucky I am to be their mama.

Containers are a toddler favorite.  Putting things in and dumping them out again is a fun pastime.

We've been playing outside, too.  Hannah can just barely pedal her big wheel now.  I would really love to find a bike-ish sort of thing that works for her.

This is my Pinned It and Did It for the summer.  One drip pan, 4 Command strips, and a set of LeapFrog magnets have generated all sorts of spelling play.  (affiliate links)  Katie is working on singing the ABCs, and still learning to identify letter names and sounds.  I am hoping this will be a fun way to help with that.

I was concerned about the automatic doors on the waiting room, but they were so good about staying in.  And yes, I am having fun dressing them.  A lot of fun.

This week, I decided we needed a couple of new noisy toys in the house.

Turns out, I should have gotten 2 of the same thing instead of 2 different ones.  We're working on the fine art of taking turns.

This was incredibly sweet.  They were bringing me stuffed animals and playsilks so I could wrap up their babies for them.

I love love love watching my teens with the babies.  Last night, Josiah and Sam each carried one out to the van for me.  There's something so endearing about watching young men be gentle with little ones.  A couple times now, Sam has gotten into the play yard and let them climb all over him.  They love it!  The toddlers light up when they see my boys.

Guess who came over to play this week?  We haven't seen Brayden in a while, so it was great to have him here for the day.

This is a cool stacking toy that I got from 4Knowledge-4Fun a while back!  Right after I snapped the picture, Little One toppled it over, of course.  I like the way it can be stacked in any order, not just cone shaped, like most stackers.  And there's no center post (which in my house would turn into a hammer or weapon).  It was really nice to be able to welcome our Small Guests with a brand new toy that I'd tucked away.

Eli has been making new K'nex creations again.  This one is a pickup with a helipad.  He comes up with the most interesting designs.  He also did a hand grenade and a large helicopter this week.

I took Katie and Hannah to Shriners this week to get checked up on by their surgeon.  Both girls needed adjustments to their prosthetics.  Katie got the good news that she no longer needs to wear her AFO (brace) on her formerly clubbed foot at night time!  I'm so grateful that her foot and ankle are in such good shape, despite not being corrected until she was 3 years old.  For our family, club foot has been a super easy special need.

Actually, limb differences in general has been quite manageable.  Each of the girls has had one surgery, and we visit Shriners every few months, but on a daily basis, they're just kids.  Kids clowning around while they wait for their legs to come back from the prosthetist.  I'm amazed at Hannah's upper body strength!

When we were done, we were told there was free ice cream out front, so we went to check it out.

Turns out, Uber was there giving away Three Twins ice cream cups and other swag to promote their business. That was a fun treat!

On the way home, we had a dragonfly land on our antenna.  Hannah asked me how many types of dragonflies there are in the whole world.  I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of internet searches with her homeschooling this year.  (5000, if you're curious.)

This week we hit one month with our Little Visitors.  I have found having them here to be healing to my mama heart.  Being sought out for affection, being the recipient of spontaneous snuggles has gone a long way. These things and more are helping me realize that the "perks" of caring for small children are what make it worthwhile, and it's just amazingly hard work when those perks aren't there.  Luke turned 4 this week, and we sent a gift and got a picture of him with it.  I feel good about his placement.  He's being well cared for, and I hope that, against all odds, he can make some progress there.

Less than one month until school starts now!  I ordered Eli's backpack this week.  And we got some cool school supplies from BzzAgent, too!  Eli snagged The Big Pen and claimed it for his own right away.  We're looking forward to checking out the rest of the Designed By Students line at Staples.

Aside from Hannah's math, all of our curriculum is here waiting for our first day.  I don't know what that first day will look like yet, since I don't know if I'll still be entertaining toddlers at that point or not.  But I suspect that one day that first week will involve stopping at the donut shop after we drop the teens off at school to celebrate.

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