Our Week with a Concussion

Last weekend we had a quick visit from Grammy and Annaliese.

I know it looks like last week's picture, but it's different, I promise.

Hannah and Katie adore Annaliese, and there were lots of Snapchat pictures taken and laughed at.

Grammy brought the girls coloring books, and she brought candy for everyone.

Grammy took Annaliese and Josiah out to lunch and Starbucks as a goodbye before he leaves for boot camp.

I've mentioned that we've been using our library more, yeah!  One of the features that the kids like best is the DVD section.  Lately, there have been Berenstein Bears and Arthur DVDs coming home with us each week.  Notice the 12-19 year olds?  They're watching Arthur in Fountain Abbey.  Cracked me up.

Hannah and Katie went to Shriners this week.  No pictures because Paul took them, but they were both casted for new legs, and we have a socket test fit appointment in 2.5 weeks.  They also go in next week, to see the lower limb doctor (we usually just see the prosthetics department most of the time).  I've found this to be the pattern with limb differences as a special need.  Most of the time, it's not a big deal, but then there are times when we can have a flurry of appointments.

In literature, we finally finished Mr. Popper's Penguins from last year and started on the Laura Ingalls Wilder classic, Farmer Boy.

Speaking of finishing, Katie completed an old Kumon workbook this week (yeah for decluttering!) and finished book one in her phonics program.  Fortunately, there are 2 more books in the phonics part and then another book of grammar, so we've got plenty to keep us busy for a while.

You may remember when we reviewed Figures in Motion.  I'm on their email list, and this week they sent out a link to this cool, super sized, dino printable figure!

My new printer does double sided printing all by itself, which made assembly a snap!  Hannah and Jack both helped with the cutting out.

Our new bendy t-rex inspired one of our journal entries this week, when the kids wrote A Day in the Life of a T-Rex, using first person to narrate what they thought a dinosaur's day might be like.

We're listening to an audio drama, so I busted out the play doh for the kids to keep their hands busy while we absorb the story.

For some reason, busy hands help keep the mind focused.

Sam spent some time at Zach & Heather's house this week, helping out with Brayden on days when both of them were working.

We only managed to do one art project this week.  :/

Positive and negative space from our favorite art DVDs.  A simple project with just construction paper, scissors, and glue sticks.

The results were quite interesting, though, and she alluded that we'll be building on the concept later, so this is laying a foundation for them.

Miss Katie is doing well with her new first grade math book.  She's currently using the math blocks not only to build problems, but also to measure lines.

If you missed our Field Trip this week, you can read more about it here:  Aerospace Museum.

This was from our time on the space playground afterwards.

There are two ropes between these two rock climbing structures.  Josiah climbed up one, used the ropes to get to the other, then climbed down.  He didn't want me taking pictures, though.

It's too bag this playground isn't more local to us.  It's a fun one!

In geography this week, the kids drew maps of North America from memory.

I've never been able to draw a map, so this was a great exercise.

Jack wrote about the aerospace museum in our field trip journal.  I'll have Hannah add to it later.

I noticed Hannah having a hard time with some basic math facts, so I re-started her on XtraMath.com.  It only takes a few minutes each day to keep things fresh in their minds.

Because we spent Thursday morning catching up on the work we missed due to our Wednesday field trip, we ended up going to the library later in the day, after dropping Josiah off at his last PT before boot camp.

We still got our bag of books and playtime at the park, though.

Friday mornings, Jack has speech at the local public school.  I've been having the girls bring their math books.

After finishing math, they can go find a book to look at.  We get a lot of funny looks from students and staff, who don't know what to make of a 5 year old and a tiny 9 year old at a middle and high school library.

Eli got hurt during football practice, and his coach wanted him cleared by a doctor before resuming play, so after speech, I took Eli in to be seen.  It was actually kind of nice to hang out with him.  He's been so busy with football and school that I don't see him much any more.

The doc confirmed that he does have a concussion, and wanted x-rays done to make sure his neck was okay.

He has beautiful bones, and his neck is fine.  So he'll be sitting out practices until his headache and neck pain are gone, and then following the concussion protocol to resume things a step at a time.

After Eli's appointment, Josiah needed to be taken in to the recruiter's office one last time to pick up his travel packet.  It's getting real now!  We're off to Target later today, to pick up a few last minute things he needs to take with him.

Whew!  Busy week.  Next week will find us saying our goodbyes to Josiah.  We're also scheduled for time at the dentist and at Shriners.  Next week is another home football game, but I don't think Eli will be able to play yet, so I probably won't go.

Field Trip Friday: Aerospace Museum

Josiah is leaving for boot camp very, very soon, so we've had a lot of last minute little things come up.  Wednesday, after dropping Eli and Brianna off at school, we took Josiah to the local base he will be attached to after he completes all his training.

We got there early, and sat and stared at this boring building for quite a while.  After Josiah went inside, we rolled across the parking lot and got out to stretch our legs a bit.

The kids had just started climbing when Josiah was done.

Being on the base was fun because there were lots of interesting things to see.

We needed a potty break after leaving the base, so we stopped at a McDonalds.

Although the kids had eaten breakfast at home, they can pretty much always eat again, so we had "brunch" for them and breakfast for me.

After that, we set off for our field trip destination:  The Aerospace Museum!  I'd purchased a Groupon, so admission for our party of 5 was only $15 bucks.

Although this is an air museum, there were some other interesting exhibits, as well, like this WW2 jeep.

As well as this old fire engine.

It made me want to take red shoe polish to it.

We got to walk around and see lots of different airplanes.  Some big, some small.  It was interesting to see how very different planes could be.

There were military planes and private sector planes and even helicopters.

Some of them were open for us to go inside.  (This photo makes me face the reality that Hannah has finally outgrown size 120 dresses.  At least without leggings.)

It was neat to get to see what the pilots would have been able to see from inside.

It was good that we got the outside walking around part done in the morning, because it was getting warm while we were there.

The cargo hold of a FedEx plane.

This plane had a fascinating history!  One of the museum docents, who fought in the Korean War, took the time to tell us about it.  This plane flew in the invasion on D Day.  See the stripes on the body and wings?  Those are invasion stripes.  Anything without those stripes was to get shot down.  The plane is green on top, to blend with the French countryside if German planes spotted it from above, and gray underneath, to blend with the overcast sky, if spotted from the ground.  After the war, it ended up in South America, and it was eventually seized in a drug raid, which is how it ended up back here.

Josiah took this picture for me.

Inside the planes was starting to be noticably warmer than outside the planes.  I looked at those seats and thought about the paratroopers who filled them on that infamous day in history.

Jack sat in the pilot's seat while we checked out the controls.

Pretty different from the ambulances we see today, both in appearance, and in medical technology, I imagine.

I was highly amused when the girls hopped into the airplane seats and immediately buckled themselves in.  When Paul and I flew home with each of them, neither one wanted to wear their seat belt!  I'd say they've acclimated to our safety rules.

Is this not the cutest member the USAF fleet??

All the kids took turns sitting in it.

Even motorcycles have changed a lot!

Josiah reads more about the motorcycle above.  Over his shoulder, you can see a hot air balloon basket, and a little of the Space exhibit.

I think Jack is "turning" the plane.

And Miss Katie.  See the tiny wheel chocks?  They're basically building blocks.

There were some interactive areas that the kids could get hands on with.

And upstairs, there's a few chairs for tired parents and a play area for the children.

So we sat for a while and let them play.

I feel like we got a good overview of what the museum has to offer, without going too in depth in any one area and losing the kids' interest.  I think there's a lot more that we could have learned, had they had the attention span for it.

It was a fun way to spend the morning, and it exposed the girls to a variety of aircraft and other vehicles that they have not seen before.

Jack has been here before (once when he was still in a stroller!) a couple of times.

I liked the artwork throughout the museum, and especially this cluster of paintings upstairs.

The Mars film was not playing while we were there, although, I'm guessing that if we'd asked one of the docents would have turned it on for us.  You can see the space theater on the right of the photo above.  The yellow timeline included the date of the Challenger explosion, which is one of those "I remember" moments that everyone who was alive then has.  Another mom was telling her daughter where she was when it happened, and I caught myself doing the same thing.  Kind of like the "when JFK was shot" moment of my parents' generation.

Next door to the museum is a space themed playground, so we hung out there for a little while to burn off some energy before hopping back in the van for the ride home.

Yesterday, we made another entry in our Field Trip Journal with all the things we wanted to remember about our visit.  I hope to add several more entries this year!  We have many fascinating things to explore nearby, and while I did most of these trips years ago with the older kids, the younger ones either don't remember, or haven't gone at all, so it's neat to get the chance to visit again.


This post may be linked up at these linky parties.

Thanks for clicking for us!

Weight Loss, Ancestry, and Travel

This is basically just an update on me.  You know, the stuff that doesn't really make it into my Our Week posts, because those are mostly photo inspired, and I'm always the one taking the pictures.

Weight
For Christmas 2014, Paul upgraded my phone.  This newer version has a "health" app included, and I began tracking my weight at that time.

A couple weeks after Luke left again, I decided I was fed up with being fat and out of shape.  When Jack was a toddler, I lost 40 pounds using the Spark People website and doing Stroller Fit, so I downloaded the Spark People app and started keeping track of what I ate.

I've been eating 1200-1550 calories per day, and drinking more water.  I was trying to get out and walk regularly, but that fell by the wayside when our Little Visitors came back.

When I hit 10# lost, I ordered myself a new dress to celebrate.  By the time it got here, it was too big for me!  (I sent it back to exchange for a smaller size, but the new one isn't here yet.)

I've recently hit another milestone.  Remember how I've been keeping track of my weight on my phone?  I now weigh less than my lowest phone weight.  So I'm the lowest I've been in at least 21 months.  Just in the last week, I've started wearing things I haven't been able to wear for a while.  I've dropped a little more than a size.

Starting weight     &     down 8 pounds

These pictures were taken beginning of June and beginning of July.  I put this same dress on a couple Sundays ago and couldn't wear it because it was too big.

I'm now officially down 25#.

Family Tree
In my genealogy research, I've realized something.  As the result of an unplanned pregnancy, I've always felt like I was "an accident."  That I just sort of happened because 2 people had sex.  In looking at my ancestors as far back as the 1600s, it occurred to me that I am who I am because of all of these connections.  Each marriage provided a piece of the puzzle.  I happened, not because 2 people had sex, but because of generations and generations of people did.  Sounds simplistic, but it made an impact on me.

I mentioned in a review that I found a Revolutionary War ancestor in my research.  I'm working on documenting the lineage so that I can join DAR.  It's slow going, as I have to wait for documents to arrive before I can turn around and use them as proof that I'm entitled to the next set of documents.

In digging around records from small town Colorado in the early 1900s, I came across this 1918 photograph, called Unmarried Ladies of WW1.  My great grandmother is in the front row of this picture.

I'm really enjoying learning more about my ancestors, and I imagine it will keep me busy for quite a while.

Travel
Exciting news, I'm heading back to China!

This trip will be similar to last year's trip, except instead of staying in Beijing the whole time, we'll be going to 3 provinces, and it's 2 weeks instead of one.  I'm super excited about it!  Hopefully, I won't have the chance to get lost this time around.

I should be returning from my adventure just in time to get over jet lag before taking off again to see Josiah graduate from boot camp.

So that's what's up with me these days.


This post may be linked up at these linky parties.

Thanks for clicking for us!