Apparently I Love Driving....

Over the last 2 months, I have made 3 separate driving trips to Kansas City to help Martin and Mari by taking care of Ryan while Mari is at the hospital with Kate, and Martin is at work. With it being a 9 hour drive one-way, that gives me the grand total of around 54 hours of driving in 2 months. I guess that's nothing, when last summer I drove a total of around 54 hours in 2 weeks driving to and from Canada..... Maybe I just love driving, but I think it's more likely that I just love my family THAT much......

So the kids got out of school after a 1/2 day on Friday, May 21st....(tell me about it....SOO early!!). Alicia had her first piano recital on Saturday. It was delightful! She takes lessons from a youth in our ward who is amazingly talented on the piano. He decided in January to start teaching lessons, and I jumped on it! Alicia is remarkably good at the piano. She picked it up really quickly and Steven (her teacher) and I had to work hard at keeping her challenged. The whole recital was only 25 minutes (my kind of recital!!!), with each student playing a solo and a duet piece. I'm so proud of Alicia and how hard she worked. If she was nervous, she didn't show it AT ALL, and even played better than I'd ever heard her practice. I was so impressed! Nerves always get the better of me when I play in front of people. I always make more mistakes than I ever do practicing, so it was nice to see she didn't inherit that from me!!!

Alicia and Steven performing their duet.

Sometimes I am struck by how beautiful Alicia is..... I'm sure that means A LOT of trouble later.......

I spent the rest of the day getting myself and the kids ready to make a trip back out to Kansas City to stay at Martin and Mari's house. I was deeply impressed by our 7:38am departure time on Sunday morning...which meant we arrived at their house at about 5pm....just in time for dinner!! We ate dinner all together (including my parents, who had brought dinner over) and then spent some time outside. All the kids were excited to see their cousins....especially Kate. Alicia had "bought" a little teddy bear holding a hershey's kiss for Kate at her school with "money" she had earned thru out the year. Kate LOVED it.....so sweet.

The kids playing baseball with a big bouncy ball with Uncle Martin and Ryan in the backyard.

Kate sat and watched from her chair while she got a meal thru her feeding tube. As the week wore on, she was more and more willing to eat on her own, so Mari was able to cut back on her tube feedings.

Kate had to go into the hospital on Monday for a short stay to have a cell extraction (they will "clean" these cells, and then put them back into Kate's body during her bone marrow transplant in a few months). We weren't sure exactly how long the hospital stay would be, so I had planned to stay until Saturday. We were blessed that Kate was able to come back home on Tuesday evening!!! It was really fun to be able to spend the rest of the week with Mari, Martin, Kate, and Ryan.

On Monday, the kids and I pretty much just took it easy. I made a quick run to Wal-Mart with Avery, Addi, and Ryan....then we all walked to the park in the late afternoon. Alicia and Tristan got to have a special birthday celebration with Grandma and Grandpa that evening. They got to go to Red Robin (something we haven't done since we lived in St. Louis) and to see the 4th Shrek movie. I think they both enjoyed the opportunity to just hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.

On Tuesday, I ventured out and took the kids bowling. It took us 2 hours to bowl 2 games. That was mostly due to the waiting we had to do when Ryan and Addi bowled (their bowling balls were only 6 lbs, but still too heavy for 4 year olds....therefore, they couldn't get them to go very fast down the lane). Mari and Kate came home later that evening, and I walked with all the kids to 7-11 to get slurpees while Mari got Kate settled in and Martin cleaned the gutters on the front of the house.

Addi called her bowling shoes "boy shoes."

Ryan just LOVED bowling. He would push the ball down the lane and already start celebrating. Then we had to wait a million years for his ball to make it to the end of the lane. Even if he only knocked down 1 pin, he thought it was the greatest thing ever! When I got a strike, he said, "You SCORED, Aunt Katie, you scored!!!" So cute...so fun...

Alicia had the toughest time...I ended up having them put the bumpers up for her...and she was much happier. I remember finding bowling to be frustrating at her age...so I could empathize. So Tristan and I tried to give as many helpful hints as possible.

Tristan was amused by the fact that we were literally the ONLY ones in the bowling ally since schools weren't out for the summer there yet.

The rest of the week was just a lot of time spent together. We went to a couple of different parks, we even got to watch Martin play in a work softball game. I'd forgotten how fun it is to watch a game and heckle from the stands. Kate loved being outside and being able to sit and play in the dirt. Alicia and Addi loved to sit with Kate on the floor at home and have tea parties, or play with Grandma's baby dolls that she graciously let us borrow for the week. Numerous train tracks were built and played with. Ryan and Addi played with his "Cars" cars. Tristan was mostly bored, but was a super good sport and really helpful with the younger kids. Alicia was able to go with Aunt Mari to Activity Days at the church where they decorated flip flops and even brought home a pair for Addi. Alicia and I helped Mari pull some weeds. Addi and Ryan helped Mari pick out some flowers, and I helped her plant them..... Basically...it was just a really nice week of time spent with family.

Addi and Ryan playing "Cars" cars.

Kate, Addi, and Avery. Alicia isn't in the photo, because she was taking pictures beside me with her own camera.

Martin played short stop...he had a few great plays and a good hit or two. We sat on a blanket sipping on Sonic slushies in the shade as we took in the game. If you know my family growing up, you know we are crazy baseball people...it was a way of life while growing up. All 3 of my brothers played...I spent my childhood in the stands of baseball games. So this brought back sweet memories.

I admire Martin and especially Mari greatly. Caring for Kate is a BIG job. Even though Kate is the sweetest 2-year old in the world, it is still a lot of work. I observed Martin and Mari a lot, and decided I need to make some serious changes in the way I run my family. I think they did more for me than I did for them....funny how that happens. You think you are providing a service for someone, but then you end up benefiting more..... I was worried about my family of 5 being overwhelming for them, so I tried to be as helpful as possible....to which Mari told me, "STOP...you are being too helpful." I am grateful for the time spent together and treasure it!!! We love you guys! We continue to remember you in our prayers.

Sweet "baby Kate"

I'm home until Saturday, when we will pack up and head to the Ozarks for a week with Daniel's family.... Don't fall over with surprise, but DANIEL IS GOING WITH US!!!!! Granted, he'll be studying from 7am-2pm each day, but WHO CARES!!!! He hasn't been able to go with us anywhere during the summer since he started residency....so this is a real treat!