I have learned a lot this summer from being involved with Graham's accident and helping his family. I have learned about miracles. I have learned about faith. I have learned about prayer. I have seen the blessings that come from trials and the lessons my children have learned from being so involved in this situation. About a month after Graham's accident he had already had his brain surgery and still hadn't opened his eyes. His doctors were very worried about his eye sight returning. As a ward, we were asked to fast that Graham's eyesight would be restored. I asked my big kids to participate in this fast. Madison fasted the whole time: from morning until 4 p.m. after church. Jaxon had a small breakfast and fasted most of the day (I think Chris let him have some crackers after sacrament meeting). Miraculously, two days later Graham opened his left eye and was able to see. I feel so blessed that my children had this experience at such a young age. I hope it is something they will be able to remember for the rest of their lives and that it will help shape their testimonies.
Another important lesson I have learned this summer is about service. I have learned that service is not always easy. I've mentioned in previous posts that I spent a lot of time watching Brode and Rocco, Graham's brothers. We had them over every Tuesday and Thursday for the entire day. I will freely admit that this was pretty difficult. They are awesome boys, but having 6 kids under the age of 8 is a lot. On top of the fact that they were obviously dealing with some of their own issues related to their brother's accident. It made for some very crazy days. I always feel bad when watching other people's kids wears me out and makes it so that I'm less patient for my own kids. I would do it again in a heart beat, I'm not trying to complain, what I am trying to say is that sometimes you have to serve even when it is convenient or easy. I like to have things scheduled and structured, so this was a very important lesson for me to learn.
We did try to make it as fun as we could! One rainy day we played with some balloons and tried to keep them off the floor. Madi and Brode just spent the whole time blowing them up as big as they could and then letting the air out so the whizzed around.
Then I had the kids put pillows in some of Chris's big shirts and they did some sumo wrestling. I brought the mattresses out of the boys rooms so they could jump on those. Jaxon's friend Marshall also joined that party.
Dog pile. This was fun for about 20 minutes. Then it turned into a bunch of kids crying and being little pansies.
We did get a special treat, though. Superman came to visit Graham and the kids got to go and meet him.
Remember how Colton is afraid of anyone dressed up in costumes? Yeah, he spent the whole time hiding behind the couch. He would not come out. And he asked me "does he know I'm here?!" I finally gave him my phone to play on while he was hiding back there.
This summer the weather has really been amazing. We had one day when it was only 75 degrees. The kids played outside on bikes and with the chalk. It was wonderful.
Jaxon and Colton built a cannon. Jaxon and his imagination. It's truly a thing of wonder.
The kids earned free six flags tickets for reading last year at school, so Chris and Steve took them to six flags one Saturday. This was Madison's reaction to going down her first roller coaster. Seriously priceless. She really did have a great time and she loved it!
Madison has decided that clothes are a big deal, so she has started asking for the "cool" clothes. This year she really wanted some TOMS. I told her I would buy her tennis shoes, but if she wanted TOMS she would have to earn them. So we spent a week deep cleaning the house. The kids cleaned their rooms (under beds, drawers, closets), went through the toys in the play room, deep cleaned the car (including the carpets), and cleaned the window sills, light switches and doorknobs. Colton was obviously very motivated by the incentive of buying new clothes. He worked really hard. Not.
Madison, however, did work really hard. She totally earned her new shoes and she loves them!
Colton has taken quite a few naps poolside this summer. Poor kid. I've been lazy about making him take a nap because having all the kids around and having two nap schedules to deal with makes it a little tricky, but he seems pretty adaptable.
One morning I ended up with 10 kids at the house for a couple hours. Which I know sounds nuts, but it really wasn't too bad. I had everyone wear swim suits and we had a big water balloon fight.
The kids loved throwing water balloons at each other, but I forgot how long it takes to fill those darn things. Probably the biggest waste of time ever, on my part. The smiles were worth it, but for goodness sakes it took me at least an hour to fill them and we were done in 5 minutes.
Then the kids wanted some more entertainment (and I didn't want 10 wet kids in the house) so I cut up 3 pool noodles and they had a battle. It was actually really fun!
We hit up the splash park with Madi's bff Ashlee. They've been friend since they were 2. They are getting a little big for the splash park, but they still had fun.
Hudson has really started loving the splash park, though! He started crawling around the middle of July, which made the pool and the splash park a LOT easier.
I wrote about the book club we did this summer in my last post, but I didn't include this picture of Jaxon with his ninja rag doll. Jaxon is very, very creative and is always making all sorts of things. I don't know who enjoyed making rag dolls more, Jaxon or the girls :)
One morning Hudson helped me mop the floor. It was funny.
Right now we have 1 p.m. church, which isn't my favorite. We usually do get to sleep in until 8 or 8:30, though. Sometimes all the kids come and get in bed and snuggle with us after we all wake up. Jaxon is getting a little too big, and heavy, for full body snuggles, but I refuse to stop. He's only 6!
And speaking of Sundays, I have a new calling as nursery leader, which is pretty much the perfect calling for me because I'm in the hall all Sunday anyway. I'm in charge of keeping our 3-4 nursery classes organized, taking kids to get their bums changed, finding subs, etc. Not too tricky. Hudson and I just chill in the hall and talk to all the nursery teachers. It's a fun calling, although the last 30 minutes are kind of terrible because Hudson is usually DONE at that point.
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