Home At Long Last

 Thank God Almighty, he is HOME AT LAST.

Swim Meet

Faith Formation Ice Chapel Stained Glass/Votive making

Winter carnival is fast approaching.  Every year, the faith formation does their part by creating something to help decorate.  This year, we made our traditional ice votives, but added a trial of gelatin stained glass.  Unfortunately, my gelatin did not set well, and our "stained glass" turned into a sensory experience for the toddler class, and not much more.  We tried.  Live and learn.  The kids sure had fun, though!

Jazz

So, on the way home from robotics the other day, my son Colby plugged his phone into my car to charge it, and the music on his phone started playing automatically on my car speakers.  Usually, this is electronica stuff, and not my fave.  Imagine my surprise, when the car was suddenly filled with the sounds of Miles Davis.  THE MILES.DAVIS.  I was shocked. 

"Colby!  Is this your music?" asks I.

"Yes, Mom.  This is this Jazz guy I just found.  Have you heard of him?"

"Uhhh, I have seen him in concert.  Multiple times.  Are you into Jazz now?"

Quinn piped up from the back seat that they were BOTH into Jazz now.  This warms my ever-loving jazz-band-in-highschool heart.  REALLY? 

"There are lots of different types of Jazz, though, Mom."  Yes, I know.  I know.  Then these boys of mine pulled up a musician they just discovered and played his stuff for me, and I actually LIKED it.  He was an incredible musician (although I can't remember his name right now for the life of me).  Regardless.  This is a whole new realm of bonding for my boys and I.  We like the same music.  WOW.

So, Michigan Tech was having a cabaret of their jazz bands, and the kids and I decided to make a date of it.  After a dinner at La Cantina, we hung out backstage and listened to Jazz and it was great.  Even Reagan liked it... a little.  

Home for a trial run.

He only got to stay for a few hours, but we broke him out to do a trial run at home.  How he is tired of being in the hospital!

Still Recuperating

Grandpa is still in the hospital.  He's got a broken pelvis in two places, but complains of left side pain.  This bruise probably explains a thing or two about that... YIKES.

He spends a good part of every day out of his hospital room, down the hall into the "puzzle room".  He's getting sick of puzzles.  

So the fam decided to try and cheer the guy up a bring goodies and watch the NFC championship game with him at the hospital.  We filled the waiting room. The Packers lost.  But still...

Snow Day

We had a snow day today, and this one snuck up on me.  Usually we have a hint that a snow day is coming, and can do a little heikki lunta dance to hurry the thing along, but this one was called out of the blue, and was a complete surprise.  Luckily, I check facebook when I first wake up, and someone else had posted the closure.  NICE.  Snow days are great.  There is NOTHING PLANNED AT ALL, and we are able to just relax and enjoy ourselves at home.  This day, we built a lamp out of an old surveying tripod, made soap, and experimented with fizzy slime.  YAY snow days!

The Phenomenon

Reagan and I were driving home the other day when I called her attention to the "rainbow around the sun".

"What rainbow around the sun?" she asked.  That one up in the sky!  On our left.  We turned the corner of the road, and realized... wait!  That wasn't the sun we were seeing, so bright, rimmed by a rainbow.  It was a reflection of the sun... in a cloud!  It was crazy!  I've never seen anything quite like it.  I had to snap a picture, because it certainly looked like there were two suns in the sky, just one a bit smaller, with the shadow of a rainbow beside it.  Super cool.

Recuperation

So, grandpa's days are spent like this at the hospital.  He's getting bored quickly, but working super hard with that Finnish Sisu of his.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family is taking turns making sure Grandma stays happy, healthy and fed!

Swimming and Diving

The boys' busiest time of year is upon us, wherein they swim every day after school til 6 pm, and then have robotics from 6-9 pm.  This year, I have insisted they leave early, to allow time for homework and "wind down" before bed.  So far, it's working better for MY sanity, but grades are continuing to suffer for 50% of the highschoolers in the house.  Something's gotta give.  We haven't quite figured that out yet.

Regardless, both boys are really enjoying being on the swim/dive team.  Colby has given up diving this year and has replaced it with the freestyle and breast stroke.  He's doing very well for someone who has never swam competitively before!  And Quinn is killing it in diving. He loves to flip and soar.  So I think they're where they need to be, it's just exhausting keeping up with them!

How the New Year Started, a.k.a. "The Aho Family Health Care Plan Group Discount". An Epic Tale.

SOOOOO... the new cat I brought home from a coworker for Reagan (whom we dubbed "Lucky".  Oh, the gross irony!) didn't get along with our old cat.  Or rather, our old cat didn't get along with him.  She was not an accommodating host, and was severely upset for 2 weeks that we had brought another feline into the house.  Look for yourself:

We kept waiting for Senia to get used to Lucky, but... no dice.  She hated him.  At first, Lucky just ignored Senia and went about his business, which included holding whole conversations in English.

But after a few weeks, he got tired of her hissing, and decided to show her a thing a two.  I witnessed the first attack, and ran him off when he had Senia pinned under a bed.  The second attack was a few days later, and Rob was a tad more aggressive at saving Senia.  There may have been foot-to-cat contact involved.  This did NOT endear Lucky to Rob, or Rob to Lucky.  

Later that day, Lucky was calmly sitting on a chair, when Rob went to pet him.  Instead of purring, Lucky bit.  It was quick and unexpected, and got Rob right in the forearm.  It was a bite very much in retaliation for Rob's interference in the earlier cat fight.  And it reportedly hurt like the dickens.

Rob woke me up at 3:00 am that next morning, complaining of his arm killing him.  I must admit to not being the most sympathetic person in the world at 3 am.  It was such a SMALL bite, his pain level seemed quite out of proportion to me.  But I put lidocaine on the wound, gave him some Tylenol, made him an ice pack, and sent the big boy back to bed.  Apparently, things didn't get better.

I got a call on my way to the swim meet on Saturday morning that either I "did something with that cat", or Rob would "take care of the cat".  That did not sound promising.  Apparently, his arm had swollen up, and the pain was intense.  He could no longer use his hand.  He was furious.  Reagan was distraught, in tears at the thought of her cat being sent away, at the thought of her dad hurt... at the whole situation.  My heart broke for her.  But we all knew... the cat could not stay.  I called my coworker and apologized profusely, but asked her to come get the cat.  Lucky was hiding from Rob (smart cat) under the stairs, and wouldn't come out for a full hour.  Finally, a few pieces of sausage lured him out enough to be taken home with my coworker.  The cat was traumatized, and so was my husband.  

A visit to the ER confirmed a very quick-acting infection, and the possibility of tendon involvement.  Rob was given two intra-buttock shots (he is not someone who tolerates shots well AT ALL) and some oral antibiotics, and told to return if the infection got worse.  By the next morning it was obvious... the infection had gotten worse.  Hello, cellulitis.  

He was put on IV antibiotics and admitted to the hospital.  "Lucky" was not how 2020 was starting out.

The VERY NEXT DAY, Rob's Dad slipped on the ice in his driveway, and had to be taken by ambulance to the ER.  There it was found that he had two pelvic fractures.  Rob, conveniently, was able to meet his parents in the emergency room, after getting permission from his nurse to go downstairs.  It was a reunion of grand proportions.

 The doctor they now both shared,  walked from the hospital floor down to the emergency room to check on his patient(s) on his way home for the night.

Andrea, hand feeding Al a cheese stick, because his ribs hurt too much to raise his arms.

Rob insisted that he would not share a room with his dad, as his Dad's snoring was worse than his wife's.  That's pretty bad.  But he was able to eat breakfast and lunch in his Dad's room, and give him some company while they were both there!

Rob has since come home, but Al is still in the hospital recuperating.  Since then, though, Reagan has had to go to the walk in clinic for pink eye, and Colby just yesterday for a sinus infection. I think we may meet our deductible for 2020, if this pace doesn't slow down sometime soon!  

Here's hoping for a HEALTHY 2020!

Epiphany Tea

Years ago, I had read a blog post by a woman who had held a mother daughter tea in honor of the epiphany, and it just charmed the pants off of me.  Ever since, I've been dying to have one of my own... but circumstances never played out to make it become a reality.  Well, THIS year, my oh-so-accommodating friends acquiesced and agreed to have the tea with me.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  Sarah, bless her ever-loving-heart, offered her home as a central location, and we feasted on champagne-flavored king cupcakes, Nativity springerles, pineapple star tartlets, thimbleberry cordial truffles, cucumber sandwiches, cheese spread and crackers.  We read a reflection by Madeleline L'Engle on the Magi's visit, drank tea, feasted, and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Afterwards, the girls went outside to sled, and the whole afternoon was just peaceful and lovely.

Happy Epiphany!

The craft we INTENDED to make (origami crowns), but we kind of forgot about that, because we were having so much fun just chit-chatting :).

Happy New Year!!

January 1st started out absolutely gorgeous.  What a beautiful day!  The girls and I celebrated the new decade by painting some pottery at the local kiln.  Super fun, but those chickies were a little worn out from the night before!