I will say that Derek was probably mighty relieved not to have to participate in this tradition. Haha. It's not his favorite.
I also bought the kit, but forgot to buy any extra candy. So we raided the pantry for anything else we could use. I think that I found some new favorites!
Well, after a week of performances and competitions, now Derek has COVID. Ugh. He luckily realized it quickly and isolated in the house. I was really worried, since I'd been around him on Sunday night when he was already first having symptoms (without realizing it). So I stayed home from school as soon as he got a positive test. Ben also had to stay home from school Wed-Friday, even if we tested negative because he still isn't vaccinated (it's been hard to get an appointment or make it to the walk-in clinic). Even after I got a negative test on Thursday, I stayed home until I could get a 2nd test on Friday. Wrestling around the state has had a huge number of cases (although none of the kids that Derek has been working closely with are positive...and the girls team hasn't had any cases.) So this week went from jam packed to NOTHING. Cancelled matches and tournaments. Skipping youth wrestling, water polo and the youth activities.
Derek was pretty sick for a couple of days. He had a fever and chills and lots of cold symptoms. He was super weak. But he's on the mend now.
I wrote 3 days of sub plans (thankfully I was able to get actual subs for 2 of the three days and my principal and the instructional coach filled in for the other day). This is when project based teaching is handy. Kids had stuff they were working on and my coach said she could have just set up a Mrs. Norton cut out in the front and the kids could have run it themselves.
Anyway, the flashbacks to the confusion and frustrations to the beginning of the pandemic were very very real. But, it's only temporary I kept telling myself. Everyone but Derek tested negative. 2x. So hopefully just a few more days of Derek hiding out upstairs. We miss him!
Ben was a pretty good sport about missing so much fun at school. He entertained himself by writing this song. So, we've been hanging out. And we will still be hanging out for a couple more days. We had to cancel the caroling party (tonight) and the White Elephant Party (tomorrow night). It's going to be a very relaxed week. Just hoping Derek's clear so we can host Christmas Eve!
This week we had a chance to perform and compete. But why did all of it have to happen in the same week? And also, COVID restrictions are still yucky. Who wants to watch a choir sing with masks on? While the sound was still audible--such a bit part is watching the faces of the performers! Anyway, I guess we take what we can get!
Wednesday Night: Sarah's Choir Concert. We only got 1 ticket to the Einstein choir. Sarah choose Libby as her +1. I thought that was sweet, and since Libby sang with lots of the kids last year, I figured she'd enjoy it most. Sarah didn't bother to let us know that she had a solo! (I guess she only found out that day.). I hosted the YW for a Christmas party that the girls showed up to as they finished their performances (one of our other YW also had a performance at the other high school.)
Libby took a video.
Then on Thursday, we rushed to drop off Sarah at Water Polo and pick up Ben from Rhinos to get up to Snohomish for Libby's first official wrestling scramble (a match between a bunch of schools that have smaller girls teams). She WON both her matches. We brought Brion with us, so we had to try to hunt around for parking. We were late enough that we missed the first one. I was pretty frustrated. But I was glad she had a second match.
Friday my parents flew in to help me with the insanity of Saturday. It was so fun to have them here. Friday night we helped decorate for the church party we couldn't attend (because it was on Saturday morning.) Saturday Ben and Sarah had their Seattle Children's Chorus concert while Libby had a Drill Competition. Libby's competition times didn't end up making it possible to see both Libby and Ben's concert. So it was a more relaxed day than anticipated. It was WONDERFUL to have them here. My dad was pretty excited to see Buddy again--he asked where on the agenda was the Papa and Buddy time.
I took a video of Ben's solo, but I tried to take stills in the middle and it shut off the recording. So here's a snippet. He's singing right when the video starts. He sounds great!
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| Grandpa Brion and Alayne came to both shows. Grammy and Maren could only come to the afternoon one due to their candy making day. |
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| I told Ben he could pick anywhere for lunch--so of course, Dairy Queen. :) |
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| I didn't remember to take video of Sarah's choir. But they sounded lovely! |
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| Papa and Buddy! Papa worked on tricks with him and help me set up new gates so Buddy has access to the kitchen now too. |
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| Libby...competition ready! (They didn't place yesterday, so she was upset with the team performance. But happy with hers...so we'll take it.) |
My parents had time to come to church today, eat lunch and help me with the puzzle we started with Dave and Anna over Thanksgiving. We got really close before they had to go. I am so lucky to have such fabulous parents.
We took David and Anna to the Apple Cup. It was cold and the football was DISMAL. If you were a Husky Fan.
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| Heading from the tailgate to the game (or should I say butt kicking?) |
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| Still loyal fans. (Well David and Anna can just be glad they aren't actual Husky fans :) |
Ben loves to go to the games so he can get swag from the players at the end. He goes down to the tunnel (just down the row from our seats) and stands there for the whole 4th quarter so he can get a "good spot" to get stuff from players. I think he got 4 gloves this year.
Well, the new coach is hired. So here's to better luck next season.
It's been busy...I mean, it was already busy. Then add a dog to the mix. Add lots of appointments for various things, add in the holidays, and guests and work and then wrestling. But it's been good. I really like having a dog. He's really great. So this year, I guess I'm thankful for Buddy.
It was also such a fun Thanksgiving. Uncle Davy came and brought his new girlfriend Anna. I'm a huge fan. We had a great time! We didn't take many pics. It was raining too hard on Thanksgiving for the normal official picture. (And, shockingly--I was irritated by the time we finally got to dinner. Every year I say that I won't be...but every year I am. Ugh.)
Dinner was delish, and then we had some good game playing. The best was a 14 person game of SCUM! There was a lot of back and forth in the game, so we got to to move around the table a lot. After a brief stint in the scum seats, I stayed roughly middle of the pack.
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| I think I did win a round of my Thanksgiving standby--Rummikub |
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| We had so much dessert. I ended up throwing away a pie and a half (almost 2 whole pies) when we hadn't finished them by the end of the weekend. Next year I'll make less! |
I will say I timed out the pie making on Wed and the potato and stuffing making perfectly though. The chilled pies were chill and the hot food was hot! I was pleased with that.
Love my Norton family--and I love that anyone else we bring gets wrapped into the Norton love.
Buddy also had a great time in Maren's fenced backyard having a playdate with Spaghetti. Never knew I'd be arranging playdates for my dog. But here I am!
I missed 1 big thing for each kiddo while I was in FL. Our primary program (thankfully Ben has one more and I could zoom in to watch), Sarah's first YW lesson that she taught by herself, and Libby's first Drill Competition.
The Nortons helped represent me at the comp. I also got to watch via Facetime live.
Libby looks so great!
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| Norton Representation! |
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| Maren and Sarah even representing with their shoes. |
I got to go to Florida for a quick trip to help out Rachel & her family. She is about 5 weeks out of her surgery, and did her first infusion while I was there. It wiped her out more than she was hoping it would...so I was glad to be there. I cooked and cleaned and helped her finish getting Devin registered for kindergarten. The best part was teaching Devin to play Go Bling, a Randall family classic. I also loved reading with him. He is doing so well! But school will be good for him.
It was so good to hug my sister. So hard to see the challenges she is facing. But I got to go to church with her and see her ward just envelope her a a huge embrace. Her boys sang in the primary program. It was ADORABLE. And hilarious. I love her so much. I couldn't do much, but I cleaned out the fridge (my specialty), did some laundry, and made some meals. Oh how I wish we lived closer!
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| I love the FL warmth! |
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| I got to watch Devin play some t-ball! He's a headstrong boy--wouldn't play anywhere but pitcher or first base, haha. Even when the coaches asked him to move. |
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| Rachel has cut my hair so many times, so it was an honor to give her a little trim. |
Well, I finally gave in. And I'm glad I did. Derek has been suggesting a dog for our family for many years. Especially in the last year. But I wasn't having it at all. No way. Too much work. Too much worry. Too much liability. I was barely making it as it was!
But then, I finally saw the need. For all of us. To have someone to love and care for. To pull us together. A new family member that would give unconditional love to all of the kids. And honestly, to me too (although I didn't realize it at the time.)
Derek was sending me listing for dogs that were like $2000. I wasn't having it. But apparently that's the going rate...Dogs are a big industry. I was praying for how to find a dog for our family that was more reasonably priced...and that would be a good fit. After my prayers one morning, I felt like I should message Josh, our friend in Salmon Idaho. I was guessing that dogs might be a bit cheaper there.
Josh assured me that dogs in Salmon are much cheaper... but that usually they are mostly bigger and hairier that we wanted. But then the next day he got back to me with an ad for our dog. I just knew it was our dog, just like I knew our house was our house.
So, the arrangements began. Thankfully I knew my dad loved road trips. And he had a new Tesla he's been wanting to put more miles on. And he loves a trip to Salmon. I also called my Aunt who lives in Salmon. She knew the family with the puppies and let me facetime with the pups. The wife of the breeder helped me pick out the one that would be best for our family. My dad drove to Salmon and picked up Buddy, then drove to Boise. I drove to Boise and met my dad. I was so nervous about all the driving with a puppy, but he was great! He just snuggled Libby and had a great ride. (He did vomit after we got home, but thankfully that wasn't in the car.)
We decided on his name pretty easily. D. Buddy Norton, DBN #5. Love it.
And, it has been so great. From the surprise and delight on the kids faces (lots of Libby tears of joy,) to the fact that he has slept through the night every night. He has had some accidents in the house...we are still working on that.
But I'm glad to have our buddy!
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| He's already gotten so much bigger! |
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| This photo is the best. It is the night before we got Buddy--Libby snuggling with the kitty at Andrew and Melissa's house (where we stayed in Boise). She's pouting that I won't let her have a pet! haha! |
Our big party was last night, so I guess I can post even though it's Halloween today.
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| Annual trip to Spiros. I went with the Slytherin robes, since that's what I wore for my class Guide to the Galaxy. I gave all the visitors a "lifesaving potion." aka, a lifesaver. It was pretty fun! |
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| Sarah as Donald Duck |
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| Libby as Venus (or is it Aphrodite?) Yes, she's already embracing the "How little can I wear for Halloween" mentality. Sigh. |
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| Storm trooper Ben! (He got two shots since he wanted an action shot!) |
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| Ben again. Jed was also a Storm Trooper. And before we knew Derek would be working, we got him a Jaba the Hut t-shirt. So he's with us in spirit. |
After my PRPs helped some significant healing in my hip, and I still had lots of pain, my doctor referred me to another doc who specializes in nerve issues. She did a bunch of muscle testing on me and noticed some strange weaknesses that could correlate to nerve compression. She does a quick and simple nerve procedure called a hydrodissection. It's an injection that is mostly saline solution (a little cortisol) and COVERED BY INSURANCE. I didn't need crutches after or anything. They do the injection under ultrasound, so they can see the nerve. She could see some issues with each of the two nerves she injected. To get at the second nerve, she had to do 3 injections. I had a total of around 5 injections. It wasn't that painful, not like PRPs. But it did wipe me out for the day, which created a comedy of errors for the evening. My family and YW need some more planning if I'm not going to be there, haha. I went to bed at 7, and finally got to go to sleeping with a, everyone will figure everything out sigh, at like 7:45.
Anyway, this procedure opens up space around the nerve so it can do it's job. I'm supposed to feel better within two weeks. Do it? There is significantly more sensation in my left quad. It definitely helped something. But of course years of bad movement patterns are still with me. I'm scheduled to do another set of injections in December. So we will see. I think I'm making progress?
The doctor let me film her talking about my ultra sound so I could show my students since I'm teaching about the central nervous system this month.
If you're interested in seeing my nerves--it's kind of cool! Video Here (hopefully)
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| It was the Rotary Cup this weekend, meaning our Rivalry Game against SC. SW lost, but they made a good game of the first half. The drill team looked EXCELLENT :). I volunteered to make cupcakes for the drill team's break between practice and the game and I helped serve up food at the booster dinner. I'm still figuring out how to find my place as a SW mom. |
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| Libby and Sarah did some Halloweening on Saturday. Sarah went to the Rec Center for a Teen Night--she took two friends and they didn't last long. I forgot to get a picture. They came back home to have pizza, do make up and chat here. Libby went to a haunted house with friends. She didn't last long either after too many scares made her neck cramp up. She sat with one of the moms and waited for everyone to come out. Haha. Ben and I stayed home and watch Jungle Cruise. I'm definitely still figuring out how to be a teenage mom. |
