Rainy Days

How strange to be having to wear jackets all of the sudden. It's strange that travis left before it got hot, and while kids were still in school, and then by the time he gets back it'll be pretty much like when he left.

Micah isn't doing things like this very often now, but he still has moments. Here is his new method of not using his leg. We went in to see the pediatric doctor yesterday and they did some blood work to rule out a few things. Both Doctors we have seen have mentioned that sometimes a virus can cause symptoms like this and it just goes away and no harm done. Ninety percent of the time he is running around like normal, but then he has these moments and a lot of little moments where he uses his leg carefully at first before deciding he can run. I wish he could tell me something.

Here we go

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Well, the first day of school is come and gone. Kaden was so excited that morning--he jumped up and down and hugged me a few times. I just hoped it would be as wonderful as he imagined it would be all summer long as he counted down. And it seems it was. His first comment to me after school was, "that was awesome!!!" He really really wanted to ride the bus, so I sent him off with a knot in my stomach. I know they take care of those lost kindergarteners, and it really helped to have Noah taking him under his wing, but it's still my little Kaden, and I can't imagine him being old enough for real school. And to not know how it all went until the end of the day!

Anyway, it also seems very strange to have a second grader. That sounds so much older than a first grader. He seemed to have a good day, too. He's a pro now, apparently. It's so nice to have him seem confident and comfortable with things. It was hard on him moving in the middle of the year last year, and into a class where everyone knew each other and had their own friends and groups. But he's done great. I'm proud of my 2 big boys, and we missed them. Ammon especially.

I love Kaden's umbrella as he gets off the bus. Surprised he didn't get turned in for carrying a dangerous weapon...

Ammon is 4!!!! A glimpse...

That mean's the terrible troublesome and three's are over with right? No really, just in the past couple of months I have noticed a huge change in this little guys and his ability to cope with life and make nice choices. Four is going to be a great age. How in the world can he be 4 years old?! He still feels like my baby in so many ways. A very short glimpse into the life of Ammon Neal Passey (whose middle name is after Grandpa (Alma Neal) Timothy's, and thus Grandpa like to call him "Ammon Neal"). He's always been a bit fickle. He was due exactly when we were to be moving from Florida to Idaho, so I had flown out a month early to have him in Rexburg. That way we would be close to our final destination, and it seemed the way to go. We had it all planned out, when Travis' squadron didn't want to cooperate and he ended up graduating from F15 training late, and even then getting held up by hurricane after hurricane. So all this while, Ammon was inside me, teasing me--acting like it was time, then stopping. Trav finally finished and headed our way and I was so relieved to know he was on his way. I was going to make it after all! And Trav was a champ and drove impossibly long days to get to Rexburg, but despite all of our effort, Ammon was born about 6 hours before Trav drove to the hospital. Stinker. 2 weeks early, 8 lbs 4 oz.

I remember him going through a fussy baby stage for awhile, and he really liked to be held. But along with that came the perk of being our cuddliest child by far. He's always been the one that will lay on you and cuddle for a long time, and I loved that about him. He is a handsome little devil, and a very good boy. Some funny things about him: He's a little quirky with silly things. He loves bag and containers. For as long as I can remember, he has to always have a special toy of the day in his hand at all times (or a seed or acorn, even better), and more often finds some sort of container to fill with special things and carry around. He is pretty flexible with these--ziplock bags, small storage bins, backpaks, cups, etc. He likes to joke around and be silly with his brothers.

I am having serious computer issues, again, and am not able to post pictures! It keeps shutting down when I try. So maybe I'll come back and add them later? Blast.

The adventure never ends

I think it is so interesting how each child does something different to make trouble. I guess the toddlers all have things in common, but each of my kids has found their own--like their signature trouble making. I may have forgotten or blocked out how my other boys were the the things they did, but Micah seems to have more of them. His latest is climbing on top of the table whenever I turn my back. He especially loves to do this in the morning while I am talking to his daddy on the computer, and after his brothers leave the table and conveniently leave the unopened milk jug and cereal boxes on the table. I have had to throw a partial gallon of milk away one because of cereal sludge inside, and tonight as I was trying to decide if I could salvage some of this gallon, I discovered a few more treasures inside the carton. There was a colored pencil, a spoon, an unopened bouillon cube, a hair elastic, a lock, and some cereal (obviously the cereal in the picture is not the original, but everything else is. It's just too hard to be diligent enough but I need to grind it into my older boys heads even more to put the lid back on the milk and put it away!

Problems

I am mostly just posting these two videos to show Trav and my mom and anyone else who might just have the intuition on what is wrong with this boy. He started doing this yesterday morning and I would have taken him to the urgent care, except that he alternates with acting like this, and then walking around and even running a lot and acting normal. Over and over again yesterday, and then woke up normal this morning and it started again a couple of hours after being up. He's walking probably 70% of the time, and then 30 (maybe 40)% of the time he won't use his right leg. Could growing pains do this? It seems it couldn't be broken if he walks and runs part of the time. If it is still happening tomorrow I'll take him in. Anyway...

Micah's leg issues

He doesn't ever crawl anymore. He only walks and runs and climbs. So that was the first weird thing.

Tire Park with the Ritchie family

Oatmeal

What a joyful fun age this is. If I could just freeze this kid forever we could all have him for our little toy and to help us keep our perspective on life. And most importantly, it's so easy to bathe him in the sink when I am in a hurry after letting him eat his own oatmeal. If he keeps growing he won't fit in there soon. I just had to pull out a new bin of clothes for this kid, the next size up, and that was such a sad thing.

Botanical Gardens

We've been in a mad dash to get all the fun and sightseeing and playing in before school starts. We discoved these gardens right before taking Shauna and Bailey to the airport a couple of months ago, and I am so glad. And I really wish that it wasn't south and through the tunnel to Norfolk, because it's been so fun, we would make it a weekly fun thing if we could. It is a perfect haven for all of my kids here, but especially for Noah. Thousands of labeled plants, a butterfly pavilion, a frog bog, a hummingbird garden and a narrated tram ride, and miles of trails to walk or bike inbetween. They also have a Childrens world in the center of the park that has some spraygrounds and a few different sections and stations that represent different areas of the world. We forgot the camera the first time we went there, but this time was with our friends the Howards, and we went again 2 days ago with our friends the Youngs.
Micah and Trinity and their cute little booties.

Butterfly pavilion. what a fun fun place...

looking at cocoons

Childrens World and the spraygrounds.

Digging for beans

Yurts

Trinity, Micah, Chance, and Makaela

Passey boys and Chance

Tram ride