still friends

Even though he is constantly right behind/next to her, petting her hair, trying to get her to play with a toy...Kella still loves to hang out with Ewan!

a new bed?

I guess sometimes, the bed just isn't the right spot to sleep.

Pain, meet chiropractor

I have a problem.
I love cheap flip flops.

Unfortunately, cheap flip flops do not love my feet, and in turn my hips and lower back. This creates a reoccurring problem for my body.
Way back in August, my fun with flip flops ended with pain and muscle spasms going down my right leg. This happens maybe several times a year and takes a couple days to resolve. Usually, a sign for me to start wearing my "good" shoes which seems to correct the problem that i think has to do with body alignment. Work was rough, and doing daily stuff was hard too. After about a week, the pain went away from the right side. Too bad for me, the pain and muscle problems shifted to my left side. And stayed. It got so bad that I was laying on the floor one night, crying because it hurt so much to move. Poor Andy, he had to listen to me through all of this. He was so patient.
Heat helped. And I took bunches of Tylenol, ibuprofen and naproxen. I wore my shoes with killer arch support.
Still, things did not get better.
Finally, with Andy's suggestion, I made an appointment with a chiropractor.
Amazing.
Apparently, my pelvis had shifted enough that my right leg was shorter than my left leg. My back got adjusted and I was put on a table with rollers to massage my back and hooked up to muscle stim.
I left that treatment feeling a little better, but discouraged that it wasn't an easy fix. I came back for a second treatment, and then a third.
I could tell with the last one, that my back was not as sore and that the doctor adjusted in a lower area than before=improvement and healing.
I'm no longer popping pills throughout the day.
I can walk without a limp :-) and do daily stuff with no problems.
Why did I wait so long to go?
I still hurt occasionally, but it is thousands of times better than it had been. I'm hoping that after my next visit I will get the okay to start running again.

I threw away all my flip flops.

preschool, again

This year, Liam is the only one of ours going to preschool.  The first day was rough, he did not want to go at all, and I think he was a good 15 minutes late.  But, once Liam got here, he did have a great time in the Jumpstart class.

A little humidity outside caused the camera to fog up.  Liam chose his own outfit :-)

Got his blue shirt on and ready to go!

Andy was so good to take a couple pictures for me!

Sunflower

Sorry folks, more flower picks.  These photos are of a sunflower that grew from a seed Cale planted at school in the spring.  I didn't expect it to grow as well as it did, especially since it was pretty dry this summer.  Tried some close-ups with the camera, and now you are subject to them :-).

See the bee?

Taller than the mailbox

Promotion

Another promotion for the boys this week.  Surprisingly, at least to me, Marcus, Cale and Ewan all got promoted to the next belt level.  Maybe I should pay more attention during class, but I guess they knew all their stuff.  I had to keep Kella and Liam occupied during the promotion, so the only pictures I got were at the end.  I have to say that the boys were pretty excited.

Ewan was super-excited.  He was acting a little goofy, but I knew it was because he was happy.  By the time he got his next belt, a gold one, his gi was undone and his yellow belt had fallen off.  Typical.

Cale got his orange belt.  He's so competitive, I'm glad he passed promotion.

Way to go Marcus!  He is a hard worker and got his orange belt, too.  Marcus was able to answer questions they asked, and knew all his katas.  I know he was excited to advance.

The promotion class.  My boys are the only boys in the photo :-) .

Clematis

My blog.  My photos. 

 Here are some I took with my phone last week.  I messed around with Instagram on a few of them.  That is one of my favorite apps to play with.  I love how you can change the look of the picture with the different exposures.  (And it's super easy to do)

The storm coming in.

Up close with my clematis plant that decided that it was safe to bloom again, with all the rain we've been getting recently.

One of Kella on the sidewalk, right before the rain came down.  Yes, she is holding a mac-n-cheese box. 

Happy Tuesday!