Cloudy with a chance of stitches.

 Writing about the kids injuries is starting to feel a little like a weather forecast.

"And tonight we have a 60% chance of concussion with expected stitches and hematoma..."

Landon had major repair work done on his shoulder in January.  This is the SIXTH injury requiring general anesthesia surgery to repair damage.  We are not even counting stitches and broken bones anymore.  Its just painful.

Truthfully this last surgery really does take the cake in the painful department.  Right up there with Benson's first broken collar bone.

Landon hurt his shoulder the first time playing rugby last spring (but he made a game saving tackle in the last minute of the game so it's all worth it right...?) and he finished it off in football.  Everyone (doctors, trainers and coaches alike) all kept telling us that if he didn't have a documented dislocation then he was probably fine.  We knew he wasn't fine.  Any time an injury makes Landon scream with pain we can bet the bank that it is an injury not just a hurt. He had one game where his shoulder 'popped' SEVAN  times.  But we did four months of physical therapy to assuage all the health care providers' worries that we were jumping into surgery prematurely.  Finally the physical therapist threw in the towel and declared that Landon needed to see a surgeon.

It turned out that Landon had a massive bankart tear.  Landon's tear went from the front portion of the shoulder all the way around to the back.  Posterior and Anterior.  They put in six pins to anchor the labrum back up to the shoulder socket.  Ouch.

The shoulder is in a big stabilizing brace and Landon isn't allowed to even ride an exercise bike.  He has been sleeping sitting up in a recliner for six weeks. The first few days were especially difficult.  General anesthesia makes Landon throw up for a while.  Nausea is the worst.  

He is over the worst now and just has to start physical therapy and get things healed well enough to go in and have the right shoulder repaired...the right shoulder is as bad or worse than the left.  Sigh.  

Landon was ranked number one in the state for wrestling.  He really finished off his right shoulder in one of the two matches he wrestled this year.  He won the matches but had to stop three times (screaming involuntarily) to have his shoulder put back in place.  (his right shoulder--the 'good' one...) I was mad.  Why does he continue when it hurts so much? He says, "nobody told me I had to come out..." 

sheesh.  

So with Landon out, Dallin moved up to wrestle 195 instead of 182.  It's hard for Dallin to maintain 182.  Dallin was doing great (also ranked #1 in the state!) until a big meet at Minico.  He smashed his head into the mat and got a major concussion.  Great. He was stunned and lost the match but nobody recognized the concussion symptoms (he kept falling asleep and felt like he was walking around in a fog) so he went on and wrestled through the consolation bracket and won his next five matches.  But it came at a heavy price.  He came home confused, exhausted (way beyond the normal...) and grumpy with a terrible headache and tunnel vision.  

Concussions are a big pain.  The only treatment is to not think. 

They take concussion treatment very, very seriously around here.  He wasn't allowed to go to school at all--no bright lights, video games, texting or exciting movies or books.  He had to go check in with the trainer every day.  There is a specific protocol that has to be followed to return to learn and then return to play.  You can't move up to the next step until you are symptom free.  If symptoms return with increased activity then you have to go back a step. 

He sat at home like a mushroom for two weeks and he would still get really dizzy and get tunnel vision when he tried to reengage in life.  They say that recovery can be longer in kids with ADHD brains...

Rustin gave him a blessing and he started to improve a bit.  He was able to get back to classes but he would have to leave some of the more mentally stressful classes and go to the library.  He also didn't attend band, Body development or Jive practice. 

Anyway, he finally got back to wrestling--we pushed the recovery schedule a bit to have him wrestle in district wrestling.  It turned out that the intense noise, lights and wrestling were too much and we had to pull him out of the meet.  He was bitterly disappointed but I think also relieved. It surprised me how disappointed I was to have him miss state this year! But it is the right thing to do.   Now if we can just keep him out of Rugby long enough to heal.  

Don't tell the state troopers...and brothers

Austin turned 14 right after Christmas.  He also just passed the 6 feet tall mark.  6 and 1/4 inch to be exact... Though the boys say he's at least 6'3" with his puffy hair.  Gotta love curls...

So this New Year's Eve Austin was able to go to the stake dance.  The regional dance was out in Filer.  It's so nice to have Dallin and Landon driving! Nothing ruins a  New Year more than a drive to the middle of nowhere at midnight.  Austin said his brothers taught him some useful tricks at the dance.  Austin was having trouble asking a specific girl to dance and Dallin put his arm around him and asked "who's your target?"  Then he helped him get 'in position' to make asking easier.  Being a teenage boy is harder than it looks!

When the boys came home from the dance they had a confession.  Dallin got pulled over because one of the headlights on the suburban was out.  

He didn't have his license so he used Landon's.  

They said the cop didn't even look twice. 

Having a brother can be an advantage in so many ways!

Homecoming and an injury report.

The Bruins had a great game Friday night.  They beat Miniko (last year's conference champs) by five touchdowns.  Yea!  Dallin played right tackle and did a super job.  At one point we could see a scuffle on the field and some of the team members pulled Dallin back.  It turns out that the opposing team piled on the already tackled star running back.  Right in front of Dallin.  Duh. I think if I were a player, I would like to have Dallin around--he has no tolerance for anyone beating on his teammates.

Landon had a great game too--for almost one quarter. 

Looks like he has torn the meniscus in his 'good' knee.  I could tell he was injured immediately.  He started limping and favoring his right leg right after a tackle in the first quarter.  Darn.  His knee is swollen double its normal size and it is super painful to bend.  And it is a nice shiny purple color on the back.  The father of the running back on the team (the same one Dallin fought for--see above) is an orthopedic surgeon.  He's also in my parents ward.  He took a look at Landon's knee and ordered a set of x-rays but we are betting that they won't find anything on the x-rays.  We will need an MRI.  

We were just in the office of our regular ortho surgeon on Thursday making shoulder rehab plans...  

Landon's shoulder still hurts like crazy.  

Have I mentioned how much I hate injuries?

Landon's knee didn't stop him from having a great time at the Homecoming dance!

Such cute, nice girls!  The boys got new suits.  Actually their first suits!

For some reason the dance was at the beginning of Homecoming week this year.  We are sad Landon won't be playing in the Homecoming game! Maybe next year...

I'm sure he will find something to keep himself busy!

The usual.

We had such a nice almost-Fall weekend!

 We spent the weekend in Pocatello.  Dal and Lan had a game at Holt Arena on Friday night and Rustin's cousin Alex had a wedding reception on Saturday so we took the whole family and stayed at Grandma Geisler's house.  Darren and LoaLee came up with Jotham and Jamie's kids and Aunt Jill and Uncle Terry joined us at the game.  We lost to the very formidable Highland team (#1 5A school in the state) but the kids all played well and we had fun watching.

As for the injury report:   Landon's un-injured knee took a hard hit and is still swollen and bruised and his un-injured shoulder has been hurting all weekend.  We hope he didn't injure it trying to spare his injured shoulder...  Dallin had a great game.  No injuries--just the usual bumps and bruises.  Rustin and I were chuckling as we watched the players come out of the dressing room to load onto the bus. Almost every player had an ice pack taped to a body part--knees, shins, backs, elbows... Football is ridiculous.  But fun.

The weather was in the mid-seventies with  a soft breeze the whole weekend.  I love Fall! We went down to Ross Park where Rustin and I spent many a Saturday in our dating years!  When we went out to load everyone up in the suburban, we realized we made the critical mistake of leaving the boys football gear in the back of the suburban all night.  Holy locker room!  Thankfully Grandma had some febreeze...

The rock here is as slick as a slide--I'm sure generations of playing children
(including toddler Dallin and Landon!) have polished it like nothing else can!

Ross Park was perfect.  The kids climbed around on the rocks and we laid in the grass. Rustin laid with his head on my tummy and Jackson could not stop jumping on top of us.  The kids sat around and talked and laughed like only cousins can.

Austin is missing from this picture because he had just split his brand new shorts from waist to hem...

The big boys chatted with Grandpa Hatch about who to take to the Homecoming Dance and how to ask them.  Thankfully Dallin's phone died so he would quit texting long enough to chat...

Rustin and I watched Jackson play on the playground equipment.  I think he's only been to a park twice... Poor youngest child!

We had a great weekend!

That 's my girl

Jenna wrote an awesome essay about Fall in school.  I completely agree with her!  As soon and the end-of-summer---my-kids-are-leaving panic subsides I completely embrace the cooler nights with the hot days.  Maybe I'll stick this up on my mirror at the end of next summer...

Don't you love the curly q 'h's?!

I have accomplished quite a feat this week--I am almost completely caught up on the laundry.  Fifty thousand dirty camping blankets, jackets, sleeping bags and all!  I even organized and re-stocked the storage room.   I have Jason Borne to thank...  

And I am working on big plans to make my evenings easier.  I hope to complete it by next week!

Friday Night Lights

TFHS against Hillcrest (Idaho Falls)

Dallin and Landon played in their first varsity game Friday night!  

I am surprised at how much I enjoy watching football when my kids are playing.  

This game definitely helped in the excitement department.  

We won in quadruple overtime.

Have you ever seen a game with four overtimes?!

At the end of regulation time they were tied  12-12 so each team got four downs starting at the ten yard line to try to make a touchdown.  We both scored every time until the final fourth time around when our team ran the ball in for the two extra points and then they kept Hillcrest from scoring. 

Landon started as the Mike (middle linebacker) and Dallin started as the right guard on the offensive line.

  Landon ended up playing on the offensive line almost the whole game as well because one of the linemen dislocated his shoulder.  Kind of ironic because Landon has been fighting with an unstable shoulder all year.  He first injured it last spring playing rugby and now it keeps slipping around in the socket with the occasional partial to complete dislocation.  Ouch.  Really ouch.  He said he felt it pop in and out 6 times during the game.  The last time it slipped,  Landon's brace had come off so it (the humerus bone) moved more than normal and left him screaming with pain until it slipped back.  And then he played the four overtimes.  

I'm super frustrated. So is Landon. 

 We bought every extra protective piece of equipment we could find--gloves, forearm pads, extra neck braces, shoulder brace, knee pads...

 Have I mentioned that I hate injured kids?

So back to physical therapy.  With our fingers crossed!

Sunday.

We had the yummiest muffins today!  

Zucchini banana muffins.

Jackson randomly takes bites out of the muffins... 

 A neighbor gave us an 18 inch zucchini and that sucker was enough for TEN dozen muffins!  

In an effort to get my kids to stop eating super healthy snacks (as pictured below)...

I have been searching out and testing some healthier recipes. 

I especially want to find some non-cold cereal options that are quick and easy. Maybe frozen?

I have seen a recipe for blender pancakes but haven't tried it yet.  

Has anyone tried pancakes made from wheat berries?  

I'd really like to have a freezer full of good breakfast choices so Dallin and Landon don't eat toast and hot chocolate every. single. day. for the next school year.  Once school starts those boys will have 12-13 hour days every day of the week until wrestling is over in March.  They need some good healthy food!

We checked an item off our summer list and went to the drive-in a while ago.  We saw Planes.  I'm sure it was good but I pretty much spent the entire drive-in trying to get everyone comfortable.  By the time the kids settled down on our two gigantic bean bags and stopped jostling each other, the second movie, Monsters University, was half over and I fell asleep.  But it was still fun anyway!

We start our last week of summer tomorrow! Yee-hah!

Cool off

It's been hot this summer!  

I think we've had an entire month of near 100 degrees every day.  

Jackson figured out his own air conditioning method. 

Isn't Sadie the cutest puppy ever? I don't know if I have ever introduced her here in BlogLand. 

She is a first generation English goldendoodle.  Her mom is a black and white poodle, her dad is an English Golden retriever.  She will be a great mom for us in a year or two when she has her own adorable puppies!

Speaking of puppies...all the puppies have been gone for a couple of weeks and I must admit it is nice not to be a resident doggy day care!  They ended up all over the country--from New Jersey to San Francisco! We have been getting the nicest reports about the puppies we sent off.  So far they are all very mellow, easy going little guys.  And smart.  We get lists of tricks the new owners have taught their pups. 

 It makes me happy! My goal has always been to raise dogs that I would want to live with. 

Tomorrow begins our last week of summer break.  I'm handling it really well this year.  Sometimes the end of summer really, honestly gives me anxiety attacks.  I like having everyone home and I hate the crazy cycle of homework and constant activities.  I always feel like we didn't accomplish enough in the summer. This year I am excited for everyone and their fun activities.

Dallin and Landon have been busy with two-a-day football practices.  They are playing the SAM and MIKE positions this year.  That is strong side linebacker and middle linebacker.  I looked it up on the internet so I would sound educated! 

They come home and drink a gallon of milk and eat all the bananas and pineapple they can find.   It seems to be helping with the painful leg cramps that both boys were having at the beginning of the week. 

Dallin was released from physical therapy for his knee this last week.  Yea! So far he is totally healthy and doesn't have any knee pain for the first time in a long time.  He actually wrestled all last year (5th in state!) with the meniscus torn so I think it is a relief to practice without knee pain!

Of course Dal finished just in time for Landon to start therapy for a shoulder injury.  

Actually, it is not so much an injury as shoulder instability.  Apparently the humerus slides around in the socket more than expected. They think he is having subluxation rather than full joint dislocation so we are hopeful that physical therapy will help.  Lan first injured the shoulder when he took a really hard hit in rugby last spring.  It has been kind of 'popping' randomly during swimming etc., but this last week of linebacker practice really exacerbated it to where he doesn't want to move his arm and he is telling us about the pain.   Based on past experience,  if Landon complains about something hurting then it is usually injured...not just sore. So I have good reason to be paranoid, right?  

Anyway we have some fun plans for the last week.
 Actually they are just fun for me!  I'm going to make the kids help me with a bunch of projects.
Can't wait!

Tick-tock

I am sooo glad that we still have three weeks of summer left! We still have temperatures in the triple digits nearly every day but the nights have started to drop down to the 50's/60's--first sign that fall is on its way! Which means.....It's that time again....

School shopping.

I swear half my clothing budget goes to my kids' shoes.
Not kidding!
Football cleats, wrestling shoes, church shoes, regular school shoes, sandals, hiking boots, PE shoes...
And of course each pair last approximately 8 weeks...

On the bright side--Dallin and Landon haven't had their feet grow in the last year or so.  Maybe their toes will stop poking through the end of the shoes and a pair will last longer than a few months!
I can't say the same for Austin!
I predict that he will be the tallest of the Hatch boys.

How is it that our only girl is the LEAST expensive shoe wearer in our family?!

Shopping for Jenna's shoes is the most fun.  I'd rather buy shoes for Jenna than me for sure.

I make her try on all the crazy shoes in the store.

I don't really care much for shoes myself.
I don't know why.
It probably goes back deep in my psyche from when my size nine/ten 4th grade feet couldn't fit in the shiny little girl shoes they so desperately wanted.  It was traumatic. Now they make cute 'young' shoes in all sizes!  Yea for my large-foot-destined daughter.  Actually, the other day the shoe store guy told me that the average size shoe for women now is a 9 1/2.  I really didn't have that big of feet!

Today I have a big project planned that will make my future mornings infinitely easier.  At least I hope it will! I'll try to finish it and post pictures tomorrow!

Still here!

Whew.
Our puppies are all sold and all but one has shipped off to new homes in New Jersey,
Seattle, San Francisco, Texas and lots of other places.

I think I forgot how much work puppies are!  We had 13 dogs at our house for most of the summer.
Two words pretty much sum it up--pooper scooper!

Actually it wasn't that bad.  These puppies were really quick to learn.  They all used the dog door to go outside from 5 weeks on.  They learned to sit at the gate to be picked up or fed with very little effort.  Lots of our families were surprised that the dogs already knew how to sit.  Two families said their pup has had no accidents in the house.  Yea!  My goal was always to raise dogs the way I wish mine were raised.  Goal accomplished!

Jackson has been in an alarmingly naked streak.  He is hilarious with the pups.  When they were nursing he would crawl all around and under Paisley with the pups.  There is one picture in particular that my sister took that has my parents renaming Jackson Mowgli.

Yes,  they are all drinking out of the same bowl of water.

 He just got in there and pushed puppies out of the way and said "hey guys--move!"

I think it's safe to say that it was time for puppies to go!

We are into August which is one of my favorite times of the summer.  At least the first two weeks before football starts are my favorite. Once the actual start of school gets closer I panic for a minute.  I feel really unsettled when the kids leave.  I'm not kidding.  My heart beats faster and I get a little sick to my stomach when I think about it.

Some of our last weeks of summer plans:

Go camping with just our family.
Make s'mores.
Have a giant back to school picnic with all our friends.
Go to the drive-in--again!
Sort out closets and get school clothes ready. (okay this one is totally my goal...)
Throw away all the mismatched socks. (I can already feel the relief!)
Sleep in.

snapshot

This is just an few seconds of my life.  I'm sure I'm the only one who has kids that are ridiculously noisy in the car.  Right?

We are happily surviving our 100+ temperatures this week.  Our poor little air conditioner has a hard time keeping up with the heat but we are glad that it hasn't quit all together yet!

A few things we are thankful for:

popsicles

puppies that use the dog door

good carpet cleaner for the times that they don't use the dog door...

swim team in the evening (evening swims are actually working our well!)

Dallin's healing knee--he can start working again.

Boys with drivers licenses so they can drive themselves to work next week. (big smile here...)

Big cardboard boxes from the DI (Rustin seriously cleaned out the un-worn laundry yesterday--husband of the year!)

Big brothers who teach little brothers to walk like a monkey and fall down dead when shot. (don't tell the Obamas that my kids pretend to shoot each other...)

Family reunion July.  Can't wait to see everyone!

Easter

 I pretty much love all holidays but a holiday that includes Spring is especially awesome!

Rustin and I both grew up doing baskets and egg hunts on Saturday.  When all the kids were small we would tell the them that if we color eggs and  leave them out where they can be seen, then the Easter Bunny can't help but come by and hide them.   So we color eggs on Saturday morning and leave them out while we go for a walk or something.  Then we have an egg/basket  hunt on Saturday afternoon. 

Our Easter Bunny is especially handsome.

Most years we pack up our egg sandwiches and go out to Balanced Rock in Castelford but we didn't make it out there this year.

This Easter our chickens gave us a head start in the coloring department so we had some really 

beautiful egg colors!

We thanked them with an Easter treat of their own.

 This year we had some plastic eggs and I put some money in a gold egg and a silver egg.  It made for an enthusiastic egg hunt!

And might I mention that Paisley found and devoured her own share of eggs.  She pretty much eats anything but dog food--apples, cantaloupe, eggs, noodles, bananas, asparagus...you name it.

I had great intentions of sewing cute spring inspired Pottery-barn-esque Easter bags like my sister made but it didn't get done.  One of these years...

Next year remind me to skip the grass in Jackson's basket...

 (picture him saying "Mine" and "hey" a thousand times...)

(of course his thieving brothers probably had something to do with that...)

Now I am thoroughly determined to make this hydrangea plant grow somewhere in my yard!

Happy Spring!

Two!

Jackson is two!

If it weren't for the fact that every stage the kids go through is cuter and more fun than the previous one, this "birthday" stuff would really make me panic.  

Here are a few facts about Jackson:

Jackson eats everything we give him.  Probably because he is almost always sitting on someone's lap at meal time.

Jack and Beau have a special bond.  They snuggle together every day. 

Jackson is decidedly right handed and he can really throw!

He talks more than any of our kids have at this age.  

His personality is very similar to Dallin and Landon at his age--he's a crazy, jumping, laughing, throwing, biting, snuggling, climbing, determined toddler!  

He looks most like Benson did at his age. And he is FAST like Benson. 

He likes to read (and read and read...) and play with legos like Austin did.

He colors like Jenna did at his age. Very meticulous. 

He has blue eyes and light brown hair--more hair than any of our other
kids have had at his age.
He sings all around the house and he matches pitches.
When he wants me to stop talking or get off the phone
he will say "pause, pause..."

 He will choose to 'rock-a-bye' with the older boys as much as with mom and dad.

 He sleeps in a bed with Benson and he has never woken up at night since
we moved him in with his brother. Benson says his favorite thing about Saturday is that Jackson wakes him up in the morning and they play on their bed together. 

He loves to go  to sleep at night snuggled "down a Daddy." 

'rasslin

Landon wrestling  against Canyon Ridge

 Wrestling is something that has always come naturally to Dallin and Landon.  {As Dallin put it when they were young, "we've been wrestling since before we were born and Landon stole all my blood." (Twin to twin transfusion--Landon had extra blood shunted to him through the placenta, Dallin was super anemic)}

This year is no different!

Wrestling in high school has been the most intense sport that the boys have participated in.  They come home with their clothes literally dripping with sweat.  The workout are hands-down more difficult than anything the boys have done so far--and they have done some intense workouts.

Dallin missed a good portion of the year with his knee injury. He tried to get back into the swing of things right after Christmas only to have his knee swell up to double its size again.  So he went back to physical therapy and we had a family fast and many prayers for him.  His knee improved rapidly and he was able to get back into workouts mid-January. He found it extremely difficult to keep up after a couple of months minimal exercise but he stuck it out and did his best.

This last week we had district finals here in Twin Falls.  Dallin went in as the dark horse at the very bottom of the rankings.  Actually he wasn't ranked at all.  He ended up beating the first place sede in the first round and then went on to beat the fourth place sede for a place in the finals. He ended up 2nd in district overall and will go to State in Pocatello next weekend.  We are thrilled for him!

Landon was ranked 3rd in district and he was the only ranked freshman in the state. He ended up having a much more difficult schedule than Dallin and after a LONG day he placed 4th in district and earned a place at the State competition next weekend as well.  If he hadn't worked so very hard in all those workout this last winter he never would have made it through the six matches he wrestled on Thursday. Wrestling is the only sport I've seen that can leave the athletes so exhausted they literally can't hold themselves up after only 6 minutes of competition.

All the wrestlers show so much courage.  They keep going even though they are injured or hurt  until they have literally exhausted all glucose and glycogen stores their bodies have to offer.  They cheer for each other and offer encouragement and tips.  One kid from another team even offered Landon a tip about how to beat one of his opponents.  It was a long day that was awesome to watch.

Actually I have to admit I don't think mom's are meant to watch their children wrestle. It's so hard to see those expressions of pain.   Dallin and Landon weigh almost exactly the same so I have my fingers crossed that they won't have to wrestle each other...

These beautiful pictures of Landon under were taken by Drew Nash.  Check out his blog for the photo setting specs.
Twin Falls Vs. Canyon Ridge Wrestling Duel--Drew Nash

Easter-egger

Our chickens have started laying eggs.  It's so exciting for us!  We are really glad we have five easter-egger chickens!  We have some lovely greenish and bluish and pinkish eggs along with a couple shades of brown.  I don't think all the chickens are laying yet.  I am still hoping for a pretty bright blue egg like Jot and Jamie have.  But really finding eggs in the chicken house is fun no matter what!

I can't figure out how to get the camera to capture the true color of the eggs.

Jackson is giving us an early peak into the terrible two's.  When the boys were small everyone told us to "just wait until they're teenagers,"  but Rustin and I think teenagers are our gift for surviving the toddlers.  

This kid is a pill.  Cute but sooo busy. And he can throw a serious fit. 

He runs in and begs for Jenna's horses as soon as she leaves for school so his "guys" have something to ride on.  

 As soon as he gets tired of horses (10 minutes max) he moves on to his next favorite playmate--Beau.

 Poor Beau.  

Can I nominate a dog for the Nobel Peace prize?  

Jackson bites.  

Most people worry about teaching their dogs not to bite their kids.  Our problem is the other way around.  Thankfully Beau doesn't seem to mind too often.  I spend a couple of minutes every day having Jackson hand out the treats while Beau practices sit/down commands.  They both like it. In fact they play together all day.  Jack shares his food and scratches Beau's ears and throws balls all day long. The other day I couldn't find Jackson and I was  calling for him and Beau came running upstairs and then down and back and forth (like Lassie!) to tell me Jack was downstairs.  It's funny how you learn to communicate with animals when you live with them.  

When Jack isn't swiping toys or biting dogs he is begging his brothers to play with him.

He calls Benson "Bents," and Jenna 'Jen' and he makes them come in and sit on the floor by the castle to play with 'guys.'  He tries to make me play with him when the kids are gone but I'm pretty boring.  

He makes Dallin and Landon do push-ups with him on their backs.  

He has a cute little maniacal baby laugh.  I need to record it.

We are waiting out the last melt/freeze/slush days until spring comes in earnest. 

We will confine the chickens to their house and fenced in yard so we can get some much needed work done in the back yard.  I love spring! 

Chicken Whisperer

Jackson 'helped' my dad work on the chicken coop today.  

The chickens have a particular squawk they make when Jackson is in the vicinity.  He can catch them no matter where they go.  At least he has learned to pick them up by the body instead of just a foot or wing.

Poor girls.

They can't wait for the fence and gate to be done...