Well I was sitting, waiting, wishing.... -Jack Johnson

One week of bed rest down! 6 more to go! You'd think a lot couldn't happen while on bed rest but you'd be wrong. There are two other people in this family that go out and have a life. And the baby in the womb who is having a party because Mom is resting all day.

Mackenzie was cleared by Mom and Dad to return to school this week. She genuinely loves going to school. Last week when she was out for three days, by day 3 she was talking about one of her teachers which implied to us that she missed school. It was very sweet. One day this week she received a treat (not sure what for) which was an ice cream bar in the shape of Paraguay. She was so excited about it that she smothered the package all the way home and had a very melty treat.

Then as luck would have it, Thursday afternoon she seemed warm to the touch and by Friday morning had a low-grade fever so she stayed home with Mom. For two hours in the morning she cuddled and slept on Mom on the couch which was wonderful because she never does that any more! Good thing Mom had no where to go or things to do because it was the highlight of her day to sit and cuddle with her sweet (but sick) toddler. But since she didn't go to school on Friday she also missed a birthday party of a classmate which we're calling a win. We'll talk about birthday party's later on in Quirks of Paraguay.

Scott has been kept busy with work. This next week is full of exciting things that he needed to prep for. Despite all his work, he was still able to leave work each day around 12 to pick up Mackenzie and drop her home and get her down for a nap since K currently isn't able to. He was also able to come home early on Friday without needing to go in on Saturday which sometimes happens.

As for Kiersten... this week is best described as Books and Binging. She's got about 3 books she's plowing through that she rotates to keep things interesting and when she can't read anymore, binges Elementary on Netflix. It's a modern take on Sherlock Holmes with a female Watson. If she isn't downstairs and has the urge, she'll work on the quiet book for the girls which this weekend she made good progress on. New goal, get everything cut before we leave if not completely finish both.

To help make the bed rest more manageable, our Embassy community and Ward family are really showing their true colors. Everyday this week someone has come to help play with Mackenzie. And a few people dropped off meals. It's also been nice for Kiersten to have some adult interaction during the day instead of books and tv and to break up that monotony. 

Speaking of food, we recently gave in to the craze of pressure cooking and bought an instant pot and we are on board now. It really is so easy and fast. Overall cook times from start to finish are sometimes as long as the conventional route of cooking but you don't need to babysit the food. Dump it in, cover, press a button and walk away. Yes a crock pot does the same thing but it can take 2-3 times longer so if you forget to start in the morning, what do you eat for dinner? And it can dirty many more dishes. This requires no real advanced planning and you can sautee things right in the same pot then cook! So we've been making more meals with our new kitchen toy.

You can even make yogurt! So we did.

Saturday Mackenzie was feeling better and she and Scott did a grocery run. After her nap, we all went out back. Scott cleaned the pool, Mackenzie played with water and Kiersten sat in the hammock. At 3:30 we plopped on the couch to watch the BYU football team play #6 Wisconsin. 3 hours later we snagged victory! It was a terrific game and a great upset, something we haven't done in several years. 

Sunday it rained all day which was lovely. The weather was cool and the rain outside beautiful. Scott and Mackenzie went to church while Kiersten stayed home, listened to conference talks and worked on the quiet books. Scott received permission from our Bishop to administer the Sacrament for K at home. So thankful for a worthy Priesthood holder who can complete this ordinance for others in our home. M did not nap well which made for a fun afternoon of grumpiness. S and M made the trip back to church for choir while Kiersten again stayed home. It was a slow Sunday for some and very busy for others.

And now it's Monday again. More help has been arranged for this week and Mackenzie has recovered from her fever and is back to school again this week. We really hope her immune system has recovered and can handle the next two weeks in full health.

Projects:

• Talked about the Quiet Books. Here are some pages as proof. Four pages for both fully completed. Three and a half more in the works. 2-3 more to figure out, cut and finish.

  

  Temple puzzle. Yes I had to choose about the hardest Temple to cut and sew but DC Temple forever! I also only have one of these pages done and am not looking forward to the second one.

  
  

  

  Popcorn Popping. This page is to help learn buttons.

  
  

  

  Armor of God. This one isn't quite finished. Need some more embellishments and scripture references.

Quirks of Paraguay:

• Birthday Parties. OMG! They are such a big deal here! Decorations, presents, food, toys, treats, goodie bags, cake, etc. And it starts young! It's a bit overwhelming. Birthdays are wonderful and should be celebrated but this goes too far. We don't want M to buy into the "I-must-get-presents-and-toys-for-my-birthday" mindset, pun intended. We have too many things in this world. Can't we all just enjoy the ride and the memories? Ok, soap box over.

The Mackenzie Update:

• Last week we failed to mention that on Saturday Mackenzie had two successful tries on the potty. It was VERY exciting! She was so proud of herself that she wanted to try immediately after the first attempt which led to the second successful attempt. Nothing since then but that's still progress in the right direction.
• Twice this week she woke up at 4am. Scott got her some yogurt then she went back to sleep so we think she isn't getting enough calories during the day so on Sunday we kind of forced food on her which we don't like to do but it was necessary. Guess what? She slept through the night so guess it worked.

  

  Found these gems on my phone. Thought others might also enjoy.

  
  

  

  Photography by Mackenzie!

• She has a new song in her rotation; Twinkle, Twinkle. She's got most of the words actually and is becoming a very good little singer. She'll sing little songs at random that she's invented. We love this new creativity.
• We've got another Cougar fan in the family. We taught her how to say 'Go Cougars!' during the game on Saturday. Over time it started to sound like, 'Go Turtles' but we knew what she meant. And she learned how to say, 'Touchdown!' We'll make an American football fan out of her yet.

Not as busy of a week as we normally report but things still happened as they should. We, again, are so grateful for everyone who has helped take care of our family this week and feel blessed to have made such wonderful friends here. Two and half more weeks in Paraguay and then it's off to VA for the rest of the year. We got this!