Life In Gtown

When Your Child Struggles

2012-02-21T00:19:00.000-06:00

When we first started vision therapy we were given the below book.

I started reading it and couldn't put it down.

It is a must read for anyone whose child is struggling in school, especially those who have suspected an vision problem, yet have walked away from a vision exam with 20/20 results, and therefore ruled out "vision" as to why their child is having a difficult time.

One of the most important phrases in the book is "...20/20 means that you child can see tiny letters across the room FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO READ THE EYE CHART."

I might be a little more passionate about the topic of visual problems than most mothers of children with Strabismus, due to the fact that I also have Strabismus. So, I have not only read about my boys' visual problems, I have lived it. (Although, I don't think that my vision was ever as bad as the boys, so better phrased as that, "I have a good idea of what they are going through".)

I did not enjoy wearing glasses at all. I got made fun of (seriously, anyone who thinks that little kids don't tease other little kids for being "different" especially when that difference is an obvious weakness is just naive. It happens, and it can be a real self confidence killer.)

My sister (who also has Strabismus) was able to stop wearing glasses just before middle school. I so desperately wanted to also. I learned at a young age that the opthamologist uses the same reading charts over and over, you visit enough and have a decent memory... it is easy to memorize.

It baffles me that doctors haven't figured this out.

My sister and I joked about this one day. Seriously, don't ask me to read line 5 with my good eye, then 20 seconds later ask me to read the same exact line again with my bad eye. Do you really think that I am not going to be able to recall the letters I just said?

It is not like you are trying to "cheat" but like it or not the same letters are just going to flow off your tongue because they right there in your short term memory bank.

I did get my glasses off. I assumed that meant that I was "fixed". It wasn't until many years later that I found out from my opthamologist that Strabismus doesn't go away. Your muscles get stronger and your eyes and brain can learn to work together so that you see better.

So many things make sense now...

1. I suck (that is putting it mildly) at baseball.

(Hitting, catching... about the only thing I could do was run. )

2. Although I love to play air hockey...my skills in this are only slightly better than baseball.

3. In high school these 3D posters were popular and whenever I went to the mall with friends, I always wondered why they could see the "hidden image" and I couldn't.

4. My best friend is awesome at the little light games (like at Dave and Buster's, Chuck E. Cheese, etc)... where the light goes round and round and you are supposed to push the button when it lands in the middle of a small highlighted area... She makes it look so easy. Yep, I suck at those too.

Anyway, now I know why... Though it doesn't look like my eye crosses anymore, it does ever so slightly, enough to make it so that my depth perception is off. Apparently, in order to see those silly Magic Eye 3D images, your eyes have to be perfectly aligned. Also, if your depth perception if off, your hand/eye coordination will suffer too.

As much as I enjoyed not having to wear glasses once I got to middle school, I now know that I could have greatly benefited from continuing to wear them.

Hindsight is 20/20, right?

I am sharing this because so many people have asked me, "How did you know that you child needed glasses?" In many cases of Strabismus it is obvious, other times it is not.

In addition to Strabismus there are a several other vision problems that people may have, yet still have the ability the read the eye chart at the eye doctor's office without difficulty. As a result, they never get the proper help, and simple vision related tasks are much more of a challenge for these individuals.

For a school aged child, this can be extremely difficult and frustrating.

Anyway, getting back to the book. The introduction explains 3 out of 4 times when I child passes their eye exam it means just that... no vision problems.

However, 1 out of every 4 who pass the exam may still suffer from a variety of vision problems.

What I valued most about Hoak's vision therapy is that they don't just go off the results of reading an eye chart for 10 minutes. They do a complete evaluation of the eyes. The book also breaks down vision into several parts, and explains why children who were "passing" eye exams were still not seeing as they should.

For example, one area that Hoak really has a problem with is copying. The eyes have to adjust and re adjust, the lens has to open/ close (think of your camera lens adjusting from distance to close up, and back again over and over.)

This is not something that you see tested in most eye exams. You are asked to read far away, and then close up. But rarely do they go from far, to near, back to far, then near.

In school, children who have this problem will most likely have a difficult time copying information from the board. They'd either take forever to complete it, or make mistakes like omitting or repeating words or letters within words.

The book explains how there are some children who just learn to listen in school and do excellent on verbal questioning etc, yet struggle when they have to write the anwers.

Hoak actually scored fairly high on his initial visual memory testing (he had to read a set of numbers aloud, then repeat them in the exact order a few seconds later what he just said.) Ironically, he scored off the charts (high) when instead of reading them himself all he had to do was listen to them being called out, and then recall them. In short, he has already learned to cope by listening carefully to make up for what he cannot see clearly.

Reading the chapter on this topic, totally took me back to my school days.

I remember in college my roommates once thought that it was crazy that I never read any of the assigned material/ books for class. (Honestly, not one book did I finish... Sadly, I can say the same for high school) Occasionally, I'd skim, especially if the professor said the material wouldn't be covered in class. However, this was rare, most of the time the material was covered or touched on in class, and therefore as long as I went to class and listened... I did fine.

If I read for too long, I'd get headaches, so avoided reading/studying whenever possible.

I think many parents overlook vision problems as to the reason why their child may be having a hard time in school especially if there is no family history of vision problems, or the results of a quick eye exam show that they are seeing fine.

If you do even slightly suspect vision problems with your child, this book is and excellent resource in understanding how our eyes work, how and what we are supposed to see, and when/where you should seek help.

First Date

2012-02-20T01:54:00.001-06:00

Jeb has always had a knack for landing himself a sweetie.

He REALLY likes his "girlfriend" this year, and apparently the feeling is quite mutual.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding a few days before Valentine's Day, and it seemed that perhaps he might have gotten "dumped."

Or so we thought...

(Too long of a story, and maybe a little embarrassing for him, so I will leave out the details.)

I was a little surprised to get an email from the future in laws asking if Jeb could meet up at the local ice cream shop after school on Valentine's Day. (Since I had thought that they were on a "break")

Anyway, they have been pestering us to take them to Catfish Parlour so that they could have a "date" for a while now. (Crazy huh? They are only 5 and 6 for Pete's sake.)

I have to admit, although it really was adorable watching them scan the ice cream counter together, exchange Valentine's Day gifts, giggle and be silly... I am so not looking forward to the tween/teenage years.

Why can't they just stay little forever?

She got him this HUGE card and a sweet teddy bear.

He got her some candy and a pink tutu.

They both had rainbow sherbet topped with a cherry.

Valentine's Day Preschool Parties

2012-02-20T01:31:00.001-06:00

The little ones had their Valentine's Day parties at preschool last Monday.

Below are a few pictures.

(I forgot my real camera, these were taken using my phone...not the best quality,

but better than nothing)

My little handsome man passing out his Valentines...

His Valentine's Day bag was full of everything from sweet treats, toys, to books.

I was the "party mom" in Paisley's room, so

I spent most of my time in her room that day.

She too received all kinds of fun stuff. Her teacher even gave her a pair of Minnie Mouse socks!

She LOVES them.

I love my little kiddos!

"EYE" love these books!

2012-02-05T10:36:00.001-06:00

Since it is the second month of the year, I am including two books for the February book review.

The main characters in both of these books have eyes that are a little different from everyone else. We found both books right here at our local library.

Score!

Book 1

The Incredible Peepers of Penelope Budd by Marie Karns

This book seriously had the most adorable illustrations. (by Amy Wummer)

I especially liked all the metaphors used in the book to describe the color of Penelope's Peepers.

The story itself is really sweet and reminds children that it is ok to be unique.

Book 2

Bumposaurus, by Penny McKinlay and Britta Teckentrup

I picked this book up initially because the boys tend to like stories about dinosaurs and I thought the title was funny.

It wasn't until we got home that I realized that this story was about a little dinosaur with a vision problem.

I guess it would have helped to read the back of the book. (see below)

Bumposaurus has quite a few interesting adventures exploring the world (what he can see of it ) around him before someone finally clues into the fact that the little dino might need some glasses. All the my little ones liked this book. It really made them laugh. I don't want to spoil the humor by giving away too much... take my word for it- It is both funny and sweet.

Vision Therapy Graduate

2012-02-03T09:26:00.004-06:00

When we originally signed up for vision therapy last year, the doctor recommended 8 months of therapy. His last day was today. Technically speaking he is not "fixed" (for lack of a better word). However, he has made huge strides.

Hoak is only 4 years old, and I think he was getting a little burnt out, and the work was getting more difficult and frustrating for him. In addition to one hour in office therapy weekly, Hoak spent an average of 45 minutes 3-4 days a week doing "homework exercises". Although these were fun activities, they were actually difficult and straining for him.

We had the option of extending his therapy, and quite honestly I think he will greatly benefit from it. So this is probably something that we will revisit in the future. As for now, we are going to take a little break.

He has worked so hard, and we are so proud of him.

I wish that I would have brought my real camera today, because they actually had a little graduation ceremony for him. All the therapists came to congratulate him, and his therapist boasted about some areas where he really excelled.

(He was "Master of the Touch Screen" and "Master of the Rotating Board". I don't have pictures of either, but I have seen him in action working on both, and I have to admit he was quite amazing.)

The pictures below are taken with my phone.

Not the best picture, but super cute little guy with a BIG hat and certificate.

In the above photo, he is walking around the room getting a high five and hug from everyone in the office.

Not sure if you can see it, but there is a brown bag on the table with yellow paper in it.

(Yellow just happens to be Hoak's favorite color). Anyway, after the ceremony, he was presented a gift. It was so awesome, he got a new Thomas book, a baseball, and some M & Ms.

I plan on doing another post regarding Vision Therapy in general.

This post is all about Hoak though, and I wanted to post his progress below.

Before we started the therapy sessions he was evaluated in several different areas.

The results below show where he tested at his initial evaluation (last April) and where he is now.

The evaluation is broken down into several parts.

1. Visual Acuity (Eye Sight) -

April 2011- Near Now

Right eye- 20/25 20/20

Left eye- 20/60 20/20

2. Binocular Vision (Eye Teaming) -

During binocular vision retesting , Hoak demonstrated improved binocular coordination ability when assessed through both motoric and sensory modalities. During sensory tests requiring equal input from both eyes, Hoak showed improved stability and accuracy in his ability to coordinate both eyes together showing an increased appreciation of depth perception (improved from no measurable depth perception at initial testing to 100 seconds of arc at his best retest) and decreased frequency of suppression (improved from constant suppression of the left eye at all distances.) During motoric testing he also showed increased stability and reduced frequency of the eye turn.

3. Oculomotor- (Eye Tracking) - Hoak's oculomotor skills were reassessed with various motor-coordination tasks in which Hoak showed improved efficiency and accuracy in his saccadic (left to right eye movement for reading), pursuit (eye movements following a moving target), and fixation (sustained focus and steady gaze) abilities.

4. Visual Processing Skills Assessment

*Visual Spatial

Symmetry-Proportionality Execution- Now- 6 year old equivalent (Very strong performance) improved from 2.5 year age equivalent at initial testing

* Visual Analysis

Discrimination- Now -37% (average performance) improved from 16% (very weak performance) at initial testing

*Visual Motor Integration

1. Visual-Motor Integrative Reproduction - Now - 93% (Very strong performance) improved from 4% (very weak performance) at initial testing

2. Motor Coordination- Now - 25% (weak performance) improved from <1% (very weak performance) at initial testing

In short, he has made HUGE progress. He has severe eye issues which are not going to be corrected in 8 months... It will take years of wearing his glasses and working hard to "see" like everyone else. In reality, his eye sight will never be perfect. Unfortunately, that is just the sad truth. Think of it a broken plate... you can gather all the pieces to fix it and glue it back together, but it will never be "perfect".

I am fine with that. All I want for my little guy is to do my best for him to make life less of a struggle. If we could help him to improve all of his weak areas to average that would be perfect for me.

I know that without vision therapy there is no way he would have made that amount of improvement he has just by wearing glasses alone, or even surgery.

I am so grateful to the doctors and therapists at OCVT.

Look at him go!!!

2012-02-03T09:15:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week, one of the teachers at the kids' preschool asked me if I was interested in her son's 20 inch bike. He'd outgrown it. I replied, " Geez, 20 inch? Jeb is still using a 16 inch, and it still has training wheels on it. "

(But of course I said yes, because I am a hoarder and that is what we do... collect/store things that we have no immediate use for.)

I'd been telling Jeb for about 6 months now that one day soon we were going to take off the training wheels. Unfortunately, we haven't been playing outside as much, and if we do he has been riding his scooter. Since Christmas, all the boys seem to want to do is play with their DSi systems.

It was a beautiful day outside...so, "one day" was yesterday. I told him to put down the DSi, we were going outside. I grabbed the wrench removed the training wheels then padded Jeb up from head to toe. When I was putting on his elbow pads, he questioned," Why do I need all this?" In hindsight, I shouldn't have replied, "Because you are going to fall. It won't hurt as bad with the pads."

Ooops!

Anyway, luckily for me he still got on the bike.
I know that developmentally speaking, 6 years old is a little late to learn to ride your first 2 wheeler.

However, the boys don't have the best of balance, and little depth perception, so I was sort of avoiding the transition from 4 wheels to 2.

To my surprise, he had no problem. He teetered a little when he tried to turn. He never did the "Are you still holding on?" or "You didn't let go?" followed with a turn of the head (and handlebars) that would plant one face first on the asphalt (speaking from experience here...)

He never turned around once. I watched him ride away like it was nothing.

He still hasn't quite figured out how to "take off" on his own, but other than that... he has it down.

Super proud.

I took a quick video of him today.

Maybe someday soon, he will be trying out the 20 inch bike!

Out with the Old... In with the New

2012-01-31T15:27:00.000-06:00

We are downsizing...as much as I love my big red car, and all of its space, it has seen better days, and is costing a fortune to fill up each week. (Even though I don't go to "work" everyday, I really do put a lot of miles on the car just chauffeuring kiddos to and fro.)

Anyway, Jeff had been wanting to trade it in now for sometime, so...

Mommy got a new ride.

"Hasta La Vista" Big Red Car. "Hola" Not as Big Metallic Mocha Buick.

It is obviously smaller, but it is quite roomy for its size.

I haven't had a new car since 2005, so this one has all kinds of neat features that weren't even available years ago.

My favorite new feature would have to be the back up camera (had this been available on the big red car, there would be a few poles out there and a tricycle that would have been saved).

It also has the most awesome leather... the children have already been informed that they will not be eating or drinking in this car anytime soon.

Here is a picture of our new

Metallic Mocha Buick

The little monitor in the middle is where you can see what is behind you when the car is in reverse...so awesome. Whoever created this feature was a genius (and my guess a woman).

It has two moon roofs (Hoak thought these were really neat.)

Though it didn't come with a drop-down DVD player (which was a "must have" on our list), we are getting one installed in a week or two. It will go right there between the moon roofs.

The little ones enjoyed "testing" out all the seats before the car seats were installed.

Enough about the car...

I had been wanting to buy Paisley a little kitchen from Pottery Barn since she was old enough to stand. However, I didn't want to pay the Pottery Barn price.

The little pink kitchen that she had was cute, but really just to big for her right now.

She could never reach the little cups, clock, or write on the chalkboard, because she was still too short.

I know that she would eventually grow into the pink kitchen, but I wanted something for her to enjoy now.

Therefore, we are saying "goodbye" pink kitchen and "hello" little Pottery Barn kitchen.

She really likes this one. It also not only matches, but fits nicely in her room too.

A couple of weeks ago, I turned 39. Sooner than I'd like, I will have to bid "Adieu" to my 30s, and say, "Bonjour" to my 40s. In keeping with the title of this post,

I thought this would be a perfect place to add a picture of my 3 sweet little ones posing with the ice cream cake that Daddy bought for the special occasion.

(Who knows, maybe life in my 40s will be a pleasant change...)

It was a very yummy cake!

I love Baskin Robbins.

January Book Review 2012

2012-01-28T14:37:00.002-06:00

We found so many good books at our local library last summer. If I had to rank them... this one would probably rank the highest. All three kiddos enjoyed this book.

There is no rhyme or reason when I search for books at the library. Honesty, I mostly look for good pictures, then large print, and if I have time, I will glance thru the pages a bit to see what the book is about.

This one was on the display shelf. When I first saw it, and read the title C D B, I thought that it must be one of those "mixed up alphabet" books or something.

Then I looked at the picture and it all made sense...

(See The Bee)

You don't even have to know how to read to enjoy this book... perfect for little ones.

See you if can figure these out...

(Answers are at the bottom)

Answers

1. I hate you. I hate you too.

2. Why are you whining? I don't know.

3. Are you sleepy? Yes, I am. I am too.

4. I am seeing you. Indeed you are. You are peeking.

Luckily, the book has answers for each page in the back. (Some were actually a little challenging.)

The above pages were just some of our favorites.

Whenever my kids are being especially fussy, I will ask, "Y R U Y- N- N?" ... Instantly their frowns turn to smiles and sometimes, I even get an, " I N O" as a response.

So, as I am typing this, Jeb just walked up. He saw the pictures, got excited, and started giggling then grabbed the mouse to scroll for more. A few seconds later, Hoak walks by, and also saw the pictures, and wanted to see more.

I see a trip to the library in our future.

Funny how there are some books that just stick with you.

For our family, this is one of those books.

My Confident Little Reader

2012-01-23T22:46:00.000-06:00

So I have to admit, when Jeb started reading at 3 years old, I wasn't too surprised since he always was fascinated with the alphabet.

Hoak's reading, on the other hand, really surprised me.

Especially since this time last year, the poor boy was officially "legally blind" in his right eye.

In one short year, not only has he worked hard to regain his vision, but he read his first book all by himself (with just a bit of help) Sept 7, 2011.

(In the below video, you can tell that he is still using the pictures to help decifer unknown words, and most of his reading is "word recognition")

His reading skills continue to improve daily.

I am so proud of my little guy. More importantly he is really proud of himself. Being able to read his own books and not needing Jeb's help has really boosted his confidence.

Last week, I used the video camera to record him reading a couple of books.

He still needs a little help with an occasional word, but that being said, he is light year's ahead of Jeb's current Kindergarten reading requirements.

Amazing huh???

Not too shabby for a kiddo who had 4 muscles cut on both of his eyes less than a month ago.

Happy Birthday Jeb!

2012-01-23T22:39:00.000-06:00

Seriously hard to believe that he was ever a tiny little baby.

He is so big now, so independent, opinionated, funny, and freakishly smart.

He loves school, but had no desire to go on his birthday. He just wanted to stay home and unwrap his gifts.

We let him open one gift before school.

He posed for a picture with his gift (wearing his new shirt from Fleetie and Paw Paw) before heading to school. We told him that we wouldn't be able to bring cupcakes to school that day because I had to take Hoak to therapy, however, Jeff took a couple hours off work that day to surprise Jeb with cupcakes for his entire class after lunch.

Yea Daddy!

His presents from us.

His birthday cupcake at home on his birthday.

No cake for me... just a plate of icing please!

We had a party for Jeb two days later at the YMCA.

All the kids had a really good time, and played well with each other.

Scoping out the cupcakes...

The kiddos... eating, laughing and talking.

Blowing out his candle on his cupcake.

Almost cannot see Hoak in this picture... can you?

Pit action photo

(everyone played really nicely with Paisley)

The Birthday Boy!

Jeb and his little girlfriend.... ahhh!

I don't know how he does it, but every year he seems to get the prettiest girl in the class to fall for him. He is definitely a "Ladies Man".

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-21T10:01:00.000-06:00

Goodbye 2011...Hello 2012!

2011 was a momentous year in our house.

The most significant event to note would be that since Jeff and I have been married... 2011 marked the longest amount of consecutive days that Jeff had not traveled...about 3 months. (He did travel a couple of times between Sept and December, however, for the most part he has been working in the same town (and from home) for 5 months now.)

Prior to that, the record was 7 weeks, that was around the time Paisley was born.

Kind of hard to believe that you could be married to someone for almost 9 years and haven't even "lived" in the same house day in and day out for even half a year!

Anyway, the good news is that we haven't gotten on each others nerves (too much) and actually it has been really nice having him home.

He takes Jeb to school just about every morning, and often takes the little ones too.

He is home every evening for dinner, baths, playtime and books.

The kids are sooo happy. They love having him home.

I am a much nicer, less stressed, and cleaner smelling too.

We had hoped to that Jeff's current project with AT&T and TMobile meant that we'd have him in one location (even if that meant Dallas) for a while, and hoped to move there.

However, the merger fell thru in December; so as of now, we will remain in Gtown.

We still aren't sure where Jeff will have to travel for his current project, until then he is still working from home...

I have to admit, I am quite spoiled by the life of having my husband home every evening.

Really hoping that his next project could be in Austin... I know that will never happen, but it sure would be nice. After six years of being a SAHM, I finally get to truly experience having "help" during the week. Having someone to share the daily joys and challenges of parenthood is awesome.

In other news...

Anyone with kiddos, knows that every know and then,they say the sweetest or funniest or craziest things. Things that you immediately want to write down (so you never forget) and of course share with anyone who will listen.

Below are my top favorite "Sweetest Things My Kids Said in 2011"

Paisley-

She is only two, so most of what she says is gibberish mixed with some English here and there.

However, one particular day, she responded to "I Love You" with

"I Lu You too Mommy" as clear as day.

Nothing melts your heart like hearing those words for the first time.

Hoak-

I have always said that Hoak is my sweetest little one. Plain and simple, he just is. Twenty + years from now he is going to make the best husband. Out of the blue he will bust out with compliments like, "I like your hair today Mommy!" (on a day when I fixed it), " Is that a new dress? It is really pretty."( When I am dressed up) or "You smell nice" (After a relaxing shower).
They are sincere and heartfelt, and he doesn't just say it to me . We were out at dinner one night, when
Hoak looks up at the waitress and says, "I like your shirt. That pink color is pretty."

Waitress (whose name by the way is Kathy-- we are on a first name basis now) replies,
"Thank you! It is new. I just got it today."

Hoak inquires, "Really, from where?"

Kathy says, "Actually, I got this at Walmart."

Hoak (Jeb chimes in too). " Really? I like Walmart!"

We go the best service ever that night.

Anyway... back to what he said that made heart melt.
In December I was talking to the boys about how Christmas is a time of giving, and instead of only thinking about what things they'd like, think about what the other person might want ...blah, blah, blah.
Jeb always has a suggestion on what to buy people for gifts.
For example... "What should we get Aunt Cindi for Christmas? or what you think Daddy wants for his birthday?" Jeb will no doubt respond with whatever toy he desires. As if Aunt Cindi or Daddy are just dying to have the latest Cars 2 toy.
Hoak says, "Mommy, for Christmas I am going to let you squeeze my hiney as long as you want and give you lots of hugs and kisses."
Probably my most favorite thing ever, is squeezing their tushies, and they all know it, and what Mommy doesn't love kisses and hugs?
What I loved most about his comment was that he didn't suggest anything that cost any money. I love that he understands that sometimes kind words, hugs, and hiney squeezes can be the best gifts ever.
Jeb-
The kids were all sitting around the dinner table waiting for me to finish cooking... they got started talking about birthdays and such and Jeb said something about when he was little, at his first birthday...yada, yada, yada... Hoak interrupts and says, "Yeah, I remember, I blah, blah blah,"
Ok, so I was cooking and not hanging on every word really, but of course I tuned in when Hoak gets upset and says, " I was too. Mommy! Jeb said that I wasn't around when he was born."

Jeb quickly replies, "You weren't."

Me... (Thinking of how to respond besides, "Jeb is right, your weren't born yet"
when, I realize that I don't have to come up with anything because the conversation continues...

Hoak- "Oh, yeah? Well then where was I?"

Jeb- " You were just in someone's heart."

Ok, honestly, I loved this answer. I thought it was so perfect. Of course, I have no idea how he came up with it, so I ask...
"Jeb, why did you say that?

Jeb - "say what?"

Me "Who told you that?"

Jeb - " Mommy, When I was a baby Hoak wasn't born yet. He was just with God."

(Seriously, where is he getting this from??? I would love to say, that we were this deeply religious family, and that is where he came up with these responses... but- not the case.)

I questioned him again, " Jeb, honey, that was really sweet to say, where did you hear that? Did someone tell you that?"

Jeb " No where Mommy. That is just what I think. When I was a baby, Hoak wasn't around. He was just in someone's heart...with God. That's right, Mommy, isn't it?"

You know... I couldn't have said it better myself.
I thought that was one of the sweetest ways to explain Hoak's whereabouts during Jeb's infancy.

Not really "Resolutions"... but below is a list of "Good Intentions" for 2012.

I am realizing that I take a lot of pictures of my kids, but there are so many funny, silly, sweet, things that they do and say that don't actually make the blog, nor get saved on video, or are just perhaps "too embarrassing in the future" to be shared on a public blog.
So, for 2012... I ~~stole~~ borrowed yet another great idea from Pinterest.
I bought 3 leather books that I plan to write down special little things that each one of my kids did or said, or perhaps milestone memories, or parental advice for the future.
The idea on Pinterest was that you save the thoughts, advice, memories, etc of each child and give it to them as a gift when they are 18.
Let's hope that I can keep up with updating them.

Other plans for 2012 include finally writing out a will. Every year about this time Jeff and I talk about "getting it done", but never do. So, just in case we have only good intentions of doing it again this year, I thought that I should at least post the most important piece of what would be included in our will somewhere (not that a blog is a "legal document" or anything), but better than nothing.
Most importantly, if something were to ever happen to both of us and leave our children without someone to care for them... we'd like my sister Cindi and brother-in-law Michael to care for them.
Yes, they already know, and have agreed to take on raising our 3 cuties in the event that neither Jeff or I can. Hopefully, Michael and Cindi can go on enjoying their years to come as "empty nesters" and not second time around parents... and this topic won't ever be an issue.

Honestly, I really enjoy reading books to my kids. I had a few friends mention that they enjoyed reading the "book review" blog posts that I did in the past. I have good intentions of trying to post at least one book review every ~~week~~ month in 2012.
We found quite a few books at the library last summer that kids couldn't put down...so I have a few books already in mind.
Hoping to have the first book review for 2012 out soon!

Oklahoma!!!

2012-01-12T13:34:00.000-06:00

We hadn't seen Great Grandma Clo in over a year, so we took advantage of the holiday weekend and drove to Oklahoma.

The drive took about 11+ hours to get there. There was quite a bit of traffic and couple of wrecks, we also stopped several times to grab a snack, stretch our legs and use the potty.

The highlight of the drive for the boys was when we drove past the NASCAR speedway off North I35. Jeff pointed to it and said, "Look boys! That is where Lightening McQueen races!"

Hoak replied, "Are we in California?"

It was so cute.

We arrived around midnight, unpacked the car, and went straight to bed. The following morning, the little ones had no problem finding their way to GGC's piano. They really like playing it.

We got dressed, and drove to Enid to have lunch with Great Grandma Clo

After lunch, the kiddos helped her open her Christmas gift.

Jeff (37) and his grandma (96)

(We forgot our camera this day, this was taken with our phone, wish it was on the camera, because I really like this picture.)

There isn't a whole heck of a lot to do in Nash, OK in the way of ringing in the New Year, so we had our own little "party" complete with homemade party hats, yummy pizza, and adult beverages.

(We also found some fireworks in the house, it was way too windy to do anything big, but Daddy did entertain us with some BlackCat action.)

I'd love to say that we stayed up until midnight to welcome the year 2012, but I am fairly certain no one was awake after 10:30 pm.

****

The next day, we went to visit GGC again. She'd just received some Elmo books in the mail.

Jeb read one to her.

Just 3 days after eye surgery, we let Hoak try short book.

At this distance, he couldn't really make out the words, BUT-

We moved the book at lot closer and he did awesome!

Great Grandma Clo was a teacher for almost 40 years, and still works with a group of 4 year olds every morning. She was really impressed with both of the boys' reading skills.

We are very proud of them too.

Paisley, snuggling one of the many dolls that GGC gave her.

A couple of group photos

We are glad that we got to spend so much time with Great Grandma Clo. We only wish that she was feeling better. We hope that your leg heals up really soon, and that your chest does too.

We miss you.

I thought I'd end this post with a quote from Hoak,

"Mommy, we call Great Grandma Clo that because she is 'Great', that's right?"

That is right Hoak!

Christmas Day

2011-12-30T12:59:00.002-06:00

Our good little children had a visitor on Christmas Eve.

Jeb was the first awake, the poor little guy was so excited, we tried to get him to wait patiently for his younger siblings and let them sleep a little longer.

BUT- that didn't happen.

We woke up Hoak and Paisley... I don't think that they minded missing out on any sleep.

( By the time Hoak got to the tree, Jeb had already started "sorting" the gifts.)

Hoak used his big wheel as a seat while unwrapping and then took it for several

spins around the house.

Jeb, as requested, received several Cars 2 toys.

Paisley, along with a Minnie bicycle, got many more "Minnie" toys.

More Cars 2 ....

( Behind this big box is a smiling little Hoak)

After they'd unwrapped all their gifts, we began cleaning up and packing for our visit to Fleetie and Paw Paw's house in Arlington.

While at Fleetie and Paw Paw's house the kiddos all got to add some sprinkles to some sugar cookies and sing

Happy Birthday Jesus!

(Jeb has really hit a growth spurt recently. He is almost as tall and just a few pounds lighter than his cousin Ethan...and Hoak isn't too far behind.

Since the boys didn't get much time to play with their toys Christmas morning, we packed up a few to bring to Arlington.

( You cannot see it, but there is a car going really fast on that track.)

Paisley got all dressed up and wore her new Minnie jacket and pushed her stroller just about everywhere. You can always tell when Paisley likes a new gift, she never wants to part from it.

We unwrapped some gifts...

Had some fun jumping on the beds...

And even visited Uncle Greg and Aunt Marissa at their new house in Justin, Texas the following day.

It was really cold so the kids couldn't really play outside, but they did each ride on Ethan's horse, Buck, for a bit.

(Paisley wasn't at all interested... and a wee bit scared of Buck- he is a BIG horse.)

The kids probably had the most fun playing in the bales of hay stacked up in the shed.

Before we left Arlington, the kids all decorated (with paint and markers) some chairs for Fleetie.

She said that they could do whatever they wanted. Jeb wrote the names of his two new favorite Cars (Japanese characters)...Oh, the silly ideas that go through his head.

Paisley was especially proud of her artwork and handprints.

Hoak's favorite color is yellow and trying to convince him that yellow just doesn't always show up as well as other colors is difficult. His "I Love You" turned out awesome though.

We loaded up the car and drove back Dec. 27th, unpacked (the car at least) on got ready for Hoak's surgery the next day.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T12:42:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve.

Do you think they are excited?

I am not sure if my kids love Christmas Eve because it is the "kick off" to hours/days of unwrapping, or if it because their aunts, uncles and Pepa always seem to go overboard with the gifts.

Regardless, there were a lot of smiling faces Dec. 24th 2011.

Since Christmas (in my opinion) is all about the little ones...

Below are pictures of the children.

Kyle

Payton

My sister's "children"

Miley wore her best Chritmas dress.

All the "kids" under the tree.

It wasn't all about the presents. We did also play, visit, and eat (Daddy borrowed Uncle Jason's smoker and made a tasty brisket, Aunt Cindi made some tacos, Uncle Jason made some delicious dip, and of course there were many sweet treats too.) I always have a good time at my sister's house, and I know that the kids do too. We have been celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve with my family since my sister got married ( 25+ years ago)

I love traditions!

Now back to more unwrapping...

One last photo... our small family on our way out the door to tuck the little ones in before Santa comes.

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!!

2011-12-30T07:25:00.001-06:00

Since Jeb was home from school for a few days before Christmas (sick) and a little lonesome and bored. I decided to let him help me attempt a few projects I'd seen off of Pinterest. (I am totally addicted to this site. Oh, the things I'd try if I only had more free time...) Anyway, snowglobes were my first project. It didn't turn out as nice as I'd hoped... I need bigger jars.

But, I still think they are cute, and the kids enjoyed them.

Hoak

Jeb

Paisley

My next project was changing these clear plastic ornaments into ...

this!

Glitter Balls!

These were really easy, and they turned out so pretty!!!

I love them!

Pinterest has so many good recipes.

Christmas Eve the little ones helped me make some sugar cookies for Santa.

They also helped me make some yummy Banana-Nut bread (which was sooo delicious).

The boys' pictures are cute, but I just love the following photos of Paisley.

She seriously looks as if she'd been working so hard all day long in the kitchen.

We used the plate that Paisley made for us in her preschool class for our cookies for Santa.

Santa must have been really hungry, or trying to use sugar to stay awake that night, because he polished off the entire plate, and even some extras that were tucked away in the kitchen!

Just about every evening in from Thanksgiving to New Year's, we load the kids up in the car to go and look at lights. They honestly, prefer the "blow ups", or inflatables over the lights. So, we have been collecting these for our own home display. Below is a picture of our home (notice the lights on the house... Go Daddy! I somehow convinced him it really was worth the effort. Not so sure he agreed, but he obliged, and the kids & and mommy were so grateful.)

Ok, not the best picture, as you cannot really see all the "action".

Below are a couple of close ups... Still didn't get everything.

Oh, well, you get the idea.

The kids loved it, and that is what is important.

I love my kids- they love outdoor Christmas decor...the tackier the better, of course!

Post (Strabismus) Surgery... Day 2

2011-12-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

I still have several Christmas posts to complete, but thought I'd post an update on Hoak first.

I am not going to lie, yesterday was rough.

We knew that he'd be cranky after surgery and in some pain. We were informed that his eyes would look really bad, and that perhaps we should keep him away from a mirror, and we were prepared for that. I think.

However, he was extremely upset when he woke up in the hospital and kept screaming that his eyes hurt (I think it hurt A LOT, not a little like we were told. I also think just not being able to "see" in general was very scary for him.)

(Just after surgery... not sure if you can tell from picture, but his eyes were swollen, and a little bloody)

Luckily, he slept on the way home, and for a few hours after.

When he finally did wake up, he did want to open his eyes. He said it hurt too much.

(They told us it would feel itchy, scratchy, and as if he had something stuck in his eye...you know like when you get an eyelash or sand or something and it actually does "hurt" to open your eye?)

Anyway, we hoped that he'd at least open them sometime that evening.

He didn't.

He kept them closed most of this morning too.

It wasn't until after lunch that he finally decided to open them. I think things are still very blurry, but at least now he is getting around without help.

Another thing that we didn't know prior to surgery, was that he might have "double vision" for a few weeks after surgery. ( This would actually be a good thing, medically speaking, but if you have ever seen double, it isn't pleasant to suffer through.)

We were able to take a picture today of what his eyes look like...

If you are at all squeamish about blood, you've been warned...

Here he is today after lunch.

Poor little guy is not very happy these days.

We promised him ice cream tonight, hopefully, that will cheer him up a bit.

In the pictures above, he is actually opening his eyes as wide as possible.

Most of today he has been mostly squinting. I think that the right eye hurts the most. He isn't opening it as much and squints more with it.

It will be six weeks before we know how successful the surgery was.

We are crossing our fingers that we won't have to go thru this again.

(It isn't uncommon to have to do this same surgery again, especially in younger children.)

I am glad though that this was scheduled over the Christmas holiday and in the winter. He is extremely sensitive to light right now, so had we done this in the summer I think he'd be suffering a lot more.

School Christmas Parties

2011-12-24T12:38:00.001-06:00

School parties are so much fun!!! I love to watch my little ones chatting and playing with their friends.

Although there are still usually tears shed when we drop her off, Paisley seems to really enjoy school.

One of her little buddies had already left for vacation, so there were only 3 kids in the class on party day.

Their teacher made them the cutest little Christmas tree (handprint) shirts.

Eating...

Group photo in front of their tree

Opening some gifts

(You may not be able to tell from the picture, but each kiddo actually has their daddy there.

I was especially happy that Jeff could join us that day, and thought it was so sweet to see each little one with their dad.)

Hoak's Class

Getting ready to eat.

Passing out gifts

I was actually the "Party Mom" for Hoak's class.

After their lunch, the kiddos had a choice of one of the below desserts.

Melted snowmen

Chocolate cupcake with "Santa hats"

* both ideas stolen from Pinterest*

After the parties for the little ones, I had just enough time to drop them off at home, and head over to the elementary for Jeb's class party.

Jeb had been out of school since Friday 12/16 (Pneumonia), so we weren't sure if he was going to be well enough to attend his holiday party on Wednesday 12/21. I am glad that the doctor said that he could go, I think he would have really been bummed to have missed out on the fun.

They all got to wear their pajamas to school.

They made Christmas trees and snowmen out of sweet treats, played "holiday bingo", and then listened to a story.

Jeb's "girlfriend" shared some M&Ms with him before we left.

Aren't they a cute couple????

Every year the kids make the most adorable ornaments.

Below are my favorites from this year.

Paisley's "handprint" snowmen

Hoak's Glitter Tree

Jeb's Picture Puzzle Wreath

Strabismus Surgery

2011-12-23T00:13:00.000-06:00

This summer after the front desk ladies in Dr. Busse's (kids' opthamologist) office, upset me yet again, I went in search of a new opthamologist.

During my search, I remembered why I put up with Dr. Busse's front office help... there are only 3 pediatric opthamologists in the Austin area, and each one is booked out 3 -6 months solid.

Luckily for me, Dr. Jackson had an opening in September, and we only had to wait 8 weeks for it.

So, we officially switched doctors.

Dr. Jackson's office is an extra 20 minutes away, but it was worth the extra drive.

He did a thorough test on both boys, and Paisley too.

The boys both got new prescriptions.

Jeb ( now a +7...in non medical terms that means his lenses are "coke bottle thick")

Hoak ( now a + 4)

We were scheduled to go back and see Dr. Jackson in 2 months to see how the new prescriptions were working...

After only wearing his new prescription for about 2 weeks, Jeff and I noticed something very strange...

Let's see if you can notice the difference from the two below pictures...one from October, the other from July.

The below picture is of Hoak wearing his new glasses this past October.

The below picture was taken in July.

(pretend his is wearing glasses... that is not the "difference")

Did you notice anything????

Yes, he is squinting in both.

BUT, it isn't the same eye in both pictures...that is the difference.

*Children who have Strabismus tend to close or squint their weaker eye, or the eye that "crosses".

In both the picture above and below, you can clearly see Hoak's left eye crossing.

This eye has always crossed, and that is why he had to wear a patch on the right eye.

Now, in addition to squinting his right eye, we noticed that it would also "cross" ( when the left eye was straight.)

So, naturally Jeff and I were alarmed, to say the least.

We were worried that his eyes were getting worse, since now neither eye was straight all of the time.

My first thought was that he'd been patched for so long that now his "good" eye had become weaker.

Seconds after the above picture was taken, his eyes did this...

(If you look closely, you will notice not only his right eye crossing in, but it is also going "up")

Glasses off

above- left eye crossing

below- right eye crossing

So, if you didn't catch all that... for the past two years his left eye would turn in and the right eye was always straight. Now both eyes turn in (just not at the same time.)

We called Dr. Jackson's office and he was able to fit us in for an appointment in just a few weeks.

(This would have never been possible with Dr. Busse, we'd still be waiting for an appointment.)

We were correct in thinking that his right eye had become weaker. However, Dr. Jackson had explained that this was actually a "good" thing.

Luckily for me, he was able to explain it to me, and I understood (for the most part).

Let me try to explain it...

Here is why this is "good".

In short, Hoak had to be patched for so long everyday, because his brain had suppressed all images from his left eye. He was "right eye dominant". Now, as you can clearly see... he uses both eyes

(just not at the same time... that is still a struggle. )

However, since neither eye is dominant, it not only means that his brain is accepting images from both eyes, but it also means that now he is at a point where he could benefit from corrective surgery.

In short, the best time to do "strabismus surgery" is when the vision in both eyes is close to being the same. His vision in each eye is actually pretty good, he just cannot control the muscles in his eyes.

He told us to alternate patching (right eye one day, left eye the next). He wanted to check him again in 6 weeks, and if his vision was still about the same in both eyes, he said we'd set a date for surgery...

Therefore, he is signed up to have surgery Dec. 28th.

(He doesn't know yet... I don't think he is going to be too thrilled to hear that someone will be cutting on his eyes, so we are going to break the news to him probably around the 27th.)

Dr. Jackson will actually cut the inner eye muscles on both eyes, as well as the muscles below the eye ( to prevent them from turned in and going up.)

It is an outpatient surgery. "He will look at lot worse than he feels," is what we have been told.

The good news is that the doctor said that he believes that Hoak will eventually be able to stop wearing his glasses altogether by possibly age 11 or 12.

(Both my sister and I wore glasses for Strabismus from ages 3-11, so I am hopeful that he too can ditch the glasses by the time he enters Middle School.)

Please keep our little guys in your thoughts.

Since I firmly believe that his progress is due to the vision therapy and not just the patching, below are some pictures of him working hard on his vision therapy "homework".

And, since this post is all about Hoak...

Here are some pictures of

"Mommy- Hoak Time"

It is very rare that I get to spend any quality time with my children individually.

One night last week, Jeff took Jeb and Paisley to Walmart while Hoak and I stayed home to make cookies.

( I wasn't trying to exclude Jeb or Paisley, but Jeb was sick and Paisley wanted to go with them instead of stay home... )

I am always amazed at how much easier it is to do things with just one kid. I am so much more organized, my patience overfloweth, and I am less forgetful of where I put things (and burn less food ) when I only have to focus on one child and the task at hand.

He really like his gingerbread man apron.

It was so much fun making cookies with my little guy.

They were quite tasty too, and thus didn't last very long in our home.

If Santa wants any sugar cookies, we are going to have to make more.

Pictures With Santa

2011-12-20T16:46:00.004-06:00

We actually purchased four pictures with Santa, but they allowed us to use our own camera too.

Below are the pictures from our camera.

Paisley wanted to cry...she wasn't all to thrilled to be sitting on the jolly fat man's lap. However, she did okay once the boys joined her.

They all are the perfect age for the "Santa Experience" this year.

I am so excited for Christmas morning... (possibly more so than the kids)

Little Birthday Girl

2011-12-11T03:00:00.001-06:00

My Little Girl turned 2 years old a few days ago. She is no longer a baby in so many ways. I think that having two older brothers has helped her really grow up "faster" or at least it seems that way.

She hit several milestones before both of the boys ever did...

1. She was the youngest to walk. (eight months)

2. The youngest to have a full set of teeth (18 months). I realize there is no "skill" involved in this, but as a result of having all her teeth much earlier, I think it has helped her at being more enthusiastic to try new foods. (She is a really good eater.)

3. The youngest to say a five word phrase. ( I want my Daddy NOW!- 21 months)

4. The youngest to conquer the potty. ( So proud of our little potty trained girl. She has been wearing big girl panties day and night for about a month now. Woo Hoo!)

There is a reason that the phrase "terrible twos" exists. Most days she is a delight to be around, but the frustration of being little and wanting to "do it myself" and "do it too" can become very tiresome- on everyone.

She is so stinkin' cute though, who couldn't just fall in love with her.

She doesn't say her own name yet... probably because we rarely ever use "Paisley" when talking to her. However, most all of her nicknames do start with the letter P.

Paizy and Piggy- (Daddy's favorites)

Peanut, Pickle, Puddin-pop, Piglet (Mommy's favorites)

She has "Mommy and Daddy" down, and has been using them for a while now.

The boys used to just be "bubba", same word used for both of them.

She recently started calling Hoak, "Ho"and sometimes "Ho-ah"

Jeb got his feelings hurt because she wouldn't even attempt his name. Just last week though, she tried it. He is now "Jeh". Not entirely there yet, but it is a start.

Below are her words for other things.

Dictionary of Paisely-Speak

Chester (our dog)- "Dog Dog"

Mickey Mouse- "Ah Ho Ha Mine". She used to say Mickey all the time. It was actually one of her first words. But about the time she learned the word "mine", which is by far the most used word in her vocabulary, she stopped saying Mickey entirely.

Donald Duck- "Don-oh"

Her little pink blankie- "Wah Wah" (We actually used to call this her woobie. She apparently either couldn't say woobie or just didn't want to.)

Her pacifier- now words at all. She just makes a sucking sound.

Food- "Num Nums" or "Yum Yums"

Bed- "Night night"

All baby dolls- "Adeline" (This actually comes out sounding more like Ad-uh-lie)

Yes and No- She has no problem with "No", but yes is always "Uh huh"

Please- "Peaz"

Thank You- "Nank you"

More- "Mo"

Mine- This is used for some many things... for example? If she wants something it is phrased "Mine?"

When she has to go potty it is put in a surprised and let's hurry! " Ah! Mine" while grabbing herself.

If you ask a question to her that should get the response of "Me!" such as, "Who want to play outside?" Cheese- "Sheeze"... she loves cheese!!!

I want to sit on your lap- "Mommy high?" This one cracks me up... and is actually used quite often. Though I have tried to correct her and get her to say the correct phrase, she is perfectly content with her version. Luckily for me, there is also the "Daddy high?" version too.

Now for some pictures...

While shopping at Walmart , her eyes met this "princess" dress, and she fell in love. She basically grabbed it, hugged it for a while and put it in the basket. I put it back on the rack, she got it back off. We did this a few times before I finally caved.

It was the day before her birthday after all, it was cheap, and she seemed to really want it.

Honestly, I just didn't see her really liking it once we got home, that was my whole reason for not just letting her have it from the start. She typically doesn't much care for "cute-sy" girly clothes.

It was COLD outside that day. She didn't care. When we got home, she wanted to wear it immediately, and cried when she couldn't wear it to bed that night.

She didn't have a "birthday party" this year. Long story as to why, the short version would be it sucks to have a birthday in December so close to Christmas... most people are busy with other things every weekend.

However, her preschool teacher said that we could bring cupcakes to school to celerate her birthday with her little friends.

I made "Minnie" and "Mickey" cupcakes... She loved them!

We waited until Jeb got home from school to unwrap her gifts.

A photo with her brothers and her birthday gift.

A new shirt!

I think these few pics (above and below) are so sweet.

The boys were so eager and willing to assist with the unwrapping.

By far her favorite gift is above...Happy Birthday Dress Up Minnie.

(Stephanie, if you only knew how much she wanted this...THANK YOU!)

More cupcakes and singing!

A picture of Jeb eating his cupcake.

(I thru this in because neither Hoak nor Paisley really like cake. They like the idea of cake, and the icing of course.)

The morning after her birthday... she was so excited to wear her new Minnie Mouse shirt (Thank You Fleetie and Paw Paw) and her fancy new Minnie Mouse pony tail holders.

I think she looks so adorable in "piggy" tails.

The same day (after her nap, that is why she looks a little deshoveled)... showing off her new Mickey Mouse pillow case dress. (Thank you Aunt Cindi. She loves it!)

In other Paisley news... She has seen the doctor quite a bit recently. First we will start with the positive visits.

Well Check Stats

Weight- 27 1/2 lbs (50-75 percentile)

Height- 34 3/4 in. (75-90 percentile)

Head Circumference- 50 cm (97 percentile- totally huge melon! All my kids rank in the 90+ percentile for head circumference... I guess big brains need a big head ! )

The doctor praised her tremendously for her potty training success, and when she asked," I assume she is still in pull ups at night time though, right?"

She was quite surprised to hear that she was panties all the way.

So proud of my little girl!

Honestly a little bummed (just slightly) that I no longer had a reason to purchase a package of these.

Oh, they are so adorable!!!

Getting back to her other doctor visits...

In other good news- She was seen by the opthamologist in September. Since both of the boys' eyes started crossing at about 20-22 months, we wanted to make sure she was seen around the same time as well. We had seen some mild crossing, mainly at night when she was tired.

He said that for now she looks great. However, since Strabismus usually appears in children between the ages of 2 and 4, she hasn't officially "dodged the bullet" yet... but there is a strong probability that she won't need glasses !

Now for the not so pleasant doctor visits...

Two weeks ago she had her second round of Croup this year. She got a dose of steriods which seemed to kick the "barking" cough, but she still has been suffering from a runny nose. We are also noticing some rough skin patches, similar to Hoak's... guessing if it isn't just some lingering virus, she might also have allergy issues like the boys.

Chances are we will get her tested when she turns 3, just to be on the safe side.

The worst for last...

It was my idea to put up all of our outdoor Christmas decorations in early November while it was still warm (and dry) outside.

The kids were so excited about all the inflatables and the lights.

I was taking Jeb to school one day and they all insisted that we turn on all the decorations before we left so that they could "wave to them" as we drove away.

So, I did.

The lights had only been on about 20 minutes at most by the time we got back home. Hoak and Paisley ran from the car to give the penguin and Mickey Mouse blow ups a hug. Paisley and I were dancing around Mickey and somehow in the process, Paisley stepped backwards and tripped over the flood light that was shining on Mickey.

Unlike previous accidents in our house, I saw the entire thing. She touched that light for no longer than 2 seconds. Honestly, when she stood up crying and pointing down to her leg, my first thought was that she landed on a sticker in the yard, or twisted her ankle or something.

It wasn't until I looked down to where she was pointed that I realized that the red mark on her leg was actually a burn.

I reached down to touch the light, I was shocked by how hot it was. We'd used these same (colored) flood lights last year. I don't remember them ever being that hot.

SO-

We went inside, I put some burn spray on it to take away the sting (yes, we have a fairly stocked first aid cabinet... even had the non stick pads to cover it with). Anyway, it was pink, and a small part of it (dime size) looked "blistered". I gave her some tylenol, and a cold pack.

She cried for a while and eventually fell asleep. She actually slept for two hours!!!

That should have been my first sign that the burn was worse than I thought, considering she'd only been awake for about an hour before the incident.

After she woke up, we all went to the grocery store. I bought her some more bandages and better wrapping for the bandage than we had at home. I didn't want to mess with her burn too much, and didn't check it again until we got back from the grocery store.

When I unwrapped it, I wasn't expecting to see this...

It had double in size since I first wrapped it, and the blistered part had not only grown in size, but it must have "popped" while she was sleeping.

Luckily, it was still early enough in the day to get in to see the pediatrician.

She said it was a second degree burn. She was shocked too to hear that it was caused by a flood light.

Needless to say, all the flood lights in our yard decor have since been removed and thrown away.

She put her on an antibiotic. ( Honestly, I would have never guessed that this was necessary with a burn, but apparently infection is a big concern with all the "raw" skin. )

She also gave us a prescription for some cream to put on it to help it heal.

We had a follow up appointment 5 days later.

It looked like this...

I think that the part that Paisley disliked the most was that she had to "skip" bathtime for a few days, and when she was finally allowed to get in the tub, we not only wrapped her leg in plastic wrap, we held it out of the water.

It took almost a solid month to completely heal. We kept it covered for 3 weeks.

I am so glad that it didn't scar. There is an obvious mark still on her leg, but I think in time in will fade.

A horrible burn is no way to end a birthday post...

Instead, here are a few notable happenings in Paisley life at age 2.

Favorite toy- Anything with Mickey or Minnie mouse

Bedtime "must haves"- Wah Wah (pink elephant blankie- thank goodness we actually have two of these), paci, and Adeline (the original, oh so dirty dolly.)

"My Hiney"- An original song and dance that she does... so cute. Not going to share the details, as later in life she might find it quite embarrassing.

Paisley Kisses- If you ask for a kiss, she will go for one cheek, then the other and finish it off with a kiss on the forehead. Then request the same from you. If she really likes you, you get "wet" kisses... Who doesn't want a little toddler spit on their face, right?

Bowhead- She still loves her hairbows, and gets mighty particular about which one she wants to wear. This goes for her clothes, too.

Tomboy- As much as she likes to look pretty... she would much prefer to help Daddy dig a hole in the yard and get dirty than help Mommy bake cookies in the kitchen.

Hoarder- She "collects" odd things ( puzzle piece, game piece, random block, a straw) and becomes quite attached to them, and will want to carry them around with her...everywhere.

Good Listener- She has always been very good at following instructions, especially if you ask her to put something back where it belongs, or find where she left something.

Mine- Plain and simple...she doesn't like to share. So far, it hasn't been a problem at school... so maybe it is that she just doesn't like to share with her brothers.

Dipper- If there is a food that can be dipped... Paisley will want to try it. She Loves to dip.

Amond her favorites are ...

chips in cheese, crackers in cheese, brocolli in cheese

carrots, tomatoes, pizza, apples in Ranch dessing

chicken, fries, toast in gravy, or simply fingers in gravy.

sausage, pancakes, bacon in syrup

*Marveline (our Elf on the Shelf) recently parked himself in her room... oh, I wish I had the video camera when she woke up and saw him. She was sooooo excited, and went all over the house waking up everyone else to show them.She'd say, " Owl! My night- night! " ( This is Paisley speak for "Elf, in my bedroom! ") It was precious!

Waking up has been so exciting in the past weeks, just watching the kids run about the house seeing who can spot Marveline first, since Paisley is usually the first the wake up (6:00 am everyday) she usually finds him first.

Halloween

2011-11-15T08:17:00.001-06:00

Almost caught up with my posts...

I purchased several costumes over the last couple of years at Target during their 90% off sale. My MIL also gave us some costumes that she thought they'd enjoy.

But as my luck would have it, for Halloween this year, they didn't want to wear any of the costumes we already owned.

I made them at least try them on for me...

Here is a little sampling of what they didn't dress up as this year.

Argh!

Mighty Gladiator

Astronaut

Captain America

Rex from Toy Story

Cars pit crew

Unlike the boys, Paisley liked all the costumes.

Pink Butterfly

She REALLY liked the Cars pit crew, but as you can see it was way too big(long) for her.

Roar!!! Cutest Dino ever.

Ok, I lied.

She liked all of the costumes except this one.

I had to hold her down just to put it on her.

(I just wanted to see if it even fit, and figured that she'd make peace with it, once it was on- I was wrong.)

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Now, for what they chose....

Jeb- Tow Mater (from Cars)

Above is a picture of him in his Halloween parade at school.

Paisley- Minnie Mouse

She was this for her "Day with Noah" at school too.

However, for Halloween she borrowed Hoak's Mickey Mouse's costume head piece and gloves.

After all, Hoak didn't need them because he was...

Hoak- Lightening McQueen

(I paid way too much for these costumes, especially considering there wasn't much to them. But, they were kind of neat because if you squeezed the tire, they talked. They boys thought it was cool.)

Annual "Front Porch" picture.

We really missed not having the Felderhoffs here with us to Trick or Treat.

We took the trailer out again this year, and loaded up with our neighbor friends, minus the Felderhoffs.

The kids all seemed to really enjoy it this year, and moved at a much faster pace.

Some candy was even eaten before it was dark outside.

And a lot of candy was consumed once we got home.

Sweet Berry Farms

2011-11-12T10:18:00.001-06:00

The weather was awesome this year for our trip to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls

(last year was miserably hot).

Every year it seems to get bigger and better...we are hoping that maybe in the near future, they will decide to build some public potties...real plumbing kind... port-a-potties and little kids aren't a good mix.

Anyway, as I was saying... it was a beautiful day, we got there just before the crowd hit, and the kids all had a good time.

Paisley was the perfect age this year to really enjoy all the pumpkins.

Mommy and 3 smiling kiddos

(Hoak's choice to sit on the white pumpkins.)

A little picture fun with my little farmers...

The goats were a big hit this year.

That is Paisley's "Oops, I dropped my goat food...again" face.

Three kids on a boat... not one looking at the camera, although Paisley is doing a very hard "CHEEESE" so much so that she closed her eyes.

Cutting some wildflowers

I think that the boys liked this the most, because they got to use scissors.

A quick wave from Paisley, and they are off!

The little tractor train is always a popular stop.

One more group photo...

Then it was off to pay for our pumpkins.

A quick photo of the boys with all the pumpkins.

(Paisley had had enough with the picture taking.)

Later that afternoon, the kids painted their pumpkins.

Local Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-09T22:48:00.001-06:00

The Little Ones all were all out of school on Columbus Day (beginning of October).

I actually thought that I might venture out to Sweet Berry Farms with all three of them- but decided against it. After a summer with NO rain, we actually got a little the over the weekend, and I had no desire to chase three kids around a muddy pumpkin patch.

Since I'd already got them excited about going to the "pumpkin patch". We stayed right here in Gtown and went to the church pumpkin patch.

Leave it to one of my kiddos to have their hands in their pants during picture taking...

The church had quite a good selection.

Hoak really wanted a white pumpkin.

Jeb- stopping to practice some drumming on the huge pumpkin.

Jeb said he wanted one that looked like a pickle.

(It was green and bumpy.)

There is one behind his hiney between two big orange ones.

I told the kids that we were just looking and taking pictures, and we'd buy one later, closer to Halloween.

Although, I know Paisley completely understood me when I said that we weren't buying a pumpkin that day, she didn't care.

She'd found herself a cute little pumpkin, carried it around with her the entire time, and had NO plans of leaving it there.

I had less than $5 cash in my pocket...and didn't see this trip having a happy ending.

Luckily for all of us, the baby pumpkins were super cheap ($.50!)

So, we left the pumpkins patch with three tiny pumpkins... everyone was happy- just not happy enough to all look at the camera at the same time.

"Later" finally came, and the kids were finally allowed to pick out a BIG pumpkin to take home and carve.

(Our pumpkins tend to get really nasty in a matter of days, so we always wait until a day or two before Halloween to actually carve our pumpkin.)

On this particular day, our little neighbor friend joined us.

Diggin' in

The final product... simple and traditional.

Preschool Happenings

2011-11-05T11:09:00.001-05:00

September 7th 2011 was the first day of preschool for Hoak and Paisley.

Hoak is in the 4 year old class and Paisley is in the "Toddler" class.

Both my little Mickey Mouse fans were ready and eager to go.

Some pictures at home...

Paisley has learned to say "cheese"... sometimes she gets a little over excited.

There are 11 kids in Hoak's class.

His best buddy/girlfriend is in his class.

Apparently they do everything together.

It is so cute, everyday when I pick him up and he has to say good-bye to her, they give each other a high five and then a hug.

Paisley has 4 kids in her class.

2 girls and 2 boys.

Paisley was super excited about starting school.

She really liked her new backpack and lunchbox.

However, she wasn't too thrilled when we left.

She still cries when we drop her off, but her teacher says that it only lasts a short time.

While the weather is still nice outside... the preschool starts the year with

Mud Day.

(The usually have some sort of party/event each month)

It is a chance for the kids to get dirty, wet, smear themelves silly with shaving cream, or just sit back and watch.

It was VERY HOT this particular day...

Hoak

Paisley watched for a while, and then found the shaving cream.

It was a big hit.

The sprinkler broke half way thru the fun... so Ms. Jodi surprised the little ones with her hand made sprinker.

Paisley REALLY liked the shaving cream.

For October, the kids celebrated A Day with Noah by dressing like and animals and parading through the parking lot for the parents, grandparents, and siblings.

Surprise! Surprise! My little ones dressed as mice!

Hoak, waving to the parade of cameras.

Three of the four little animals in Paisley's class.

Hoak's class posing for a group photo.

Summer Recap....August

2011-11-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

AUGUST

* Sea world trip- (already blogged)
* August 2nd- Cars are IN and Thomas is OUT

* Jeb starts Kindergarten

Bye Bye Thomas!

Jeff and I used to always joke about what we'd do when the boys stopped liking Thomas the Train.
We have spent ~~hundreds~~ thousands of dollars on Thomas toys, DVDs, books, and clothes.
Yet, we were absolutely sick of trains- stepping on them, picking them up, replacing batteries. Just when we thought we'd had the full collection... They'd come up with a new train, truck, or style... wooden, metal, battery operated. If not trains, then track. There was blue track, brown track, wooden track, gray track. It was the works of a Marketing Genius.

Alas, August 2nd Jeb informed us that he and Hoak no longer liked Thomas. They were into Cars 2 toys now.
I was relieved...finally, no more trains.

Then it dawned on me that we didn't have many Cars toys.
And so it began.... a new collection... there is a Marketing Genius behind the Cars 2 toys too.
Why can't they make just one style of toy? One size!
The only good thing about moving to Cars toys is that there is no "track/road" to purchase...yet.

The boys did see the Cars 2 movie this summer and are thrilled about the Nov. 1st DVD release.
Yes, I am purchasing it. I have things to do around the house, and am seriously hoping that they will want to sit and watch it again, and again and again.

The small collection they'd acquired by the end of August.

The Decision, The System, A Mommy's Rant...

KINDERGARTEN

Since Jeb was about 2, I have been stressing out about this day.

I wasn't worried that I would miss him, or that he would be anxious to go to school.

I just wanted to make the right decision as to what school he attended. He is a quite unique kiddo, so finding a school that was a good fit for him was super important.

We were so excited about the Charter school opening up this year, mostly because we were initially told that the Kinder and 1st grade classes would be combined. We felt that this would mean that Jeb would have an opportunity to grow academically and be challenged, yet also be with students his own age.

However, in later meetings, they changed this plan. Kinder and 1st wouldn't be combined after all.

In addition, the school would not have a school nurse. This really isn't a big deal for many parents, but when you have a little guy with one lung- these things tend to be important.

The location of the school was finally released this summer. It would be a long drive every morning, and I was worried on how this would effect the little ones (They'd have to get up super early for school, and would get little time at all to nap in the afternoon- except in the car). In addition, the school wasn't finished and would be starting 2 weeks late.

The Montessori school he attended two mornings a week last year was amazing. Children do attend "Kindergarten" there. However, since he'd already mastered the Kinder Language Arts

curriculum by last Fall, and the Math by the Spring... asking his teacher to continue to come up with individualized lessons for him didn't seem right either.

Though I never wanted Jeb to "skip" a grade. It became apparent that there weren't many other options left.

In my last parent conference with his Montessori teacher, I told her that we'd been

considering looking into getting Jeb to skip Kinder, and wanted her thoughts.

She very bluntly said, "Oh Crystal, Jeb cannot be in Kindergarten. I would most definitely push to have him put into 1st grade. Do you need me to write a letter of recommendation?"

Not knowing exactly what I'd need, I said yes.

She wrote the sweetest note explaining about how quickly Jeb picks up new material, what an eager and respectful student he is, and what he'd been doing with her most recently (adding and subtracting 4 digit numbers and finding and labeling all the parts of speech in a paragraph.) She also explained that she felt he was socially mature enough to be in the first grade.

Jeff called our local ISD and asked what the process was, and we got started on compiling samples of work, videos, pictures, and filling out all the paperwork. It all needed to be filled out before the end of May. Yet, not a single person even reviewed the paperwork, home videos, samples of work until August.

Instead of doing any testing over the summer, they'd make the child start in the "assigned" grade, and testing would be done the second week of school. This seemed odd and inappropriate as far as "adjusting" to school, especially for the little ones.

In addition, our school principal was against the idea from the beginning. She'd never had anyone skip yet, and didn't see it happening anytime in her future. This didn't look too promising either.

The Charter school didn't even offer this as an option, and although they promised to teach him on his level, I was a bit skeptical as to if this would really happen.

If we did happen to move in the middle of the school year, I wasn't sure if he would be penalized for missing 2 weeks of school if we had chosen the Charter school. Plus, I thought that switching from one public school to another would be an easier transition than going from a Charter school to a public school.

In the end we chose the local public school. Jeb started in Kinder. His teacher is really nice, and he likes her a lot. By the second day of school, upon asking him how his day was and if he'd made any friends etc... We discovered that he not only could name every one in his class, tell you where they sat, but he could spell all of their names.

There is a funny story that goes with that... I checked the board outside the teacher's room the next day... He'd spelled them all correctly. (Impressive considering there are some different names/spellings in his class.)

Jeff and I joke a lot that it is useless to argue with Jeb. Regardless of how "we" may think we are right, He always proves us wrong.

Anyway, the story goes something like this...

A few days after school started, five new kids were moved from another teacher's class into his.

Me: Jeb, what are you new classmates names?

Jeb: There is Dawson, Zane....etc.. and Yvonne (Eee-vaughn)

Me: Can you spell their names?

Jeb: Yep. (proceeded to spell them... all sound correct to me until he gets to Yvonne) He said

I-V-A-N.

Me: Jeb, you pronounce that as IVAN (eye-van) not Yvonne. I don't think that is how she spells her name.

Jeb: Yvonne is a boy, and that is how you spell his name.

Me: Well, then you are saying it wrong. I-V-A-N is not pronounced "EEE-vaughn."

Jeb: No, I am not saying it wrong. His name is

Eee- vaughn, and it is spelled I-V-A-N.

Me: First of all Jeb, Yvonne is not a boy's name, and it certainly isn't spelled I-V-A-N.

Jeb: Yes it is.

It certainly is.

I would have bet $ he was either saying or spelling it incorrectly, but as usual he was right.

Back to the main topic...

In order to skip Kindergarten...

The rules are the child must score a 90% on all of the tests to "skip."

Honestly, I had no clue what would be on the test, but I really never doubted that he'd pass...

He apparently had no problem with the language portion...99%

However, he fell short of the 90% for math.

I was bummed. Jeff was in shock and denial.

They tested his reading level (fluency/comprehension) at a 3rd grade. There was only one other child in the first grade near this level, so they gave us the option of moving him to 1st grade for Reading, Writing, Language Arts, and put in the same class with the other strong reader.

But since he didn't meet the 90 % for Math, he'd have to stay in Kinder for this and other stuff like Science/ Social Studies, and Specials.

I was fine with this idea, until-

I attended the Open House sessions for both grades...

I left there completely annoyed, frustrated and confused.

The first nine weeks of Kinder Math focused on learning number values, being able to write numbers 1-10, and counting past 20.

First graders focus on adding... subtraction would only be introduced if they were ready, otherwise they'd mostly likely dive into subtraction in 2nd grade.

What could have been on that Math test that was so difficult for him?

I assumed that perhaps there was something like telling time or counting $ on the test. He is ok with time, but not so good with $.

After talking to the counselor who administered the test, she informed me that the test was actually quite simple and she had no doubt that Jeb knew the answers and could do the work. He just "didn't" that day. Maybe he wasn't in the mood for a test, especially after already completing the Language Arts and Reading portions the day before.

Maybe he was wondering what he was missing is his Kinder class at the time? The questions are read to him, so the test was all oral. She also said that the questions are sometimes worded funny, but that she couldn't veer from the written text, and rephrase anything for him.
Any other time (for grade promotion) children are giving 3 opportunities to make a minimum score of 70.
For Jeb, he only gets one chance to take the test, and it must be a 90 or above. No exceptions.

So, he is stuck in Kinder. (with first grade "pull out" for Language Arts)

The school counselor has been awesome. She checks in on him often to make sure that he is adjusted well to the switching of classes etc.

We had to submit some examples of work etc. She is really impressed by his abilities.

Ironically, she has offered to work with him in his Kinder class on some 1st grade G/T math, so he doesn't get too bored drawing circles to show the value of 5 and such.

The "black and white" policy won't let him just go to 1st grade and do regular Math...but apparently he is worthy of doing 1st grade G/T Math in Kinder...
Does that sound silly to anyone else, or just me?

Anyway, it would have been nice to have him just bumped a grade. Although, we did agree on the "pull out" for 1st grade. I think that the continuity of one grade would be easier on everyone- especially Jeb.
I was really hopeful that this unique schedule would be beneficial to him academically. However, I was terribly disappointed to hear from both of his teachers at the parent/teacher conference (K and 1st) that they don't get to spend as much time with Jeb as they'd like, because they are

spending most of their time with the other students who need more help.

That was my fear all along. The fear that my child is just taking up space, and asked to basically sit quietly until the others get caught up.

Don't get me wrong... I am not faulting the teacher. I taught in public schools for 4 years. I know what happens to the kids that already "know" that material being taught, or who grasp a new topic the first time it is introduced instead of needing several repetitions... They get ignored.

Your job is too teach to the low, and get them to pass that test.

Sad, but true.
A good portion of any teacher's time is spent working with the children who weren't on level or who are behavior problems. Jeb is no where near being a discipline problem, but apparently he does "daydream" or "tune out" at times.

That is why we wanted to 1st grade placement. We just don't want Jeb to end up being ignored, or worse used as a "teacher's helper".
I cringe whenever I hear a teacher suggest that since he already knows the material, he can help the others. Why would this be acceptable use of his time? If you had a basketball player who already could dunk, dribble, and shoot 3 pointers with ease, would you expect the coach to say, "Oh great! He can fetch water and shuck balls while the others practice."
I think not.
When it comes to physicaly abilities, I think that most parents feel that it is unacceptable to hold our children back, yet our society seems to frown upon parents who don't won't to hold their children back when it comes to mental abilities.

I think that all children would benefit more from being paired with children with similar abilities instead of just by age, and that the services provided for strong and weaker students should be equal. But that is not the way it is.

I realize that most people see this is a silly thing to complain about.

However, I think that there are still parents out there who think like I do. (Or Charter Schools wouldn't be popping up everywhere with waiting lists a mile long. Speaking of... Yes, I do regret no going to the Charter School a bit...especially since now our "move" is on hold.)

I am frustrated because I think in general, public schools have lowered their standards, and have a slew of teachers, aides, supplies etc for kids who are struggling. Yet, little seems to be in place for the children who need to be challenged and kept interested in learning. Worse, you are looked at as being an elitist for asking for services for your child, or for questioning why your child has to pass with a 90 when a passing grade of 70 is accepted any other time.

I know that some people might read this and think, "What is she so upset about? School is going to be easy for her kid? What is the problem?"

However, how many of you can say that it would sound rational to put a third grader (That is Jeb's current reading/comprehension level) in a Kindergarten class or even a 1st grade class and expect him to learn anything? ( FYI... they spent the first 9 weeks learning the letters in the alphabet.)

Would anyone ever expect a daycare/ preschool to tell the parents of a potty trained one year old that -

Unfortunately...

their child would have to start wearing diapers again because it was their "system" and belief that potty training starts at age three. So if their child wanted to attend that school, they'd have to crap their pants for the next two years like all the other kids.

I feel like we are being told just that...

Not literally of course, but still I am shocked at the policies set in place for "advanced" children.

It is almost like the ISD would prefer any child who tests above the norm to attend private school or be home schooled.

( Home schooling was actually suggested to us, by one of his teachers. What irks me is that if the school suggested to a parent of an autistic kid or other special needs child, "Perhaps you should home school... " You'd hear about it on the 5 o'clock news.)

I know I sound crazy- but not any crazier than this...
Below is a perfect example of how Texas public school policy is obviously not in favor of helping children who are advanced.

Did you know that if you had a child whose birthday was Sept 7th,

(the cut off date for age requirement is Texas is Sept 1st),

and you had professional documentation that socially, academically, and emotionally they were ready for Kindergarten, and wanted to enroll him in school early (4 years old - a few days shy of the cut off) Texas will allow them to attend only if :

A. They score 90% or better in Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies (4 separate tests) on a third grade level.

AND

B. The local school district has a policy for admitting 4 year olds.

(most district have no policy in place)

No, that is not a typo above. You read that correctly...In order for a 4 year old to attend Kindergarten before his due time, he must prove himself worthy by testing a solid 4 grades ahead... with an A.

Then and only then, is he viewed as ready to learn the alphabet...again.

If one of those tests scores happened to be an 84 instead of a 90...he would have proven himself to not be ready for Kindergarten. No exceptions.

I cannot imagine a school professional actually looking a parent in the face and telling them, "Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. SoandSo, little Johnny only scored an 84 on the Third Grade Science Exam. Which obviously shows us that he isn't prepared for the Kindergarten."

Seriously?

Oh, and even if poor little Johnny aced all the tests... this is only an option if your school district chooses to accept this policy.

So, there you have it, an extremely bright well rounded 4 (almost 5) year old must go to extreme measure to be accepted to school early.

However, a child whose birthday is in late August (recently turned 5) need not even speak a word of English and our Texas public school system will welcome them into Kindergarten with open arms.
(Actually, they'd be welcome into the system at age 3 if they didn't speak English, or were behind in any other way.)

Anyone else as disturbed by that as I am?

I could go on and on about what I think is "broken" in

Texas public schools today. But it is what it is, and until more people complain I doubt that there will be much change to " the system."

The good news is that Jeb is an extremely adaptable child (amazing how far his has come since preschool.) He is very likable, respectful, and any teacher's dream to teach. There are several teachers and staff members who have gone out of their way to help our son. We are very appreciative to have such an awesome counselor and G/T teacher at his school.

Jeb seems to be enjoying school. Mostly because he has a ~~little~~ BIG crush on a pretty little girl in his class, and that he gets to play soccer with some of his 1st grade buddies at recess everyday. Besides "social" things I don't think that he is learning much, considering he is there 7 hours a day and very little is ever presented that he hasn't already known how to do for at least 2+ years now.

I joke that it is "Ground Hog Day" every day at school for him...and I am just waiting for him to have had enough of the "deja-vu" lessons, and become a behavior problem. Hey, maybe he'd at least get some attention then?

So, we give him "mini" lessons at home to keep him challenged, maybe one day we will decide to just home school him until we can find a school that is a good "fit" for him.

Honestly, if we had an extra room in our house (dedicated classroom) and I didn't have two younger ones at home, I would just home school him.

That might be in our future anyway, if we cannot find a better solution.

The really funny thing about Jeb (what many people don't get) is that he truly enjoys learning.

We never "pushed" him to read, write, spell or add... he just sort of picked it up.

He hates to be bored, enjoys solving Math problems, spelling words, reading books, and will cry and get upset if he isn't allowed to write and read at home.

How many other five year olds out there cry when you take their pencil and paper away and tell them to stop writing and go play with their toys?

That is why his education concerns me so.

I am fearful that if he continues in an educational environment where he is basically ignored and given busy work, that his love of learning will just die.

Enough of my ranting...in other school news...

*Jeb LOVES cafeteria food. He has only used his lunchbox twice this year.

This has made my mornings and trips to the grocery store a lot easier.

*He really likes playing soccer at school. Perhaps we will let him play on a team in the Spring.

Maybe this time he will actually try to kick the ball instead of just picking flowers on the field.

* The letter "J" was obviously popular in 2005- There are 19 kids in his class. The ones that start with the letter J are

Jared

Jeremy

Jett

Jeremiah

and

Jeb

*He received his first 9 weeks report card two weeks ago.

"E" is the highest rating possible.

He received all "E's"

Imagine that.

The Summer Recap Continues....

2011-10-31T10:20:00.001-05:00

JULY

* Hoak's birthday (already blogged)

*Jeb's "Letters To Management" were in full force. (See future blog post for this)

* Cabin Fever

*Mommy's Gets Four Days "Kid- Free"

Cabin Fever

The heat this year was just brutal. We didn't play outside as much as usual, and when we were outside

I tried to keep the kids or the shade when possible. There are all at a good ages to equally enjoy a local amusement park called Kiddie Acres.

Wednesday is half- priced ticket day. We spent a few Wednesdays there this summer.

We finished off each visit with a snow cone... I think that they liked this part even more than the rides.

We also hit a few indoor play places. Though, in the summer these places can be quite dangerous-

Too many big kids running around not taking notice of the smaller ones.

Some bigger kid was playing rough in one of the bounce houses and landed on Hoak. He hit him with such force that Hoak's glasses actually cut up his face and gave him a black eye.

Outlet Mall by our house was also frequented this summer.

Just strolling... so sweet.

They have little coin operated ride on toys, and a Disney store.

ER Trip #4- The Too Much Dr. Pepper/ Mini Vacation

Jeff had to work several weekends (which means he leaves on Monday, worked all week, all weekend, and didn't come home the following Thursday.)

My 20th high school reunion was in late July, I had hoped to attend. It would have been nice to

have had a date night and see old friends.

Quite honestly though, I wasn't sure if Jeff was going to have to work that weekend or not, and also was just too exhausted from trying to entertain 3 kids in 100+ degree weather everyday.

So we didn't go.

But we did get our date night a week later.

I LOVE Hooters wings. I haven't had them in a really long time, and although Jeff isn't crazy about the food, he took me there anyway. Perfect date night until, I ate myself ~~silly~~ sick.

Literally.

I thought at first that the severe cramping and heartburn pain was from the overindulgence of yummy, dripping with grease wings. I was in quite a bit of pain, and by day 2 was popping leftover Vicodin like candy in hopes of getting some relief.

Jeff tried to get me to go to the doctor, but I was just kind of hoping that eventually the pain would go away.

tried to eat less, drink less, because even a sip of water hurt. Since I wasn't drinking as much or eating as much, I wasn't too alarmed when my pee was darker than usual.

Sunday morning rolled around and Jeff had to leave for Dallas the next day. He told me to go to the ER, and at least get some meds to make it though the week until he'd be home again.

Although I wasn't too anxious to see my ER friends again, by now my pee was looking more like Ms.Butterworth's than lemonade and I was a bit worried.

I drove myself there.

Did the usual answer question thing... mentioned I thought it could be my gall bladder, and peed in a cup.

The doctor came in and gave me some meds for the pain, left, and came back a bit later.

The meds worked wonders! I felt fantastic.

I was ready to get my Rx and be on my way.

Unfortunately, he informed me that the only place I'd be going was the hospital.

Apparently, I was really sick.

He suspected it was my gall bladder and that it needed to be removed right away.

In addition, my liver was on the verge of failing, I was jaundiced, and he informed me that had I waited another day to come in, it would have been bad.

Apparently, the next symptoms would have been even more severe pain, vomiting, and fever.

Needless to say, I'd been royally screwed had Jeff been OOT, and I was left feeling like total crap and had no one to assist in taking care of my three kiddos.

That all came a later that night at the hospital. It was a rough night. I felt really sorry for the poor nurse who was having to clean up after me. Puking up bile is no fun at all.

I was NPO (nothing by mouth, not even ice chips) since I was due to have surgery the following morning. (They had to fit me into the Monday schedule).

I asked what kind of pain medication I could have when the stuff the the minor ER gave me started to wear off. I was only allowed morphine via IV.

I have never even remotely experimented with "drugs". So, I really didn't want to take anything so strong. But when the pain got bad enough, I caved.

She said it would burn a little going in....

OMG! I can totally see now how a person can get hooked on morphine.

That is some wonderfully potent stuff.

So, I spent 4 days away from my kids (Jeff brought them up to see me, but I was still "away").

The longest that I have ever been away from them.

I had always envisioned what it would be like to be off "mommy duty" for 4 full days. I pictured myself doing something fun, with friends, not stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for my next morphine fix.

I ended up having the surgery to remove my gall bladder, and then the following day I had to have a second surgery, an ECRP, to remove the stones that were stuck in my common bile duct.

Thankfully, my MIL came down to help Jeff out with the kids while I was in the hospital and stayed a few days more to help me with the kids once I got home.

It really took a lot longer than I had anticipated to feel 100% again.

My MIL was a HUGE help... and so was my family. We don't live far from each other at all, but rarely make time to see each other.

I called my sister on my way to the hospital and she and my brother met me there. It is always nice to have someone with you if you are stuck in the hospital.

My dad came too and brought flowers, and Jeff and the kids brought me some flowers too.

The kids of course weren't going to understand "Gall Bladder Removal Surgery". They knew that I'd had a "big tummy ache" before I went into the hospital and technically, at the time, I wasn't sure what sure why exactly I was in so much pain.

So we told the kids that Mommy drank too much Dr. Pepper and that is why I had to go to the hospital.

This isn't a lie, I do drink too much Dr. Pepper.

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better now and have cut down significantly on my Dr. Pepper intake. I am very thankful that Jeff was in town for all of our many ER trips this summer, and very appreciative of all the help from our family.

It sucks being sick, especially when you have little ones that depend on you.

Summer Recap - June

2011-10-31T10:20:00.000-05:00

Summer is officially over (for a while now...) and I still haven't posted all the summer "news, pictures, happenings etc."

I know it is ridiculously late, but I consider this blog my "family journal" and I don't like to have huge gaps and look back years from now and wonder why there wasn't more posted for these months.

So, better late than never.

JUNE

* trip to Port A (already blogged)
*Jeff and I make a decision to look for homes in D/FW area...and hopefully move within the next year.
*Hoak started Vision Therapy
*Crib was taken apart forever...(sniff) and Paisley got a BIG girl bed.
* Trips to ER- Paisley and Hoak
*Jeff and I make a decision to look for homes in D/FW area...and hopefully move within the next year.

I really hate to move.

Seriously hate it. Moving, packing, unpacking. It really sucks. I certainly don't want to have to move twice if we sell our house and then only have a a month of so to find something else. We started at least looking to see what was available, what we could afford, what areas of the metroplex we liked.
I personally would prefer to live in a small town (20,000 people or less). However, I don't want to be too far away from Target.

D/FW is a huge area. Jeff wants to live on at least an acre, within an hour drive to work (Richardson, Texas). No, our house isn't even on the market yet, but we spent this summer looking at different homes in different towns, trying to decide what things we could agree on, etc.

I am sure that when/if we move, all of these homes will be sold (then again maybe one or two might still be available- a girl can hope, right?) However, for fun I am including some pictures of the five homes we looked one weekend in July.

House 1- my personal favorite... love the house, but love the PECAN (not Oak, thank goodness) trees the most.
(The home above is pending sale right now... so sad- I really loved this house, especially the price. )

House 2 - To die for kitchen, close to work for Jeff, but very pricey per sq. foot.

House 3 - Jeff's favorite

Look Familiar????
This is the home that we did a home inspection on in April and were going to make an offer then, but I am still not crazy about the school system and the lack of trees that come with the house.
Good news, it hasn't sold yet, and the asking price has dropped 20%.

House 4 - A foreclosure. Who doesn't love a foreclose, right?
House is really nice, great town, awesome schools.
Only downfall, more than one builder in this neighborhood, and the home next door is hideous-
Seriously awful ugly modern colorful structure, that explains why this builder cannot sell this house.

House 5 - The best for last.
The one we both agree on.
Slightly out of our price range... temporarily off the market.
Maybe they are considering lowering the asking price????
Again, a girl can hope, right?

**Update**
Jeff usually travels about 3 weeks out of the month and works from home one week...For the last 5+ years he has been assigned mostly to projects in the D/FW.
The current project is temporarily on "hold" , therefore so is our moving situation.
The good news about the "hold" instead of traveling, he has been working from home since September.
It has been so nice, everyone is much happier.
We were hoping to know the status of his assignment by the end of this month, but it looks like it may be a little longer before we know.

Vision Therapy
and
Hoak vs. Wasp
Starting of our Summer with trip #1 to the ER.
(There will be many more to follow)

Technically late Spring/Early Summer...

We had just all gone outside to play after dinner. Hoak and Jeb were playing in the front yard. Jeff, Paisley and I were playing with play-doh in the garage. Hoak came running (and screaming) from the front yard, holding his eye. Ironically, at the time he had an eye patch on his good eye, and he was clutching his bad eye closed... so basically he couldn't see a thing.

He was crying so hysterically that the only thing that we could get out of him was "wasp". For a wasp to have stung him in the eye it would have had to have gotten squeezed between his glasses and face...

I took him inside the house and started flushing his eye with water. I thought for sure that he just had dirt or something in it. When I finally was able to pry his eye open, it was bright red, and both the top and bottom eyelids were starting to swell up...like he'd been stung. Now the word "wasp" made sense...

Wasp sting in the eye definitely calls for a trip to the ER, especially when your child only has one good eye. Jeff drove him to the ER.

The doctor numbed up his eye and did several tests. He was most definitely stung, but not directly in the eye, thank goodness. The doctor said he was very lucky, he would have had to send him to Dell Children's immediately if it had actually gotten him in the eye because the poison could have really done some damage to his eye/vision. Fortunately, he was only stung in both the upper and lower eyelids. No real damage, just some swelling.

The following day, Hoak had a appointment to be evaluated by the vision therapist. Not sure if the wasp sting had anything to do with it or not, but he scored very low in a couple of areas. Mostly those having to do with fine motor skills, depth perception, and the ability to focus.

One test that was the most interesting was his ability to have a picture stay in focus...

The test results showed that he had a mere 4 seconds before things got blurry.

You can imagine how the inability to see an image clearly can affect one's hand/eye coordination, ability to "color in the lines" etc...

Vision Therapy usually isn't covered by insurance. (We have submitted the paperwork for reimbursement, but have yet to hear back from our insurance.) The closest location is about a 45 minute drive each way... not ideal, but doable.

That being said, I can honestly say that the $200+ we pay each week, is probably some of the best $ ever spent.

It is amazing how much he has improved just in a few short months.

He goes to a one hour therapy session each week, and then gets "homework" assignments to complete each week before his next session. The assignments are made to be fun. Every eight weeks, he is evaluated to check his progress.

We are so proud of him, he works very hard, and his hard work is paying off.

His homework changes about every 2-3 weeks. A lot of it is hands-on, like manipulating blocks, puzzle pieces, coloring and "stringing" things.

In the above picture, he is wearing some red/green glasses and using a red pencil to trace a picture in red. It is difficult to explain, but the glasses/ colors work to strengthen his eyes.

Above, he is working on maintain neat straight lines and continuous motion.

Above, is a similar assignment. Numbers 1-16 are scattered on the page, he has to start at one circle it, while then simultaneously also looking for the next number without every stopping the motion of the marker. It is actually a lot harder than it sounds.

The above exercise has been one of the most difficult yet.
He has been working different versions of this since he first started.
Basically, he has to follow the the cars in the rows on top and match them to the opposite car on the very last . He has to look up, then down...readjusting his eyes every time.

In relation to school, this would be like having to copy something from the chalkboard. (Which as of now, would be a very difficult task for him.)

His handwriting has really improved.

**So have his reading skills...more on that later. **

Paisley's Big Girl Bed

There are no more babies in this house. Our little girl is now sleeping in her very own brand spanking new twin bed. The transition was actually quite easy.

All ready for night-night.

What kid doesn't enjoy trying out the bounce factor of their very own bed?

Up until this week, Paisley was just sleeping on the mattress and box springs on the floor. (much safer that way)
I have been looking for a bed or bedroom furniture for her for a while.
I really wanted something antique. Twin beds are very hard to find.
I came across a really pretty iron bed the other day. We set it up last night.
It is really high... but I think she likes it a lot.

ER Trip #2 - Paisley and the Goose Egg

Though I was busy cooking dinner and didn't actually see "it" happen... I knew by the Paisley's cry that this wasn't just a case of wounded pride.

I ran to the living room, and without even looking her over, I immediately scooped up my little girl and hugged her, and then asked Jeb what had happened.
Jeb informed me that she crawled into a bucket of toys in the living room, stood up, lost her balance and tumbled out, crashing head first into our solid wood coffee table.

The result-

HUGE GOOSE EGG! The scary looking kind that extend 2-3 inches off the head... off the the ER we went to make sure it wasn't anything too serious.

Pictures below were taken about 4 hours later...

Oddly enough, she still has an indention in her forehead (3 months later). The doctor said that she probably hit so hard that she damaged the muscles... might heal over time, or could be a permanent reminder of her tumble.

See the nice line above her left eye? I really hope that it heals soon.

ER Trip # 3- Jeb vs. Hoak

He made a second appearance at the ER this summer due to an argument with his brother.

As I was unloading the groceries from the car, the boys had a disagreement about who would open the door to the house first.(Ah, with that information you can only imagine the amount of "petty" arguments that ensue at this household on a daily basis)... Anyway,

Hoak won... and Jeb was angry.

With my hands full of groceries, I didn't see "it" happen, but Hoak to me came crying saying that Jeb stood on his chest.

Sounds crazy right?

I didn't really think that Jeb would do such a crazy thing, but apparently he did.

Hoak cried for a long time.

I honestly thought he was just partly tired, cranky, and maybe a little hurt. But 3 hours later when we were swimming in the pool, and he started crying again and clutching his tummy... I thought otherwise.

Off the the ER we went... (keep in mind, this incident was just 5 days prior to Paisley's head bonk visit, and a month and a half after his last visit...I was starting to worry that CPS might be getting a call- crappy parenting going on at the Rine house. With every explanation of "What happened?" starting with... "Well, I didn't see it, but-", really doesn't make one sound like an attentive parent.

The doctor said, "Blunt force trauma, he is going to have some pain for a few days... Tell your older child that he cannot in the future stand on his siblings."

Message received... no further incidents to report.

However, that doesn't mean that our local ER had seen the last of us yet.

Tax Free Weekend

2011-09-08T14:41:00.000-05:00

The last month of summer seemed to fly by this year. I have gotten behind on everything... especially blogging. I felt really guilty that we hadn't taken a "family" vacation this summer, so we made last minute plans for a weekend trip to San Antonio. Originally, we were going to just visit the zoo, but decided to skip the zoo and just do Sea World instead. I was hoping that everyone would be out shopping and we wouldn't have the typical summer crowd. My wish came true!

Jeff got us an awesome and "free" (paid for with travel points, of course) room less than a mile from Sea World. We didn't have to pay parking because the hotel offered a free shuttle service. The driver informed us that the park was only at 33 % capacity that Saturday. Just the weekend before they were at 99%! We definitely picked the right weekend to visit.

The driver also told us that the Shamu show wouldn't have any trainers in the water, because one of the whales in the show was the infamous "Shamu" from Florida.

I have to say, the show really wasn't that great. I missed seeing the trainers interacting with the whales.

Other than that, and the extreme heat... we all had a really good time.

Mommy Shamu and baby... How sweet!

We got to San Antonio late Friday afternoon, by the time that we unpacked, it was already dark.

We went downstairs to spend sometime roasting marsh mellows by the fire, and watching Finding Nemo that was playing on a huge screen out by the pool.

However, we spent more time splashing in the wading pool in our clothes.

My cuties

Paisley and her favorite person... Daddy.

Paisley is such a "Daddy's girl" these days.

She wants him all to herself all the time.

Saturday morning we hit the park early.

First on the agenda... The Sea Lion show.

A nice guy took a family shot for us just after the show.

Resting for a bit and reading the map.

Watching the Sea Lions in a different tank after the show.

The sea lion show was Jeb's favorite.

Watching the Walrus do sit ups was my favorite part... if anything that huge can do sit-ups that easily, I have no excuse.

Paisley liked the Sea Lions too... She laughed and laughed. So cute.

Da Nuh... Da Nuh!

SHARK!!!!

Watching the alligators was actually a lot of fun. They were constantly on the go...sliding in and out of the water- except for the little guy below.

The pictures below aren't good, but they boys LOVED the Shamu roller coaster, especially Hoak.

They were in the last car, and squealling and hollering like crazy.

If you look REALLY hard you can see their happy little faces.

We woke up Sunday morning and spent some time playing in the pool at the hotel before heading home.

I am glad that we got to get away as a family and do something fun.

Hope to do it again soon.

Happy Birthday!!

2011-08-28T10:05:00.000-05:00

( I realize that this post is WAY overdue... but I have accepted that rarely anything I do these days is in a timely fashion, and apparently that is just the way it is going to be ... for right now at least- hopefully.)

Anyway, Hoak turned the big 4 in July.

Hard to imagine when he was a little guy...

so here are some pictures to remind you.

He has changed quite a bit...

His blue eyes, turned green, and now have settled in to light brown.

We thought for a while there he might stay a red head...

but it is more light brown/dirty blond these days.

(Though he still has a hint of red when the sun shines on it. )

He got glasses just like his brother...

And although they may look quite a lot alike (especially when I dress them in matching clothes),

Hoak has his own special little personality.

Out of all my kiddos, Hoak is the "sweet" one.

His precious little voice and charming words usually always get him what he wants. He is quite hard to resist sometimes.

Happy Handsome Birthday Boy!

He requested the exact birthday party that he had last year... silly kid, right down to the cake and all.

Anyway... when it is your birthday, you get what you want, right?

So we celebrated his 4th birthday just like his 3rd- a backyard swim party with a Mickey Mouse theme.

Same theme... but I did change up the invitations,

the goodie bags,

and made even made some cupcakes too...

but, of course, he also got the same Mickey cake from Lone Star Bakery

(good call... It was yummy! )

And of course we cooled off in the pool...

or the slide.

In addition to the water fun, the kids got to whack at my homemade pineta. (It was very easy to make and cost less than $2 to make. However, I forgot to create a good way to hang it... going to have to work on that for the next one.)

It took several kiddos,

and finally a little slugger to bust open Mickey.

It didn't take long for the kids to gather all the goodies that flew out.

The birthday boy got the final whack at the pineta.

Blowing out his candle!

And unwrapping gifts...

(He received so many wonderful toys!)

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate his special day.

Happy Birthday Hoak!

Mommy and Daddy Love You !

Life is a Beach!

2011-06-26T10:59:00.003-05:00

*** warning***

This is a SUPER long post, with way too many pictures.

If you plan to read the entire post, and look at all the pictures, you may want a snack or drink before you get started.

Two years ago the boys had their first taste of the beach.

Ever since then, they have been begging us to go back.

We didn't even attempt it last year because Paisley was just too young.

I really wanted to go to a place with soft white sand... like Gulf Shores, or Pensacola. However, that would mean either a plane ride or LONG car ride, neither of which sounded very appealing with our three kids.

I kept pestering Jeff about scheduling something before all the good condos were booked full.

However, this summer, his work schedule is crazy. He will be working more that usual and several weekends and could never give me an answer.

Sooo...

What is a good wife to do??

That is right...we went without him. ( I have a very understanding hubby.)

I am not crazy enough to take the kids on a vacation by myself, so I convinced my sister and niece to join us.

Of course when I called to find a condo, just about everything was booked solid.

I am a bit spoiled when it comes to hotels, nice sheets, overall guest accommodations, because I never really go anywhere unless Jeff books it and he has more miles, points, upgrades, etc... that we never have to slum it.

I am not a clean freak by any means, but

I get squeamish thinking of bedbugs, dirty sheets, etc...

I didn't want to just stay in any 1970s decorated beach condo. I wanted something a wee bit nicer.

I found a place online from reading reviews on tripadvisor (hubby's idea.)

#46 Island Retreat- Port Aransas

Recently renovated... very nice, clean, and includes new washer and dryer (most of the units do not), and to top it off it had an awesome, beach/pool view.

Jackpot!!!

The view from our condo.

The kitchen

It was a three bedroom.

Tayler and her friend had the master. My sister had the next room, and I slept with the kids in the third room with two full beds. ( These beds were not nearly as high off the ground as the others- good thing too, because both Jeb and Paisley ended up rolling off. My children tend to move a lot when they sleep, as you can tell in the above picture.)

The shower in our bathroom had two shower heads... Jeb thought it was awesome. I think he could have stayed in there forever.

Every room had their own flat screen TV.

If you cannot tell, I was more than thrilled about the accommodations.

On to more important things...

You cannot go to Port A without taking a picture in the shark's mouth.

Finally... THE BEACH!!

Honestly, I was a little bummed by the amount of seaweed and dead crabs on the beach the first night.

Tayler even found this (I think it was a baby shark-dead, thankfully) floating in the water.

However, as our visits to the beach increased, the seaweed seemed to lessen.. that or we just got used to it.

Regardless, it didn't keep the kids from running and having a good time.

Hoak was into digging holes in the sand.

Paisley was into Hoak's holes.

Jeb preferred the water and waves... but spent sometime digging holes too.

They spent a little time searching for seashells.

We brought several home if anyone wants any...

Paisley had a thing for bouncing on the piles of sand that were scooped and stacked from their hole digging.

Remembering this vacation picture by showing his age.

Paisley liked to sit in the shallow waves and get knocked over.

Hoak... getting dirty!

and enjoying the waves.

And... many more pictures of the little ones enjoying the sand, ocean, and breeze.

A picture of some real beach babes!

My niece and her friend... they'd just gotten Henna tattoos.

Oh, to be young (and skinny) again.

Jeb had the best time hanging out with Aunt Cindi and having the waves splash on their backs.

We even made a sand castle!

But ours wasn't worthy of a picture... so we found someone else's castle to claim as our own.

What is this???

"Mommy" makes a rare blog appearance.

Too bad all the kids couldn't be looking at the camera too.

Enjoying the waves with my cutie.

So anyone who has taken a vacation with children will agree that it isn't much of a vacation for the adults, but considering there were two grown women, one college student, and a high school student, and we technically outnumbered the kids by one, you'd think that we'd have some time to "relax"...

Not with my kids...they will keep you on your toes to say the least.

Unfortunately, the kids coupled with the heat made my "Betty-itis"(inside joke) flare up.

By the end of the trip, Tayler and her friend both decided they were never having children.

My sister declined any future offers to join us for family fun.

Let me quote... "Crystal, I had no idea it would be so much work. Watching them for 3-4 hours is hard... but watching them all day- Oh my! I don't know how you do it. Seriously. It isn't that they are bad. The aren't bad children at all. They are just..."

"EXHAUSTING?", I said.

"Yes! Exactly!"

That's my kids.... cute as can be, funny, sweet, smart, but they will suck the life right out of you.

I knew going into it that I wouldn' have a moment to relax, I rarely do. What mattered was that the kids had a good time, and they did.

As exhausting as my kids can be there were some memorable moments and several times that my sister was laughing so hard she almost wet herself...

None of them top Jeb's first reaction to the ocean waves, when he came running from the water hollering, " Mom! I have crabs!!! " and scratching himself and taking off his pants informing me " They itch!"

Talk about almost peeing yourself... Funny what reaction you can get out of a little guy when some sand gets stuck up his crack.

Father's Day!

2011-06-21T08:28:00.001-05:00

What an awesome Daddy my kids have...

( He is way too hard to shop for... rarely ever spends money on himself, unless he REALLY wants something and then it is so specific it is best that he just purchases it himself. )

So, this Father's Day his "gift" from the kids (besides a couple of cute cards) was getting to spend quality time with their happy little faces.

On a hot day this time is best spent in the pool of course!

I am so proud of how awesome all my little ones are doing in the pool.

At the beginning of the summer, I practically had to bribe Hoak just to get him in the pool, and there was NO way he was getting his face wet.

Anyway, here is a few video clips of the family in the pool.

Both boys taking turns jumping in the pool.

Hoak likes someone to be in the water for him when he jumps... Jeb need anyone there. However, I think that he does but find a bit of pleasure splashing water in your face.

Hoak "swimming" (ok, so technically it is a mean doggie paddle... regardless- still very proud!)

Paisley jumping in... (Found out yesterday that she can hold her breath under water for about 4 seconds...this was on accident of course. Sometimes, she just jumps in whether you are ready or not.

Gotta be on your toes in this family!

Jeb showing off his swimming skills.

Ok, so their form needs some tweaking...still working on finding a place to enroll them in lessons.

I cannot wait to see how much they improve after some real lessons.

Oh Deer! Another Baby

2011-06-20T14:58:00.000-05:00

So ever since Jeff was able to find one baby deer for the kids to "pet", they have begged him every night after dinner to go for a ride in the mule to find more.

Somehow he always manages to find one. He actually put this little guy on a homemade leash. The kids wanted to "keep it". We had to convince them that he would be so sad and miss his mommy too much to stay with us.

Anyway... here are some more pictures.

Paisley's turn holding the baby.

Jeb is so silly... He couldn't stop giggling.

Hoak's turn. (His face is covered in red popsicle.)

Just threw this picture in because I love Paisley's expression.

Totally looks like Chester wants to bite the little guy's head off.

But, if you know our dog, he wouldn't hurt a fly... He just wanted to lick the baby.

How sweet!

Splurge, Splash, Smile!

2011-06-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

Anyone who knows me well, knows the in addition to being a supreme hoarder, I am also quite ~~cheap~~ frugal. I don't like to pay full price for anything if it can be avoided. Rarely, if ever, do I splurge on something unless I really want it, or need it.

So, we didn't need any more items to fill up our garage, and we have a nice refreshing pool in our backyard to cool off in... However, I really wanted to get a water slide for the kids.

(Sure it was technically for the kids, but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't a selfish want on my part. I knew that I could actually get a chance to relax while watching the kiddos play instead of always being on alert as I am when I have all three of them in the pool by myself. In addition, I saw this as a chance for me to get some sun on my whole body and not just my shoulders. )

So, I guess I should have added "selfish" to the title of this blog too.

What can I say? Everyone is a little selfish now and then, right?

I went to five different Target stores in one week looking for this particular water slide that was on sale (but quite honestly, still way too much $- but that didn't stop me.)

The smiles and squeals of joy coming from my children as they splashed about (once Jeff and I finally got it set up) confirmed that every now and then it feels good to splurge.

So their Mommy made a selfish expensive frivolous purchase...I don't think that they mind.

Do you?

The Graduate(s)

2011-06-11T22:40:00.001-05:00

All smiles, before their last day.

Hoak's class did a little skit..."Going On a Bear Hunt". It was super cute. I couldn't stop laughing at how animated Hoak was throughout the entire thing.

Waiting to start...

In this picture they are having to "eat" their way through the candy factory...

Here they are showing they "little fuzzy tail" they felt just before the realize...

"Oh No! A bear!!!! "

They are making a run for it...

Hoak with his teacher. We will all miss having her for a teacher.

Unfortunately the ceremony was right in the middle of Paisley's mid morning nap, so she wasn't all too thrilled about being there.

On to the little ones in their caps.

(They took "cap and gown" pictures... super cute. But, our scanner isn't cooperating these days, or I'd be sharing it on this post.)

I cannot believe that he on his way to Kindergarten.

Smiling little man...

except when you actually want him to.

He started the year with one teacher, but finished with another.

He handled the transition really well.

His class.

(When he started preschool at CLLC, the toddler class had only 5 kids. Though one is no longer going to CLLC, the boy to his left and the two kids on the far end opposite the teacher, were in the toddler class too. It has been fun watching them grow up together. Though none of them will move on to Kindergarten together, there are 4 other kids in his class that will be attending Meridian World School with him next year. )

Before the family picnic following the graduation ceremony, we always doing a little dancing....

Hoak... dancing machine.

Jeb shaking his thang...

He just happened to find himself a spot right next too his new crush (cute blonde to his left).

Big Thanks to Aunt Cindi for joining us. The boys always get so excited when they see her.

In just a few short months, Hoak will be back at CLLC for his final year, and Paisley will just be starting. All my kiddos will be in school for at least a few hours a week. My much needed "Mommy Time" is just around the corner.

Yippee!!!

Spring!!!!

2011-05-22T15:50:00.074-05:00

This Spring is almost over... life is sure flying by these days.

This post is a snippet of some of our Springtime fun.

First... I picked up Hoak from school one day in early April and his teacher had taken the below picture.

She'd taken this great picture of the butterfly landing right on Hoak's arm.

A butterfly that they'd "raised" from a little egg right there in their classroom.

To make a long story short... we decided to get in on the "grow your own butterfly" action too.

If you want to know more on how to do this yourself and for step by step cool pictures click here.

Our friends took much better pictures and helped us find our very own milkweed.

(There is a long funny story that goes with our hunt for milkweed, but too long to share.)

Anyway, below are our attempts at some pictures.

I failed to get any of the little guys in their caterpillar stage.

Below is the chrysalis

(It is hanging... way there in the back.)

We waited and waited... one morning Jeff walked out to the garage and shouted for us all to come see...

our first butterfly.

Jeb was trying to coax the butterfly out and onto his hand.

WoW! A Monarch butterfly!

It's wings were still wet, it hung out here for about an hour before flying away.

We started with two caterpillars, the second one was about a day or two away from making an appearance. I didn't want to miss this one, so it stayed on our kitchen counter top... I watched it constantly. Sure enough, the moment I stepped away for just a minute... I'd missed the action. There were the little chrysalis had been, was a huge butterfly...even bigger than the first.

Next year, I hope to actually see it emerge...

Moving on... RAIN! It had been a LONG time since we'd seen any.

So, after the first real rain, the kids couldn't resist the urge to play in the mud.

Follow the leader

Inching her way in the mud puddle

Uh oh! I think I'm stuck in the mud.

Running wild

Oh no... my hands are dirty.

About to splatter his brother with mud.

That is one Dirty Little Girl

It always amazes me how the kids seem to notice everything...cool things about nature that I always seem to never take the time to take notice of.

One evening last week, Hoak pointed out this huge cloud hovering above us.

We have had some really bad weather this Spring, luckily it has mostly passed a little north of where we live.

Finally... new babies.

Before Jeff and I had children we'd nicknamed the deer that come by looking for a meal every evening, "the kids".

Well, the kids had little ones.

We'd accidentally spooked a tiny fawn one evening when Jeff started up the mower, it tried to run after its mother into the trees, and got stuck in some soil erosion fencing that has been up since we moved in. It started kicking and crying loudly. I thought for sure it was going to break a leg or something. Jeff went and got it untangled and then tried to find its mom.

A few days later, Hoak found one (very sickly and itty bitty) nestled up right by our pool equipment. Again, Jeff picked it up and took it out in search of its mother, or a surrogate.

Anyway, every since, our kids (human ones) keep asking him to go find them a baby deer to pet.

Amazingly, the mothers don't come charging out after Jeff or anything. I've never had the camera out with us before, however, one day he brought a little fawn all the way back to our house.

Isn't she a cutie? (She is quite a bit bigger than most of the others)

She'd had enough of the attention and was ready to get back to her mama.