Simons 3/11

Simons 3/11
Family Picture

Friday, October 12, 2012

Late? Never

Last night I picked Kylie up from gymnastics.  This is the conversation we had in the car ride home.

Kylie: Mom I kind of like gymnastics better than home.
Me: That's okay you can like being other places too. 

After a pause where Kylie was thinking about things

Kylie: Mom could you please finally be a minute late picking me up?
Me: You want me to be late so you can play longer?
Kylie: Yes

Laughing to myself I was pleased that I usually am not late for things.  But what kids asks you to be late?  Don't they usually beg you not to be late?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Marcus Builds me Shelves

We started here in my laundry room.  There is three doors that lead in and out of the laundry room so it doesn't leave space for shelves and places for my laundry baskets, or any folding area.  I had seen a desk with a hinge on it and thought we could do something like that and set it up and then have it swing down or up and latch it.  Marcus thought about it and found some folding brackets on the internet. 

We measured and figured we could make four shelves and fit 10 laundry baskets in there, or have a folding area and 6-8 laundry baskets.  And then when I am all done with laundry I will collapse the shelves and we can walk through easily to the kitchen.
 They are all folded down.
 All set up.
Isn't that an awesome bracket to fold down??

Of course we built them for laundry baskets not kids.  The day after they were done Landon ripped one out of the dry wall.  I always kept that one folded up.  Then a month later Kylie was trying to climb up for something and completely ripped out two more.  So back to square one.  Marcus ripped out the dry wall and installed 2x4s between the studs so he could screw them into the wood and not just the dry wall.  He replaced the drywall and textured.  Now we still need to prime, paint and put the shelves back up.  Darn kids, we have to build everything for a pack of wild elephants for it to survive in our family.

Glasses

The morning she woke up for her new glasses I pulled her into bed with me and took these pictures with my phone.  Unknown to me the ophthalmologist would be calling later that day changing the way Aria sees forever.


Many people see Aria's adorable little face in glasses and ask me how I knew she needed glasses.  So here is her story.  I didn't know.  It started last fall 2011 when she was just one.  Aria would space off every once in a while and her eyes just didn't look right.  As rude as it sounds she would look like a little retarded baby.  I have no prejudice against those sweet little handicapped angels.  I just knew my baby looked really off.  I would call her name or clap and she would stop her dazed look and look right at me and everything seems just normal.  I shrugged it off and didn't know what to think of it.  Because when I got her to she would looked at me with both her eyes.  It also didn't happen very often.  And Marcus never noticed it.

A few months later around Christmas/New Years season I was in Pocatello celebrating the holidays with my side of the family.  My amazing sister in law Sara noticed Aria's eyes and said that she had a crossed eye.  She told me one of her friends had a child like that, and that it was an easy fix.  I was amazed and could totally see that her left eye would get lazy and cross in towards her nose.  So thanks a million to my Sara!!

A few months later in the spring I finally made an appointment with Aria's pediatrician to see what he would say.  Before I went I looked up some info in the internet to see what her crossed eye was all about.  I read all about the differences and causes of a crossed eye, wandering eye, and lazy eye.  And all the prognosis's for them which included glasses, patches, and surgury.  I also remember my cousin had a lazy eye, and he had to have a patch.  Marcus' brother also had a lazy eye and had an eye patch.  We went in to meet with her doctor, and I had a lot of anxieties that came with us also.  He observed her and asked questions.  He took about 10 minutes and wrote us a referral to an ophthalmologist.  He told us that she has a crossed eye.  When she is looking around it tracks a little slower than her right eye, but that she can still see out of it.  In order to protect a child's eye sight, if an eye doesn't move with the other eye your brain will see double, and then your brain will turn off that eye so you can't see out of it.  The sooner you catch it the better so they can fix it before your brain turns it off.  He is such a great doctor he even showed us his eyes where he had surgery and one of his won't turn inwards at all.  He said we caught it at a good time too.

I call the ophthalmologist's office and got an appointment that was around 6-8 weeks later.   June 12th the day after Marcus' birthday.  I skyped Marcus parents (on a mission in England) and asked them about their experience 30 years earlier with their kid.  Matthew ended up having surgery.  I also asked Matthew about how he sees.  His vision is 20/20.

We took the family to her eye appointment (always an adventure).  The doctor there was also amazing.  After her eyes were dilated he would just put lenses up to her eyes and look at how her eyes would react.  He told us that in both of her eyes she is extremely far sighted.  He told us that she works so hard to see up close and her right eye dominates, so he left eye pretty much can't keep up and so it crosses inwards.  He was confident that glasses would fix her eyes.  Once again we have wonderful doctors, and he told us his 12 year old daughter has the same thing.  And that when she takes off her glasses for swimming and such that her eye will still cross in. 

After her appointment we sat down in their small shop and checked out glasses.  They have amazing Mira-flex glasses for babies and small children.  They bend and move and you pretty much can't destroy or break them.  We had to get the smallest possible size that they make (my baby was still 1). Plus she has an itty bitty head.  When she was going in her first year for measurements her head was on the 0% for size.  We picked out the lens shape and the frame color.  We HAD to go with a pearl pink!  And then dropped $155 for those babies.

A few weeks later they called.  Her glasses had finally come in June 26, 2012.  She was so good with them.  She loved looking in the mirror when they were adjusting them for her.  When we came home she kept walking around really slow observing her enviroment.  She kept walking with her head down.  I don't thing she had ever seen a carpet fiber, or blade of grass in her life.

Her frames are quite indistructable but her lenses with the extra no scratch layer is another question.  After she got her glasses the doctor wanted to see her back in two weeks to see how her eyes were doing.  By the time we got there her lenses were already scratched up and we ordered new lenses.  Thank goodness they are guarnteed.  She has now been through three sets of lenses, and we should really order her some new ones again.

But the best news was when we brought her back for her two week check up that her eye doesn't cross anymore, and both her eyes are working together now.  She has had an adjustment keeping her glasses on.  The doctor told us that she would actually like wearing them because she will like being able to see.  And after about the first month that has been true.  But she does throw them off when she is having a fit, and we regularly are looking for her glasses.  So half of the time you will see her in them, and half of the time you might not.



Made With Love

As a kid my dad had a couple of meals that he would cook for us.  (Most of the time my mom did all the cooking until we moved to Pocatello, and then we started taking a night of the week to cook.)  My dad had Saturdays.  Anyways one of the meals he made were 'hats'.  I don't know the real name of them but you just butter up a piece of bread, cut a hole out of the middle and crack an egg in the middle.  After they were all done you would place the piece you cut out on top of the toast and egg and that was it's hat.  Hence why they were christened Hats. 

I decided to cook these babies up for my kids, and have heart shaped cookie cutters.  I told them how Grandpa used to cook these for us when we were kids.  They thought it sounded so fun.  But they didn't love the egg part, and pretty much just ate around it.  There is no pleasing everyone.  But I loved them.

Flowers

At one time when I was around 19 years old lilies used to be my favorite flower.  They aren't my favorite anymore but I still love them.  One of the few plants and flowers I had in my flower beds when we moved in were some gorgeous orange lilies.  For the weeks that they were in bloom this summer, every time I walked out my back door they brought a smile to my face.

Aria's First Haircut

It is time (June 17, 2012) for Aria's first "official" haircut.  Tannen did manage to catch her a few months ago in the winter to cut her hair in random spots.  (I was not home, and Marcus had the kids.  But of course disasters like this always happen really fast.)  I just cut the bottom of her curls and some of the wispy hairs on top.  Aria's hair and nails seem to grow painfully slow.  I can't believe that she had her first haircut just two months shy of being two years!!!  I remember when she was a newborn I waited a whole month before I needed to cut her nails.  All my other babies came home from the hospital and needed their nails trimmed right away.


 Kylie was my helper in distracting Aria, and having her look at Kylie so I could cut from the back.
 And we are done.  All curly and done again.

 Look at her blond little locks is cut right off.

Kylie wanted a haircut too.  Isn't she just so beautiful?



Jump

 We got a trampoline for the kids at the start of the summer.  The kids have loved it!!


Their favorite thing is to get the swim suits on and spray water on the tramp.  Such a fun game during the hot summer.

 









Saturday, June 23, 2012

Marcus is 35

I planned Marcus' birthday a month before it came.  I called up his brother Matthew and asked him to show up and golf with Marcus in the morning.  He set up the tee time and let me know when he was going to get here.  I told Marcus that he needed to get the day off and that he was going to have a surprise for his birthday, and not to worry because he was going to love it.  I told him he was going to have to be ready to walk out the door at 6:30 in the morning.  He asked if I was going to get up and get ready too.  I said sure, hoping to confuse him what his surprise was.  He thought that I was going with him, and we got a babysitter for the kids.  Marcus had no clue what was going on.  Matt came, and Marcus was still getting ready.  I asked him if he was ready to find out what he was doing.  So he walked down the hall to our family room and Matt was sitting on the couch waiting for him.  Marcus was very surprised and happy to go golfing for the day.  I was delighted to arrange something for Marcus for his birthday.  Even as an adult it is fun to be fussed over and loved.

End of the School Year

The kids a a great school year.  I was able to help with the Super Kids Fun Day.  There was fun water games, and whatever the parents came up with.  I did Landon's class a game in the morning.  Then in the afternoon had the same game for Kylie's class.  Each class rotated so I saw the entire school but the kindergarten.  We balanced balls and walked patterns on the the four square lines.  I am proud of my kids for all the hard work and things they have learned.  I love our school and am hoping for a great next school year.  The kids came home from their last day and found out who their teachers were going to be for 2nd and 4th grade.  They were so excited, so I am hoping we have some good teachers again next year.

Kylie's End of Year Concert

Kylie is in the middle

With the blue shirt

Mrs. Dahle and Kylie
Kylie had a 1st grade concert that I was able to go to.  I wrestled the little two, chased them down the halls, and was able to capture a couple of pictures and some videos of Kylie singing.  She did a great job, and I can't believe how much she is growing right up.

I Breed Monkeys

I made it to the top

Reach

Stretch

I made it to the water.  Waters on.  Success!!!

Easter 2012

Baskets all in a row at grandma and grandpa's house

Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought

Kylie's basket 

Landon's basket

Abby and Landon

Aria's basket

Climber

Yay for bubbles

Candy's even better

mmmm chocolate

Tannen slept in so he was a little late getting the goodies

I adore this face
We had a great Easter this year.  We got to go up to Grandma Vernae and Grandpa Davids house.  Justin and Sara came with their kids.  The Easter bunny hid treats all over the house, and the kids got sandles, bubbles, and of course lots of chocolate. Rochelle and Brendon and kids, and Candice and Brandon and kids came over later that Saturday morning/afternoon for the huge Easter egg hunt in the back yard.  You bring a dozen egg per kid.  The kids loved it.  There was fun toys and treats and money in the eggs.  We had a great dinner (Jambalaya) on the patio, with fresh rolls, fruit and salad.  It was a great time spent with family, and of course the food was Delicious.

Shhhhh


Snuggled up on the couch watching a little TV.  I love seeing all my kids piled up on the couch.  No fighting and just quite.  I love moments like these.

Park Time

Aria swing swung

Tannen swinging

Pushes are the best


Landon really was having fun

Kylie balancing

Kylie loves slids too

Aria exploring
Sometimes if the weather is just getting better, you just gotta grab jackets and play at the park while the sun is shining.  The kids loved the break.