Wow, is all I can say. These past two weeks have been completely cRaZy! I am glad things have calmed down and I can finally get a chance to blog about our experiences! I will start way back to Valentine's Day--I did say I was really behind! Anyway, since Sarah and I are the only human girls of the family we were each given Valentine's from Aaron. Sarah got a rose and a Fiiz gift card. She was in heaven. I got a dozen roses and a Fiiz gift card as well. I was pretty happy about that, too!
Here's our pretty flowers. I am horrible at flower arranging, but they still were pretty to look at:
Noah brought home this cute little note. As you can tell he is a true kindergartner and just shoved it in his back pack which is why it is so crumpled--crazy kid! It says, "You hold my hand for a little while but my heart is yours to keep. Happy Valentine's Day! Noah" I loved it!
In the past two weeks Matthew broke his glasses. I was able to buy a new frame to put the lenses in, but he ended up breaking those new frames again. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more frames for those glasses since they had been clearanced so we had to order all new glasses which took two weeks to get here from Zenni optical online. We ordered two pair of glasses this time and hopefully Matthew is done breaking his glasses for a while!!
About three weeks ago I got a call from one of the Stake Young Women Presidency asking if I would head up a service project for our Stake Youth Conference. She said she wanted me to make fleece blankets to donate to Primary Children's Medical Center. She then told me that would have two hours to fill with 58 kids and that I would need to figure out how to keep all 58 kids busy tying blankets the whole time. In order to figure all that out I had to go out and pick up enough fleece to do a trial blanket to see how long it would be to tie one. Then after figuring that out I could guesstimate how many yards of fabric I would need to order. Interestingly enough the cheapest place I found for fabric was Hancock Fabric online. They were running an awesome sale so I really stocked up. I ended up ordering 240 yards of fabric. The fleece came a week later and there was A TON!! I had to empty all the boxes and count to make sure I got all the fabric I ordered which I did. The fabric took up my whole living room as you can see:
I really had my work cut out for me. To get all the blankets ready I had to cut all the fabric into two yard increments, cut off both selvage edges and then cut all the fringe on each blanket. It was a lot of work and kept me pretty busy for the two weeks prior to Youth Conference. My poor wrists paid the price, but I was glad I was able to help.
It was parent teacher conferences at the elementary school. It was an actual pleasant experience in speaking with all the kids teachers. Daniel, Sarah and Noah are really all doing well and enjoying school. For their great jobs each child got a free child's meal at Pizza Pie Cafe. So the following Saturday we all went for a family lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe. The kids were excited and so was I since I wouldn't have to make lunch or dinner since the kids ate enough that they weren't hungry for dinner. Wahoo! After Sarah and Noah were finished eating and entering into their food coma they came over to give me lubs. I loved it!
Josh and Daniel went to town at the pasta bar!
Matthew went to town on everything!
A bit later in the afternoon Sarah was begging Aaron to take her to Fiiz so she could use her Valentine gift card. Since Aaron has such a soft spot when it comes to Sarah he was quite the pushover! Sarah found her new favorite drink, the Wiggly Worm, which is root beer with whipped cream, grenadine syrup, and gummy worms.
Since I was doing the fleece blanket project we did ask for any extra fleece fabric donations. Our friends the Einzingers thought they would donate to the cause and dropped off some Ute fabric to be funny. DOH!! It was hard to Aaron to watch me get that piece of fabric ready for the fleece blankets. He kiddingly said that maybe we shouldn't donate it because it would give the kids nightmares. Haha!
Two weeks ago Noah starting getting that tight croupy cough. I hate hearing that, but it will usually just run its course and then go away. Unfortunately, the next morning Noah's eyes were blazing red and goobery and his cough was getting pretty bad. He was starting to have chest retractions when he was breathing which made me uncomfortable so off to the pediatrician we went. He looked pretty rough.
Luckily, he was able to get some steroids for his Croup and some antibiotic eye drops for his Pink Eye. While writing out the prescription for the Pink Eye drops he asked how many kids I had at home. After hearing that I had five he gave me a couple extra refills on the eye drops for if and when anyone else got Pink Eye. It's a good thing because Noah shared the wealth and gave it to Sarah the next day. Gotta love kids. Anyway, thankfully they were the only two that got it in the family.
Since Valentine's Day was on a Sunday Sarah was willing to let me do some fancy hearts in her hair. We were able to get four on each side. Wahoo!
When choosing what kind of puppy to get we tried to get a 'hypoallergenic' dog. Even before we brought Sophie home we took Josh over to see her three different times and had him stick his face in her fur to make sure he would be able to tolerate her. He did fine with her until we actually brought her home and then a few days later he was really suffering. His nose was stuffy and runny at the same time, his eyes were watery and he started getting hives when he touched the dog. Boo! Josh also has some pretty bad seasonal allergies as well that were getting worse every year so we decided to take the plunge and take him to the allergist for testing. It was also time for Daniel to be seen for an oral immunotherapy visit as well as to check up on his asthma. The visit didn't go so well. Daniel had been having an asthma flair up so his lung function test results were horrible. They started Daniel back up on his twice a day preventative inhaler as well as his Singulair and told us to come back in six months to check on him again. With Josh it didn't come as a surprise that he was allergic to a ton of things especially cats, dogs, horses and cows in addition to grasses, and other seasonal pollen.
Since they did his whole back for testing they ran out of space. To finish up they had to do the back of each arm as well.
Luckily, Josh was a trooper and didn't complain too much even though everything was so itchy.
Since he is allergic to so many things it was decided to start the immunotherapy shots to try and decrease his allergic responses to everything. We are doing the accelerated program so we can get up to the maintenance dose more quickly. It is a bit of a pain in the front end, but will really help us in the back end. However, in doing the accelerated dosing we have to spend over two hours at the allergists office once a week for the next five weeks--ugh. I keep telling myself it will be worth it, but let me just say those two hours are some of the longest hours since I have to take Noah along with Josh to the appointments. Hopefully, it will work. We were given an 80% chance of improvement so I hope we are part of that 80%!
Two weeks ago we had Matthew's annual IEP (individualized education plan) meeting where the regular education teacher, the special education teacher, the vice principal, speech therapist and us as parents attend to set goals for Matthew throughout the next year. Matthew's after school program wanted to sit in on the meeting as well so they can follow through with these goals in the after school program. I was also able to get an advocate to come sit in on our meeting from the Utah Parent Center to make sure everything sounded ok. Even after going to these IEP meetings for 12 years I still don't feel like I know what I am doing. I was glad to have another set of eyes and ears to help Aaron and I during the meeting and goal setting. Since Matthew is in 9th grade we have to start planning for what we want for him in his education. To help Matthew be a part of things they had him fill out a questionnaire of what he wanted for his own future. He wanted to work for Union Pacific or the train at Lagoon. He also wanted to get married and live with mom or dad. He also commented that he didn't need to worry about much since his wife would take care of him. He also wanted to get his driver's license as well. It was interesting to hear what his future goals were. The IEP meeting was only supposed to be 45 minutes, but it ended up being 90 minutes because so many people wanted to talk about their experience with Matthew and what they thought would be good goals to set for him. I was glad to hear everyone's input, though. Aaron and I are really nervous since Matthew will be transitioning to High School next year. Gah!! That really scares me. Hopefully we covered everything that he would need for next year in his IEP goals.
Since the IEP meeting ran long I was super late to the Ogden cannery for my assigned shift that Aaron had volunteered (rather volunTOLD) me for. It was interesting to see how the cannery works. We canned chicken noodle soup that day. I was on floor scrubbing duty which was interesting. That was my first experience at the cannery, but it wasn't bad. I wonder if I will get volunTOLD for another shift there--haha!
Two weeks ago it was our ward's Young Women New Beginnings. We did an Alice in Wonderland theme. The Laurel advisor is really talented in decorating so she came up with all the decorations. Since it was pretty intricate all the leaders went in Tuesday night to help decorate for the program on Wednesday night. It turned out really nice! For part of the program we separated into four stations. I was in charge of the Personal Progress station. I got to talk about and explain the Personal Progress program to all the parents and their daughters. It was a fun night.
Two weekends ago it was a Scout campout up at Crystal Hot Springs up in Honeyville, Utah. Aaron was asked to go along so he brought Daniel along with him. Since we only had a two man tent or a 10 person tent neither would fit so Aaron ordered a four person tent which was just right. To make sure he had all the pieces he set it up in the family room with Josh and Daniel's help.
They left Friday night and got up there and went swimming in the hot springs even though it was only about 30-35 degrees. Here they are eating dinner sometime that evening:
The next morning it started sleeting on the tent at 6 am. Aaron hadn't slept well all night so that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He told the boys it was time to pack up because they were done camping. Josh was a bit upset because he would miss breakfast. After Aaron promised to stop for donuts on the way home Josh had no problems leaving early. Daniel was glad to come home early since he had a basketball game Saturday morning at 8 which they were able to go to. Aaron did have a fun time with his boys, though despite the cold and sleet.
Later that Saturday we went over to the Clark Planetarium for a fun family outing. It was fun to see all the exhibits and to see the IMAX shows the Race to Space and the National Parks show. We hadn't had a family day for a while so it was nice to spend some time together amongst all the craziness.
Checking out the pendulum:
Looking at the infrared camera:
Josh started his immunotherapy shots two Mondays ago. He was a trooper. He has a full on exam before they start the injections. He receives two injections three different times waiting 30 minutes in between to make sure he wouldn't have a severe reaction. In preparation to these visits, the day before and the day, and the day after the visit he has to take prednisone which is a steroid, two Zyrtec, Singulair and two Zantac. When we go to the appointment I have to bring along an Epi-pen just in case he has a severe reaction as well. The first visit went ok and Josh didn't have a very big reaction which was good.
Daniel had Pack Meeting the other night. He received a pin and for whatever reason I can't remember which one it was.
Last Wednesday morning Daniel got his top and bottom braces on. Before leaving the orthodontist's office they made us watch a video of how to care for them and what foods were safe or unsafe to eat while wearing them. I thought I knew what I was doing since Matthew and Josh have gone through braces before. I was wrong. Sunday night I made dinner and part of dinner was carrot sticks which was a no no from the video I watched. Since Matthew and Josh were able to eat carrot sticks without a problem I thought it wouldn't be a problem for Daniel either. I was wrong. After the first bight of carrot Daniel pulled the wire out from his top braces on both sides--DOH!! Aaron tried to fix it with tweezers, but couldn't get it. Luckily, he pulled out my jewelry making tools and they were just the right size to fix it. Well now I know that baby carrots are really on the do not eat list--haha!
Last Friday morning was Dads and Donuts at the elementary school. It fell on Aaron's Friday off so he was able to go. The kids loved reading with him, eating the donuts and showing him all around their classrooms.
It was an awesome morning for everyone.
That Friday night was the start of our Stake Youth Conference. We started off by having some speakers, which Matthew interrupted each speakers talk to bear his testimony to everyone even though the speakers wasn't done talking. Oh that kid!! He just will do whatever he wants even though we talk about the expectations before we even go inside the building. Sigh.....After the speakers we had dinner then we played some games. After the games we learned some different dances then they dimmed the lights and finished off the night with a dance. Here's some kids from our ward along with Matthew playing the Speed Dating game. You had to go around and ask different people 10 questions from a sheet they handed out and try to get through all the questions before you moved on to the next person.
Here's Matthew practicing the learned dances with his partner Ashlyn who is the sweetest girl. She helps Matthew out so much and is truly his friend which is so great. She really does have a heart of gold!
Here's a collage of some of the activities from that night. I even danced a few line dances even though I felt awkward and a bit on the old side--haha!
The next morning we all gathered together bright and early at 7:30 am. Aaron was so excited that I had to wake up before he did that he set my alarm for me the night before. Aaron gets up for work at 5:30 am every morning so he always gets up before me so this was a rare experience to have me wake up before him. Well I got jerked awake at 7 am. I had slept through my alarm, but in double checking my alarm Aaron had set it for 6:30 pm instead of 6:30 am. DOH!!
Saturday morning was crazy. I was at youth conference while Aaron had to go help move someone and Daniel had a basketball practice all at the same time. Luckily, we live close enough to the JR. High that Daniel was able to walk home after his practice while Aaron and I were gone doing our other stuff. Anyway, with Youth Conference we got to the Stake Center and had breakfast. After breakfast our ward leaders were in charge of cleaning up breakfast while the youth went to some classes. I was torn whether I should go to the classes with Matthew to try and keep him contained or if I should stay and clean up. That's when our new bishop came over to me and offered to go to the classes with Matthew to help him. I was so grateful for the help! After cleaning up I was able to attend one class before I had to leave to go and set up my service project area. Luckily, Aaron was volunTOLD and willing to come and help me get everything ready. We set up 60 chairs and two tables to use for cutting any extra donated fabric for that morning.
When they asked me to do the service project they told me to only plan for 58 kids. I had way more than 58 kids show up which was awesome. I was only one of four service projects going on at the same time, however, I think we had more than a fourth of the kids. It looked like about half of the kids came to my service project activity which was awesome! The whole room was so full. All the chairs were taken as well as all the extra floor space:
There was about 16 yards of extra fabric that was donated that morning as well. While everyone was tying the blankets me and two leaders from our ward were helping me cut the selvage edges off and cutting the fringe in the donated fabric.
There were even kids down each of the three hallways tying blankets. It was so neat to see! We had a total of 126 blankets completed that day which was amazing. It was a lot of prep work for me, but it was awesome to see the outcome!
We are delivering the blankets to Primary Children's Hospital for our next combined Young Women's activity. Wahoo!
While I was busy doing the service project Aaron had fun with the kids. He took them all to Fiiz to get drinks.
Then he promised them if they helped him clean the bathrooms they could pick up some pizza for linner (lunch/dinner). After eating the pizza Noah fell asleep on Aaron. He texted me this picture to make me jealous which worked--haha!
Saturday evening we finished off Youth Conference with dinner and a Fireside where the Deacons and Beehives as well as everyone's parents were invited, too. While I was at the fireside Aaron took Daniel, Sarah and Noah out for ice cream.
I think Aaron earned funnest parent of the year that day!
During dinner the leaders had to serve the food. I didn't have any pockets in my skirt so I gave my phone and keys to Josh to keep in his pockets for me. Well judging by all the pictures like this one, Josh didn't keep my phone in his pocket--the stinker!
The fireside speakers for that night were Glenn Rawson who wrote the TV series The Joseph Smith Papers and another guy who I can't remember his name. He accompanied Glenn Rawson's talk on the piano. He was an amazing speaker and didn't bat an eye when in the middle of his talk Matthew yelled out from the audience about how he has a friend that uses bad language and that is not right. Unfortunately I was not sitting right next to Matthew so I couldn't physically reach him to get him to stop talking. Thankfully, his friend Ashlyn was sitting next to him and eventually she got him to stop talking which was a relief. Like I said, this kid does what he wants when he wants despite him knowing the rules. Good thing everyone knows it was just Matthew and they all seem to really love him anyway.
Last Monday was Josh's second round of immunotherapy shots. He did react more to this round. The doctor told us not to worry about any reaction unless the hive gets bigger than a palm of the hand or if he gets hives all over his body. His hive on one arm got pretty big so we called to let them know. They just said to watch it and make sure it doesn't get worse. Luckily, it went down the next day. They have a rewards program where you get stars for getting the shots and extra stars for buying an allergist T-shirt and wearing it the day you get shots. After you rack up 50 stars you get a gift card to whatever places they have gift cards from--mostly restaurants which Josh was all over since it dealt with food. He is now measuring 5' 10" and enjoying the fact that he is so much taller than me.
The last few days it has been such warm weather we have really been loving it. I had to run by the library today and there is a park near by. Noah and went over and spent a while at the park. We are really getting some spring fever here!!
Since things have now calmed down for a bit we have decided to start kennel training Sophie. She is now almost 11 weeks old. I had to take her in for her shots last Friday morning. The poor thing! I felt awful for her, but she seemed to tolerate them alright. As for kennel training it is supposed to help house train them because I am really not enjoying cleaning up her poopy and pee messes even though most of them are on the puppy training pads. She is not enjoying the kennel, but I am hoping that she will get used to it since we really need to use it to help her learn to potty outside. Aaron and I have never had an indoor dog let alone train one, so this is all new for us. Hopefully we don't mess up too much--haha!
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