Everybody say cheese.....except for Addy, you can say meow!

Love going to the mountains. Staying a few days with my family. Enjoy the tubing, the fire, the ice skating. Watching my kids enjoying themselves and mastering sledding skills and skating skills....My oldest and youngest spending an ENTIRE day going up and down a hill.....yup, the 3 year old outlasted his 17 year old and 15 year old cousins!!! What a Blast!!! thanks mom for the memories!

about potty training

yup that is exactly what you think it is. Apparently Dylan had a little accident, now this was a long time ago when he was still trying to get it all figured out. However, I have to give the kid some credit he was trying to clean it up! So needless to say at the end the night. I relaxed and enjoyed this:

I have a dream

I have had lots of them throughout the course of my life. They change from stage to stage in my life. I have missed blogging. I have lots of stories that would run through my brain and I would think.."wow, that's a blog worthy moment". Of course signing into my old dial up computer was so time consuming. Of course now, I have this much faster, Internet which will allow me no more excuses for getting on here and updating some of our daily life. Anyway, back to my dream. I use to dream that I would get married, travel the world with the love of my life then settle down some where, preferably some place a lot different then where I was. You know, a beach, ocean side, mountain side....London. Then start a family. Of course well, that didn't turn out so. But as it turned out its okay. I have four kiddos. Two pets. A small house in a small town. Anyway, I have a new dream. I want to be the old granny driving a little sporty red, Nissan 350Z , license plate reading "flash". On the back my hover round will be attached and I will be heading towards the Grand Canyon. Jim by my side.

Times they are a changin

Yes, I know its been months. Yes, I know there were 3 birthdays and Christmas in the time I have been away. But this is a fresh memory. So endure it.
I am home preschooling Addy this year. I love it by the way. We are working on reading. This particular book that we are working through is awesome. Mostly because it tells me not only what to do but what to say. Anyway, she is making great progress.
You read a sentence and there are questions that you ask them about a story. So for example a sentence would go like this.

"We will run". Then you ask a question. "who will run?"
Correct response is "we". through a very complicated and confusing 10 minute conversation over that simple sentence. I realize that my poor little girl is very very confused. I finally realized that she is wondering how in the world can a WII run!!! Thank you Nintendo!

Potty training and housebreaking DO go hand in hand

One should never potty train a 2 year old and house break a puppy at the same time but if you find yourself ever being stuck in this predicament....well...
1. Pet stain and odor remover works equally well for 2 year old messes.
2. Don't laugh when 2 year old pees on the kitchen floor ('because puppy does it').
3. Let 2 year old know that when puppy pees outside like she is suppose to she does not get an m&m.
4. Stock fridge with coffee creamer and cokes (frequent visits to Starbucks are equally good!).
5. Don't confuse 2 year old with puppy and rub behind the ears while cooing "good girl" after a job well done.
6. Carpet cleaning projects should wait until after both 2 year old and puppy are trained.
7. Popcorn for lunch is definitely okay when overwhelmed with laundry-add craisins if it makes you feel less guilty.
8. Treats work well for both child and pup. However, with child 1 m&m for pee and 2 for poop doesn't really last long. You may need to encourage child by upping the reward to a Hersey kiss, AKA BIG chocolate, for pooping in the toilet. Again refer to number 3.
9. Prepare yourself returning home after running errands. 2 year old and puppy will both have to GO at the same time.
10. Whether your rushing a squatting mutt outside, or holding a 2 year old on a public toilet, chances are high that you will get peed on.

It's a GIRL!!

We weren't expecting. We weren't planning on expecting. We weren't really planning so why tell anyone that we were expecting. Actually it was only something that we had talked about. Contemplated all the pros and cons. So many pros. So many cons. Then all of the sudden without really much more thought. Guess what its a girl. It took a while to come up with a name. Honestly through some confusion, it took some time to realize that it was a girl. But her name is Paisley. She is cute. She needs to be house broken.So just to give you the story: We went to a football game to see my nephew (he rocked by the way). Then late on the dirt road at just after 11pm we almost hit something. As we were driving past we realized that it was a puppy. So of course you can't leave a little thing like that there it will get hit or eaten by something larger. We pulled over picked it up, brought it home. None of the farm houses claimed her, actually said it was a common thing to get them dropped off out there. Waited awhile to see if anyone was looking for her and no one was. So took her to the vet and claimed her for our own. The vet said she was probably 7 weeks old. The joys of being a dog owner. I am still figuring them all out.

Accomplished

There's a lot to learn in 9 years. Reading, writing, math skills, motor skills (both large and small). Social skills, learn to ride a bike. Learn to play video games. Trying to figure yourself out. Yup, she is 9 already. She is still working on some of those things. Has figured out some. Has donated her hair to locks of love 3 times. (figure that the amount of hair she has given is equal to the height of my 2 year old!)

She is a terrific kid to have around. Glad she is mine!

Finally

Finally after weeks and weeks of watching over her. Telling her not to rub them, fighting about goopy Vaseline type meds that had to be squeezed into her eyes, weeks of no water in her eyes...pool or bath. Finally the blood red is gone, the hints of infected yellow have vanished completely. The hole in her eye that should have taken 5 days but took weeks is finally almost gone its probably only the size of the period at the end of this sentence now. yup, that's about all we have left to close up before she done. It feels good to be on the healed side of things. This has taken way to long. But in spite of it all she is still Joy. And all the other things mentioned in the previous post. Oh if only you could hear the battles over eye meds. But you didn't and so you are blessed. She is healed so we are blessed. And life is good and continues on.

Her name is Joy

Joy can be found in many things.

Roller coasters, ice cream, bike riding, scrap booking, hiking, Popsicles, enjoying a good book, sleeping in late, snow days, gifts, chocolate cake, going out to eat, being with friends, snowshoeing, hand gliding, cliff diving, snorkeling, a good pair of running shoes, a new purse, Starbucks. The list could just go on forever. I have 4 kiddos. My third, part of her name is Joy. Now, I am sure that when we named her that we (meaning Jim and myself) are not the ones who really came up with that name. I am sure, absolutely positive that God Himself gave that name to that child. Don't get me wrong, she is still a child and tests her parents patience to the max often time. But mostly she brings Joy to me. I could be having it out with her over some issue, then she'll say to me "but all I want is a hug". Now, what better way to end an argument then that?! Anyway, all my bragging on this sweet girl of mine is for a reason. Out of my 4 kiddos 2 of them have had to have eye surgery. Now it is Addy's turn. We were told a year ago this was a possibility. And next Wednesday she will go in. They will do both eyes, they will have her go to sleep. Then they will use what looks like a torture device to prop her eyes open. Then they will remove the muscle on the side, re-stitch it further back to have her eyes looking straighter. All of this to help her with her depth perception. Each time we have had to go through this I question if it is the right thing to do. I mean we could argue that God himself put that muscle in her eye and God Himself does not make mistakes. But that's an argument I'll save for someone else. Right now I am just concerned for my child. She knows she has to have surgery. She has no clue at all what it's going to be like when she wakes up. As long as when this is all over, when she is healed completely. As long as she still has her joy.