On tonight's menu.....CARROTS!!!

As I mentioned last week, it was Abbey's turn at the eye doctor on Thursday. As expected, she did a great job during the exam, very cooperative and interested. She made sure to tell the Dr. that although, she may not be able to see the letters on the wall, she still "knew" all of her letters. (Such a perfectionist!) Sure enough, Abbey needs glasses too! She had a good time trying several pairs on and they will be ready for pick up next week. Now for the self-pity: What kind of mother am I that 2 of my kids have been walking around, practically blind, and I had no idea?! Well anyways to try to thwart any further ocular degeneration, I have been tinkering with a few recipes.... carrottarts, carrot McNuggets (my kids will eat anthing that has the word "Mc" in front of it and can be slathered in ketchup), carrot cream pie, carrots on a bun, carrotcicles...you get the idea...But while I work out the kinks, I have Cole and Kasey hooked up to a carrot juice IV drip just to be safe....

Oh.....Surface Wash Only.....

Don't you love it when you're unloading the washer and find money in the bottom? Yeah....Free Money! But don't you hate it when you get down to the bottom and find your cell phone.....I'll admit that with as much laundry as I do, I still tend to wash "unwashables" quite frequently. Fortunately I am able to fix, hide or replace most of these without anyone knowing, other times I am not so lucky. Some of my latest laundering misshaps have been Rob's passport, upon his return from Africa. (Still recognizable, but will have to be replaced.) Rob's CompactFlash card. (Now this is a true story of survival, it made it through the washer AND the dryer and is still functioning properly....Surprise Honey!) And most recently MY cell phone, which did not fare so well. I am not usually a believer in Karma, but I may make an exception in this case...Rob calls it carelessness, but I prefer to call it being preoccupied.

Anyways, when I found my poor, lifeless phone at the bottom of it's watery grave, my first thought was..."huh...so that's why it didn't ring when I called it earlier" (I do this on a daily basis just to find my cell phone). My next thought was, "ugh...I'm gonna be in trouble....again...."Lucky for me we had a babysitter last night so I was able to out myself with a witness present. I told her that if she needed to reach us this evening, she would have to call Rob's cell phone, as mine had met an untimely end...Poor Rob, he has been waiting for months for me to give in and want an Iphone, so that he can give me his and get the "newer" Iphone. I am anti-texting, picture taking, coffee-making with a phone (I just want to speak to you)....so I don't feel like I need one. Today's episode only strengthens my case. I don't think it would survive for long....Oh well, gotta run, my DVD just popped out of the toaster....mmm....crispy!

The blind leading the blind...

Well, if there is any type of legacy that I am certain to leave with my children, unfortunately, it will be poor eyesight. Yep, that's right....Blake got glasses, and apparently REALLY needed them! Last week when I dropped into Blake's class to say hi to Mrs. Rio, she mentioned that he was having trouble seeing the whiteboard and the overhead. I told her that I hadn't noticed because my children sit 2 inches from the T.V. whether they can see it or not, so how would I know? I thanked her for letting me know and came right home (had a small private episode of mom guilt. Complete with tears.) and made an appointment. So yesterday was THE day. Blake was really excited to go, as I had pepped him up for it. (I don't like my kids to be afraid of doctors, dentists, etc...so I always make a huge-o deal about how great it is that we are going to have whatever type of exam we are going for. I mean honestly, I could make a colonoscopy sound like a trip to the circus if I had to...) So off we went and we waited....filled out the papers....waited....got sent to another waiting room....waited....and finally it was our turn to see the doctor. Like I said, Blake was eager to be seen and I was too. There was only a moments hesitation on my part when the first thing she wanted him to do was put his chin/forehead against this machine and I thought...Panic of Panic....not the dreaded "eye puff". (O.K. people, I know you've seen the Friends episode and I am sure most of you have had first hand experience with it) If anything is gonna freak this kid out it will be blowing anything INTO his eye. I only had to suffer in silence for a minute though, until I realized it was simply going to be a light to check eye health. Disaster averted....Whew....Go ahead, shine all the high intensity laser beams you want into my child's eye, anything but the "puff"!

The rest of the exam went ahead without incident. Blake was very cooperative and upbeat. He even did a small jig/cheer when she announced that he indeed needed glasses. Yeah.....When Rob got home from work we all went out together and had him try on glasses and picked out the perfect pair for him. They were even able to make them right away, so that he was all set for school today! I sent him off this morning with his glasses, cleaning cloth and my own personal arsenal of "4-eyes" rebuttals, just in case..... Tune in next week to see how Abbey's appointment goes. I can hardly wait.

Check out my Facebook page for the other photos.....

Sniff...Sniff....Is that you Papa?

They say that the sense of smell is one of the strongest memory triggers. I would tend to agree. At our house, the smell of coffee means Papa is in town. (I can’t be certain, but I am pretty sure that there is a mathematical proof that supports this. Mathematicians at MIT and Cal-Sci are still working out the bugs, but…. I think it is called the “Papa-radic” Equation, X + Y = Z, where X is Papa, Y is ANY type of coffee and Z is Happy and in town….) All I have to do is pull out the coffee pot and the kids start asking, “Is Papa here? Is Papa here?” or we casually walk past a Star Bucks and immediately, they ask, “oh…is Papa in there?” Rob and I even tricked them once by lighting a coffee scented candle….cruel, I know…
Well anyways, hide your Folgers people, Papa is indeed in town and we are having a great time! Roger and Deb arrived on Monday afternoon from North Dakota and we have kept them hopping ever since. They were at the school to meet the twins on Monday and the kids were so happy to see them. We headed home and everyone played outside for a bit while I got the Spaghetti going. After supper, Rob, Papa and Blake went up to hit some golf balls, where Papa was kind enough to demonstrate his “windmill” technique, over…and over….and over…. Blake is giving him some pointers.
Deb took the other kids out for a walk around the neighborhood….or somewhere….Now Deb is a self-proclaimed “directionally-challenged” person, which I might have considered more seriously before sending her off to blindly follow a six year old and a 15 month old. They were gone for quite a while. Apparently Deb thought Abbey knew where they were going and Abbey thought Deb knew where they were going…so you see the problem. Fortunately, mere seconds before Deb was forced to stand in the street, holding Kasey high above her head shouting "Does anyone know where this baby lives?!", a friendly gentleman pointed her back to our street....Upon their return, Rob suggested a handheld GPS for her next expedition, my vote was for the under-the-skin locater chip....

The fun just keeps coming with more golf, hockey games, soccer games and the twin's Spring Music Program. We even enjoyed a nice round of "Spaceman" the other night. In this game, everyone takes turns putting on Papa's Sleep Apnea Machine Mask and saying "I'm a spaceman! I'm an astronaut!" while I photograph....good times, good times....

It's great to have them here. They really help with entertaining the kids. And my job? Well that's easy.....just keep the food coming.....