It's been too long

Where has time gone?  I can't believe that the last time I posted was the end of February.  Here it is the end of June...I'm a bad blogger.

Lots has happened in the last few months.  School is out for summer (after making up endless snow days), Jed turned four, we started renovating our basement, we went on vacation (kid-free), we had Julia's first IEP meeting, I enrolled in another graduate program, and OeyeO is this weekend!

So here are some pics to get you up to date.

Over Spring Break we went to the zoo with the cousins.  It wasn't quite warm yet, but we had a ton of fun.  So thankful for a great zoo in our hometown (and it being free doesn't hurt either!).

Easter was good.  We were able to dye eggs, the Easter Bunny arrived, and we had an egg hunt after church with the cousins.  As you can see from the pics below, the chocolate was the kids' favorite part.  We also had a really cool cake that my niece made.  She is really talented.  My mom had found these Easter eggs that were shaped like Little People Toys.  There was even a pirate one with a patch, so we put it on the cake like a topper!

Jed turned four!  How is my baby already four?  He loves fishing, pretending to hunt, building with legos, playing cowboy, and jumping off things.  He is super active, and super loving.  He always wants me to sing a song before he goes to bed.  Sometimes it is "You are my Sunshine."  Other times he requests "Twinkle, Twinkle" but "not with a star mom, sing it with a moon."  So I have to improvise.  He loves big hugs and kisses.  He had a party at a bouncy house arena (it was perfect - I didn't have to clean!).  He of course got new play guns for his birthday.  Once he put on the crown at his party, he declared, "I am the King."  He still says that!

Summer has officially arrived.  It is super hot, so we are always finding ways to cool off.  Jed and Julia are enrolled in swimming lessons, and they love the water.  Before school ended, we had Julia's first IEP meeting.  She was evaluated by the school district for her transition out of First Steps.  She qualified for Special Ed due to her vision and will be attending preschool two mornings a week.  She also will be working with a vision teacher for 30 minutes a week.  I was pleased with the meeting and how everything went.  I was worried I was going to have to pull a momma bear moment, but it went smoothly!

I also decided to enroll in a graduate program and further my education.  I already have a Master's Degree in Special Ed, but wanted to do something new.  After everything we have been through with Julia, I decided to go back to school and earn my certification in Teaching Students with Blindness and Low Vision.  I started this summer.  The courses are mainly online  through a university in my state.  It is hard juggling the kids and school work, but I know it will be worth it.  I am excited to start learning Braille in the fall and being able to better serve the students in my school with blindness and low vision.

Julia had an eye appointment and it was uneventful!  Yeah!  Finally a "normal" appointment.  No surgeries, no prescription changes, just good news!

James and I were able to go on a kid free vacation to an all inclusive resort in Cancun.  We went with my parents and sisters and their husbands.  It was wonderful.  Did I mention it was kid free?  And all inclusive?  Which means would eat and drink as much as we wanted?  Wonderful.  The only negative part was the nasty seasickness I got when we tried to go deep sea fishing.  I strongly recommend short trips without your kids to recharge and rejuvenate.  I missed them terribly, but it was wonderful to relax.

The kids have been having fun at the pool and in the sprinkler.

I'm sure there is more going on, but I'll stop the information (and picture) overload for now.  Right now we are getting ready for OeyeO with my imoms.  I am so excited to meet them in person!  I know our kids will be great friends (and probably cause all sorts of mischief).  

Surgery, Snow and Sunshine!

It has been a long time since I have posted.  Life has been busy and hectic!  Work is overloading right now, and all the snow days have messed with all of our schedules.

Julia had her second strabismus surgery on Jan. 14th.  She was a trooper.  I was a mess.

She was happy as a clam with her new toys and scrubs.  They gave her some happy juice and she willingly went with the nurses.  She came out of anesthesia pretty well and we were home in a jiffy.  Honestly, I don't see a huge difference in alignment but am hoping that as the muscles "settle" things will straighten up.  I don't know if I am willing to do another surgery so I hope I don't have to face that decision.

As far as her eyes go, things are status quo.  We go for a low vision evaluation with Lighthouse for the Blind in March.  They will look at her functional vision and determine if there is any equipment (magnifiers, technology, etc) that she would need.  If there is any, they provide it free of charge, along with training. Once that eval is done, we will begin to prepare for transition to the school district and out of early intervention.  Right now she is seeing her vision instructor once a month and a speech therapist twice a month.  We will have to see what services the school district thinks she needs.

SNOW!!!  We have had so much snow - it has been overwhelming.  So far we have had 7 snow days.  

Several of the snow days were so very cold that we couldn't even head outside.  But when we could, we played in the snow.

Jed loves the snow.  Wants to play, dig and sled.  Julia is more like me.  She tolerates it for a few minutes, and then is ready to go in and have hot chocolate and watch cartoons.  The beauty of all the snow is that Julia is potty trained!  We were stuck at home for 5 days, so we just put on underwear and went for it!  She caught on quick, and is in underwear full time now.  Hurray for not having to buy diapers!

A lot of the month was trapped inside.  We did a lot of coloring, busy bags and any watched a lot of movies (my kids can recite all of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Mary Poppins.

Do you see what I see?

After several months of bitter cold and crazy snow, we have had a small heat wave! Jed has been begging to fly a kite, so Daddy got him one.  They were able to fly the kite on the deck yesterday afternoon.

Today it was really warm, so we decided to enjoy the sunshine and head to the park.  My kids have a lot of energy and maybe a touch of ADHD so any chance to run around outside is welcome.  They loved swinging, climbing and sliding.  Jed is fearless and will tackle any obstacle or playground equipment.  Julia is a bit more hesitant, but once she gets comfortable, she will run around with the best of them.

Of course, it is supposed to chill down again tomorrow, and flurries are in the forecast.  We probably won't get to the playground for another couple of months.  But we enjoyed it while we could!  Until the weather warms, we will enjoy the days inside!

Christmas

We had an awesome Christmas.  It was really busy and relaxing at the same time.  And the only reason I have time to write this blog and upload pics is because we are in the middle of snow-magedon 2014.  Really, that is was the newscasters called it.  Apparently it is a blizzard or something.  I don't care what they call it.  I'm just happy to have a snow day!

Jed was so excited about Christmas this year.  He looked for his elf (GT) every morning and was so excited to open his advent calendar and put another ornament on his "countdown" Christmas tree.  He was literally bubbling over with excitement.  I swear, 3 is an awesome age.

Julia was excited too and kept yelling "Enta" at any Santa-like figure.  She sat willingly on Santa's lap (twice!).

 

Jed made a gingerbread house.  Julia didn't get to make hers because she wouldn't eat dinner.  (Her refusing to eat meals has become the story of my life).

 

 

All dressed for church on Christmas Eve.  Julia looks happy here, but she actually had a horrible ear infection.  She woke up that morning in misery, so we went to the doc and found out it was her ear.  I felt terrible, because she had been fussy for a few days, but I didn't think anything was wrong.  Bad mom moment.

 

 

After church, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner (as is tradition).  Jed was awesome and thoroughly enjoyed watching them cook his dinner and light things on fire.

 

 

Julia was terrible at dinner.  She fussed and wanted on my lap and refused to eat.  In her defense, I don't think she felt really good.

 

 

Ready for Santa!  Jed decided that Santa definitely needed pink (strawberry) milk with his cookies.

 

 

Santa did not disappoint.  In hindsight, I think Santa might have gone a little overboard - but a LOT of it Santa found in the dollar spot at Target.  Jed asked Santa for a bow and arrow and a scooter and Santa brought both of those!  Julia asked for a baby doll and she got one!

 

 

Opening presents!

 

 

 

More presents!

 

 

After opening presents from Santa, it was off to my parents house for more presents and brunch.  The kids got a ton more gifts and we had a delicious meal.

 

 

Guarding his gifts.  Notice in the corner?  That white box?  Yes, my dad got my son a drum set.  Thanks Dad!

 

 

Julia had lots of presents too.

 

 

 

After Christmas at my parents, all of James' family came to our house.  By then I was exhausted (did I mention I had bronchitis?) so I didn't take any pics.  But the kids got a ton more presents and ate more yummy food.

 

Overall, Christmas was wonderful.  I love this time of year - seeing family, church services, the lights and carols - everything!