The Kids' - isms

Kimball

• Is very mild and laid back, is not a risk taker, is cautious in everything he does
• Loves to build with anything - blocks, legos, canned food in the pantry, mud, etc.
• Loves to play sports - catch, soccer, baseball, football, basketball
• Is ambidextrous - left handed with sports and right handed with writing
• Loves to practice his numbers and letters
• Is an excellent helper and pretty polite, he's become a little mom to Cora, "Oh honey, you'll fall so don't do that." "Good morning, Sis!" He even checks her diaper to see if she pooed.
• Favorite expression, "HOLY MOLAR!!"
• Is definitely a fish, he loves anything with water and I can't wait to put him in swimming lessons
• Makes faces all day long and likes to make people laugh

Cora

• Is a dare devil and climber, likes to do things by herself and her way and doesn't like help, she can be a little firecracker, definitely has the typical two year old fits (kimball never did at two)
• Loves to dress up
• Doesn't care for water and hates being splashed or any water on her face
• Adores Kimball and copies any and everything he does
• Loves food
• Loves being outside and her favorite activity is swinging
• Can say bubble and Mama. Her main way of communicating is through signing and body language
• Loves to read books for hours at a time
• Doesn't care for TV at all 

Cora's School - The Best Place on Earth!

Paiting Party

Nothing was accomplished last week due to all of Cora's doctor appointments so the house was very dirty with usual chores undone and no quality time spent together. So I got out these canvases and paints that I found at a garage sale a few years ago for .25 and we had a painting party. The kids loved it.

My Dare Devil

A side note from this, we've been doing a lot of yard work as a family and Cora figured out how to scale the chain link fence. Luckily I discovered her secret before any accident happened. Then a split second later I looked over at her, to find that she figured out how to open the gate. She was already in the road, two cars had stopped, and a woman had gotten out of her car wondering where her parents were. How embarrassing!

Cora's Update

Last week Cora had five doctor appointments and I think we're still trying to recover a week later! It was so tiring and draining but we knocked them out one by one and are done with appointments for several weeks.

This is Cora getting her echocardiogram before seeing the cardiologist. I never in a million years thought she'd lay perfectly still for 40 minutes during the echo but she did! When they asked her to move her arms up or her chin up or lay on her side, she followed directions precisely without fussing. And we got good news! Both heart defects are still mild and we don't need to do any surgery at this time or any time in the near future. If she were to have problems it would likely be as an adult and the surgery would not be open heart, but a minimally invasive balloon through the femoral artery. We don't have to go back to cardio for two years!!!

At school she failed a hearing test three times in the right ear. They felt like the readings were accurate and luckily the next day was an appointment with ENT. They also did a hearing with an audiologist and found the same results - failing in the right ear. But the doctor found fluid and an ear infection, which explains a lot! He put her on a potent course of antibiotics and if it doesn't clear it up then we'll resort to putting in ear tubes. He also ordered a swallow study which he and the SLP are certain she'll pass so I'm anxious to get that done. Boy, wouldn't it be a dream not to thicken up all of her liquids!

We are still fighting her darn rash. I have no idea if it's environmental or food allergies. It's typically an allergic reaction to something but I'm completely stumped. We did a blood draw and are waiting for the test results on both of those panels.

Cora's crossing a lot of doctors off her list, we are mainly seeing only three specialists right now: ENT, allergist, ophthalmologist. The other 10 are either once a year or only as needed. Whew! We'll find out in July if she needs another surgery for eye tubes (most likely yes), in June if she has a hearing impairments and/or ear tubes (I'm thinking no to both), and June for the test results of the panels.

What a trooper and fighter, we sure love this little warrior!

Oh and we got her results from the school's cognitive evaluation......drum roll please.....................she tested only one months behind!!!!! I cried, oh my gosh did I cry!!

Oh The Faces!

Cora Belle

 She felt so pretty in mom's shoes

 Her disgusted look, pointing to her shorts because Kimball splashed her. She really wanted Kimball to know she didn't like that at all!

 Falling asleep at 4:00 after playing in the mud

 Hula hooping with garden hoses

All Prettied Up For Church

Isn't this dress just darling?! Christine found it at H&M for Cora for $7, what a steal! It has pockets and a gold zipper in the back, love it!

One of the nursery leaders is 50's-ish Sister Mary Morgan who is a bit mentally slow. She is stuck to Cora like glue and I don't even know how she knows about Cora's health challenges she's had to face but she's really taken a liking her her. She made Cora this beautiful little blanket so we made a thank you card and included this picture. I had Cora give it to her at church and thanked her over and over for the blanket. She looked at Cora and said pointing to her legs, "She wears braces like I do" and pointing her to head, "You know, she's special like me." Indeed they are both wonderful people and we are so touched by her kindness!

Some Good Looking Men!

The boys had some training and various meetings in OH for Kinetico and Joseph sent me this. What a good looking bunch. Sure do miss all the boys!

Kimball Says

While driving home from a doctor's appointment on Thursday, Kimball says in a very excited voice:

"Mom, I just saw a white bird and it was the Holy Ghost! I can't wait to tell everyone that I saw the Holy Ghost!!"

One Year Anniversary

April 1, 2016 marked one year that Lance has been self employed. It's been a roller coaster year and a life style adjustment not having an 8-5 husband, but we made it and met goals as well! Here are the numbers:

• 68,132 miles driven
• 8,784 hours on call 
• 1,650 removals/transports 
• 30 funerals conducted 
• 17 funeral homes served

Removals of note:

• The dentist that invented the sprayer/sucker they use in your mouth so you no longer have to rinse/spit
• Author Dick Clason who mainly wrote westerns and books about being a Beverly Hills cop
• The lady that invented the "Mr. Yuck" sticker

Side note: we also submitted our final student loan payment!

How Many Girlies Can You Fit On A Tire Swing?

New Kitchen Backsplash

We've been in this house a little over a year and when we bought it our realtor offered to put in a kitchen backsplash for us. She and her Dad flip houses and he's a general contractor so she's learned a lot from him. Well, here we are a year later and she reminded us again of the offer. I was daydreaming in tile! The one I liked the best was an off white glass tile, but it was $20/sqft which would have made the project upwards of $1000 just in supplies. So I settled for an off white ceramic subway tile. I didn't want a busy pattern or crazy colors, I wanted contrast with the counter tops and the cabinets. So that's why I chose this one. I LOVE how it turned out! It's so simple but it really just gives it a finished look. And while I was at home Mom made me a new curtain! I was going to make it myself but didn't get around to it so she did for me while Lance and I were in Vegas.

BEFORE

 

AFTER (including new curtain)

 

Deanna's 15 and 8 year old girls came over and even babysat the kids while she showed me how to tile and we worked together in the kitchen. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved having a few extra girls around. They walked to the park and mostly played outside in the water and mud.

LOVES Her Shades

Surprise Trip, the Last 4 Days: Las Vegas

One ordinary day in February and completely unexpectedly Lance asked if I wanted to go to Las Vegas, just us. My practical side told him no because we should spend that extra money on student loans or other business stuff. But what the heck, we did it anyway!

We left the kids with Mom and Dad for four days since we were already in Twin Falls. I drove up to Boise and met Lance at Jerusha's where we had an Easter dinner with Jerusha's family, Allison's kids, and Donna and John. I wish we had more time to visit but we had to catch our flight.

We stayed at The Linq which was right on the strip and were able to walk everywhere or take the monorail, it was actually cold there.

We saw three shows: Showstoppers, Twisted Vegas, and Ka by Cirque du Soleil. We went to the Titanic exhibit that had actual artifacts brought up from various explorations to the ocean floor. We went to the classic car show and had ice cream a few times at Ghirardelli's. We rode the High Roller, a big observation wheel (like a ferris wheel) but each orb was completely enclosed and could hold 40 people; it made one round in 30 minutes. 

The best part was being able to sleep in, eating my food while it was hot, and above all just being with Lance! It reminded me of our time in Charleston before we had children.

 This restaurant served farmhouse type food and I ordered their Snickers pancake which was 14" in diameter. And yes I asked for extra butter.

 Lance even met Celine Dion! At least a masculine version of her.

We knew this Vegas trip would be the last "just us" vacation for a long time so I'm glad we did it. I'm thankful to Mom and Dad who made it possible by taking the kids. And thanks Honey for taking me and even letting me get a souvenir or two. We had so much fun and I'm so thankful we could go!!

Surprise Trip, the Last 4 Days: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

There certainly was no shortage of egg hunts, Saturday we went to Stephanie's house and hunted with her and Allison's kids, Donna and Ann. Donna is so thoughtful because she had certain eggs and separate specialty treats for Cora that were allergen free. I really appreciate that she does that even though I don't expect her to at all, it's extremely thoughtful! We then had lunch at Gertie's and came back to Steph's and played Bean Boozle with everybody. Such fun!

  

 Christine and I did our own egg hunt at the house, all the boys and their families were doing their own separate thing so we didn't get a family dinner with them. But we sure had fun!

 

 

 

 

 Opening the eggs!