She Can See!

When kids make faces at you, it’s adorable (most of the time).  But when ONE of your daughter’s eyes slowly turns into her nose while looking at you, it’s kind of freaky! 

Then we noticed it was happening a lot more often… and then other people noticed.  It kind of came on quick.  I immediately called the eye doctor and got her in.  It turns out she is very farsighted. 

I’m nearsighted. So, I’m not very familiar with what she can and can’t see.  The doctor says her vision is on the border of not being able to see near or far (combination of her mom & dad’s vision? – He sees far, I see near.  Perfect combo, right?).  So, basically she can see things in the distance, such as trees, but can’t see the details of the leaves.

Well, I noticed the “turn” the weekend before open enrollment closed, so I was able to add her to my vision plan, just in case (added Noah too – might as well, he’s probably next!) But her coverage on my vision plan didn’t begin until after the first of the year.  So we waited until then to order the glasses and save some money. 

It turned out they didn’t have any glasses small enough for Alexis, so they ordered in three frames (there were very few that even came small enough!) and went back to try them on and pick one out last week.  She picked out the “burgandy” ones.  Really, they’re a dark pink.  But Dad & I also agreed they fit her best.  Then, they just had to order the proper lenses to fit and got them finished up today… just in time for the weekend!  We rushed over before they closed and TA DA!

She’s had them for about three hours now and is doing a pretty good job of keeping them on.  She only took a few wobbly steps as we left the doctor’s office – OP! spoke too soon.  She just knocked her head into the piano bench.

Early reviews (through of a bad cell phone photo) are positive!

Now, I’m curious to see whether this helps her behavior.  I’m hoping a little that she’s been acting out in frustration of not being able to see.  Aww, come on, a mom can hope, right?

**PS: I’m still working on updating posts from August through December so keep checking back!  Hope to get some work done this weekend. I’ve also already taken 600+ photos with the new camera! So you have those to look forward to too!**

Still to come:

• Turner County Fair
• September Miscellaneous
• The Apple Orchard
• The Children’s Museum
• The Pumpkin Patch
• Noah’s 2nd Birthday
• The Corn Maze

New Year, New Blog

The Alexis and Noah Blog is now under construction. I’m still getting caught up on things from earlier this year.  But then we’re switching gears to a new look.  THAT is already in the works (and I now have a “Wordpress For Dummies” book to help me along the way – Thanks, Hon.)!

We’re now past Christmas and 2012 will be here in the blink of an eye.  But I wanted to thank everyone for who follows us here for being patient with updates.  It’s been a very busy year and once the summer came along, we enjoyed spending time outside versus on the couch updating the blog.  Sorry! You will be rewarded, though, with some great pictures.

So, just a little more patience please! And SkinnyPancakes.com will be here soon!

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

The Not So “Itsy Bitsy” Spider… And Other Random Photos

This post is really going to freak out Auntie Carissa!  I’m probably doing myself a great disservice because she’ll never come over after seeing the next photo… This is what I found hanging around the outside of our house in a giant web!  Okay, I’ll admit – that’s FREAKY GROSS!  At least it was outside, right?We also finished Bill’s cabinets and work bench in the garage.  He built the cabinet doors in the background which open up to TONS of storage (those are doors on the very top too!). 

He also bought the counter top for the workbench on sale because the very corner edge was damaged.  Then he built the base and hanging cabinets to match.  A few months later – okay, nearly a year - we pulled everything back apart and primed and painted it.  One more thing we don’t have hanging over our head!

We took an evening to go to Germanfest in Downtown Sioux Falls and they had these great cutouts.  The kids didn’t fully understand what we were asking them to do in putting their heads up against a wood board, but you get the gist. 

We also had some German food down there and, again, found stuff the kids could eat.  But the question was whether they would eat it.  Bill found them some sausage and vegetables.  And Tom and Rose found a table for us all to sit at with another family.  The mother of the two older kids looked at me, then at the kids and what they were eating and said “you’re really going to get them to eat that?” I explained to her that they love Kielbasa.  They proved me right and the lady’s jaw dropped!  They even tried the kraut, to which she was also amazed, but the kids weren’t fans. 

I have a feeling I’m going to have tomatoes coming out of my ears for some time.  This was one of the MANY baskets we pulled from the garden.  The plants are SO full, I set up a system of pulling the turning ones and putting them in the basement, in a crate, wrapped in newspaper, against the sliding glass door.  So, it was cool at night and got the warm sun during the day. 

I heard the newspaper helps keep certain ripening gases close to the fruit to help it turn even more (and that adding a banana with them can further speed the process).  It worked as far as I could tell.  Pulling some of the turning ones helped give moisture to the ones still on the vine to help them turn before the wildlife and bugs could get them. 

Got a few good pics of the kids goofin’ around on the stairs again.  I really thought they’d start to give it up as they got older, but nope!

Fun At The (Turner County) Fair

Fair food, fair rides, fair animals, fair people, fair sweat, fair smells, fair hair; why wouldn’t you want to go to the local county fair?  Well, when it comes to the Sioux Empire Fair… been there done that.  So, this year we hit the road, interstate, highway, through the cornfields, past a couple dirt roads and headed for the Turner County Fair.

I’ve met the people who run it in the past (through having them as guests on Inside KELOLAND) and I work with the fair board’s past President and biggest supporter, Darcy.  Now, I just needed to get out there and see it for myself – with the family in tow, of course! 

After a walk into the gate (which is free, by the way!  No $5 per person entrance fee here!), we bee-lined it for the animals and were greeted by, what else? A camel! – a couple actually.  Noah loved them and every other animal we saw. I should warn you, you’re going to see a lot of the back of his head in these photos.  Why look at the camera when you can reach out and pet a camel!? Oh, Alexis was there too… she just wasn’t as excited about getting up close and personal with the baby cow.  But she did like the little chicks… they couldn’t fit her hand in their mouth!The little guy’s level of no fear tends to give this mom a lot of fear!  He decided he needed to hang on the cage of the miniature bulls.  Okay, they’re miniature compared to the big ones, but that put their big, sharp horns right at my kid’s level!  Seriously, kid! - That’s right, I took a picture before pulling him off because I didn’t notice the HORNS until afterward! I was personally impressed with the produce expo building and everything that was judged.  But I think I could have won in some categories after seeing what came out of my garden this year.  Darcy said I could enter in the open class category!  Gonna give that some serious thought! And since Darcy’s a pro, she can coach me a little.  I guess it’s worth reading the rules regarding stem length and other details! Then it was time for some fair food!  We found some stuff Alexis could eat (hot dogs, I believe) and plopped down on a picnic table in the shade.  It was getting warm – even as the sun went down!  We all needed something to drink.Then it was off to find more show animals.  First the sheep – which Alexis thought were cool because they were wearing different colored “coats”.  They’re actually spandex! and apparently help keep the sheep clean before being shown.  There were a whole bunch so they looked like giant Skittles!We also saw pigs, more cows and goats… little kids – again just the right height for Noah!Yep, this ^ is what she’s looking at in amazement!

And that’s on our way out of the fair.  We were sad we didn’t get to see Darcy.  I stuck my head inside the fair office and they said she was running around – totally understand!  (I believe she was at the auctioneer contest with our co-worker Don Jorgensen who was judging the event.) 

We will definitely have to try to come back next year!

Summer Project – Done!

My summer project is DONE!  It only took me ALL summer too!  We thought staining the deck would be a  couple weekend affair.  The front deck went pretty smooth – yeah, it’s 6’ x 5’ with four steps. Piece of cake!

The back deck was a whole different beast!  I liked the look of a two-tone finish, so I went for it and got all the appropriate equipment so it looked great.  Regardless of the color, I had to tape off all the spindles and since it was going to take two coats, the tape was going to be on there for a little bit of time.  The problem was after I got the first coat on, we got rain, rain and more rain.  Then summer got busy.  So I wasn’t able to finish the second coat for the solid color and finish touch-ups until the beginning of August.

Then I tried to take the tape off.  It had been on through the heat and rain and figured maybe mother nature worked for me, baking the adhesive to the point of drying it out.  It did, in some areas.  In other areas, okay nearly every spindle, I needed some fingernail polish to remove the residue and paint drips that I missed.  It took time but again, the detailing was worth it! What do you think?

  

Everybody Jump, Jump!

Grandma and Grandpa thought it’d be fun to buy the kids a trampoline for the summer.  It’s just their size and comes with a net to wrap around it.  The thing sits not even two feet off the ground and is pretty sturdy.  But putting it together is quite interesting.  There are all of these elastic straps to tie into bows underneath the trampoline – finger killers!  That’s us below – yep, both of us, which means ALEXIS took the picture! Not bad, huh?

It was an instant hit!  But for some reason, they don’t want to stay in it very long.  We’re talking five minutes at a time, then they want out. Five minutes later, they want back in.  The zipper door is getting a workout.

  The time outside also gave me a chance to pick a few things from the garden.  I’ve been watering pretty close to every day and am pretty impressed with how things are growing.  This was what I got at first pick.  I don’t remember where I put the white onions and the green onions, so I picked these not knowing whether they were really big green onions or small white ones.  Either way, Bill liked them and they tasted great in our salads.

The yellow peppers are spotted for some reason.  I’m wondering if it has to do with the watering.  But the tomatoes are going gangbusters!  There are tons of green ones and these are the only ones ready to be picked so far.  They look and taste great!

Saturday Night With Some Friends

Ben and Trista had some friends over Saturday night with all the kids, which is always fun.  They all play so well together; I’m always impressed.  We all brought something to eat and grill and Noah got to sit at a table full of girls!

Bella was nice enough to show Noah how to use her boombox.  And then he carried it around ALL NIGHT! 

He and Sophie took turns on the swing… he pushed her and then we pushed him.  Sophie wasn’t too sure about having him come swinging at her.

Bella had a riding tractor, which she and Alexis pushed each other around the yard on.  Bella really got that thing going at times to the point that it made Alexis squeal in a bit of terror.  When we got her to slow down a bit, it was much more fun for the both of them.  

And to wrap things up for the night, Ben pulled out the fire pit and got things going for smores.  It was cooling off just enough where the warmth felt good.  Noah decided to swing the marshmallow sticks around a bit, so we had to take them away from him.  Oops!  He got interested in the graham crackers instead… we couldn’t get those away from him!