Snooze On!

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Tap

Click, Click

Why am I so tired?  

What the crap! 

It is 7:00 a.m. 

We are going to be late!  

Light too bright can't find my watch!

What!!!  

It is 12:35 a.m.  

Whose has been messing with my alarm clock?  

Must of been one of the kids.  

Fix the clock and back to bed.

Yep! 

And this is what happened early this morning!

Thank you to my two beautiful, but ornery children!

The Morel Of The Story

A spring delicacy. . . . morel mushrooms!

Growing up, with step-dad number one, we lived out in the country.  So every spring we would have morel mushrooms to eat, and if we were lucky more than once each season.  My sister's dad would take us into the woods in search of these delicious fungi.  He would tell us that we could not make a sound or the morels would pop back under the ground.  Of course years later in the field mycology class I took, I learned that his story was very untrue.  But I guess it was his way of keeping my brother and I quiet on these mushroom forays.  Then when we got home, mom would soak them overnight in salt water.  Then next day she would salt and flour the morels and  fry them up in hot oil.

A few weeks ago, my baby sister went mushroom hunting.  She shared part of her haul with us.

The mushrooms my sister brought home sure were tasty!  It had been several years since we had morels, so it was an unexpected but delightful treat.  A big thanks to my sis!

What's Up Doc?

"What's Up Doc?" as Bugs Bunny would say.  Well like Elmer Fudd, that would be a loaded question.  At times lately, I am not which end of life is up.

We have yet to find frames for the Princess.  Although I hope by next week, we will find some small enough for her narrow toddler sized face.  The tech at the eye doctor's office said that once we find a pair of frames to actually fit her face, that it will take only two or three days to get the lenses.  We have been to Princess's eye doctor's office four times now and Princess is heart broken each time we leave without "her" glasses.  This afternoon we did check out my eye doctor's office, and have possibly found the winning frames.  Maybe Friday we will know for sure.  So hopefully before the month is out I will post a picture of Princess in her new glasses along with an interesting vision simulation of how she would see without the glasses.

My dad is now home from his bone marrow transplant.  He was hospitalized for a total of seventeen days about 2 1/2 hours away from home. We are very excited that all went well and he is in his home sweet home.

My paternal grandma has had some health issues and spent eight days in intensive care at the local hospital.  A few of those days were real rough, but she is on the mend and will be in a rehabilitation nursing home not far from our house.

Pumpkin and Princess have missed me a bit this month.  Usually we have the evenings and weekends to spend together, but quite a few of those have been spent checking on dad's house, visiting grandma, and one 5 hour round trip to see my dad. 

I'm hoping that May will slow down a bit and maybe we can do some fun stuff with the kids.  Maybe play at the park, go to the zoo, walk on the bike trail, teach the kiddos and hubby how to fish, have some play dates, or have a picnic.  Oh, maybe finally get a family portrait taken.  Well we will see what adventures await us.

The Eyes Have It

Both kids have been to the eye doctor in the past few weeks.  

Pumpkin had to go for a kindergarten exam and passed with flying colors (20/20).  He was so big and would tell the nurse what the letters were.  "A", "lower case b", "G", "B", "lower case d".  It was quite entertaining.  He definitely has his daddy's eyes.

Princess has been to the eye doctor twice in the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, she has her mommy's eyes.  Today they dilated her eyes during a cycloplegic exam.  We were at the eye doctor's office for two hours.  She did not complain much, just had light sensitivity.  The night before we ran to the store and got a pair of kid sunglasses and a cute little hat to help shield her eyes, which really helped during the visit and the following car ride.  

The doctor conducted a couple different tests.  The diagnosis is astigmatisms and nearsightedness (over a -2 refraction), which he said is rare for her age.  The doctor thinks she probably has been nearsighted since she was a few weeks old.  He said by the time she is fifteen her eye sight will probably be worse than mine (-4.75 with astigmatisms) and her vision could eventually reach -9 or -10.

So my little princess at the age of three will need to wear glasses.  The doctor is going to start her out with 2/3 of the prescription that she needs to let her eyes adjust more slowly.  Then six months down the road he will strengthen the prescription again.

We went to get fitted for glasses and of course all of the glasses were way too big.  So they are ordering some glasses in for her to try out.  Hopefully Friday we will get a pair of frames picked out, then it will be two to four weeks before the glasses arrive.  I told the tech the Princess loves purple and pink, so we will have to see what color Princess decides to chose. 

Laughter & Fun

Laughter and fun filled the weekend as far as the kiddos were concerned.  

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt event at church.  Pumpkin and Princess were two of forty-six kids at the egg hunt.  They played with a monstrous parachute, tried to throw frisbees, and played a bean bag in the bucket toss before they were unleashed onto the hunting grounds.  

That evening we dyed Easter eggs for the first time. . . Twenty-four pink, yellow, orange, green, and blue eggs.  During Saturday night, the Easter bunny hopped through our sun room and left some goodies. 

Now on Sunday morning you would think that they would of been rearing to go, but we were awake long before the kids.  I actually had to stand outside their rooms and yell "The Easter Bunny has been here!  The Easter Bunny has been here!" And, nothing.  

So then I tried again and Pumpkin ran out of his room rubbing his eyes.  I sent him to wake his sister up and she came out rubbing her eyes.  It was quite the sight!  They both found their baskets full of yummy candy and a few other treats.  Pumpkin kept saying "Thank you Easter bunny!" with each egg that he opened.  They were both very thankful for their loot.  

We met up with great grandma at church and the pastor and his wife gave every child a coloring book with crayons.  After we got home we played with a new toy . . . a bubble machine.  

In the late afternoon we headed over the great grandma's house to make deviled eggs, have an egg hunt and a family dinner.  Pumpkin enjoyed cracking the hard-boiled eggs in a covered saucepan.  Princess enjoyed playing with the colorful egg shells that grandma and I removed from the eggs.  

The kids had an egg hunt in the back yard with all of Pumpkin's eggs to the south and Princess's eggs to the north.  They both got fifteen eggs each.  My grandma made a fabulous meal- ham, salad, broccoli rice casserole, peas, rolls, deviled eggs, and key lime pie for dessert.

What a wonderful weekend to spend with two tiny little people making memories to last a lifetime!

Cause & Effect

Things have been a bit crazy lately, so I decided to look at cause and effect.  Sometimes even when problems arise, they work themselves out for the best.

Several ant invasions throughout the house = Getting to see an old friend that I had not seen in some time twice in one month.  It was a real blessing getting to catch up on life, hearing about kids, and talking about getting the families together for some fun.  The amazing things about old friends like this one, even though we had not spoken for quite sometime it seemed like just yesterday and the conversion flowed just like old times.

Bone marrow transplant = Being thankful that there is still something that can temporarily stop multiple myeloma.  And being very proud of my brave and courageous dad.

Washer breaking down in the middle of the rinse cycle = Being reminded how amazing my maternal grandma really is.  She watched the kids while I hand wrung the clothes and baled the water out of the washer.  Then we took the laundry for a spin in grandma's washer and got a few more loads polished off.  While I was busy with the wash, grandma and the kids cooked up cookies.  Yummy!

Stress = Lots of wonderful yummy chocolate cherry cokes! 

A family member throwing a tantrum with inappropriate mean spirited comments = Being reminded how supportive my husband, sister, a maternal grandma are.  And being thankful for having such wonderful amazing young children that need and love their mommy every day.

Medical bills = Being thankful that tubes can help my child hear.  But apprehensive of the diagnosis coming on Tuesday for the eyes of the youngest.

Dog + Door = Bruised temple and killer headache, but a great big hug from my baby sister.

Lack of sleep = Impromptu falling sleeping on the couch during the day and sleeping through the whole night.

Life = Adventures of a lifetime down a lot of bumpy roads.