Who said life isn't FAIR?

We had our last Book Fair for the school year in April. Which means I'm officially done being in charge of the Book Fairs. (I'll help next year, but I'll pass on the main responsibility!) We were pretty steady all week, so it seemed to go fast. (The picture was taken while the fair wasn't open.)

The Buy One, Get One Free Book Fair always keeps us busy.

Drop, Cover, and Hold On! We participated in the Great Utah ShakeOut! It was a state-wide earthquake drill. (I got the school to sign up too.) We were at the school during the drill, so we got under the table for one minute, and then evacuated like a fire drill.

Under the table at the Book Fair.

That same week was the Science Fair. Woodruff had 181 participants! That's a lot of projects. Andrew choose to feed 12 different ingredients to some flowers. We took pictures of the plants each day to monitor the progress. The first plant (that was fed vinegar) died overnight, so we had results to document immediately. Along with some other things, he learned that feeding a plant milk makes it stink, that power aid survived for quite awhile, bleach and window cleaner died pretty quickly, and that water is the best for plants.

Andrew showing off his display.

Tyler was assigned a partner in class and worked on his project both at school and after school. Toby and Tyler decided to see what brand of bubble gum could make the biggest bubble. Tyler got the job of measuring Toby's bubbles, since he can't chew gum with his braces. They found out that when Toby has one piece of all the brands of gum in his mouth at the same time, he could make the biggest bubble. (Isn't that funny?)

Toby and Tyler showing off their display.

Next year's PTA Board had a Convention at the end of April too. (Yes, I threw things off by having my due date fall the same time as the Utah PTA Convention in Provo. So we made our own training and retreat.) We had a great turn out and had a lot of fun as well as setting up the calendar for next school year's PTA events. I'm excited to work with my new board next year, I think we will have a great year! We have some fun stuff planned and a lot of willing volunteers! I just need my boys to stop quoting the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid. "My mom is the President of the PTA, and she can ruin your life!"

Fifth Time's A Charm

Emma had her fifth surgery today. She had another set of ear tubes put in. This time they used a "T-tube". It opens up inside to help it stay in place for longer (hopefully years!). We have already noticed that she is using an "inside voice" instead of yelling everything. Eventually she will have to have another surgery to remove the tubes, but we hope they help keep her ears clear for a long time before that happens.

Last night as I was tucking her into bed, when she usually asks me what is for breakfast, she told me she doesn't eat breakfast but she gets apple juice after she is done. She has done this a few times! She checked in herself at the Surgical Center. Emma happily played with a couple toys and then got in the wagon. The doctor and nurses said she did great. She drank her apple juice in the recovery room, had dad read her a book, went to the nurse's station to ask for a Kleenex, and colored a picture before we left. She has been doing great. Here's to being able to hear again!

Emma sitting on mom's lap for the pre surgery stats.

Headed to the operating room in the wagon with the anesthesiologist.

Reading a book with dad in the recovery room.

Coloring in the recovery room, waiting to be released.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Everybody picked what they wanted their own card to look like. Andrew wanted his to have a pencil this year. It says "You're the 'write' one for me."Tyler added "I think you're sweet!" to his. (And a kiss on his cheek too.)

The kids were being silly...

Kickin' the Habit

Emma liked to suck her thumb. A lot! After a year and a half of having the dentist tell me she is damaging her teeth, and me telling him we were trying lots of other things to get her to stop, she finally got a habit appliance. It's a metal thing cemented into her mouth. She will have it in for four months after the last time we see her sucking her thumb. Which was the same day she got the appliance.

Spikes keep Emma from sucking her thumb.

She doesn't suck her thumb anymore.

Maybe I should be logging her hours...

Haircuts that come in phases are not my favorite. (Laura's hair was still recovering from the last time this happened.) However, Shayla lives too far away now to do the second phase, so off to the beauty school we went. If you haven't guessed yet, Emma found the hidden scissors. She cut a little bit of Laura's hair in the back. I think Laura protested or she would have done more. Emma also cut her own hair. (Her hair was all the same length, about 6 inches below her neck.) Here are the phase one and phase two pictures.

Not really a "before"  more like a during phase one.

Phase one back view.

Some of Emma's cut off hair.

Laura's phase two front view.

Laura's phase two side view.

Laura's phase two back view.

Emma's phase two front view.

Emma's phase two side view.

Emma's phase two back view.

November 2011: Thankful Train

While we were preparing Thanksgiving dinner, Emma thought it was a good idea to make a train. She also recruited passengers for her train.

Becca's cousin Ryler, Becca, Grandpa Gibby, Laura, and Emma

Emma's cousins Nathan and Audrey, Emma, Laura

November 2011: "Tuesday"

This particular Tuesday was not my best mothering day. I could not keep up with the girls! During the speech clinic I have to keep Laura quiet in the observation room while Emma works hard on her articulation for an hour. That within itself could be a long story, but that happens twice a week, so it seemed somewhat normal. I made the mistake of going to the grocery store right after the speech session. Expecting them to be good at the grocery store after that was something I shouldn't have done. Still not too far from the ordinary, just how my day started out. (It was as I was in the parking lot leaving the store that Lee called and said he didn't pack himself a lunch, and could I bring him one. Sure, Subway with a drive thru it is...but at least I got to see Lee for lunch.) I came home and put the food away while the girls were playing downstairs. They got out a blanket and spread it out on the floor, found a plastic Rubbermaid type tote and with a bucket used the bathroom sink to try and fill up the tote with water to make a swimming pool. The tote however didn't hold much water because it had a large crack running all the way down the side of it. (I don't know if it was cracked when they found it or if they cracked it by both trying to sit in it at the same time.) They even found the pool toys. They did not find the swimming suits, so they were skinny dipping. When I showed my frustration Emma told me "but it was relaxing". Not for me it wasn't. They did have enough water to both get their hair wet. I got them dressed, and cleaned up the water stuff, the blanket was really wet, but the floor was not too bad-only a little wet. (Andrew was home by now working on his homework.) While I was cleaning up the "pool" Laura must have decided she needed a snack. (I really thought the pantry was locked.) She got out a loaf of bread, a knife, and the butter and took them all to her room. She found a new bottle of cinnamon sugar too, but because it was a new bottle it still had the paper/foil liner on it and she couldn't get it open. She buttered herself a piece of bread. I got done cleaning up the pool and came in the room to find her. I kicked her out of the bedroom and told her to go to the kitchen. As I gathered the butter knife and the loaf of bread, Emma helped Laura take the paper off the cinnamon sugar. I walked into the kitchen in time see the entire bottle get dumped onto the kitchen floor. (Now Tyler is home from orchestra and working on his homework.) Some neighbor friends came over to play and all the kids went downstairs while I swept up the cinnamon mess. I talked with a friend that lives out-of-state, that I don't get to talk to enough, for a little bit and then went to make dinner. I had eggs I needed to use soon, so German Pancakes was the plan. The dozen eggs that I needed to use were in the fridge, but the dozen I had bought that day were missing. All the toy food in the toy kitchen in the carpeted toy room was apparently not fun enough. In a small toy mixing bowl they had real pieces of cheese, a partial stick of butter, Tyler's candy bar, a few plastic toy foods, and a dozen eggs-all cracked open. The egg shells were on the carpet with the rest of the mess of stuffed animals, coloring books, and more toy food. The bowl was overflowing and running down the wooden once-an-entertainment-center-now-a-toy-kitchen and onto the carpet. It took me about a half an hour to get over the shock of the mess and really start cleaning. (The toy food/kitchen has since been removed from the toy room.) After that I didn't really have time to make the pancakes. I told the friends to go home and my kids to come eat because dinner was ready. (Lee was working late that night.) When Andrew came upstairs to see we were having cold cereal he ran back to the front door and yelled to his friends that they had to go home so we could eat cereal, he was not pleased. After dinner, I called my mom and asked her to please tell me she has had days like this. The conversation didn't get very far when I had to hang up because Laura had pooped her pants. After her bath I had everyone get ready for bed. I went to a primary presidency meeting. When I recounted my day someone suggested we should have canceled the meeting. Are you kidding me? I needed to get out of the house!

Laura was happy with her butter and bread.

A close up of the butter.

October 2011: Emma's Birthday

Emma turned 5.

Happy Birthday Emma!

She likes her doll.

Emma's cake.

September 2011: Science Experiment

How long does it take to dump out a large can of strawberry milk mix?
Laura thought she should find out.

The "clean up" process.

Even though they were putting it back in the can, we threw it all away.

I eventually got out the vacuum. It smelled really sweet every time we vacuumed after that for a while.

September 2011: Second Day of School

School started at Riverside.
Emma is in Mrs. Roz's class again this year.
The bus was scheduled to pick her up at 8:28am, but changed her pick up to 7:53am without telling me!! We didn't get pictures taken the first day.

Second day of school.

Laura wanted to be part of the pictures too.

Emma getting on the bus.

Ready for a long bus ride! School starts at 9:10am.

August 2011: First Day of School

School started at Woodruff.
Tyler is in Mrs. Olsen's class. Andrew is in Mrs. Galloway's class.

First day of Fourth grade.

First day of First grade.

Happy for a new school year.

The girls wanted their pictures taken too, even though school wasn't starting yet.

Gem Jar Date

Emma has a gem jar. When she makes good choices, she gets to put in a gem. When she makes bad choices, she has to take a gem out. (Time outs were not working for her, she needs to SEE consequences, good and bad.) She has to/gets to tell us what the gem is for (ie: washing off the table, getting jammies on fast, or yelling at dad, throwing her shoes, etc.) and puts in or takes out the gem herself. It is amazing to see how much a little glass rock can make her understand her own behavior.

Emma worked really hard and filled up her jar. So, as a reward, she got to pick something to do as a date with mom or dad. She is a smart girl and picked "both!" She also got to pick what she wanted to do. She went back and forth a lot about this. She finally decided, and feeding the ducks just barely won over going to the fun center.

 Not  a single duck ate any of the bread she tossed. Luckily, she didn't mind, and then we played at the park.

The key (besides remembering to use the gems) is lots of praise. (The three positives to one negative rule!) Andrew and Tyler have both wondered about also earning gems. This was a little bit hard to figure out. I finally came to the conclusion that the gems are like a treat or sticker type of reward for potty training. They are only used for a little bit to establish the correct behavior. I did tell Andrew and Tyler they will have individual chances to go on special activities (they don't want them called dates) with mom and dad, but they don't need the gems.

Missing Ms. Roz

Emma as been telling me over and over this summer that she misses her preschool teacher, Ms. Roz.

Emma will attend Riverside again next year, but she might have a different teacher. She would probably miss seeing Vee, her bus driver, too, but she still gets to see her because she is in our ward. (Maybe that's who she was waving to when she was suppose to be singing to Lee for Father's Day.)

During the preschool "graduation" program Emma earned the Good Friend Award. Her teacher said she always wants to play with and include everyone. The classes sang songs during the program. Emma's favorite song was the Hokey Pokey.

Here We Go Again!

Emma had an appointment on Friday with her ENT. He scheduled her for surgery for this morning. We farmed out the other kids (thanks everybody!) and got to Ogden just before 8am. She had her fourth set of tubes put in her ears. According to the doctor we are "frequent fliers" there. Emma's response to the question,  "how are you?" was cute, she said, "Awesome!" She did great and is doing well. Today we kept her happy until it was her turn by taking pictures. Here are a few of them.

 Getting her bracelet with her name on it and her new stuffed Surgical Center animal, a monkey.

 She answered her pain scale with a picture of a smiley face. Then she drew one. And added a tongue.

 She stayed in her pajamas all day, because she thought that was special.

 She was being silly in the wagon and at the end of the hall the anesthesiologist asked her how old she was as she disappeared around the corner without even realizing it, because she was deep in conversation. The doctor later told us that when she got into the surgical room, she got out of the wagon and climbed up on the the table without being told to. She knows the drill!

Waiting in the recovery room for the anesthesia to wear off. The Motrin had also kicked in. (And mom packed some cool things in her bag.)

We saw it coming. She is involved in two different speech programs and had been doing great. Lately she has been signing way more. Sign was her communication for long enough that it is still often present during daily life. It is still helpful to decipher between words that sound similar (and the more we use sign, the more Laura picks up too). But I'm talking about way more. Like not hardly talking and trying to get away with only signing! The amount of signing she is doing is a huge indicator to me of how her ears are doing.

About two months ago, she had a tympanogram test done, it "draws a picture" of the pressure in the ear canal. It normally should look like a mountain. Unless tubes are in place, then it should flat line because there is no pressure. This particular time the test did make a small peak, which told me she had grown out her tubes and so I scheduled an appointment for her ears to be cleaned. A few weeks later when the ear doctor (the E part of ENT) cleaned out all the wax and old tubes he said he wanted a hearing test done again. By then she was plenty upset (and Laura's ears were cleaned out that same visit, and she was done being there too), so we scheduled to come back the next week. For that visit the tympanograms were a little lower and the hearing test done in the sound booth was way below normal range. Neither ear was good, but the right ear was worse than the left. When the doctor checked her ears she had another infection. That day the doctor gave her the strongest antibiotic she has ever been on (and she has been on more than her fair share). Another two weeks later we did a follow up tympanogram to find the left ear low and the right ear with a flat line- without tubes in that is not a good thing. The speech program she is in at USU has their grad students do this tympanogram test each semester for the experience. I got it approved to do this follow up at the University, so we didn't have to go down to Ogden. So, the grad student is thinking she is doing the test wrong and keeps retrying it. She eventually went and got one of the Audiologist professors and he did it a few times too. Then he asked me about her history and after hearing a very abbreviated version of what she has been through, he accepted the flat line as a true result of so much fluid that the ear drum can't move to send back a pressure reading (no movement also means no hearing). Now, because of this test, I know the medicine didn't clear out the fluid in her ear, so I scheduled another appointment with the ENT, which takes us to last Friday.
Today he cleaned out all the yucky liquid from the infection and old scabs from the healing process of the third tubes. He really hopes this could be her last set. (If not the next set takes two separate surgeries.)
 
She was already more talkative and happy today! We went to visit Lee's grandpa tonight. She still had her pajamas on, so I asked her to tell great grandpa about where she went. She told him about going to Baby Animal days for her class field trip two weeks ago. She wasn't really phased by the surgery.