Catch up time!

Okay, It has been way to long since my last post. needless to say, I am a very busy woman! There just aren't enough hours in my day! And yet do I want anymore? No, I really like being able to call it quits at some point and go to bed!

The last two months have been full of a lot of Home School fun, Scout fun, Birthday fun, sledding fun, and not so fun sickness!

First off, I am happy to report that Owen's vision in his left eye has already improved to 30/20 (or is it 20/30?) vision! That is so drastic considering when he was first diagnosed with lazy eye, the doctor said he was legally blind in that eye! Let's just say I'm doing a happy dance! He has another follow-up in 8 weeks, if he has continued to improve, he will be done with patching the good eye! Oh Happy Day that will be! And hopefully right in time for summer. I have been very fortunate that Owen has been so cooperative with the therapy (aside from the first week...). But that patch sure would be uncomfortable in the summer to wear when it is so hot! So glad that we went thru the bulk of it in the winter!

Home School update...
Home school is going pretty well. I have been at it for a little over two monthes now. We started the third grade over for Jared to review some important foundation concepts that he was having a very hard time with (rounding numbers! letter blending!). It is really difficult to assess his progress at this point academically, but I feel good about what we are accomplishing together. Some days have been very hard and discouraging, while other days have been great. Jared is loving Art and our special reading time the most. We are reading the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe together and we are going to have a movie party when we are done! P.E. has pretty much just turned into playing with Owen in the morning before he goes to kindergarten. And with it being so nice outside, they are loving it! We have a lot of fun fieldtrips coming up. This Friday, we are going to go on a tour of the State Capitol and next week, we are going to the Zoo. Fun stuff!

Biggest downside for me with homeschool is my absolute loss of time! I knew I would be sacrificing, but whew! I am having a very hard time keeping up with all of my responsibilities. I just can't keep on top of the household duties (the rest of the family does do chores, but not exactly up to my standards...). I have had to try really hard to just ignore the piles... Running errands is impossible to do in one trip (because of the Kindergarten schedule mainly! Not to mention, errand time has now become instruction time.) So, I am trying to get so much done in the mornings: running small errands, scheduling, preparing lessons, planning & preparing for scouts once a week--that's like throwing a little birthday party every week! I am also often asked to substitute at church because I don't have a "Sunday calling." This week I have also made invitations for a RS luncheon, I'm planning on having the entire O family at my house on Sunday--Mike is coming to town for his big 4-0 birthday. And so much more that goes on--like Hanna's five extracurricular activities! I have told her she is overbooked (I am overbooked!) After this school year, she can only do a max of three! Whew, I'm so tired of keeping up with it all.

Back to scouts... most of my pictures over the last two months have been at scout functions. We have taken the scouts to the the car show, had the pinewood derby, gone to the firestation, gone ice skating, had the Blue and Gold banquet (I was in charge of decorations-I think it turned out great!) and we advanced Jared into the Bear den. So now I officially have Jared in my den! It's fun and rewarding, but man is it a lot of work! Like I said, throwing a small birthday party everyweek!

As far as Family fun goes...
We went sledding at a special sledding place (it is an old Olympic Venue). It was so fun, we went with the O family. You get carried up the hill and then go down on the intertube. Owen only lasted an hour on the slopes, so I ended up having to go to the lodge with him for half of it, but it was still fun. We shared hot chocolate that was soooo yummy!
Jared celebrated his ninth birthday! He had a Pokemon party! He helped to plan, make invitations, decorate, do the games, make prizes, clean up--everything! He pretty much earned an arrowhead point in scouts just for having a birthday! He feels pretty special that he earned one gold and four siver arrows with his Wolf badge. (not to mention, I am thrilled that Owen wants a Pokemon party, too! So, the planning & prep are pretty much done for that!)
Hanna's birthday is just around the corner and one of her best friends, Samantha, that lives in Idaho is coming down to spend some special time with her. Also, since Mike's family will be her for her birthday, she will get to be with them, too! We will do a small sleepover for a small group of her best friends here. We are going to make pizza, decorate Spring cookies, make picture frames and take pictures, and giggle all night! Will be so fun!

The last accomplishment to report for this blog is the astounding completion of a project that we started about nine years ago! The built-ins in our bonus room are finished!!!!!!!!!! The closet is finished!!!!!! Half of the room is funtioning again!!!!! Okay, I still have a lot of work to do (my side of the room that has the desk and all of my sewing and craft stuff), but it is so close! We even went the extra mile and added another built-in in the hallway area. That now houses all of the homeschool materials that used to occupy a large portion of the kitchen. Spencer is so happy that those piles are gone! It is so rewarding to finish projects!

I'm sorry I have been going on forever...
Last thing! The sickies hit us hard in Feb. The kids started out with colds. I was worried that Owen would have another pnuemonia bout, but thankfully they got over their sickies in about two weeks. Then on the same day, Spencer and I both woke up feeling yuck. We both got the flew! I am still suffering from the effects of mine! I got a virus in my ear and chest. I had the worst earache of my life, I think. Also, my lung capacity was only at 50% and I was really short of breath. I still have fluid trapped that is causing my ear to pop constantly. I also have really loud noises in my head that are driving me nuts! I can't tell how loud I am talking. Talking too much gives me a headache. I hear myself chewing so loudly, I can sing, but I think I'm major off key. So, I don't really like to hear myself sing right now. I can hear the water pounding on my head when I take a shower! It's so weird! The doctor said that it will probably last for a month or so. It has already been about 3 weeks, so I am really hoping it goes away soon! I don't like all the medications that I am on, either. I get wired, I have a hard time getting to sleep. This too shall pass... Enough whinning!

I always end on such a nice note, don't I? I will have to post the pictures later, I need to get to bed and I haven't downloaded them onto my computer yet. So, good night! Hope I didn't put you to sleep!