Katie's new braces

Katie got her new back brace and her feet/ankle braces (on the 10th, I'm slow in posting).  She got to pick out the pattern and she picked farm animals.  I tried to get her to do something like flowers or rainbow, but she wanted farm animals.  I (reluctantly) gave in because I thought she might wear them better if she picked the print.  She also picked the strap color - red.  Again not what I would pick, but I just kept my mouth shut. 

She hates her ankle braces with a passion.  She cried big alligator tears the first time she had to wear them and it's been quite the battle getting them on her.  She's worn them about 4 times now.  The first time for 15 minutes, the second for an hour and the last 2 days at school she wore them for the full day.  I think she's sloooowly getting used to the idea.  They make a HUGE difference that you can see the minute she puts them on.  Her new back brace is designed differently than the old on and puts pressure in different places so she didn't like that either.  She was excited for a new one and for pink hearts, but when she got it on she didn't like it.  She adjusted to that  lot faster.  So she's not happy, and I don't blame her.  The poor girl needs a body brace.  Kinda makes me sad.  But I'm glad they are helping her.

Elizabeth at the dentist

Elizabeth is now famous at our dentist office.  I took the kids in for cleanings 2 weeks ago (I'm slow in posting about this).  Elizabeth has always loved the dentist since she has watched the 5 older kids go to the dentist.  When it was finally her turn, she was excited.  She's been going for awhile now and is always excited, but this time takes the cake.  She was ecstatic to go to the dentist.   She hopped right up in the chair and says to the hygienist (named Sue for ease of telling this story) , "Are you going to raise me up?  When are you going to raise the chair?"  Sue puts on the little bib thing and Elizabeth says (all happy), "Why do I have a bib?  I like having bibs.  It's funny."  She laughed hysterically when we told her everyone has to have a bib - even daddy.  Sue put on her gloves and Elizabeth excitedly said, "purple gloves?!  Our doctor has blue gloves.  I've never seen PURPLE!"  So she goes through the appointment, talking away.  At one point, out of the clear blue she says, "I wish I could be a Fashion Queen."  To which Sue responds, "Well, you have good enough teeth to be a fashion queen."  Elizabeth got fluoride for the first time and thought she looked like Daffy Duck when they put the little yellow foam thing in her mouth.  They gave her a mirror so she could see what's going on and for the first time during that appointment, she stopped talking.  She was too busy admiring herself in the mirror.  lol.   Anyway, the whole session went like that.   Now for the best part:  At the end, the dentist came in and Elizabeth squeals, "DOCTOR DAVE!"  He said it was the best reception he's had in his whole career.  lol.  We had to go in a week later for Lydia and they're still talking about her over there.  She should be in one of those videos that help kids not be afraid of the dentist.  She was seriously hilarious.  Oh and at the end of the appointment, she says to Sue "I wish I got to be on that other side" (meaning the with a different hygienist - the one Lydia was with).  Sue acted hurt and asked, "Why?  Don't you like me?"  Elizabeth said, "I like you, I just want to go over there because she gives out yellow toothbrushes."  (Lydia had just shown her the yellow toothbrush she got, while Elizabeth got pink - and she even chose pink, so I don't know what she was thinking.)  Sue says, "Well, I can give you a yellow one if you want."  Elizabeth says, "No thank you.  I like pink better."  Sue was laughing the whole time and so was I.  Elizabeth was so bouncy and cute and funny. 

Valentine's Day

Holy cow, my kids were so hyped this morning!  I feel bad for teachers today... if my kids are any indication of how the day will go, they have our house times 30.

Anna and Lydia got to make Valentine boxes this year. Sometimes they make them at school or have certain specifications. This year, they said anything goes. 


Anna wanted to make a semi truck. (Yeah, this is the girly girl of the century and she wanted a semi truck.) Our original plan didn't work and it ended up looking more like a bus than a semi truck so we went with it and she made a purple bus with red hearts.  **I** wouldn't have picked a purple bus, but I turned off my OCD self and let her go with it. She called it "The Love Bus" (she went around saying, "It's the looooove bus.")  She decided on bus #214 for February 14th. Pretty clever in my opinion.

  Anna the Bus Driver. She put her picture on a big piece of tape to look like a window.

And the 4th graders are having a 50's sock hop/diner today for their Valentine's Day party. They were encouraged to dress up.  Grandma Kathi made her a poodle skirt and "saddle shoes" (white canvas shoes, painted black in the middle). Anna was bouncing off the walls with excitement this morning. She was so excited she told me couldn't even eat breakfast.  Then 10 minutes later said her tummy hurt.

 Lydia is always thinking outside the box and is a little rebellious when it comes to holidays and goes against "the norm". (Takes after her dad!) She decided she wanted a carousel for her box. We went to pick out paper and I showed her all the pretty pink and red heart prints. Oh no! Not pink or red for Valentine's Day for Lydia! She insisted on yellow and purple.  I told her she should at least put some hearts on the horses so it would look a little like a Valentine's Day box. She reluctantly put a few hearts on the horses just to please me. I love that she likes to be original/unique and isn't afraid to do her own thing!

In case you're wondering, I don't have pics of the older kids - I guess they're too big for Valentine's Day. (Although I still gave them their traditional heart-shaped box of chocolates at breakfast). And no pics of Elizabeth or Caleb - they're sick right now and look awful. You'd just see pictures of snot and red eyes.

18 Years!

It's our 18th anniversary today!  We got each other "matching phones" for our anniversary gift.  Romantic, huh? But really super cool!  We both got new Smartphones (Android - Samsung Captivate).  I'm so excited for mine!!!  Hopefully it will help me organize all my bazaillion doctor appointments.  And now I won't be "The Forgetful Mom"!

Here we are with our new toys. 

 Happy Anniversary Blake!!!

Lovely thing Elizabeth said to me

Elizabeth told me today, "You're a forgetful mom.  There are forgetful type moms and you're one of them." Gee, thanks!  Way to make me feel good.  I guess the truth hurts.

Happy Birthday Katie!!

12 years old!!! My little girl is growing up.  She had her last day of Primary on Sunday.  I totally didn't expect this, but when she came out of Primary she was crying big alligator tears.  She was sad that she's moving out of Primary.  But she's really excited to go to Young Women's.  Can you believe Katie is in Young Women's?!!

Her birthday is her absolute favorite day of the year. She seriously asks me every.single.day "When's my birthday?" (even though she knows when it is). We're having a family birthday party for her on Saturday when Blake gets back in town. She decided she wants to go to Zonkers (it's kinda like Chuck E. Cheese with an indoor roller coaster.)  

Today I went to lunch with her at school and then they had a party in her special ed class with all her friends. She picked chocolate cupcakes and root beer for her birthday treats. She told me, "This is the best birthday ever!"

Here's baby Katie:

 And here she is today with her giant Pablo balloon:

And a few more recent pics:

Happy Birthday Katie Bear!!!!!!!

Katie's getting new braces

Katie finally outgrew her back brace.  Normally kids wear a back brace for a year.  Katie has had hers for 3 years.  She hasn't grown very much so it's been ok, but lately it's been really tight and uncomfortable for her.  I finally convinced the doctor that she needs a new one.  So she got to pick out her new back brace and she's so excited.  She has purple with butterflies now and she chose pink with hearts.

She's also getting feet and ankle braces.  She has really pronated feet.  She has always had some pronation due to low muscle tone, but ever since getting her back brace it has gotten worse.  Her back brace makes it harder for her to walk and she has had to compensate by walking differently with her feet spread apart more.  Also, since it's harder to move in her back brace, then she just doesn't move as much which makes her muscles even weaker.  So it was the best idea to do feet braces.  Katie is NOT excited about those.  But I don't think she realizes how much they will help her.  She's always complaining about knee pain from her feet being pronated.  So she's getting feet and ankle braces.  She got to pick the pattern and velcro strap color.  She picked farm animals with red straps.  Even with picking a pattern, she's not happy about it.  We'll see if she likes them once she gets them.  They should be here this week.  And a side note, our portion of all her braces ended up being $1100.  It's a good thing we have insurance.  Braces are EXPENSIVE!