Picture Addendum

I was browsing through a professional photographer's website the other day and realized I really have a lot to learn when it comes to processing photos. I really should devote more time to it, but Lightroom does simplify it quite a bit. Check out this before and after:

I think I'm improving :) I'd love to take a lightroom class, but it costs $230! Not sure I can justify that with how little I actually use my camera.

2011 Family Pictures

After months of leaving my photography equipment up, we finally did family pictures this evening. Enjoy!

Way too many vampire shows lately.

Muscle men.

Behold!

Loofa is funny and Ephant is about to get grumpy.

Pinewood Derby

Brother B made some strides this year and managed to finish in the middle of the pack. That made him a bit happier than last time.

The Alarm Clock!

He receive the award for Official Pace Car (get it?)

Ephant's aforementioned science fair (for which she received an A!)

Yes, I know, we've got to do something about those bangs.

We Love Our School

Most of you have probably heard that our superintendent wants to close the boy's elementary school next year. Out of a 7.5 million dollar budget gap it will save them 380,000. It's tough what they are trying to do, but Gales Creek is such an excellent school that it seems a shame to do so. Parents are still fighting it pretty hard and the final nail isn't in the coffin yet. The good news is that they will let us attend the other good school in our district next year if GC isn't open. Brother B is very sad. I had initially told them I would homeschool next year instead of sending them back to Fern Hill. Brother B really liked the sounds of that. I had to tell him tough luck since Dilley is an option. He hates having to make new friends all over again, but at least he'll have friends there from GC. He adjusted so quickly to GC anyways, I have a feeling he'll adjust just as fast at Dilley. Loofa pretty much doesn't care. One week he hates school, the next week he says he loves it.

Ephant just finished her first science fair project. I'll put pictures of it up once I get them. I feel like I'm back in school with how many projects I'm having to help on. One of the other cuts for next year is the strings program. I'm going to have to get Ephant private lessons as a result. In some ways I'm glad the district is being forced to do with less. I just wish they were a little wiser with their cuts. Some of their priorities are fairly skewed.

Random picture from my last girl's night out:

Krispy Kreme is still the yummiest.

Killer Cat

Make sure your sound is turned up and the room is quiet.

Guitar Hero

Loofa is finally old enough to play guitar hero! It is his current obsession, along with referring to himself in the third person. When he first started out he just used his thumb to hit the keys. He got pretty good at it. He's been working on using all his fingers lately, but I took this video of him mostly using his thumb. He gets pretty intense. Most mornings he wakes up, gets dressed, eats breakfast and brushes his teeth super fast so he can have time to play before school.

The Gray Tooth is Gone!

As some of you might remember from 3 years ago, Loofa decided to kill a tooth. He slammed it again this year in February and a month ago. Some hidden part of his subconscious must really hate that tooth.

This morning we were driving to school when he mentioned a bump on his gum. As soon as he told me where it was I knew it was the dreaded abscess we had been warned about. Luckily it didn't look inflamed and it wasn't really bothering him. I scheduled an appt for him this afternoon with the dentist.

Apparently the gunk had been there all this time, but since his permanent teeth were pushing down it was pushing the gunk out. Doc gave us an option of just waiting and keeping an eye on it or pulling the tooth now. I told him it was up to Loofa. Loofa wanted it out! Mostly for the tooth fairy money. It was a simple process, numb the gums and then twist the tooth out with pliers. Both kids scored from the prize closet and now the teeth fairy has to remember, again, to visit tonight. Hopefully Loofa won't abuse the permanent tooth when it comes in.

The tooth fairy has been very busy in this house. Loofa lost his first tooth a few weeks ago. Not to be outdone, both Brother B and Ephant lost one around the same time. Thankfully Fefe is too young to be losing teeth. Is it bad that the teeth fairy sometimes stops by in the middle of the day when the kids are at school?

All My Children

21 Years Later

I remember the first time I heard about Laser vision correction. J and I were newly married and attending church just down the street from our apartment. During Relief Society I was talking to another sister and found out she had just gotten Lasik recently. That was about 12 years ago. I remember thinking at the time, someday, someday.... Since then both my parents and two siblings have gotten Lasik with great results. I let them be the guinea pigs.

I got my first pair of glasses when I was in 6th grade (except for a brief flirtation in 3rd grade). When I was 16 I switched over to rgp lenses and managed to stick with those the next 17 years. They weren't perfect, but my eyes were too dry for soft toric lenses. My eyes were pretty bad, I had astigmatism and a pretty high prescription. 3 years ago we switched to a high deductible plan with an HSA for our insurance. I started thinking that if we didn't have too many medical emergencies maybe someday we could save up enough to pay for Lasik. Well, one pregnancy, several croups and a broken arm later I started wondering if it would ever happen. J finally convinced me the beginning of this year to just go ahead and get it done. We could always put more in the HSA and have it tax free at least. One and a half months into the process we found out Loofa needed his tonsils out. I didn't think we would have enough in the HSA for both UNTIL I figured out we could do a prior year contribution to our HSA. Anyways, enough of the financial crap, IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!

My surgery date was yesterday, April 7th. Wednesday night I was freaking out, but refusing to admit it to myself; to the point I was physically shaking. Sadly I had no more xanax.

We woke up bright and early on the 7th to drop the kids off and get to Vancouver by 9:40am. The whole process was simple and streamlined. Before the surgery they gave me a valium and vicodin. That was nice. When they actually put me under the lasers I had a brief moment of panic, but they are quite experienced and just kept talking to me through the whole thing. I think the actual surgery took no more than 5-10 minutes. It was all laser, intralase, so they never touched my eye with a knife. It blew me away when I stood up and could see so clearly. J drove us home and then I slept for four hours thanks to the v drugs and a couple of tylenol pm.

Right now I have a lovely halo around lights and my vision is slightly over-corrected. They do that so that as it heals it will settle into the perfect correction, hopefully. I can't read very well because it made me farsighted temporarily, but I bought some reading glasses that will hopefully help. That stuff should all be better in about 3 months or at least mostly better. It is strange to wake up in the morning and not have to put on glasses or contacts.

I feel truly blessed to enjoy this miracle and I really do believe it was a miracle. I really appreciated the prayer Dr. Will said right before the surgery, I thank god for medical advances such as this. We truly live in a miraculous time.

Surgery Day

The kids had a snow day yesterday which was a relief. It was nice to not have to deal with that schedule on top of everything else. They probably could have done just a 2 hour late arrival, but whatever. Loofa, Fefe and I headed to the hospital at 1pm. The roads were nice and clear so we arrived early for our 2pm check in. We didn't have to wait too long in the waiting room before they took us back. The bed had this awesome tv. It swung out on an arm so you could position it wherever you were sitting. Fefe and Loofa curled up on the bed and watched spongebob for the first little bit.

We had about and hour and a half in that room while we waited for the surgery. Thankfully J came partway through. At one point we asked Loofa if he was nervous and he said "what does nervous mean?". Once we explained that to him he said "No" with a very indignant look on his face. I guess we were questioning his honor.

20 minutes before surgery they gave him a medication to calm him. We got some pretty hilarious video of his loopiness. J kept asking him math questions to test his reasoning power. I did get some good cuddles out him while he was under the influence.

The actual surgery only took about 1/2 hour. We weren't allowed to go back right way, not until he had woken up. I guess he was tired, because it took an hour for him to wake up. He was pretty happy to see us. As soon as they rolled the bed in he climbed up and gave me a big hug. He did great with his popsicle and didn't feel sick from the anesthesia. We were able to go home about 20 minutes later.

Loofa didn't have too much pain, but he did wake up alot last night. He claims he doesn't remember doing so though. I felt like I slept only 2 hours even though I went to bed at 10pm. He's been pretty chipper today, even ate some mac and cheese for lunch. He keeps trying to convince me to let him eat a morning bun, but he tried a piece this morning and it hurt. Other than the mac and cheese he's had alot of sugar drinks and popsicles. The doctors weren't exaggerating when they said he'd have bad breath too. Whew, it is nasty. Can't wait for that to go away.