Good news and Other Stuff

I just found out some fantastic news...my sister in law is expecting baby number 2! Congratulations Ben and Shalyse. We may just have to make a trip back to North Carolina this summer to meet all the new babies!

Last Tuesday was the science fair at the boy's school. William had an experiment that he and some of the other kids in his class had done and Spencer had one that his class had done together. William was supposed to be by his experiment from 5 to 5:30. This was the same day as Bryce's birthday which made the evening a little crazy. Science fairs really aren't my thing, but my kids are, so we went to see their experiments. Luckily my Mom was in town so we left Bryce and Jacob (who had stayed home from school) with her while we went.

Spencer showing off his part of the experiment.


William explaining his experiment. It was the frozen seed experiment where they froze different types of seeds and then watched to see which ones would sprout.




Jacob had stayed home from school because he woke up with a very goopy, pinkish eye. Pink eye is going around the school, so I was guessing that was what he had. However, by mid morning his eye looked a little pink, and was itchy, but otherwise it looked fine so I didn't take him into the doctor. But by Wed. morning it was bad again and Annalise woke up with the same nasty looking eye. His went away again, but hers didn't so I called the doctor's office to see what they thought. They said it sounded like pink eye and I should bring them in. Well, since the appointment was right about the time that Bryce had therapy, my Mom took them into the doctor. It was weird because this was the first time ever that I have not taken my own kids into the doctor. It was nice that she was there to help. They did have pink eye...Jacob's was just a milder case so we got drops and began immediately putting them in their eyes. William and Spencer both ended up needing them as well. Pink eye is nasty stuff, but at least I would rather have that than lice...which is also going around the school! Yuck!

Wednesday night the Bishop came over to see us. I forgot that it was ward conference this weekend so I about freaked out when the Stake president walked through the door with the Bishop. My first thought was, "don't you dare give my husband a stake calling!" That's terrible I know, but hey, at least I'm honest! My next thought was, "man, I wish I had cleaned my house better today!" However, our wonderful Stake President made me feel much better when he reminded me that between he and the bishop, they have 17 kids and they have seen messier houses! It was actually very nice to talk with them and feel their spirit. It was good to have them in our home.

Friday we had Annalise's IFSP meeting to set some goals and plan for her therapy. These meetings are some of the worst! It is especially hard to make goals when you know she will most likely loose more skills as time goes on instead of the other way around. How do you make a goal around that? Anyway, the PT that had done Anna's evaluation was there and she did a good job of helping us to come up with some useful goals. Also, due to budget cuts, the therapy is now only partially paid for by the state. It looks like we will be covering about 25% of it. Hopefully our insurance will help with at least some of that. I have to look into all of that this week. Once I can get her into long term care, her therapies will be covered just like Bryce's are. Hopefully that will be a little easier this time around. We shall see.

Annalise will start PT within a week or so. Bryce's PT will be able to work with her as well which will be good for all of us. So, Thursday mornings will now be our Physical Therapy mornings.

She also has an appointment on Tuesday to be fitted for some supports for her ankles that will hopefully help her with her walk. It varies from day to day, but she has been having some tough walking days lately. Here is a picture of her latest bruise. She fell this time and hit the top of her eye on the treadmill a few days ago. It is looking better, but I had a lot of questions about it at church today, so I guess it is still pretty noticeable.


Here she is just being cute. Her hair is so thin. When it is wet like this, it doesn't look like she has much there, but she is getting a pretty good head full of hair.


This week has also been one filled with more blessings. Our mornings were made a little easier thanks to some frozen breakfast burritos that my friend Laurie supplied us with. They are delicious and provide a quick, yummy breakfast on those crazy mornings.

Also, John and I were able to go out on our date Friday night and we had Bryce's respite worker and two young women here to watch our kids. It was great to spend some quiet time together.

Then on Saturday was the Elder's quorum service project. Although it is a little hard on the pride to know that you have become the ward service project, it was amazing and very humbling to see so many ward members/friends come over to help us with yard work. They trimmed trees, picked fruit, dug up all the overgrown grass in the garden, moved things around, and burned what needed to be burned. The bishop's wife also brought us a huge casserole that will provide us with at least a couple of meals this week. I have a few pictures of all the work, but forgot to put them on here. I'll add them tomorrow. It was so kind of everybody to help out. I just wish I had gotten some hot dogs or something that everyone could have roasted over the fire. I need to think of these things before our yard is full of people next time! I'm not very good at this kind of thing.