Little blessings

Some of my dear friends have lovingly accused me of seeing the glass half empty. I agree I tend towards the gloomy side (perhaps that explains why I still really enjoy my 90s teenage agnst and gray sky music) So here's to the good things.

About a month ago my sister Carrie, who's a children's physical therapist convinced me to take Connor to a child find at the school she works at. I took him mainly to check his hearing but they do a thorough screening. I wasn't sure what to expect but I didnt' expect the stack of referrals I received. While some panned out to nothing, some I'm glad we followed through on. I thought for sure the opthamologist would send me happily on my way. Instead little dude is getting glasses for a severe stigmatism and far sightedness.

Originally when we were referred to a speech therapist, we were told it would be a 6 month wait. After calling around I found a place downtown that could get him in sooner. The day of his scheduled evaluation they called and said they had to reschedule for the next week. That day Hailey had occupational therapy. While I was there the receptionist stuck her head in and asked if we still needed speech therapy because there had been several cancellations and we could do our eval that day. (they take an hour which is really the hold up to getting started) I jumped at it and found out Connor is pretty delayed. There are some concerns about how much he hears which we will hopefully know more about soon. I was so grateful that morning cancellation had allowed me to get him therapy at the office right in town, without a huge wait. And I'm so grateful my sister talked me into taking him in. I probably would have shrugged it off until he was 2. For a kid that's already behind that can be huge. Its funny how little things like that remind you that your family is being watched out for even if its something small.

I wrote this a few days ago and didn't post it yet. While I'm still happy he got into the speech therapist I'm less concerned than I initially was. We got Connor into the ENT today. While he'll probably end up with tubes and an adnoidectomy by fall, I'm happy to say that despite scarring on his left ear drum his hearing tested fine. YEah! Hopefully all he needs is some time and glasses (and some tubes.)

A yard of their own

My children have sadly only known life in an apartment. They've never had their own backyard to play in. And while we've had some good times at some of those places, there is nothing like your own yard to play in. Our new place has a decent sized back yard that was 3/4 of the way fenced. We took part of our tax return and bought fencing to finish it off and then added to the kids' birthday money to buy a swing set. I found a baby swing at a used kids store and we're all set.
Dave assembling the new swing set. Notice Greg already hopped the swings, he was just too excited to wait. My sweet husband has spent many a day off working in the yard getting it ready for the kids to play.

This is Greg's "helmet". Whenever he goes out to play in the backyard he puts this kachow hat and matching mittens on and calls it his helmet. (he has a real one for the bike) He's such a goof. Of course it is still unseasonably cold here so he probably legitamately needs it. we'll see if he still wears it in July.

The kids giving the new swing set a try. McKenzie was just so excited to have swings in her backyard. The kids love it. And I love having a place for them to play.

Their other favorite new toy. The box the swing set came in. There were two of them. One was a "car" and the other their "house." They played in them for a good week before the rain wrecked them. I was not dragging seven foot long boxes in each time it rained. Sorry kids.

Everytime McKenzie runs out to the swings to play, my heart swells a little. Its a little sad that the kid was 8 before she knew what it was like to have a yard of her own. Hopefully in a few years we will move to a house that really is our own. But in the meantime I am just extremely grateful to Heavenly Father that we have been blessed with this place. I know it sounds a little lame, but to us having a garage, basement, and a yard after all the years in tiny apartments is huge. I finally feel like we can breathe. And for Hailey to be able to go out and jump and run whenever she wants has made the biggest difference. I no longer feel like I'm yelling at her all day because she is driving me nuts. You know I don't cry, but sometimes watching the kids play in the big mud hole in the back makes me tear up a little. That's pretty big.

As I promised the girls here's our matching bags from our girls night. After some awesome Thai we went bra shopping at Kohl's (good times) and found these matching bags for a steal. well they were cute, and there just happened to be 3 so we just had to have them. And they hold a lot! I was so lucky Da sent Nik out for Kenzie's baptism. It was fun to have the girls back together (minus a few).

McKenzie's Baptism

It's hard to believe that I have a daughter old enough to be baptized. That seems like such a grown up thing, like driving a mini van.

McKenzie's baptism was wonderful. Dave's dad, stepmom, mom and two of his sisters came. My parent's and brother and Nikki and her parents, as well as some of our friends from Spokane. McKenzie was so excited and looked so beautiful in her white dress. I think she felt so grown up and important. Having only attended convert baptisms in the past, I felt a little unprepared for a stake youth baptism. It felt like we were really just winging it. Unable to scrape up any musical families among those being baptized the stake primary presidency opts for all the kids to sing. Only this ends up being a little last minute. Like hey kids go up and sing "when I am baptized". It was cute but a litte funny to watch all of their bewildered little faces. Not that my spotlight was much better. I'd written out this cute two page spotlight on McKenzie, then when I got up there in front of the small congregation I totally freaked and skimmed through hitting key parts. Prettty sad.

My parents and my litte family

Me, Dave, and the kids in the hall afterwards. I'd wanted to take some pictures by the temple but of course it was pouring rain.

Dave's parents and our family.

I'm so proud of McKenzie's decision to be baptized. I know that she has made the right decision and it will bring her such joy. We love you Kenzie!