January 30, 2011

This week a lot of different things happened with our family. Monday I had my first root canal. The dentist was finishing up my tooth and told me that it was really hard for him to finish the root canal because the filling next to it needed to be replaced. I asked how much thinking I might be able to afford it at this time. On top of the $200 they wanted another $180 (as I am sure most of you know that insurance covers the dental work but only after you have paid out of your pocket a certain percentage). I told him I couldn’t do the $180 at this time and he said o.k. we will work around it. As he started to work he told me it would be a lot easier if he could replace the filing so he decided to do the filling and not charge me. That was such a blessing for me and I am so grateful that the dentist did that for me.


I went to two Ready for Kindergarten classes this week. I am so glad that they do the classes every quarter because it really motivates me, gives me new ideas and I also love the free toys. One of the ideas I learned was a cute way to teach numbers. Joey really liked it and I think learned a little better. You take the number cards and lay them face down, and turn them over to match. When you make a match you have to run that number (ie: 12 times) back and forth across the room or jump or whatever. However, running for tends to wear them out. It was even fun for me.
I still really enjoy attending my Thursday night classes for the Pathway Program. I feel really guilty leaving the children sometimes. I know that it is a good break but I left the kids with Eric a lot this week because of classes. I really feel more confident since I have started taking the classes.
Then Friday I finally broke down and took Emily to the doctor. She has had no signs of being sick but she was pulling on her ears so I was afraid she had an ear infection. I have been trying so hard to keep her from getting sick and she still ended up with two ear infections. So I guess we will still have to go through with the tubes in her ears. After she went to the doctor she started showing signs of being sick. She is coughing and now has a hoarse voice. It is so sad.





This weekend we just took it easy. We played Beatles Rock Band with Eric’s family. Even the kids were able to play the guitar and drums. Then Sunday we decided to put puzzles together that Jill had bought the boys. They were so excited. It was nice to sit around and have that interaction. It was a nice week.

January 23 2011

Sorry I do not have a lot of pictures this week.

On the January 11th we went back into the Audiologist for Joey and she said his hearing was amazingly in the normal hearing range. She was surprised. We knew it was a blessing. So I am very happy to report that we have no problems with Joey’s ears.

As far as Emily’s ears go Eric and I were praying and we both got the same answer that we needed to hold off. We know that an allergy to anesthesia runs in the family, so whether we got the answer we did was because of that or some other reason we don’t know. But I do know I will listen. I feel strongly that it is due to allergies rather than anything else. I know she is young but Benji was 14 months when they said he hay fever allergies. So I am going to try and dry her out and see if we can solve it that way. If not then we will try again in a couple of months and see if the timing is better then.

The BYU-I pathway program is definetly keeping me busy. I really enjoy doing the class but I am beginning to wonder if I will be able to go to school at BYU-I if I get accepted. I really do like attending a religious college.

Saturday the 15th I took Ben to audition for a commercial. Or so I thought. I got there and it was for a talent agency so I decided to stick around since he had practiced so hard to memorize his part and it was our date time. He got up and did his part perfectly I was so proud of him. On the way home I realized I was grateful that it was just a talent agency because it would require a lot of time from our family if he were to get a part in a commercial. That night they called us and said out of 700 people it had been narrowed down to 40 and Ben was in the top 3 in his age group. She said she was amazed that he was 4 and had memorized his part so well. They wanted to represent him which required him to register on Sunday and to take a class which cost $500.00. Now for some reason all common sense went out the window. I was a talent scout for a talent agency and I basically knew that they were here to sell me their services. I told her I would call her back because I was really excited and considering doing it. So I consulted with Eric and he said he would support any decision I chose, typical answer. So I did the only thing I knew best and I prayed about it and got an answer that I should not do this. Which I wasn’t sure if it was me give myself the answer or an answer from the Lord. So I prayed once again and this time got the answer, are you really going to doubt my first answer. So I prayed one last time for guidance in the way that I could tell them he wouldn’t be able to participate without having them to try and talk me into it. The answer I got was that it was on Sunday. So I was able to use that answer and then teach my son that we don’t participate in activities like this on the Sabbath. He was content.

That Sunday I decided to drive to Spring Creek, NV to spend a couple of days with my family. My poor mom didn’t know I was coming until 3 hours before I showed up but I guess that is better than saying I am coming and not showing up at all, which does happen. So the kids were able to spend sometimes with the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents from Nevada. They had a lot of fun. They have been talking about it for days. Poor Ben on Wednesday got a horrible fever and couldn’t do anything. I had to leave town on Thursday so I could go to my class on Thursday night (I can’t miss a class or I will be kicked out of the program), and Ben’s fever was gone but now he felt horrible. He puked multiple times on the way home. At one point we were going through a grocery store and he was hanging onto me because he couldn’t stand up. Emily traveled surprisingly well. I was so happy.

Now Joseph has had two horrible tantrums this week. One started at Costco where he wanted a green cart, but I couldn’t figure out which one so we went inside to go and get our traditional pizza, thinking this would calm him down. Wrong!!! He cried all through the line, then I sat him down and I gave them the pizzas and he freaked out even more. Come to find out I had given Ben the piece that Joey wanted. So for half an hour straight he cried about a green cart and the pizza that he couldn’t have (I didn’t have any more cash and you have to have cash for the pizza) I finally had to leave Costco without shopping. Later that night Eric took the rest of work off and we went to see Harry Potter. It was nice, it was a much wanted and needed date. Then today at church Joey started to wine through sacrament meeting, so we took the water and I grabbed him and went to go into the hall as not to disrupt anyone. I made it worse. I was so embarrassed. I had the baby in one arm and was dragging Joey in the other. I get out in the hallway and about five families saw and burst out laughing. I wanted to but I knew I couldn’t. I was sure the Bishop was going to pull me into his office for being mean to my child. So in trying to keep him quiet in Sacrament I ended up making it worse. Thank goodness to wonderful friends that are so willing to help me out when my husband has to work.

Grandma Jill made the beautiful dress for Emily. I love it. I attempeted to make a headband but it doesn't even compare to the gorgeous dress.

January 9, 2011

Well this week we found out that Emily needs tubes put in her ear's. So on the 19th she will go in for surgery. I am nervous because they have to put her under. We actually went in for an appointment for Joey and they had a cancellation and saw her at the same time. We found that the Joey and Em both have Eustachian tubes that aren't completely developed, which is genetic. However, the doc said that Joey's ears look better than last time and he wants to see what the audiologist has to say on Tuesday. He think thinks that Joey will need a steroid nasal spray to open up his Eustachian tubes. He doesn't think he has enough hearing loss to worry about, if any.


I have done a lot of couponing this week. I am totally bragging but only because I copy this blog to my diary and for no other reason. I got 4 boxes of dish washing detergent for $0.74 each. 6 bottles of Laundry detergent for $0.50 each and 4 bottles of Pantene for a $1.50 each. Spent $11.96 Saved $36.60. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but these are items I buy all the time. So if I were to look at it I made myself $36.60 in 40 minutes of shopping. The fruit snacks were an amazing deal. I paid $0.09 a box for 20 boxes spending $1.80 and saving $48.20. These will last me for 10 months. I had to add the cute picture of the kids. Joey asked me to put Emily in the car with him while we were waiting at customer service.


The kids were having fun playing together on the Edwards Express, even Rose.


Grandma Jill, and Aunt Sara bought the boys dinosaur or crocodile hats (I can never tell the difference). It was cute to see them all running around roaring at each other.


I know I added a lot of videos but like I said it is going in my computer diary. The boys attended a meet a greet your primary teacher. They had a lot of fun. The played a lot of relay games. They had popcorn attached to the shoes with rubber bands and they had to empty them in a box. They built a tower with marshmallows. Which I didn't get on video. They had to run and get plastic eggs open them and then do what the paper in the egg said, situps, pushups, jumping. I find it funny that Joey doesn't know how to do a push up, but the little blond girl, evalilly knows how to do them very well. Hmmm I guess we need a little more muscle in our home, just teasing.



Emily started crawling this week. Well I don't know if you could really call it crawling rather scooting around on her belly really fast. More of an army crawl. She is driving the boys nuts. Are they in for a real sup rise when she is into everything they own in a couple of months when she is walking.



I started college with the Pathway Program for BYU-I onThursday. So far I really like it. I am always like that at first. Gung ho and then half way through I don't know why I even started. I am hoping this is different. A religious school is awesome. I don't know if it is because I am being taught by the spirit more or that it is just an easy class but I am understanding things that I think might be hard for me to grasp otherwise. I don't know I will let you know how I am doing in a couple of weeks.



Eric went back to work on Friday with stitches in his foot. He says it is really painful. He gets his stitches out on Tuesday so hopefully it will help him feel better. Well that was the week as I can remember. Love Kristina

January 2, 2011

This week we had a couple of different activitites. Eric had surgery on his foot to remove a broken sewing needle that he stepped on a couple of years ago. He had a really good doctor. Eric told the doctor that he was going to torment me about this situation for years to come and the doc told me he would show me the spot where he cuts so I can kick it everytime. The surgery went good. It was the first time I have ever seen Eric loopy. I am glad that it went well and that it was fast. Now hopefully the recovery process will go by fast. So far it has been more sore than he could have expected.

Wednesday we celebrated Grandma Jill's Birthday. The kids were really happy to sing to Grandma. Ben even made the upstairs into a "Birthday Party" in which grandma particpated by sitting on chairs that is difficult for anyone to get out of. But she loves her Benji so much that she did it for him.


Emily is working on crawling, I have to add in a cute picture of my little girl. However, I thought she was teething because she has been cranky, along with a cold. I noticed her ears were draining late Friday night so I took her to urgent care and they told me she has a perforated left ear drum. I took her to the Pediatrician today and he suggested that she have tubes put in her ears. Poor baby she can't catch a break.

Eric's best friend Dan, Uncle Dan, has been visiting for a couple of days. He has been a real help since Eric is hobbling around on his injured foot. It is always nice to have Dan visit the boys really like him and Emily lights up when she see's him.

We celebrated New Years Eve at our friends house. They had a family New Years Eve party. It was fun to be able to hang out with new people and the kids were excited to have noise makers.

Joey started Sunbeams on Sunday. He was very excited to be with the big kids but when I tried to leave him he didn't want me to leave. Benji was excited to move up to CTR4. He got his 1st CTR ring. He said he was CTR 4 like he was Battle Force 5 and he wanted to put our rings together and unite. It was rather cute.