33! Yikes!

This year my birthday fell right on Easter! I can't remember that ever happening but I guess it probably has. We celebrated with a wonderful church service, lunch at my in-laws, naps, and then my sister had a birthday dinner for me at her house that evening. I'm thankful for another year to love on my babies, be a wife, daughter, sister, and friend.

Easter baskets for the kiddies.. the Easter Bunny mixed up Eli's and Isaac's basket and Eli was upset his was in the wrong color. Ooops. Then I was like.. "Well if you can't be thankful then maybe you won't get another Easter basket." Nice. 

Checking out the basket. Olivia's mouth was covered in blue sucker (she was up first that morning).

Pictures in our Easter attire

My handsome boys (Doesn't Isaac look so big!)

Princess Olivia snoozed through our picture taking

Isaac, Josh, Eli and of course Sampson

I couldn't get anyone to come take a picture with me... except Sampson!

I finally persuaded this one on my lap!

Love these boys

Easter egg hunt at Aunt Day's (my sister's)

Helping find eggs

Cousin play time

Randomness

What have we been up to lately?

Isaac was off for spring break last week so it was nice having the eldest home. Life slowed down a bit with no school, no practice, and no track meets. Josh and I took him to see the movie, Divergent, and left the littles with the grandparents. Both Isaac and I read the book, so Josh got to listen to us discuss what was different about the movie. He loves that ;) Isaac is growing up so fast; it makes me sad and happy at the same time. On Thursday he worked on our church's park with his youth group  and then had a few of his friends over to spend the night and have an air soft war. Our woods make the perfect spot for 'wars'. Thankfully no one shot out an eye. 

Audra, Amber and I took all the kids (6 under 6) to the Nature Center in Asheville while we were on spring break and they had a blast. We saw the animals and they played on the play areas. Afterwards we had lunch at a local BBQ restaurant in Black Mountain. 

Carter, Eli, Maddie and Rachel at the BBQ restaurant

Amber gave me a starter for sour dough bread and I've made 3 runs of bread so far. Speaking of which, I just finished kneading my bread and it's rising as I type. I'm going to have to give some away because I definitely don't need to eat any more! I'm getting a bread bulge. I've been a slacker about going to the gym.. I went on Saturday for the first time in 3 weeks. 

I did find 3 cute bathing suits at Target for my not finished swimming pool. Hey, I have high hopes! While we are on the topic of swimming pools.. I've been on the ball. I met with an electrician, met with the gas company, called a pool company about plumbing, and met with a guy about decking. I'm meeting with the pool people about plumbing tomorrow so I sure hope they will take the job and not charge an outrageous price. 

Olivia wants to wear her princess dress and boots all the time. She alternates between the cowboy boots and the pink rain boots. I let her nap and go to Eli's soccer game in her princess dress the other day because she was so determined. Geeez... I guess there are worse battle to pick.

Audra and I had to make a trip out of town on Friday to sign our taxes so while we were gone we ate at Chik Filet (always a good choice) and then took the kids to the mall. Eli begs to jump on those mall trampolines whenever we go. The cousins always have fun together with just a wee bit of fighting mixed in. 

Cousinly love- Eli, Carter, Olivia and Camden

Sampson went missing for a day and I freaked out! I was crying and so worried about that dog. I didn't realize how much I loved him until I thought something happened. We went driving around the surrounding neighborhood the next morning and saw him coming out of a neighbor's garage. The neightbor didn't know who he belonged to and had put him up so he wouldn't get run over. I was so thankful that he was okay, that I even gave him a shower in my bathroom. It took me 2 hours to get it clean enough where I couldn't smell dog. I made him an appointment to get neutered the next day. He's such a good pup and the kids just wrestle him and love on him. He even warned us of a bear near the house the other day.

Sunday, it was a beautiful 79 degree day and after church we took the boys fishing. Isaac and his cousins all jumped in the creek. I did catch a little tiny fish on Eli's Lightening McQueen rod. He was more interested in getting his feet wet than fishing.

My garden is ready! Last year we tried to grow a garden but it never grew (my theory is that it didn't have enough sunlight). So this year I decided to make a raised bed. I had Audra bring me 4 railroad ties, I used a mattock to loosen the dirt and then added garden soil from Lowes to the bed. I planted: cucumbers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, hot pepper, bell pepper, onions, lettuce, Brussels sprouts and asparagus.  I've been told asparagus take a few years before it actually produces asparagus so I'm going to give those to mom and put some okra in that spot. I've been watering it religiously. I'm hoping it will survive the uncanny cold weather that came in today.

Olivia's artic video

The last time Olivia had speech langauge testing, Hannah and I discussed that Olivia probably could do an articulation test since she has such a large vocabulary. She was right at 22 months old when I filmed this and she's wearing both hearing aids. I think she's doing great to have a moderate bilateral hearing loss and to not even be two years old! She will leave off some final consonants and doesn't make a /f/ correctly yet in any position, but you can understand most of what she says.





Here is a cute car clip of Olivia counting. She usually counts correctly but her lovely brother Eli was wanting to count as well and got her off target.

Eli is getting glasses

When Eli went for his four year check a few weeks ago he blew every thing out of the water.... except for the vision screening. At first the nurse said they would just re-screen him the next time he came in. I felt uneasy about that decision but I didn't say anything. However, the next day his doctor called and said they would like to go ahead and refer him the eye doctor.  I definitely think that some pediatricians can be too lax about things... I've had many kids that don't get early intervention for speech because their doctor says they will outgrow it. So I was very thankful that our pediatrician didn't 'wait' to see but went ahead and made a referral. I think our Mommy gut feelings have a lot of weight.

Eli was able to get an appointment right away at the eye doctor because of a cancellation. He did great during the eye exam and read the letters like a champ (well the one's he could see). He didn't even make much of a fuss getting the eye dilation drops in his eyes. He has a pretty bad astigmatism and he's near sighted as well. The doctor said he needs to wear his glasses full time. I was hoping he wouldn't get my eye sight because my vision is horrible. I got my glasses in 8th grade and I can definitely remember looking at the trees and saying, "Wow you can see the leaves." After we picked up Eli's new glasses, he looked up at the sky and said he could see airplane tracks!

I know it's going to be a challenge keeping the glasses from being broken, lost, etc.. because Eli's the wildest of my three children. So far, he's doing well and doesn't seem to mind wearing them. I think he looks adorable!

Eli's 4th party and Disney Live

Eli wanted a Lightening McQueen party this year so of course Mommy delivered! I did scale back :) After last year's Mickey mouse theme where I went Pinterest crazy I decided to go for simple. You know, like the old fashioned birthdays we used to have at Burger King back in the day. I opted for Grace Park, a few balloons and plates, pizza, and cake. After it was over we took the trash to the nearby dump and clean up was sooo easy! When we started to cut the cake and I realized I had forgot the forks and spoons!  Oh well.. our fingers worked. The kids loved having the park equipment to play on, the day was sunny and warm and I think Eli had a great time! We were thrilled our family and friends could come out and celebrate Eli turning four.

After Eli's party we had a special surprise and had tickets to see Disney Junior Live Pirates and Princesses. Eli and Olivia both love Jake and Sophia and loved watching the show. We did get robbed on the 25 dollar Jake sword and 15 dollar Sophia cup icee. Afterwards we walked through downtown Asheville and ate at Doc Chey's with some friends. Needless to say, Eli was tired by the time we got home. Happy 4th birthday SWEET BOY!

Enthralled with Jake

So happy to see Sophia. She kept yelling for her.

They especially liked watching the characters fly.

Mommy and Daddy were suckers

Walking to dinner. Olivia wouldn't let go of her new Sophia cup.

Eli is FOUR

Eli turned 4 on March 20th. We celebrated on his actual birthday with the many various life activities that were already on the schedule. Isaac had a track meet, Eli had a soccer game and afterwards we went to eat at Eli's choice restaurant, Nopoles, with both sets of grandparents.

Last year I started asking him a list of questions so this year I continued the tradition.

Eli's interview:

1. What is your favorite color?red

2. What is your favorite toy?l Lightening McQueen car

3. What is your favorite fruit? Blueberries and strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Paw Patrol

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Spegettios

6. What is your favorite outfit? Lightening McQueen shirt

7. What is your favorite game? Deer hunter on Ipad

8. What is your favorite snack? Bananas and peanut butter and a sandwich

9. What is your favorite animal? Lion and alligator

10. What is your favorite song? Let it Go from Frozen

11. What is your favorite book? Llama llama

12. Who is your best friend? Carter

13. What is your favorite cereal? Apple Jacks

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike and my four wheeler

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk and juice

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blue blanket

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Nopoles the Mexican restaurant

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A BIG Giant MAN!  I want the same work as Dad and work on the computer.

4 Year old Stats:
42 lbs and 42 inches (90% for both)

Eli is so very funny and sweet. He says things like, "You are the best Mom" all the time and likes to give compliments. He loves to wrestle with Isaac and play with Olivia. He is a good brother and will hold Olivia's hand as she walks down and up the steps (even though she doesn't need him to), bring her things, and most of the time is a really good sharer. He makes an absolute mess very easily but likes to help me as well. He likes to cook and especially make muffins. Eli's favorite things to do are to play outside in the sand pile (which is mason sand left over from our pool project), ride his bike and ride his red four wheeler. He enjoys playing our iphones and the iPad as well. I had to take the app store off my phone because he keeps downloading apps.

Eli is playing soccer and made a goal the last game.. even though he touched it with his hands before he kicked it in! Last year he would barely get out on the field so anything is an improvement. He says he wants to be five already and I said NO WAY! You just enjoy being four. Soon enough you will be five and have to to go school every single day. They change so much when they start school.. babyhood is gone and they seem to turn into big kids overnight. I pulled him out of pre-school in December because his schedule just didn't work with my work schedule and I've not regretted it one bit. He will go back next year to the 4 year old class.

We don't do much sit down educational work at home because frankly I forget and we get busy with other things, however it doesn't seem to be hindering Eli. He isn't big on writing and coloring but he does like to do his 'school work' and cut paper into tiny pieces or get out the paint and make a huge mess. He can write his name but it is not neat or orderly. He is interested in reading and letters and likes to try to sound out words. He can rhyme and blend CVC words pretty well. He likes to type on the computer and can write words as I tell him the letters to type. He knows how to tell o'clock time (aka.. 6 o'clock) on a regular clock from reading a book about it once. He really is super smart and grabs ahold of things very quickly.

Last nap as a 3 year old :(

Morning birthday breakfast. He requested: oatmeal, fried egg, apples and peanut butter, and a bologna sandwich!

Ready for soccer

  

Nana and the grands

Mawmaw got Eli the boat he has been wanting!

Birthday dinner at Nopoles

Time for a Hearing Check!

This is the longest we've been between hearing evaluations... six months! I really wasn't concerned this time because I feel pretty confident about being able to tell what she is able to hear. However, I always have a small bit of anxiety because there's always a possibility that her hearing can change.

Olivia's audiologist is wonderful and I never have to wonder if we are getting a reliable audiogram, so for that peace of mind it's worth the 3 hour drive! After a clear middle ear check, we started testing in the booth. Our audiologist was able to get a complete audiogram as well as speech recognition threshold testing. She was pretty amazed that Olivia knew enough vocabulary and was able to do the speech recognition testing at a mere 21 months old! Olivia was presented with pictures and had to listen as her audiologist presented the words at different levels.. this allowed the audiologist tell what level Olivia is comprehending speech. During pure tone testing, Olivia did great. She just turned and waved at the animals like a pro. They were super impressed with her vocabulary and her testing ability. We also practiced play audiometry which she will do the next time we go for an evaluation. This is where she is conditioned to listen and put a block in the box when she hears the sound. Eventually she will get where she can raise her hand when she hears the tones. 

Olivia's hearing continues to be stable.. her loss slopes down as frequencies get higher. Her speech recognition thresholds were 45 dB in the right ear and 50 dB in the left ear unaided. For a reference, conversational speech is around 55-60 dB. Even when she doesn't have her hearing aids in she understands a lot of what you tell her. 

After her hearing testing we met with Hannah, Olivia's SLP/Auditory Verbal Therapist. Hannah did a new language evaluation, the PLS-5 (Pre-school Language Scale) to see how Olivia is progressing.  Here are her new scores! 

	Standard Score*	Percentile Rank	Severity Rating
Auditory Comprehension	124	95	Above Average
Expression Communication	123	94	Above Average
Total Language Score	125	95	Above Average

Olivia Jane continues to amaze me and makes me so proud. She is so smart, so beautiful,  and so so sweet. She is the most perfect daughter I could have imagined and I'm thankful God chose me to be her Mommy. 

Her hearing aids are lopsided right now because we had to send one of her FM receivers off to be worked on where the battery lock broke. I'm glad they are still under warranty!

New audiological testing

Midweek Confessions

1. I dropped my iPhone in the toilet (after I peed!) and didn't hesitate one second to stick my hand in there and pull it out. Miracously it still works.

2. I've used the iPad as a babysitter way too much the past few days...eek! Eli is outgrowing his nap and will only nap about 2-3 times a week so when it's quiet time (Olivia's nap time) I need my mommy re-charging hour. That iPad is quite convenient to entertain Eli.

4. I was trying to iron Olivia's silk hand smocked dress--- umm I think my iron was to hot!  My ironing skills aren't great... I usually throw things back in the dryer.

5. We came home with 6 baby chickens... again! Two died after the first couple days.. now some of the chicks have poop stuck to their butts which from what I've read it can be life threatening.  So.. I had Josh wash their little chicken bottoms with peroxide and water  :)