Dancing Queen

Sophie's recital was last Sunday. It was very cute, and this year was the first year they were really together. As she reminded me, Miss Kelly was not in the wings doing the dance with them, she was in the audience and they had to remember all the steps themselves. It was a later performance, we didn't get home till almost 9, and on a school night. I didn't invite any family, but Noah did come with us. He enjoyed seeing not only Sophie, but also Elizabeth and Leanne, two other friends from preschool.


There was a lot of talk before the recital about how next year she didn't want to do dance, but wanted to take karate instead, which was fine with me. However, in the car coming home she declared, "I can't wait till dance starts again, I just love being on stage!" She has the personality for it, a total ham up there. So, we'll see. A few of her friends are moving on to the more serious dance studio, but I know that's not for us. I can't deal with having to put her hair in a bun for dance practice every week, that would be painful for both of us!

Mothra

We were outside playing last night after dinner. It is so enjoyable right now as the really hot and uncomfortable weather hasn't hit yet.

After awhile in the backyard, Michael and Emily decided they wanted to take a walk. I walked up and down the street with them, stopping every few feet to check out anything and everything. It was nice to have the time to let them roam, and go at their own pace.

Walking past our front yard, I spotted this on our large sweetgum tree. It was pretty cool so Emily ran to the backyard to get Sophie and Terry. It did wig me out when the kids got a bit close, I had visions of it suddenly attacking. I know, silly, but it does look sort of prehistoric. The body was furry, and it's wings swayed in the breeze. Terry thought that it must have just hatched and was hanging out to dry.

So, anyone know what type of moth this is?

My money's on Kat.....

Crappy Croup

Nothing like some croup times two to take the wind out of your sails. Michael had a fever when we returned on Monday, and by the middle of the night, had the trademark barking cough. He missed school on Tuesday (it's their last week) and I took him to be checked out. Mother's intuition proved right, it is croup, we got a prescription for Orapred, and the advice that when Emily comes down with it, just to call and they would call in more Orapred for her. She was already hoarse, so I knew it was coming. By Tues night, Emily was a mess, fever, runny nose, horrid cough. So now she is on Orapred as well. Finally last night they both slept soundly, and are feeling much better today, but there is no way I can send them to school with the coughs and amount of snot they are producing. Did I mention today is their last day?? Till the end of August?? And that I had planned to cull the toys in the family room and clean out the front hall closet while they were in school? Oh well, guess we will go to Costco and stock up on paper goods instead.

I'm nothing if not flexible.

Marvelous Mother's Day

Terry and I spent the weekend in Seagrove Beach, Fl. A huge Thank You to Marilyn for the use of her condo, it was wonderful. And another huge Thank You to Donna, who kept the home fires burning while we were away. And to Becky and Kathleen, who helped get Sophie where she needed to be over the weekend....yes, it does take a village.

The weather was great when we arrived on Friday afternoon, and we were able to spend a few hours on the beach. It is amazing how much different the drive down is without kids; usually by the time we arrive we are worn out. We made it down almost 2 hours faster than normal, and were unpacked in about 15 minutes. There was no whining or crying from either of us, no temper tantrums, just peace and quiet. We took a walk to stretch out from the drive, then settled in to read and watch the sunset. Very nice.

Saturday morning the beach was perfect. A thin film of clouds that were gone by 10:30, sunny blue skies and great surf. Terry set up our "tent" so we could have some shade and we were set. We spent most of the day on the beach, and came back down about 6 for another sunset viewing. By this time there were several families gathered as well. They had a fire pit and tables loaded with food. It was nice to watch the chaos (I counted 7 kids under 5) from afar. Later on we saw their bonfire from our balcony. By this time the kids were having s'mores, yum. Maybe next year for us.

The weather took a turn, and by Sunday morning, the yellow flag had been switched to red. At noon they added the second red flag which means no swimming. It was amazing that the water which had been so placid was now really churning. This is very unusual for the Gulf. We went out for a nice Mother's Day lunch, then drove over to Destin to check out the outlets.

When we got back to the condo, the conditions were worse. We tried to sit down on the beach and read, but the sand was biting it was blowing so hard. I did take a walk, it was fine with the wind at my back, but took me twice as long on the return. Terry encouraged me to take a video. Not much encouragement needed, here it is.

On Monday morning the storm had passed, and the Gulf was calm and serene. We hightailed it home to relieve Nana. A very nice weekend and Mother's Day.

In the Yard

We have enjoyed some really nice weather lately. This year we have actually had a Spring, it hasn't gone directly to 85 degrees. The warmer, but not hot, weather has been so enjoyable. Terry and I are also enjoying the chance to get our yard back in shape, another one of those things that lapsed over the past couple of years.

Sophie not only helped with the pine straw this year (which was good, b/c I do not do pine straw, love to prune and trim, but am not a fan of the PS) but suffered an injury as well. Terry let her use the box cutter to cut the twine off the bale, it slipped and she got a small puncture in her thigh. Nothing serious, after coming in for Mom's assesment of it, she was back out with a bandage.

I departed from impatiens in my front and back pots this year, and went with zinnias instead. The non-flowering plant is a virginia creeper, it should fill the pot.

I don't know the name of these; I call them "pinks", but they come out every year and last a few weeks. They are a favorite of Sophie and Emily; each time we go outside they pick some for me, and for their hair.
Here is the other zinnia pot in the backyard, the smaller plant here is called a bluet, it too should fill the pot.
It's hard to eat breakfast with the sun in your eyes, Emily likes to wear her shades at the table.
Not Mike, just bring me my waffle please. I'll play with Thomas until it's ready, thanks.

Saturday mornings are the best for catching up on all that TV you missed during the school week. Here's Mike helping Sophie get through "Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster". She's only seen it about a dozen times, but it never gets old. He is her TV buddy, Emily could care less about it. She would rather play on her own, or follow me around. I think she realizes that's her chance to have me all to herself, smart girl.

This one's for Dave

I'm not sure that this is what my BIL Ray had in mind when they added the new deck and patio to their backyard.....but it works for Dave!

Also Dave, here are some pics for you to identify....this is the remains of a bird that Terry found in our backyard this morning. We think it is the work of the hawks that we often see. Dad was over tonight for dinner to see Peg, (that's a separate post) and as he noted, there was no head left, so it's hard to identify. The only bone left was licked clean. We know it happened overnight, we were outside playing till about 7pm last night, and it wasn't there at that time. Gotta be careful one of the kids doesn't get carried off!!

Can you hear me now?

We have had quite the week....or maybe I should say Sophie has had quite the week. On Tuesday I took her to get her new hearing aids programmed. These are the first new pair of hearing aids she has had since being fitted with her original pair at 6 months of age. Our insurance announced that they are covering them at 85% this year, so it really worked out well. They can be pricey, these run $1600.00 each. When I found out about the coverage, I called her audiologist who said, yes, it is probably time, as technology has come far in 6 years. She gave me some options, and we selected what would be best for the classroom setting, a mid range model, as far as price and options goes.

As soon as Lisa put them on her and turned them on, she asked, "What is that?" and looked all around. Radora, one of her audiologists who wears hearing aids herself, was there to help her out. "It's the fan overhead, can you hear it now?"

Sophie: "Well, yeah kind of....but......everything is down, I don't like these at all, they are awful!"
Lisa and Radora then remind her very gently how yes, new hearing aids do sound so much different from what she is used to, she really needs to give them a good try for at least a couple of weeks, just wait till she is in school and can see how much better they are, etc. I stayed out of it, because I have learned that the information goes much further when it doesn't come from Mom.

By the time we left she was ok with them, but once we were in the car she freaked out again. She can't hear a thing, everything sounds "down". It's hard for her, with a 6 year olds vocabulary to describe it in terms that I can understand. So it goes, back and forth for the rest of the day, but by bedtime she seems to have accepted them.

The next morning, total anarchy. She hates them, they do NOT work, she must have her old pair back, she is not wearing these to school. I knew that arguing and insisting wasn't going to make things better, so I told her I would check them out fully, maybe they weren't working properly. I took both batteries out, we put them in the tester, of course they had full power as they were brand new. Put the batteries back in, I listened to them myself through the listening tube, they were fine. But, to help her out, I had her talk to me from several distances, all the while letting her know that wow, I can hear great through these. And to be fair, they even sound different to me than her old ones, so I can imagine what a jolt it is to her. I knew I had to give her some leeway, as Radora told me, "Mrs. Gould, I am a grown woman, and I HATE getting new hearing aids!" Radora has worn them since she was 2, so she has been through this experience many times.

I ended up walking her to her classroom; I had already informed Mrs Miller what was going on, so she was prepared. Another example of what a great teacher she is. She read the book Sophie had been given from the audiologists about hearing aids, then had Sophie come up and share all about it. Nothing like sympathy from your peers. All day I was wondering how she was doing, would she switch out to her school pair and use the FM, or give them a real try?

She came bounding off the bus that afternoon, I was braced for the worst. Instead I got this: "Mom, these hearing aids are the BEST, I didn't even have to use the FM system at all, I can hear everything with them!" Mrs. Miller had sent a note home saying she did great at school, nothing to worry about. I then emailed Lisa to cancel the appt I had made for Friday because Sophie had insisted there must be something wrong with them, and that "Miss Lisa was lying, they aren't better!"

We've had some rough patches since then, she still wants the car radio and the TV louder than where I think it should be, but that's ok for now. In a few weeks we will go back to see Lisa and Radora so Sophie can go into the booth. Then they will be able to fine tune her settings, and we will really have a true understanding of what she can and cannot hear with them.

And, as I reminded Terry, we get to go through this again in another 5-6 years, when she will be 12 going on 20...I can only imagine the drama then!