On Monday my friend Laura, Quinn, Laura's kids Emily and AJ and my two smallest people made a 

trip to Spokane for Phillip's visit to Shriners.

For those of you who don't remember he has Perthes disease.  

His hip is in the regeneration stage and looks so AWESOME compared to last year!!!

Even I knew how good it looked after seeing the x-rays and before seeing the doctor.

We don't have to go back for another year, which is exciting!

Not only did we go for Phillip's appointment, but we met my friends Holly and Cathy there as well. 

We spent the day playing in Spokane and had a great time.

LOVE love LOVE the fact that Spokane is a fairly equal meeting distance with Holly and Cathy!  

And I Love the fact that to get from the bottom of the state of Washington to the Top it's about 5 1/2 hours.  We're 2 hours from Spokane and a half hour from the Oregon/Washington border.  Holly and Cathy are 3 hours from Spokane and about 15 minutes from the Canadian border.  

I love Washington!

So thanks to a few different factors....like PCOS, edometriosis, thyroid issues, hormones and the fact that I like food I've gained a lot of weight in the last few years.  

I've decided to do the HCG diet and started August 8th.  

I have lost 30-33 pounds (depending on the day) and am currently in phase 2--which is where I can eat most foods except starches and sugars.  

Next Tuesday my plan is to start another round, or 3 weeks of drops and hopefully I'll be able to drop another 20 pounds.  Then I plan to take a break for a while before I do another round.

It's taken quite a bit of will power, but I really feel a lot better.  

I haven't had sugar since the beginning of August and I haven't had many carbs since then either.  What a difference! 

I am currently in the process of revising how we eat.  We've always eaten a lot of carbs, not necessarily a lot of sugar, but if I feel this good not eating them then perhaps we need to revise our eating!

I'm quite proud of myself, and I feel great!

August 5, 2011

October 9, 2011

Not sure if you can really tell a difference, but I do!  All my old clothes are falling off and I'm seriously enjoying shopping for new ones.  Funny how great that feels.

Do you see what I see?

KatieJo has always had a high reading level for her age.  

That is until this year.  It's lower than it was last year and she reads ALL the time.

I got worried when I found out what it was.  (It's 2.9-3.8)

This last year she was diagnosed as having what is called Amblyopia (meridional) and alternating extropia.  

What does that mean?

It means her eyes alternate turning out and is usually caused by a strabismus.  I didn't notice it until 2 Christmas's ago when she wasn't wearing her glasses in our Christmas picture.  

And the amblyopia basically means her eyes aren't seeing the same and aren't working together as a team.

We patched her eyes for a while and we were able to get her eyes closer to seeing the same.  At the time it was determined that she needed eye therapy.  Then summer happened and we left town and the eye doctor's office lost one of it's therapists.  So there wasn't a spot for her.  They said most likely they'd eventually fit her in during the day during school.  I wasn't okay with that.  She can't miss school 2 times a week at the same time.  If she's struggling with reading because of her eyes we can't afford for her to miss the same subject twice a week.

Today I took her back in to see Dr. Karen because I was worried.  I thought maybe I was just being paranoid about KatieJo's vision and I was told that the tests they give are very subjective, meaning if a kid has an off day the results could be way off.  But Dr. Karen assured me today that I was not being paranoid.  KatieJo's strabismus in her right eye is getting worse.  She's not changing her prescription yet or giving her bifocals, however she is going to get her into therapy ASAP.  We should hear back in the next few days as to when she'll be going in.  Thankfully they have a new therapist on staff that doesn't have any patients yet which means we will get the first choice of spots.

We were told that when she reads she had to take a break every 10 minutes in order for her to rest her eyes. She also is having problems with some focusing issues.  She can read fine up close and then when they switch to the board her eyes refuse to work together and vice versa.  Dr. Karen described it as her eyes just get too tired trying to work together.

I'm so grateful there is help for her eyes!  She has always been a great student at the top of her class and it was a little scary to all of the sudden be lower than she's ever been before.  

I'm also very grateful that we have some awesome eye insurance!  We didn't have any in Wyoming and I have no doubt in my mind that part of the reason we moved here was for the eye doctor and for the great insurance.  Between KatieJo and Phillip the staff know us by name when we walk in!  

Busy

I used to think I knew what it meant to be busy.

I have 4 kids.  That's busy right?

W.R.O.N.G

I forgot to add activities into the definition of busy.

We have orchestra and band on alternating mornings every day of the week.  Didn't sound too difficult until I realized I have to either watch the kids walk to school or walk kids to school 2 separate times every morning. I'm one of those crazy parents who won't let my 4th graders walk to school by themselves.  Actually I should probably say  paranoid parents.  I think I have great kids and heaven forbid something happen to them!

Then Phillip gets out of school at 11:35 and on Mondays I have to (it's a requirement of the preschool program) volunteer in his class on Mondays.

Then we have dance, soccer practice two times a week, cub scouts and activity days some of which overlap and I still haven't figured out how to get 2 kids to different places at the same time.  

And don't forget my calling, and walking every morning (after the kids go to school) and doctors appointments...we've spent a lot of time at the eye doctors and dentist lately, and not because they are regular check-ups. 

Somehow not everything gets done everyday.  I have a list, so I know what gets done and what doesn't....maybe if I didn't keep a list I wouldn't realize what doesn't get done.  Ha!

Most days I consider myself lucky to get some laundry done, the kids dressed and fed and some sewing done for Christmas or some other project on my to do list.

Is it summer vacation yet?  I'm ready for a break!

Soccer & Preschool

Last year when we moved into Richland it was too late to get Samuel on a soccer team for the fall & spring.  So this year I made sure I registered him in early June so he could play.  He's playing U10 soccer....with that's right 10 year-olds.  He barely misses the cut off (by 5 days) for U9 soccer so technically he should be playing U8.  However, because he is in 4th grade they are allowing him to play up with the 10 year-olds.  Typically for a kid that is small to begin with they would have problems with the older kids.  Thankfully Samuel plays aggressive soccer and more than keeps up with the older kids.  This picture is right after he scored a goal in his game on Saturday.  I don't understand a thing about soccer, but it was fun to watch the games as a family!

Phillip started preschool this week.  I am a little sad that he's old enough to be going to preschool!  We debated about having him go, and did quite a bit of praying and in the end it was decided to send him.  He very rarely goes anywhere without me or the family so this will be a great experience for him.

This is Phillip & Maija with Phillip's best friend Lexi.  She and Phillip are both in preschool together and are so very excited to go to school together!   

 Maija thought she was going to school too.  Can you see the backpack she has in her hand?  That's her Sunday bag full of books and other things to keep her quiet during Church.  She grabbed it long before we left the house thinking she was going to school too.  The picture below is what she looked like when she realized she didn't get to stay.  She had even lined up with all the kids so it was a little bit of a shock for her to not be allowed to go into the classroom.

 So instead she painted...for 45 minutes!  WOW.  Then she played with whatever she wanted to because there were no older siblings around to tell her no.  And then she helped me clean because well...she had mom to herself.  I think this is going to be a great year!

ER visits and pictures...oh my!

Saturday was a great day.  

Stuart and I canned approximately 13 quarts of peaches and I made 7 half pints of peach jam.

Then I went to see the Help with some of the ladies and Stuart and some of the guys watched all the kids (bless them!) at our house so we could go.

We got home at about 11.  

Not even 5 minutes after we walked in we hear Phillip scream and come down the stairs shaking and bleeding from his mouth.  

I took him into the kitchen where it was determined that he bit through his lip.  

Thankfully for him it wasn't all the way through.  Inside his teeth only went through a little and the outside was quite a bit deeper than the inside.  The doctor decided dermabond would work provided he keeps the area dry (yeah right....it's right under his mouth).  So for right now it's glued together.  I should have taken a picture before getting it glued.  It doesn't look nearly as cool now.

This was our 2nd ER trip in a week.  About 2 1/2 weeks ago we went to the river to play.  Phillip decided it would be fun to drink the river water...I mean he CHUGGED the stuff.  Sure enough he came down with severe diarrhea the following week and as it turns out he had e-coli.  Fun huh?  Yeah not so much.  He also had an ear infection at the same time....poor kid!

As it turns out if you have e-coli you aren't supposed to take antibiotics which of course he was on for the ear infection.  Thankfully that didn't cause anymore issues!

Anyway, I finally have my camera with me and so I'm going to give you the Mobley family summer/beginning of school picture montage...

We petted goats at the zoo...and looked cute while doing it.

We hung out with cousins (Annie Mobley, KatieJo, Katherine Crumpley....all age 9)

We joined everyone else's act in the family talent show...but only if your name is Maija.

Turned 8, got a new suit and looks 100% handsome!

Got baptized with all but 4 of the Mobley family clan in attendance (I think that set a record).

enjoyed another 4 year-old boy to hang out with....what makes it better is that they are cousins and only 2 weeks apart.

I made another wedding cake with collaboration of some friends.

Started 4th grade and the other 2 were excited to walk them to school!

Followed the 4th graders to school......

even if they said it wasn't "cool".  KatieJo was smart and stayed behind the camera woman.

Slacker

So I'm pretty sure I'm a slacker.  

Yep.  I'm sure.

I haven't blogged since the beginning of July...and so much has happened since then.

I bet you were just sitting on the edge of your seat WAITING and waiting and WaItInG for me to blog...right?

Well, I was busy in Colorado spending time with mi familia and going to garage sales and the ARC thrift store.  And, buying a car and a dog (her name is Addy and she is a West Highland White Terrier, Poodle mix) and...well lets just say that this summer has been classified as 

"The Summer of Spending".  

In my defense.....

The car was needed....and so was the rental of a Uhaul trailer to bring my piano (it used to be my parents piano) and all the stuff I bought AND sent home with my parents before we moved last year. 

After Colorado we headed to Idaho for a week and a half to spend time with Stuart's familia.

We had a grand ol' family reunion.  There are 50 of us (mind you that's just Stuart's brother's and sister's and their kids + his parents)....and 2 more on the way.

A good time was had by all!  I even have pictures because I got a new camera as my other one died on me.  But wouldn't you know I'm not at home blogging...I'm in Mabton working on Stuart's bulletin boards.  (They're done if you're wondering)

And now we're back home.  We have been for 2 weeks.  However, the first week home I spent working on a wedding cake.  It turned out beautifully despite a rocky start with the middle layer (and almost being dropped twice!).  Again.....the pictures are at home.

And now Stuart is getting back into the swing of things with Football practice.  He had an inservice day last Thursday and then he doesn't have to be back to work until Wednesday which is the day his students go back.

Our kids don't go back until next Tuesday...they're excited, they both got the teachers they wanted.  

And I'm just still trying to breathe.  WOW we've done a lot this summer!

Hope the start of your school year goes well!