A Lazy Eye, A Colonoscopy, A Primary Program and More!

So I've been terrible at taking pictures the past couple weeks so this is going to be just a written update, but we have had a few things going on. So going back to Monday Nov. 10 It was a typical homeschool morning but that afternoon Elizabeth had some tummy troubles and wasn't feeling well so we skipped her theater class and just took it easy.  Tuesday was a crazy morning! We dropped Devin off at preschool then I took Elizabeth to her eye appointment to follow up on her lazy eye situation. And sadly the doctor discovered that despite the tweaking of her prescription, her left eye is still very lazy. When he checked her vision with her glasses on her right eye is about 20/25 but her left eye is 20/-30! :/ not good! And it didn't change from 3 months ago so he said it's come time to patch her right eye! Finding super cute patches on Amazon definitely helped her want to wear one, the hardest part is taking it off each night as it's like a big band-aid, but she's surviving. She goes back in another 3 months and if there is enough improvement then we'll continue to patch it until it's where it should be.....if not we're looking at doing surgery on that eye as well. After her appointment we picked up Devin from preschool and went home and I got the kids lunch and put Devin down for his nap then I took Shadow down the street to be groomed came home had my lunch and picked Shadow up about an hour later. The afternoon was typical. Wednesday was a typical school and Bravo classes day, as was Thursday. Friday however was NOT typical! You see Tony has been having pretty severe tummy troubles for quite a while so he finally went to see a GI and he had him set up a colonoscopy to check things out internally. And Friday was the day. My mom watched our kiddos and we drove to LDS hospital and got checked in. As it always seems to go at those places they were running behind schedule so Tony didn't get taken back for his 11:00 procedure until after 12. I waited for a little bit in the waiting room, then started feeling an anxiety attack coming on as all I could think about was how Eric worked there for a long time and how he had been there with me in post-op after one of my knee surgeries looking after me personally, and after just a few minutes the emotions became too much and I got up and decided to walk around instead of sit there and let my mind wander. Luckily after just going down the hall I ran into my good friend Kim who was there getting an EEG as part of a research study, so we stood in the hall and chatted which was truly a miracle for me! I don't know that I'd have held up without her there! We had a great visit until they called and said Tony was done and I went back with him for a few minutes until he felt ready to get dressed and go. He was seriously a trooper! He did great! I drove us to Wok Lins where he requested we get lunch, we got it to go then I drove us home, where Tony fully enjoyed eating food again and took it easy the rest of the day. Saturday was a SUPER crazy day!! We started by doing some of the grocery shopping needed then after quickly unloading and putting away the necessities, we went over to our church for the primary program rehearsal, which Devin did not do well for, so Tony dealt with him most of the time, while I got our class through. Then after we managed to survive that we finished our grocery shopping and got home and put everything away. We got lunch for the kids on the way to Ketty's house and when we got there the kids were thrilled to see that their cousins Melina and Carson were there too! Ketty watched the kids for us while we went to Desert Star for the Christmas show. When we got back to Ketty's after the show Russ and Alicia were there with their new to them van(as their car had been totaled when it was backed into). We chatted for a bit but couldn't stay long as we had to get to my grandparent's house for a birthday party. We had a good time visiting and catching up while the kids enjoyed playing. Then we came home and put the kids to bed. What a day!! Sunday was the primary program and it went very well. Elizabeth was adorable! This ward's primary is so big that they can't give out individual lines, or the program would last all day! So each class says it's own part. When Elizabeth's class went up she immediately went right up to the microphone and her teacher had to pull her back to make room for the rest of her class. ;) She's had the part memorized for a month so she had no problem saying it and she for once actually was't too loud! In the rehearsal the day before all you could hear was Elizabeth so her teacher and I talked about using a regular speaking voice so everyone in her class could be heard and she remembered! YAY!! She sang all the songs and could definitely be heard even though she was on the back row! Our class did great as well, they all said our scripture nice and loud and even all together! Success!! And the biggest surprise to us was that Devin handled the hand off to my parents without a fit AND made it through the whole meeting! In class we played a church game and had some treats, Elizabeth had a rough transition though and it took me over ten minutes to get her into primary, where she struggled the rest of the time. They kept having to bring her to us. It's amazing the affect stress, even good stress has on Elizabeth, she has a very low tolerance before she's just spent. That afternoon after church we met with our home teachers, and the rest of the day was just relaxing.
Monday the 17th was a typical day, school and Elizabeth's theater class, Tuesday was school/preschool, Wednesday was school and Bravo classes Thursday was school/preschool and my visiting teacher was supposed to come in the afternoon but there must have been a miscommunication as we missed each other, but she left a card and candle that my parents found on the doorstep for me. Friday Elizabeth and I finished up school before her week off(I've learned over the years that the week of big holidays are not conducive to learning with Elizabeth, so I planned to take the week of Thanksgiving off since we'd only have done school three days anyway) She finished reading her Thanks to Lucy chapter book and started reading her Magic Treehouse Thanksgiving on Thursday book. Then after lunch was nap for Devin and Play for Elizabeth since she helped immensely with cleaning the house Mon-Wed, She put her clothes in the washer and washed them, without any help from me! She folded towels, cleaned the toilet, mopped the floor in the bathroom and hallway, picked up an explosion of a mess in the school room and helped put away dishes from the dishwasher. Oh how I love my little helper!! Friday afternoon Tony had his follow up for his procedure where they came back to IBS or Irritable Bowl Syndrome gave him a prescription that should help, told him one of the pollups they removed from his procedure was "pre-cancerous" so he'll have to have colonoscopies every few years from now on. But the best part was that he got done sooner than he thought he would so we had time to take the kids to see Big Hero 6 that evening. While Tony was on his way home my mom came down and visited with me for a bit. She got a couple of "Angel Tree" type things from her work who helps military families who have a parent gone over the holidays...which alone just breaks my heart, and to add the fact that many of these families struggle financially too, just isn't right. My mom told Elizabeth she needed her help getting the gifts, one was for a 6 year old girl, and Elizabeth knew just what to get her! The singing Elsa doll!! She's seen commercials for it and thinks it's awesome but has told me that she already has an Elsa doll...she doesn't sing or anything, but I can sing for her so it's just as good! Elizabeth has such a kind, understanding and giving spirit, it often humbles me. My mom also needs her to help her get an easy reader book, to which Elizabeth exclaimed we can get a Lucy book!! I had to explain to her that the Lucy books are chapter books and most 6 year olds can't read them yet, what she needed to look for was a step into reading book, ya know like the ones you would read two years ago.....Love that girl! Once Tony got home we went to the theater and saw Big Hero 6, which was a really good movie! The kids loved it and so did Tony and I! We picked up a Hot and Ready pizza and some crazy bread on the way home for dinner and called it a super fun Friday!

I found some pictures I took off my phone to use!

Devin eating a waffle with Nutella!! I told him it's like chocolate bread...it worked! He only ate three pieces and hasn't eaten anymore since but I take what I can get!

    
Adorable Elizabeth! Patch and all!! Oh and I totally forgot to mention that last Sunday(not yesterday)she lost another tooth! (bottom your right) She's only six and two months and has lost 5 teeth!! and two more are loose....crazy!!!

My super cute little elves at the movie theater!