We were blessed two weeks ago to have Amy's Aunt Elaine and Uncle Murray from Alberta Canada down to visit. They are dear to us, so we were tickled pink! The kids remembered them from our visit two Christmases ago - especially the trip to see their bison! They weren't here for very long before heading out on a cruise, so we enjoyed seeing them a few times and a day out at SeaWorld together. Addison especially loved Aunt Elaine and "Uncle Mary" (whoops, glad that Uncle Murray wasn't too upset with that one!) and dearly wanted them to be with her every moment.
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| Reading a bedtime story! |
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| Playing leg wars |
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| Hard to do a leg war with such a tiny leg....but she thought she was big stuff! |
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| Never far from Aunt Elaine |
Uncle Murray began to play with Addison giving her a truly BUCKING horse ride! You know that she ate this up - the first time her face was so shocked and surprised and then immediately she was laughing and yelling MORE MORE!!
After he finished with the bucking horse, he moved onto this trick - finding that her appetite for wild and crazy didn't ever stop! She could have kept him going all night!
That Friday, there was a field trip to SeaWorld which Karis always attends, but Amy's calendar was
fairly light that day as well so she decided to spend some quality time with the kids and tagged along. Aunt Elaine and Uncle Murray were also able to come, so it was so nice to spend more time together - and the weather was lovely!
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| Watching the shamu education show - what do you think they're talking about....? What else - farming equipment! These two are two peas in a pod! |
We said that we were tickled pink for them to come, but maybe we should say that we were tickled BLUE! Uncle Murray bought some fun flavored candies at SeaWorld, and everyone enjoyed them - and then showed off their crazy blue tongues! :)
Addison has always been a mixture of pure tomboy and "girly girl" - she loves make-up and toe nail polish (likely because Miss Jennifer is talented in this area) - well, before you know it Addison had convinced Aunt Elaine to share some of her lipstick, and as it was a "one day of fun" kind of moment, Amy went along with it - Addison was in 7th heaven, and they had so much fun bonding over lipstick (multiple times that day...anytime Addison would think of it!) - it was precious!
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| All dolled up now! |
Addison has no longer any fear of the shamu roller-coaster, so we of course headed over that way and she enjoyed the ride with Aunt Elaine.
Meanwhile, Kaleb graduated to the BIG roller coasters....and LOVED THEM. He has now officially taken over from his big brother Zachary as Mr. Roller Coaster King. Amy was wondering if he would be scared, but he wasn't in the slightest - riding all three of them multiple times!
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| Standing in line...once again. Evan wasn't with them as he is just shy of the height requirement - next time he'll be right there with them! |
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| Amy went on them with Kaleb so that she could share in the fun of his first day! |
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| And yet another one...Kraken this time. |
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| Stopping to grab a bit to eat |
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| Getting a ride in on the Journey to Atlantis |
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| A bit soaked...Kaleb put his jacket hood on to keep dry! |
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| Ingenious - Uncle Murray holding Addison up so that she could try and touch and feed the sting rays without getting soaked! Worked to a certain degree, but little Missy was still a little Fishy when she was done! :) |
As it was a work day, it was unusual for Amy to be there, so when she arrived and saw Vasti, they couldn't resist taking a picture and sending it to Vasti's husband Abel who works for FH as well - saying "wish you were here!"
In other news, we went to "Light Up Cranes Roost" - which was very well-attended (aka crowded!) but we parked at Subway, grabbed some sandwiches and walked a scant block down to the waterfront and sat on a lovely grass knoll where we watched the fireworks. Other friends were there (Grodacks, partial Bergherms, Cochrans, and Johnsons (although we didn't ever catch up with them sadly). It was a fun evening.
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| Ignore the food in half of our mouths....puffy cheeks and all. |
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| Pretty fireworks! |
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| Group picture in front of the tree in the distance. Good times - good friends! |
Recently we took Zachary to the eye doctor and it appears that his eyes are starting to become near-sighted. In an effort to relieve his eyes and hopefully stop the progression, the doctor gave him reading glasses - which he was NOT happy about - but he's getting used to them now. Hopefully it will mean that his eyes can relax and that he won't need permanent glasses.
We received a bit of a shock in November with Addison. She has had significant bruising in her genital area, along with painful bowel movements periodically (even though not constipated), and dark marks showing up. We had talked to a doctor over the course of a year 4 times and each time we were told it was fine. Amy was at her OBGYN in September and decided to bring it up, and he told her to bring her in. Well, long story short, after describing Addison's symptoms thoroughly to the doctor, he diagnosed her with Lichen Sclerosis (without even seeing her....which then when he did look at her it just confirmed his diagnosis!!). It is a skin disorder that can be a lifetime affliction - and don't read the nightmare stories on Google, it will make you want to throw yourself out a window (okay, that's a little dramatic, but Amy was in full despair until Karis told her to stop reading the nightmare stories as those are always the worst cases). We are truly blessed - many parents are accused of abusing their child when they have this skin disorder (horrible bruises), and while we struggled for 9-10 months to get the correct diagnosis, at least that wasn't something we were ever accused of. It can take years to be diagnosed, and again, we were blessed with figuring it out in the first year. Our blessings continued when Amy read that we really should have an experienced team of doctors - an OBGYN and also a dermatologist. Not knowing where to turn,she reached out to her colleague at FH who is the CEO for the Women's and Children's hospital and she immediately got us in touch with a leading pediatric dermatologist that takes 4 months to get into see, and we were into see her within 3 business days. God truly blessed us, even though we have now this disorder to try and live with. The dermatologist said that in some cases it will burn itself out as she goes through puberty, so that is our prayer. We also are looking into ways to "de-toxify" our lives as this is thought to be an auto-immune issue so if there are things that we can do to help her body stop this reaction, we are willing to explore and take steps. Keep little Addison in your prayers that this will in fact burn itself out!
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| Waiting for the doctor...in her Dr. Seuss "Cat in the Hat" gown! |
Phrase of the week:
It has finally happened, Zachary is too old for Mommy to kiss him on the mouth anymore, so it is now on the check. The other day she kissed him and he said "Mom, I'm too old for kisses on the mouth anymore....and I'm also too young for kisses on the mouth." AAHH, what a thought - our son kissing someone else on the mouth! Good thing he knows he is too young!
