A Party With Santa

It was time for another Christmas party and another visit from Santa. We do this with a few families in our neighborhood. You can read about all the previous parties or just look at how much the kids have changed. Here are 2010 and 2009. Good times.

This year I hosted the party. Everyone brings something and we all have a fun time. Santa hands out candy canes to everyone when he comes in.

Santa asks the adults if we've been naughty or nice. You know I said naughty. And her broke my candy cane!

He then tells the story about why we celebrate Christmas. At one point he says, "The three wise men had presents and were going to Bethlehem. Who do you think they were going to see?"

And Ben replies, "The GRINCH!"

Oh brother.

Santa calls each kid up and goes over a few things that they are doing well and something that they should work on. I don't know if my boys are turning into clowns, but Noah decided to be Iron Man right in the middle of it.

Then, Noah got his turn on Santa's lap. He wasn't so sure about that.

And Miss Emily got a turn.

Santa made some joke about Emily changing diapers and helping at dinnertime and she was cracking up.

Ben was rather happy as he knows he's 99.9% good, so he has this whole presents thing in the bag!

Another year gone by, another great party.

Follow Up

Ben and I made the fastest trip down to Phoenix ever. Well, I wasn't speeding or anything, but our appointment lasted 15 minutes and we were back on the road.

He thought it was great. I picked him up from school at 11:30. I had his lunch waiting for him in the backseat. The DVD of Spiderman was playing with headphones so he didn't miss a word, and so that I could enjoy my own music. It was actually a nice afternoon.

Ben got a great report from the doctor. His eye is healing beautifully and his vision is the same in his bad eye. Often kids need a stronger prescription after surgery. Ben likes to wear his glasses, but we noticed that sometimes he wouldn't say anything about them. I almost sent him to school without them one day. He used to ask for them every day. We assumed it was because his vision was improving which it is. But, it's really important for him to still wear his glasses, so he doesn't have to strain his right eye to see. If that happens, his brain could shut it off and start using only his left eye again. Makes sense.

I really wasn't seeing a huge difference in his eye placement. The doctor told me that it will take time to see the full benefit. Kind of like if you didn't have a finger and had a surgery to put one on. It will still take months to learn to write and use that finger. Ben's eye is the same way. It will take time for his eye to do what it needs to do. This is all a brain issue at this point. His eye now has the "space" since the muscles were cut to not turn in. Now, his brain needs to continue to work that eye and all will be good. Hopefully.

Our next follow up is in 2 months. We may need to go back to patching at that point, but we will see where Ben is at that time. For now, it's just glasses as usual. Ben isn't missing patching one bit.

Because I like to put up a picture with every post and I haven't done a Flashback Friday post in months, I went through photobucket to my very oldest photos. This is Ben when he was 2. Emily "cleaned" him with my spray bottle of vinegar. Thank goodness it was only vinegar and not something that would have hurt him. I remember David came home from work that day and said, "whose been dying Easter eggs?". HA.

The funny thing is that his right eye looks REALLY turned in in this photo. But oh my gosh, he is so cute. I don't know how he made it out of toddlerhood without me eating him up!

It's been a busy week. I have a Christmas party from last weekend that I need to write about and a Christmas party tonight for David's work. A cookie exchange on Monday with our Mom group at my house, so I need to bake this weekend. Christmas lights to put up as it was too snowy last weekend. Christmas cards to mail out. I did get our Canadian family cards out yesterday since theirs will take longer.

Busy, busy, busy...

Ben's Eye

Ben's eye is interesting to David and I. We never really thought that it looked THAT turned in. His right eye is his bad eye. Sometimes in pictures, it looks like his left eye is turned in. Sometimes it looks like his right. Sometimes we never noticed anything.

I don't have a lot of perfectly front face shots of Ben where he isn't smiling. Usually when he smiles, it's a one-sided smile and it crinkles up one eye and you don't get a good look at his eyes. The other day in the car, I got a good picture of him looking right at me.

I could definitely tell that his eyes look more centered then they were before.

So, I went looking for a picture from before the surgery. It was hard to find one without glasses, so that you could see a difference. It is VERY slight, but I can tell that his right eye is straightened out.

It's possible that he could need this exact surgery again if they eye isn't where the Doctor wants it. We have an appointment on Thursday afternoon.

Does anybody else see a difference or is it just my wishful thinking?

Still Snowing...

I can't believe we are still getting snow. That usually doesn't happen around here. Yesterday was a hot cocoa kind of day.

Of course Noah didn't drink the cocoa, but he liked putting marshmallows in it.

Showing off to his sister that he has 25 marshmallows in his cup.

We decided to try some sledding at the park around the corner. It's a little hill, but the kids still have fun.

Noah absolutely shocked me and was having a blast.

He was loving the snow.

David and Noah.

Little man even got on the sled a few times.

Emily was having a good time, but wouldn't smile for the camera. Candids are always better anyway.

They all had a great time.

My husband tried to hit me with snowballs. He missed, but he looked hot trying.

Our friends showed up. Then, it really started snowing again.

Noah does have Canadian blood in him.

This is like borderline blizzard.

It got seriously freezing.

We headed to the car as icicles. Em's cheeks were so red!

We had a great time!

Today is the Christmas party at our house! Fun weekend!

Let It Snow

We woke up today to SNOW! This is really early for us to have had 2 snowfalls already. We never get a foot of snow or anything that lingers around for weeks. We get enough snow for the kids to have fun in and it's gone in a few days. It's the perfect amount if you ask this Phoenix girl.

The kids were so excited that it snowed. I'm so glad they didn't have school today because there probably wouldn't have been a snow delay. At least they got to go out and play in it. Or rather have a snow ball fight.

This makes them just as happy as going to Disneyland. Seriously.


More snowball fights.

And snow angels.


Eating snow...but not yellow snow. Ben's eye is looking so much better.

Noah finally decided to join in the fun.

Last time it snowed, I put him in snow boots and he wouldn't take a step. It was like they were cement shoes. But, today he had no problem. And he got a lesson in snowball making from Emily.

Emily and Ben built a snowman.

He's a cowgirl.

Noah lasted 2 minutes and is now inside under the electric blanket. The other two are die hards.

A Time To Dance

Emily tried some dance classes almost 3 years ago. They didn't work out so well. We had some issues with the teacher (you can read it here) and never went back.

I was a dancer, so it's normal to want my daughter to dance. After our bad experience, Emily tried gymnastics at the YMCA and love it. She did that for the past 2 years, but she was starting to get bored with it. I secretly hoped she'd want to dance again, but I can't force her to do anything.

See Emily is good at everything she tries. She picks up a racket and can hit a tennis ball her first try. She takes a few piano lessons and can play a couple songs by heart. But, Emily gets bored of things quickly and she's yet to find one activity that she is passionate about. Well, she's passionate about all of them for a few months, and then her interest fades. I admire her ability to be able to do anything. From karate to soccer to drama to tap dancing, there is nothing that she can't do.

So, I just keep up with her and when she wants to try something new, we go for it. Maybe she'll find that one thing she truly loves. Maybe she'll just be good at lots of things. Whatever makes her happy and keeps her mind learning is fine by me.

She has started back up in dance again much to my delight. It's half ballet and half tap. Last night was her first class. Her best friend Alanah is in her class as well as 2 girls from drama, so you know that's super fun.

Sorry some pictures are a little foggy. They were taken threw a window looking into a mirror and catching her reflection. And her pony was too loose.

Oh my gosh, she's so stinking cute.

David and I notice that her face is changing a lot lately. Maybe it's the addition of the permanent teeth? Her face is just getting longer. I didn't think my girl could get more pretty, but she manages.

She was totally holding her own. I was impressed since she's had about 8 classes her whole life.

Such concentration.

Then, it was time for tap. I think she was happy about that.

Doing combinations across the floor.

Her and her friend.

She had such a great time. I think she'll enjoy this for awhile.

Or until Spring when Softball starts...

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

We are at the start of a 3 day snow storm. It's not quite sticking yet, but it will be soon. Noah is stuck inside.

I think he's already going a little crazy. He'll be saying, "Here's Johnny" before the weekend is out.

It's really coming down now. Hoping for a snow day tomorrow, so the kids can enjoy it instead of being stuck in a classroom. I need to get the fireplace going.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!