Happy Halloween Continued (and Hijacked)

This is Tom I've hijacked Emily's blog for the moment...not really actually Emily says she is too ill at the moment to finish part two of her halloween blog, so she has given me the oppurtunity to put a new blog on my page so check out my blog to see pics of the kids halloween...Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

(My pumpkin... it's Frankenstein if you can't tell.) TO BE CONTINUED... 

Question of the Week!

Would you rather: Marry your first boyfriend/girlfriend - OR - marry someone your parents chose for you?

On Monday and Wednesday morning I pack all three of the kids into the car and we take a short drive to put Jordyn on the bus to go to school. I think the kids really like going on this little outing. It will be really fun in the spring when it's warmer and the babies are older and can get out of the car and watch Jordyn get on the bus. Today when we were waiting for the bus, a lady came over to admire the babies and she thought they were twins!

After going to my cooking party on Friday night, I was really in a baking/cooking mood. (It was a party for a fairly new company called "Demarle" - they sell flexible bakeware designed with a combination of woven glass and food grade silicon. Subway, The Cheesecake Factory, and Oprah all use the cookware. It's pretty cool stuff, just very expensive!) So, I decided that I wanted to bake something I've never tried before. I decided to make pumpkin scones! Tom thinks I'm wierd for taking a picture of my food, but I couldn't resist. I'll do anything for something new to blog about! The scones were pretty tasty so I'll include the recipe:

Pumpkin Scones:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup chopped white chocolate (optional)
1/4 cup toasted and chopped pecans (opt.)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Egg Wash:
1 large egg
1 tbp. milk or cream
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling the tops of the scones (opt.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. Stir in the chopped choc. and pecans. In a seperate bowl, mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently 4 or 5 times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 in. round and about 1 1/2 in. thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 triangle shape wedges. Place the scones on the baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar.
Place the baking sheet inside another baking sheet to prevent the bottoms of the scones from over browning. Bake for about 20 min. or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. ( I melted the leftover white choc. and drizzled it over the tops of the scones.)
Makes 6 scones.  

Carpet Cleaning Day!

Don't you just LOVE having clean carpets? Our carpets were driving us CRAZY because they were so dirty. Well, backing up a little bit, we actually had a little flooding accident a month or two ago. Our neighbor who lives above us flooded her bathroom (her kids were dumping water out of the tub, onto the floor!) and it started dripping through the ceiling into our apartment in several spots! We cleaned everything up the best we could. One spot on the carpet got very wet and we thought we soaked it up well enough. But, now there is a huge dark spot where the water was and we were worried there could be mold underneath. So, our carpets are being cleaned right now. Evan is asleep (hopefully still asleep even with all the noise!) and Jordyn and I are hiding out in the bedroom.
Our neighor flooding our apartment is just ONE of the MANY MANY annoying things she has done. She is one of those neighbors you pray and wish you NEVER get! haha I could tell you stories upon stories about our neighbor, but it would take me all day. Hopefully there is no way she could come across this blog!
Tom is gone until tomorrow afternoon. He went up to a cabin with a few of the young men and leaders. They were going to shoot guns, play videogames, and ride motorcycles - a guy's dream day I guess! We have the babysitting co-op tonight, so I am taking the kids there and going to a cooking/baking party (like Pampered Chef, but a diff. company). Then tomorrow morning we are going running on the Centennial Trail with Susan. After that, I think we will just be lazy until Tom gets home!

Question of the week.

Most of the time, I use a book called "Little Book of Stupid Questions", as the source for Question of the Week. This week I am getting my question from a fun board game we have called "Zobmondo - That Crazy 'Would You Rather' Game". The object of the game is to advance to the middle of the game board, by predicting how friends will answer outrageous, gross, thought-provoking, and hilarious "would you rather" questions. For the questions, there are five categories: Pain/Fear/Discomfort, Appearance/Embarrassment, Food/Ingestion, Ethics/Intellect, and Random. We have only played it 4-5 times and I don't think we've ever used the game board! We always end up going through all the question cards and debating/laughing/talking about all the wierd questions.
So, we'll see if one of these questions is fun to do for Question of the Week. It comes from the Food/Ingestion Category:


Would you rather: While dining in a restaurant, catch a glimpse of a dead rat -OR- catch the chef sneezing into his hands while preparing the food?

What a day!

It's only 3:30pm and we've already had a crazy day! This morning I had to take Jordyn to get her blood drawn for a few of the tests that the doc. in Seattle wanted done. (I know, I know, I procrastinated taking her in for 2+ weeks!) Actually I took her in a week ago, but they ended up making errors on the labs and had to re-do them.... a story for another time. Anyways, Jordyn did pretty well getting her blood taken and she is glad it is over.
The hardest part about taking the kids somewhere by myself is getting them through the doors! Literally, getting them through the doors! I am always complaining about this to Tom and everyone else who will listen to me. I hate going to places now that don't have handicap buttons on the doors or automatic doors. And trust me, I have memorized ALL the places that do not have doors that I can easily get me and two kids through. Just imagine carrying Evan in one arm, trying to push and hold the door open with my body and then trying to push or pull Jordyn through the door. It's prob. quite hilarious to watch. And it seems like someone is ALWAYS watching. 90% of the time people always run over and try to help me, which is very helpful and embarrassing at the same time. I am sure it is much like trying to get a stroller through the doorway also. So, lesson to everyone. If you see a mom struggling to get through a door, go help her!
After we got done at the lab, we went to pick up Jordyn's glasses! I was thinking in my mind,"Oh good, the eye clinic has a handicap accessible door, so I won't have a problem taking both kids in." (I know it's weird, but I really do think about this before I go places!) And sure enough, the button was broken! I just started laughing, because I had just struggled through all these doors at the hospital (and what hospital doesn't have handicap doors??) and now the ONE door that has a button, doesn't even work! hahaha And of course there were like 3 people in the waiting room watching me try to get through the door.. and one finally came over and held the door for me. So, Jordyn got her glasses. She didn't really like trying them on! But, she is already getting used to them. I think they look pretty cute!
It's pretty crazy how running two errands took me almost all morning and when I got home I was ready for a break! At least the kids behaved well while we were out. I think Evan might have to learn to ride on Jordyn's wheelchair with her!
I included two other photos. One of Jordyn and Evan together and one of Evan eating his first vegetables. He likes to put his hands in his mouth and then smear the food everywhere.

Question of the Week.

Ok, so I haven't been very good about doing a question every week. Oh well. I think I'll just do them whenever I feel like it....


If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, which food would it be? OR
If you could only eat at one restaurant for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Harvest Hustle Fun Run!

Today my sister, Susan and I ran a 5k race in Rockford, Washington. It's about 16 miles southeast of Spokane with a population of490 people. I actually heard about it on the Spokane news so we really didn't know how many people to expect. So when we pulled up to where the race was going to start, we were a little surprised to see about 10-15 people! When the race started there was probably a total of 25 people. In our minds, we kept comparing it to the Laurel, MT race we did on the 4th of July. And we had to laugh because I don't think we expected a race to be any smaller than the one in Laurel! Susan and I ran together and got the same time: 28:49. We took 4th and 5th place for overall women. And probably 8th and 9th for the overall race.
Some funny comparisons I thought of between the Laurel race and the Rockford race:

Laurel: population 6,255
Rockford: population 489

Laurel: about 100 racers
Rockford: about 25 racers

Laurel: orange cones and flags marking the starting line and finish line
Rockford: the race officiator said," The starting line is over there (pointing)... where the dark pavement meets the light pavement."

Laurel: cups of water at the turnaround / water and oranges at the end of the race
Rockford: no water, no food ..... anywhere

Laurel: large time clock at the finish line
Rockford: lady at the finish line, holding a stop watch and smoking a cigarette

Laurel: Plaques and ribbons for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, for about 6 diff. age groups
Rockford: Ribbons for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place in overall men and women's groups (we just barely missed getting ribbons for overall women! Darn it!). "Prizes" (misc. items in a box to choose from) for age groups 5-10, 10-18, and 19+. We couldn't believe that out of 25 people, we walked away with no award! Boo hoo.

Laurel: Nice people and a fun run with family.
Rockford: Nice people and a fun run with Susan.... oh, and an old guy running in cut off jean shorts (think daisy dukes).


All jokes aside... it was a very fun run! Considering the size of the town, they did a good job! The course was very pretty and I enjoyed the scenery. And we didn't have to run up any hills either! Everyone there was very nice and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I think I'm starting to like the small town races because you actually feel like you have a chance of doing well. Next race... the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day!

Happy Anniversary!

Aren't we such a cute couple? Yesterday was our 5th Anniversary! We went out to a restaurant that serves Mediterranean food and then got dessert at Dairy Queen. It was very tasty!
The past five years have been so great! Sometimes I wonder how I got such a great husband who is so kind, smart, good looking, and funny (with many other wonderful qualities too). Tom and I often talk about how incredibly compatible we are and how well we get along. We are different in many ways, and yet we have SO many things in common.... most things we didn't even figure out until after we were married! We've really had five perfect years together and I can't wait to add many many more years to our happy marriage! I love you Tom!

Highlights of the week.

Monday was Jordyn's first day of school! She goes Mon.- Thurs. for two and a half hours. She goes to a great school and I'm so glad they have this program for Jordyn. She is riding the bus to school on Monday and Wednesdays (I watch my neice, Katherine, those days and didn't want to cart two 6 month old babies with me to Jordyn's school!). On Monday, Jordyn was supposed to ride the bus, but there was a big mix-up and the transportation dept. didn't read the info. saying that Jordyn was in a wheelchair... so, the bus came and she couldn't get on! Oh well, Tom was still home and I was able to take her. On Wednesday she finally got to ride the bus for the first time! It was so cute, I just had to laugh the whole time. While she was riding the ramp up onto the bus she had the biggest smile on her face... it was hilarious. And sadly, I didn't have the camera that day! I was so worried all week about Jordyn being good at school and she did awesome! I think her teachers were pleasantly surprised. They are very honest about how the kids behave, etc, and they said Jordyn did SO good this week! I was so relieved and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she continues to stay happy and do well at school!


Here is a picture of Jordyn and Evan goofing around. Jordyn always has to have her feet on everything. If you are sitting near her, she will always put her feet on you. So many times, Evan is Jordyn's foot rest. He really doesn't seem to mind it at all!

Evan got to eat rice cereal, for the first time, this week! It looks pretty tasty doesn't it?

On Wednesday, Jordyn also went to the eye doctor here in Spokane. We talked about our appointment in Seattle and he examined Jordyn's eyes again. He thinks we should give glasses a try for a couple months. The doc. thinks Jordyn will eventually get used to them. I'm not too thrilled, but of course I will try them. After two months, if the glasses don't help correct here eyes crossing, they may consider surgery. But, we will see. (no pun intended) I took Jordyn to get fitted for glasses and we got her a pretty cute pair... at least I hope they are cute! She won't get them for a few weeks. We will be sure to post photos. While we were picking out the frames, I couldn't help but laugh at one pair of lenses. They had HUGE lenses and were the thick plastic frames and a bright blue color. Extremely out of style, but much like the ones I used to wear!!! haha I think that is the main reason I am hesitant to get Jordyn glasses... because I look at photos of when I was little and just CRINGE at how dorky I look in my glasses. Mom and Dad... How could you let me go out in public looking like that!?? hahaha

Tonight Tom and I had a date night! We started a baby sitting co-op with some other couples in our ward. We rotate every Friday night and one couple watches ALL of the kids! So, we get 4 Friday nights of babysitting and on the 5th Friday, Tom and I will watch all of the kids. Then the rotation starts over again. Most of the kids are over 3 yrs. old and Evan is the only baby. All together, there are 9 kids! Are we crazy or what!? We just keep thinking that we only have to watch the kids once every 5 weeks, for 3 hours, and in return we get 4 Friday nights out! That's worth it, isn't it? I was worrying about it all week because none of the families know Jordyn very well and I was afraid that they might be scared to watch her. But, I wrote up everything they need to know about her and I think they did really well. Tonight was the first night and the couple that watched all of the kids said that it went better than they thought it would! So we are off to a good start. Tom and I met some friends at the Fair and just walked around and had dessert. It felt very strange to not really have any set plans for the night and to not have any kids! We are hoping the co-op will keep up because we could sure use the break every week! We are already planning fun activities and snacks for when it's our turn to watch the kids. 

Question of the week!

In honor of 9/11, the question of the week is:

Where were you and what were you doing when you found out about the terrorist attacks?

Seattle Trip

Warning: Very long and full of lots of medical mumbo-jumbo.


Well, we made it back from our weekend trip to Seattle. We left Thursday afternoon and stayed the night at a hotel in downtown Bellevue. Friday morning we drove 15 min. to the Children's Hospital (we have to say that we DID NOT like Seattle traffic! Way too many cars!) for Jordyn's opthalmology appointment. We really liked this doctor. He was very interested in Jordyn and seemed extremely smart. Every other doctor we've talked to that knows him also gives him great praise. Anyways, he said Jordyn's eye problems are neurological. (That is what we thought, too.) He actually was not too concerned with her eyes crossing. He said they could be fixed with glasses. However, he said Jordyn would absolutely HATE having glasses on (she hates things touching her face!) and it would be easier to just deal with her eyes crossing, since they only cross every once in a while. He was more concerned about her lack of attention to objects and lack of tracking objects. Her eyes are actually very physically strong/good... except she is a little nearsighted, but not enough to need glasses for it. He was extremely surprised that Jordyn's MRI's have shown nothing. He thought for sure, the cause of her problems would show up on a MRI. He explained her vision issues as cortical visual impairment (the eye itself is normal and she sees things, but the brain does not process the information correctly). So basically, there isn't much we can do about her eyes, but just deal with it! She will continue to see her opthalmologist here in Spokane and we will see if he agrees with what the Seattle opthalmologist said! Oh... the opthalmologist also asked us if she had been tested for Rett Syndrome! We just laughed and said yes and it came back negative. Almost EVERY doctor or therapist we talk to thinks she has Rett Syndrome!

After being in opthalmology for almost 3 hours, we went straight to the neurology appointment. She basically told us that we have already tested and done almost everything they would have us do. She did recommended a few more tests though. She said there are three diff. tests for Rett Syndrome and we only did one of them. (Why our Spokane neurologist only did ONE of the tests... we do not know!) So, we will do the other two tests. It is a blood test and will take around two months for the results. The first Rett test we already did, tests for 80% of Rett Syndrome cases, so the chances of getting a positive result from these other two tests is low. But maybe Jordyn falls into that other 20%! The third test we will do is for a syndrome called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. People who have this syndrome are unable to make enough cholesterol to support normal growth and development. Jordyn has a few of the symptoms, but does not have many of the main symptoms... like poor growth! The neuro. didn't really act like Jordyn had a great chance of having this syndrome, but wanted to test just in case.
The neurologist also told us that our chances of finding a diagnosis for Jordyn are very slim. We kind of already knew that and other doctors have told us the same thing. But she also said that scientists are always coming up with new tests and new syndromes. In 10 years, the medical world will have advanced so much and between now and then, they may come up with something new to test Jordyn for.
So we were pretty happy with the appointments! Now on to something different!

Saturday morning we went to the Seattle Aquarium. The kids really seemed to like it and so did Tom and I! They had some great exhibits. We saw sea otters, harbor seals, sharks, octopus, jelly fish, eels, starfish, and ALL kinds of wierd fish and sea life.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Pike's Place Market. Tom's job is to post about that adventure and post pictures.
So check out his blog http://2bedapartment.blogspot.com/

We were so proud of our kids for behaving so well on the trip! We had to buy Jordyn ice cream because she was so good. They slept well at night and traveled well in the car! And Jordyn did awesome at the doctor's appointment! We were so happy!




(above) One of the many wierd fish we saw. (below) Star fish and tide pool life. You could put your hand in the water and touch/feel everything. Very cool.

 

More Aquarium Photos

Jordyn checking out a sea otter. There were some awesome exhibits for Jordyn because she could sit right in front of the window and the animals would swim right in front of her!

The "sea dome" in the aquarium. The windows surrounded you on all sides and above you. It was full of sharks, eels, many diff. fish and sea life.

A neat school of fish. It was above you and you walked under the glass.

Jordyn with her new friend... a harbor seal. 

We're off to Seattle

We are packing our bags and tomorrow we are leaving for Seattle! If you didn't already know, Jordyn has two doctors appointments on Friday at the Children's Hospital. Friday morning, she will be seeing a pediatric opthamologist. They are trying to decide whether her "crossing eyes" are a muscle problem or neurological problem. Her eye doctor here in Spokane is just baffled by her and wants a second opinion. (So what's new!? I think Jordyn should be on that new show "Medical Mysteries"!) If they decide it is a muscle problem, they could possibly decide to do surgery to correct it. If it is neurological, I don't think there is much they can do. Then, she will be seeing a pediatric neurologist on Friday afternoon. This visit will just be a consultation to see if they might have any suggestions or ideas for us. We aren't getting our hopes up for this appointment. We are guessing that they won't have much more to tell us.... but, who knows!

And once those appointments are over... we just might go and have some fun in Seattle! We will blog and post lots of pictures on Sunday. If we learn anything really great or important at the appointments, we will let everyone know as soon as possible! Wish us luck!

Pig out in the park!

Last night, we went to "Pig Out in the Park" in downtown Spokane. It's an annual event where a whole bunch of food vendors set up booths and sell every kind of food you can think of! This is our 3rd year going and we are always counting down the days until we get to go.
Last year I was pregnant with Evan and had extreme "morning sickness" (or I guess you could call it "all day sickness") and did not get to enjoy Pig Out in the Park. (It was also when my parents were visiting and we told them that I was pregnant!) I can still remember the constant nauseous feeling and not being able to hardly eat anything. So, I have been looking forward to going ALL year!
We went with my friend Jeni, her husband Jeff, and her sister Melissa. To start off, the five of us shared a plate of oriental noodles and a huge basket of cheese fries. Then for my main course I had a Perogie (fried dough ball filled with chicken and cheese) and a slice of garlic cheese bread. For dessert, I had a piece of chocolate covered cheesecake. Everything was so good and I am already craving another piece of cheesecake! All of us left there very full and probably wishing we hadn't eaten so much. Oh well, it was totally worth it.

Won't you be my neighbor?

Three days out of the week, in the morning, I watch my two neices while Susan goes to work. And every day at 11:00, we watch Mr. Roger's Neighborhood! Elizabeth really likes it and I have grown to like it and look forward to it every day. I know, I know, it's just a children's show, but I find myself wondering, "What are they going to do today on Mr. Roger's?" The show is usually split up into two segments. The first part is when you take a "field trip" to somewhere (the zoo, a dance studio, a school, a factory, etc.) and the second part of the show is the "land of make believe" where there are puppets and you learn some sort of life lesson ( a little corny - but I suppose we have to teach kids some sort of lesson).
My favorite part is when they visit different factories. It is so interesting to see how different things are made! I am the type of person who is always wondering how things were invented, made, or how things work. So far, on Mr. Roger's, I have seen them make crayons, marbles, rollerskates, Cheerios (I thought of my sis. Jenny the whole time), and graham crackers. Those are only the ones I can remember off the top of my head, but a few of the episodes I haven't seen, they go to factories that make violins, wheelchairs, balloons, teddy bears, etc. I watch how they make these things and I am always thinking, "So that's how they make it!" You usually don't think about how graham crackers are made, so it's pretty fun to see how it's done.
It's sad to think that Mr. Roger's has passed away now and that he won't be making anymore shows. At least they are still playing the old shows. It's also such a relaxing show. It isn't wild and crazy like all the present day cartoons or children's shows.

Here is a picture of Jordyn, Elizabeth, Katherine, and Evan.... from biggest to smallest.

I looked up a few facts about Mr. Roger's and his show. Thought they were pretty interesting:

- 870 episodes of Mr. Roger's neighborhood have been produced. (20 down, only 850 to go!)

- During one year of Mr. Roger's show, the trolley travels about 5,000 miles.

- Michael Keaton (played Batman) once operated the trolley in the 70's when he was a production assistant for the company that produced the show.

- The cardigan sweaters he wore on the show were knitted by his mother.

- Mr. Roger's ACTUAL "neighbors" said this, "Settling down each afternoon to watch Mister Rogers' eponymous television show, my brother Peter and I would wait for him to ask his famous musical question, "Won't you be my neighbor?" and we would yell back at the set, laughing uproariously, "But we ARE your neighbors!"

- Mr. Roger's real neighbors said that he gave out whole candy bars on halloween.

Question of the week!

Tom and I both have our favorite "thing" to eat for lunch every day. Some days we eat leftovers from the night before. But, if there isn't any leftovers we know exactly what we are going to eat for lunch. So this inspired my question of the week:

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?

Evan's first swim! (and misc. topics)

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to our apartment pool to take Evan for his first swim. The Kovich Family and their two friends who are visiting, also came. My neice, Katherine, got to go for her first swim too! Evan thought the water was pretty cold at first, but once he got used to it, he seemed to like it. We will have to try and get out to the pool a few more times before it closes for the season.
Sunday night we went over to Susan and Kurt's house and played our favorite game - Settlers of Catan. I wonder if we will ever get tired of playing that game?
On a totally different subject, our favorite show started it's new season tonight.... Prison Break! We have been anxiously awaiting it's return and finally got to see what happens. It's kind of funny because we love this show (I think it ties with LOST as our #1 favorite show) and we don't know anyone else who has ever watched it! I think we just happened to watch it one night and then totally got hooked! I am always telling myself that I watch way too much TV. So, most of the time I try to limit how much TV I watch because I don't want to revolve my schedule around what show is on at a certain time. But, the exception to the rule is Prison Break and Lost. Here are my excuses as to why I can watch these shows every week:
#1 Prison Break is on Monday night and nothing is going on Monday nights!
#2 Lost is on Wednesday nights. Tom has Young Men's Wednesday nights, so I am always at home taking care of the kids.
#3 It seems like the shows "season" only lasts a few months anyways!
What shows do you never miss?? You know you have them, even if you don't want to admit it!

You've come a long way Jordyn!

Jordyn had her weekly physical therapy today. She did so awesome and I had to brag about it. Jordyn usually cries several times during her therapy. She can get very angry if they are making her do something difficult or something she doesn't like. But, today she made it through 45 min. of therapy without crying AT ALL! I couldn't believe it! I told the therapist that I thought it was the first time EVER that she hadn't cried during therapy! So we started talking about how much Jordyn has improved since we've been seeing this therapist (for the past 2 years) and how much she has changed. And when I got home, it got me thinking about the very first day we ever took her to physical therapy. I think she was about 6 months old. I dug out the photos Jordyn's first therapist took of her, on the very first day of therapy. I thought it would be fun to compare those pictures with pictures of her now.


Jordyn on her first day of therapy. (sorry the
quality isn't better)

Jordyn's most recent photo taken on Sunday.

Jordyn's muscle tone being evaluated
on her 1st day. Very floppy.

Jordyn's muscle tone being evaluated today.
Looking better! I thought it would be a good
idea to compare photos of the same pose, but
failed to realize that Jordyn is almost 25lbs.
heavier! You can't see in the photo that Tom
is having a hard time lifting her! She thought
it was pretty fun.