Eye Update

We took this little rugrat to the opthamologist in Salt Lake this week.  We made Cole go with us this time to entertain Hagen on the drive.  Those two were great and there was less whining than there is in any four hour stretch at home so that was a success!

Our appointment took SO long this time.  We were there for over two hours and Hagen hadn't had a nap at all that day so to say he was completely pleasant would be a lie! He did however cooperate well for the doctor, it was the time in the waiting room that was ugly. 

They dialated his eyes and I wish I would've taken my camera, it was hilarious! His pupils were giant and he didn't act like he cared a bit, but he looked really funny.  We found out that he has developed an astigmatism since we were there last.  This isn't surprising but I was hoping it would be at least another year before we got that news.  Most kids with OA will develop an astigmatism which means that the front of their eye is irregularly shaped.  The good news is that this problem can be corrected with lenses, unlike his actual vision.  (If that makes any sense at all)  The doctor didn't want to prescribe him glasses quite yet, thank heavens! I can't imagine a two year old keeping a pair of glasses in decent shape for much more than an hour.  Hopefully we can hold out on the glasses for another year, but we will see where we are in six months when we go back.

The doctor said his actual vision is pretty good right now and he told us that he thinks that Hagen will end up having decent vision throughout his life.  Thank goodness for that! We are blessed with a mild case that is for sure.  We did have one concern that drives me absolutely crazy.  Hagen will stare at lights, bright ones, and for a long time.  The pendulum lights that hang over our bar are his favorite and he will tilt his head and look right at them.  I can only look at them for literally one second without it killing my eyes.  We asked the doctor about this and it seemed to puzzle him a bit.  He told us that kids with really poor vision will do that because it gives them sensory stimulation.  He then said that Hagen's vision is not nearly bad enough to warrant this behavior. He then strongly encouraged us to avert his attention elsewhere when he does this as it really can damage his eyes. 

I have been doing a bunch of internet shopping for sunglasses for this boy as well.  I can't tell you how many times I have nearly paid upwards of $50 for a pair of baby shades.  The thought sickened me though because even though Hagen is pretty good about wearing his sunglasses, the fact that he is two cannot be ignored.  I bumped into a website that sells sunglasses called "babiators", they are somewhat cute little things that have an amazing one year lost or broken replacement guarentee! We will take the $20 babiators over the trendy "Ray Bans" for that kind of coverage any day. 

Family Home Evening Surprise

For Family Home Evening a couple weeks ago we made a fun little scavenger hunt for the kids. 

Their clues led them all around the house....

And the yard, and they even had to chase down a goat to get a clue...

 

All while we watched from the sidelines!

 

The final prize was in the mailbox and they couldn't open it until they got in the house.  They were excited so they raced,

until they got tired (they had been running around a lot)

So they walked...

Then Cole tricked Kallie and burst into a run to beat her to the house!
They opened their final prize, Cole was confused but Kallie knew exactly what she was looking at!

Yep that's right! Baby #4 and final is due November 4th 2013.  These are a couple of pretty excited kids.  Hagen yells "NO, ME!!" when we ask him if he wants a new baby in the house. Hopefully six months is enough time for him to warm up to the idea!

 

Busy Busy Busy

Next to December, May is by far our busiest month of the year! There are so many fun school events, programs, recitals, baseball games, and field trips that each day is a new adventure. And an exhausting one! I find Hagen zonked out in strange places on a regular basis these days, but we are loving all the excitement. 

Kallie's class had "pet day" and lucky for me our dog had just had a new batch of puppies! Eight to be exact, and they are for sell for $1, or if you pay in advance they are free??? Just contact Cole our very own kindergarten salesman! He's got things handled! Kallie is a lot like her mama and has no real desire to touch an animal other than a horse and especially finds small, squirmy creatures rather repulsive.  She wanted me to bring the goat, which she prefers to the cute little puppies but the puppy option was way too easy for my laziness!  Her puppies were the hit of the pet day though and a nice mama is allowing her daughter to have one! Bonus!

Kallie had Berklee over to play after school and baseball practice that day.  I love to have Berklee over, she is one of those kids that is just plain easy to have.  She isn't rude or mean to the boys and she isn't a bit bashful which makes it nice to have her.  I really love all my kids friends and I seriously enjoy having them over. 

Cole's right hand man lives next door and they are too funny together.  They play nearly every day, hunting, riding bikes, playing ball or castle and dragging the puppies around.  Skylar is one good kid that we love to have around also.  Sometimes they get sick of each other or they fight, but it usually only lasts a few minutes and then they are bored without one another. 

We are ready for summer around here and spend every spare minute outside.  We have eaten a few meals on the deck already and these kids are really itching to get out of school for the summer!

 

Afternoons with the Boys

Cole gets home from school at 11 every day.  That's pretty early considering the rest of the kids in the neighborhood don't get home until about 3.  There have been many days when I pick Cole up from school and he bursts into tears in the car because he wants to stay at school instead of coming home and being bored all day.  (Let me just insert now how VERY GLAD I am that I sent him to school this year!) I have a hard time getting Cole to do something other than watch T.V. in the afternoons.  Especially with crappy weather! He has friends over a lot, and I try to think of things he can help me with that aren't too painful. 

The other day I asked him to help me make bread for my visiting teaching sisters.  He was thrilled, mostly because he is always begging me to let him "spank" the dough! He insisted that we take lots of pictures and "not just of me mom"! Okay I had to be in the pictures too.  (Don't mind my Hoagle Zoo sweatshirt, it's my favorite piece of clothing at home I am sure my kids get so sick of seeing me wear it!)

Anyway Cole ground all the wheat himself, not photos of this because he did it out on the deck and it was way too cold for me to go out there!

I then let him spank and beat one of the loaves until he was happy and content.  I figured we would keep this one for ourselves, too bad I honestly couldn't figure out which one it was when the baking was complete! Whoops! I guess that's really saying something about my loaf making skills huh?

 

 

Anyway by the time we had the bread in the pans, I had one happy boy and it was nearly time for Kallie to be home! And of course I didn't get a picture of the baked bread because that would require me to remember to get the camera out again. 

 

Enjoying our Right to Bear Arms

We have a new obsession with weapons in our house, guns in particular.  Maybe it's the fact that the government would like to take this right from us that makes it more appealing than before.  Weston got a new gun for his birthday and hadn't been out to shoot it yet.  Cole is and always has been fascinated with guns and such, all the boys in the neighborhood are proud owners of BB guns except Cole.  He has decided to save his money for a BB gun. I was hoping it would take him a couple years, but that kid has been earning his dollars at an alarming rate lately. 

Anyway we took the kids out behind some fields to do a little target practice.  The wind was blowing and it was freezing but that ten minutes was blissful to them.  Hagen was content to sit in the pickup with me to do his shooting, he is pretty proud of the fact that he can now cock his gun all himself. 

Cole won the footrace back from the taget, he was impressed with Weston's skills in hitting every can!

Kallie always begs me to see every picture I take as soon as it is taken. I love to withhold from her, it's fun to see her suffer!  (Remember when we had to wait three days for Wal Mart to process our photos to even see them?) Spoiled kids!

 

 

 

 

Even though it was short lived fun, it was still some family fun!

I loved this; I looked outside to see Cole seriously trying to teach Hagen how to shoot his bow.  Hagen could've cared less, but nodded politely anyway and then went to retreive all the arrows Cole shot.  That won't last much longer, that's for sure!

Cousins

Creed and Bowen came to play with the boys the other day and they had so much fun together.  The weather was so nice for about a week and we enjoyed every second of it.  They loved eating their lunch on the back deck and using the new picnic table the kids got for Easter. 

I wish I was better about taking pictures but I am usually in on the action too much to do so.  The boys played the afternoon away riding bikes and seeing who could make the longest skid mark, digging in the sandbox, playing some baseball, hunting in the field, and having  a war with plastic army men on the deck.  It was so fun to watch the littler boys mimmick the older ones, and to watch the older boy's imaginations fly. We really do love having so many cousins close by!

 

This is Hagen's new afternoon routine.  He has been really fighting naps lately which is fine with me because then he goes to bed earlier, but every couple days he just gets too tired.  I love how he will fall asleep sitting up or on the kitchen floor or just wherever.  I do miss rocking him to sleep for naps though.

Easter 2013

That bunny did not disappoint this year that is for sure.  Once again he thought the amount of candy he purchased was just right for three young kids but alas it was WAY too much! Kallie and Cole were up bright and early snooping around the house but I told them they had to wait to hunt eggs until Hagen work up.  Hagen is usually the first one up but for some reason he chose Easter Sunday to sleep in until 8:00! The kids were going crazy and trying to be as loud as they could to wake him up.  Once he was finally up he was excited to see a bunch of candy!


He took egg hunting very seriously, opening each egg and eating it's contents before moving on to the next.  Let's just say he got maybe three eggs and the other two took the rest.  With two more hunts to go before the day was over, it was really no big deal.

 

These three were on a major sugar high before we even left for church so you can imagine how well Hagen sat through Sacrament meeting.  It was a great meeting though and the weather was beautiful.  After church I made the kids dump all their candy into a bowl and then use it to fill eggs to take to Grammy's and Grandma's.  They weren't too happy about this but I let them eat as much as they wanted and they still brought home more than they took.

 

 

Even with a few piles of snow still around, it was really quite warm and made for an enjoyable afternoon.  I love watching my kids play with their cousins.