Feeling Old

I was at Fred Meyer yesterday.  I was $10 off of the total required in order to get a $10 off coupon - essentially, I was $10 from getting a $10 item for free.  I grabbed the movie Flight of the Navigator - a favorite from my youth.  The cashier, a young male, said, "That looks lame to me."  I was shocked and the first thing out of my mouth was, "And how old are you?  Obviously too young to know..."  That's how I know I'm getting old - for the first time, I informed someone they were too young to know something.  The kids are watching it right now and I have high hopes it will be a favorite for them.

I'll write about our fun Thanksgiving soon.

Ethan's Appointment

Ethan's speech therapist sits like this when she comes:

Ethan tripped over her legs, smacked his chin on the coffee table and bit his lip - inside and out. He bled everywhere, but the orange is from the popsicle I gave him to help the swelling.

Two teeth through the outer lip...

... and a few through the inside.

This is how it looks today - two days later.

In the Anchorage airport:

Ethan had an audiology appointment today. As of three weeks ago, we were only planning on giving him a cochlear implant on the right side. The hearing in his left ear wasn't great, but it was good enough not to implant him. Today's results show the hearing in his left ear is gone. It has disappeared over the last three weeks. His hearing aids are giving him little to no help. The audiologist is beginning the authorization for bilateral implantation and we will verify the left hearing loss in a few weeks.

The plane to Anchorage has 2 seats on each side with 5 seats in the back row. There are only about 10 rows. Waiting in the airport, there were 2 felons in orange and yellow jumpsuits and handcuffs. They boarded the plane first. Ethan was one of two children on the flight. The other mom and I were the last to board with our kids and can you guess what the only seats left on the plane were? The row directly in front of the felons. So nice of the other passengers to put the small children between themselves and the possible danger.

On the way back, the flight attendant would not let Ethan sit in his own seat. She told me he was too small and must sit on my lap. And why then is he required to purchase a ticket? Also on our trip, I got frostbite on two of my fingers.

This one's for Mandi: (she says she won't believe it until she sees a picture!)

Grant and Greg, thank you, thank you for the shelves. They aren't quite beautifully arranged yet, but you WILL get your picture!

Happy (Early) Anniversary to Me!

THAT is what Doug got me for our anniversary! Isn't is cute? I am so excited! It has some of the coolest features and is teeny tiny, but takes the most beautiful pictures! It has a huge display (considering the teeny tiny-ness of the camera) and it knows which direction you are holding the camera and flips the pictures accordingly. The zoom is amazing! The "auto" feature recognizes what you're taking a picture of, so, for example, it will focus on the person's face and tell you it is taking a portrait. But most of all, it's so cute! My little camera has been dead for a while now, so maybe now you'll get more pictures on the blog - and a video or two besides.

Poor Doug - he got new tires for his truck for our anniversary. I can't afford anything beyond that. They are NOT CHEAP! If you've seen the size of them, you understand. Nolan refers to Doug's truck as "the monster truck," if you need a visual.

The painting is... frustrating. Jared - I don't sit around and stare at my walls. It is kind of a "catch a glimpse and shutter at the site of them" thing going on. Really, they are bad. I hate them. I think I am on paint color #5, which is a custon mix created by Doug.

Ugh!

Painted again - hate it - again. Maybe I'll just go back to white. Boring old white. Blah.

Snow at last!

It finally snowed. I know, you thought I wouldn't be looking forward to it, but it is better than the barren scene we've had for a while with no real fun outside. We did go down to the lake on Sunday and throw rocks. Sometimes they would go through the ice and create an air pocket under the ice and other times they would skip across the ice, making the most incredible noise. I can't even describe it. The best little tinkling sound came from a handful of tiny rocks.

We had initially gone down to the dock to retrieve the motor off of Doug's little boat. The big one has been "packaged" for the winter - he lovingly wrapped it in tarps, folding them nicely so it looks like a gift - okay, I think it looks like an arc, but whatever. There was no ice in front of our dock, so Doug decided to just drive the boat around to the boat launch. He got about half way there and hit the ice. He had a good time breaking through the ice, but it doesn't sound so good when a small ice burg hits the propeller.

There was no snow on the forecast for the week as of Sunday, but today it says we should have snow for the next three days. The little boys will be so excited when they wake up! We have to head into town and look for new snow pants for Brenden. The ones that he is wearing from last year look ridiculous!

I painted part of the rest of the kitchen yesterday, but I HATE the color, so I will start over today. I like the color, just not with the yellow wall. The color is called "warm muffin," but it looks like I painted a pastel yellow wall next to my bright "squash" wall. What's with the food names for the colors?

Have a wonderful day!

Recipe Book

I am home sick from church today, so I thought I'd share a little story I remembered last night.

About a month ago, I was working outside and it was getting late. Brenden poked his head out the door and asked if he could make dinner. I said, "Sure," thinking we would be having cereal or toast. I came in a while later to see Nolan bustling around setting the table beautifully and Brenden making a gigantic salad. Doug and I thought it was so delicious, Brenden typed up the recipe so I can make the same salad again later.

Yum! Yum! Salad

RECIPE: GET LETTUCE THEN GO GET SPINACH LEAVES NEXT I GET CROUTONS THEN CUT TOMATOES. PEEL AND CUT CUCUMBER. GET SEEDS GRATE THE CHEESE.

Brenden got all of the packages out so he could spell everything correctly. Seeds are sunflower seeds.

From there he has created an entire cookbook called "Brenden and Nolan Cookbook." He typed it up on my computer and toward the end was experimenting with fonts. This is the only handwritten recipe:

Fruity Fruit Snack

get A Few Pechs then get A Few grapes then get A Few slies of Apples then mix it then you make Fruity Fruit Thank you

Quite a few of the recipes are very simple: (anything lowercase is handwritten and capital is typed - in all capital letters)

Brefist fruity oatmeal

RECIPE: MAKE OATMEAL THEN GET FRUIT THEN PUT THE FRUIT BY THE PLATE GET THE MILK OR WATER

Brefist

RECIPE: MAKE CEREAL THEN PUT FRUIT BY THE SIDE OF THE BOWL

Lunch chips + sandwich + fruit

RECIPE: MAKE A SANDWICH THEN GET CHIPS NEXT ALSO GET FRUIT OR GET BANANAS Thak you

Lunch spegete

RECIPE: MAKE SPEGETE THEN PUT GREEN STUFF THEN MAKE IT WEVER YOU WANT Thank you

Green stuff is parmesan cheese - no, ours isn't green, it just comes in a green container.

The only recipe in the "Desrt" section:

BUTER POPCORN movestand popcorn

RECIPE: MAKE POPCORN THEN GO GET THE BUTER PUT THE BUTER ON THE POPCORN

Ocassionally, in between recipes, there is a picture or a comment he has written like: "Great! recipes!" "YUM!"

That made me also think of another story. One night we each colored a Halloween picture to decorate the house. Nolan picked out coloring sheets on the internet one afternoon, so I printed them and he assigned who got which sheet. We colored them and Brenden taped them to the window. Then he decided it was a coloring contest and guess who won? Brenden. I got second and a comment written on my picture that said, "Very cute witch." Nolan got 4th place and a comment that said, "Next time add more color." I wish I had saved them, but I just can't save everything.

Brenden told me this morning that last week he wrote in his journal that he has lots of books, but his mom still keeps buying him more books. What can I say? It's a more true statement than he knows! He sometimes reads my blogs so I can't say much more than that - but trust me, there are more... LOTS more.

Kitchen before and after

So it's only one wall, but I am working on the rest, so you will have to wait...

Before (previous owners)

After

We got rid of the obnoxious cupboards over the island within the first month of living here. They hung so low that you couldn't see under them without stooping every time someone wanted to talk to you. We also tiled the floor. The black board currently has 5 coats of magnetic paint and still isn't as magnetic as I would like, so I think I'll be using the rest of the quart of paint. It's not cheap - buy a piece of metal. I couldn't find one big enough or I would have. Next I will paint it with chalkboard paint and then the little shelf will hold chalk and an eraser. It will be our message board and a place for the kids to color. I designed the vinyl lettering and a woman in our ward made it for me. I totally believe what it says. I cook to show I care and to have a creative art form.

I have always wanted little cubby holes on either side of my sink. I finally got around to kind of decorating them - with things from around the house. I didn't shop for a SINGLE thing up there - I want you to know that. Maybe someday they'll be cuter, but for now, the decorating was free. They are hearing aid storage, so ignore that little "decoration."

The other walls will be tan, so it won't be too exciting when I'm done, but I just can't handle all of the white around here. Doug finds this funny. I wouldn't let him paint our first house because I thought the white made it look "clean." Now I think white is boring. We women can never make up our minds, huh?

Cub Scouts

Monday night for Cub Scouts, the boys met at the fire station. Something like 50% of the dads are fire fighters, so it was fun to be there and be allowed to see the whole place. Nolan kept asking, "Can I ride a fire fighter?" He MEANT fire engine, but kept saying fire fighter instead. Finally, one dad (Matt) said, "I'll give you a piggy back..."

I wish I had my camera. The kids got to see ALL of the trucks (2 fire trucks, a water truck, the ambulance) and the boat, four wheelers and snow machines used for rescues. They took a ride in the fire truck and while all of the kids piled in, Brenden and Nolan got to sit up front with the driver. They had a contest to see who could get dressed up as a fire fighter the fastest, but it ended right as it was Brenden's turn. Nolan was totally bummed, but he put on a hat and coat afterward. I took a picture with my phone. I don't know how to get it OFF my phone, but if I figure it out, I'll let you know.

I painted my kitchen today - well, ONE wall. I keep promising pictures of my make-overs, but they are never quite done. The bathroom still has two things I am waiting to get done (and how long ago was THAT!?). The wall I painted will be done tomorrow or I'm gonna... I don't know... scream?

Happy Belated Halloween

It's 12 degrees here this morning. Brrrrr.... But still no snow. I think the lake might finally be icing over. It was frozen solid by mid-October last year. What a crazy, beautiful fall we've had! There have been days when it feels like summer! (Well, summer here.)

On Saturday Oct. 24, we went to a Halloween Carnival at Brenden's school. Brenden wore the He-Man costume he wore last year (and was utterly embarrassed to do so - until he saw all the other costumes that had muscles - batman, spiderman, superman...) Ethan was a doctor and Nolan was a police man. Doug is in the habit of taking his camera in the car with him in case there are some nice views on the way home, so I don't have any pictures. It was very fun and turned out to be more expensive than I planned. I didn't have any cash in the house, so we took our change jar and made it through the evening with only the few dollar bills and change in the jar.

I would have left once we were out of change, but it was my job to make sure my dear friend Tiffany stayed until the end of the carnival. Her husband Jeremy was setting up a surprise birthday party for her and I was having to be really obnoxious to keep her from leaving.

Wednesday, Nolan went to his first gymnastics class. The poor boy gets hauled to so many things for the other kids that he deserves something of his own. When I took him, he said, "Gymnastics JUST FOR ME!?" After seeing the way he hangs and flips from the bar on my treadmill, I knew he would love gymnastics. Again, no camera.

When I signed Nolan up, I told the lady that my brother and sister-in-law were gymnasts and my sister-in-law used to coach. When I told her that was in Texas and my sister-in-law used to coach Mary Lou Retton's daughter (I didn't make that up, did I, Paulette? - I think you told me that once...), the lady looked horrified. She said, "Don't expect that from us - Texas is the heart of some very competitive gymnastics - we're just in this for fun."

Gymnastics was slightly frustrating - for me at least. Nolan is the oldest kid in the three year old class, but also the only kid who wasn't in a class there last year. The teacher would expect him to know what he was supposed to do without demonstrating and then he would get in trouble when he did the wrong thing. She changed her mind about how she wanted things done as soon as he figured out what she had wanted before. He will figure it all out, it will just take time.

Thursday we had Parent Teacher Conference. Brenden, as usual, is doing well in school. He played school with Nolan and Ethan during the conference and it was so cute to see. Brenden has a wonderful teacher who truly cares about him.

After the conference, we headed to Anchorage. It was so nice not to be in a hurry like we usually are. We stopped to see the swans at the Seward/Sterling Highway junction.

I drove and Doug entertained the boys.

I was relieved to have an uneventful trip. It always happens that way when Doug comes along, but when I'm alone, it's utter chaos and horrific.

We planned to do some shopping. Brenden has already grown out of all of his school clothes and shoes. When we got there, we checked into our hotel and then went to eat dinner. Brenden has been begging to go to the used book store - he asks if we can go every Saturday. We spent WAY too long there, so we never made it shopping. We went back to our hotel and I put Ethan to bed while Doug took Nolan and Brenden swimming.

Friday morning, our first appointment at was 9:00. Brenden had his hearing evaluation and we found out his implant was working horribly. It has been frustrating since his last appointment. Both of the programs were terrible and his left implant microphone was going out, so it was very quiet. The audiologist totally revamped his maps and he is doing great now - it has been better, but it is great right now. Brenden goes back on New Year's Eve.

Ethan's hearing has dropped significantly in his right ear. That used to be his "good ear." The audiologist has suggested that we implant his right ear right now and leave the left ear for later, since he still has some useable hearing left in the left. I swore that when it came time for Ethan to get implanted, I wouldn't put him through it twice and I would do both at once. Now there is the big debate - do we risk losing his hearing in his left ear or do we wait for the left ear to drop? I suppose we can do one at a time, but it was so hard for Brenden and I will admit, hard for me. The audiologist is going to send Ethan's file along with a family history to the surgeon in Seattle and see what he thinks we should do. The likelihood of the hearing in the left ear maintaining at it's current level is not high, but should he beat those odds and maintain that small amount of hearing, he would have access to some sounds that some cochlear implant users are never able to hear. We go back in three weeks for more evaluations.

Halloween was a fun day. We got home late on Friday night, so we had a lazy Saturday morning. We had Pumpkin Whole Wheat Pancakes (with chocolate faces, of course) for brunch.

We all dressed up as doctors. The boys have tags on that have "Doctor Boehme" on them. I also wore scrubs and Doug wore his pharmacy lab coat.

We went to the church Halloween Party.

Ethan won this at the cupcake walk.

I made a meatlof hand for the potluck.

I find it utterly disgusting.

I smashed it too far into the potatoes, but it was still pretty gross.

I also made hot dog mummies, but I took them in and set them down to go back out to the car for my meatloaf hand and when I returned, they were gone. Sorry, no picture. They were really cute though. They looked like this:

and the dip looked like this:

Our jack-o-lantern won the contest...

(The sign says:

Boehme Household Rule #5

Thou shalt not bite thy brother)

and we won this: