He's Making a List

...and checking it twice! This year's visit with Santa went much better than last year's. No screaming! Miles told Santa that he wants candy for Christmas.

Not My Dream Car

Over a year ago, a local facebook friend posted a picture of, what in my opinion, would be the most horrifying car in the world to drive. It was a "stretch suburban". Evidently, someone needed more seat than a regular suburban offered, so he cut the back half off a suburban and welded it to another suburban. Not long after the stretch-suburban picture was posted on facebook, Jonathan actually saw it! Well, a year later, we still talk about the stretch-suburban. Last week I was exiting the Mountain View High School parking lot after Jonathan's clarinet lesson, and coming in the opposite direction was the stretch-suburban! I was paying attention to the on-coming traffic and didn't see it, but Jonathan did. I wanted to chase it down to see this vehicle. Traffic was too heavy to make a left, so I had to go right, then make a left, then flip a u-turn, then hopefully find the stretch-suburban. It was not difficult to catch up to it as it was traveling extremely slow while towing a very broken car somewhere (hopefully to a junkyard). Jonathan and I passed the suburban and pulled into a parking lot and waited for the stretch-suburban to pass by. I wanted a picture of this legendary vehicle, but unfortunately, I didn't have a real camera with me, just my P.O.J cell phone. So, here it is... the 6-wheeled stretch-suburban towing an ill SUV down Center Street in Orem!

Dear Leslie,

I want you to know how much we missed you at Thanksgiving dinner this year. Your absence duly noted for two reasons. First, you understand the the whole purpose of Thanksgiving is the pie. Every other part of Thanksgiving is just a preamble to the pie. Aly and I understand that as well, so we decided that since we had to eat late to accommodate Amy's work schedule (which was no big deal, we just had to eat later than "normal" which meant I didn't have to get up early to cook!) that we would have pie instead of appetizers. We knew in advance that there was no way we would be hungry for pie before bedtime if we had pie at the conclusion of dinner so we had it first! We had lots of pie... pumpkin, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, coconut cream, pecan-cranberry-white chocolate, apple, lemon cream cheese, and berry (which was nasty and it's okay that I said that because I made it). We also had a pumpkin roll and molten lava cake. I hope that the quantity and variety would have been pleasing to you. Do not fear, once dinner was over, we had pie again and Jonathan discovered that he likes pumpkin pie. I've also had pie for breakfast for the past 2 mornings. Second, I missed you because had you come, not only would you have brought more pie, but you would have brought Pie-man and eating pie in the presence of Pie-man is oddly satisfying.

Love,
Laura

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving has come and gone. My kitchen and floors have recovered, with the exception of my oven which still needs to be cleaned. We had a small gathering this year... just 13 of us... Aly, Rob, Avery, Zane, Cole, Tate, Me, Dan, Jonathan, Nolan, Miles, Amy, and Sean. That's it. We had a 19.5 pound bird that cooked 3 hours faster that it was supposed to. We had a fun evening together, basically stress-free, and most of the dishes were dishwasher safe. Jonathan's shirt was particularly fitting for the Thanksgiving meal. We went though 7 bottles of Martinelli's. My boys still can't behave at the dinner table. Maybe someday there will be someone proper dining with us who will teach them appropriate etiquette. Zane, Avery, and Cole got to party at their own table (which was within arm's reach of me!). Miles chose a lovely meal... milk, a turkey lunchable, and a mailbox. Amy and Sean look like the perfect newlyweds. Tate liked his food; and wanted to share with his mommy, but missed her mouth... At one point, Jonathan must have been feeling a bit possessive of his food. Sigh. Lots of food. Lots of leftovers, but we still weren't done, because there was pie, but pie is so important that it deserves a post of its own.

Dan's Trip

Dan's trip started out in Japan. He flew into Tokyo then took the Shinkansen up towards Misawa where he met up with his brother. They did some "stuff"- fishing, saw Tsunami damage, went to a public bath, etc. Then he went somewhere else in Japan before flying to Chengdu, China. He spent a couple of days "working" there... he was at some university. Then the university planned this trip for him to a national park "up north". Dan was told that the national park was still in Sichaun province, but it was really in Tibet. Dan flew into an airport in Tibet which was located at a elevation higher than Mt. Timpanogos. He spent a couple of days in the park (Juizhaigou) and took lots of pictures. What a beautiful place!

Dan's Back!

Dan's been gone for the past 12 days on travel. My boys were awesome- they forgot how to fight with each other and forgot about being mouthy teenagers! While things went really smooth (except for the furnace issue), I'm so glad I don't have to be a single parent anymore. So where did Dan go? I'll have him help me with a real blog post later (when he's not horridly jet-lagged and can get Miles off his hip) because he took some really amazing pictures, but for now, I will tell you that he's been in Japan, China, and Tibet!

It's FREEZING Inside

It's 59 degrees inside my house. The furnace decided to have an ignition issue and we are enduring a cold weekend inside. I'm wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, slipper socks, slippers, and a beanie. I'm wrapped up in a down throw. I made soup and an apple crisp for dinner to help warm us up. There is one warm place in the house (besides the showers and bath tubs)... the computer room feels tropical thanks to space heaters! The boys need a warm place where their fingers aren't too stiff to do their homework and type their papers! First thing tomorrow, I'm calling the HVAC man, or I could choose to delay until after Thanksgiving so that someone else gets to host the dinner! Nah, I think we'd be hypothermic by then.

Miles and Nolan

'Jing is finally, after more than 3 years, starting to trust Miles. Miles still doesn't trust 'Jing.
Nolan finally decided to read the Harry Potter books and he is hooked! He's mid-way through book 4 and doesn't appreciate being interrupted while reading...

UVYSO

Jonathan is in the Utah Valley Youth Symphony. He performs with the Philharmonia group. Last week was their first concert of the season! He had a nice size solo in the movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony that they performed. He sounded lovely and I wish I could have listened to him longer! I didn't get a recording of his solo because I only have 2 hands, but I did get some pictures!

Keeping his reed wet while waiting for his turn to play!
Click on this picture! Jonathan makes some evil face while he plays!

Jonathan and some of his friends who are also in UVYSO... Aaron (bassoon), Alea (flute on the left), and Stephanie (oboe) .
Jonathan recently auditioned for the Utah All-State High School Band. Last week, he found out that not only did he make the All-State band, but he's a first clarinet! All-State Band is in January.

Oh, Costco.

Nolan had a merit badge class in American Fork tonight. To kill the hour he was in class, I took Miles and Jonathan to Costco. The sole purpose of the Costco trip was to check on the price of Kirkland wipes for Aly and possibly buy her a box. Well, we wandered though Costco... I started putting things in my cart- parchment paper, vanilla, pancake mix, bananas, cucumbers, cute votive holders, etc. I went to check out and $100 later, I realized that I forgot to check on the price of wipes for Aly! So, I had to go back and check the price, then check-out again.

I bought dinner for my boys at the Costco food court. Jonathan was the order-guy because Miles had to go check out the Costco bathroom (he really liked the hand dryer). I got back to the food court just in time to hear the food court lady tell Jonathan, "It'll be just a second on your pizza, she (as she points to another food court employee) is cutting the cheese." Jonathan and I held straight faces until we walked away from the counter. I sure hope it was just the cheese pizza "she" was cutting!

Contacts

Nolan got them! He picked up his contacts last Thursday. He chose hard lenses. He learned how to take care of his contacts. Then he had to put them in. He got them in without too many tries- he'd have had no problem if he didn't have eyelashes. He kept blinking and that prevented the lens from getting on his eyeball. Getting them out wasn't too hard either. He wore them home from the eye clinic. Getting them in and out at home has proven to be much harder. Thursday night I had to help him get one lens out. Friday morning, I had to put one in for him. Friday night he got them both out. Saturday he got them in and out. Sunday I had to put one in for him, but he is officially awesome at getting them out. Today he got both lenses in on his own! So far he likes his contacts. I've kind of freaked him out about the wind blowing dust in his eyes and the dust getting trapped under his contact lens (because it stinkin' hurts!). He's looking forward to wearing sunglasses and not having issues with his ski goggles or lacrosse helmet! Hopefully, he'll remember that he can't open his eyes underwater while swimming.

I Hate Amanda

Amanda Dixon, do you hear me? I hate you! I don't even know how to spell your name and won't look it up because I hate you! Seriously, not kidding, I don't like you. Amanda is the co-host of the KSL radio morning news team. She is 100% happy, perky, annoying in the morning. She can even put a happy spin on a traffic jam or a murder scene. I think it's great to put a positive spin on the news whenever possible, but I hate "fake happy", constant "warm fuzzies", and poor word choices while trying to sugar coat a news segment. Last Friday, Amanda did me in. My last straw was broken and I refuse to listen to her and Grant for a long, long time (and maybe never again!). Friday was Veteran's Day and Grant and Amanda were going to interview a psychiatrist from the VA about PTSD. Amanda dropped the teaser for the upcoming segment by saying they were going to find out what could be done to help those who are "troubled" with PTSD. TROUBLED? Seriously? I think that those veterans who deal with PTSD are a little more than "troubled" by PTSD. From everything I've heard, they are tormented. I can't imagine what they go through as they deal with the horrors they have witnessed. Troubled? The mildew that got my pumpkin vines was troubling to me. Teenage attitudes are troubling to me. The fact that someone scraped by Subaru's bumped and left it scuffed up is troubling to me. But are these in the same category as dealing with PTSD? Come on, Amanda, get it right. Chose your words better. Don't trivialize what those who have served are country are dealing with. Report things as they are.

Migraines

I hate migraines, but who doesn't. I'm a "lucky" migraine-getter though. I don't get them regularly (that's the lucky part), but when I do, they hang around for weeks and weeks but with less and less intensity as time goes on. I hadn't had a migraine for several years (5? 6? I don't know, but it's been a long time!) until last week. Last Thursday I was driving home when my vision suddenly went all wonky and I heard a high-pitched whine inside my head, the wave of nausea followed with seconds. Ugh. I was waiting for the slamming headache to hit all while hoping I could make it home. I did. I walked in the door and through a handful of Advil down and still waited for the nasty headache. Lucky for me, the monster never hit. I did have a headache- all over the back of my head when I never get headaches, but it was manageable. Unfortunately for my friend, I tried having a phone conversation with her during the migraine... I doubt I made any sense as I was really having to focus to string words together to form sentences. A few hours later, the migraine was gone-ish- I could see clearly, the whine was gone, and so was the nausea, but the headache remained. The bummerest thing about my migraines is that they are like earthquakes- a big jolt followed by migraine aftershocks. I'm on migraine #3 since Thursday. Hopefully they'll be completely gone by Christmas (seriously).

The Driver Belongs ON the Short Bus

Last week I noticed that there was an extra adult on Miles' bus. I was wondering what he was doing on the bus because he was definitely too old to be receiving services from the ASD, but there was was something "vacant" on the man's face that made me wonder... Anyway, today we were following our usual "waiting for the bus" routine. Miles was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I was watching out the window for the bus. Normally the bus makes a u-turn in front of our house and then stops at the walk for Miles. Today, the bus made the u-turn a half a block too soon and pulled up in front of a neighbor's house (whose brick is almost the same color as ours, but the house is a totally different style). I knew that the bus was at the wrong house, but the driver didn't. I grabbed Miles, threw his coat and backpack on him, then held Miles as I ran down the street to the bus. The bus started to drive off, but then saw us and stopped. The doors opened. Miles went to get on the bus, and I looked at the driver in horror... driving the bus was the mystery adult from last week. I recovered quickly and told the man that he was at the wrong house- that he'd turned too soon. His comment was "It's only my first day." I told him again that he was at the wrong house. I got a vacant stare. I told him and the aide that they'd turned too soon and that we lived further down the street. They didn't comment. The doors shut and off they drove with my Miles inside. I'll admit that I was worried about where they were going to drop him off at the end of the school day. At 11:30 this morning I was outside waiting and watching for the bus. It came down the street and this time, the driver turned in the right place and Miles was safely returned to me.

A Visit with the Optometrist

Last month, our pediatrician suggested that I take Miles to get his eyes checked. Miles was reading a book and the pediatrician didn't like how close to the page Miles was putting his face. Today was the optometry appointment. It was awful. Before we saw the optometrist, we had to have our visit with the technician to do the chart reading, the computerized prescription, and the "puff of air in the eye" test. Miles was not cooperative. He went on a hit-and-scream-and-throw-the-iPod rampage. The technician wasn't able to get the information he needed and got a bit snotty. We got sent back to the waiting room so Mr. Technician could report his lack of results to Dr. Lewis. Dr. Lewis called us back and was getting the same lack of results as his technician, and I was dealing with the same hitting and screaming from Miles. It was frustrating. I was ready to tell Dr. Lewis to bill VSP for the visit, I'd pay the $10 co-pay and we'd call the visit a "learning experience". Just then, Miles asked for a shoulder ride and I happily agreed as I was ready to do anything to quiet him. I was kneeling on the floor so I put Miles on my shoulders. He quieted down and suddenly became fairly cooperative. He played Dr. Lewis' games; he looked at the 3-D fly in a book; he identified "cake", "five", "car", and "baby bird" on the eye chart. Dr. Lewis broke out the old manual method of the "which is better, 1 or 2; 2 or 3" piece of equipment. He let Miles hold as many lenses as possible while he examined Miles' eyes, all while Miles sat perched on my shoulders as I knelt on the floor. Dr. Lewis had never given an eye examination to a child perched on his mother's shoulders. At the end of the exam, Miles got to ride up and down in the big chair many times while Dr. Lewis explained to me what he saw. Miles is slightly far-sighted, about a +2, but that is within the range of normal for 3 year old. Dr. Lewis thinks Miles has at least 20/30 vision. There is no indication of a lazy eye either. The bottom line is that Miles sees just fine. I was so happy to leave the optometrist office that I basically threw the co-pay at the receptionist as we sprinted out of the office before Miles could change his mind and want to spend more time with the eye doctor.

Post Nap Picture

Today Miles took a nap without wearing a shirt. Evidently he was sleeping on his stomach and on top of his hand. Look at the sleep mark on his chest!Here's a close-up, unfortunately rotated 90 degrees.

Pre-School is the Bomb!

Never in a million years would I have thought that Miles would love, love, love pre-school. Here's how today's departure went. Miles is in the dining room watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on youtube as I am watching for the bus. The bus is coming down the street. I tell Miles, "Here comes the bus!". Miles slams the laptop shut and demands, "Coat!" I put his coat on him. Next Miles demands, "Backpack!" I put his backpack on him. I open the front door. He shouts to me, "Bye-Bye!" Then runs to the bus yelling, "Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea!" until he is on the bus. Who would have thought that Mr. I-can't-be-separated-from-my-mom would have such a fast and easy adjustment to pre-school?

Back to Halloween

This year Miles "got" Halloween. Last year he didn't make the connection between wearing a costume, knocking on the neighbors' door, and getting candy. This year he caught on fast. At the first house he went to, he knocked on the door, our neighbor opened it, and Miles walked into the house. Dan retrieved Miles and told him that he didn't get to go into the houses, but he'd still get candy. Miles quickly "got it" and was ready for "more candy". The plan was to take Miles to just a couple of houses, but after each house, Miles said, "More candy". He trick-or-treated an entire block. When Dan brought Miles back, Miles was so proud of his haul. He spread it out on the floor for me to admire. His treasure now resides in a basket. He slept with the basket last night. It came with us in the car as we took the big ones to school. He thinks he's candy rich!