Courtney's Procedure

Ethan hates it when we call it "Courtney's surgery" so we have to use the word "procedure" instead. Courtney had to have tubes put in her ears today. But let me back up.

When Ethan had tubes in his ears he went to the "Old Hospital" in St. George. Beforehand they had an evening where kids could take a tour and find out what they would be doing. I thought it was great, so when Courtney was schedules for tubes I called the Center where she would be having it done at and scheduled a tour. The woman was really nice and showed Courtney around to make her feel better. A nurse was there that had been Bryan's nurse when he broke his nose and said she would also be Courtney's nurse the next day. Courtney got a hat, mask, shoe protectors and a doll that she was able to decorate her own way so she would feel more comfortable the next day. I thought it went great because all night she was "Doctor Courtney" dressed up in her stuff. She got a blessing from Bryan last night and was ready to go. (Ethan had a hard time though because he HATES it when his sister hurts and his imagination was going wild.)

Doctor Courtney:


This morning we woke up and Courtney got up at about 6:15 or so and came out all dressed up and ready for her procedure. We had to make her wait until 6:45 when Grandma and Grandpa Oman came to take care of Ethan. Then we were off.

When we first got to the Center she was fine and they took her right back. She let them weigh and measure her (39 pounds and 41 inches) and then we went back to the room she showed her. She had been excited the night before about the tiger pjs they would give her to wear (she even growled at Bryan when she told him about them) but when it came time to wear them she changed her mind. We finally got her into them and she cuddled on my lap. She was a bit upset and wouldn't get on the bed. Finally we consented to give her come relaxing medicine. After about 10 minute she was really tired and sleepy. Then they were able to take her temperature, vitals and get her ready to go. When she left she didn't even fuss, probably because she was almost asleep already.

Happy Courtney after the medicine!


Ten minutes later the doctor came out to tell us that it had gone well. We waited another 10-15 minutes and they told us she was awake and we could go back. When Ethan woke up the first time he had tubes in he was screaming and crying so that's what I expected. But Courtney was sitting quietly on the bed watching "Dinosaur Train" - her favorite PBS show! I helped her eat a slushy and then about 20 minutes later she was ready to go.

She was a bit loopy on the ride home but once we got home and she was situated on the couch watching TV it only took her about 30 minutes before she was back to normal and asking when she could play with friends. ;)

What a trooper!! I hope this clears up the hearing problems. She is now down for her nap but she is doing great!

Guitar Playing

Ethan got a guitar for Christmas from Aunt Leigh Ann and he was so excited. Tonight after FHE Bryan got out his guitar and started playing and so Ethan went to get his. It was so fun having the two of them playing. Bryan showed Ethan how to play a few chords and Ethan loved it.

Biking/Hiking in Paradise Canyon

On Saturday we wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. Ethan wanted to go bike riding and Courtney wanted to go hiking. So we combined the two to make everyone happy! Bryan and Ethan biked to Paradise Canyon, about 3 miles from our house. Courtney was going to go along on the tag-along but has been a bit gun shy since our infamous wipe out. So she decided to wait about 20 minutes with me and then drive.

When we got to Paradise Canyon the boys were already there. Ethan did a great job and Bryan was so impressed. We found a trail that we wanted to hike on and went for a short hike. We didn't have much daylight left so we just hiked a little way and it wasn't enough for the kids so we need to go back another day when we have more time.

Just as we were getting ready to turn around Ethan decided to explore a bit off the trail. It went down a small hill that was pretty steep. When we went to investigate Ethan was next to a small stream that had a rope swing across it. He turned, eyes excited, and asked if he could swing across. We told him he could (this shocked him because he though we would say no) and he went for it. There were two boards to hang onto and the lower one was quite low. Ethan didn't get wet but it was close. Courtney wanted to swing too but she was too small. It took quite a lot of coaxing to get Ethan back on the trail but we promised that we would go back there again so he could swing some more.

Then the boys rode their bikes home while Courtney and I went ahead and made some homemade pizza for dinner. It was a fun time!

Baby Alive

Yeah, so Santa brought Courtney a Baby Alive. Courtney's best friend, Hayley, has a Baby Alive and so does another girl in the neighborhood. So Courtney has been wanting one for a long time. Mrs. Santa found a great deal on one online and thought of Courtney's desire but didn't really investigate the Baby Alive too well. She understood that it peed, but figured that Courtney has another doll that pees and it lost its fun after a while and hasn't peed in a year. So she thought things would be well.

When Courtney opened Baby Alive she found some powder along with a baby bottle and an extra diaper. She gave her mom (me) the powder and wanted to make her baby some juice. I decided to read the packaging and realized that the powder is what makes the baby poop. Yes, the Baby Alive not only pees, but it poops. As Bryan said, "Yes, we want to re-live some of the best memories we have of having babies....not!"

Courtney wouldn't give it up until we had made the baby poop. So I mixed up the juice, took off the baby's clothes (she only came with one extra diaper and they aren't washable), put her on the toilet (I have my limits) and let Courtney feed her. The baby makes very realistic eating noises, sucked the bottle dry and yellow stuff started coming out. It wasn't really pee, but it wasn't really water either. Anyway, Courtney was pretty grossed out and I wasn't too thrilled with it either. So we fed her a bottle of water to clean the system out and we decided that we didn't need to ever do that again. Baby Alive can pretend to eat a bottle and be just fine.

But seriously, who thought up a pooping doll?!?!?!

Rosenbruch Museum

There is a wild life museum in St. George that is there for education and preservation. Ethan won 2 child tickets to it and I decided that we should use them. I'm not a big fan of stuffed deer and such, but Ethan wanted to go so we went. It only took us about 20 minutes to see everything the kids wanted to see. There was a bunch of animals and the kids were given binoculars so they could look at them up close. The bug room was only fun for about 30 seconds until Ethan saw a huge bat in a glass case and was out of there. The part they really liked was the kids room where a tent was set up and a lookout to see wild animals. Safari clothing was there and the kids played hide-and-seek for a long time.

Here are some photos:

Christmas!

Yes, I'm a bit slow posting Christmas, but we've been busy!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. We went to the movies with my parents and sister (the second Chipmunk movie) and then we all went back to our house for Christmas Eve dinner. Since my parents and Leigh Ann had ham for Thanksgiving, we had turkey for Christmas. It was soooo yummy and we have loved having leftovers at our house!

After they left the kids began begging us to let them open their Christmas pjs. We kept holding them off and holding them off, until about 6:30 and then we let them go nuts. They had fun and everyone's pjs fit (except Courtney's are a bit long). We spread reindeer food on the front and back lawn and then set out pie for Santa because we were too tired to make cookies. Bryan and I then spent the next few hours trying to keep the kids in their beds. All day we had been checking Norad to follow Santa's path and this got them so anxious. But they finally fell asleep.

Christmas morning Ethan came to in to tell us that Santa had come and that we needed to get up. I had told him the night before that he couldn't get up until 7 a.m. but it was 6:30 and he just couldn't wait. So we got up. They got to play with their Santa gift (Ethan got a skateboard and Courtney got a Baby Alive which Santa didn't investigate well enough because it not only pees, but it poops too....gross!) and check out what they got in their stocking while Bryan and I made breakfast. Ethan got some books in his stocking and took them into his room to read while breakfast was cooking.

We then ate and began opening our gifts. It wasn't too long after we started that my parents and sister showed up. We finished opening all our gifts and the fun playing began. Our living room looked like a tornado had hit it, but the kids were having a blast. Bryan got toys to go with his bike and an air compressor from his parents, among other things. I got a bunch of pedicure things (yeah!!) and a cool blender-thing that has been working non stop making smoothies, ice cream and orange julius ever since! It's been great.

My parents and sister left (she had to go back to Phoenix to her husband on Christmas Day) and we went on our traditional Christmas Day Hike! We don't have to go very far from our house to find cool hiking spots. We decided to go on a hike through the lava flows about a mile from our house. It was so much fun and the kids loved exploring around.

We just spent the rest of the day playing with our toys and relaxing. It was a good Christmas!

2010 FHE Lessons

Last year I found a posting on sugardoodle.net where someone had made FHE lesson plans to go along with the Primary lessons. We did this and LOVED it because it helped the kids remember what they learned in Primary better. This year someone else put together a packet so I thought I would post the link.

http://www.sugardoodle.info/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5512