New Look

A couple weeks ago, I took The Lime in for his 6 year well check. They checked his weight then had him turn around to read the letter chart across the room. He did great, and then they had him cover his left eye. By the time he got to the bottom two rows, he was struggling. Cs were Os and Ps were Rs. They had him cover his right eye and he read them fine. At the end of his appointment, the nurse recommended we visit an Optometrist to have his eyes checked. I haven't been to the eye doctor in years (prior to us moving) so I reached out to a friend for a recommendation. Her cute little boy has glasses and she only had nice things to say about the doctor.

Our appointment was last week and after several tests, it was determined that The Lime in fact needed glasses. His right eye needs to be strengthened, requiring him to wear glasses full time and an eye patch two hours each day.

There were several options when it came to frames and I was relieved when the receptionist brought us the box of frames on sale (we don't have vision insurance). Sure enough, there was an aquamarine pair in the sales box and The Lime was sold.

Saturday afternoon, we got the call that his glasses were ready to pick up. As soon as he got out of school on Monday, we headed over, he tried them on, and is now an official glasses wearer.

I've always loved glasses, especially glasses on kids. Growing up, I always had a fake pair of glasses. One day in German class, the boy sitting next to me asked if I really needed glasses. I told him no. "Then why do you wear those ugly things?" he asked. I didn't have an answer for him.

These are the ugly glasses

I'm glad The Lime is a heck of a lot cuter in glasses than me. Part of me is so stinkin' selfish and sad that I won't see his cute little face sans glasses for several years (that whole "you never know when something will be their last" thing) but then I'm grateful we're getting this taken care of sooner rather than later.

He thinks he looks like his Uncle Kenny with them on and is trying to be extra careful and responsible. He forgot to take his case to school today so we'll see what they look like in an hour.

His teacher was especially sweet this morning when I dropped him off. "Oh, Dieter! You look so handsome!" she exclaimed as he walked in. She was excited for him and said she'd spend a minute sharing his great news with the class.

I didn't think it was possible to love this face anymore than I already do but those glasses just get me!

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 21

-Is my official unofficial photography assistant. Mostly he tries to steal the food and says, "Mmmmmmmmmm!"
-Likes to jump off the couch.
-Doesn't want to hold your hand when crossing the street.
-Likes having his nose suctioned.
-Hates waiting for the commercials when we watch a non-DVRed episode of Paw Patrol.
-Knows how to order dessert from the kiosk tablet at Chilis.
-Doesn't scream when Daddy brushes his teeth.
-Likes playing Nerf War with everyone. Except he can't cock his own gun so he shoots it, says "More!", I cock it, he shoots it, and we repeat the process over and over again.
-Thinks he's old enough to pee in the toilet but he really just stands next to it and pushes his stomach against it.
-Likes having the last word.
-Is hesitant to go across bridges on playgrounds.
-Loves motorcycles.
-Is quite the little character.

Love & Hearts

The Lime was digging in the mud on Sunday afternoon and called me out back to take a look at something. "I was digging, and I looked down, and saw this!" he said. How appropriate.

Two weeks ago, The Lime had his 6 year well check. He's still tall (which we knew) and they confirmed his ears work just fine so he's been ignoring us this whole time. His warts will go away eventually and he has a heart murmur. I wasn't worried when the nurse told me but still, it made my heart sink a little to think that something might be wrong. So they referred us to a pediatric cardiologist, where we had some tests and an ultrasound done. In the time it took me to go into the bathroom to change Doodlebug's diaper, the doctor reviewed the tests and confirmed there was nothing to worry about. The "murmur" was the sound of his blood traveling through his heart. Yippee!

Since his appointment, I've wondered if there was something wrong and the prayers we offered prior to his appointment were miraculously answered. Or if there was really nothing going on in the first place. No matter the cause, we are thankful that our sweet Lime is functioning the way he's supposed to and that Heavenly Father watches over our little family.

Control

When I was younger, and all the siblings would be wrestling, my brothers would occasionally put blankets over our heads (my sister and I), or sit on our legs, or do both at the same time. I would FREAK out. No matter how much I tried to relax or tell myself it wasn't as bad as I thought, it would make it 10x worse. The only means of defense I had was to scream, and scream loud, which caught my mom's attention and then the boys had to stop.

I was looking through photos not too long ago and came across one of our family, several years ago, when we were all together for Christmas. I can remember that night as if it were yesterday. I ran around the corner to put some gas in my car (back when $5 would get you half a tank) when I was approached by a man, asking for money. I have never been one to carry cash so when I told him I didn't have any, I was being completely honest. He asked me again and I told him the same thing. Then he stood there, staring at me, as if he was contemplating what he should do next. As a petite, 20 year old girl, all by herself, completely helpless, I started freaking out (in my mind but I'm sure it showed on my face). We stood there for what seemed like forever when he turned around and walked away. I immediately got in my car, locked my door, burst into tears, and drove the 2 minutes back to my house.  "What happened?!?!" everyone asked as I walked through the door.  It was that same helpless feeling of when I was little, where I would have had few options of defense, had the man become more annoyed/frustrated with me and wanted to do harm.

Around that same time, I had taken a liking to a boy.  Only, he had a girlfriend, and a baby (with a different girl), but that didn't seem to stop my feelings from growing.  He had his own body shop where he was replacing the front fenders on my dad's Mustang, which I used as an excuse to see him.  Most of the time he had a friend there (never the girlfriend, though.  I was stupid during this time but not THAT stupid) but during this particular visit, he was by himself.  He had an upstairs to his shop and invited me to see the rooms.  We entered one of the rooms, me going in first, he shut the door, turned the light off, and stood in front of the door, blocking it.  So many red flags went up during the few minutes this took place, and I was completely aware of them, but I ignored every single one of them.  Until he turned the lights off.  I had to ask him a couple of times to turn them on until I made my way, through the dark, to the switch and turned them on myself.  I don't remember if his phone rang, or someone came into the shop, but something happened where he had to move from the doorway and we (more I) was able to leave.  I willingly put myself in a seriously dangerous situation where I had zero control.  If something happened (which nothing did), nobody would have heard me scream, I wouldn't have been able to fight him off (although he wasn't much taller than me), I don't even think I had told anyone where I was going.  But the feeling of having someone else in control of me is what scared me the most.  As it did in all the situations mentioned above.

So if I seem to lose it if you sit on my legs, cover me with a blanket, ask me for money when I don't have any and stare me down, or lock me in a dark room, you'll know why.

PBR

A few weeks ago, LaVor had to go to his brother's house to do some stuff. He went after work and asked if we wanted to go. I went back and forth and finally decided yes, the boys and I would join him. We did what we had to do and while LaVor was finishing up, I heard the DJ on the radio announce they'd be having a contest and giving away tickets to the PBR. The Lime has loved bull riding for as long as I can remember, and with his birthday right around the corner, I knew it would be awesome to win those tickets for him.

I had to keep track of the top five songs, plus one extra, and then call in when it was time. As a veteran radio contest winner, I started calling the second the DJ got back on the air to open the phone lines. With my phone ringing and LaVor's, I knew our chances were good. Except they kept ringing and ringing and ringing (like almost five minutes). "What's taking so long?!" I exclaimed. And then the DJ picked up my line and asked me a question. I was so embarrassed that I had to have him repeat it three times (I was afraid he'd hang up on me!) but third time's the charm and we finally made the connection. I gave him the answers, he made me howl like a wolf, and the two PBR tickets were mine!

Since The Lime opened them on his birthday, he's been asking if this Saturday was the day, and then this Saturday. Finally, we arrived on THE Saturday. LaVor took him to get a new shirt and pair of jeans, and thankfully his hat still fits. I almost died of the cuteness when he walked out of his room.

Golly gee, I love him!

Much to LaVor's dismay, I needed a father/son picture before they left. Doodlebug wanted to be included, even though he was staying home with me.

Soon they were off and I began the countdown until I could hear all about their fun! In the meantime, Doodlebug and I went to Target. Whoopdee doo.

Around 10:30, I heard the garage door open and in walked The Lime, grinning from ear to ear. I have a hard time getting my boys to give me details about anything, but this is what I gathered from the night;

-They went to In-N-Out for dinner
-They saw a couple guys get smooshed by the bulls
-One of the clowns danced to my #1 hated song, "Baby, I'm Worth It"
-They sat on the second level
-It was loud
-A prayer was offered before the event started
-There were no cute girls
-The Lime liked putting his feet on the chair in front of him
-They played Dustin Lynch's new music video

I'm sure more will come out over the next few days but I'd say they had a good time. And there's already talk of Doodlebug joining them next year.

Aunt Julie's Visit

Last weekend, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit with our sister-in-law, Julie, while she was in town for a few days.

On Saturday, we met her, her friend, and her dad at her US home. While we weren't much help, we tried to do what we could (The Lime filled in cracks in the floor in the kitchen and family room, I dusted baseboards and filled in holes in the walls, LaVor replaced a light in the pantry, filled his truck up with stuff to take to the thrift store, and replaced a smoke alarm, and Doodlebug screamed). Julie's dad had flown in from out of town that day and Julie and her friend were so tired from working all week that we decided to meet up again for dinner on Sunday.

When someone comes from an area of the world where the food is amazing, you hit a wall when trying to think of what to cook for them. Thankfully, tacos aren't very prevalent in Switzerland so LaVor whipped up a delicious spread for everyone to enjoy. Seriously, I devoured the meat for the next two days. Amazing!

After dinner, we soaked up their company and caught up. Doodlebug is an identical twin to Julie's second son, and Doodlebug must have felt something because he didn't leave Julie's side.

The whole weekend, she kept saying, "I feel like I'm looking at my little Jonah!" She sent LaVor a picture Saturday night, of Jonah at the same age, and they certainly do look exactly like each other.

Julie's dad asked if we got the Ensign. Unfortunately, we just read it online so he suggested we look up the story he contributed! How awesome is that?! Check it out if you get a chance. "You Know It's True!"

They had a busy day ahead of them and soon it was time for them to leave. We were super sad they couldn't stay longer (Doodlebug especially. He had to stand at the door and watch them until they drove away) but we were so happy for the time we got to spend together.

Julie has got to be one of the happiest, most positive, uplifting human beings I've ever met. She's funny and kind and we were happy to share our boys with her in exchange for delicious treats.

We hope to see her and the rest of the family soon!

100 Days

Today is The Lime's 100th day of school! (We have four more months until I get him all to myself! Woo hoo!)

Like I think most kindergarteners do, he had to bring in a collection of 100 things. We walked around Target and I threw out every idea I saw; stickers, straws, balloons, candy, post-its. He turned down every suggestion I had.

He got a couple cards for his birthday and decided that's what he wanted to include in his project; 100 greeting cards.

Saturday night, I cut out 100 miniature greeting cards out of scrapbook paper and wrote various messages on them. I drew a chart on his poster board so he'd know where to glue each card. As LaVor and I prepared dinner Sunday night, we asked The Lime to finish his project (simply gluing the cards on the board). It took him about five minutes before he exclaimed how hard and boring it was and he needed help. "Dude! I did the hard part! All you have to do is glue them on!" I said. He fought with us for the next two hours about finishing. Finally, he did it and I realized we have our work cut out for us for the next twelve years.

I'm going to guess his teacher hasn't received a collection of greeting cards, so even though it was like pulling teeth for him to finish his work, I'm glad he's able to think outside of the box and be creative.