Confirmed Suspicions

Being Deaf, coming from a Deaf family, I always thought that one of my children would be Deaf. Marrying a hearing man with no deafness in his family (that we know of) means the chances of having a Deaf child diminishes, but the possibility is still there.

Of the four children I have, I always felt that Evelyn would have some hearing loss, but really, any one of them have a chance of it.  As Evelyn grew older, she's soon 11 next month, I saw signs of hearing loss in her-- not responding when I call for her, having to repeat what I say (though that could be me mispronouncing something), getting one of her siblings to get her attention for me...  small little things like that.  We would ask her if she was ignoring us or really didn't hear us, but we knew the answer to that already. 

Finally, we made an appointment for her to have a hearing test.  If she did indeed have a hearing loss, better to get hearing aids for her sooner rather than later. Today was the big day and a very nervous and unsure Evelyn went into the sound booth to get her ears tested.  I have had my ears tested so many times that just the sight of her in there with the headphones on, I swear I could hear the beeps and tones in my own ears!

 

A half-hour of testing later, and it is confirmed, she does indeed have hearing loss.  The audiologist wants to have a re-test in a month or so, but she's pretty sure that the results of this test are right on.  She has a 60 db loss, which is pretty high, but the good thing is she already has her communication skills developed.  She speaks well and already knows sign language, so I'm not really concerned about communication issues. Being Deaf myself and from a large family of Deaf people, Evelyn is already at an advantage with me as her Mama.  We know just what to do and it shouldn't slow her down one bit.

 

We had a good Mother/Daughter day after the hearing test and spent the day talking about her hearing loss and what will happen in the future.  She has a pretty good handle on things and I have utmost confidence in her and her future endeavors. It's nice to know for sure now what we've always suspected and now we can move forward and work towards making life a little easier for her and helping her to adjust to her hearing loss. She is still Evelyn, still our baby, and we will always love her!

 

We love you baby girl!

 

 

Catching Up!

So, April has been a really crazy month. I can't believe how fast it went by!  We helped celebrate Andrew's parents 50th wedding anniversary and then we all got sick with upper respiratory infection which knocked us all out of commission for a week or so. 

We've been trying to get the garden started but with us being sick and then the rain and the usual busyness around here it just hasn't happened yet. 

I bought some plants this week hoping that it will give us incentive to get busy on the garden. I don't want to complain about the rain since rain is good, but

jeez! The ground is just too wet for us to till!  Fingers crossed we get the plants and seeds in by the end of the week!

April also seemed full of visitors from our past! Andrew and I both got to see old friends from our school days and it was an absolute blast! I got a weekend away and stayed at my best friend's house and  saw people I hadn't seen in more than twenty years! Good times!

May has only just begun and already children are singing the "I'm bored" song! Oh dear! This is going to be a long summer isn't it?  So Sylvia looks through a craft book and comes across an earthworm puppet. We have just about everything needed except for brown tissue paper, so we used blue and instead of an earthworm, he's now a blue caterpillar!

 Peter's caterpillar puppet. 

Sylvia's puppet. Pretty cute and easy to make: poke a hole in a plastic cup; trace the child's hand three times on green paper for the grass and glue or tape to the cup. For the worm/caterpillar, use a bendy drinking straw and cover in tissue paper that has been covered in a half and half mixture of white glue and water. Wrap around the straw then push up to create the wrinkles and pinch together the tip for the head. Glue googly eyes on the head then wait for glue to dry. 

When dry, just pop the straw into the cup and watch your worm/caterpillar puppet pop his head out of the grass!

Now if I can find more easy-to-do projects like this to last the whole summer then I'll never have to hear that "I'm bored" song again!

Here's to a busy May! 

Bunny Containers

 I save all the cardboard containers the oatmeal comes in.  They're pretty handy for storing things after the oatmeal has long since been enjoyed. I also use them for giving cookie gifts-- the smaller containers hold a perfect dozen and I draw pictures and silly quotes on the containers themselves. Some brands have their designs printed right on the cardboard, which is easily painted over with white paint.  Another brand from a local food store has a paper wrapper, which I love, because after I take off the wrapper, I'm left with a plain white container!

Before Christmas, I saw a cute idea using the oatmeal containers as a gift box-- draw or paint a snowman body, then use a scrap of fabric for a scarf and another larger scrap for making a knit cap for the snowman to wear. Fill with candy or small gifts, as you would a Christmas stocking. What a fun idea!  Never got around to making them last Christmas, but here's my version for Easter:

Bunny containers!!

So easy to make and the kids had a lot of fun drawing faces and doing the ears. I looked online for bunny face patterns and there are hundreds of different designs you can use. Pick your favorite and draw away! I picked one out and drew it on a piece of paper, then told the kids to make a face like that and they personalized them with eyelashes or bow ties.

 We glued cotton balls to the back for tails and ears were stapled.

We have family coming over for Easter, so these will all be given away after I've filled them with goodies-- candy and little gifts. Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles will also get a picture of the kiddos inside their containers.

It's not too late to start saving your oatmeal containers. Buy a bunch and eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday or make granola or a bunch of oatmeal cookies.  It takes one container for one batch of cookies, so if you need 3, make 3 batches! This was a fun little project for the kids and a great way to recycle nifty little containers. Let me know if you make any!  

Snowstorm: Winter 2013

Nearly every snowstorm predicted for our area this Winter was projected into something much worse than what actually came. The weather-reporter would announce drastic drops in temperatures; slick, icy roads; power outages due to the massive amounts of snow; or warnings to stock up on supplies in case you're snowed in!  Almost every time, the resulting storm just gave us a dusting, or a light coating of ice that melted away within hours. 

So surely, you couldn't blame us for scoffing at the recent announcements for a snowstorm heading our way.  Just in case, I did check the pantry and the fridge, and made sure we had plenty of food and batteries--we did.  But we didn't give the upcoming storm any more thought. We went out to town to run errands and stopped at the thrift store to donate a few bags of clothing, and while there, I spotted a metal saucer for sledding! Couldn't pass that up, but I figured it would be put away until next Winter.

Imagine our surprise when we woke up to this! A foot of snow and still coming down! Oh my!

And the snow was perfect for sledding-- we got to use the metal saucer after all! It was also perfect for making forts and we used an old litter bucket for making snow "bricks" and the kids were out there for hours working on their fort!

Good thing I hadn't yet put away the snow clothes, the boots, mittens, and hats. For one last time (perhaps), the kids were happy to don the many layers of warmth and dash outside to the white world to play. For one last time (I hope), I have to hang up all the discarded wet socks and mittens, pull turned out sleeves right side out so they'll dry, pick up wet pants and shirts. Oh, one last hurrah for Old Man Winter!

Today, the day after, the temperatures rose to above 60 and just as quick as the snow came, it all started to melt away. A foot of snow doesn't go away so quick, but as the kids have discovered, it sure gets heavy and watery and clothes get soaked a lot quicker when the snow they're playing with is melting snow and not frozen snow. The sun shone bright and warm and the whole house lit up with the light reflecting off the snow and into all the windows-- an early taste of the Sun! How I miss those sunny days! 

By the end of the weekend, if the weather reports are correct, the snow will be gone and all that's left will be puddles and muddy foot-prints all around the house! 

C'mon Spring!!

Is it still February?? For a month that is so short, it sure is taking a long time to pass! Move out February!!  I'm tired of the cold and I long for warmer days. I'm tired of cold toes and fingers, and surely, my husband is tired of me warming my cold toes and fingers on him!

You know what one of the worst things about Facebook is? It's people from the warmer areas posting pictures of warm-weather activities and people are wearing shorts and flip-flops, t-shirts and they're complaining how hot it is! Hot!? In February!!  I see those photos and it makes me dread going outside in 20-25 degree weather, bundled up in my big, bulky coat, the cold wind whipping at my face and rushing in the holes of my pants' leg openings.

I have a friend that recently moved to Hawaii and she is posting near daily photos of herself at the beach or doing some warm-weather activity and it's almost enough to make me want to unfriend her at this point!! Ohhh! Warm weather, how I miss you so!

I wonder if that's partly why this winter has been so rough for me.. not just the fact that it's cold, but because I am constantly being exposed to images of warm weather.  It's different from a travel agency touting beach pictures because those are meant to be a getaway vacation from the cold and you know after your time is up, you have to return to the cold-- bummer!  But these are personal images from people that live year-round in warmer climes and they have no thought of being cold and so continue their lifestyles without worry of snow or sleet or having to bundle up in twenty layers of clothing just to stay warm. Meanwhile, here I am, sitting in a slightly chilled house (we keep it fairly cool in here and dress extra warmly) and cupping my hands around a big steaming mug of hot chocolate spiked with coffee, wearing a sweater and socks to ward away the chill. Oh Spring! Hurry up!!!

Doesn't help when the stores are also starting swimsuit sales and pushing gardening things. My pool has a 6-inch layer of ice on the top of it and my ground is still frozen solid. Imagine my shovel hitting the ground and making this sound-- thunk-thunk! If this were a cartoon, my shovel would twang and shiver and then make me twang and shiver!!

There's hope yet, though. It warmed up a little bit today, to a cool low 50's and I actually went outside without having to put my coat on! I'm dreaming of the garden and looking forward to starting a few cold-weather loving plants for the first time this year. I have hope that in 3 weeks or so, I can break a small patch of ground in the garden and get some seeds planted!

I know that because of our location, some seasons are harsher than others, and I'm alright with it. I know that Spring is coming and Old Man Winter will be getting the boot pretty soon.  Just getting a little anxious for those warmer days and it's going to feel so good shedding all those layers and feeling the warm sun on my skin again!

Post-Valentine

We don't make a big deal of Valentine's Day around here.  I'm not a flowers kind of girl, which I made clear to Andrew way back when we first started dating. My favorite flower is a Daisy, but I'd much rather see them growing in a field rather than cut into a bouquet where they'll die within the week.

I guess we're just simple folk and we make cards for each other and perhaps a nice, special dinner.

The kids spent a couple of days making cards with construction paper and markers and they came up with some really thoughtful cards.  I really enjoy seeing their thought processes now and they tried to come up with cards that had meaning to the person the card was for.

 Knowing they put their hearts into making cards for everyone, I decided to make Valentine's Day a little bit more special for them and made these woven heart paper baskets. I remember making these at school when I was little, 6 years old, and I amazed myself when I still remembered how to make them! 

I whipped up some homemade chocolate nonpareils candy and added in some play tattoos and a mini-Lego figure for each of the kids inside the basket. 

We went into town yesterday for errands and ate at the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet and it was a pretty nice day. Simple and sweet, and I can't ask for anything better!

A Day In The Life... 1/26

 We had some leftover potatoes piling up from several meals and on this cold, wintry Saturday morning, Andrew cooked them up for breakfast. We tag-team big breakfasts, with him making the potatoes and me coming from behind and making the eggs and toast.  I was in the mood for biscuits this morning, so made that, while Andrew went out to get the newspaper for me.

I like to use a flower cookie cutter to cut out the biscuits. I think the edges bake up nice and crispy that way. Plus, I like flowers!

Yum! A double-batch ensures everyone gets seconds and there's leftovers for snacking. Since no one snacked on these today, I'm thinking sausage gravy over these biscuits for breakfast tomorrow! 

Chicken thawing in the background for dinner tonight.  Usually when making one meal, there's components for other meals happening at the same time. 

 Peter was being a pesky little brother while his sisters were trying to build a Lego town, so I brought out the plain wooden birdhouse he got for Christmas from an Aunt for him to paint. Kept him out of their hair for awhile, and then we settled on the couch to watch his choice of movie-- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! Quality time with the kiddo! Besides the Indiana Jones movies, Peter also loves watching the original King Kong black and white movie! I was surprised at how much he likes that movie! So whenever he asks for the "monkey movie", he's talking about King Kong, not Curious George! 

 It has been so cold, I don't think the temperature has risen above 25 this week. We got snow yesterday and a little bit today, so here's the man of the house shoveling the white stuff. Looking nice and toasty in the hat I made him last Christmas. As a matter of fact, it's so cold, he wears the hat indoors, too!

Ever so grateful for the new roof! How wonderful it is not to worry about leaks anymore. There were two really bad sections that leaked and we had to keep a bucket underneath them, and it's such a load off our shoulders not to fret and worry about that now. Especially with the snow sticking around up there!

At this point, the only thing I like about the snow right now, is it makes the evenings seem not so dark, with it reflecting off the light. The chickens are usually in bed by 4 pm, but on these nights, with the evening a little brighter, they were still out and about at 5 pm.

Dinner has been made-- that chicken that was thawing was turned into breaded chicken, baked in the oven, with wild rice and broccoli on the side. The kids are cleaning up their messes, jammies on, and soon, it'll be Andrew and I snuggled on the couch watching a movie. Not a bad day at all!