Anna sees the world

 The little girls are back in school and we have discovered that Anna has some problems with her vision. At home, everything was up close and individual, so we didn't notice the change. But now that she needs to read the board from her seat and things that are put up on a projector, she's really having problems.

Nurse Amy was giving Everly an eye screening and she passed just fine, but as she was leaving the office, she said, "Your really should test Anna...she cant' see anything!" lol

So she did. And she was right! She really needs glasses!

So we set up the appointment...we went with the doctor that successfully removed the plastic out of her eye a couple years ago. We trust her!

She picked out her frames and a week later...bam!

She can see!

Its been so fun to hear her marvel over the trees and facial features and tell us how glad she is to be able to "read the writing on the walls". I love her happy face!!

Longest Day

I think an itinerary would have been useful from the moment we stepped out the door today.

First things first! The girls both had auditions for the school talent show. Right before we left to go drop them at school, Anna got something in her eye. Now, of course, we all get things in our eye and we do our best to cry it out our wipe it out or even rinse it out. None of those things were working and it was clear she was not going to be able to go right to school. So we dropped off Laney and Everly and we headed to the walk in clinic across the street. The doctor there gave her some numbing eye drops and naturally she immediately felt relief. What she didn't do was get the stinking thing out of her eye!

So while we were thinking all is well, we jammed over to Sunnyside to watch Laney's audition. She ROCKED it, I tell you!

I was thinking I'd be able to leave Anna there and come back to watch her audition, but the medicine was wearing off and the pain was back full force. We talked to nurse Amy and she recommended I take her to Eye Associates and have someone look at her. Duh!! Eye doctor...makes sense!

So we managed to get in and this amazing woman gave her the numbing drops for the second time today (apparently, if you overuse them, you will do permanent damage) and she located the sharp piece of plastic that had embedded itself in Anna's eye. (ouch!!). She could also see that Anna had scratched her cornea. (OUCH OUCH!)

So we left with the sharp object removed, a happy girl and these super stylin shades. She missed her audition, but she'll be okay. She'll live to uke another day.

Fast forward through all the rest of the regular after-school rigmarole and we have the endless end-of-year band banquet. Ethan is a senior, so he gets to share his future plans with everyone.

He said he plans to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and join the marine corps. We did some hootin and hollerin for him!

We sat and ate the customary friend chicken and sparse side dishes and then it was time for the concert! I'm always happy to listen to my kids play. LOVE that part.

But then there is another hour and a half of announcements and awards to get through. I sent Mark home with the kids and I waited for the boys. 3 hours in one venue isn't even something we do at church anymore! But Mathew got to stand up...he was made uniform manager....so that was exciting for a couple minutes!

And now....we sleep!

The stick

I'm just going to let you read it for yourselves.

Frozen Pomona

It's Pomona time!  The weather looked like it would be on the chilly side, but we hoped it would warm up....

Tootsie and Megan aren't so sure.

And let me tell you, it was SOOOO cold when we arrived, I was having second thoughts about staying and trying to sleep over.

But we pitched in and started a fire going for our tinfoil dinners.  The little girls were given the job of watching over them and letting me know when they started smelling dinner smells.

Yummy garlic naan.

Mathew and Megan got in touch with their inner tent ninjas.

Now...I am not exaggerating here. It was SOOO cold. Freezing. Everly eventually ended up back in the van with the heater running and a movie playing. We ate our dinner quick!

And we snuggled down for the night. We tossed hand-warmers in our sleeping bags and hoped for the best. 

We lived!

I made a fire and we started to warm up while we pray for the sun to come out.

Mathew was foraging for firewood when he slipped on a fallen branch and fell. As he was falling, he saw something coming at his face. He stumbled over to us and was clearly in a great deal of pain. We talked to him and tried to figure out what was wrong. He couldn't sit still, it hurt so much. I really started to worry that something was broken or had gone into his nose. We decided to go into Ottowa and get into an urgent care.

It took us three different places, but we finally found a place that could see him. They did an examination and took an x-ray. The said he was all clear and sent us on our way. He was starting to feel better and we figured he must've really wacked the bridge of his nose on a branch.  We were glad to leave...people could smell us.

We made it back to camp, grateful that the Guenthers and Flynns could keep an eye on the little girl while I was helping Mathew.

They were happily playing with their Puppitos.

I started the coals to make a dutch oven stew. It wasn't the best, but the flavor was good and I think I can do better next time. More time for the meat to get tender before I add the veggies.

The sun did come out and the girls spread out a blanket to play. THIS is why we go camping.

 And this.

We came. We froze. We x-rayed. We survived.

Pomona 2019!

Function meets Fashion

Let me introduce you to.....

Ice pack earmuffs!!

We're heading to the patent office before someone steals our idea.

Come again?

Everly went in for her kindergarten physical and shots today. She was so brave and I am so excited that I never ever ever have to take sweet, trusting 5 year-old in to get shots ever again!

We also found out that both her ears are full of wax and she can't hear very well. So we get to loosen it up and soften the wax before we return for another appointment in a week, then she can be retested.

Anna's 7th Birthday party and a Chiropractic Santa

Thankfully, Mark didn't actually take the boys camping. They packed up the car, looked at each other and decided to go get some dinner and go see "Thor Ragnarok".  Can't say I blame them...and it worked out for me because they helped me clean the house when the got home last night. 

I was up at 6 am rolling and cutting out the sugar cookies for the party. Luckily, I had a great helper. She has a natural understanding of how to get the most cookies from your dough...look how she goes around the edges! I'm so proud!

We got it done.

And before you know it, there were 13 first grade girlies in our kitchen, giggling and swapping markers. They decorated their own cocoa mugs and then moved on to selecting a few sugar cookies and jamming as much frosting and sprinkles as humanly possible on each one.

I love seeing her the center of attention. It's the main reason I like throwing friend parties. Everybody needs to feel that from time to time. And these little girls were particularly sweet. Each one excited to give their gift and the others complimenting them on their choice. It was so fun!

When the gifts were all opened, we all ran down to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"...the good one. The one that lasts 27 minutes.

The party was a success! Anna was happy and by 1:45 we were all done, everything cleaned up and we were on our way to Life Chiropractic to donate some toys to Toys for Tots.

Santa was there! And he was so sweet and kind to each of the girls. I love the looks on their faces as they spoke to him. It's still magical!

After we talked to Santa, each of the kids got an adjustment. I really hadn't planned on them doing it. My back was in 400 knots after supervising the Super Birthday Sugarfest. But they each went over and let them crack em and stretch them!

Laney is diggin her Pikachu hat.

The rest of the day we spent running kids back and forth to birthday parties, getting Ethan to work and then Mark and I attended the adult session of Stake Conference. We went out for Mexican with the Guenthers and had a good laugh. It was a full day!

I got a glimpse into our future as I waited up till nearly midnight for Mathew to come home from a babysitting job and Laney to get home from her party at a far-away friend's house. We Huffords are growing up.

Everly Oral Surgery

We worked hard to get to today.

Everly's MCADD comes with some pretty cruddy side effects. One of them is that she has to eat frequently through the night, so her teeth are much more prone to cavities. 

This last check up she had ELEVEN

And three of them really needed root canals and silver caps. We started to do the work little by little at the dentist office, but she was crying in pain and I can honestly say that I will NEVER sit through that again. 

Never. 

It took me six hours for my ears to stop ringing, I was so upset. 

So we decided that we needed to get the work done all at once and put her under. 

Then we found out that the anesthesiologist would be using Propofol to sedate her. She can't have that because it is lipid based. So when we tried to discuss the approved alternatives, she decided that she wouldn't do it. That left us to try to have Dr. Prater do the surgery in a hospital setting.

He was NOT HAPPY.

The surgery got delayed several times because of missing paperwork or miscommunication on the hospital's side. We did everything we could to meet the requirements...even running into a walk-in clinic for a same day physical.

By the time she was approved, we were a wreck and Dr. Prater vowed he'd never work in a hospital again. He made sure to repeat that to me several times. 

But, that's just tough. This girl needs her teeth fixed and we needed to get in there, no matter how irritated we all are.

Watching them wheel her away was awful. I wanted to go with her so bad. It was unimaginable to me that she would be in a room with strangers and about to be sedated.

The surgery lasted for 3 hours.

3 eternal hours.

And then the finally brought her to me and I got to hold her in my arms and feel her even breathing.

And now she has silver teeth and she likes that just fine!

As for Dr. Prater, he has since reminded me half a dozen times how big a hassle that was and how he'll never ever do that for a patient again. I nod and smile and think to myself, "Well, sir. Perhaps she will not be your patient for much longer. And she'll take her 5 siblings with her!"