Grandparents Day at School

 The kids were lucky enough to have both sets of Grandparents at Grandparents day at Ridgeline Elementary. Grandma and Grandpa Randall came to Brynn's class first while Grandma and Grandpa Ford were in with Carson. They each got to have muffins and show them around their classroom. In Brynn's class they filled out a paper all about their grandparents and were able to read books. They also showed them some of the nursery rhymes they had been learning at school.

In Carson's class he was able to show them around the room and all of the different things in their class. He showed them his journal where he writes daily (My mom said it was filled with stories!). Then they also were able to read books in his classroom as well.

The kids loved having both sets of Grandparents there to show all around.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are SO grateful for Grandparents in our lives. They help us in so many ways we can not even count! We love our Grandparents!

BYU football

It has become our tradition that I take Carson to at least one BYU football game each year. It is very nice that my parents have season tickets and we can get tickets to a game easily. Carson was really excited about the game and to go with Grandma and Grandpa Randall and his cousin Enoch. I think one of Carson's favorite parts of the game is the food! It was a pretty cold game though, so he couldn't get his usual snow cone and dip in dots. I am always amazed each year how much Carson has learned about football from the previous year. He loves the game and really knows what is going on. He is anxiously awaiting the day when he can play tackle football, I on the other hand am not so anxious.

It was an exciting game and a lot of fun to go to. The game went a little late so we left a little early and Carson zonked out on the way home. He got all the food he could eat and he picked out a new BYU sweatshirt as his BYU souvenir for this year. It was a lot of fun to go with him and have some one on one time with him.

End of Summer-September Random's

Night before school starts ice cream at Sub Zero

Carson the newest Cub Scout! He is so excited! Kyle LOVES (hint sarcasm) being the cubmaster, but the boys love him!

These are the "All about McKay" packages I made for his teacher, aides and therapist. It helped me a lot to know that they would know him a little better. Many of his therapists told me how helpful it was!

A trip to the farm for the Kindergartner's and the younger cousin's and sibs. It was a fun day!

A trip to Thanksgiving Point would not be complete without ice cream!

McKay's first ever painting, or first ever anything he has done project. I was so excited to see it. The teacher had to do hand over hand with him to get him to hold the brush. But it still makes me so happy!

The kids were obsessed with snail races for a while. They would find as many as they could and try and store them and then race them. Luckily there are tons of snails in Highland!

My parents took Carson and Brynn fishing while we were in Mexico and they LOVED it! they had so much fun! Carson was so excited to catch his first fish! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking them to experience the great outdoors!

My favorite time of the day, walking Brynn to the Kindergarten drop off. She always asks to hold my hand. Love her!

Brynn is in a playgroup with a bunch of girls from the neighborhood and it is so much fun! We have been trying to have lots of fun crafts and activities (and treats as pictures above) to do while they come to our house.

Brynn came upstairs while I was fixing dinner dressed like this. She informed me she was a fashionista who teaches school and moonlights as an artist and her name is Charlotte!

Sedation, hospital trips and surgery

It was a VERY busy summer for McKay and trips to Primary's. It always seems like his things go in spurts of lots of appointments and not so many. We started off with a majorly failed sleep study in May. It was pretty horrific. McKay was so miserable and so upset he couldn't get to sleep. he kept pulling everything off that they put on him. At one point I was out in the hallway just saying a prayer that he would go to sleep. He also ripped the nasal cannula into two pieces, they said they had never seen anyone do that. So we were sent home at about 2 am with no data from the test. I HATE sleep studies and I HATE sleep apnea!

In June he had a sedated ABR hearing test. He had not passed his hearing test for the last 6 months and they said it was time to get a better listen. He has always had a lot of ear wax so we tried cleaning them out but still no luck. So they sedated him and gave him the hearing test. He kind of passed, he had a few things that did not come out where they should. So they said we needed to get in an in depth cleaning and then repeat the test in 2 months. (Awesome another sedation!) This sedation trip they gave him the drug versed to help calm him down and he had a majorly bad reaction when he woke up. Think devil child times 2. It was a pretty horrific scene, the nurse didn't know what to do, and Kyle had never seen him like that. We had to wait it out and just got him out of there as quickly as we could. Luckily I talked to the nurse and found out what to do for next time so it doesn't happen again!!!

On our 10 year anniversary we spent it at Primary's with McKay! He had a sedated eye exam, eye surgery to fix crossing, a airway scope, and they checked and cleaned his ears as well. The surgery went well, but he looked pretty bad after he woke up.

It definitely took him a while to really recover after the surgery. He was pretty out of it and pretty angry and threw up quite a bit. His eyes looked so horrific, just full of blood. It hurt my eyes to look at them. We were a little disappointed when we went back in for his surgery check up and his left eye was still crossing. So he will continue to wear the glasses and if it gets worse he will have to do surgery again.

In August he had the second sedated ABR hearing test and passed! Yeah! I was so relieved we did not have to add hearing adds to his list of medical care concerns!

In September he had all of his sedated tests for the year. He had a full brain MRI, spine MRI, abdominal ultrasound, and an echo of his heart. It was a REALLY long sedation (over 2 1/2 hours). But luckily he recovered pretty well. With the longer sedation his oxygen always bounces around more and he always throws up on the way home in the car. (Throw up in the car seat one of my least favorite things ever!) We were happy to hear that ALL of his test came back unchanged. For McKay right now that is the best news we can have. There are still problems there, but if they stay how they are they will not require surgery!

It was pretty draining on all of us, I just really hate any time he has to be sedated. I hate the worry and the fear of something going wrong. But most of all I hate that I can't explain to McKay what is going on and that it will be okay. I wish I could just explain what is happening and why we are doing this so he wouldn't have to be so anxious and scared about it.

Grandparent's Day 2013

 We truly could not survive without the help of Grandparents in our lives. We rely very heavily on the help of both my parents and Kyle's parents to survive our insanely crazy life. We are so grateful to have them in our lives and incredibly lucky they have such amazing relationships with their grand kids.
The kids colored these cute letters for each of the Grandparents. I loved what they chose for each picture. Brynn's was full of ham sandwiches and camping. Carson's had playing tennis, golfing, and camping in the trailer. Both had lots of love on their pictures.

 For our homemade gifts this year I went straight to Pintrest, I had no ideas but found a super cute idea on Pintrest. I had each of the kids draw a picture with their name on it and we turned them into individual notepads. Each Grandparent got one from Carson and one from Brynn. They loved them and I think they turned out very cute!

 We had a fabulous dinner with a lot of the Grandparent's favorite and request for dinner. It was yummy!

We are so grateful to have such amazing Grandparents in our lives. I know my kids absolutely adore their Grandparents. I am so thankful that they have such a good relationship with them. I know it will be very valuable in the years to come. We are so grateful that the Grandparents are always willing to help us. There are so many times we have to call and ask them to help at a moments notice and they are always willing.