Day 106

E had a visit with her Opthamologist today....I was totally dreading it, because the dreaded eye drops/dilating has not been the best experience for her. The last time we had to do it, it was close to full body restraint, and I'm sure we were heard by the traffic on 31.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE her Dr. She is enthusiastic, patient and so incredibly through. She was referred to us at E's 3 year check up with her pediatrician (whom I also ADORE) when I had some concerns about her right eye seeming 'unfocused and drifty' when she was looking in the distance and tired, etc. We did 6mo of patching to try and strengthen the eye, then 6mo of glasses. The glasses did the trick, and we were given the option of staying in glasses (although she had no vision issues) or head to surgery for a hopeful permanent fix.  We opted for surgery, and have checked out 100% perfect ever since.  It was 1 year ago this Christmas that she had surgery.  I am SO glad we did it.

Here's a picture from last fall...this is the drifting at it's worse, because she wasn't focusing on anything.

Today's appointment went off without a hitch...Jose the assistant was FABULOUS and had her pose with different props for pictures. He then told her an elaborate story about some magic drops that help the Dr. see all of her eye muscles, and she was all over it. Not a flinch, not a whimper. We love ya, Jose!


                                                         Waiting for Jose......

                                                                   Prop #1

                                              Prop #2, and pose as requested by Jose

                                         All done!  Super cool shades for the ride home....

                              All that work tired her out....and she was asleep within a minute.

Day 105

Pinterest Pin of the week!
I didn't start today out thinking this would be my post, but after browsing the pinterest site and seeing this one, I was unable to move forward in my kitchen without doing this.
I stumbled upon a lot of pins on "how to clean ____" with a random assortment of things that I NEVER think of cleaning: washing machine, dishwaser, etc...One of these random things was the fan above the stove.  Have I ever cleaned it, ever?  no....maybe I am disgusting, and you all clean yours regularly....and I've just outed myself. Oh well! I keep the outside/top clean, but never have I thought to clean the vent.
Here's all you need: Your biggest pot of boiling water and 3/4 cup of baking soda.

                                                       Here's the BEFORE filter....

Once your water is a a good boil, add your baking soda really slowly...as it fizzes up as you add it. Next, submerge your vent in the water...which was my intent, until I realized it was too wide.  I had to alter the directions to the sink, and poured the water over the vent, then submerged it.  I promise, you will be GROSSED out....the grease visibly melts off into the water.

I did another pot of water/baking soda to pour over until the water ran clear.  I didn't take a picture of the after, because unless you are up close, you can't tell a difference, but I think the greasy water speaks for itself. Here's the original website I need to give credit to: http://www.themanlyhousekeeper.com/

Day 104

                                                Exciting package in the mail today!

Thanks to Nana and Grandpa...we will be going on our first Disney trip in November!  Sooooooooo exciting!  I am totally overwhelmed, but also excited and thrilled to be able to share this trip with my kids, my parents and my sister.

Day 103

Could there be any worse of a prize for Elizabeth to pick?!?! Kill me now....

Day 102

We had a fun time at Kingwood's Spring Fling today...

                                                       Sumo Wrestling Ring....

                                                           Football throw

                              Beanbag toss....Jack is a cheater...refused to stand behind the line

                           Some horrible spinning ride....neither JF nor E lasted very long on it

              Train ride to end the day....Jack was SURE it had a whistle that was going to blow ;-)

Day 101

my apologies for the back to back bird posts....Like I said previously, I am a closet bird watcher. I don't know the names of most of them, but I do like to watch them. The bird watching class I took a few years ago was a FAIL, and I was a total dropout...but it didn't stop me from watching my bird-feeders.

A few days ago, my mom and I were sitting on her back porch, when we heard a rustling coming from the  trellis/Jasmine behind us....

Looking closer, we saw a little bird's nest, and thought, awwww how sweet....a bird might lay some eggs and we'll get a great view! This immediately reminded me of a traumatic experience I had with a family of cardinals a looong time ago. Back when we lived at the townhouse in Alabaster, we had a mama cardinal build a nest in a shrub right next to the front door. I watches her sit on her eggs; watched the babies hatch and grow. Then we had a tornado that came through during the night one night. I got up the next morning worried about my sweet bird family and much to my horror, the nest had been blown away. I cried, spent a few days moping about it.  All along, Jerry reassured me that the mama bird probably knew what to do and that they were fine. One morning, I walked out my front door  and I was shocked to see the mama and all 3 babies hopping along on the ground, and the babies starting to fly.  HAPPY ENDING!

Anyways...back to my pictures!   Looking even closer at the nest at my moms,  this is what we saw:

 AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

 Here's mama Cardinal....couldn't get as close without her flying off.

I got to watch her fly off, get food with dad and bring it back to feed them. Dad stays close by most of the time and chirps from the fence next door. I love that Cardinal pairs stick together throughout the nesting season/year and how the male feeds the female while she is 'incubating' her eggs. LOVE!  I could watch this all day!  N-E-R-D!

Day 100

100th day! I am totally shocked that I've made it this far. I've had a few missed days, but I was pretty sure I'd never make it this far.

A long time ago on FB, I posted a picture of my 'friend' that comes to spend the night in the corner eve of my front porch ledge. He (or she) only comes to visit during the spring/summer and I love it!  He never comes during the day, and comes around dusk or soon after to turn in for the night. He is always gone before sunrise. No idea what kind of bird it is, because I usually only get to see the ball of feathers. Tonight I was able to snap a picture  soon after he (or she) came home for the night. Please excuse the bugs, spiders, cobwebs, etc in the background.

Here is a picture from a little farther back, to get some perspective on where exactly he chooses to spend the night.