Do You Hear What I Hear?

Probably not. One ENT doctor said if she poured cement in my ear it would not change my hearing in that ear a bit.  So I guess, that means my hearing in my left ear has been a little...silent, muffled, gone.  I've learned to adjust and turn it to my advantage. When T. occasionally snores, I just sleep on my good ear--ahhh, silence.  When the neighbor's dog barks at night, again I sleep on the good ear--silence. When my kids want to tattle on each other, steer them to the "bad" ear--nothing heard. In fact, they have started to ask which ear they should come to, the "good" ear or the "bad" ear; I respond "do you want me to hear what you say or not?"  So we've made it work. Of course, there are the group conversations when I can't hear any thread of conversation well, so I just smile. Then comes the awkward pause when something has been said to which I politely smile and nod with a "Oh, that's great," realizing later that I had just been told about their child's favorite pet turtle dying.  So not hearing has been an interesting problem I just thought I would deal with for the rest of my life.

Until Friday. I found out there are fixes to a large hole in the ear drum and deteriorated hearing bones. I am now sporting metal in my head with titanium prothesis hearing bones and a repaired ear drum.  I think I can hear better, but there is still a lot of packing in my ear, so  everything is a bit muffled. BUT I can hear SOMETHING even when I lay on my good ear.  Once the dizziness settles and I can think more clearly, I'll be a regular hearing machine!  T. says I'm on my way to becoming the Bionic woman, and she could hear two miles away or something! So Ring in the New Year. I might just hear it.

Party Time!

We've had 5 days of partying with no end in sight!  It all began Friday with the boys' parties. Instead of a classroom party with plates loaded with sweets, their new school does a carnival in the gym for each class. They then go back to the class for a cookie and drink. The parent turn out was amazing, and it was so organized with everyone checked in and accounted for.

 X-man

 Igloo--made off stryro-foam containers--so creative!

 Snowman ring toss

 L. doing the snowball toss 

 L. with his wonderful teacher

Happy L. 

Partying continued with celebrating...

15 YEARS with this young lady. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS B!

She has taken on life with a happy smile, 

sometimes sticking her tongue out at it, showing LIFE whose the boss!

We love her bunches.

She started the morning with Poptarts and Monkey bread--the best way to start a b-day!

And finished the day with Boston Creme pie. 

In between, she opened presents, sang at church, played with family, visited with her friend Z and his parents, and LOVED when family called to sing and chat with her.  

Christmas Eve came with our traditional shepherd's dinner, reading Luke 2 and watching "The Nativity" video. We then drove around looking at lights, came home to see who could find the Christmas pickle first (an green pickle ornament) and open the first present. X-man did the honors this year!

Shepherd's dinner of pita, crackers, smoked gouda cheese, Dublin cheese, 

oranges, pears, carrots, dates, and hummus and mustard. Yummy cake balls followed.

Our Santas were READY for the man in red. 

In fact after playing with our new toys and gifts from family, we began following Santa's trek on GoogleMaps. When we noticed Santa heading toward us, L's eyes got big and he insisted on going to bed right away--Santa was coming to town!! We didn't argue with him and off he and the crew ran!

Christmas morning arrived with no coal or switches greeting us. We must have behaved in 2012!

 B with her IPod touch. 

 Xman with Legos--what else!

 A. with her Nexus 7.

L. with a new Wii game, a bunch of Angry Birds games, and a reindeer pooper!

And to make our Christmas even more magical, we looked out and saw SNOW!!

These little guys braved the below freezing temps to play in the white stuff!

Snow angels.

Xman angel.

L loving the snow.

I know. Bags on the shoes aren't exactly a fashion statement! But it works for those of us who don't have snow gear and have become cold wimps (60s is chilly--brrrr).

I love CHRISTmas.

As I sat for just a few minutes before running off to school parties and excited kiddos, I reflected on that first Christmas so long ago.  The one where the King of Kings was born in a lowly stable amid the lowliest of animals.  How thankful I am for Him and the peace He brings in my life. No matter the changes, the challenges, the joys, and the struggles, He is constant. He is real.  He is the Christ in my Christmas.

Christmas Party

Every year we attend the Christmas Party given by the Children's Craniofacial Association (CCA) and B's craniofacial doctor. The kiddos eagerly await the event and know exactly what activities they will do.  The activities include: cookie decorating (more frosting and sprinkles than cookie), pet/look at snakes, visit Santa and receive a present, color a picture, decorating picture frames and many other little crafts, climb on a fire truck and caricature drawings.  Radio Disney is there to lead fun activities and dances which our quiet bunch prefers to watch rather than shake their tail feathers.  We eat cheese, crackers, cake, punch, and fruit and have a grand time.

Inside the fire truck

This year B. decided she wanted a caricature drawing of herself.  She and her brothers waited patiently for an hour, with B updating me every 5 minutes on her wait time, reminding me how patient she was being.

B. with her dog Goldie. 

She doesn't have a dog, but if she did it would be Goldie.

X-man building a chimney for Santa with--what else--LEGOS!

L. doing a little building with LEGOS too!

A. wasn't feeling well, so she didn't stand in line. You guessed it, she has been sick this whole week with a too familiar sounding cough! We have been to the doctor and were told it was bronchitis and  given medicine.  Cough is still there...  Poor A.

We DO wash our hands around here and don't have a communal dish or cup we all slurp out of. I run around with Clorox wipes and call out "Get your hands out of there (mouth, nose, cookie jar, you get the picture)!" WHAT is up with this sickness business!  Really. 

Back to School

X-man went back to school today after 2 1/2 weeks off.  Since he isn't a fan of school, we can just say the morning was filled with a bit of groans and tears.  I've felt a bit home bound for the months of November and December, counting only 3--now 4--days without a sick child.  I've been looking forward to getting them well and then get out and doing some Christmas preparations. But I find myself wandering the house, listening to the silence. I'm missing my little sickos!!  Isn't being human funny?  Can't wait to have alone time, then miss them when I do have alone time!  The alone time won't last long. I have to take B. to get a loose bracket fixed today.