Pretty in Pink Glasses!

At the beginning of this school year, Riley started telling me that she couldn't see the board in her classroom very well.  I thought she was just being dramatic, and didn't pay much attention.  I'm such a good mom, you see, that I know when something is urgent and when something is not.....??....

I go to Riley's class every week, and I love doing that.  I enjoy helping her teacher, and I especially like working with the kids.  A month or so ago, I was there when the kids had to complete some sentences they were reading from the overhead projector in the front.  I heard Riley's teacher ask, "Riley, why are you still only on number two?"  Riley replied, "I can't figure out what the first word in the second line is."  I knew it wasn't a reading issue.  She is not at the very top of her class, but she is a good solid reader.

 The teacher then told me that she thought Riley should get her eyes checked.  She said to Riley, "I'm going to give you a note to go to the nurse right now, and let her give you a quick eye check."  Riley started to cry.  I went to the nurse with her.  I tried to get her to stop crying.  When she didn't stop crying, I tried to get her to explain the crying.  When that didn't work either, I just took her to the nurse, and Riley took an eye test through her tears.

As I watched her take that eye test, I had to be careful not to cry myself.  I was stunned by how much she could not read on that eye chart.  I could so easily see what she could not see.  I felt terrible for not paying attention to what she had been trying to tell me.  I think that was why she was crying.....because she had been trying to tell me.  I don't know that for a fact.  She never really said.  When we left the nurse, I tried to get her to talk to me.  She only said that she guessed she was a little scared.  The large amount of crying didn't match that small reason.  She didn't stop crying either.  After a few minutes I told her that I guessed we would just have to change the subject, so she could pull herself together and get back to class. 

When we made her appointment at the eye doctor, I told Riley I had a feeling she was going to get glasses, and that we would pick out some really CUTE ones.  The appointment took forever.  I feel for anyone who has to take a child younger than seven for such an appointment.  It was hard for her to sit still enough, and answer questions about when things were in better focus.

As it turns out, Riley has a lot of astigmatism.  I can't believe I didn't know it before.  The doctor said he is only correcting her vision to 20/40 or so, because she wouldn't be able to handle more of an adjustment than that right now.  The older kids and I don't have glasses, so this is all new to us.  Jeff had to get them when he was a kid.   He said that when he walked out of the office with his new glasses, that the sidewalk freaked him out. 

Riley was excited about the cute, colorful glasses available to choose from.  I am so glad it can be a positive experience that way.  I liked a brown pair, but how silly is that?  She chose a bright pinkish, raspberryish color. 

Because of the long appointment, which started at 3:00, and then a mix up in paper work, we were still there at 4:30.  We were surprised at that point to see Riley's teacher walk into the room.  She had a stack of letters that the kids had written to the eye doctor that day.  (It wasn't Riley's doctor, but another man in the same office.)  She showed me Riley's letter.  In the letter, she said she probably had to get glasses.  She drew a picture of a girl with brown hair, and pinkish purplish glasses.  I wish I had snatched it.  I think I needed that letter more than the eye doctor did.  It was really adorable to me, how she had pretty much decided what she wanted her new glasses to look like before we got there.  I loved the timing on all of it.  How nice for Riley to write that letter on that day, and then get to see her teacher delivering it.  And how nice for me to get to see that picture!

The two weeks that we waited for the glasses to be ready, different people told me their glasses experiences.  One friend said her son exclaimed about the beauty of a bougainvillea bush, and it made her want to cry.  I precried (now who was being dramatic?) about the moments we would surely experience when Riley finally saw the world for the first time.  Riley did not exclaim in amazement about anything beautiful.  She took my arm, because the sidewalk freaked her out.  She didn't hear her dad say that either!!  I loved it, and I didn't have to be crazy and emotional either.

When we got home, Emilee complimented Riley's glasses and asked, "So, do I look any different to you?"  Riley's answer was, "Well, I think your head might look a little bigger."  Hilarious!

 

You can't see how pink they are in this picture, but they are quite pink!

Saturday....

Maybe I will work backward on catch up for the last couple of weeks.

On Saturday, Riley went to a birthday party for a sweet friend. This party was held at Chuck E Cheese, much to Riley's delight. I never go there on purpose, but end up there by invitation often enough. As it turned out, the guests of this party were all the extended family of the birthday girl...and Riley. The family is really nice, but I ended up texting a lot. I laugh when I see people trying to look busy, doing something important with their phones...but that was what I ended up doing after awhile.  In a text from Ally, she advised that I would like it better if I just went and played a game of Skee Ball.  I should have!

So, here is Riley in all her giddiness at the party.

Once during the party, I looked at her standing and talking with a group of girls, and I think I saw her grow a little taller, and older right then and there.  I realized that I should have just dropped her off and gone shopping.  She did not need me to be there.  I will have to get better at realizing these things. 

After the party, Riley had an appointment to swim with her dad and Grandma S.  Even though the water is heated, I just don't like to get out afterward into the cool air.  They are much braver than I am! 

I took a picture of Riley riding on her dad's back.  I loved doing that when I was a kid.  It was fun, but I could let go whenever I wanted to.  I liked to be in control of what was going on when we played in the pool.  When I was not in control, it wasn't nearly as much fun!

I found out they were playing Mermaid and Shark.  Apparently the Shark had been a "problem" to the Mermaid long enough!  She had to show him who was boss....with a plastic torpedo. 

I love how these two play together.  In the morning, they played soccer and rode bikes. 



But this is my favorite picture of the day. Emilee went outside for awhile, and ended up in the pool in all her clothes. Crazy girl!  When she came to the back door, complaining about the cold, she brought a movie line to mind:

....And my nose is froze. And my ears are froze. And my toes are froze....

---

Today....

By the looks of the calendar, two weeks have gone by since I have posted an entry here.  Good thing there is a calendar to measure by, because the speed of the days passing is unsettling enough to make me unsure. 

Why the kazoo picture?  Riley picked that thing up on our out of town trip last weekend.  It was a toy in a kid's meal.  I wonder why any place that wants my business would give that to Riley while we were in a car.  Certain noise wasn't meant for enclosed spaces.  Riley was good enough to put it away that day, but got it out this morning.  I woke up to a game of Name That Tune.

What could I say now that we were no longer in a car?  Well, a car reference actually did come up.  I might have said something about running over it with my car if she didn't play it in the other room.  That was when I first woke up.  I got nicer as I went along.

After I had been up for awhile, I listened to her practice for her Primary Program.  That is the children's program in church.  The children sing the songs they have been learning all year, for the congregation.  It is usually an enjoyable program.  Anything not done well, is made up for in cuteness.  Today was no exception.  The kids did a good job with their songs and speaking parts.

Riley's part was to quote John 14:6:  
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

When she practiced, sometimes she left out the word "by."   It was so close, but too wrong.  I was really hoping she wouldn't accidentally do it that way today.  She didn't.  She was a little hesitant...in Riley fashion, but she did it.


The songs sounded better in the chapel, than by kazoo in the morning.

Halloween

Yesterday was the easiest Halloween of my life. I didn't have to do a lot to bring it together. I was not much enthused about it either. Last night I realized that the stress of it IS tied to the fun of it. I wasn't invested enough...or something like that.

The kids had a nice time though, and that is what really matters.

I laugh every time I look at this picture.  I love it so much.  This is Riley and her cousins headed into the church parking lot for Trunk or Treat.  Minnie, the Landlord, and the Beautiful Vampire were excited to get in there and start getting their treat bags filled.




Emilee and her friend joined us to pass out candy at the truck. 






At home, Kaitie got ready to go to dinner and a party with friends. 





I think they had a great time :) 

Blast From the Past

This is what Kaitie, Emilee and Riley looked like in 2003:



I just started with that for a frame of reference, for this little Blast from the Past post.

This post is from October 21, 2003...(that is the month I started blogging, so this was one of my first posts.)


Haunted House Packet

Emilee is my seven year old. I thought she was my baby. She was...for six and a half years. She used to complain about it a lot. "I don't want to be the last one. I want to be a big sister. So and so is a big sister..." She never gave up saying it, or praying about it. Her prayers were heard and answered. She got her baby sister a little over a year ago.

So Emilee can be very persistent. Her latest plan...luckily not a baby brother...is to have a Halloween party and a haunted house for her friends. I have been telling her that I didn't think I wanted to go to that much work or expense. She continues telling me her plans. Every day the plan is more detailed. I learned in school that the set up, the "plan" is half the game to a child. Sometimes it doesn't matter if they get to carry a thing through, because the real activity IS the planning. Why can this not apply here? I want it to apply here. I don't think it applies here.

Yesterday my husband and I were eating lunch and Emilee brought us four pages, stapled together. The front page said, "Honted House Packet." There was a pencil taped to the front. The next page was a list of how she would like to decorate, and who she would like to invite. The following page was a list of supplies needed. The final page was a contract: 1. You won't have to do a lot. 2. It won't be a lot of work. 3. It will only be one night. 4. I will do most of it by myself. Sighn here: Yes______ No_______ Maybe_______

We are wimps and signed maybe. I can't believe she is wearing me down. It's that she is so smart about it. She is not whining and begging. I could say no to that in a heart beat. She is thoughtfully planning, and trying to take responsibility. I guess she isn't a baby anymore. And again, I guess I am lucky that she is not asking for a brother. I'd be in huge trouble!




 
October 26, 2003
Halloween Party

A few days ago, I wrote that Emilee was persistently asking to have a Halloween party for her friends.  I didn't really want to do it, but she went about the whole thing so well.  We decided a little Halloween dinner would be possible.

Emilee and Kaitie each invited four friends.  They made the invitations, and we delivered them on Friday.  The girls did all the decorating themselves.  We had the party last night from 6:00-8:00.

We started with dinner, where the kids had to order off a silly menu.  They could choose bone sandwiches, cat claws, etc.  They would get to see what they got when it arrived.  After dinner, we had a minor spook alley in the hallway.  We have a pretty long hall down to Ryan's room.  We had a plastic skeleton hanging in his doorway, and Ryan stood behind that with a sheet over his head.  The lights were off, and we had just a few glow in the dark pumpkins and ghosts in the hallway.  We had a Halloween CD playing kind of a spooky wind sound.  I told Ryan to be less scary with the little kids, and more scary with the big kids.  It was hilarious.  I asked who would dare go down the hallway and touch the skeleton.  At first they all wanted to, but as they looked down the hallway, some of the kids wouldn't.  It was so cute.  Ryan did a great job.  He was funny, and not mean.  I loved it.

Then Ally had them come and do the "feel the monster eyes, tongue, brain, etc" in bowls in a different part of the hallway.  She did a great job also.  I didn't know how much she would crack me up as she made up funny things to say to the kids as they touched bowls of grapes, dried apricots, and spaghetti.

The kids had a great time.  I was happy when it was over though.  My husband came into the kitchen, kissed me, and said, "You are a great mom."  "You just like me because I taste like Oreo," I teased.  But I felt happy to have carried out Emilee's plan.



Back to 2009, I looked for pictures of that party, and all I could find was this one of some of the kids playing in the backyard while I finished getting the dinner items together.  They weren't in costumes or anything...it was just a casual little dinner.  When I read back on what Emilee wrote, I wonder how I must have seemed to my kids back then.  She had to write, "You won't have to do a lot," in order for me to agree to it?  I guess my life was more overwhelming back then, than it is now. 







Here is the post I wrote for Halloween that same year:


November 1, 2003
Halloween
 
Yesterday Ally (16) went to school as her version of a caveman.  I ripped a head hole into a sheet.  We cut the bottom of the sheet jagged all the way around.  We spray painted spots all over it....in the front yard, late the night before.  I told her it looked a bit like a toga.  We tied a little knot in the top of her hair.  She said one of her teachers called her a dirty Roman, so I guess it did look a little like a toga.  She had a great time all day.  She went to a friend's house for a party and a sleepover.

At 5:00, I took Kaitie (as a witch), Emilee (Pocahontas), and Riley (Minnie Mouse) to see my parents.  My sister and her little Power Ranger and pumpkin came along.  My dad has an outdoor bench swing in the front yard.  I took a picture of him pushing all these characters on that swing.  

Next, we took the kids to see Ally at the home of her friend.  Even though they were preparing for a teenage party, Ally wanted to see the girls all dressed up.  They had a stuffed scary looking guy sitting in the chair in their yard and we decided to take a picture of everyone next to him.  As we were getting everyone arranged, Emilee accidentally knocked the head off.  Riley screamed her head off.  I can't believe I let my poor baby be so traumatized...

After the visits, we went to the church for Trunk or Treat.  We had dinner, and then the children went trick or treating to every car in the parking lot.  Riley stayed with me to pass out candy while Kaitie and Emilee went with their friends through the lot.  Riley put candy in the bags as the kids came by.  She loved it!  She put candy into each bag, and said, "Thank you."  Adorable.
 
Last, we went to see my Grandma.  She can't get out much anymore.  My aunt and uncle who are staying with her right now aren't kids anymore themselves.  It probably won't be long until they are great grandparents.  Uncle J was telling me how Halloween used to be.  He said they had to sing a song or tell a joke to get the candy.  He said if they didn't do a good job, they wouldn't get anything.  That is where the tricks came in!  If they didn't get candy, they would write on the window with soap or something.  Good stories.  I hope my stories sound good to someone someday.

I Know, I Know....

I know, I know.....I have a lot of Disney stuff this year.  We got passes at the beginning of the year, so I could see Disney in each season.  Our family has never done this before.  We will visit a time or two more before the expiration of these passes, and then I imagine we won't go back for years. 



I just wanted to be able to have THIS picture, you know?




During this Disney year, we have tried to make the rounds of the restaurants as well.  We decided to try the BBQ at Big Thunder Ranch this time. 

Here is Riley, standing at the end of our table.  I wanted someone in the family to go right up on the stage so I could get a really good picture of all the decor.  For some reason, no one wanted to do it.  You may be able to see there is a guy up there playing the piano.  He was really talented, playing his Home on the Range type stuff.    Another cowboy  walked around with his guitar awhile later, and he was also very good.  Woody from Toy Story made the rounds, but Riley was not interested.  The only character she cared about on this day, was Minnie Mouse.  (Her picture with Minnie is a couple of posts down.)






We enjoyed our bbq very much.  The girls went a little crazy with the ribs.  No question, they were excellent.  (When we ran out, more magically appeared...)

I enjoyed all the fall decorations, and this is one of my favorite pictures of the day.






Riley and I were trying to make our best Jack O Lantern faces here.  We didn't quite have the effect we wanted to.  We probably should have just zoomed in more, because....


....she has the classic second grade, Halloween teeth thing going on right now!

I told her to stand by this "guy" as if he had his arm around her, and you can see she wasn't quite sure about that....



The girls were all about the rides, of course.  (I liked those too.)  Here is Em, in the line for the Haunted Mansion.  She prepared for this ride, by wearing her new Jack Skellington shirt.  The Jack Skellington character walked by a couple of times.  I wanted Riley to stop and see some of these Halloween characters, and she just would not.  They had more villains out than usual, like Cruella de Ville, and Jafar.  I thought the pictures would be fun, but I didn't force the issue, when she was not interested. 

The Space Mountain ride was much creepier than usual, for Halloween.  I thought Riley might hate it, but we took her anyway.  She liked it!  I realized that she kind of decides ahead whether or not she is going to like something.  I will keep my eye on that, and see if it is really the case.  We got her onto the Tower of Terror ride with all of us.  She had decided all along to hate that one....so yes, she still felt the same way. 







This was the only picture I took in California Adventure. I wanted to take a million more of all the fun things, but you can see that Riley is sick of the camera. I put it away after this.  They were setting up things for Mickey's Trick or Treat party, and we didn't have tickets for that, so it was just as well to move on. Riley wasn't too concerned about that party, but I was feeling some regret for not getting the tickets in time.

If we had gone to the Trick or Treat party though, we would have missed the amazing fireworks show....and we would not have wanted to miss that!

Nants Ingonyama Bagithi Baba

So do you recognize the syllables in this title?

This is the "chant" I woke up to yesterday morning....sung by Kaitie and Emilee.

It supposedly means, "Here comes a lion, Father."  It is the way the song, "The Circle of Life," begins. (Can you sing it in your mind now?)



On Saturday, we took the girls to see The Lion King in San Diego.

It was an amazing show, even though we had the WORST seats in the entire theater.  We were in the very top corner of the balcony.  It was almost amusing. 



Here are Kaitie and Emilee right before entering the show.  You can see they are actually above the level of the chandelier.  Riley wouldn't stand by the railing with them.  She didn't like the height.  She complained while we walked up all those stairs....not about the climbing, but about the view over the edge of the railing. 

She let me take her picture far away from the railing.  She wanted to show off her binoculars too.  That was the only way she was going to see the show well from where we were sitting.

At first, Riley was uncomfortable in the theater seats too.  I call those seats, the Vertigo Seats.  (We had a similar spot when we went to see "Wicked" in the summer.)  I was glad we went early, to give her a chance to settle in.  One the show started, she was fine, and she loved it!  I was pleasantly surprised by her sustained interest in the show.  But how could she not be. The show was incredible!

Riley wasn't the one who sang those chants yesterday morning.  The song she hasn't stopped singing is, "I Just Can't Wait to Be King."  I was amazed by the kids who played the little Simba, and the little Nala.  I think they were nine and eleven years old.  Such talent!

I just can't wait to figure out what show to go to next :)

A Picture from the Weekend......

Riley loved Minnie's reaction, and I loved Riley's reaction.

Crazy Fall Breakers

Riley and Emilee are on Fall Break this week. I imagine that in some locations, Fall Break is a time for sweaters and crispy, falling leaves. Here, it still looks quite a bit like summer. It didn't feel exactly like summer though yesterday when Riley wanted me to go swimming with her. It was windy outside, and so the pool was not very clean. The temperature felt good for sitting by the pool, but I wasn't so sure I would get in.

Riley worked on a plan to get me in there. The first step of her plan was to get the pool a little cleaner:

We don't have a pool guy...well, yes we do, it is Jeff. He seems to have enjoyed this job during the last year. He has taught the girls a few things out there too, so Riley was showing me that she could make the pool acceptable to me. The trouble is, it was still windy. She was cute though. PJ likes it when we go out there, and let her run around with us in the pool area. She is not allowed in there, unless we are out there.


 



Riley's next plan was to show me how much she enjoyed the water.  It was cold in there, and I knew it!  She tried to act very unaffected by the temperature. 

Then, Riley got more ammunition....Emilee.

Look at the mischief in these devious eyes!  They were purposely getting me wet, so I would "get used to it." 

They won.  We were out there nearly three hours.  I had a great time with those crazy Fall Breakers.

A Required October Activity

Saturday night, I was determined to get some things done from my "dreaded boxes" which I referred to a couple of posts ago.  A few years ago, I printed some extra pictures...lots of them.  When I say printed, I mean on the computer.  I never did anything with them, because they needed to be cut out.  I set out my tall pile of pages, next to the scissors, and the remote control. 

I saw that a very old version of Phantom of the Opera was going to come on, and I decided to watch that while I cut out a lot of pictures.  I love old movies.  I am nerdy like that.

Emilee was close by, and she saw what I was going to watch.  She told me that she had read that in 1925, when the movie came out, that people fainted in the theater when the Phantom was unmasked.  She said it was the scariest thing that had been shown in theaters to that point.  I guess that makes sense.  I figured there weren't very many movies before 1925. (I did look it up though, and the first movies came out in 1903.)

In typical Emilee fashion, she got sucked into the movie with me.  She didn't mean to, of course.  She never does.  She just wanted to watch for awhile.  She didn't imagine that she would actually get drawn in.  It was a SILENT movie.  How can you have a silent movie about an opera house?  I have to admit I wasn't sure I would keep watching it either.  I like old movies, but not usually this old.

Emilee added the much needed Andrew Lloyd Webber music to our movie in her own special way :)  She makes a lot of things fun for me.  We also managed to get a little creeped out, which is a required October activity.  It was nice knowing all along that Christine was going to be just fine.....

So, here is the Phantom without his mask.....so classic.  Do you feel faint now?