Back in action

A few weeks ago my camera started acting really funny, so funny that I new it just wasn't me messing up the settings.  Turns out the sensor had lost its calibration.  But after a couple of weeks in the shop, its back and seems to be much better.  I was finally able to get back to shooting.

These shots of Sarah discovering hopscotch are my favorites from yesterday.

Owen's new specs and mom's new level of guilt

Owen has a long history of clumsiness and bumping into things.  When he was a baby we would even put a helmet on his head sometimes so he wouldn't bump it so much!



We chalked a lot of this up to his being a super active baby and child.  The one who always was on the go and always playing with balls.  Of course the active kid is going to get a few bumps and bruises, right?

Fast forward 6 years and we learn the poor boy is almost blind in one eye!  He was diagnosed with a lazy left eye.  And from the looks of it he's suffered from it for a long time with his right eye taking over  the majority of his sight.  He's 20/150 in his left eye.  And that my friends, is not good.

Obviously we've never been to the eye doctor before now, but Owen has never missed a check up and before he started kindergarden he had a vision test at his pediatrician's office. Which revealed nothing - why the heck not?  So we were surprised when a letter came home from school telling us we needed to get to an eye doctor asap!  Thank god for mandatory hearing and vision tests at school!

Last week we took all the kids to get their eyes checked and it turns out that Andrew needs some correction too.  (Maybe had something to do with Andrew's reading issues? Awesome parenting here!) Sarah's eyes are just fine for now.

The glasses arrived yesterday and I think the boys made cute choices.  They were sad they didn't get the sport goggles, but I said heck no to that.





Now I'm just thinking how much more fun basketball will be for Owen now that he has some depth perception and can see the net, and how much better reading is going to be for Andrew.  And someday I'll get over my biggest parenting fail.

The aftermath

And after all that party fun, here's what happened next:







Everyone got the stomach flu!  I'm happy to say that everyone is healthy again, but last week was no fun.

Owen is 6!

Owen's 6th birthday party was a blast.  We invited friends from school and church and hosted a mini basketball tournament.   Owen was in heaven.  We had it at our home away from home, the JCC.  This was another party that was done in a few phone calls and totally exceeded our expectations.  The kids had blast playing and the coaches were great.  The party room had awesome basketball decorations and they even ordered a special basketball cake for Owen!  It was fun to watch the boys choose between a Kobe Bryant or Keven Durant place setting. (Owen chose Kobe).  

These party pictures don't look much different from a regular Tuesday in Owen's life, because we are always at the court, but he had so much fun playing with his friends.

Andrew is 8

Our party weekend started Saturday with Andrew's 8th birthday party.  He wanted a bounce-house party so we hit up the local Pump it Up to celebrate.  I love these places - one phone call and your party is planned.   We've been here many, many times for friends' parties, but this was the first time we've hosted one here.  I'm surprised they still love it.  Andrew chose the "Glow Party".  They turn off the lights, pump up the music and everyone wears glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets.  It's like a little dance party in there.  It was eight-year old heaven.  (The Glow party is bad for pictures so I don't have any action shots from all the bouncing).

Andrew invited all the boys in his class and special friends.  Girls are not ok these days.  (I'm kinda ok with that, some of the girls in his class are a little too precocious for Andrew).  The cake was a Star Wars ice-cream cake with mint-chip ice-cream.  So. Good.  

















I think it was a complete success.