Some Pics From February

Here some birthday and party pics:

Joshua's birthday party!!

Josh helping Alfie bowling!!

My little man enjoying himself!!

Joshua bowling!!

Happy Birthday!!

Joshua's birthday cake!!

Opening his presents!!

Josh trying on his new helmet!!

The pitching machine!!

Alfie trying the hat on!!

My poorly baby!!

Joshua and Ben's birthday cake!!

Second Half Of February. (sorry it's a long one).

The long weekend started well the boys played outside on theirs sleds friday and we did some baking. We was going to have a movie night in the evening but hadn't censored the movie we had from netflix. We rented funny people and for some reason I thought it was a family movie well that was until we started watching it together popcorn ready and quickly realised it wasn't something suitable for a 8 and 3 year old to be watching. At first we wondered whether the bad language was just a one off until it had some sexual content at which point Ben quickly switched it off haha. Oh well it'll teach me next time to look at the rating before putting a movie on.
Saturday Joshua had a swimming lesson which by the time it's over it feels like most of your day has gone as it's in the middle of the morning and is in the next town which takes between 20-30mins to drive there. After swimming I went to wal-mart which Ben cleverly opted out of telling me he'd take the boys bowling to keep them occupied so while they had fun I got to do the boring task of grocery shopping.
The weather took a turn for the worse so at least he came back and helped load the car up. I really cannot stand our winters and it does make me question living here or maybe having a winter home somewhere warm :-) well at least I can dream.
Monday we headed down to Sioux Falls as I needed to get Josh's glasses fixed and wanted some bits for the house. I'd told the boys if they behaved themselves then I would take them to Chucke Cheese's which excited them enough to stop them whining in the shops :-). Anyway we got Josh's glasses sorted well they ordered some new ones as his frames were all scratched and the paint had come off and his lenses had a scratch replacement on them so we sorted that and also booked his eye check as it had been a year since he got them tested. Then we got my house bits and headed to world market which is where they sell English products so I stocked up on some bits and let the boys choose an English chocolate treat each and was getting ready to check out when I got really faint and dizzy, thinking I just needed a drink I quickly payed and got back to the car and had a drink but the dizziness just got worse which was quite scary as I knew I was nearly an hour from home and had no other way to get back but to drive. I started back but had to stop once more to try to settle my head  but after an hour I realised it wasn't going to settle much but there was some release if I wore my sunglasses so we steadily made our way back with blowing snow not helping the drive but we managed it to the farm then Ben drove us from there. I went straight to bed hoping it would settle by morning. However it didn't so off to the docs I went to be told they thought I was suffering from vertigo or labrynthitus :-( anyway they gave me an injection so called to send me to sleep and some tablets to help the dizziness and told if it didn't settle by the end of the week I would need a CAT scan. As most mums will say being stuck in bed not being able to see to your kids is one of the hardest things not that I was aware of much as the tablets knocked me out and made me feel like I was drunk or something slurring my words haha. The dizziness didn't subside so I had to have a CAT scan I was dreading this but kind of wanted something to be able to treat as not being able to do anything was driving me up the wall. Luckily the CAT scan was clear so they gave me a steroid injection and booked me in to physical therapy. The injection helped slightly and the dizziness started to subside slightly.
Meanwhile it was Josh and Ben's birthdays, this was the first time I'd been unable to do much so it was all down to Ben. I had got some bits for Josh but not his main present which was going to be a new baseball bat and helmet as he was getting a pitching machine from my parents and brother. They choose an ice-cream cake from wal-mart again as I hadn't been able to make him one. I organised a present for Ben off the boys online so at least he had something from them and luckily they'd got cards for him the week before I was ill.
On their actual birthday they opened their presents then Ben and Josh went ice-skating while Alfie stayed with me as he had a bad cough. I attempted to make some brownies while they was away which was pretty challenging but I managed it. They also went out for supper. Josh chose Perkins which Ben can't stand but he let Josh choose then they headed home and we had the birthday cake and Ben decided to set up Josh's new pitching machine which can shoot balls out between 15-45mph. This made me slightly nervous for my walls but they only set it at a slow speed thankfully.
I started my physical therapy that week and had lots of tests to see how bad my vertigo was apparently on some of the test one of my eyes would follow but the other didn't and then would jump to where it should be so they gave me lots of exercises to do and to return back later in the week.
It's been a massive adjustment for the family as usually I do most of the daily routine with the boys so Bens been having to come back from work to take Josh to school then ferry me to appointments and pick Josh up again we have had some help from one of my friends (Holly) which I am so grateful for but I feel like I've lost my independance but were getting used to the new routine now.
Luckily we booked Josh's birthday party for the week after his birthday. He wanted a bowling party so we had 10 kids all together. I was determined to make him a cake and he wanted a baseball which I managed even with the spaced out feeling I had :-) We just did hotdogs for the the food and snacks to make it as easy as possible. Everyone seemed to have a great time at the party which I was so glad about I'll post some pics.
The month ended on a bit of a downer as Ben's grandad passed away which just makes the distance seem so much greater when you want to be somewhere but can't and there's nothing you can do to help.

First Half Of February

Well February's over as well hopefully one of these days I'll be organised with blogging.

Some cupcakes we made that look like ice creams.

Anyway the first half of Feb I went to watch the Blind Side I'd wanted to see the movie for a while so when it came out at the local theatre I decided that I'd go to watch it. I went on  my own which didn't bother me as I was glad to just get a night out without the kids. It was a really good movie but it did feel strange not having the boys with me almost like I'd forgotten someone. I also wanted to see precious but will have to wait until that comes out on dvd now.

Josh with his cupcake.

Alfie with his cupcake.

I helped out at Josh's valentines party which are so different to back home they send all the kids in class a valentines then if they want to send any to anyone in another class room they can so we end up with a bag full or candy and little miniature cards. It took me a while to get used to this but I like that they send 1 to everyone in the class rather than just the most popular kids getting them and you can normally get a pack of 24 valentine cards/sweets for a couple of dollars so it isn't overly expensive.
Josh also had a reading night at school which we went to. Alfie stayed at home as last time he decided to run around the library and jump up and down when the story was being read and it was nice to get some time just with Josh. They usually have a theme to their reading nights and this one was about bullying which was appropriate as Josh had been having some problems at school (which hopefully have been resolved).

We also had parent teacher conferences (parents evening). Josh got a really good report, he is lucky that he is really bright and so far doesnt have many problems with his school work usually getting straight A's although he does need to work on his organisation skills. This doesn't surprise me one bit as he can be a nightmare to just get him out of the door in the morning. He has also had a few late assignments which confused me as he always does his homework on time but apparently it's something to do with work he doesn't finish in class time. Anyway I've been reminding him to keep his desk tidy and organise his work and he seems to be doing better. We always seem to struggle to get work that is enough for him as his intellectual level is way above the year he is in but as we have already moved him up a year this isn't an option as then he would be struggling socially so it seems a constant battle with the school to get them to challenge him more. They know what he needs but so far we just seem to have conversations about what they can do rather than them actually doing anything but I can't really complain as he's happy and doing well. Hopefully next year he'll be challenged more.

Josh got a long weekend off school valentines weekend as it was parent teacher conferences on the friday and presidents day the following Monday so it was nice to have both my boys at home and we had lots planned.