Happenings in Hellertown

I thought I better take the time and update my blog with everything that we have been doing lately.

We have both sad and happy news to share. The Philly Blacks will no longer be the Philly Blacks as they will be moving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in March. They will forever be the Philly Blacks in our minds and we have been so grateful that we have had this short time with them. It was largely because of them that we even applied in Bethlehem and ranked it so high. I guess we needed them to get us here and we don't regret it. Although PA has it's challenges we know this is where we belong for now.

The same week we found out they we were leaving, we welcomed the arrival of John-David's sister Alycia and her family(The Spencer's). They moved here from Canada to a town about 45 minutes away which is the closest John-David has lived to her in 20 years. It will be good to have an opportunity to get to know their family.

The day that the Spencer's moved in, we decided to go down and welcome them. John-David was on call so the kids and I met the Philly Blacks at Giggleberry Fair before the Canadians arrived. I would compare Giggleberry Fair to the old 49Th Street Gallery back in Salt Lake but on a much smaller scale. The attraction we went for was the 3 story indoor playground. It's hard to describe other than it involved a lot of foam balls, slides and small climbing areas. It was a child's paradise, not a paradise for 7 month pregnant mom . I chalk it up as one of those things not to do when very pregnant. I had no problem sending the older two loose but I couldn't send my two year old on her own. I followed her as she climbed in and out of things and at times I had visions of me getting stuck in some of the tunnels but I made it through. It was definitely a hit with the kids and as we were leaving Jackson says, "The was way more fun than that scarecrow thing you took us to here in the fall". I guess an indoor play area is more appealing to a 5 year old than looking at a flannel shirt stuffed with straw.

While we were a waiting for the cousins to arrive, Kelsey sat on a miniature carousel that had three horses on it. Much nicer parents would put their one child on the carousel and pay the ridiculous amount it cost to make it go. She got three free rides off this. Pretty smart cookie if you ask me.

Kelsey climbing through the tunnels.

One of the many slides.

Jocey heading down a net ladder.

Many of you have probably heard on the news about the large storms that have been hitting the East Coast as of late. We have been told that generally the Lehigh Valley gets about two good snow storms a year. The year must be an anomaly because in the last week we have been hit with at least two good snow storms that have dumped enough snow for their normal snowfall inches for the year. We have probably received over 24 inches in that last week and that is mild compared to some areas. The kids are absolutely loving it and I am being reminded of the good old days back in Utah growing up with good snow. We took a picture earlier today of the yard. This was at the beginning of the storm and it's still snowing.

Back yard

Front Yard

This is a picture from the snow storm a few days ago.

The kids hit the hill as soon as they could.

When John-David is on call, I like to have something to work to help occupy my time. He started out the month with a series of call nights close together. I decide that I would use the time to make the kids some Valentine's Day gifts. I made the girls some skirts which I had done before so that was no big deal. I made Jackson some pajama pants which I was very proud of because it was the first time I picked out a pattern, cut it out and followed it all by myself. It was a very easy pattern but you got to start somewhere. I would have made John-David some but he told me they look like pirate pants. He doesn't get any pants now. I had Jackson try them on and he told me that they were beautiful. I will sew for him anytime.

Kelsey over this past year has had about 5 ear infections. She had three last Spring and then started up with one before Christmas and then another right after. With the recommendation of our pediatrician we decided it was time to see an ENT. We wanted to avoid tubes if they weren't necessary and so did the ENT but after further examining her issue they decided that she most likely was going to continue to get them. We decided that it was in her best interest so we scheduled the procedure to be done. Tubes are an outpatient procedure but our insurance only covers it if we did at St. Luke's Hospital. The pictures make it look way more serious than it was. We had to get Kelsey up at 6:20 A.M. to get her to the hospital so she looks a little tired in the photos.

Waiting for her turn in her hospital room.

She is holding her stickers that she received from the nurses.

All she cared about was getting stickers.

We didn't bring the camera down to the surgery holding area. That's where anyone in the hospital who is getting surgery at that time waits for their doctor and their surgery room to be ready. She was jumping on her bed and staring at these really sick people. I think she wondered why she was in there with all those people.

I have to say that Kelsey is probably the friendliest out of all my kids but I didn't realize she could be bought so easily. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to us about what he was going to do and to meet the patient. He talked to Kelsey and told her what was going to happen and mentioned that she would get stickers when she was done. That's all he had to say and she jumped off my lap and went and sat on his. It's a little disturbing that your child will go with a perfect strange if they say the right word. We need to work on this issue.

The procedure lasted about 4 minutes long and she was away from us for about 15 minutes. Every thing went great and they said she was perfectly happy afterwards. I went back to see her and she saw me and went to pieces. Dad said he should have gone. We went back to her room to give her a chance to completely come around and to eat something. After about 30 minutes of fussing she was her old self again.

Dad got her to watch some cartoons and she got to order whatever she wanted for breakfast. Cheerios and toast it was. She carried that bowl of Cheerios around for the rest of the day. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. Everyone thought she was just adorable and had quite a fan club when she left. Everyone knew her name and told her goodbye. She waved at them in between bites of her Cheerios. We just hope this does the trick to get rid of the ear infections.