Glasses

 Sam has gotten glasses.  He was complaining that he would "fuzz out" while doing his school work, and then he started getting some headaches.  I took him to the eye doctor, and sure enough, the numbers were off enough for a pair of specs to be in order.

 I think he looks very handsome in his new glasses.  He says they help, but they are also a little strange.  He doesn't like using them when we are riding in the car.  He says it's too weird looking through two sets of glass.  If it helps him do better work with less complaining, I'm all for it. 

 The doctor said they would help with the eye strain.  Hmmm.  I wonder if that can be brought on from hours of reading by the flashlight each night when you are supposed to be asleep? 

 These are my glasses.  The left are the readers and the right are the drivers.  Except now they get more use than driving.  When I first got the distance glasses, I would use them if I were driving at dusk in a place where I really needed to see the signs, or when we went to the movies and sat in the back. 

Since turning 40, I find that I need them to see the guide on the TV--and sometimes even the picture on the TV.  Chris says I'm vain and that's why I won't wear them all the time.  Not true.  I don't want my eyes to adjust to my glasses and get worse (I know that's a myth, but why risk it).  Unfortunately, now when I don't wear them, I have eye strain.  My readers were a necessity when I was teaching and grading paper after paper.  It's not that I can't see, it's that my eyes HURT when I don't wear them and try to read a text book or grade papers.  Here's my clue that it's time for a re-check.  We were watching television the other night, and I was trying to finish a book at the same time.  Fred looked over at me and said, "Really?  You're rockin both glasses at the same time?"  I'm sure it looked funny, but I am into function and not fashion at this point.

Happy New Year!

I love New Year's.  It's a new beginning.  It's a time to start those things which I've put off for other reasons.  New opportunities and new chances abound. This is the year that will make all the difference--at least for a while. 

This New Year's didn't feel like New Year's.  We spent a few days at my mom's with both of my brothers and their families.  There was good food and fun times, but there was also sickness.  New Year's Eve was the worst for some of us.  So instead of missing that tremendous new start, we are just putting it off a little until we all feel better.  We'll celebrate again in a couple of weeks.

 Lily and Abbey rekindling a friendship.  Since Lily, Tommy and Rose live in Ohio, we don't get to see them often.  When we do, we are always so thankful for that time.

 We see Nichole and Abbey pretty frequently and always love spending time with them.  Note Nichole's new specs!  Aren't they great?

                                                     This scene never gets old for me. 

                        Gram loves having her grand kids around--especially the ones that are so far away.

 We went to one of my dad's favorite places--the hardware store in Blackstone.  Every Christmas they set up a HUGE display of model trains.  It's really amazing.  He loved to take us there and talk with the guy behind the controls.  We missed having him with us this year.

 The New Year's Eve party was at Kim and Todd's.  The kids enjoyed playing Wii.  Tommy couldn't wait to go to Aunt Kim's and Uncle Todd's to play Wii. 

                                                          He was totally into the game.

                 The adults and some kiddos stayed downstairs and played Scene It, among other things.

                                                                         Sweet Rosie! 

 The bigger boys spent some time in the back house watching T.V.  Can you see the sick eyes on Fred?  This was probably 30 minutes before Sam came in with a fever of 102.

                                                  MIDNIGHT!  Happy New Year! 

                       Aunt Kim's neighbors were serenaded by small people with pots and pans! 

So although we had fun ringing in the New Year, it didn't quite feel like a holiday, which is o.k.  By the nextmorning the stomach bug had taken hold, so we missed the pork and sauerkraut.  We and the Ohio Henry's headed home as quick as we could that morning.  Todd and Kim and Mom enjoyed it this week, but we couldn't make the trip.  No one in my house can take sauerkraut, so I REALLY missed it.  I bought a tiny can that I might try to sneak in the next time we have pork.  Does it count if it isn't January 1st?   

Christmas Memories

I thought I would share some of our Christmas even though that was AGES ago.  We spent it at home together and then joined our good friends for dessert and drama later in the day.  It was a good day for all, and the last healthy day of 2010 for our family.  It's been a loooonnnnnggg couple of weeks since Christmas!

I'm sporting a new look for 2011 just to change things up a bit.

 The fuzzy hat made big splash this year.  Apparently it's very warm. 

Ben gives the victory pose as Peter opens something that doesn't resemble apparel.

 Another edition of the fuzzy hat.  This one is checkered red and black to match his coat.

This would be the mood when these two realized that, yes, most of the boxes are shaped like clothing boxes.  The excitement has waned considerably.  Maybe opening gifts is just too much work. Sigh.

Sam also is sporting a new look for 2011.  Think Clouseau.

 One of the non-clothing gifts for this year was a new trampoline from Aunt Pam and Grandma Fulton.  Our old one has 'done been wore out!'  It has also been thrown over the shed and mangled by a tree, reformed and repaired, and the netting has been fixed on a bi-weekly basis for the past 7 months.  It has gotten much lovin, which is why we decided that this would make a good, useful gift for Christmas.  It was very cold on Christmas morning, but the boys and Chris decided that they needed to put that puppy together.  Good thing they all got hats (except poor Chris--maybe we can find one).

 See the looks of concentration as Ben and Fred lift those bars and totes those barrels.

 Boris is supervising from her perch on the new net. (Yes, I realize Boris is not a female name--it's a long story).

 It's almost done!  It's funny that Sam is in most of these pictures, because he didn't really help much at all.  He was there for support when they needed extra hands, but many times he escaped for a trounce on the old trampoline.  He was acting more in the role of supervisor.   Fred, Ben and Chris did the lion's share of the work.



So that was our pretty uneventful and happy Christmas morning.  Maybe I'll post about New Year's before February.  That would be something, now wouldn't it?