We made it.

It was questionable for awhile when (not if) we were ever going to make it to Utah. I think I know John gets a little nervous thinking about me driving all the way up to Utah by myself. (I was going to stop in St. George and impose on some friends for the night.) He was supposed to be in St. Louis for two weeks, and I was going to take off when I was ready while he was gone, but he managed to come home early.

This meant putting off our trip for a couple of days because John still had work he had to be doing, but that meant that Nick was able to meet another one of his favorite authors, (Rick Riordan- of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) while we were still in town. (I had previously informed him that we would not be hanging around for three days just to meet an author. )

We left Saturday morning- 5 hours later than planned, because we had to wait for Checker Auto Parts to open so we could replace my dead battery. I think that has something to do with my wonky air conditioning that won't turn off when I turn off the car (and occasionally won't turn on when I want it to).

Our trip was thankfully uneventful, and the kids well behaved for the most part. I was happy to see some of the gray skies and rain that all my Utah friends like to complain about on facebook. (I know it's hard to believe, but we Arizonans tend to welcome gray skies after endless blue cloudless skies). We even saw a rainbow.

For dinner we found a little diner and Zach finally discovered that he loved fry sauce. I was a little bit worried given the fact that he was not born in Utah, that he may never come to know the divineness that is fry sauce. My fears were unfounded. He is my child after all.

Dinner!

Only the best, most nutritious, lovingly prepared food for my family.

Aaarrrrr, Mateys!

We'd been suspecting something was wrong with Nick's eyes for awhile now. My dad mentioned something a year or so ago, he said he thought Nick had a lazy eye, but honestly I pretty much dismissed it, because I hadn't noticed anything.

It got worse this year though. The school nurse suggested we should see an optometrist. Nick announced he was "left-eyed" meaning he could see great out of his left eye, but his right eye was totally blurry. The he said he freaked out a bunch of kids at school one day when unbeknownst to him his right eye wandered off and was staring sideways.

Our vision insurance totally bites. I have the choice of overpaying at Target or Sears for all my family's vision needs. Fortunately for us though, we happen to be friends with a couple of great eye doctors and so while I had my own vision checked at Sears, I am thankful I know a couple of someones that I would have a lot more faith in to take care of my boy.

I'm glad I did too. Nick needs glasses, he also has to wear a patch over his good eye for several hours a day, and then if we are lucky he gets to have surgery to help correct his eyes. (something to look forward to!) The good news is the Dr. doesn't think he has a brain tumor, so you know, that's awesome.

Nick's being a good sport. He has a good attitude about it. (But he has a pretty good attitude about most things) He's glad we're dealing with this during the summer, so hopefully by the time school starts it won't be much of an issue. He's just upset they dilated his eyes, and his bad eye is so bad he can't read right now. Or even watch TV. He's walking around the house pretty blind right now. But he did let me color a pirate eye-patch over the bandage for a better photo-op.

Befores and Afters

It will have to do for now. I am leaving for Utah for the summer in a day or so and with all the packing and cleaning and miscellaneous things to do, I just have to say "It's good enough for now," and hopefully I will find the motivation to finish it when I get back.

Here's Nick's Before-

It was Christopher's room. Hence the crib and the jungle theme. It was harder to paint over than I thought. It was my very first real nursery, and my very last. Money and situation had prevented me from decorating a nursery in the past, and so Christopher was my first baby to have a real, honest to goodness, nursery. But Nick needed his own room, and it was time to say good bye to the baby years.

And After-

Those stripes took FOREVER. I just finished putting up the cork board. - I still need to caulk over the nails, and repaint, and the trim doesn't quite fit perfect, but I am just so finished with that project, I just don't care any more. Luckily Nick is not too picky. He just loves the whole room. The colors, the stripes, the curtains... The fact that it is all his. I still need to get him some bedding. I have been carrying around my paint samples in my purse for a few weeks now looking for the perfect bedding, but it is pretty elusive right now. ( Maybe I just need to expand my search beyond Target, Wal-Mart, and Kohl's).

Madison's Before-

I painted it when she was 4 1/2 and seriously into princesses. The purple castles and yellow crowns stamped on the wall were even glittery. She loved it, me not so much, but I only had one little girl.

And After-

Still not done. Need to caulk and paint (white) the wainscoting and crown molding and put up some accessories (pictures, etc). But it's good enough for now. She LOVES it. She squealed and clapped for a full ten minutes.

Happy Flag Day!

Although our flag is not flying outside at this moment (Totally forgot until just now, and I am wondering if dragging a ladder outside to hang a flag for a mere 3 hours is worth it) I would like to wish y'all a happy Flag Day.

Quick history lesson- The origins of Flag day can be traced back to 1885 when a teacher in Wisconsin advocated the observance of the day, the anniversary of the official adoption of the Stars and Stripes

Did you know that our Country has a program were you can request a flag to be flown over the United States Capitol on a certain day? It's not too expensive ($17- $28 depending on size and material) and it comes with a certificate. Pretty Nifty.

A few years ago I filled out the request and sent it to Senator John McCain to have a flag flown over our Nation's Capitol on my husband's 30th birthday. I thought it was a pretty awesome birthday present. The only problem is, it takes awhile to get the flag back to you, so we got it in the mail a couple of months after his birthday. Like just when I had forgotten about it.

If you live in Arizona and would like to request one, you can go here, otherwise your State Senator should have a link on their website.

So anyways, Happy Flag Day!

Fail.

Big Fat Fail.

I signed Christopher up for swimming lessons this year. There's a lady in my neighborhood who teaches swimming- I'll refrain from naming names, because she's got quite a good reputation going on, and I'd hate to tarnish that. I still think her reputation is well deserved, and I'd still gladly recommend her to anyone who asks.

Anyway, I signed him up. She's a bit pricey, BUT (and this is a big BUT) the lessons are totally one-on-one. It's not the typical swim lesson where there are 4-5 other kids in the class and your kid actually gets real hands on instruction for a grand total of 5 minutes out of the 25 minute "class". The kind of lessons that you (and I am speaking from personal experience here) sign your kids up for over and over again because they progress not one iota, and after a summer's worth of lessons your kid has progressed to blowing bubbles and kicking (but still won't put their face in the water).

So, one-on-one lessons- 8 of them, your kid works hard for his 25 minutes and at the end, you WILL see significant results.

Unless your kid's name is Christopher Berrett. Then you will see nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. Zilch. No kicking. No bubbles. He does manage to swallow an impressive amount of water. (So much so his diaper needs to be changed 2 hours after swim lessons because it is actually sagging to his knees with all the pool water.)

Swimming lessons are over and if he fell in a pool he'd still drown. His teacher said he "must not be ready". I thought that was very nice of her to say that. I think he's a stubborn little twit.

Just so we're clear, when I said Big, fat, Fail, I didn't mean the teacher or the program. They've been doing this for years and my guess would be that hundreds of 2 and 3 year olds were swimmers or at least not drowners by the time the 8 lessons were over. I've heard their praises sung from many a parent. She's pretty popular around here as a miracle worker.

I only have my self to blame. I couldn't tell you the number of times I heard my mother say "I hope you have a kid just like you!" Well, at least my mom got her wish in this case. I have a kid just as stubborn as me.

my son, the geek

Just had to share...

Nick told me this story about scout camp today. He is working on his cooking merit badge, and they had to design a pie. I'm sure they were thinking cherry pies with lattice crusts or apple pies with a cut-out design in the crust.

Nick decided on a raspberry pie (can't really blame him for that though, it is a pretty yummy pie.) For half a moment I was wondering what kind of "design" he was going to put on top of the pie as it is a single crust pie.

Before I even voiced my thoughts on the matter, Nick said, "and for the design, I said I was going to use frosting (ew, gag) and write 3.141592653589"

(that's as far as he's managed to memorize Pi. He says his goal is to memorize to the 100th decimal place. A bigger geek out there? I think not.)