Holiday Fun

We've been enjoying getting ready for Christmas this year. Kai and Rori are so excited about everything related to Christmas which makes it all extra fun. Zuri is also big enough to enjoy the lights, songs etc. They are all at fun ages.

Our Elf on the Shelf "Elfie" has been visiting us again this year. I'm amazed that he can still find so many new places to hide all the time. My favorite this year just might be him hanging upside down out the fridge ice and water dispensor. It's quite a shock to find him like that as you enter the kitchen first thing in the morning. He had a slighly scary run in with a light bulb this year, but I'm happy to say he's lived to tell about it.

We've made and eaten different holiday treats, worked on several crafts, checked out a few light displays, studied the toy ads, visited with Santa a few times, gone to several holiday parties (2 Church, Eveyones Schools, L Work, AGBell), checked out the Christmas display at the Bellagio, read and chatted about Jesus birth, and on and on. Here are some of the photo documented activites.

AGBell Party:

*Note where Rori chose to be in this photo. She's very friendly to Santa- from a small distance.

Rori's School Party:







*Note that Rori is still not on Santa's lap. Mom and Zuri had to join in the photo to get Rori to participate.
*Also note how awesome this Santa was.






*Taken immediately after the above photo:

Bellagio:












The District:






Ethel M. Chocolate Factory Lights:













Next up....the big day!

Quick Trip To Cali

Last week we made a super fast trip to LA. Lance had to make a court appearance on a Monday morning so we headed out Sunday. Our downtown hotel room looked out over a courtyard that was decorated really pretty for the holidays that we enjoyed exploring.












We got to tag along with Lance on this adventure because we had the opportunity to have an appointment at the John Tracy Clinic for Rori. This is the place that I have been taking a class from with other people here in Vegas. It is an AMAZING place so it was super cool to get to see it in person. JTC is the leading diagnostic and oral education center for young children with hearing loss.

We were super lucky that they were willing and able to get us in. We spent the first 1 1/2 hours meeting with the lady who teaches my class via sattelite. It was great to have her meet with Rori and the rest of us and really give us hands on advice and observation of Rori. None of it is brain science, but we are learning how to really think about ways we can expose Rori to language in everything that we do. Things like - it is easier for Rori to hear a high frequency sound in a word if we are close to her and whisper it. Your natural instict is to say it louder, but softer actually helps those sounds stand out more. Anyway, things like that...

The last 3 hours or so we had the opportunity to have Rori's hearing tested by the incredible audiologist at the John Tracy Clinic. This was such a huge blessing that they were willing to fit us in. They tested Rori without her hearing aids, with her hearing aids, and generally checked her hearing aids. There were 2 people working with her at a time and it was a well oiled machine. They worked quickly but super efficiently and had lots of games to keep Rori perfectly on task. Rori was a superstar and I was so pleased because I knew that that meant they were really getting accurate results.

We learned a ton from those results. Most significantly:
1) Rori's hearing at the low frequencies is at a fairly normal level. That means she hears most things pretty well which is great. Her hearing at the high frequecies is where the issue is and that cause the clarity issues on lots of words as she is trying to pronounce them. We knew that the high frequecies were the issue going in, but what we learned at this test was precisely where the issues are. The loss of those sounds is more of a severe to profound loss which is more than we had been told previously. What that means is she has been doing pretty awesome compensating.

2)Especially since.....Rori's hearing aids hadn't previously been set at a level that was really doing much of anything for her. We had sort of suspected this, but it still was super annoying to have this confirmed. Big thanks to the school district audiologist for screwing that up royaly. I wonder how many other kids she's been so wrong on that don't have parents able to seek out other resources. So basically the hearing aids were making those low frequency sounds a bit louder for her (the ones she hears well to start with), and not doing anything for the high frequency sounds that she needs the help with. Awesome, huh?

So the good news from that bad news is Rori has really taken off over the last few months with her speech. Now we clearly know that this doesn't have much to do with the hearing aids, but is likely more due to school, getting older, and us gaining knowledge about things. So, that makes me even more excited for her to have her hearing aids actually doing something to see what that does for her.

Unfortunatley, the John Tracy Clinic couldn't re-set her brand of hearing aids that day, but they sent us back to Vegas with the test results so someone here could. 2 days later I got her in to someone and he reset them. A few things were off at that appointment though and I left feeling a little uneasy. Fast forward to the weekend and Rori keeps complaining about the hearing aids which normally she doesn't do at all. We're not sure if it is just because they've changed the settings, or??? F

Finally, I call another local audiologist that some kids in her school class go to and they thankfully agree to get Rori in today. Keep in mind that this is the 4th audiologist and that isn't counting ENT's etc. End conclusion of today was the 1st guy last week didn't do it correclty. The lady today adjusted them and then gave Rori a mini test with them on and then adjusted them a bit more. So the rest of today she's seemed ok with them. We'll be keeping a close eye on her and seeing if they seem ok. I'll be curious to see what her teacher thinks after the break.

So the lessons learned from all of this are:
1) Listen to your parent instinct.
2) Be determined and thurough even when others might start to think that you are neurotic
3) Come to grips with the fact that with all the technology that we have in this world today that hearing evaluation and hearing aid setting are so archaic.

The journey continues...it has already been long and twisted...undoubtedly there is much ahead...sometimes it is horribly frustrating...and sometimes it is encouraging and inspiring...but it is leading us to new amazing people and experiences and growth...and today we know more...and knowledge is power that feels good and strong...and now we finally feel like we are getting somewhere and that is such a relief.

*Here is a cool article about a JTC alum.

1st Fieldtrip

Rori had her 1st school fieldtrip. They went to a place called Spring Preserve. The most exciting part may have just been riding the bus. They had a lot of fun despite that it was a super cold day.

Getting Ready to Go:






Who Knew Buses Have Seat Belts for Preschoolers?:

Christmas Is Coming Rapidly

Christmas seems to be flying towards us. We're already well in to the throws of Holiday parties, crafts, music etc. We put up the decorations last week and then got the tree up this past weekend. Kai and Rori put up all the ornaments themselves this year. This largely explains why 1 side of the tree is a little more heavily decorated at about waist level. They did a good job though and really loved each and every ornament. Almost all the ornaments on our tree have some special meaning and I love that. We have a lots of picture ornaments (1 from the year we got married and 1 for every year since Kai was born of the kdis). These are by far all of our favorites. The kids think it is super fun to look back at themselves when they were little. We had a sudden cold spell here in Vegas which has helped to make it even feel a little more like Christmas. This has allowed Zuri to sport the famous snowman Chirstmas sweater that Kai and Rori both also wore for their first Christmas.

Z with Teddis

Teddis was Lance's Teddy Bear growing up. He currently lives in Kai's room. Zuri thought he was pretty funny. Those 2 teeth popped out together on her 5 month birthday.

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Whitney came to visit us for Thanksgiving. It has been fun to give them a peak at the kids schools and soak in some quality time together. There has been lots of dress up, pretend play, borrowing of the IPad, yummy meal.....

Lance was the official Turkey cooker again this year and he did a great job. The house smelled so good leading up to our mid afternoon meal. After eating, and a little rest we took everyone on a quick trip over to the Bellagio to check out the garden and the water show. I think everyone really enjoyed it.

We have much to be thankful for from the past 12 months- especially things like Miss Zuri coming to our family, greater clarity in the Rori story and particularly her school, Kai's experience in full day K, Lance's work and school working together well, and really so many other wonderful gifts.

6 Months Old

We can't believe that Zuri is 6 months old. She is such a sweet little thing. In the last few weeks she has been so easy going and happy. She grins at everyone she sees, is so patient when she is being lugged around from thing to thing, and has been a lot more content about playing on her own for longer spells. She's had a few later than usual bedtimes lately because she is just too much fun and cute when we are making her laugh and babble away. This past month she has tried out a lot more new tastes and is starting to take off more on food. She is also much more aware of things around her. She adores Kai and Rori and can often be heard laughing with them in the back of the car. This age is soooo much fun! We just can't kiss her enough!

Happy Birthday to Lance

Happy Birthday to a great Daddy and Husband! Lance is doing a pretty amazing job balancing lots of different hats these days. We are very proud of him and grateful for all that he does for our family. We love you Lance!

November Get Away

The kids had school off last Thursday and Friday so we decided that we should take a little get away before things get crazy again with school finals and holiday activities. We debated what to do and finally happily agreed to meet up in St. George with Lance's parents for a few days. They were so nice to drive down and spend some time with us. We had a great time being with them and having a little time away. My history with St. George is passing through on the way to SLC and Easter where we have our traditional things we like to do. So, this was a fun trip because we got to do a few new things along with hitting a few of our regular favorites. The kids had a blast swimming in the indoor pool, checking out real dinosaur foot prints, doing a mini hike in beautiful fall colored Zion to Weeping Wall, playing with Grandpa's new Ipad, checking out some historic sights, hitting some golf balls with grandpa and Dad, and just getting lots of love and attention from grandma and grandpa. An added plus was we got to see the Wilkinsons who had just gotten in to town for a quick lunch on our way out of St. George. It was fun to catch a glimpse of baby Connor who is now 3 months old. We had a great time and are looking forward to our next trip there already. It is amazing how we can drive for 1 1/2 hours and be in such a different place.

On Our Dinosaur Prints Hunt:





*Rori looking a little concerned that me might encounter an actual dinosaur.


*Kai's left hand is in one of the prints.







Checking Out an Old Historic Fort:








Zion Extra Beautiful with the Fall Colors:

On the Way Home

This is what I saw when I looked back in the car the other day on the way home from school. She has hot lunch most days but we pack her a lunch box with a few snacks that usually get eaten on the way home. This girl sure makes me laugh.

Soccer 2011

We just wrapped up another season of soccer for Kai. He had a good time and really seemed to like the kids on his team. Every year we debate if we should sign him up or not since soccer can be rather dominating of time, but I'm glad we did.

This year was sort of a different experience. They place kids on teams based on their birthdays so Kai was one of the youngest on a team made up of 6 year olds (by the end of September), 7 year olds, and even some 8 year olds who had birthdays during the season I guess). That seemed like a HUGE age difference to me. Some of the kids just looked and seemd SOOO much older. With that said when the lined up by height to pass out jerseys Kai was 2nd to tallest on his team so he probably looks older to most people anyway.

Despite being one of the younger ones Kai did really well. For most of the season he and the tallest/ oldest kid in the team picture were the only ones who scored goals. This was really a change for Kai from past seasons where he might occasionally score but for the most part seemed to be more of a defensivly minded player. It was fun seeing this light switch turn on in him with this new offensive determination. It was also interesting to look over at the field next to his and see some kids in his school class born after September playing on a smaller field at a much different level of play. It seems like if he wants to play sports later on in life in school this has the opportunity to be a large confidence booster for him which we think is great.

As you can see he was back on a red jersey team this year. So far he's been on 2 red teams and 2 orange teams. There are several other colors in the leagues he's played in but for some reason he's always ended up with one of these. This year he was on the team named "The Mini-Rebels".

It was super hot, and then super cold and windy, and then just about right the last 2games. So it goes in Vegas. Lance spent most of the games watching from the sides while kicking an extra ball back and forth with Rori. She has already gotten quite good at dribbling the ball while running at full speed. I spent most of the games trying to shield Zuri from the sun or the wind. Zuri seemed to enjoy the games though- or maybe it was just all the people cheering, kids running, and this stuff called grass that we don't see much of here in Vegas.

Our good camera ended up being in the shop most of soccer season so these are taken at picture day before practice one night with our dinky old camera. Here is Kai with a few buddies from the team.



Sam and Kai are in the same Primary class together at Church. They just moved in so we got to know them at soccer which was fun. On a random side note his Mom works full time as a sign language interpretor. We've had some interesting talks about hearing at practices as you might imagine. Funny how you get certain people placed in your life at precise times.


This picture is of Kai with his new friend Lucas. We had never met Lucas before but after the boys hit it off at practice we came to learn that his family also meets in our Church building but at another time. We're going to have to get the boys together sometime to play because Lucas was very sweet.

So all in all I think Kai had a good experience, developled some more skills in soccer, and made some new friends. Now we will happily welcome back some soccer free Saturdays (and practice nights) for a time.