Thieves Among Us!

I know that every kid (or at least most) in their lifetime will attempt to stray from what they know is right and wrong and see what they can get away with and if they can get away with it - whatever "it" is, right? Well, it happened! I wasn't sure when it would happen or if it ever would but it did....at age 6, almost 7. EmmaKate joined the ranks of "thieves" this weekend!

Here's the back story.....
I was sitting at my desk today and Hannah comes down and says, "Mommy, I'm not supposed to tell you but Emma took this gum from the store yesterday (Sunday)." She holds up one of those pink tape roll gum things. I said, "She did?" Hannah says, "Yes, she put it under her sweater and told me not to tell you. I'm very sorry to tell you." She was so super sad that she told me. I reassured her I wasn't mad and that she did a good thing and that I'd talk with Emma about it. So, I thought about it all afternoon of how best to handle it. I thought of Bill Cosby and came up with my plan!

We picked EmmaKate up from school and we started talking about her day and what all happened. She told me about this and that and the fun she had on the playground. Then, I made my move! Here is our conversation:

Me: "Well, I got an interesting phone call today."
EK: "You did?"
Me: "Yes. The store manager at the grocery store called me and it seems he saw on his survellience video that we brought something home without paying for it. Would you know anything about that?"
EK: "Nope." (head quickly turned to look out her window)
Me: "Really? Nothing?"
EK: "No." (still staring out window, not looking at me)
Me: "Oh, well ok. That is just strange then. I guess I'll need to go tell the store manager that we just know nothing about that and maybe I should take a look at the video to see what he thinks he is seeing."
EK: (silence>)
EK: (meek little crackly voice) "Well, I might know something about that."
Me: "You do?"
EK: "Well, I may have taken some gum from the store yesterday."
EK: "But, Hannah told me to do it!" (loud voice)
Me: "This isn't about Hannah. So, what happened?"
EK: (crackly voice again) "Well, I wanted that gum so I took it out of the store and brought it home."
Me: "Hmmm. Do you think that was the right thing to do?"
EK: "No."
Me: "What do you think we should do about it?"
EK: "Take it back."
Me: "And???"
EK: "Give it back to the store and say I'm sorry. But, I'll be embarressed!!"
Me: "Those are the consequences. Do you think we should offer to pay for it since we took it?"
EK: "Yes..."
Me: "Ok then. I think we should do that today, right now actually. Let's go home, I'll pull in and you can hop out and get the item and your purse then we'll go to the store."
EK: (silence) "You mean I have to pay for it?!?!"
Me: "Yep."
EK: "But how much IS it? I only have $10 right now! Is it more than $10?!?"
Me: "I'm not sure. We'll have to ask how much it is."
Silence for a little while...
EK: "I forgot they had cameras in the store!"
Me: " They do. It catches people who steal!"
Sad face!!!

So, we go home and she gets the item and her purse and we go to the store. At this point, I am hoping that my favorite cashier is there and we can use him for this lesson. He is a super nice guy and a father of two so I thought he would help me instill this little "no-no". Alas, he was not working so we simply went to the customer service desk and waited. The entire time Emma did not let go of my hand! She was holding it so tight. I could tell she was super scared and super ashamed to have to admit this. Thank the Lord that this kind older woman appeared at the counter. She asked if she could help us. Emma just paused, looked at me and then placed the item on the counter. She said, "I took this from your store. I'm very sorry. May I please pay for it if you could tell me how much it is?" I was so proud of her! The kind lady looked up at me and could tell what was happening. She nodded her head and scanned the item. It was $1.49. Emma dug in her purse and pulled out a $5 and handed it to the lady. The lady rang her up and handed her the receipt. The next thing that happened was awesome! The lady then looked right at her and in a motherly kind of tone said, "We won't be seeing this happen again, will we?" Emma bowed her head and shook it gently. I just smiled and mouthed a huge thank you to her! She just winked back. What a perfect teaching moment!! We got back in the car and I asked for the gum. I told her that even though she did the right thing by taking it back and paying for it, she was not going to get to keep it because she aquired it the wrong way initially. Sadly, she nodded her head and said "It would have been easier had I just bought the gum!" I smiled again and then told her that she had one more person to tell tonight. Dad! She just lowered her head and said, "ok".

All in all, it turned out well. I wished she hadn't done it but there is always room for a good life lesson, right!?! So, my little thief has hopefully retired and this was her one and only "job"! Gotta love being a parent!!!

Doggie Prednisone?!?

During the last week of February, we noticed that Kutya (our 7 year old Vizsla) had a bubble forming on the inside of her eyelid. We thought she had just scratched it or something a little too hard but when it didn't go away a week or so later we decided to take her into the vet. The vet didn't really know what the issue was and recommended we see an animal opthamologist. Yes, believe it or not....they have doggie eye doctors!! I learned they even have animal internal medicine docs, animal oncologists, etc. I had no idea there were "specialties" for animals!!

Anyway, we saw the opthomolgist and she was diagnosed with Blepharitis/Meibomitis which means she had swelling in the conjunctiva and eyelids representing an immune mediated condition called granulomatous blepharitis. It is basically an autoimmune reaction to the lipid tear glands lining the eyelids related to a staph bacteria hypersensitivity. She had to have a biopsy done to the bubble that had formed in her eyelid so she had to be sedated...obviously! You'd have to seriously sedate me to stick a needle into my eye and draw tissue!!! Thankfully the tests came back negative so no tumor or anything. So basically, we now have a dog that has an auto immune disease and is currently on the drug, Prednisone! Some of you may know this drug. It's quite common for auto immune diseases.

It's been a week and a half since her biopsy and starting the Prednisone and her eyes look so much better! She looks almost back to normal with still some redness surrounding her eyes. We go back for a follow up this Thursday so they can begin to wean her down from the dosage and then hopefully we'll also learn if she has to remain on some level of this for the rest of her life or not.

I tell ya...I know friends and family on Prednisone but never thought my dog would be on it! At least she is doing well now and seems comfortable again...although the drug is making her more hungry and thirsty than ever and the idea of digging in the trash or pulling food off the counter has become much more appealing. GRRRREAT!! We'll keep ya posted....

Tahoe Snow Weekend

We had an awesome holiday weekend up in Tahoe with Robb's bible study group and all their families. It is an annual trip they take over President's Day weekend and this was our first time to go as Robb joined the group this past year.

It was so so much fun!!! We had planned to go up Friday but needed to stay for the funeral I mentioned in my last post on Saturday. So we packed the car, dropped the girls at our neighbors, went to the memorial service and then came home, loaded up and headed east hoping to be there by bedtime. The drive was great. We only hit a smidge of traffic around Sacramento but then clear sailing all the way to Tahoe City.

So a quick background....there are 9 guys in the bible study. All are right around the same age and in the same walk of life - meaning they all have been married around the 10 year mark and have kids about the same age. Which of course is what makes it an awesome bible study for Robb and super fun for these folks are also all our best friends at church. Everyone has between 2-4 kids, all under the age of 9 with the exception of one older sibling who is 14 I think. Perfect playmates here and there! Ok ready for the stats: the weekend consisted of 18 adults, 28 kids, 5 cabins, 2 very chaotic dinners, and 1 insane breakfast as we all crowded into one cabin for pancakes!

We arrived Saturday night and were bunking with the Kelly family. They have 4 kids; Ava - 7, Bennet - 5, Weston - 3, and Cami - almost 2. These are probably our bestest friends and our kids play together constantly so it was an easy weekend together. The kids all slept together in one room of the cabin, Robb and I (along with Hannah) had another room, and Jamie and Nate (and Cami) had the third room. It was perfect!

Sunday we got up and went to the insane breakfast. Saw everyone, literally, and visited a bit. All the mom's wanted to know how the memorial service went so I was able to share that with them. Then we all headed to Granlibakken for a day of sledding and skiing. The kids, and adults, had a blast! The sled hill was awesome! Super fun and super fast!! The ski area was great for little skiiers and beginners. It had 2 tow ropes; one that only took you up about half way and one that took you to the "top"of the hill/mountain. We out lasted everyone by a couple of hours. Suzanne Reese and her daughter ended up staying with us. Suzanne is the organizer of this whole weekend excursion thing as well as a former kids ski instructor. She knew how much I wanted to come up Friday night so we could put EK in ski lessons on Saturday but with the memorial, we just couldn't. So, she took her under her wing on Sunday afternoon and EK got a private lesson with Suzanne for a good 3 hours or so. It was fantastic and by the end...she was zipping down the hill all by herself again. Loved it!!

Later Sunday after we all went back to the cabins, we went cabin hopping stopping in to visit and play with anyone around. Dinner followed at the Reese's cabin. We had 4 families that night with us; 8 adults and 11 kids. Woozers!! The other families were at another cabin having dinner together. We were just so many that we broke into two large groups for dinners. We ended the night back at our cabin with the Kelly's, a fire, and a bottle of wine. So nice!!

Monday, everyone was up and gathering their things and cleaning up their cabins. After having breakfast at our own places, we went cabin hopping again saying goodbye and letting the kids have one last romp in the snow. We left around 11:30am, caravaning with the Kelly's, and stopping for lunch on the way out of town. We got home around 4pm, unloaded the car, and relaxed the rest of the night. A great weekend and we are already looking forward to next year! Thinking of making our stay even longer and enjoying some serious skiing!!

OK...so now time for pictures! I took over 450. I tried to wittle them down but it's still alot cause it was just so stinkin fun! You can breeze thru them if you like. The highlights are below though.

Click here for the whole album.

Dedicated to Julia Brown

Last Saturday, I had to attend my dear friend's memorial service for their baby girl barely 3 months old. It's not something anyone should ever have to do in their lifetime!! Julia Alexandra Brown was born November 18, 2011 and sadly was born numerous challenges. She had Down's Syndrome, an AV canal defect, and a fatal heart disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Dilated Cardiomyopathy is when the heart becomes weakened and enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently. She was a precious little girl who spent most of her 82 days alive at the Stanford hospital. She fought hard, as did her parents and her big sister Mattie (age 4), but sadly on February 1st the doctors presented the terrible news that they had done all they could do and that Julia was dying.

Val and Bob (her parents) spent as much time and energy as they could with her, holding her, taking family photos, inviting relatives to fly in to meet her, and on February 8th Julia died in her mom's arms at home surrounded by family and friends.

Sadly, I never got to meet her along with most everyone else as she spent so much time in a very protected ward of the childrens hospital. I was able to know her through Val and through Val's blog she kept almost daily of Julia's trials and tribulations, along with Val's own during this struggle of having to let her baby girl go. I am not doing her life justice at all in this blog. There is just so much to tell, to share, and to love about her. If you would like to get to know Julia, you can read Val's blog at http://juliaalexandrabrown.blogspot.com/ I will warn you, especially if you go back in time to get the whole story, you will have a hard time and it will make you cry. It is a terribly sad situation and Val shares everything with you. It's also an amazing journey to walk thru as well as you see how many people her little life impacted and how Val's testimony and her ability to share her inter most personal thoughts make you feel such a connection to Julia and Val and really a part of their family.

I am so sorry for your loss my dear friends! Our hearts, our prayers all go out to you!

Much love to you Val, Bob & Mattie....and to you little Julia Brown! We will surely miss you!!

Busy, busy...now it's on to Soccer!

We have been so busy since the new year began...I'm not sure if we are coming or going sometimes! Our January included Robb heading out to DC for army reserve duty for 2 weeks, from the 8th until the 21st (I think I blogged about all our activites during his trip). Then he was home for a week before I had to leave for Phoenix for a week for work. I came back and he left the next day for his weekend army reserve duties followed by a day's trip to San Diego. It's been a lot! And poor Hannah...the morning he left for San Diego she started crying saying everyone kept leaving and she just wanted us all to quit and stay home! Poor little thing!! If only it was that simple, right? Thankfully, no more trips for me...not sure about Robb but it comes with the territory, as you know.

All that to say, last weekend while he was at army the girls and I had a busy busy weekend! It started off on Saturday morning with the girls varsity soccer game up at the highschool. It was a special game, as the little warrior nation kids (emmakate) were welcomed to come and join in on the pre-game activities in the locker room, sit and listen to the coaches as they spoke to the team prior to the game, they were asked to run out on the field with the players and help set up the field, warm up and stretch out and finally invited to stay and cheer on the Valley girls varsity soccer team. EmmaKate's "big buddy" is a soccer player so she was able to hook up with her and be her little sidekick for the morning. We arrived at 10am and dropped her off at the locker room and then Hannah and I went and grabbed a spot on the field and waited for them to come warm up. It was so fun to watch all the little girls hanging out with these highschoolers who just adored them! We stayed all the way until kick off but then had to high-tail it back to the car, change EmmaKate's clothes into a fancy dress and a big boufont of a hat I made her as she had a birthday party for her best friend at church, Ava, at a tea house.

We drove over to Los Gatos and met up with the birthday girl and all her friends in all their fancy attire - so cute! - and dropped her off for the next hour and a half. Hannah and I then went across the street to Rockbottom Brewery, sat outside and had a nice long relaxing lunch together. I just loved it!! We then picked EK up from her tea party a few minutes early as we then had to jump back in the car, change her out of her fancy dress and into her jeans and boots and high-tail it out of Los Gatos and down to Gilroy for her horse riding lesson. We made it there with a minute to spare so I was quite pleased with myself. We walked into the barn and the girls ran over to greet Teddi, the trainer, and her horse GiGi was there waiting for her. After a great lesson and a great ride, we headed home to greet the Moore kids (Scott and Linnaea) as we were "babysitting" that night so their parents, Amy and Brian, could go to a concert together. It was a lot of fun....we only wished we had more time that night. The kids played, had dinner and a movie, and then it was time for bed sadly. Brian showed up around 11pm to scoop them up and take them back home.

That was the bulk of our weekend. Church the next day and AWANAS that night about sums it up. Fun weekend...but busy, busy!! :)

Here are some pics of the day!!

EmmaKate and her "big buddy", Noelle

Hannah joining in the fun

EmmaKate warming up with the girls

Sitting on the bench watching

My favorite pic of Hannah!!

The coach is handing out treats

A quick prayer pre-game

Go Team!

On to horse riding...and GiGi

Off to the arena

Doing great, EmmaKate!

Hannah watching bath time!

Click here for all the photos of the day!

A New Star on Track & Field!

As you may or may not remember, we signed EmmaKate up for a program called Little Warrior Nation at her elementary school. This program allows the child (parent) to pick up to 12 after school activities during the year. The activities range from everything from aquatics to tennis, soccer to softball, basketball to baseball, volleyball to track & field...and many more. It gives kids a chance to try out and learn various sports without committing to a season or a team until they find their niche. And then, if desired, can join a team and participate in the later elementary, jr high, and highschool years. It's a fantastic program! We have enjoyed just about everything (less softball - just too boring!!) so far this year.

Last week was EmmaKate's first go at Track & Field. She got to take the school bus from the elementary school to the highschool, along with all the other little warrior nation kids who selected this sport, at the end of the day and join up with the highschoolers who taught the kids the areas of the sport. Hannah and I went up a little early, around 430pm, to watch and pick her up at the end of the day.

It was such fun to see the main field at the highschool and to see what the girls have to look forward to. It has the most incredible view as you'll see in the pictures. She learned and got to participate in everything from sprints to relays with battons to learning the high jump and the shot put. Check out the "highschool" guy who was teaching her the shot put. He was this HUGE guy who just simply made all the kids look like little dwarfs! Amazing what highschoolers look like these days! Certianly dont' remember them being that big when I was there!! And, what impressed me so much was how super nice and caring and supportive they were to each and every child! Incredible group of highshcoolers!

EmmaKate found a new love! She had so much fun that day and she was really good at the events. She has one more Track & Field session in April Actually, it's on her birthday. So, we'll see if she still has the love of the sport as she did this particular day. She still has some tennis to go, a basketball, and a few volleyballs....so, I'll post those when they happen.

Enjoy the pics. I posted a few then put a link below them for the entire set.

Click here for all the photos of the day!

Hannah Starts Preschool!

Today was a very big day in the Balog house! Hannah started preschool today!!! She has been so excited and so ready since before Christmas and the excitment just kept building until today.

We drove to the school today and she kept saying in the backseat, "Today is MY lucky day!" It was so cute! We got to school and she hopped out and indulged me with a picture in front of the sign, then we headed in. She was so confident and the only thing she asked as we walked up to the door was, "Mommy, what if I REALLY need you while I am at school?" I reassured her that the teacher could reach mommy if needed and that was all the reassurment she needed.

We went in and said hello to the office staff then walked into her new room, The Ladybug Room. We were welcomed by her teacher and shown where her cubby was. She walked right in like she owned the place and made a new little friend before I even left. I am so proud of her! Such a big girl!! Check out the pictures below!

Now, the back story to all this is that Monday night EmmaKate woke up around 10pm sick to her stomach. She and I spent the entire rest of the night on the bathroom floor and she spent most of it sick. Tuesday morning was technically supposed to be Hannah's first day of preschool as she will be going Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. I simply decided that Emma was too sick and couldn't ride in the car and Robb is out of town so....it's just me. We stayed home and Hannah was really great about giving up her "first day" and waiting. I called the school and explained my sad case and they were so great in that they let her start Wednesday (today) and also go tomorrow as usual. So, last night EmmaKate did pretty well. She slept thru the night but woke up and threw up twice. Ugh! She said she was OK and was willing to take Hannah to school with me so we all loaded up, Emma staying in her jammies with a bucket beside her, and headed off to school. She was a total trooper!

We picked Hannah up at 12:30pm and came back home and doing OK. EmmaKate is hanging in there and so far has been able to keep a popsicle down and 2 crackers - woo hoo! I'll keep her home again tomorrow and she and I will take Hannah to preschool again. Hopefully, she'll be well enough for school Friday and none of the rest of us will get this nasty little bug.

So, enough of all that icky stuff! Onto pictures of our newest preschooler!!!!