Before we go...

Before we head off into the Sunset for our Thanksgiving Utah trip next week I wanted to do one last blog post/picture dump. And in case you are wondering no we are not even close to being ready mentally or physically for this trip. I did however buy a lot of children's Dramamine, so that should help! 

The Chick-Fil-A at our mall has fun stuff for us to attend every once in awhile. They do the dress like a cow day, we have done mother daughter date night there and a few weeks ago they had super hero night. My boys aren't big into super heros, they can identify some of them, but have never watched a movie about them. I had to explain to Jaxton that this was Ironman, but once I did he was excited and wanted a picture with him. 

Preston had his very first field trip! They went to Rockin R Ranch. They had the kids come dressed like cowboys for the occassion. He got to pan for gold, try to lasso and learned some cowboys songs. He had a lot of fun. They are reading "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingles Wilder at school so this was a great way for them to see what it was like in the olden days. He likes to tell me all about the olden days and always says "Back in the "older" days...." and then tells me what they did/didn't have. 

Gearing up for our Utah trip I had to get the boys big warm jackets. We have hoodies but didn't have big jackets. Thankfully we found some pretty cheap at Savers. I tried Lucas's on him and he rolled around on the floor and couldn't get up. It reminded me of A Christmas Story and the little boy in his snowsuit who "can't put his arms down".  

I think the day he turned 2 a switch flipped in Lucas and now he wants to be so independent. If he can't climb into his car seat or out of his car seat by himself he flips out. He wants to do everything on his own. He's learned how to put a waffle in the toaster and cook it, He insists on opening and closing the door to let the dog out. On this particular day he said he would do breakfast by himself and so he did. And I let him. 

One of my favorite bands since childhood, Hanson, came to perform at the AZ State Fair so i was brave and drove into Phoenix by myself to see them! It was great even if they only played for 45 minutes. 

And this was my reward for being a big brave girl and driving into phoenix myself on a Friday night. Worth it.

More trouble with Preston's ears. We had to get a 2nd opinion on the holes in his eardrums because his regular ENT didn't know what to do with them. But 2 days before we were going to see the new ENT he got a double ear infection, so we had to go to Urgent Care to get that taken care of. 

The new ENT was concerned about the size of the hole in his right ear drum so she sent us to go see a Otolaryngology doctor who just does ear stuff. He also was concerned since the hole is effecting his hearing quite a bit. So in December he will be having a surgery called Tympanoplasty where they will make an incision behind his ear, get some fibrous tissue and then attach that to his eardrum. It's a bigger surgery then he has ever had before but the only other alternative is for him to wear a hearing aid in that ear. The hole in the other ear isn't as large and that one they can fix with a paper patch. He wont be able to hear so well for 6 weeks but after that he should be good. 

I love love love Jaxton's school pictures!!!! 

Jaxton had some birthday money so on Veterns Day when they didn't have school we went to Chuck E. Cheese to play. They loved it, and even Lucas got into it and was excited to earn 1-2 tickets. 

 

It is absolutely gorgeous weather these days so we spend a lot of time so we spend a lot of time outside or at the park. 

The boys are now at an age where they can successfully and with little supervision clean the downstairs bathroom by themselves. Lucas empties the trash, Preston does the mirror and sink, Jaxton does the toilet. 

Lucas vs. The Bus.
On the mornings when Lucas walks with us to take Preston to the bus he and Jaxton always try to race the bus. As you can see Lucas does not like to lose. It's kind of hilarious. 

Jaxton had his 4 year well check this week. He's great and healthy of course. He failed his hearing test at school last month (seriously what is with my boys and their ears?!) so we had to get that checked out. But jaxton has a cronic ear wax problem. No, really. He makes too much ear wax and it gets built up and has to be removed. The worked on it for an hour at the appointment, which was just miserable for him- they have to use a giant syringe to squirt water into his ear to loosen it up and then the doctor can use a little scope and pull it out. The chunks they were getting out of his ear were the size of m&ms. No wonder he failed his test! He still has a big chunk attached to his Left ear drum so we will do some drops at home to soften it and in a few weeks go in and see if they can pull it out. Poor kid just cries and screams and has to be held down while they do it. And then after all that was over he had to get a flu shot. Rough day. 

This morning I took these two to get their flu shots and they were amazing!! They didn't even cry!! I couldn't believe it. Such good boys. 

And now I will spend the next few days making lists, doing laundry and psyching myself up for a 11 hour drive with Sir Pee Pants and Sir Pukes a lot.
Should be fun.