I'm blind without my glasses

In chronological order...
Miriam met Ronald McDonald during Catholic Schools Week at the beginning of February. Even got to go to the front of the assembly with her teacher to help him do a trick.

Miriam really had no clue who he was...maybe a vague idea. But Mommy counts this as a parenting victory. Protection from fast food in all its shining glory.

We had five deer in our backyard one evening last week. We LOVE experiencing the nature in the woods in our backyard. Many evenings we can hear an owl hooting outside. Just another reminder what a blessing our new home is!

Last week was a big week for Vivian as we began the doctor appointments before entering Kindergarten. She started off at our family doctor which turned out pretty rough with the first set of shots and a topical, chemical treatment of a skin virus Mommy misdiagnosed as eczema. Parenting fail.

She had her eye doctor appointment later in the week. And what we thought would be a 30 minute appointment turned into 2 hours and 45 minutes because...

...Vivian needs glasses. Felicity was well behaved during this ordeal, like normal.

But Viv decided she did not want glasses. At all. And she wasn't trying any on and she wasn't cooperating with the eye doctor. There were no hysterical fits...just a very passive patient claiming she couldn't read ANY of the letters or identify any of the pictures. Huh. Well that's just gonna get you some eye dilation, child, so the doctor can get a better look at what's happening. (Did you know eye dilation makes kids tired and grumpy? We learned that.)

Eventually she warmed up a tiny bit to the idea of glasses when a pair with Anna from Frozen was offered.

And we picked out a backup pair because Viv is just hard on stuff.

There was also a bribe involved to maker her at least decent during the last half of the appointment...Burger King. So much for life fast-food-free.

And it turns out fast food is terrible for you, especially if you don't have a gall bladder, like Mommy.

After surviving all that, Mommy and Daddy were pretty pleased to have plans to visit the Beer Exchange in Kalamazoo again with some of Sarah's siblings. Aunt Bridget and Uncle Ryan spent the night that evening, which makes the girls giddy with happiness. They made a plan for how they would wake up Aunt Bridget and Uncle Ryan. They sang "Happy Birthday" to Aunt Bridget and said to Uncle Ryan, "Wake up, Uncle PoodlePants!" Silliest wake up calls for the silliest person they know.

So a whole day of fun with Bridget and Ryan. ALSO, let's talk about groceries. In this picture, Miriam is eating an entire container of raspberries in one sitting by herself. They say teenage boys eat a lot...but so do little girls!

That evening was more adult family time with some square dancing. The best.

The next day? More family time...a peanut butter cookoff...Bridget and Ryan won with their burgers topped with homemade peanut butter chipolte BBQ sauce.

...and baby Catherine time. These girls LOVE their baby cousin. Poor baby girl cries from being "over loved" but a few cuddles from her parents fixes it all right up. 

But don't you love Catherine's legs! Chunk-a-MONK!