January brings the snow

Luke as Max


Lily as Fancy Nancy


Fancy Nancy


Baby Elyse Marie Hartley 1/27/2010-Grand niece

The kids went back to school after Christmas for three days before nasty weather set in and it was two more days without school. This creates the problem of what to do with the kids as work goes on. Luckily Aunt Kim was in town and between she and John the kids had a nice long weekend. Back at school one day was dress as your favorite storybook character. Lily chose "Fancy Nancy" and wore an outfit with lots of accessories including feathers in her hair, actually not so much different from what she typically picks to wear. Luke made the perfect Max from "Where the wild things are" with the fur wolf hat we got from Yue Jia several years ago.

Lily has had the dream of wearing glasses. Now when I was 7 and found out I had to wear glasses I cried my eyes out. The first day I wore them to school I lost them. Mom tells the story of how poor they were and had just purchased the pair of glasses for me and then I lost them on the first day. She went to the school yard and looked until she found them. They were gray cat eye glasses, no wonder I didn't want to wear them. I bought Lily a pair of Hello Kitty clear glasses with pink frames to wear to satisfy her desire. I decided to have both kids eyes tested just to be on the safe side. I had been told about a year ago that Luke was slightly far-sighted. I figured as long as I was having him tested I might as well take Lily. Surprise, it was found that Lily is also far-sighted and her right eye turns slightly inward. She was thrilled to hear the doctor say, "you need glasses." Luke gets to wait another year to see how his eyes progress. Meanwhile Lily picked out the cutest (most expensive) purple glasses. She was confused as to why she could not wear them home that day as they already had lenses in them. We are still waiting for the glasses to arrive. I wonder how long it will be before they are lost? Hopefully longer than it took me to lose mine. I have already warned her teacher that this pair of glasses is real and they need to stay on her face during school.

This week brought more snow, about 6" of it. My great niece was born in a snowstorm in Amarillo Texas on Wednesday. They got 12" of snow and of course have no real snow removal equipment. The family got to spend three nights in the hospital with baby Elyse Marie Hartley before being sent home. The kids got out of school early on Friday and we have had two days of playing in the snow. Today I showed them how to make a snow fort just like I did as a kid in Minnesota. We had a lively snowball fight and Luke caught me good under the chin. Lily got mad when I got her in the head but after a minute of pouting was out again in full force.

It was a very rough week for my Dad. I called him last Monday night and during the conversation he mentioned that he thought Mom had gone off the deep end. She has had demnetia for several years now and her window of reality gets a bit smaller at each visit. This time Mom had wandered off outside without Dad knowing. She went out without a coat while he was out in the garage. She made it up the hill and out to a busy road before a woman picked her up. How she remembered her phone number is a miracle in itselt but Dad got a call from a woman who was on her way to work when she found Mom walking along the road. I traveled down to Bella Vista the next day to help Dad and we ended up admitting her to a special program called Resolutions for a complete evaluation. The time has come when Dad can no longer care for her. It wouldn't be so bad if he was in good health but his COPD has him on oxygen 24/7 and even the act of walking to the front door is a major undertaking. What to do with a man who is so determined to stay independent during the last days of his life. I am the closest living relative at 2 hours travel time. Mom will probably be ready to be released sometime this week and my sister from Wisconsin is coming down to figure out where Mom will go. In reality both need to be under constant medical care but that may be a hard sell with Dad.