Yesterday my sister and I took off to spend the day in Chicago together. She just lost her job recently and doesn't really get out much and I wanted to go see a show one more time so I figured it would be some fun sister bonding time. We have an odd relationship. When she was 15 she came to live with me and I went from being her sister to her parent. When she moved out a couple years ago we kinda lost contact due to some family issues and just recently got back in touch about a year ago. We have done the girl thing and went to lunch and hung out but its been akward. Its very hard to go from being a sister to a parent and then back to being a sister again. So this time for us was greatly needed to kind of reestablish our sister bond and learn how to just be sisters and have fun. And we did! We had loads of fun!! I have been to Chicago before but never downtown and she had never been to Chicago at all. She had never even seen a toll booth before let alone downtown Chicago. So it was great to get to experience that with her. To see her get so excited over a toll booth made my day! :-) I can't express how much fun we had together. Of course we saw the show twice as most of you already know. Yes again! :-) While the show was what intiated this trip it was more than just seeing a show, it was a much needed bonding time between two sisters! And the show didn't disappoint either! They were on top of it at the night show, the emotions were flying and it was fantastic!! We also visited Millenium Park and got to be a little silly with The Bean and took pictures to prove it! :-)

The Bean

Yes we laid on the ground and it was so much fun! :-)

Us taking a picture of us taking a picture! LOL!

Looking up from under The Bean.

Me being silly!

We had so much fun taking pictures with this!

Ashley at her first broadway show...and my favorite show!

We had so much fun, wait...did I already say that! Haha! I have been informed that this will not be the last, that its just the beginning...I can't wait!! :-)

Announcing.....

the newest members of our family....

Dixie (aka Dixie-do, and yes she answers to that, its the cutest thing ever) who is a Holland Lop- Torte. She is extremely friendly and already has one leg under her (which in regular terms means she has already won Grand Champion once!)


Joe... is a Thrianta (which is a new and gorgeous breed). He came from a well known breeder and his mom was a champion, which apparently is a good thing! :-) He is still a little skittish when being held, but sits on the table extremely well. I just remembered that he was shown last week and won best of show!
This really isn't a great picture, but it was the one that showed off his red firey color the best!

So after much fretting and many hours of research we finally walked out of the barn with, in my opinion, the 2 best rabbits in the entire barn. But I'm a little biased! :-)

Mason is 9!!!

So for some reason this birthday year was hard for me. I know that it should be next year with him hitting the double digits and all, but it was this year. I think its because I know he's approaching it and see it in his maturity, conversations and such. The other day while watching tv (a commercial about the new Disney movie coming out) he made the comment "she's pretty". What?! Seriously! Where did that come from? I was in complete shock and was speechless. It would have been the perfect teachable moment and could have probably sparked some great conversations...would have been, had I known what to say and not gone all speechless and all. I am not ready for him to be so grown up, but on the other hand its nice to be able to carry on great conversations with him. If that makes any sense at all. Okay, well enough talk of him growing up. Lets get to the pictures!

The Sonic Cake!

Sonic Movie
Sonic Wii Game
Sonic T-Shirt (yes, another one!)...Do you notice a pattern here? :-)
And here was the big one! I'll explain first. Mason has been asking for this for some time. He brought it up again when asked if there was anything he wanted for his birthday. I kindly told him that they were just too expensive right now and he (surprisingly) said that's okay mom I'll just have something else. I was shocked by his reaction, he is really maturing. I was expecting a huge fit and that's not what happened at all. He would see them on tv and when we were out and just say I wish they weren't so expensive and that was it. No fit, not temper, no whining, nothing. Thats when I realized he was ready for it, to respect it and take care of it. So with the help Mama and Dave, because they are expensive, we were able to suprise him with it. :-)
The happiness was glowing on his face!
...as a little side note, it holds audiobooks too!! And we have the actual book of a couple so I will be using this to my advantage. ;-)
Here he is sporting some of his birthday gifts! The shirt was an awesome gift from his Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky! Thanks guys he loves it!
Now onto embarrassing the twins. I know that they are probably too old for bath pictures and pretty soon they'll be too old to take baths together, but I have to post these. They are hularious and I made sure that I kept it to just their bellys and up.
Weston..."I feel like a flower."

Very Random...

*We have been so busy, from finding things to do to get out of the house and not spend a fortune, to getting back on track with our schoolwork, to many trips to the eye doctor, etc...Its been seriously ridiculous!

*We made a trip to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum last week, I think it was last week. hahaha They have a new lego area and I must say even as a girl, I loved that area!! We spent so much time in there. Here are some of the creations the kids made.

*For some reason this week I was feeling extremely adventurous. Don't ask where it came from, I have no idea. We were all having major cabin fever (seriously..it is spring yet) so thanks to the handy internet this is what we did!

This was SOOO much fun!!! The boys had a blast and honestly..so did I! Yes I did climb, but I will not be posting pictures on here of that. :-) I'm sure you all don't care to see my butt. hahaha Weston (very surprisingly) is a little dare devil. That boy would do whatever he had to do to reach that next rock. He was a climbing machine! Most of those pictures are of him because I was in complete shock at what he would attempt. Isaac loved to free climb without the rope and Mason, well, climbed a lot more than I ever thought he would. This is good for him people, he's a weeny, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Its just he's not good with trying things new and all, but this was a hit with him.

*We made yet another trip to the eye doctor today, twice in fact! Once to pick up Westons glasses and another trip to have them tighten the nose piece a little more because they almost hit the floor when they fell off his face. For those of you counting...that makes 7 times in less than 2 weeks!!!! Needless to say they start cracking the jokes the minute we walk in. :-) And...we have to make another trip! LOL Masons lens were scratched so we are going to go ahead and replace them, they were covered under warranty and he made it a full year with those so I am extremely impressed.

Notice Isaac giving Weston bunny ears in the background! LOL "Did you get the ears in the picture Mom?" :)
For those of you that will still have trouble telling them apart now....Weston has the blue ones and Isaac is in the green ones! :) They look so handsome!

*I have been searching for new curriculum already for next year. I have decided to stay with the same math program, but would like to find something more stable for science, history and geography. I have found something I really love, but its rather expensive. I'm hoping to look at it at the convention coming up next month before I purchase it. I still can't find a good language program, but hope to soon. The twins have started some new books to supplement with until next year when we finish our Abeka program. I just want to review a little more and make sure they know their stuff before we move on. You can never review enough. :)

*Alright one more picture because I just can't resist! They really do love each other...I promise! :-)

The verdict is in...

*drum rolls*....

So here's the scoop. After some research the doctor found that treating children with Amblyopia for -1.5 nearsightness can often correct it. I hope that makes sense. What it basically does is causes his brain to make his eye focus on things faraway instead of shutting it down. Remember, Weston has very good vision, he just doesn't use his lazy eye as much as we use both of ours because its easier to just use one. The object is to get his brain to use BOTH of his eyes. Apparently when you go to the eye doctor and they put the black thing in front of you eyes and move it back and forth your eyes are NOT supposed to move, Westons move A LOT! So when he put the lens up to his eyes and did that again they moved very little...I didn't even notice that they moved at all, that how small it was. We are going to try this on a trial basis for 3 months. He wants him to wear them as much as possible so that we can see if its going to work.

Oh, and for all of you who can't tell them apart, they are wearing the same glasses but....Weston will be sporting the BLUE glasses and Isaac will be sporting the GREEN ones! Hope that helps you all out! LOL :-)

***Oh, and I can't wait for their hair to grow back out!! It's a little too short and I'm not fond of it. Its really hard to keep it trimmed and make it look the same. I'm so glad their hair grows fast! :-)

Lab rat...

So today Mason and I made yet another trip to the eye doctor. Just for those of you keeping records, including picking up glasses that makes 4 trips in 1 week and on our way to making it 5 in a week and a half! Did I ever mention how much I love our eye doctor? Well, I do!! Weston's vision is fairly good, not bad enough for glasses, even with his Amblyopia. But the chance of his vision going bad are fairly good. His brain could eventually get tired of making his eye work so much and eventually quit. So he, the doctor, is taking the time to research the best way to treat this and make/keep his eye strong. We have to make another trip in on Friday so he can test some theories and therapies on him to see what could work. I am so appreciative of this. We made a trip to Riley a while back and I was not happy with the outcome. I am so happy with this doctor!!

We have been there so much that when we walked in today we didnt even have to check in and they joked about just setting us aside a permanent room. LOL Mason checked out great! He said that he was a little worried that his perscription would have changed, apparently as kids go through growth sprurts it often does that, but his didn't which is great. Then it was my turn and I became the lab rat. lol I have whats called Dwaynes Syndrome. Its where when I look right my right eye doesn't go that way, but when I look left my right eye squints to see in that direction. I often get doubled vision when I look over my right shoulder. Anyway, the girls in the office had never seen it which caused the lady to put a bunch of question marks on my chart because she didn't know what it was. So he asked me if he could bring them in and show them and explain what it was and how it caused. I was more than happy to let him do that because then I got to learn more about it too. Friday, its Westons turn to be the lab rat...LOL!

So we have one boy thats nearsighted, one with Amblyopia, one with astigmatism and me with a slight astigmatism, slight farsightness and Dwaynes Syndrome. Whew!! The Tweddell family with all our eye problems. :-) And William hasn't even been checked out yet. LOL

Back to normal.

I made it back home safe and sound. I had so much fun and none of it would have been possible if it weren't for the generousity of Ann and Amy letting me crash at their place. Thank you guys so much! I appreciate everything you guys did for me.

While I had the time of my life and it was so nice to get away for a while, it is now time to get back to normal. And I missed the boys like crazy! So we started off the day picking up Isaacs glasses. That was the first thing he asked me when I walked in. It wasn't hi mom or I missed you or hugs and kisses, it was "can we go get my glasses now?" So that was the first thing on the list today.

And here he is....We need to have his hair trimmed so its off his eyes. He has expressed that he doesn't want it cut because he loves it long, so I have promised him that we will only have it trimmed very little. Weston is a little upset that he does not have glasses to match his brother. I am trying to explain to him that its a great thing that he doesn't need glasses, but he just doesn't see it.

Well, I'm completely exhausted, but I have some more errands to run. So I'm off! :-)