Bells Palsy?

Tyler and I had a talk the other day about how even though we have witnessed many trials over the last few years, we have been blessed with good health.  You would think that a person who has my good fortune could learn to keep her mouth closed.  Apparantly, We are at a point in our lives where we are ready for "progression". So whenever I get cocky and think that I am "blessed" in one particular area, it has to be tested...How else can I truly appreciate it?
So all last week and the beginning of this week I had the worst headache. Nothing I did would relieve the pain. Yesterday I started to have some wierd symptoms that literally came out of no where. I noticed that I could not wink my right eye and then by the time I went to bed, I could not close my eye at all and when I woke up this morning my vision was very blurred. I was also having trouble with my mouth. I can't  lick my lips or form my mouth around a spoon.  Rinsing with mouthwash was interesting because it all shoots out the right side of my mouth.  I was looking in the mirror and I noticed that my right eye was drooping a little and that my "smile" lines were gone. I have to admit I began to be a little concerned, because the only symptoms that I knew of with facial paralysis was stroke. Needless to say I saw my doctor this afternoon and she said that I contracted a virus that set up camp in the space where my facial nerve resides The inflamation has caused the right side of my face to become paralyzed. The kicker is that it will probably take about 12 weeks for it to work its way out of my body.  Thankfully, most people my age who are in good health,should recover completely... Lets cross our fingers...She gave me prednasone, an antiviral drug called acyclovir, and some eye drops to keep my eye moist since it is open all the time. The plus side to all of this is that I have lost about five years in the right side of my face.  My doctor said that "paralysis is as good as botox."  SWEET!!!  But, I will be willing to trade the "free botox" for normal facial function any day. (Ha Ha )
So if you see me and only half of my face is smiling at you, or you notice that only one of my eyes is blinking, know that I am not trying to start a new trend. And if you think its funny, I'm a good sport and I wont take it personally if you chuckle at my new look! Ha Ha Ha.

ARGH.  All I'm missing here is my eyepatch!!!

Magnifying Talents?

I offered to make the cake for Trey's first Blue and Gold Banquet.  It's been a while since my cake decorating days at Walmart, but I guess it could have turned out a lot worse.  I definately need more excuses to practice...

3 tier 16"square, 12"round, 8"round

It took 10 cake mixes and three quarts of heavy cream

The decoration on top was a color flow design that I made. It literally gave me a headache.

I had a lot of fun...

Boys

Trey had a friend over today for a play date. They were working on putting together one of Trey's Lego sets. I heard Trey start humming a tune. Within a few seconds, his friend jackson starting humming along:

J: "Where did you find that song anyways?"
T:"I don't know, I found it in my head."
J:Oh, cool...

I had to laugh. What a great conversation...
They continued to sing while they were playing legos...
I love moments that make me smile. Had to capture the singing on video...

Another Learning opportunity

Last night for FHE, Haley was in charge of treats.  We decided to make sugar cookies.  I gave Haley the recipe and told her that she could make them while I was cleaning up the kitchen from dinner.  (She took six months worth of lessons from Young Chef's Academy, so she is pretty comfortable in the kitchen.)  She got out all the ingredients and put them into the bowl and began to mix.  After a couple minutes she was getting frustrated because the batter was really dry and crumbly.

 I asked her if she followed the directions and added all the ingredients.  She assured me that she did.  Well, after talking with her for a few minutes, she discovered that even though she added all the ingredients, she did not read and follow the directions. Instead of making the cream and slowly adding the flour, she quickly threw all the ingredients in the bowl at one time which made it hard for the cream to be distributed.  Needless to say, the cookies came out extra crunchy. (Which is not a Johnson Favorite).  I am grateful that Haley had this opportunity.  We are always busy around our home and don't have a lot of extra time.  We were able to talk about the value of time and how important it is to carefully follow directions, not only to ensure that you do a good job, but that that job is done right the first time.  Needless to say, we were able to enjoy cookies as a treat, it just took a little longer than we would have liked.  I bet next time, we'll only have to do it once...

Recognition

While I was driving the kids to school the other morning, we had one of those little moments that you just have to smile at.  We normally drive down Camino De La Tierra through the Rillito to get the kids to school.  Since there has been so much rain, the river has been closed for about three weeks now.  Now we take I-10, which takes a lot longer to get to school.  This particular morning, we left in plenty of time to get to school, but for some reason the traffic was really backed up at Orange Grove and I-10.  We had forgotten to say our family prayer that morning and since we were not going anywhere anytime soon, I asked Trey if he would say the prayer in the car for us.  He did and when he was praying, he asked that we could get to school on time.  Even though we left in plenty of time, the current back up of traffic made me question whether we would make it.  As soon as Trey concluded the prayer, the traffic opened up.  Trey said, "Wow, did you notice that as soon as I said amen, the cars began to move?"  I loved that he automatically made the connection between his prayer and the traffic clearing up.  It was a great moment for my family to see an immediate answer to a prayer.  We did make it to school on time that morning, and had it not been for the traffic suddenly clearing up, we would have been late.

Visit with Grandma Reed

Grandma Reed came into town this past weekend and we had a family picnic at Riverfront Park.  It was so much fun.  There was great food, good company and football.  What more could you ask for...

Grandma Carol, Grandma Reed, mandy, Ally, Tyler, Daisya, Trey and Haley

Christi, Daniel, Grandma Carol, Grandma Reed, Vickie, Jim and Mickey

Jeff, Dawson, Grandma Carol, Holden, Grandma Reed, Alissa, and Nannette

Jeff, Grandma Carol, Grandma Reed, mandy, Kathy, and Vickie

Grandma Carol, Grandma Reed, kali, kathy, Richard and Neal

The Whole Family

Playing Football

It was a great day, the only thing that was missing was Paul and his wife Frajelle.  Hopefully Next Time...

Blue and Gold

One week after Trey joined Scouts, he earned his Bobcat award.  I am so proud of Trey.  He has such a can do attitude.  He reminds me so much of his Father.  When he gets his mind set on something, he see's it through to the end, no matter how difficult the tast.

This is Trey doing the Football Cheer...

I was so honored to be able to receive a pin from Trey because of his accomplishments.

Keep up the Good Work Trey

Rodeo program and Grandparents day at Carden!

Wednesday February 24, the kids put on a program at their school in honor of Rodeo days and Grandparents day!  

We started the day off with a special spaghetti lunch and rodeo with Daisya's kindergarten class.  The day before, they learned about churning butter and the class actually made their own.  I have to admit it was pretty good...

They have their stick horses and laso's and are ready to go!

Time for a practice gallop around the court...

Now onto barrel racing...

A rodeo world not be complete without a an attempted steer laso...

The rest of the program was performed by all of the kids.  They sang and danced and we all had a great time:

Time for the Virginia Reel...

Daisya cuttin' some rug...

Trey Tearin' it up...

Poor Haley actually had to dance with a boy...

does she look a little embarassed?

Grandma Carol and the Kids...

Happy Grandparents Day!

Lego Party Time...

This year Trey wanted a lego Birthday Party.    We made the invitations...

Decided on the cake...

and confirmed the guestlist which included 18 boys from school and church...

I ordered a 5 lb tub of legos from ebay for 28.00 (free shipping) and made a buffet of legos for the boys to make their own lego creation.  They got to keep whatever they made...

 We had a pinata, guessed how many legos were in my (Thank you for letting your husband go to the Philippines) vase from Tiffanies that I could never afford on my own, built legos, played Lego rockband, Lego Indiana jones and Lego Batman, and let the boys play to their hearts imagination out in the backyard.  We had a great time...

Just Chillin'

Lunch Time!

Time to Blow out the Candle!

The Lego Buffet...

Camden and Nate Rockin out to Lego Rockband!

Will's Spaceship...

Jackson's Creation

Han's creative side...

Jacob and Joshua show off their ships...

Thank you to all of you who helped make Trey's party such a great success!