Up date

Well it's been you know, many months since I said anything to the great wide world of webbish, so I will now say some stuff.
We helped my Dad move into a new home with his lovely wife Monica this past Saturday. When we got there, Monica's son Carlton was pulling baby raccoons out of the fire place, it was so SAD, they had to be killed because they were so sick, their mother had abandoned them in there. But Carlton took care of things, then we cleaned and hung blinds and ate some really awful DQ, I still get sick thinking about that food, ich! What else...we went to see UP, so good, very sweet, lovely. The kids liked it, then we went and bought some cute cookies, FUN.
We have been up in AF canyon a bunch, with some friends of ours, the Oylers, and family.We enjoy burning food and wood and having fun, we all love it up there. Gator took me up there for a date, we watched a movie on our portable DVD player, it was so fun. We had the river right behind us and the tree's are so awesome up there. Oh man, best date ever. Oh ya, we also ate at this wonderful new place: Blue Lemon, delicious, love it, cant wait to get back there and try some more of their food.
Maggie and I went to my Carli's house and got our toes all be-sparkled and shiny, so fun. I have peach and Magg-a-roo has purple.
I have been running and biking and roller blading more and more, I love it. Ah Summer time.
We went to a parents of deaf kids conference a couple of weekend ago. We learned a ton about hearing aids and cochlear implants, which did us no good for Ira, because he has no options in those area's, but it did help us to learn about all our friends with implants and hearing aids, it was hard though, I cried a lot. Ira was the only kid there with a hearing problem that cannot be aided in any way, he is very unique in the modern deaf world, so many parents are choosing to have the implants put in, its a very touchy subject in the community. Many deaf adults, say that the implants are fine but that parents and family members should also learn ASL, because implants are so rarely successful. I personally know of only one adult with a successful implant, but I know MANY adults that have them and use them at work, or going to the store, just to be able to hear a tiny bit, in case of emergency, and to help with lip reading. But the rest of the time they choose not to use them because the sound is so hard to locate, if it's not coming from the person they are looking at, they have no idea where it's coming from. Basically from what I understand from talking to them, it makes them really grumpy to have them on too much. Anyway I am just a Mom of a kid that's Deaf, and I have only been checking this out for about a year or so, so I have a ton to learn.
Ira and Maggie start at the school for the Deaf and Blind in august or September, and I will also be going, either as a class room aide or a volunteer, the school is in Sugarhouse, so I asked if I could volunteer and the Principal asked me to apply for a job, so we shall see if I get it, either way I get free ASL everyday. I am so excited/nervous.
Ira is the first new Deaf child to start there in over a year, because of all the cochlear implants going on, in fact over 90 % of the families with a deaf child and hearing parents never learn sign. Most Deaf adults I know learned sign as adults or teens, and that is still happening, because people just think it's too hard to learn a second language, I wish I could do something to change the system so that Class's were more available and affordable for all the parents of Deaf children.
Anyway... um lets' see Oh! My mom is dating a lovely Man, his name is Britt, he is so nice and everything wonderful for my Mom. They are very cute together. I can't remember seeing my Mom so happy, so much of the time, it is kinda funny to watch. She is always smiling and laughing and kissing us all on the cheek, it is hysterical. Love it!
Let's see... Kimble is such a unique funny, compassionate, thoughtful, intelligent little tyke. Example, during his class performance, all the kids are doing what the teacher says and following along doing all the little moves and Kimble is absolutely different, not rowdy, just unique, he is choosing which of the moves is acceptable and which ones he is not comfortable with. During the school dance festival, the kids were supposed to be pretending to surf, and Kimble was absolutely doing that, in his little mind he was in the ocean on a surf board trying not to fall. Several people commented on it, and his cuteness. He is so cool. He gets to know people before he trusts them, he doesn't just trust you because your his teacher or your an adult or someone tells him that he should, he figures it out on his own. He is not disrespectful, just introspective and quiet and thoughtful. He is good with his manners most of the time. I just think he is the coolest kid. Right now he is planning on being a helicopter pilot, specifically an Apache helicopter pilot.
Mag's is loving playing with friends and her new cousin Leisel. Leisel loves Maggie, they laugh whenever they are near one another. Lara and I love that. So many times Leisel has been crying and Maggie comes up and says "Leisel, Hi, Leisel" and then it's all smiles, so cool. Maggaroo, likes a mess, her room, sneaks out into the entire house, she loves to take over, and mess it UP! I have never known such a messy little person, hoping she will out grow that, and I am considering cutting down her toy inventory if does not improve soon. She is also very smart and comes up with some pretty dang funny things to say. Love her.
Ira loves to throw things at people anything he can get his hands on and pick up, if it's not to heavy he will chuck it, if it hits a person all the better, because then he gets watch a fun show, where all the people he knows start rushing around picking things up and crying, and making lots of interesting gestures. He just loves that, the rest of us, not so much... like I personally don't enjoy the many times the remote has been chucked at my head. Besides the chucking he doing well, he is on track for a two and half year old. His sign is coming along, but he has a ways to go, he understands more that he can do. I know school will help a bunch. He is very loving and sweet even when he is chucking stuff, he doesn't look nasty he just looks curious. When he's not chucking stuff, he plays in the sand box, or cries at the freezer for Popsicles. He loves to hang out on my lap and love me up. And he loves his Daddy, he always has a smile for Gator when he comes home from work.
Gator is doing well, he got a second job, and he loves the work. He is doing really well with ASL, he is still in scouts, and I think he likes it. Allergies are kicking his behind right now. He's looking forward to Lake Powell with his family, I am deathly afraid, so we'll see...We hope to take the kids to Lagoon this summer, they loved it last year, they still talk about it.
Anyway that's us. I am going to see if I can get Gator to post some Pics for all of you. Thanks for loving us and we love you too.