Poor vision woes

Not everyone is blessed with 20/20 vision. Some people can't even get their peepers corrected to 20/20 with glasses (I am one of those!). While sometimes blurry vision can be a good thing (bokeh photography anyone?) it's not always all it's cracked up to be.

I don't wear contacts because they do not improve my vision any better, I have dry eyes, and they require more maintenance than I am willing (or have) to give them. This makes a lot of things that some take for granted very difficult for me.

Nurtured Heart Parenting

A therapist turned us in the direction of the Nurtured Heart approach to parenting and I don't think we will be turning back any time soon. It's not wild or radical or complicated. It is simple, straightforward and it works. It was almost like a miracle with our oldest child. We have barely started to implement the technique and we have already seen a major shift in her actions and attitudes. Of all of the things we have tried in the last 4 1/2 years, this one is actually continuing to work also! Our daughter is asking for the recognition when she is doing something good. She is more helpful, considerate, thoughtful and even focused. She still receives consequences for bad behavior, but we have to give them less often.

Where I've Been

Phew! 2011 was a busy year! Of course, you have no idea what I was up to since I didn't blog about anything :) Oh my! Here is a quick recap:

• Charles got hired by the company he was contracted to work with. He is almost working his dream job. He's working on getting them to do more 3-D animation.
• We moved into a townhouse from our apartment.
• Major flooding in North Dakota. We had no problems from the flood, but my sister in Minot did. Britt and Chad are real troopers!!!
• We had water problems in the basement of our townhouse from all of the groundwater. There was mold and mushrooms and a lot of yuckiness.
• Lily (Noodle) started preschool! When did she get so old?!
• I quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom. We felt Lily needed more of her parents than both of us working full-time allowed for.
• Ethan (little guy) arrived on his own before my due date. He is almost the total opposite of Lily.
• I finished my Associate of Science degree. Finally!
• We found out that Lily has a sensory processing disorder. We start occupational therapy later this month.

2012 is going to be a busy and quick year also! Lily is going to start kindergarten in the fall. (I am totally terrified!) Ethan will probably still be laid-back like he is now; he might learn how to be louder than his sister :)

Right now, our main goal is to try and be the best parents that we can. We have started using the Nurtured Heart approach and it has worked wonders on the defiance and general misbehaving! It has also improved her focus and listening. We will be starting occupational therapy later this month which should help with the sensory issues she is having. I will post more about her issues later. I see the little guy stirring across the room, so it must be time to eat!

German Russian Easter Bread aka heaven!

Sorry, no picture as there are many viruses out there attacking flicker feeds. If you google "russian easter bread" and look at the images (don't click any!) you can see what the glory looks like! Although, i would recommend a thin, light frosting unlike some of those pictures that look like they have a cup (literally) of frosting on them. yikes! A traditional decoration in our family was jelly beans, cut in half and they will stick right in the frosting. This particular recipe is from Janice Hegel.

A few notes: you can use regular water instead of potato water, you can use milk instead of cream and there was no cooking time listed in the recipe. I would say probably at least 30 min maybe? To get the domed shaped loaves, you would use metal coffee cans :) You can also add a few drops of yellow food coloring to achieve a more festive looking loaf.