Strawberry Picking

The weather in Wisconsin has finally cooperated and it was a beautiful day! I had decided to work on my yearly project of making freezer jam. We all went out strawberry picking. The wet weather really did take its toll on the strawberry crops for this year but we did manage to find quite a few small berries. I made 14 quarts for freezing. I like to freeze the jam so we can have it year round and it is fairly easy to make. Julia does not like strawberries but helped with the picking and did get to see one of her preschool friends Scotty there! We got to ride a tractor into the fields and then they assign you a row...John and I did a little row hopping since our rows did not have as many in them.
After the picking Julia played with the other kids in the play area and went to pet the goats. Had a nice relaxing day.

One Eyed Bandit!

We took Julia back to the eye doctors after wearing her glasses for about 6 weeks to see if there was any progress. It turns out that her vision in her L eye went from 20/80 to 20/40 which was very encouraging. They now want her to wear a patch over her right eye to strengthen and improve the vision in her left and she has to do this for 4 hours a day. She does not mind it except for when we have to take it off with all of that adhesive...ouch! I am hoping that she does not need surgery....we shall see in July at her next visit. She is a real trouper wearing her patch. One child asked her why she had a bandaid on her eye and she said, "It IS NOT A BANDAID" in her I want to set you straight voice! She is really something else.
Here are a few pictures from around the house
My step father came over and went swinging on our swingset with her. She loves her Grandpa Allen.

Happy Fathers Day 2011

Happy Fathers Day to all of the blogger dads! I really miss my father every year and wish he could have watched me grow older and get married and raise a family. I know he is probably watching me from above!
I only took a few pictures from Fathers Day! It was a pretty low key day. We bought John a Kindle and I think he was really surprised that it was not clothes or cologne. He is one hard individual to buy for!
John took a half day off of work to visit Julias daycare for a special Fathers Day picnic and nature hike this past Friday. Julia was so excited and so proud to have her daddy there.
I took Evan and Julia to the local grocery store to decorate a cake for Fathers Day. Julia had so many sprinkles on hers....we had to turn it upside down in order to shake the sprinkles off of the words.
John is such a wonderful husband and terrific father and I am so lucky to have him in my life!

Julia Needs Glasses

Thursday I took Julia to Childrens Hospital to see an opthomologist. She had failed a vision screening at daycare and the teachers were noticing that her L eye seems to wander when she looks at you. I started noticing it as well after they pointed it out. We found out that she had very poor vision in her L eye and is very nearsighted and her R eye is starting to show some nearsightedness. The opthomologist said that she would need glasses to try and strengthen the eye muscle and if she did not wear them then I would need to patch her R eye to strengthen the L at least 2 hrs a day. We are supposed to return in 6 weeks and if no improvement then she will need surgery. They dialated her eyes with drops and told me that it would take a week before her pupils would return to normal since it is harder to dialate Asian childrens eyes...which I found interesting. She did not complain during the visit at all and told the Opthomologist that she wanted Star Wars glasses..which surprised me.
We ended up going eyeglass shopping at the mall that afternoon and went to 4 different places. I did not bring the stroller so it was a regular glasses free for all. We had fun trying on different styles. The black pair that Julia helped herself to which I will post a picture of are too wide and thick for her but she liked them. I like her in wire rims...I have a feeling I will need the 2 pair deal at Stein Optical for 99.00 in order to have back up.

Baking for Easter

Every year around this time my mother makes a Polish yeast cake called a Babka. It has raisens and rum sauce and streusal and a glaze and is a good treat with coffee. The year that I tried to make the family recipe mine turned out undercooked and my sister attempted and hers was too dry. Last week Wed we decided to camp out at my moms and learn every step. It always is a full day project since you need to let the yeast rise.
Julia came in to observe a few times but my step father kept her entertained.
I have a picture of the finished product and hope it tastes as good as it looks

Thursday Julia and I made bunny cookies with a cinnamon nutmeg spice recipe and then we melted white chocolate and tinted it pastel colors for the icing. My house was smelling good.

Medical School???

Julia was introduced to Evans old play medical kit and it was a hit!! She wanted to examine all of her stuffed animals and told me that everyone was sick and needed to see a doctor. She also played doctor with all of us and I caught a few shots of Julia examining John. I loved the picture of her examining his ear with such intent. She would say, "Your blood pressure is 1 over 3 which is very good!!"

Happy Chinese New Year 2011 Year of the Rabbit