Trunk or Treat

Thursday night our ward had our Trunk or Treat.  JJ works later on Thursday evenings so I was going to meet him there.  I was happy that a sweet lady in our ward offered to push Nolan around in his stroller when we got there.  I was able to work with Lucy and Garrett to get the back of the van decorated.  Garrett's favorite holiday is Halloween and was so excited to see the decorations especially the spider web we put up.  It was also fun to see everyone else's decorations.  We then got in line for dinner, they were serving walking tacos.  JJ sent me a text while we were in line that he had an urgent walk in and was held up at work.  I was hoping he would be able to get over to the church in time to see the kids trunk or treat.  He got there just as we got to the front of the line for food, which was perfect timing actually.  After we ate our food the kids started walking around.  Lucy and Garrett went by themselves this year.  I think that made Lucy feel pretty grown up.  JJ and I sat together passing out candy and Nolan joined us when he woke up.  It was a fun activity and I am glad we were able to go.  The kids were looking forward to going all day and were happy to wear their costumes again.  The walking tacos weren't enough food to fill us up, we didn't get much meat.  We stopped for some hamburgers on our way home. 

 

Nolan wore this little pumpkin outfit, I bought this when I was pregnant.  I got it on the clearance rack after Halloween last year.  I thought he was such a cute little pumpkin! I'm glad it fit him and he was able to wear it at least once. 

No School

It is always nice when the kids have a day off school.  They had Thursday and Friday off this past week.  It was relaxing not having to rush around getting the kids ready for school in the morning.  We had a nice day working on a few little things around the house and playing together.  The kids helped me make some teething biscuits for Nolan.  He loves to eat and anytime he sees people eating he wants to eat too.  We tried to give him some little baby food things but he is still to little for them.  I made these biscuits for Garrett and he really liked them.  It was the perfect day to make them and the kids had fun helping me.  I also made some more butternut squash and acorn squash for him. 

The kids also wanted to do some sort of craft.  I let Garrett look at my pinterest board and he picked out something he wanted to make.  They also decided to paint their pumpkins they got from Monsters in the Meadow last weekend.  I painted with them and it was a lot of fun. 

They made these spiders out of Styrofoam cups and pipe cleaners.  They turned out really cute, they decided to give them to Grandma.  Lucy's is a black widow, you can see she put a red mark on top of her cup.  It was a really nice day, I think we all enjoyed a day relaxing at home.  Nolan took a really long nap that afternoon.  I was able to get a lot of little things done around the house as well as spend time with Lucy and Garrett. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I always love parent teacher conference time.  There is so much mystery to my kids day when they are at school.  They come home and tell me things they are doing and things that have happened during their day.  It is still interesting to hear how things are going from the teachers perspective.  I always wish I could be a fly on the wall of my kids classroom, just to see what really happens. 

Both kids had great reports given about them.  They are both doing very well in school and are both at or above grade level in all subjects.  They have great friends and are very social.  Lucy is especially successful in reading and creative writing.  Garrett is doing very well in speech.  They are looking at dropping down the amount of time he attends speech.  Most of his delays are typical and can't really be corrected until age 7.  It was good to meet with his speech teacher, we haven't had a ton of communication with her.  Just a few emails but nothing like we were use to last year. 

It always makes me happy and it is so rewarding to hear great things about your kids.  It is good to know that our hard work as parents is paying off and actually sinking in.  It makes us happy to know our kids are successful and happy at school.  Good to know all the time we spend helping the kids with their school work is helping them learn and progress.

Garrett brought home another full month of smiley faces!

 

Monday's and Wednesdays I head out to be with my Mom.  Monday I stopped at the store and grabbed a few things they needed.  I also stopped and picked up a few 6 packs of pansies to plant for my mom by her front door.  I noticed she had a spot that would be perfect for them.  My Dad helped me stick them in the ground right when I got there.  She was so excited to have them and I am so glad I got them for her.  She loves flowers!  I spent most of the day cleaning the house for my Mom.  Doing some deeper cleaning and helping get the house ready for my Aunt Val to come stay and help for the week.  I also helped my mom write some thank you notes.  Sending notes especially thank you notes is very important to my mom.  Since she can't write I wrote what she told me.  So many people have reached out and given service to our family!  The nurse and therapist also came by during the day.  I listened in on their visits and things they had to say.  We set up a pack and play in Courtney's room for Nolan so when I am out there he can take his naps. 

 

Wednesday I headed back out.  Aunt Val was there, it was so fun to see her and visit with her.  My mom is so happy to have her here to help and visit with.  We mostly visited and hung out with mom.  We took her out for a walk, did her exercises and gave her the medications and feeding at lunch time.  That was the first time I have done the feeding.  I am starting to feel more comfortable with helping care for her.  Everything just takes time, and sometimes treatment changes.  I am amazed at how well she is doing and improving.  Each time I go out she looks great and is making great progress.  We still haven't seen much progress with swallowing but hopefully with time.  The therapist got there just as I was finishing my visit.  I love my mom so much and it is fun to be able to spend time with her during the week!

Pumpkin Carving

 Sunday evening we had the Elmore family over for a chili and cornbread dinner and pumpkin carving.  Lucy and Garrett have been looking forward to carving their pumpkins for a while. 

 Avery had a white pumpkin that she put glitter on, it turned out really cute.  I even did a little glitter on our white pumpkin.  When she was done she helped Garrett with his pumpkin.  They were good working buddies.  Garrett picked out the design and got out all the middle stuff.  They worked together doing the actual carving.   

 Lucy and I worked together on a pumpkin.  We picked out a ghost for our design, it turned out really cute.  We need to drill some holes for the eyes, it looked a little weird when we put our candle in it at the end. 

 

 JJ worked with Garrett and Avery a little but then did a pumpkin all by himself.  He picked out a scary/silly face for his.  He had to scale it down a little to fit his pumpkin. 

 All of our pumpkins turned out really fun, here is our family with our finished pumpkins. 

All the finished pumpkins, Kayla's spider turned out really good!  You can see our ghost looks like a silhouette of a ghost with a heart, which is actually the mouth.  Drilling some holes for the eyes will make it look a little better.   

It was fun to have the Elmore family over, they are a lot of fun.  It was fun to carve pumpkins with them.  I love fun holiday activities.  The kids had a blast carving and really got into it.  Amy was commenting that it is fun when your kids can do it on their own.  I agree, as our kids get older it is fun to watch them participate in activities like this more. 

Monsters in the Meadow

Saturday morning I took the kids over to the Meadows mall for some trick or treating fun.  They do it every year, Monsters in the Meadows is what they call it.  We missed it last year, that was the day Garrett broke his ankle. The kids were really looking forward to going this year.  The weather was nice and warm, a little to warm for layering in their costumes.  They didn't mind, they were really excited to wear them. This year Lucy is a mouse, Nolan is a dinosaur and Garrett is captain Rex from Star Wars.  Their costumes don't surprise me at all.  Lucy isn't really big into dressing up so her minimum costume didn't come as a surprise to us.  Garrett loves star wars so this costume is so fun for him to wear.  Nolan is just cute and I can still decide what he will be.  We walked around and trick or treated at the different stores and picked out a pumpkins for each of the kids.  JJ was going to meet up with us after he got off work but we were pretty much done by time he got off.  It was fun to go and I'm glad we made it this year.

 

Beautiful Walk

This beautiful weather just makes you want to be outside.  Friday afternoon when the kids got home from school we headed over to the park to go for a walk.  I am so glad we decided to go because it seemed the leaves peaked that weekend for that trail.  It was so pretty with all it's bright yellow leaves.  I couldn't help by take lots of pictures to capture just how pretty it was.  Or course when I download them they never do the actual image justice.  The kids loved it too, after school they always have lots of energy to use up.  Lucy brought her binoculars and was nice to share them with Garrett to look for treasures.  They had fun picking up leaves along the way, trying to find the biggest one and the ones with the most color.  Garrett had fun finding big sticks along the way.  He would pick them up and hit the trees as we walked.  I carried Nolan in the backpack carrier and he was such a happy baby looking around.  Every once and a while I would do a little gallop and he would laugh.  Some of the trail was completely covered in leaves that have already fallen.  The kids thought it was fun to snowplow through the leaves.  It was such a wonderful walk! I am so glad we made it over, it was a lot of fun and so beautiful!

 

Bike Riding at Quail Ridge

 JJ has been really wanting to go out for a ride on his bike.  Every time he tries to plan a ride the weather doesn't cooperate.  It has been such a busy time for our family lately and when JJ suggested maybe going for a ride Friday afternoon I wasn't very happy about that.  We haven't been able to spend much time together the past week and I was really looking forward to our day together.  I suggested that we go for a bike ride together Friday afternoon.  He agreed that we needed to spend time together and thought a bike ride together sounded fun.  We headed out to Quail Ridge park after lunch, it was beautiful out there.  We had Nolan with us who we put in the bike trailer behind JJ's bike.  He really enjoyed riding back there and looking around. 

The fall leaves are gorgeous right now, especially the yellows!

 We rode the entire paved train, about 2.5 miles and then JJ decided to take us back on some other trails.  I had to remind him a few times that he had Nolan behind him.  I could tell JJ really wanted to just take off on his bike.  It was beautiful back on those other trails.  I am glad we decided to go back there.  JJ keeps trying to get me to agree to getting a new bike and hitting the trails with him.  I'm not sure I would be very good at riding on those trails.  I am a pretty cautious rider and I can tell that JJ is pretty adventurous.

We rode our bikes for about a hour, it was a lot of fun.  I am glad we were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful day together.  Hopefully JJ can get out on a real ride soon while the weather is nice.

Bringing Mom Home

Wednesday my Mom was discharged from the hospital! Yeah, such a wonderful day for so many reasons.  She was in there just shy of 2 weeks.  I meet up with everyone at the hospital mid-morning to help in anyway I could.  I knew there was a lot I needed to learn and be a part of.  I was able to visit with my Mom for a few minutes before people started to come visit and give her discharge directions.  Two main things we needed to get figured out were the medications and her food.  We had to make sure we were going to have the food to feed her.  So many people worked with us to make it all happen.  The social worker was awesome!  We loved her and she was able to pull some strings for us with working out the food.  She said she loved our family so much.  She loved getting to know all of us as we came to visit.  Everyone there loved my Mom and she really made some great friends while staying there.  I was there for about 4 hours.  It was so nice to see my Mom walking around her room not hooked to anything.  She was doing pretty well walking without her walker, just no sudden turns or movements.  It is crazy how much has changed for her in her life.   

 She was able to sign her name decently on her discharge papers.  Her sweet nurse was so happy to see her go home, for health reasons.  She was sad to see her go home because she really enjoyed working with her while she was there.

 I wished I was able to help get her settled at the house that evening but I needed to head home.  I headed over to their house Thursday morning.  I needed to learn how everything was going to work.  I wasn't able to be at the hospital for the training that everyone else was able to have.  I knew they would train me later.  There is so much to learn.  I know that with time it will be easier.  Everything has to go through her feeding tube.  She still can't swallow anything.  You have specific things you have to do for medications and then feedings to keep the tube clean.  We have everything organized in a binder with a schedule of everything that needs to happen throughout the day.  There will be nurses coming to check vitals and report readings into the doctor.  There will also be therapists coming to the house to work with her on things.   I was glad I was able to go out there for the day to watch how everything works.  We will be working out a schedule for who will be with her when.  I am going to go over and help with someone a few more times so I can get the hang of things.  I sure don't feel comfortable being alone with her right now.  There are so many things that I am not around as much as people that are living there.  We are all very willing to help her whenever we are needed.  You always think there might be a time in your life you help take care of your parents.  I just didn't think I would be this young. 

 

It was good to visit with my Mom at the house.  In between the medications, checks and feedings we had time to hang out.  Almost like it was before.  I helped dye her hair and then trimmed it for her.  She was so exited and I could tell it helped her feel better about herself.  We got a puzzle out for her to start working on.  We also walked around the house a little bit.  She is suppose to get up and walk around every 30 minutes.  When it was lunch time she said it was weird to change her thinking.  She said part of me feels like I need to go make myself some lunch to eat.  I know things will still need to adjust for her.

Nolan was really good so I could learn and do what I needed to do while we were there.  I brought out his toy so I could put him down.  He has fun watching us all talk and visit. 

While my Mom was in the hospital their dog was hit by a car.  Hunter and my Mom are very close.  She makes him an egg for breakfast every morning.  She also loves to read out loud to him.  They love each other.  He is in a lot of pain, but seems to have better days then others.  My Dad said he wanted Hunter to be able to see Mom one more time.  I'm not sure what will happen with Hunter.  He was very excited to see Mom come home and seemed more cheerful when I was out there. 

Playing

I love spending my days with this sweet boy! You can see his little bottom teeth really well in this picture.  He truly is such a happy kid.  This is my favorite baby stage, it is so fun!

 We love when the weather is nice and lately the weather has been really nice.  We have been playing outside a ton.  We have pushed back homework and piano until after dinner so we can enjoy playing outside with friends.  Lucy and Garrett held a meeting for all the bad guys the other night.  They all gathered in our backyard, Lucy and Garrett were checking people in as they arrived.   

 Nolan watched very carefully, he wasn't sure about Garrett in his batman outfit.  Nolan loves to watch Lucy and Garrett play.  He will smile at them and I know next year he will love trying to keep up with them. 

 I love to take Nolan outside during the days too.  Especially in the afternoon in between his naps.  We go on lots of walks around the neighborhood and come outside to swing.  Sometimes we will just go sit on the deck and swing on the glider. 

 He loves shadows and once he saw his he was fascinated with it.  He loved watching it swing with him.  He also really enjoyed sucking on the side of the swing. 

 We love playing in the street with out neighbor friends.  We really lucked out with having such great neighbors.  Most every afternoon we play with them together in the cul-de-sac.  Sometimes other friends from down the street will come down and join us too.  They love to ride their bikes together, draw with chalk, ride scooters and run around.  One little boy Jackson has a power wheel that he lets Lucy and Garrett take turns driving.  They love it and wish they had one of their own .  Eli also has a power wheel John Deere truck.  Between them both they have fun riding and driving.  I love the big smile on Garrett's face, pure happiness!

 Angela let Declan ride with Lucy since she was older and a more cautious driver then the boys.  Lucy wishes we had more girls in our cul-de-sac but I can tell she really enjoys playing with Declan.  She will ride down and play with one of her friends when she is out playing. 

We have such a fun time playing, it makes me sad to think of cold weather around the corner.  I am sad to have it get darker earlier in the evenings too.  It makes me want to soak up these wonderful days filled with sunshine and lots of fun!