Giving Thanks

The past 8 months have been a hard time for us. In that short time we have found out Greg had Celiac disease, I had an appendicitis, I suffered a miscarriage and we have lost several family members and a father figure for Greg. In that short time we have attended 5 funerals. It began with my uncle dying in March and ended with my cousin Roger losing his three year battle with brain cancer a few weeks ago. We also lost 2 family members to the same strain of leukemia, one who was in her 70's and one who just turned 40.

With everything that has happened in the past several months, it makes me realize what is important in our lives. So this year I will be giving thanks to our health, our wonderful families and our beautiful, but sometimes bratty, son. My heart goes out to my families that have lost someone this past year. They will be in our hearts and thoughts this upcoming holidays.

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Halloween-a little belated....

(Gavin in Mommy's boots)
Before we get to Halloween, last week we had a snow storm that pretty much locked us in for 2 days. It was great and Gavin LOVED putting on his boots this year. He actually still tries to grab them and make us put them on him. The only problem is, he doesn't get how you put them on and curls up his toes so it is a STRUGGLE for us. Here are some pics of our little monkey enjoying it. Of course I also added in some pics of the dogs enjoying it too.

Here are some wonderful pics of our lovely pumpkins this year (please note the little pumpkin, it makes a cameo later on):Friday night we adults rang in Halloween at a party at my sister's. We had absolutely no fun, and were asleep by 8. Ha. We actually had a blast and ended up having a slumber party with a bunch of family at the Alexander casa. I think we finally went to bed about 2:30 am. I don't remember the last time I have stayed up that late!!! This first picture is hilarious, because I was in charge of doing my sister's makeup and while putting on false eyelashes- I GLUED HER EYE SHUT. HILARIOUS. Please also note my wonderful spooky appetizers I made for the party! The puking pumpkin and spider web bean dip. Yummy!

Halloween day was beautiful and Gavin had a wonderful time Trick or Treating. We did our neighborhood hay ride again and all of the kids had such a good time. Gavin was usually the last one to get to the door (out of about 15) and he was the 2nd to the youngest. So he got a lot of raves about what a cute little "monkey" he was.

New Design

I finally broke down and did a new border, etc. I will hopefully change it every month to fit the season, holiday or my MOOD. Ha ha! I will post all the Halloween fun we had this week. Here is a teaser of my Little Monkey....

Finally

I wanted to do a more in depth post, but I have realized that my son HATES when I am on the computer and throws a fit or tries to sabotage anything I am working on. So I am trying to do this while he sleeps (thankfully) in between dusting and making spooky mini cupcakes for the Halloween party we are going to tonight.

Gavin has had a ball outside (before the blizzard came) and we have spent a lot of time playing in the leaves!

The following pictures are from our annual Pumpkin carving/decorating with Mom, Marv, Jen and the kids. We had a great time and the pumpkins turned out great.

As you can see we had a ball, Greg and I actually carved our pumpkins last night, look next week for pics of that and of course our wonderful snow fall and HALLOWEEN! We are all looking forward to it! Have a SPOOKY Halloween!

Once again...

I am a slacker. But here is a pic to hold you over until I write a full post this week. I PROMISE.

October is here!

I love this time of year, the weather gets a bit cooler and the leaves look beautiful in their orange and red hues. LOVE IT. Plus it is my birthday month. Nuff said! I finally just finished decorating the house and Gavin and I just had lunch on pumpkin plates and witch napkins. Fun!

We are a bit busy right now, I am leaving for Chicago in the morning with my Mom, sister, aunts and cousins for our annual girls trips. I am looking forward to it, but more importantly to see the family and celebrate the birthdays we have. Seven of us are going and 4 of us have birthdays within 10 days of each other!

Which brings me to my Mom, she just celebrated her 60th on Sunday. This is the only shot I got that day, all the grand kids eating. Whoopee! A huge Happy Birthday to her!

We had a great weekend, our nieces and nephew had a slumber party on Saturday and we were busy! We started off at Anderson Farms, picking some pumpkins, going on pony rides, running around, etc. We all had a blast and agreed that the hay ride was the best part. All the kids took a nap, so I think it was a hit!

A beautiful fall day! Enjoy!

Well how did your week go?

Lets see, my week started with me having my appendix removed bright and early Monday morning. Yea. Really, it was a joy. I do have to say though, I figured out what it was in about 30 minutes, with the last 25 of it bent over the counter googling "how do you know when you have an appendicitis?" or "what the f#$% is this pain in my right side?"

But lets back track, Sunday we had a lovely day that ended with us making breakfast for dinner. I encouraged Greg to make some Gluten Free waffles with our eggs and potatoes. I am not a waffle/pancake person so I had just a little bit of it- not bad just needed a lot of syrup. So about an hour later I just had a wave of pain come over me and not really let up. I honestly thought I was allergic to Gluten Free WAFFLES! Seriously, I did. After another 30 minutes it just was on one side and I was literally rolling around on the bed in agony. Greg came in and was like, "so what, you have a tummy ache or something, maybe you should try and poop." I then kindly asked him to go google appendix and where it is located. He just stood there, while I am withering in pain. I think I screamed a not very nice word and told him I needed to know now, not in an hour. When we figured it out, I said, "Greg call your Mom, have her get over here to watch Gavin." Once again he just kinda looked at me and then proceeded to call and CHIT CHAT for a few minutes and then ask her if she could come over. I think my husband thought I was full of shit until I started yelling and waving my arms around. Because man, that got him jumping.

After getting to the ER, explaining about 30 times what the problem was, I had the Doc tell me, he was just POSITIVE it was kidney stones. I just sat there and told him, well, that would be GREAT, because hopefully then I would not have to have surgery (maybe) and even if I did, it is an outpatient procedure. I have had kidney stones and I kept telling the doctor, well, it just does not feel the same way. But, hey, what do I know? Finally after 2 hours of being there, a new doctor came in to tell me, "yes, you have an appendicitis." I think my first question was, "well, if it hasn't burst, then just give me some pills and send me on my way." Santa Claus (seriously he looked just like him and had the jolly laugh) said, "well, that isn't going to happen, you are having surgery tonight or in the morning. HO ho ho to you." Well not that last part, but who knows, I was on drugs by then.

So long story short, they cut me open Monday morning and we were hoping to get out of there that afternoon/evening. We realized, oh maybe Tuesday afternoon when I WAS STILL THERE that maybe we pushed it a little too much. Because they just won't let you out if you are puking up everything. I did just love all the different nurses who would tell us one thing one minute and something way off the mark the next. Where they finally told me I needed to be breathing into this lung checker thingy and then just left it, didn't tell me how to check, what to do, how to measure. So that thing sat there for a full day and I still wasn't blowing what I should have been when I finally persuaded them that I was leaving. I REALLY LOVED that none of them could tell me why I was opened up on my left side when my appendix is on the right. One nurse actually went and checked a book to see where my appendix is, she wouldn't take my word for it. And she thought the doctor might have taken out the wrong one. Just wait on that a moment. It will come to you..........

So I am free, back at home, since Wednesday late afternoon. Yes, home sweet home. Oh wait, I forgot I live with the child that does not want to sleep anymore. Because everyone wants to be up for 2 hours in the middle of the night. Right? And naps? What are those? I want to be awake all day just to terrorize my parents at 6 - because you can't lay me down then... I swear, maybe I faked this whole thing just to have a few days of quiet in a bustling hospital that thinks people have 2 appendixes and love to wake you up every 2 hours to remind me that my oxygen was low. I will say, I got the most attention on my last day there by a nurse in training. Granted she came in about 10 minutes after another nurse left to recheck all my vitals, she then proceeded to do a VERY THOROUGH exam. Hello, she lifted UP MY BOOBS to listen to my lungs. Then took off my socks to check my circulation and a few other things. She did more than any of the docs and nurses put together. She was the best though- I must have been "her" patient for the day, because when I needed something she got it, it was like having a doting grandma with you. Yet she was about my age, Chinese and English is not her first language. She was the one that tried to rat me out to the doctor about the breathing tube, but I forgive her. And for her feeling me up. It goes with the territory.

And yes, this was at "Death Valley" I think we have definitely ruled out having another child there.