FFF-Spooky!

The theme for this weeks’ FFF is “Spooky”.  A few years ago we bought this mask on clearance for a quarter!  The kids have fun putting it on and trying to scare each other.  The other day I unpacked it from our Halloween stuff and put it on Peter.

 

Here was Ricky’s reaction when he looked up and saw it on his brother….

 

Poor little man was really scared!!!

I thought I would also post some photos from past Halloweens with some of my favorite costumes.

I LOVE this one of a chocolate chip cookie and two little cows!  This was from Halloween 2003.

Halloween 2000, my mom made my girls these Dorothy and Glinda costumes.  Then my sister and my cousin bought their kids the matching Wizard of Oz costumes from Warner Bros. store.  (Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion!)

To see more FFF, click HERE.  Have a safe and Happy Halloween!!!

Word-Ful Wednesday

Ricky has been begging to have a play date with his sweet friend from school, “M”, for weeks and weeks now.  These two have been in school together since the age of 2!  Theirs is a stormy relationship…one day he loves her the next he doesn’t.  “M” on the other hand adores him all the time and recently has been sending love notes home with him from school every day!  She tells him, and everybody else, that she is going to marry Ricky!  They would be an adorable couple!!  We seriously have considered that he probably will get married some day to another individual with special needs and have a very wonderful marriage.  Ricky is so capable of doing whatever he sets his mind too and he is also so loving and considerate of others.  We saw a glimpse of it while “M” was here playing with him.  He loves to pat her head and he offers to help her all the time.  It was so sweet when she announced that her shoe was untied and Ricky ran right over saying he would tie it…funny thing is he doesn’t have a clue how to tie shoes but he still gave it a try and created a wonderful triple knot for me to un-do!!!

I have been a bad blogger again lately!  Life with a 2-year old post-tonsillectomy patient is very exhausting!  Peter is still needing Tylenol with Codeine EVERY 4 hours around the clock for throat pain.  He wakes up screaming in pain several times each night and I am exhausted!!  This is truly one of the toughest surgeries as far as recovery time goes (and I’m practically an expert having 2 children who have gone through this now!!).  It is such a battle to get him to eat and especially to drink anything.  He has lived off of jell-o and popsycles for the past 7 days now!  Hopefully we are turning the corner today and he will begin to feel better.

I’ve also been busy adding to my line of SOX THAT ROCK so go check out my new styles when you get a chance!

To join in the fun of this Wordful Wednesday, please go to Angie’s blog!

Going Home Today!

Peter’s surgery went well yesterday.  My parents spent the night so Rich and I could both go to the hospital with him…I have always had to go alone so he could stay home with the other children with past surgeries (and with 5 children, there’s been a few!).  We arrived there at 6am but surgery didn’t start until 8:15…the doctor was stuck in traffic and arrived late!  The hardest part of any of my kid’s surgeries have been when I have to hold them in my arms as they start the anesthesia and put them to sleep.  It always disturbs me and I end up walking out of the operating room in tears.  Well, this time it was Rich’s turn so he put on scrubs and off they went to the O.R.

The surgery went quickly and the doctor said it went well!  After we saw him in the recovery room and they admitted us to the short-stay unit, Rich left for the day.  I spent the next 10 hours with a sad, hurting little man in a tiny room watching Disney shows and PBS. 

When the pain meds kicked in, he’d feel great but I could sure tell when they were wearing off!  This kid ate like a horse all day…4 popsycles, 3 cups of ice cream, 2 pudding cups, jello, 2 huge bowls of applesauce, an adult-sized portion of mac and cheese with a huge garlic breadstick, 2 HUGE pancakes and part of a turkey sandwich…and he kept asking for more food!  I never feed him that much at home!  They seem to only have one serving size for their meals there and all are adult-size.  Even so, I am happy that he is taking food and fluids so well.

The second toughest part of any surgery for me is having to try to sleep in the hospital all night with all the noise and constant distractions.  This time Rich agreed to spend the night there with Peter so I could sleep at home!  He brought Taylor and Ricky to visit and then the 3 of us came home for the night.  I will leave in a few hours to pick up Rich and Peter once he is released from the hospital.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and concern for my children over the past 2 weeks.  It is such a comfort and blessing to me that so many of my blogging buddies are willing to lift up our family in prayer at times like this.  Blessings to you today!

One down…one to go!

Tomorrow morning at 7am, Peter is scheduled for surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids.  He doesn’t have a clue what’s coming but every time we talk about his surgery, he cheers…like he thinks he’s going to a hockey game or something!!  Poor little man won’t be feeling like that tomorrow at this time!  Please keep him in your prayers that everything goes well and that he heals quickly.  Ricky was his age when he had his T and A done and it was awful… he refused to eat or drink anything and ended up getting dehydrated and being re-admitted to the hospital about 10 days after surgery. 

This is an older picture but I think it’s a nice one of my two surgical patients!!!  Taylor got her nose splints out today and said she feels so much better.  Hard to tell if she can breathe better as she has a terrible cold and is all stuffed up! 

 

The Disney Live show was a lot of fun for Peter and Ricky.  They loved seeing the Disney characters and Peter was busy dancing in the aisles!  Wouldn’t you know, I went to take a picture and my camera battery was dead so I got no photos at that venue!

 

Rich, Hannah and Greta had a fabulous weekend out in Colorado Springs visiting the Air Force Academy.  Here are some pictures Hannah took of her time there.

She didn’t take any pictures of the Air Force hockey game and the other sites there.  She took about 50 photos at the football game however!

Yeah!!!  The Biggest Loser is on tonight…we all just love that show in our household!  It’s nice to watch a reality show where the contestants actually do something to improve their lives and try to live better than they previously did!  Any other Bob and Jillian fans out there??!!

Alumni Weekend

Rich took Hannah and Greta to the Air Force Academy with him for Alumni Weekend.  He wanted to show them where he went to college and played hockey.  They are having a great time tail-gating, attending football and hockey games and touring the United States Air Force Academy.  You can’t help but be impressed with the campus when you’re there.  I knew Hannah would be.  She just texted me on my phone to tell me that she wants to go to college there too!!! It is so beautiful out in Colorado Springs and it’s a great town.  I’m glad they got to make the trip together!  We miss them but we are just relaxing at home this weekend as Taylor recuperates. 

  

Tomorrow we are off to see Disney Live!  Ricky and Peter are going to love it!

FFF

It’s Friday already???  Where do the days go?  This weeks’ theme is “Orange”.  While spending some time outside trying to get our yard work done before winter arrives (I know, it did arrive already last week!), I took some pictures of Peter.  Can you believe all the leaves that are on the ground already?!  That heavy wet snow last week didn’t help preserve our fall colors!

It’s getting more difficult to get Peter with a natural smile.  Every time he sees the camera now he says “cheese” and does a “cheesy smile!”

The leaves are really changing colors here in MN early this year.  This tree is in our front yard.

Taylor is feeling so much better already today!  She woke up with no pain!  It has since returned but she says it is not as bad as yesterday and hasn’t needed as much pain medication today.  She looks great but is so sleepy.  I bet she has only been awake a total of 3 hours in the past 24!  What a blessing to have the worst of it behind her now!!  What a brave girl she has been through this whole ordeal…

If you want to see more FFF posts, please go here!

Surgery a Success

Taylor was such a brave girl with this very difficult and painful surgery.  We had to leave our house at 5:45 am for a scheduled 7am surgery.  Unfortunately, some things are out of our control and we ended up waiting for her turn until after 8am as the previous case had some setbacks.  When you are scared and nervous and 15 years old, that is not easy!  The surgery lasted about 45 minutes.  I was finally able to see her around 10am.  The doctor said it went great and that she will be able to breathe 75 % better by next Monday and then continue to improve from there.  She has not been able to breathe through her nose for years so this will be a nice change! 

This picture was taken prior to surgery.  I won’t post photos from afterwards as she looks  and feels pretty tough now.  There will be lots of blood and pain for several days.  The most difficult part of the whole procedure for her was the I.V. that they had to put in.  The thought of it scared her ahead of time and she said it really hurt her the whole time it was in.

Thank you for all your prayers for my sweet girl.  Tonight is going to be rough but I know she will continue to feel better with each passing day.

Wordful Wednesday

Taylor and her girlfriend were a little bored so they decided to turn Peter into “Petunia”!!  He’s such a good sport to go along with them while they fixed his hair.  He’s a handsome little man but he does make a pretty cute little girl too!

Tomorrow is Taylor’s surgery to fix her deviated nasal septum.  She is so very scared about the general anesthesia and being put to sleep.  She worries that she might not wake up.  Would you please keep my sweet girl in your prayers that the surgery goes well and that it corrects her breathing problems.  I think the recovery will stretch out over several days.  Thankfully, she has a 4-day weekend from school with the state teacher’s convention going on in MN!  While many people travel over this long weekend break from school, we plan to stay pretty close to home!

To see more Wordful Wednesday posts, please jump over to Angie’s blog!!!

Don’t Complain!

I guess I shouldn’t have complained about all the rain and cool weather we were having…this morning we woke up to snow!!!  At least Greta could see the silver lining in our mid-October snow!

On another note…if you are looking for a baby gift, please keep this in mind.  I am offering 6 pair of newborn ruffle and bead socks for only $20! (including shipping) Go HERE to see more!

Word-Ful Wednesday-“Fall”

This week’s theme for Wordful Wednesday is “Fall”. While many bloggers are posting beautiful pictures of fall in their part of the country, this is what we have experienced of fall in the past 2 weeks or so!  I really can’t complain, however.  We did have an unseasonably warm and beautiful(although dry) September.  October is much different with COLD temperatures and TONS of RAIN!  Today is finally the first day that we have seen sunshine in 8 days!  Rich and I will spend the morning working out in the yard.  Tomorrow sounds like it will again be cold and rainy!!

Despite the cold and rainy week we’ve had, my boys can always find something fun to do outside.  Ricky took a little broom out and was sweeping leaves into a pile for Peter!

To see more Wordful Wednesday posts, please go to ANGIES’ BLOG!

Another Soccer Season Done

Greta just finished another season of soccer.  She doesn’t exactly love soccer but she is getting better with each passing season!  The girls rotate playing goalie and she enjoys that position best of all.  Although September was unseasonably warm and beautiful, October has been cool(50’s) and rainy so it isn’t the greatest weather to be sitting outside watching a game!  I was happy to see the season end after Saturday’s game which was played in the cold and rain!

Next, we move on to hockey….