Happy Halloween!!

It is one of my favorite holidays today and we were all very excited to get out trick-or-treating.

Before that time comes, the kids had Halloween parties at school to dress up for.

Seth already had lunch and his mustache was rubbing off.

 

Sam was moving too fast for me to grab her picture at school.

 

 

All ready for trick-or-treating minus the touch-up that was needed on Seth's face.

 

Sam went as a nurse, Addy settled with Seth's 1st Halloween Costume of Tigger (which has a cute little tail on her bum) and Seth dressed up as a homeless man begging for candy.

 

I was a little nervous about sending Seth out in that costume as we are living in a recession and many families are struggling to 'make' it. One of the first houses they went to, I stood across the street and one house over since they'd be running my way after that house. From afar, I heard the man saying "your mom" and the kids pointing towards me saying "over there". Oh no, I though to myself. The guy turned to back into his house and dropped another handful of candy into Seth's bag. Phew!  I thought.  I asked what he said and "He said I had the best costume all night and then gave me another handful of candy!!" As we continued on for the night, Seth got another five or so compliments. One grown lady called for her elderly father to come look at Seth and his sign. The old man chuckled.

 

Next year: Sam wants to be homeless woman begging for candy so she can get as much as Seth did. Not like that matters much, since they mix their candy into one bag anyways.

Seth isn't sure what he wants to be for Halloween next year. He said we'll have to look around on the internet.

First Party Without the Parents

Adelynn followed in her big brother's footprints and hopped into Tigger. Seth wore the same costume when he was 9 months old. I was trying to find an adorable little costume that had her name all over it.

Her nose grew black and whiskers spouted on her cute little cheekers.

Her Daddy sure loved the picture that filled his screen.

Change

Me: "If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?"

Sam: "School"

Me: "What about school?"

Sam: "It's boring"

Well, it could have been worse.

Reunion

It has been two months since Sam and I got home from our amazing week at horse camp. Facebook has allowed many of us to stay in touch.

It seemed fitting for us to reunite someplace with horses. River Valley Horse Ranch in Carver, Minnesota was where our counselors, Emma & Kate arranged for us to meet.

It was a bit chilly, and thankfully our toes didn't start to freeze until the last ten minutes of the ride. We were all very disappointed to learn that our group was too large to trot or canter with. In an edgier to at least trot, a few of us pulled back on the reins, made a gap which required a trot/slight canter to catch up. The trail guides knew what we were doing, but hey, I paid to canter.

Breakfast Awaits

"What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?" Sam asked.

"Probably peanut butter and jelly toast." I respond.

"What to drink?"

"Milk"

This morning I woke at 5:15am to noise in the kitchen. I figured she would have come in to wake me but she didn't. I wondered into the kitchen and there she stood at the chest freezer, reading a magazine with her backpack on, at 5:30am. It's cinnamon roll day at school, so she still has two hours before she needs to leave for school.

She's such a good momma.

Working Out

Nick, Adelynn and I stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings in Eagan to grab some dinner while out shopping. Nick was busy playing the trivia game and telling me which answers to pick. Adelynn on the other hand was working out and building those muscles. Her choice of resistance training is wet wipes. They are much tougher than napkins and were proving to be a challenge. I grabbed my phone and nabbed the picture of her cute little straining face. Once they tore in half, she'd hold them up to collect her praise, drop one piece and continue to make them smaller and smaller. With each pull, came this face.

MEA Treat

Today is MEA - and being the wonderful mother I am, I scheduled all three kids for doctor visits.

Seth developed a wart on the top of his foot so Dr. Peterson pulled out her liquid nitrogen and began to freeze it off. Seth's response? Besides it being more painful than the bottom of his foot, was to plug his ears.

 

"Why are you plugging your ears?"

"I'm squeezing my brain so it doesn't hurt."

In exchange, Dr. Peterson bought three swags from Seth

 

 

Sam was seen for her 7 year well child check.

She is now 48 1/4 inches tall and weighs 49.5 pounds

 

 

Adelynn was seen for her 9 month well child check, (I missed her picture - I'm horrible, I know. But luckily, she looks the same as yesterday picture)

 

Adelynn was 28 1/4 inches long, weighed 19 pounds and her head measured 18 inches.

 

Earlier in the day, Seth and Sam watched me get my flu shot at work, it was not their turn. Dave took them out of the room to get their shots, while Dr. Peterson continued on with Adelynn's visit. A few moments later, Seth came back into the room to give me a good-bye hug. The next in the door was Dave, carrying Sam, whose head rested on his shoulder with tears welling in her eyes. Sam has never liked flu shots. She usually tenses up and resists it. I just hate seeing them cry - even if I know it is for their own well-being.

 

Seth and Sam went with their Dad to start their long MEA weekend, and Adelynn and I ran to the grocery store where we met an elderly woman who just loved seeing Addy smile. Our paths crossed at least 8 times.

Honk Honk

The kids and I were heading to St. Paul on 52 and I kept getting honked at by semi drivers. The first time I thought the semi just hit the burp strips on the side of the road. Then, it happened again. Both hands were on the wheel, I was awake and staying in my lanes, so why was I being honked at.

Often timed the kids are moving around in the back seat so I often don't look in my rear view mirror when hands are flapping around.

After the second honk I looked back and found the cause of all the honking. Sam would make eye contact and smile and wave, Seth would perform the universal "hey semi-man, honk your horn".

Galloping

Sam had her 2nd year of being in Cheer Clinic at school. For $25 the high school cheerleaders teach your child cheers, and a choreographed dance from 3pm when school is out until 7pm when the varsity football game begins. They get a cheer clinic shirt and a pizza dinner. Not a bad deal.

While hanging out at the game, Sam kept galloping on all fours to us from 40 yards away. She looked silly. But it's all about being young and carefree.

Gonna Stomp You

Nick was walking Adelynn around the living room and each time she'd approach something on the ground, she would stomp on it with her left foot. Never her right foot, just the left.

Thankfully she hasn't stomped the toes of others, yet...

They Made It!!

On Wednesday morning, Grandma & Grandpa Loken pulled out of our driveway and blew the air horn as they drove past Seth and Sam, who were waiting anxiously to wave good-bye.

Off they ran to get to school by 8am.

3 days and 6 hours later they made it safely to The Great Outdoors. Thankfully, without any blown tires or tipping refrigerators like in the spring.

Each night Seth would FaceTime Grandma to see where they were. Today they are with their Dad. A picture will have to suffice.

We'll see you in January!!

Cursif

While getting dressed I heard little pitter patters outside my bedroom door. They stopped, and a "ksssshh" noise drew my eye to the door, the pitter patters grew faint. There lying on the floor was a piece of paper that was slid under the door.

I picked it up, and smiled.

I walked out to the dining room to find both Seth and Sam eating breakfast.

"Good Job baby girl. Here is how I write your name in cursive." Then she tried again.

Maddie's Big Day

Today my best friend's daughter, Maddie, turned 6 years old. On Saturday we celebrated her birthday with a pony party. All of the kids were given cowboy/girl hats, and bandanas. The ponies were a hit!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!

Get Wired

Today I went to Seth's orthodontist's office to

discuss what our options are for helping his teeth transition in.

Left: Full molding showing overbite

Center: Top set of teeth showing his molar that is being a hog

Right: His cute little chompers

 

The moldings were pretty neat and I'm sure Seth would have LOVED to check those out.

There are a number of issues that they would like to try to fix.

 

Seth's bottom teeth should be resting on the back sides of his top teeth - instead they are resting on the roof of his mouth.

STEP 1: Bring his bottom teeth out a bit to rest where they should be. By putting four braces on his top and bottom front teeth.

His upper left molar is being a hog and taking up two molar spaces.

STEP 2: Place a spring loaded bracket around his two back molars to help push those molars back in his mouth. This will involve a visit to the orthodontist every 3 weeks to adjust the tension.

His incisors have no place to come in, so they'll hang out in front of his other teeth like fangs.

STEP 3: With the front teeth having braces, they should help move his teeth forward a bit to make room for the incisors.

 

The not so great part about this, besides the expenses, is that this whole plan could be spoiled if his teeth decide to not cooperate in their growth process.

 

Oh - I can't forget that the other not so great part is that fact that Seth will have to avoid anything

sticky ~ chewy ~ hard ~ gooey

 

What does that mean?

 

No candy, syrup, apples, gum, etc. "alright" he says

No Peanut Butter "You've got to be kidding me!" Seth shouted

Right then Seth demanded that I go to the store and buy him four jars of peanut butter so he could eat them all up before the braces go on.

 

At least he was a good sport. We'll see how he manages when he starts going through PB withdrawals during those 1

 

Distractions Await

Tomorrow I have a big exam for A&P II on the heart, circulatory system and the lymphatic system. No big deal, right? Not so much when I had more time to study and actually sat in a lecture to learn about this. Now with only getting one hour a week of lecture which often times is taken up by reviewing past quizzes or exams, most of the learning is self-driven.

I've always struggled with my mind drifting while reading and now I think I have finally figured out why. I've self-diagnosed myself with ADHD. I'll be sitting here studying and next thing I know, I'm outside spraying down the dogs kennel or organizing the woodpile in the neighbors yard while burning twigs from mine.
Just a moment ago I used the excuse of needing hot cocoa. To the kitchen I went. Whipped up some cocoa in the Keurig and back to studying I went. Oh wait, what about marshmallows?
Now, here I sit blogging from my iPhone 4s rather than studying.

Ok really, back to the lymph questions... For now at least...

A Lost Memory

Seth showed me this picture from Grandma Loken's phone. We don't know where or when it was taken, just that he was inside the Toyota Camry and Grandma & Grandpa Loken's Dutch Star was out his window.

Look at how happy my baby is. This was a picture I needed to preserve.

I just want to jump into the picture and give him endless hugs and kisses.

I'm so lucky that he is mine :)

Homecoming

 

Today is Randolph's Homecoming Football Game.

 Randolph - 8

Mountain Lakes - 33

Having a stellar team from a small school district isn't very easy. When you only have class sizes of 30.

Skid & Bubbles(2)

I'm beginning to feel as though we are running our own pet store. With a black lab mix, Muska, a lab/shepherd mix, Indy, a purebred black lab, Belle, a miniature chihuahua, Chloe, a cat, Squirt and now two goldfish, Skiddish (Skid) and Bubbles replacement, Bubbles(2), we now have hit the max. No more animals until our acreage exceed 15.

Skid is smiling for the camera and B2 is showing us her nice physique. I'm sure it's pretty clear who each fish belongs to.

Stripes & Polka Dot Day

It's Homecoming Week at Randolph and this is what Seth wants to wear.

-Misbuttoned striped dress shirt
-Mismatched striped cotton shorts
-Black socks with stripes on the toes

Yes, he is really okay with wearing this to school. Why? Because he's a boy.

Does he like to dress like this often?
Yes, almost daily.

Young Man with Ideas

This school year I have asked that each day when the kids come home from school they are to do their homework, chores, and then sit for 15 minutes to read a book.

Why a book? Seth hates reading, and he needs to practice to help conquer his dyslexia. His frequent attitude towards much in life (that requires effort) is "I can't". Well, that's not acceptable in this house!

Nick handed Seth a book that he checked out from the Randolph School twice as a kid.

Henry Ford - Young Man With Ideas

We hope that Seth will take away an important message from Henry Ford.

"Whether you say you can, or can't, you're right."

I'm also hoping it won't take him 20 minutes and a gallon of tears to read two pages. It just breaks my heart :(