Pumpkin Time!!

Oh how I have enjoyed this fall!! It has been so fun to be on my feet and enjoying the simple things in life with my family. We had a fun afternoon full of playing in the leaves and now a fun evening of carving pumpkins. You don't realize what you take for grantide until you don't have it. This year I have it and am not taking it for grantide. We kind of got a late start this Monday evening on FHE, but I didn't care. I was excited to carve pumpkins with the kids. Meg and I had bought a fun book with patterns and a few carving tools and were ready to have fun with the rest of the family. The girls did patterns and the boys made up their own designs. It was SO MUCH FUN!!

Crazy kids! Not sure what they were all doing but I do know we were having fun while doing it!!

Andy making fun of how Aidan's eyes look closed when he smiles (he takes after his mom). Thye were pumpkin carving buddies and had tons of fun together. Aidan just always keeps us laughing.

Once again Andy making fun of Aidan's eyes when he smiles and trying to get him to open his eyes wide. What handsome boys!!

Aaron going at the carving. He did his all on his own and boy was it scary looking. He didn't even gag this year when he cleaned his pumpkin out!!

Goofy Aidan having lots of fun!

Meg had fun carving the other side of her pumpkin she had decorated at preschool.

The perfect sized pumpking for our little pumpkin. Kenna just loved all the fun the came with pumpkin carving.

Our sweet little Ashlee Rose! She just walked around smiling and soaking up all the fun. She really wanted to eat the pumpkins. She loved stealing the tops off the pumpkins.

Attempting a picture with all five kids looking normal is practically impossible!

And it didn't get any better the more pics I took!

The only downside to all this hard work was the our pumpkins were stolen off our front step the night before Halloween. I had been so diligent in bringing the pumpkins in every night and putting them out the next day, but I forgot on Friday night. The kids were very sad to see their pumpkins gone. Even more, they were sad that their little battery operated lights were in them (all except Kenna's). It is so sad that some kids think it is fun or something to steal little kids pumpkins. Oh well! Can't wait for next year's creations!!

Fall Fun

Leaves are falling all around - on the housetop on the ground. And boy do they make for a lot of fun!! Aunt Donna gets LOTS of leaves in her yard, so we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and have some fun after school in her backyard. We didn't have too many leaves yet at our house, plus the kids always beg to go play in Aunt Donna's backyard. She has a fun treehouse, swing, fort, trampoline, crazy dog, and lots of leaves in the fall. Aunt Donna and cousin Brooklynn came out to play too along with Sage - the crazy dog (but a fun crazy - we love to see her fun fast laps through the yard, dig up and rebury her bones, chase her toys, and she loved to play in the leaves too). It was a beautiful day and so much fun to watch the kids enjoying the simple pleasures in life. They loved burying each other in the leaves and then popping out. There is nothing better than tossing leaves up in the air and having them fall back on your head. I just smiled as I bathed the girls later that night and washed a lot of little leaf bits out of their hair. We are so blessed to live in such beautiful country, in a peaceful town, in a quiet neighborhood, in a house just two doors down from Aunt Donna!

Aaron getting a good start on the leaf pile.

Aidan helping add to the leaf pile. The boys worked hard getting the pile big and loved every minute of it.

The girls loved throwing the leaves from the pile the boys made.

Aaron - my wonderful 9 year old, awesome big brother, great student, avid reader, and a wonderful helper to his mom

Aidan - my carefree 7 year old, comedian, tease, tenderhearted, athletic, and right there whenever Mom asks

Megan - my tomboyish, yet girlie girl 4 year old, princess, second little mother, dolly, always up for any kind of fun, Mom's right hand girl

Kenna (Kenny) - my stinkerbug little 2 year old, princess, girlie girl deluxe, fashion queen, goofball, snugglebug, always there at the right moment when Mommy needs a love

Ashlee Rose (Rosie) - my bright-blue, sparkley eyed 10 month old, energetic, independent, smiley, screamer, keep Mommy on her toes and moving but quick to give a love

Fun on the tree swing

Yes, it was bright out and I think a leaf may have gotten in her cast.

Always climbing up or on something!

Just chillin' on top of the tree house.

Ashlee enjoyed her first outing amongst the leaves. She thought they were mighty tasty.

The Fall Fun Clan

Surprise!! Thank goodness you didn't step on us while we were buried under all these leaves.

The only downside to our fun afternoon was the girls' allergies kicking in and Ashlee and Kenna ending up with bronchilitus from it. Thank goodness for good antibiotics and breathing treatments. But I think they would all agree it was worth it!

Walking Machine

Ashlee turned 9 1/2 months on Oct. 1 and decided that she no longer needed to crawl. She had been starting to walk right before she turned 9 months and each day got better and better. Now she thinks she is a "big" girl! The first video makes me laugh as she is walking with a sword in her hand. She just wanted to be part of the action too. She tried to do whatever the big kids are doing. The second video was just a few days later and she is even more steady. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing. She is now 10 months old!! I can't believe how fast time has gone. Just a year ago I was in Billings at the hospital there dealing with a very annoying perinatologist that one minute was going to get to the bottom of what was causing all my problems and the next minute was telling me it was all in my head. I was so miserable cause he didn't believe in any pain medicine beyond a simple tylenol for pregnant women. I was wishing he could deal with constant contractions for months on end and see how a tylenol helped him. BUT... that is so in the past and everything worked out fine. I have a beautiful baby girl that brings so much joy and happiness into my days!! (And I don't have to EVER be pregnant again!)

Wrestling mishap

On Oct. 3 we enjoyed a nice, peaceful Saturday morning watching General Conference. In between conference sessions, Andy went to ExpressCare because he had been sick for a week or so. I was upstairs changing Ashlee's diaper and getting her down for a nap, when Kenna came up the stairs crying. I figured she was mad at the boys cause she had been downstairs playing with them, so I told her to go sit on her bed and I would be there in a minute. When I went in, she was holding her arm and saying it hurt. I tried to calm her and tell her she was tough (which usually works) but it wasn't working this time. I decided I better get the story from the boys on what happened. They said they were wrestling on the rocking chair and Kenna tried jumping on Aidan's head and fell off the chair. I figured by the way she was acting that she had broken it but decided to give it a while cause she was tired. I took her downstairs and rocked with her in the rocking chair. Despite being extremely tired, she had a hard time falling asleep. She calmed down but any time she kind of put pressure on it, she cried. She could move her fingers and her wrist but putting pressure hurt. This was like dejavu from Megan's broken arm and how my mom describes how I was when I broke my arm, but I wanted to give it a little longer. I wanted to see how she was when she was sleeping and after she woke up. So she slept in my arms for awhile and then I laid her in my bed. She woke up once crying that it hurt and I got her calmed down and back to sleep. When she woke up for good, she said it still hurt but she eventually wanted to play with her brothers and sisters. The clincher for me that it was time to take her to the ER was watching her attempt to open the door to go outside. She tried to open it with her right hand and cringed when she put pressure on it. She then switched to her left and opened it. I could see the pain in her face as she attempted this simple task. So Kenna and I headed for the ER. The x-ray tech was already at the hospital, so we didn't wait long. Kenna was such a trooper through all of this. It was like it was just routine. She didn't cry, complain, or cause any fuss. She just smiled and did what they asked. It was a pretty good sign that it was broken when the nurse rolled the laptop computer into our room and said that the doctor wanted to show me the x-rays. Sure enough, a bow fracture just above her wrist. So they put a hard splint on it and said to call the orthopaedic surgeon on Monday to see what he wanted to do with it. Kenna was happy with the stickers the x-ray tech gave her and her request was to show Grammy her arm. Grammy happened to be on her way home from Cheyenne from state tennis so we went and showed Grandma Ruth instead. (Sidenote: Grammy had 5 broken arms when she was a little girl. Grandma Ruth saw way too many arms wrapped up like sweet little Kenna's. Guess Kenna wanted to try and be like her Grammy. Let's hope this is the only one she has, not five like Grammy!)

See my broken arm! It hasn't slowed me down!

Monday morning we headed to the orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Hansen. He and his PA Scott took care of Megan when she broke her arm at just about this exact same age. Good news for Kenna - only 3 weeks in a cast and in 6-9 months her arm should look straight again. She missed the growth plate (thank goodness)! Of course Kenna chose pink for her cast. She got lots of attention at the doctor office cause she was so cute in her pink outfit and her pink bow and her pink cast plus her sweet little smile and personality.

All tuckered out from a crazy weekend!

Despite being right handed and breaking her right arm, Kenna has not slowed down. It amazes me at how resiliant little kids are. She just does things with her left hand and whatever she can manage with her right. She doesn't complain and thank goodness has not used it as a weapon (knock on wood). She is scheduled to go back to Dr. Hansen on Monday, Oct. 26th to get her cast off. Then I will be a panicky mother for a while until it is strong again. I really don't want to do this again!