Open Skate

Well ... Mike's not-so-secret strategizing this fall has paid off. Quinn was willing to give skating - on actual ice - a try. And Dec has been adamant that he needs to learn to skate because he can start mini-mites this summer. And a boy wants to skate to take advantage of mini-mites! Bugs is always up for putting on her skates.

So a couple Sundays ago, we did an early rest time and took advantage of open skate on one of the new community center rinks. It wasn't super cheap, but was really nice to have the good ice and climate controlled atmosphere. They also had the little walker contraptions that help new skaters actually stand up! We are all about setting people up for success as much as possible!

Both Q and D started with the trainers. And they both did better without them once we finally got them to figure out how to stand up and balance on their own. We quickly found that it worked better if Mike helped Quinn and I helped Declan. By the end of the 90 minutes, Quinn was doing a pretty good job of staying upright, moving forward, and consistently getting up by herself. I finally got Declan to [mostly] stop trying to run while skating and he also could move forward a bit and get back up when he fell.

Midway through, Dec got super frustrated and we took a break on the bench. A high school hockey player came over and gave D a pep talk about how everyone falls when they are learning and that he just needed to go try again. It was so sweet and worked like a charm. Even though I had literally just finished saying the same thing to him.

The best part of the trainers - they made great sleds! Everyone enjoyed when Mike spun them around the ice. No one enjoyed when I pushed them around ... apparently I was way too slow. And Fiona found that she could practice her gliding really well when she was pushing Dec around. They were both pleased with that discovery.

Everyone had a blast and all three kids have asked to go again. Mike and I love skating, so I fully imagine we will find our way back to the rink a few more times this winter as a family. It will only get more fun as people can navigate the ice on their own.

Q's Choices

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that Quinn has struggled to find her “thing.” And that struggle is mostly because she doesn’t like to separate from us. At all. You also know that Quinn is stubborn. So if I ask her a question like “hey Q, want to do gymnastics?” and she answers with a very firm “no” – the odds are pretty good that she is not going to do it.

We’ve come to a rather acceptable compromise. If she does say “yes” and we spend money on something, we expect her to follow through. This is a vast improvement from several swimming and gymnastics lessons that we consider donations to local businesses. This fall, she is participating in a cooking class at her school and floor hockey. And so far, she is doing great!

Despite her love the kitchen, her fear of a class almost won. It took all my marketing skills to talk Q into a little one hour cooking class, once a week for four weeks, at her school. When school is out for the day, she walks to the art room for class, and then walks to the after care program when cooking class is done. This was well worth the effort it took to get her to agree because she LOVES it. She comes home glowing each week with her goodies in her backpack and tells me all about every step of the recipe for the week.

Repaired pie

Last Wednesday, they made full-sized pies to bring home to use with Thanksgiving dinner. They made the crust from scratch, rolled it out and put it in a foil pie tin, filled it with their fruit of choice (Q picked blueberries), covered it with a second sheet of crust, and put it in a gallon sized Ziploc to bring home to bake.

Only one problem. No one told my 5-year-old that she should not tip a pie into her backpack – as she had done with all her other cooking class treats. So when we picked her up, the tears and despair were very very real. “Mama, my pie broke” was the saddest wail you have ever heard. I’m pretty sure her very soul was bruised.

When we got home, I did what any mama would do. I stuck my hand in a Ziploc full of blueberries and we put that pie back together. Then we ate it on Thanksgiving. And you know what – it was still wonderful. She was so proud – and her soul bruise healed! She will also now tell you that “pies have to stay flat.” So life lessons all around.  

She is also doing very well in floor hockey. Her dad would tell you that she is in the upper half of skill level in the class. She would tell you that she is having fun. The first week was a little touch and go (she left a couple times in tears – but went right back in after I hugged her), but the last two times have been fine. They scrimmage and she likes that a lot. She doesn’t mind the skill drills, but is definitely more interested in the game.

Q doesn’t like to be part of the mob chasing the puck and stands on the outside of the group. Then when the puck inevitably squirts out, she snags it and takes it down for a shot. It’s a solid strategy, although I’m pretty sure she’s doing it because she’s tired at that time of night and sees no point in running around unnecessarily. Mike also was bragging her up to me last week that she stopped a pass on her back hand and then pulled the puck to her forehand before taking the shot. She’s got an eye for the game. We’ll see if she wants to continue.

We are excited to see her enjoying and being successful in something sports related. She is incredibly athletic and has shown zero interest in any form of organized sport up to now. Mostly Mike is hoping that this is a gateway to getting this child to want to learn to skate. Like anything, Quinn will do it when she chooses to. And not a moment earlier.  

Non-Surprising School Conferences

Last week was school conferences for both girls. It was so fun to go and hear how they are doing and what is the same (and different) in a school environment as at home.

Quinn is doing so well at school. She is a high performer across the board and her teacher seems to adore her. She showed us an example of Q’s math work – where she wrote her numbers 1-100 in order with no backwards numbers. First quarter. In kindergarten. She is also doing well socially, works well with others, and has many friends. Mrs. L agreed wholeheartedly when we said we were glad we didn’t hold her back.

The only thing Q needs to really work on is the ability to sit with her butt on a chair. This has been an issue since … forever. When Mrs. L asked us to work on it at home, we laughed and told her that we had been for years. And if she could teach us how to make that happen, we’d be ever so grateful. Luckily, Mrs. L is also a really good teacher and recognizes that kids need different things. So, she gives Q the option to stand and do her work. Q stands about 80% of the day. She’s not disruptive at all. She is just completely incapable of sitting on a chair like a normal person. Her bottom half has always had the wiggles.

School photos

Fiona is also doing well at school. We have a few more bumps in this department at the moment, but nothing that is too big of a deal. Her perfectionist nature is coming out more and more, so even though she is right on track with reading and math, she gets down on herself because she occasionally gets things wrong. We constantly remind her that we send her to school because she doesn’t know everything. But her perfectionist mother gets it.

Fiona loves writing and is consistently writing 6-8 sentence stories. I love reading her stories and seeing her creative brain at work. By the end of first grade, they are supposed to be writing 18 sentence stories. She’s on a good track for that!

Her creative brain is also her troublespot at school. She tends to daydream and has trouble staying focused on the tasks she is supposed to be doing. It’s not that she can’t do it; she is just so easily distracted. She has always been this way and we’ve predicted that feedback at her conferences since she was a toddler. We are working with her teacher (who is also great) to find ways to help her stay on task while still giving her space to let her mind whirl.

Fiona also has a little more trouble socially in the classroom. She is well-liked and has friends, but she is easily exasperated by the antics of some of her less mature classmates. We are working on tolerance and letting things roll off her better. She is one of the oldest in her class and is a old soul (who does like poop jokes), so it doesn’t surprise us. We often find her with the 4^th and 5^th graders at after care.

So while they both have areas that could use a bit of fine-tuning (don't we all), we couldn’t be more proud of how they are doing at school – both academically and socially. Big things will come from these blondes.

We Weren't Ready

So, you know that picture of Fiona scowling during our family pictures … that is how I’ve felt about blogging lately. I mean, last night, the blog was going to lose anyway because it was the freestyle round of Dancing with the Stars and no one can compete with that. But in general, crossed arms, scowl face. I think it’s because I don’t want to write this post.

My grandma died. She was 101 and almost a half. Strike that, she was 101 and a half. She was within a week of the half. I’m not an accountant like my dad. In marketing, that’s simply a rounding error. She gets the half. It’s weird to say that someone passing at 101 (and a half) is a surprise. But dang it, it caught all of us by complete surprise!

At her 101^st birthday party in May (you know, where we forgot to sing happy birthday to her), she told us to get everyone home for number 102. So everyone was coming home for number 102. Because we believed her. And we weren’t ready. She was the best.

My Uncle Eric gave the most wonderful eulogy at her funeral. I couldn’t top it if I tried. My mom did Grandma proud and baked her most famous recipes (chocolate chip cookies and fudge) for the reception after the funeral. She would have been happy. She liked nothing better than feeding people (I get that from her). If a sixth love language was feeding people, Grandma and I would be the poster children.

I couldn’t have written her story any better either. She lived a good, looong life. She was so loved. She had a great final day. And she went peacefully in her sleep with no drama and no suffering. But we weren’t ready. Because she was the best.

My mom taught me to cook. And gave me the freedom in her kitchen to cook like I do – which is much more how my grandma cooked. My mom is the cleanest cooker (a Q word) that you have ever seen. She can make a four-course meal and her kitchen is spotless. I can make toast and my kitchen looks like I made a four-course meal. I’m just a messy cook. I blame Grandma. She taught me how to use my instincts in the kitchen. I’m notorious for using recipes as guidelines. I rarely measure. I smell what I’m cooking and stop adding things when it “smells right.”

Grandma would always tell me that cooking this way had risks. Sometimes it’s a big ol’ dud. But as you learn and practice, you can take a good recipe and make it great. I’m not afraid to fail in the kitchen. I hate it when I do. But I’m not afraid. Quinn cooks like me. She will already say things like “mama, it doesn’t smell right yet.” My favorite is when my mom likes something I made and asks me for the recipe. She also usually asks if I followed it. When my answer is “some of it,” she’ll always say, “you’re as bad as my mom.”

Right after Mike and I bought the house, I got an itch to plant a peony plant (my mom and grandma had the best peonies when I was growing up). I didn’t want any old peony and found the one I wanted after way too much internet research. The catch was that I had to plant the root. So I told Grandma my plan. In addition to being a great cook, she had a green hand. Not just a thumb. The whole hand. Knowing that patience was not my strongest character quality, she advised against that. “Honey, do you know how long that will take to flower? It will be years before you get a single bud. Can you really wait that long without giving up?”

All her grandkids (and a great)
sent her off with a toast

Here’s the thing. Grandma also knew a thing or two about dealing with stubborn people. So I dug in and told her that “of course I could wait that long. How dare she doubt me?” And then each spring when that stupid peony grew but didn’t flower, I resisted the urge to dig it out because I needed to prove to Grandma that I could last. She knew that. She was wily! This last spring, there were three beautiful flowers on my plant. By the time Fiona graduates from high school, we’ll be rolling in peonies … and those flowers will remind me of her every year. Which is perfect – because they always bloom right around her birthday.

I could write for days and not do her justice. She left a hole in our family and we miss her to the depths of our being. But when I look around my own little house (and not even out to the extended family), I see she’s not gone. Fiona’s big heart comes from her. I feel her with Quinn and me every time we destroy the kitchen. And Declan, his joyful spirit and laugh remind me of her. They can both fill a room with happiness.

101 (and a half). 112. 125. We were never going to be ready. She really is the best.

Cousin Weekend III

As Mike took off up north at the beginning of the month to hunt for a long weekend, the cousins headed south for our third annual Hunting Opener cousin weekend. My mama was going to come too, but just didn't feel like making the trip with all the stuff she had to do to prepare for Grandma's service the following weekend (more on that later). So it was my sister, me, the three small Vs, my cousins Brenda, Anna, and Liv - and A & L's little boys, Otto, Hux, and Milo.

Auntie came down Friday night and since we hadn't gotten it together enough to do responsible things like have groceries, we grabbed a pizza on the way home from picking up all the humans. And nobody complained about that plan! It was a low-key night because at the end of a long week, we needed it. We also knew Saturday would be a big day!

Saturday morning after breakfast, we headed up to meet the cousins at their hotel and hang out in the pool with them. Milo was napping during pool time, so Em, Anna, Liv, and I were in charge of keeping everyone alive. All three of mine and Otto were little fish in the big pool. We made them wear their life jackets and they were swimming all over the place. The big pool was pretty crowded, so it wasn't Huxey's scene. I was thrilled that he was willing to let me snuggle him and put his toes in the hot tub. I got some smiley Hux time, got to stand in warm water, and other people chased my humans around. Amazing!

After about an hour, we noticed some rather gross looking stuff floating in the big pool. And with that, swim time was over (and showers definitely happened!).

We headed back to S-town for lunch and then everyone else came down after they ate. While we were definitely out-numbered by kiddos - and out-volumed by them too - we managed to finish a few adult sentences and so enjoyed watching all the kids play together. Dec, Quinn, and Otto were crazy wild and loving every second of it. Even though we don't see them as often as we would like, they are such good friends. And since my cousins are some of my best friends, it is just the best to watch the next generation develop that bond. I will admit we are all a little nervous for when Quinn and the boys are 9, 7, 6, 5, and 4. They will be quite the formidable team!

We tried to settle everyone down while I made dinner by putting on a Paw Patrol episode. We almost lost the whole crew to sleep! They were a little bit worn out from all that playing. Dinner was a hit and then we had to say good-bye. The day went way too fast and we look forward to it every year. I can also tell you that bedtime was pretty quiet here!

Oh - and in case you were wondering, Mike got two deer.

I got a Huxey smile!

A Day in the Life: The Bloody Nose Edition

Based on the popularity of last year’s Day In the Life post (and the fact that we look back at it and giggle), I figured we’d do another round. I randomly picked a day on the calendar … and then when I looked back to link last year’s post to this one, I discovered that last year’s random selection was also November 16. I feel like that doesn’t show my spontaneous nature in the best light …but nonetheless, here we go!

5:45 am: Mike gets up and showers for the day.

6:00 am: Mike is out of the shower and getting Fiona’s flush set up. He also reminds her to eat her breakfast as well as play on her iPad.

6:06 am: Fiona starts her flush and I get into the shower.

6:17 am: Mike tries to say good-bye, but I tell him he’s not dressed yet so it doesn't count.

6:19 am: Mike is dressed and I get my second kiss.

6:26 am: Mike leaves for work (and somewhere between 6:19 and 6:26, Declan is up and Mike gets him a bowl of cereal. Because even though the boy gets breakfast at preschool, he is not about to let the sisters eat breakfast without him. Since he can’t keep his pants up because he’s so skinny, we allow it …)

6:23 am: Declan barges into the bathroom where I am getting ready to inform me he has to go potty. Then he wants to get dressed. Quinn is still sleeping so I send him into his room to find his clothes by flashlight, so he can get ready in my room.

6:28 am: I try very hard to get ready, but am constantly interrupted for Declan to show me how he is getting dressed “all by myself.” We maybe do a quick twist of the underwear and shirt to ensure all articles are facing the appropriate direction.

6:40 am: I’m getting dressed and making my bed when a tussled blonde head appears in my doorway. Dec and I joke about it being a monster. Then the monster flops into my room and lays on the floor whining about being tired … Quinn is awake.

6:45 am: I send Declan back to eat his cereal (I didn’t know Mike had poured it before he left), which has been sitting there since he came in to potty. I send Quinn to get dressed. There is more hall laying and whining. Daylight Savings Time hit her the hardest.

6:50 am: Quinn is dressed, so I get her cereal ready for her and refill Declan’s bowl. They sit at the table eating while I make beds, fill water bottles, and gather my stuff for the day.

7:00 am: I prep the Bathroom Round, getting toothbrushes set up and bringing in Fiona’s spelling words to quiz her while we cath.

7:05 am: Get Fiona off the potty and practice her spelling words. Remind the other two to wash up and brush their teeth.

7:06 am: Declan starts whining that he is still hungry after his two bowls of cereal and I remind him that Ms. A will feed him again at preschool. He trudges off to watch Arthur, unhappy that I didn’t provide a third bowl.

7:10 am: Fiona is done and off to get dressed. I clean up the breakfast mess and load the dishwasher. Quinn and Dec “get ready to go” by doing absolutely nothing productive.

7:17 am: Shoes, coats, hats, and mittens time. It’s mass chaos and it’s a wonder no one falls down the stairs every single day.

7:23 am: By some miracle, we are ready to head out the door. We simply have to get in the car and drive across the street to Ms. Katie’s. Sounds easy enough. Except Quinn tries to muscle Fiona out of the middle seat and they both end up in tears. I make Quinn move and she proceeds to whine and have a fit to the point that we stop the car and I tell her that she can act like a big girl and get big girl privileges or she can act like a baby and we can treat her like one. Including when she goes to bed. She begrudgingly pulls it together.

7:28 am: FIVE minutes after we are all ready, we arrive across.the.dang.street at Ms. Katie’s and I drop the girls off. She will walk them to catch the bus at 7:51.

7:30 am: Hop back in the car with Dec to drive across town (the opposite way from work) to preschool.

7:35 am: While waiting at a stoplight, Declan yawns and says, “Mama, I didn’t yawn cuz I was tired. I yawned cuz … … … Mama, I think I’m tired.”

7:39 am: We had bad stoplight luck this morning so we arrived a little later than we hoped at preschool. We enter to a chorus of excited voices saying “Declan” and he easily transitions.

8:02 am: I arrive at work. Traffic was really slow and annoying. I have 58 minutes until my “rest of the day” meeting starts. I grab some coffee and catch up on emails.

12:30 pm: First break in the meeting and I can finally go to the bathroom!

2:00 pm: See an email from Fiona’s teacher that she is struggling to stay focused. This has been a bit of an issue lately.

2:30 pm: As I'm responding to F's teacher, and email from the school nurse arrives about Fiona and I wonder what on earth is happening at school today. This one ends up to not be a big deal.

2:47 pm: Escape from my meeting. Have 13 minutes until the next one.

4:24 pm: Return a message from the doctor to set up a fitting for Fiona's new braces. Negotiate a time where I don't have to pull her out of school (an 11:00am appointment ... really?!?!). Also remember to take her (and Quinn - who now gets to come with to said appointment) off the After School program calendar so I don't have to pay for that day.

4:33 pm: Finally get a chance to call our favorite SB clinic nurse (Abby) back. Leave a message because, as expected, she's not there.

4:48 pm: Head out to my car. Chat with my boss on the way out and then call my parents to catch up on the ride home. As I'm getting close to home, miss a call from my sister.

5:08 pm: Transition to home time. The kids are playing happily in the basement and come up to the landing to greet me. Fiona and I sit on the steps for a bit and discuss her day. Q and D start to get pretty wild. I call down to remind them to settle down.

5:15 pm: Adjust dinner plan because I can't make what I was going to and get Q to hockey on time. So leftovers night it is. Call the wild children up. Dec comes up crying with a bloody nose because he and Q ran into each other. Sympathy is on the light side as they had been repeatedly reminded about being wild.

5:45 pm: Quinn gets ready for floor hockey and she and Mike head out. We had a brief moment where she got upset and claimed she didn't want to go because she was too tired. As I told her that was fine (and everyone looked at me in disbelief), I outlined her options. She could go to hockey - or, if she really was that tired, she could go to bed. She managed to find the energy to go.

6:02 pm: I've cleaned up everything I can, sorted through the mail, loaded the dishwasher, and am still waiting for Declan to finish eating. Fiona is in the living room reading a book out loud and occasionally spelling a word for me to help her with. Dec is ticked that I won't get him more food, but the kitchen is closed.

6:20 pm: Dinner is finally cleaned up and put away. D, F, and I load up and head to the grocery store to get the stuff I need to make an appetizer for my work Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow. We need to get cherry tomatoes, basil, and balsamic. We decide no cart. Dec's job is to hold Bugs' hand. Bugs' job is to keep track of her brother. They do so well that when they ask if they can have a Jelly Belly candy cane, I say yes. And we get one for Quinn too.

6:47 pm: Declan gets popped in the bathtub while I quickly throw together my capresse skewers. Fiona asks if she can help me and I happily take her up on that. She rarely wants to help me in the kitchen, so it was awesome to have her there. We also stain treat D's shirt that took quite a hit between the bloody nose and spaghetti sauce for dinner.

7:00 pm: Skewers are done. Dec is out of the tub and pj'ed up. We head downstairs so I can fulfill my promise to Fiona that we would have Thanksgiving dinner together. She worked so hard to set up a lovely table.

7:10 pm: Back upstairs to cath Fiona and run her through the shower.

7:20 pm: Mike and Quinn are home from floor hockey. Quinn is thrilled to share that she "did great" and Mike agreed and added how good she did in goal (NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I refuse to parent a goalie!). She had a scraped up knee and a brand new Mini Mites t-shirt.

7:25 pm: Quinn showers and tells me more about hockey. Mike gathers all the garbages and takes them out.

7:35 pm: Living room clean up time and then book and video. Quinn picks Clifford Goes to Kindergarten  to read and we watch the clip from Enchanted where Giselle falls into the well.

8:00 pm: Lights out in the kid room. They are tired and it is quiet immediately back there. I empty backpacks, go through school papers, and get everything ready for tomorrow morning. Mike grabs the laundry from last night.

8:10 pm: Wild game is on TV and I'm folding a million little clothes. Mike and I catch up with each other on the day and make some plans for the weekend.

8:45 pm: Mike makes us a Crown and Coke and I settle down to try to write this blog. We switch to reruns because the Wild are playing terribly and they are playing the Predators (blech!) and it's just depressing. I promise Mike that if I finish my post early and still have some energy, I'll start on my Thanksgiving meal grocery list. He is anxious for me to get that done so that he can go before all the crowds start.

9:50 pm: Mike had been keeping track of the hockey game on his phone and the Wild finally remembered how to skate. We switch back to the game to watch them win 6-4 in one of their bigger comebacks. It's especially happy since they beat the Preds (again, blech!).

10:00 pm (or so): We'll head to bed to be ready to do it again tomorrow. 

The Power of Three

Fiona had skating last night and Quinn opted to go with to watch (part of Mike's not-so-secret plan to get her interested in learning how to skate). With only one co-pilot for the night, I decided to take the dude out to run some errands. First stop was Kohl's to see if they had his missing blue camouflage mitten in their lost and found. Success!

Then we headed over to Target. Dec was adamant that we didn't need a cart and I agreed. We walked over to get the pants we needed and then to the customer service counter. There was a bit of a line, so while I waited, D wandered around the dollar aisle. He wasn't misbehaving, but I knew I would have to turn my back to him when it was my turn. And there's a discomfort in not seeing the three-year-old while in Target. 

So I called out, "D," and he turned, looked at me, and continued with what he was doing.

Then I called out, "Dec," and he simply ignored me.

"Decker." Barely perceptible head nod.

"Declan." A glance at the nice lady shopping the dollar aisle near him and no acknowledgement of me. 

"Declan George." Half turn to see how serious I really am. Nice Shopping Lady raises her eyebrows.

"Declan George Vanneste." Turns to Nice Shopping Lady and says, "That's three. Gotta go." and hustles his little self right over to me. Nice Shopping Lady bursts out laughing.

At least he knew I was serious when I got to all three names. 

Annual Clinic Update

With Fiona's birthday falling after school starts, I do my best to make her well check appointment when she doesn't have to miss school. Because of that, it was mid-October before we got in for her seven year check (thank you, MEA break). There were no surprises at her well check; she is doing great in all areas.

The only two things we really talked about was her bottom (she has a prolapsed rectum, which means a small ball of colon comes out on the regular. Mike and I are quite proficient at pushing it back in - but we have all been preparing ourselves for a surgery to fix that.) and her size. In that she's really really small. She is 42.5" tall (.3%) and 36 lbs 13 oz (.7%). Dr. H was feeling a little uncomfortable about her size and wanted us to consider visiting endocrinology - just to make sure everything is growing the right way. We decided to discuss with Dr. M when we went to spina bifida clinic and get his take on it as well.

It is both good and bad that Fiona is now more engaged in her doctor appointments. I like that we can start to teach her to take more control of her health and advocate for herself. But she was so sad when we left her well check and wanted to know why Dr. H didn't like her size. Thankfully, I was able to explain it to her in a way that made her feel better.

Fast forward to this last Tuesday and our annual trip to spina bifida clinic. It has been at the forefront of Fiona's mind for a couple weeks and she asked all.the.questions and we went over the logistics at least a dozen times. It truly helped her prepare for the day (she was such a trooper!) and she wants the know the "why" of things now, which will serve her well as she manages her health in the future.

She chose to go to school for the morning and Mike and I hustled our bottoms and raked, cut down the garden, and loaded the trailer with yard waste (winter snuck up on us!). We were both wishing we had done that when it was warmer than freezing - but we got it done. Then we headed over to school to pick up Fiona at 10:15.

We did the usual radiology battery of renal ultrasound, brain MRI, and shunt series x-ray. She's not a huge fan of the MRI, but she charmed the crap out of the x-ray techs and they were fighting over who got to work with her. Then we headed over to neurosurgery to see "Uncle" Pete. Her brain scans looked great. Everything is very stable, which is exactly what we want to hear. The MRI had reset her shunt quite significantly, so we got that fixed as well.

We looked at the time and debated trying to find something to eat, but decided to just head to clinic instead. It's not in your best interest to get out of line. Thankfully this year, I did better at packing snacks and we powered through fueled by popcorn and beef sticks.

Everything looks stable - other than her braces, which are clearly getting too small. So she got measured for new ones and is looking forward to getting those. Her rehab doctor is very pleased with how her spine, legs, hips, and ankles look. But we all (including Fiona) agreed that the braces definitely help and we should stay the course on those.

We left with referrals to pediatric surgery to get her prolapsed rectum addressed (minor surgery) and endocrinology. Dr. M and Dr. S both agreed that while they don't necessarily think there is any issue with her size, because she is in danger of falling off the growth chart, we should at least have a specialist tell us to not be alarmed. And if there is something we should address, then we will have the information we need to make good decisions for her.

It was close to 3:00 and we were all ready to be done. Mike headed to SLP for a dentist appointment and Fiona and I headed home ... via a short detour thanks to road construction. We stopped at Subway on the way and were both happy to have actual food. Bugs and I can only live on popcorn and beef sticks for so long.

Halloween 2017

Mermaid, jack-o-lantern,
and Superman

Once you've trick-or-treated at a campground, Halloween proper just pales in comparison. The days leading up to Halloween had been cold and rainy. We were thankful the rain - and wind - stopped for the big night. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't too chilly either. We bundled up and no one complained about being cold (although Fiona did forget a hat and ended up wearing Mike's).

As we have done the last couple years, we met up with Ev and Jonah and walked around with them. It's just way more fun to trick-or-treat in a group. We also left our bowl of candy out on our step so we didn't miss prime candy distribution time. This turned out to be a solid plan and most of the candy was gone when we got home. There were quite a few kids out, which was awesome to see. We have an older neighborhood - so it's exciting when we see families and kids out and about. It felt like there were more houses with lights on too.

We stayed out for 40 minutes or so, got plenty of candy [there is SO MUCH candy here], and enjoyed watching Fiona bravely lead the crew up to the "haunted house" of the neighborhood. They had a fog machine that would go off when someone rang the doorbell. So funny!

Then we headed home to catch the final wave of trick-or-treaters. I've officially lost my job as candy-hander-outer to the girls. I don't think our doorbell rang once - because they sat on the bottom stair and had the door open the second anyone's feet hit our driveway. They also sorted their candy on the stairs while they waited and happily brought me a couple Milky Ways. Such good girls!

Baker Boo

Alternate title: Learning to Camp in the Rain

Mother Nature really turned it on this fall. I’m always a huge fall fan (I think it’s my favorite season), but this year was especially beautiful - and long lasting. In fact, we still have some fall color down here. It was weird to see that with snow last Friday. [It also means that we have not finished raking yet because there are still leaves on trees. And now it's 30 degrees ...]

Anyway, in the midst of the glorious fall colors, we took our first ever fall camping trip with the Ps to really experience Baker Boo. We’ve been to Baker Boo before – but only in our infamous Vanneste day camping ways. We actually stayed overnight this time! The girls were off of school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday that week, so they spent their first two days of break with Gma and Gpa N. Then Mike, Dec, and I took Friday off of work and preschool, so we packed up and headed up to the campground right after lunch. 

Friday was a perfect fall day. Some (cough ... Mike) would even say it was too hot. We got all set up while the kids ran around with the Pilcher kids, played in the leaves, peed in the woods (Dec), and generally had a good time. We enjoyed a lovely fire that night - complete with s'mores. And then the adults enjoyed the campfire after the kids all went to bed. The only not perfect thing about the day. It was SO windy!!

Saturday was not the perfect fall day. Friday's wind was the opening act for quite the line of storms that blew in overnight. Between wind and storms (and a toddler for the Ps), sleep was not amazing on Friday night. It rained  hard until almost 10am on Saturday, so we were pretty much camper bound. I did venture out to the bathroom to get a shower - and didn't even have to wait in line! The kids did okay with being stuck inside. We got out some toys and coloring supplies, Fiona did her flush and watched a show, and Mike grabbed the DVD player from his car so Q and D could also watch a show while they played.

We were all happy when the rain stopped enough that we could put on rain boots, sweatshirts, and raincoats, and venture outside! While the rain was done for the time being, it was very very muddy. Despite our best efforts, the camper floor took quite the muddy hit on Saturday. It was harder to play outside on Saturday - especially for the girls who were not into "mudfest" as much as the big boys were. But we hung in there and alternated between outside and inside time. It's an art to camp in the rain and stay entertained - and you can't do it well without practice. Or so we told ourselves.

The afternoon was saved by the fall festival at the campground. The rain had stopped and it was game on for fall fun. The kids were thrilled when we said "yes" to face painting (they don't understand that we're not against the painting. We are against spending $50 at ValleyFair for them all to get their faces painted) and they had a blast playing the "Boo Games." We let the kids run up on the little stage to pose for a picture. Dec got a little too into his superhero persona and proceed to "hulk-smash" Fiona in the gut. It was very hard to discipline him without laughing. It was SO funny ... for everyone except Fiona. But according to the subsequent training class manual, you don't hulk-smash your sisters.

There was another band of storms coming through that evening so they moved trick-or-treating from 6-7 to 5-6pm. This was a well-received move! The candy-hander-outers loved that they could see the kids' costumes - and we loved that we could actually see our kids! You have not trick-or-treated until you do it at a campground. No messing around with doorbells and candy every few feet. Kid nirvana!! We even found a site where they gave candy to the kids and shots to the adults. Brad and I took it for the team!

Quinn and Dec made it about a loop and a half before they were done, so Mike took them back to our site to hand out candy. Fiona and I continued on with the rest of the big kids and did about four loops. Right at the end of loop four, the rain started up again, so Fiona and I bailed back to the camper. We discovered the rest of our gang there with a very empty candy bowl. Apparently all our candy (and there were probably 75-100 pieces) was gone in under 15 minutes and Quinn swears she was only giving one piece per person.

The rain turned out to be just some sprinkles. So we ate a quick dinner and headed over to B loop to hang with Cheryl's family. The kids had a dance party and then we all walked over to see the evening entertainment. It was square dancing. Fiona and Tryg paired up, Quinn asked Jack to be her partner (and he happily agreed), and Dec partnered with super fun Aunt Carin. It was so fun to watch and the kids had a great time. The littles went back to the site with Mike, but Fiona stayed for one more dance with Libby. She ended up in a group one of the tallest men there, and he had to go under a bridge made with her arms. Cathy, Carin, and I died laughing!

It was very late and was a short time around the campfire before the wheels fell off. Hard. Trainwreck at site D-9! And quite honestly, at the Pilcher site as well. The evening ended with Brad, Mike, and I around the campfire. With no wind and no rain. Yay! The night went better for sleeping for all. And then we packed it up pretty early on Sunday morning. Which was good because all things needed to be de-mudded when we got home - kids, dog, camper floor ...

Family Favorites

Sometimes you need to blog about your fall camping trip and Halloween and instead, resizing photos sounds easier and you decide to share a few of the group photos from the Family Pictures Round 1 and 2 adventure. Because it's Thursday and stories that require a lot of words also require brain cells. And you are out of them.

Or you are posting family pictures by popular demand. Because you give the people what they want. It's one of those two.

**If it looks like we just picked a random spot in our yard and crammed together for a family photo, it's because we picked a random spot in our yard and crammed together for a family photo. While Round 2 went better, it was not without its excitement. In that it started raining within 5 minutes of us going outside. Coming soon to a blog near you ... really cute photos of my kids playing in the rain. Taken after group photos were cut short because of the high probability (according to short people) that they would melt in the rain. Naturally.

Mike saw - and then caught - a snake.
And the kids all tried to use me a shield.
Then the snake peed on him. And we laughed.

It looks sweet. But this is Fiona scowling
and me telling her that I need her to pull it together.