Halloween (a day late and a dollar short)

A little late, or a lot. Here are the boys in their Halloween costumes.


Hyrum was Superman, in case you couldn't figure that out. I made the cape a long time ago and he loves wearing it and running across the house, so I figured it would be perfect for Halloween since Sterling wanted to be Spiderman. Superhero theme.


And here is Spiderman in the flesh. His costume is just a pair of sweats that I embellished and I hoped and prayed there would not be someone at preschool with the real deal. Then there would be no end to the dissatisfaction. Luckily, no one else was Spidey so I didn't have to hear about how Sterling didn't have a mask or gloves or boots. That was lucky.

Sterling had a full day of Halloween festivities. At preschool they had a party complete with Trick or Treating and then we went out Trick or Treating after dinner. Talk about too much candy!! But the boys had a blast knocking on doors and toward the end Hyrum was even trying to say "Trick or Treat". It was really cute. He was so amazed that every door we knocked on someone gave him candy!! We worked hard at getting them to remember to say "thank you." Which basically means I prompted them at every door. "What do you sa-ay?" And, if the people were fast and already had the candy ready to give, they didn't even get "Trick or Treat" out. Oh, well.

The most amazing thing to me was we only went down three blocks and back three blocks and we got enough candy to fill two large salad bowls. Good thing I don't have any qualms about throwing candy away!! Does that make me a mean mother? Oh, well, add it to my list.

A day worthy of two posts

More pumpkin patch fun.

This was really the end of the day after we had done all the fun stuff and we heading up to pay for our pumpkins. Sterling insisted on pulling the wagon and Hyrum insisted on riding in it. It was really cute.

This was Hyrum's favorite thing. He is really into cars and anything that goes vroom, so when he got to sit on a tractor all by himself, he was loving it!

The farm had this little corn maze with no map, you just wander through. You can't get lost since all trails lead out, so the boys both had a turn being the leader.

How cute is this?

We really had a great day. Very minimal arguing and tons of fun. We will definitely make this a yearly tradition, at least until they get too old for it. Then I will be sad!!

OK, pictures

Ok, well, I still got a little frustrated trying to get this to work, but I finally figured it out. Thanks Robyn. So, here are some pics from our trip to the pumpkin patch. It's this great little farm here in town that is absolutely free and over the years they have really done a great job making it a fun place to take kids (and I'm sure they hope you will buy some pumpkins).

First up, the hay stack. They have this area surrounded by hay bales and then full of hay so kids can jump into it. Sterling and Hyrum LOVED playing in this. If this was all there was to do, they would have been set for hours!


That's Grandpa's hands. Grandma and Grandpa went with us on this trip. I'm not really sure they necessarily enjoyed themselves, but I think they liked watching the kids have fun. OK, I take that back. Grandpa was up running around the hay bales and jumping in, too.



Hyrum loved just throwing the hay up in the air and watching it fall down. Needless to say, we took a lot of hay home.


Sterling picked out a huge pumpkin. Our only stipulation was that he be able to carry to the wagon himself. He barely made it.


And of course a silly shot of cute and crazy boys.

For all you complainers

OK, well, I was going to post some pictures but I'm so frustrated trying to figure out how to put text above the photo that I'm giving up until someone sends me an email tutorial.

Sarah

What happened??

So, I really enjoy the seasons. I love gettting ready for fall and going to the pumpkin patch and spending some time thinking about and making costumes, but I realized suddenly today that Halloween is FRIDAY!! How did that happen?!? Also, Sterling's preschool is having an auction next week to raise money for whatever and I haven't done anything for that either!!

Moral of the story, it is time to get my rear in gear. I fact, I have almost moved past Halloween and Thanksgiving and am ready for Christmas. What is that?

Finally, the bank called today and said our loan documents are in!!! HEHEHEHEHEE!! (squeal of delight) Now we jsut have to wait for the water test to be finalized and we are in!! SOO exciting!!

Hip Hip Hooray!!

Well, we have a couple of great news bits.

First, I am finally feeling human again!! I still really have to be careful about what I eat, but as long as I don't eat anything with onions or peppers or spicy whatever and I don't eat too much, I'm great! It is so nice to feel like I can function.

Second, (keep your fingers crossed) we should close at the end of this week or the beginning of next on our house!! The pessimist in me is still trying not to get my hopes up because I've heard of sooo many deals falling through at the last minute, but it seems our financing has come through and everything is in place. I'll let you know as soon as it does.

We went out to the house this last weekend to spray blackberries. They are bad. I'm not sure how long the house has been empty, but one of the neighbors has at least been trimming the lawn. Unfortunately, they just blew all the grass up against the house and wherever, so while Brandon was spraying the boys and I went around kicking the grass away from the house and kicking all the matted grass out of the driveway. As we were there, I realized that this was actually going to be our house and suddenly I wished I had a rake and a weedwacker! Oh well, there will be plenty of time for yard cleanup very soon. Maybe this weekend if we haven't closed we can go have a work party out there.

Anyway, we're getting excited and we'll have pictures very soon!

Sarah

A visit to the hospital

So, we're expecting baby number three and I am as sick as a dog. I'm not sure where that phrase came from or how it applies, but, nevertheless, I am sick. I finally decided to go to the hospital after I hadn't eaten anything in days and yet my body was still trying to reject my stomach contents. Plus, I know when my body won't last much longer because I had the same problem during my pregnancy with Sterling, but less severe. With Sterling I was hospitalized for rehydration and nausea control at 15 weeks. I went in with this one at 8. So, I spent the night in the ER, or I guess the morning, (1:00) and they gave me some fluids and Zofran, a fantastic anti-emetic, but when the second bag was done, I was still sick. So, they admitted me to the hospital to run some tests and get things under control. After extensive blood work, (I swear they drew six times!) it was determined that my thyroid is not functioning properly, so they did more tests to find out why. I have hyperthyroidism caused by pregnancy which causes hyperemesis.

Now I am on thyroid medication to try to control it and one of the side affects is nausea and vomiting!! Of course that would be the side effect I get from it. So, I am also on Zofran which is the strongest anti-nausea drug available and I still have days when I can't keep anything down. Yes, I am complaining. I know there are people in the world who would give anything to just be able to have a baby of their own, and I do symphathize with them, but I really don't like throwing up and not being able to take care of my family.

But, in an effort to see the Lord's hand in my daily life, I have been able to learn some very valuable lessons from this. One, I was born on this earth at this time so I could have my family and fulfill that role in my life. I know full well that if it were not for modern medicine I would not be alive. I would have died in my pregnancy with Sterling. I know that seems extreme, but my kidneys had shut down and my potassium was so low that if there had not been medical intervention my heart would have stopped. Second, I need to take help when and where it is offered. I've needed to learn this lesson for a long time but I'm pretty stubborn and now I've been forced to. Since we are living with my parents I've absolutely had to depend on them to take care of the boys and they have been so great about it. If I weren't living here I'm sure I'd still be trying to do it on my own even when it was impossible. Finally, that the Lord has a timeline for us that we don't understand. This is not a new lesson but it will always be a valuable one for me. If we had gotten the house we had originally wanted I wouldn't have been in the right position to learn lesson two. Now, if all goes well, we should be into our new house right at the end of the first trimester when my body should get a handle back on itself.

So, in the end, even with all the complaining, I have a lot to be grateful for. I know that I am greatly loved and watched over and that everything will work out. I guess the last lesson I need to learn from this is patience. I'll always be working on that.

Sarah