November 2011

November came and went so very fast. Raschell, Jared's cousin, came and spent almost two weeks with us. We love having her, even if that means Tyson has to come too ;0).  I didn't get a ton of pictures this month, but I'm famous for that when there is a holiday involved. 

November 16th

My little sleeping man♥

November 19th

Avery's first dance performance. My mom flew in to Austin and then drove down to watch Ave. She was so excited and nervous all at the same time. This was here first year dancing and she started out twice a week doing Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Hip Hop. She did not like Hip Hop which was combined with tap (which she loved) so half way through I was tired of the complaining so I let her drop that class. She was performing a Jazz routine today, and it was so cute!

Tyson trying to get the kids all excited in thinking they were going to bring a puppy home with them.

After being at the dance festival for over an hour the people finally found out that they had given us the wrong dance time and it was not 12:20 when she danced, but almost 4:30! We were not happy, but what do you do?  I'll tell you what you do, you go to Rudy's and eat amazing Texas BBQ till you can't move and pass out in a sweet meat comma is what you do!

It was finally time for Ave to dance, she was outstanding! I was so proud of her and she did such an amazing job with the routine!

November 22nd

Lincoln made his sweet Indian headband at school and was so proud of it! Ave, being my little crafter, made one for herself to match. I love these kids so very much!

November 24th Thanksgiving

I have to say this was by far the "yummiest" Thanksgivings I have been to in a long time! It was so nice to have family here, I miss that.  Tyson made thee most amazing stuffing that I have ever tasted in my whole entire life! He is a great cook, messy, but great. I loved cooking with him! Raschell was in charge of the cheese platter, delish! We had our friends and neighbors the Langston's, and Molly over to celebrate. I think we all ate until we could no longer even look at food.......for a few hours. Sad to say I only got like 2 pictures? I know I took more, but I have no idea where they went? 

We had so much fun with Tyson and Raschell. We were also able to sneak in a visit with Mimi, another cousin of Jared's, and her family. That was such a great night with them. We did so much, went to the Salt Lick in Austin with Uncle Brian, Tyson, Raschell, and us only to fall into yet another delicious meat comma! Black Friday shopping with Raschell, thanks again I had a blast and got some girl time!

November 30th

It was time for Liam's 6 month VCUG scan and ultrasound to check on his kidneys. First the ultrasound which takes forever due to him having a pelvic kidney and a lot of scar tissue and other things. After that was done we headed over to another room for the VCUG scan. I hate this scan, it is so uncomfortable for Liam and frankly no mother likes to watch their child crying in pain and scared to death :(  He was so nervous as he is whenever we go to the Dr. and I don't blame him. I couldn't stay in the room with him while they did the scan, but could watch from the next room, pure torture! When all was done they looked at the results and nothing had changed (damage to the kidneys), thank goodness! We got dressed and headed up a couple of floors to see his Urologist. We were excited to hear that because there was no change we now only have to do this once a year, woo hoo!

A little later we received Liam's new hernia support belt in the mail and all I can say is WOW has it helped this little boy so much! I am always talking to companies about ostomy items and new products to help Liam with his little body. I can't thank the lady at Holister* for sending me to Nue Hope for a custom belt. He no longer has pain from pressure, his mid-section is smaller since it also helps hold his belly in, and it helps keep his colostomy bag on twice as long which also cuts down some cost for us! We ♥ this belt, just wish our insurance would pay for it :(

November 30th

That day Jared was on call, of course, but the kids and I decided to put up the Christmas tree! To anyone else it's not much to look at, the ornaments are mostly hand made or cracked, but to us it is full of memories and stories! Let the Season begin!

November was great. The kids are doing great in school and Liam is as cute as ever! Jared is busy, but almost half way done....finally!  The kids are so excited for Christmas this year. They make the Holidays amazing, thank you my 3 monkeys♥

October 2011

October came and went so fast! I love October in Texas! The weather is starting to cool off a little, which means high 70's and 80's and not high 90's into the hundreds. We were all meant fro the warmer climate, especially me♥

The first Sunday of every October is General Conference weekend. Our Prophet and Church Leaders speak on different topics of things that are meant to help and better ourselves. I love Conference. We don't have cable T.V. so we stream the sessions through our laptop. I always put together a plethora of activities to keep the kids entertained so that I can listen to the speakers.  Of course Jared was on call so it was up to me to man the fort!

Liam LOVES to sing the Primary songs. He carries this song book with him everywhere and sings follow the Prophet, Book of Mormon Stories, and more at the top of his lungs! I love it.

The next day Jared was post call so he came home and went to bed, poor guy. Later when he woke the kids wanted to paint their faces. If you know me I was all over it! I didn't have a ton of colors, but we had fun♥

October 9th. Avery is such a great reader, she loves to read to her brothers. 

Linc sporting his sweet Harry Potter cape pretending to eat a spider, such a boy!

Jared had the next day off so I had planned for us to all go to the pumpkin patch. I miss Virginia and everything they had there. One of our favorites was Cox's farm♥ This patch was still fun and worked, but it was no cox farm!

                               

Liam pointing out rotten pumpkin guts, of course.

One thing they did have that the boys LOVED was a little tractor train ride. Ave liked it the first couple of times, but then she was good.

They had this baby wart hog and oh my goodness it was the cutest thing EVER! Avery wouldn't leave it for anything so we had to keep coming back and checking on her. She was in heaven.

Ever since Liam went to his first petting zoo in Utah, he can't get enough of feeding animals and touching them.

Don't mind Lincoln.......

While the two older kids painted their pumpkins I sent Liam to go play with Dad.

This is where I found them♥

Time for a treat! The boys got ice cream.......

While my girl got the biggest caramel apple!

October 22nd

Time for a Sea World trip. We have been going all year and earlier this month, but they now have their Halloween stuff out. The kids love to trick or treat there. Liam liked getting candy, but wanted nothing to do with the characters!

The kids were fascinated with the little bananas, doesn't take much these days.  

It was sooo hot, of course, so we stopped for a drink at the park and played a bit.

Avery FINALLY went on the Steal Eel roller coaster. Lincoln had gone the last time we were there and loved it. Liam and I waited for them and this is what came our way. Avery attached to Jared! He didn't even have to hold onto her! Let's just say she is" NEVER going on that thing again"!

Avery got glasses this month. She looks so darling in them. She was getting headaches all the time with the occasional migraine, poor baby. We made her an appointment to get her eyes checked to see if that was the cause.  And it was, mostly. She only needs them for reading, but her headaches have gone down like 70% and we haven't had a migraine for a while now!

My darling friend and Photographer, Molly Metcalf, took our pictures. It was my first big swap with bows and it was so much fun. I love having something to swap with♥

October 31st Halloween!

My mom flew out to go trick or treating with the kids. Poor things was so sick with a nasty cold. But she popped her cold pills and took it like a man!

We went to our friends house for a fun Halloween dinner. Liam was infatuated with the dry ice coming off the home made Root Beer, which was AMAZING by the way and will be a tradition from now on!

You  will notice little Liam's cute potbelly. Since he doesn't have a ton of stomach muscles to hold everything in, plus a large hernia at the top of his stoma, his little belly protrudes out more so than other kids. We are currently looking for some kind of Pediatric hernia support.  Hoping to help ease the uncomfortableness of this issue.  

The kids painting pumpkins with Nana.

There was sooo much food! The sloppy Joe's were in the pumpkins.......

Spiders in the ice cubes. Doesn't get much better than that!

So I didn't go all out for Halloween costumes this year since the kids were dead set on doing it themselves. Lincoln had the whole Harry Potter outfit, but it was soooo dang hot that by the time they started trick or treating he was in his shorts, shirt, and glasses.  Avery wanted to be an angel. She wouldn't let me do her hair, or course, and picked out her own stuff. Liam was an Incredible Batman, Love it!

Don't they look like they are sooo happy to take a picture?!

Jared made it home just in time for a bite to eat and trick or treating.

The girls on the block.

Liam stopped after the first house to eat his candy. By the end of the night his bag was over flowing and too heavy for him to carry. That's right, Mom and Dad needed some candy too.

By the last leg he was done and bummed a ride with Scarlet♥

I love the weather in Texas, I know I mention this often but it's great. I just miss the changing of the leaves. We had so much fun this month. The kids are staying very busy in school and Lincoln is starting to learn how to read. Liam's health is good and we are continually looking for new products that work with his body.  We are so blessed to have each other and I wouldn't trade it for anything♥