Happy Halloween

Halloween

Our neighbors put on an awesome little Halloween party every year, the Saturday before Halloween, and I missed it last year since I was in Romania, but this year I got to go and it was so much fun. They totally transform their backyard into a Halloween carnival. They had a "haunted jump" and scary trail behind their shed, complete with fog machine, bobbing for apples, face paint, ring toss, and a ton of cute foods to munch on. All of Regan's neighborhood pals were there and it was a lot of fun for the grown ups sitting around the deck talking (and freezing) late into the night!

Then on Halloween we all went out with the neighbors and trick or treated together. Riley wasn't as into it this year, he didn't even want to wear a costume, but I told him no costume, no candy, so he settled on a scary clown mask. About halfway through, he and I went back to the house to give out candy (he really just wanted to scare some little kids). Regan had fun with her friends though, she was a Monster High Egyptian Princess and I guess we got our moneys worth out of the costume, she wore it plenty of times! Oh, and I decided to be a Zombie, so that was fun too!

School Halloween

Regan's school had a Halloween party and I brought cupcakes for the kids and they painted pumpkins and ate a bunch of cookies and cupcakes and left on a big time sugar rush. It was cute though.

Neighborhood Fall Fest

One thing I like a lot about our neighborhood (and it's not the ridiculously priced water that we're trying to fight) but our neighborhood often puts on parties for the kids. Back to school party, movie at the pool, Fall Fest, etc.

Tonight was Fall Fest, and the kids had a great time. They had sandwiches, chips and drinks and cupcakes for the kids to decorate, pumpkins to paint or carve, scary rings to decorate and a cake walk where both kids won candy!!

Then at the end of the night, they gave out awards. Regan won for "Scariest Pumpkin" (hers is the big one on the left) and Riley won for "Grossest Pumpkin" (his is the small one that is puking his guts out). And then they had 4 pumpkins lined up for "Best Overall Pumpkin" and the one that Regan painted was in line to win that prize also. They did an applause-o-meter and sure enough, she won (she said it was because I was so loud) but since the runner up hadn't gotten any candy, she gladly gave her prize to him. So, she technically won, but was sweet about giving it up. I think they did a great job, and I now have a cute collection of pumpkins by my front door, and I didn't have to mess up my kitchen to get them!

Longhorn Cavern

Regan's class went on a field trip to Longhorn Cavern. She was very excited about it, we packed a lunch and I met them out there. We had never been, and I'm of the opinion that "if you've seen one cave, you've seen them all." And well, I'm still of that opinion. But, it was fun getting to know her new friends and their parents.

And this cave does have a lot of history. It was supposed to be the hide out for LBJ when he was President if anything (like bombs) broke out while he was in Texas. The man who owned the cave in the early 1900's ran a Speak-Easy out of it, where they had food, drinks, and gambling (I can't imagine walking around that rocky cave floor in high heels. I could barely do it in tennis shoes!) And before that, it was the hide out for the notorious Sam Bass gang and even a place for the Indians to hold their council meetings.

So, all in all, it was a good field trip. I took Regan with me afterward since we wouldn't make it back to school in time to do anything, we stopped for lunch at a little place in Burnet, and then killed some time "antiquing". It was a fun afternoon, and then we had to get back to the school to get Riley. The last picture is Regan showing off her new wolf necklace we got in the gift shop. She told me sometimes she wishes she could be a wolf.

Gateway Fall Fest

Well, it was nice to attend a Fall Fest where I wasn't running myself crazy working at booths and setting/cleaning up! I did volunteer for Book Fair though, can't seem to escape the Book Fair! I don't mind though, I get the good books before they're sold out. But, it was the first annual Gateway Fall Fest, I turned the kids lose with wristbands and tickets and they came back hyped up on cotton candy, kettle corn and snow cones. They had a good time, although it hardly felt like a fall fest since we all ended up nearly sunburned afterward. It was HOT! But the kids had a great time, and here are pictures of them doing the "eat the donut on the string" game and Regan bobbing for apples, and let me just say, she would NOT have done this if we hadn't JSUT finished a round of antibiotics! That water was nasty.

A Month Later...

Can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I think it's because there's not much going on, but then when I look back at it, I have had a lot going on. I'll try to do better!!

So, the past month or so...I started a Bible Study at church, Lisa Bevere's Lioness Arising, and so far, I highly recommend it. It's been a little difficult to read at times (for me personally) but as usual with her studies, exactly what I need, when I need it. David and I joined 24 Hour Fitness. I go most mornings with a friend of mine. Monday and Friday is Zumba, Tuesday and Saturday is Aqua Zumba or Water Aerobics and Wednesday is the worst, Kickboxing. One day they had a substitute teacher and that was Nightclub Cardio and it made me realize just how long it's been since I've been in a nightclub. It was fun though, but I'm glad no one was video taping. Or maybe they should...I KNOW I could win that grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos!!

I've been having a lot of hormone imbalance issues lately, and I went to my doctor, and she wanted me to go to an endocrinologist but there was a 6 month wait, and I finally told David one night, you know who I would *love* to go see, but he probably has an even longer wait list, is Dr. Glenn from church. He says, oh, yeah, I have coffee with him every Sunday. Uh, WHAT?! He sees him at Starbucks before church every Sunday and they talk. So he asked Dr. Glenn about me and he said sure, for me to come on in, he would see me before hours in 2 weeks. Talk about favor!!

So, I went to see Dr. Glenn and that was the most interesting, eye opening appointment I've had in my life! This guy is a medical genius. But, he put me on some supplements, and told me to try a low glycemic diet and started some preventative things since I have a pretty high cancer risk in my family. He even wants me to start Regan on it, to get her hormones off on the right foot.

In the midst of all of this, Regan has had strep again, and a stomach virus that she passed to Riley who passed it to David. I'm not going near anyone till it's gone, I absolutely hate to be sick.

I also had a consultation with Regan's teacher and principal and we decided it would be best for Regan to move her back to 3rd grade. She was pretty upset about it at first, but I can already see a big difference in her. She had pretty much shut down before and was getting so confused and upset that she couldn't keep up. But now, she's learning, she's involved, she's writing chapter books! She has made friends, another girl in her class also came from 4th grade, so they don't feel so alone now. She was a very young 4th grader, so age wise she fits right in, and her teacher is really nice. I like her a lot and she seems very loving, which Regan responds well to.

And then this morning, I took Regan in for a consultation to see about having her tonsils removed. With this last bout of strep, I had them check her records and she's had it 5 times in the past 12 months, so we got the referral and went in this morning. Before the doctor would even look at her throat though, he had some serious issues with her ears and sent us to audiology to do a hearing test. We had one done last year, so it was nice to have a baseline, and they could see that she's having some hearing loss. Her ear drums are retracting, from a negative pressure that is building up behind her ears. He said the ear drums are supposed to be taut, and hers are caving in and causing her bones to be misshapen. So, he wants her tonsils and adenoids out and tubes put in ASAP. The next available surgery, no waiting until a school holiday which is what I was hoping for.

So, on Friday November 4th, we will be having that done. He's hoping by removing the adenoids, that will reduce the pressure and she won't need tubes for long, the tubes he's putting in will last about 8-12 months and hopefully that will be all. But, I'm glad that I pushed for an ENT consult, and I'm glad we're getting this done now! We did all the pre-addmissions and they gave her a blanket from the Linus Project, a charity that makes blankets for kids who have surgery and it's adorable and she loves it!



And Riley, he's loving school, but he didn't get a great first report card. He's still having some issues with everything being on the tablet and so he's forgotten to log in and do some work, so we're working on that. He broke the screen on his tablet and the screen on his phone, and I can't believe he'll be 13 in just a few weeks. A bonafide teenager. God help us! Not really, he's a good kid, but man, I always thought it was an expression, beat the girls off with a stick, but not so in his case. He has girls lining up already. I'm scared!! He's too cute for his own good!!

Well, I guess that's about it. Next time I won't wait a month and then the update won't be as long. Hopefully!