Happy Thanksgiving!

Caleb helped me make HIS banana cream pie.   (Banana cream pie is big tradition in our family.  And amazingly enough, it has no bananas!  LOL!).  I made 3 (yes 3!) banana cream pies and then realized that the pudding I used was "processed at a plant that processes peanuts and tree nuts".  Great.  (Caleb is severely allergic to nuts in case some of you didn't know that.)  I just happened to have extra cream cheese and pudding without nuts so I made him his own.  He was so proud of HIS pie.  In fact, while I was making it, I looked around for the pudding that I just got out and it was gone.  I looked all over the house thinking I was going crazy.  My sister told me to ask Caleb where it was.  So I asked, "Caleb do you know where your pudding is?"  He said, "Yes!  Here it is mommy!  I put it in my fire truck!"  Crazy kid.  So yes, we had FOUR banana cream pies and 2 pumpkin pies because to me, Thanksgiving is ALL about pies!  Blake thought that was too much, but they all got eaten.  

Here's Caleb licking a beater from HIS pie:

I think he likes it!

Lydia helped me make pumpkin pies.  She loves to cook and this year she actually did most of the work.  She was so proud to announce that SHE made the pumpkin pies.

 Our Thanksgiving Feast:
 I think next year I'm just going to make banana cream pies and buy a bag of rolls.  Those are the only thing they ALL liked.  And it'd be a whole lot less work.  We had salmon (our new tradition as of last year), turkey, mashed potatoes, butter and dill rice, rolls, and pie.  And yes, I forgot the veggies.  (But I was secretly ok with that!)

The girls, trying to be SO careful with mom's fancy crystal goblets.  They all insisted that we have sparkling grape juice like we had last year.  So I guess that's a new tradition too.

Caleb update

Lots of news about Caleb.  He had his GI scope last week.  They call it "surgery" because they have to put him under, but it really wasn't like any surgeries we've had.  Since he didn't have anything cut/removed/sewn up/etc. there wasn't really any pain involved afterward and he came out of the anesthesia amazingly well.  He was awake and pretty happy when I got back to see him.  No crying, screaming, throwing up, asthma or sensitive airways to deal with like we have during other post-surgeries recoveries.  Before they took him back, I got his gown on him and then tried to put the slippers on him.  He freaked out when I tried to take off his Lightning McQueen shoes.   The nurse said it was fine and not worth making him upset and that they'd just take them off him after he was asleep.  When they told me to bring a comfort item (and I did - I brought him a blanket), I had no idea his shoes would be that item!  The nurse told me that the minute he woke up, he started talking and talking.  That's typical Caleb - he never stops talking.  She said he was barely awake and kept asking for his Lightning McQueen shoes.  He was wearing them by the time I got back to the recovery room.  And he was happy as can be once he had them on.  Silly, Lightning McQueen-obsessed boy!

So anyway, we got all his results back.  Everything looks good as far as structure is concerned.  There are no deformities in his upper GI tract.  Also, there's no significant damage from reflux like ulcers and such.  They took some cells from the lining of his esophagus and stomach and then biopsied them.  Those results came back yesterday and showed that they are indeed inflamed... which means that he definitely has reflux and that it's still present, even though most kids outgrow it by his age.  So we go to see the GI doctor in a few weeks.  And the best news is that his test for eosinophilic esophagitis is negative!  Yay!  So that's good since that sounds like a miserable condition and would require and even more specialized diet than he already has.  I'm so happy about that.  I'm also happy that all the trouble he's been having is not in my head and is not a behavioral thing.  Although if it were behavioral, then we'd deal with that too.  But his sleep troubles, his swallowing troubles, his ear infections, and frequent throwing up are all caused by reflux for sure.  I was worried I was giving him medicine for nothing, but now I know he indeed has pretty bad reflux and that he does need his medicine.  So I'm glad that mystery is over and we'll know how to treat it now.  He's taking Prevacid twice a day which is the max dose for his age.  They might add another medicine when we talk to the doctor.  But Prevacid seems to be helping and it helps a TON more than Zantac ever did.

And another update on Caleb.  He "graduated" from OT yesterday.  They asked me if I thought he needed continued therapy and we all decided that he's made GREAT progress in the last few months.  Plus I feel like I've learned a lot and have a lot of "tools" to work with.  If we get to a point that I feel like he needs more help, then we'll go back.  But for now, he's done!!!  One less regularly-occurring doctor appointment for us!!!   He has really made HUGE progress with his eating lately.  I would have never thought that it would be so much work to get a kid to eat.   He now eats more than just gold fish crackers and mashed potatoes.  And he has added a lot of foods to the list of foods he'll eat in the last week or two.  He still has texture/sensory issues, but we'll just keep working with him and he should be fine.  We've already been down that road with Michael and Katie so this time I'm armed with information to help him.

So that's the update on Mr. Caleb.  And just for fun, a picture of Caleb and Elizabeth.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

(Yesterday)  Nathan is 15... yes, fifteen!!!!! Crazy how time flies. I still remember him as a newborn and me in my sleep-deprived state thinking, "I have to do this for 18 more years???!!!! WHAT was I thinking?!" Then it got a little easier, then I blinked and now he's a big teenager.

I couldn't ask for a better teenager. He's incredibly smart, extremely funny, amazingly sensitive, and usually pretty reasonable. And yes, I'm saying that about a teenager. He still has his days, just like we all do. Usually the biggest "problem" I have is that he teases his siblings unmercifully. His favorite thing to do is point at them while we're eating dinner.  He does it when the parents aren't looking. He just stares at them and points at them and then acts like nothing is happening. Then they start to cry and I'm left trying to figure out what the problem is and why there's chaos. He finds this incredibly amusing, and I'm actually smiling while typing this because it is pretty funny... just not while it's happening. But really, overall he's a great kid! One thing I find amazing for a kid his age is that he apologizes when he makes mistakes or happens to snap at someone (which isn't often), which I think is very mature of him. He works hard at school and at home. He does spend a lot of time on his lap top and reads CONSTANTLY, but he still manages to get everything done that he needs to. (Usually at the last minute, but still.) The only thing I can complain about is his hair.  Ugh, his hair!!! He has different ideas of what his hair should look like than I do. But if that's the only battle we're fighting right now, then I say we're doing good.

Happy 15th Birthday Nathan!!!! I love you so, so much!!!

Reading (always)

Looking at a ladybug with Caleb.  He's such a good big brother!
 
  Eating Peanut Butter Fudge Ripple Cheesecake for his birthday.

Halloween

This is the first year we actually carved pumpkins.  In the past, we usually just paint them or use markers - a lot less messy.  But now that the kids are older, Blake wanted to carve them.  We took the kids to the pumpkin patch this year and let them pick their own pumpkins, rather than just buying them at the store.  It was so fun!!  We'll have to do that every year now.  I just let the kids run wherever they wanted and look at whatever pumpkin they wanted.  Crazy, but fun.  Michael picked a $10 pumpkin.  Yes, $10 for a pumpkin.  It was HUGE and he was excited about it so we said yes.  Nathan didn't want a pumpkin, but at the last minute he found what they called a "Turban Gourd".  I have no clue what a Turban Gourd is, but Nathan thought it was unique and unusual so he decided to get one.  (It's the red one in the pumpkin pics below).

First, Elizabeth carving her pumpkin:

I don't know what she was mad about, but I just LOVE this picture - it shows Elizabeth's feisty side.  She definitely has strong opinions!

Lydia carving her pumpkin.  She designed her own... drew it on a piece of paper and then carved it just like she wanted.  Lydia the Creative.

 Katie carving her pumpkin.  She even helped scoop the "guts" as the kids call it.

Michael carving his gigantic pumpkin.  He made a Pokeball since  he's back to being obsessed with everything Pokemon.

Anna carving.  It was 75 degrees that day while carving pumpkins and bright... hence all the squinting going on in these pictures.  Beautiful day for carving pumpkins, it didn't seem like Halloween.

Blake's "Jack Skellington" pumpkin from Nightmare Before Christmas - one of his favorite shows.  Isn't this AWESOME?!!!!! I just love it!

The entire neighborhood joined us when they saw the kids out there carving.  Typical.  Whenever our kids are out, then the neighborhood swarms on over.

And all pumpkins, including some of the neighbor kids.  From left to right: (top row) Anna's Harry Potter, Michael's Pokeball, Blake's Jack, Katie's, Elizabeth's "with round eyes", plain pumpkin, (bottom row) Lydia's "vampire with sharp teeth and evil eyes", and the last 5 are neighbor kids'.

The second one from the front is Nathan's Turban Gourd.  He didn't carve it.  It's actually really red in real life and looks kinda like a mushroom.

And the kids in their costumes on Halloween.  It was crazy and I missed a lot of pictures.  Michael went with a friend and they ran off before I got ANY pictures of him.  Nathan stayed home to pass out candy.  But I got the other kids.

 Caleb was supposed to be a bear, but he absolutely refused.

I didn't want to fight that battle, so he was a "2 year old in a Halloween shirt".  I also put a pumpkin jacket on him and called it good.  Happy to get his way:

And Trick or Treating... At first Caleb didn't have a clue what to do.  He just ran around in our circle chasing all the kids.  He saw kids running so he ran.  He was just happy to carry a blue pumpkin around... which he loved and refused to let go of the entire night.  Caleb running:

Elizabeth was amazing at Trick or Treating.  After the first block, Caleb and Katie got tired so we took them home.  Then I went out with Anna, Lydia, Elizabeth and a bunch of their friends.  Elizabeth was the youngest by far, but she led the pack for half the way.  We were out for an hour and a half and Elizabeth ran the whole way.  Toward the end while we were coming home, some of the kids started to complain.  But not Elizabeth.  She was clearly tired and had to literally drag her bazillion pound bag of candy.  But whenever anyone asked her if she wanted to stop or if she was done or wanted to go home, she would say, "No, I'm fine!  I want to go to more houses."  She wouldn't let me carry her either.  She's such a determined little girl!  I love that about her!  A pic of her after Trick or Treating:

 And that's the end of Halloween.  Phew!  Now on to Thanksgiving, right?

Elizabeth's party

I seem to be a week behind in life.  Oh well, I'm finally posting about Elizabeth's party even if I'm late.

Since her birthday is 4 days before Halloween, she decided she wanted a Halloween costume party.  

So first decorations:

 

These decorations are pumpkin punching balls and will later double as a game:

  I didn't get many pictures of the games since I was too busy helping with games.  We invited 13 kids besides my own.  I think about 10 of them showed up so there were a lot of kids and they needed extra help.  So I have very few pictures of the first few games.

We played Pumpkin Cootie.  We played the same rules as Cootie but used pumpkins instead.  So if you roll a 1, you get a pumpkin body... 2, eyes, etc.  When they had all their parts, they could make a pumpkin.  I used self-adhesive foam so we didn't have to deal with glue.  Worked great!  This game took a lot longer than I planned.

Then we played a version of "the candy bar game", only we used Halloween rubber duckies because I wanted to avoid more sugar at this time of year.  The kids LOVED this game and played it forever.  I'd tell them we needed to move on, but they all insisted we keep playing.  And if you're not familiar with the candy bar game, here's how you play.  Each kid gets a paper bag.  Put all items in the middle - in this case ducks.  When someone rolls a 5 (usually we say if they roll a 6, but since Elizabeth is 5, we changed the rules) they get to pick something from the middle.  The next person rolls and if they get a 5, they can pick from the middle OR they can steal someone else's duck if they remember who has what and are correct.  I had extra ducks to make sure everyone got at least one.  Some ended up with more, which we said was ok and everyone seemed fine with that - no feelings hurt.

 Then we were supposed to decorate trick or treat bags with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint.  But we ran out of time and no one seemed to care that we didn't do this activity (well, they didn't know about it anyway).  So I took back all the supplies and saved $27.  

After all that sitting, they needed to get the wiggles out.  Here's where the pumpkin decorations came into play.  I cut the string and let them fall all over the kids (they loved it) and then they could each pick a pumpkin punching bag.  We took them downstairs where they danced to Halloween music and generally acted crazy.  

 

Then we had a "haunted house".  This was held in Nathan's room since (as we learned with Anna's party) he has the most open space that can easily be darkened.  I spray painted shoe boxes with black spray paint, cut a hole in them and added some black fabric so they couldn't see what was in them, but they could still put their hands in.  They got to feel "eye balls" (boiled eggs), "blood" (pudding), "brains" (cold spaghetti), "skin" (tortillas), and "hearts" (jello). 

I had "spooky eyes" that flashed and I had some motion sensitive strobe lights that made spooky sounds.  I wanted it "fun scary" not "scary scary" and it worked.  They were sufficiently freaked out, but not scared.  Michael wanted to hide in the closet and scare them and I let him for the big kids.

 

Then it was time for cake.   Here's the table.

 Singing "Happy Birthday"

 

So far so good, until... Blake accidently poked Elizabeth in the eye with the cake as he was putting it on the table.  He didn't realize he did it and in the middle of "Happy Birthday", Elizabeth burst into tears.

You can see her red eye here.  She couldn't open it for awhile and it was all red.  The poor kid!  Blake says she's the probably the only person who can say she's been poked in the eye with a birthday cake.  And she'll probably remember that for the rest of her life.  We sang to her again so she could enjoy it, rather than cry.

Then we opened presents.  There were already parents there at that point.  I had the part only last 1.5 hours because I didn't want to end up with restless kids and nothing to do.  I've learned that little kid parties are better if they're a little shorter.

I think she had fun (aside from the cake injury).