Halloween...... BOO!

Like I said before... this is my favorite time of year! I just can't get enough of the fall leaves, pumpkins, and cute little kids all dressed up. For the first time ever, I am allowing Caden to go trick or treating tonight. We have never done this as our church always has a huge trunk or treat every year and the kids each have 3 or 4 parties/carnivals that they get candy from. Caden begged, pleaded, bargained, and eventually resorted to whining so that I would let him go with another family this evening... I caved. Hopefully he will have fun and not freeze his butt off. There are so many weirdos out there... I just worry for him. Oh well, I guess I can't shelter my kids forever. :) Dang it!!!

I am excited to hand out candy and prizes to all the little kiddos. I am recycling the candy from all the parties this year. Don't worry, I dug out all the good stuff. Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy day and night. Be safe out there!!!

You're way too beautiful girl...

Can I just say that I have the most beautiful girl in the world?!?!?! I love these pictures! It reminds me that there is actually a sweet little girl under all the stinky feet and morning breath, behind all the full on tackles of her older brother, and hiding under the fact that she can belch like a truck driver! :)

My Little One

Monday morning Cienna had surgery to have her adenoids removed. The surgery went well, but the process before and after were hell for a mommy. :( We went in early Monday morning and met with the nurse, doctor, and anesthesiologist. They told us how everything was going to be done and explained that they had to take Cienna back without a parent. I was a little surprised... I thought they would at least let me take her back until she was asleep. Anyway, Cienna wanted nothing to do with the nurse, doctor, or anesthesiologist. We couldn't get her into the wagon, or walk with the sweet nurse, so the doctor said that he just needed to grab her and go. AHHHHH! I had to literally pry her death grip from my sweater all the while she is screaming "No... No.... Mommy? Mommy?" Talk about heart breaking. We were showed to the waiting room and waited. We were only there for about 20 minutes when the doctor came out to talk to us. He said everything went well and she was headed to recovery. He said that he always hates when kids come in screaming because it is sad, but he also explained that they fall asleep within two breaths because they are taking such deep breaths. :) So she didn't have to scream for very long. When we got to go back to recovery with her, she was having trouble keeping her oxygen saturation up. They like the saturation to be at 94% but they are OK with 92%. She came out of surgery at 86%. They were really concerned with this and wouldn't let us leave until it was up to normal. We kept an oxygen mask on her for awhile and then pulled it away when she got high enough, but as soon as we would pull it away, she would drop again. Normally, they can leave about 1 hour after they wake up, but we were there for an extra 3 hours. She finally stayed where she was supposed to and they let us go. Monday night she was up taking a bath and playing with her toys. She doesn't seem bothered by it at all. I am really glad!

Pumpkin Patch fun

Last week Brian and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin. Caden decided that he would rather stay and play with a friend than go with the family. Maybe I should have just made him go, but I thought that when we brought home our pumpkins and pictures, he would feel left out and maybe join us on our next family outing... we will see.

The girls had a blast! We walked around that patch for a couple of hours while they picked a pumpkin, walked down a ways, saw one they liked better, dropped the old one, picked up the new one, and walked a little further. They even went through the hay maze a few times and chased daddy around. Last year they had horses, but decided not to do it anymore after a kid fell off and sued the pumpkin patch. Calli (aka Calli Doolittle) was absolutely distraught. She cried all the way home, and then fell asleep crying. I really think we are going to have to find a pony for her to ride or I will never hear the end of it. :)

I love fall time and especially Halloween so we tend to go a little overboard with this holiday. I usually try to make the kids costumes and we carve like 10 pumpkins, we decorate everything, and attend many, many parties. I sort of made the girls costumes and I just gave in and bought Caden's. Another crazy thing... we have already had each of the kids dressed up like 4 times each, but not once have they all been dressed up together. Tonight is our ward's trunk-or-treat so I will post those pics later.

The girls have each had to perform 6 or seven times in the last week for their dance studio. Here are some pictures of those. Sorry the lighting is bad. Cienna is the ladybug and Calli is in her uniform so you just have to pick her out... I guess she is the only brown girl. :)

Results of Cienna's CT

The CT came back normal... nothing to worry the doc about. They are still planning on running more tests on her blood and scoping her nose. They have also decided to take her tonsils out. I told them I was fine with that as long as we could do it before the end of the year... we met our insurance deductible! :)
When we went to the hospital for the second time to do the CT they used a sedative on her. I thought they were going to knock her out but they just gave her enough to make her all loopy and giggly. It was actually pretty funny to watch. This hospital was amazing with her. We had 3 nurses, a doctor, and a CT tech with us the entire time. There was also a lady that had the title of pediatric liaison. How funny is that? She just got paid to blow bubbles, read books, play movies, and give presents to Cienna. I loved how they took such good care of my kid, but it was nice to be able to step back and let them do everything that I thought I was going to have to do. All together... an awesome experience... for me... not so much for Cienna. Actually, she screamed when the doctor tried to look in her mouth, but only said "Owwww!" when they gave her the IV.
Next week is UEA so the girls and I have all week off and Caden has Thursday and Friday off. I am pretty excited about that. I think I may go out to my mommy's house for a visit. I don't know yet. A weekend at home without anything to do sounds really good too... decisions decisions!
Anyway, as soon as I get those amazing photos of Calli, I will put them up. Hope this finds everyone doing well. :)