Surgery & Colorado Christmas

When we arrived home from Indiana, we got our Christmas tree right away. Jim picked out a beauty, the biggest one we've had yet, I think.

 

A few days later, I was scheduled to go in for my surgery. The boys and I took a walk the day before around the lake and to the park. It was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed trying to get some action pictures of them on the swings, and they loved chasing the geese.

 

The guys before I was admitted to the hospital. Jim did such a great job with them, and the boys were troopers through the whole day there!

 

The surgery went well, and I stayed overnight at the hospital. I think the Dr. felt a little sorry for me with 3 rambunctious boys to take care of post-op, because she told me she wanted me to stay overnight even though earlier she said I could choose. Ha! (We had been bringing the boys to the previous several appointments when we both wanted to be there to make decisions about surgery...they were actually really good and sucked quietly on lollipops. Well, Garrett did jump up a few times to see diagrams but Jim would quickly direct him back to his seat... ;-) )

 

A highlight for me was that after the surgery the Dr. came to check on me and said, in essence, "I just have to tell you that your kids are so wonderful. The nurses and staff have been talking about them and I've really hardly ever seen kids like yours. They're polite and easy to talk to...." She asked what we were doing for homeschool, what kind of curriculum we use, etc. Always nice to get encouraging feedback like that, especially after a surgery that takes away the ability to have more kids...it's nice to know that the ones I have are doing so well. :) God is so good. I need and ask for His help regularly, because this parenting thing is something I can't do (well) on my own! And how like Him to send those encouraging words at the right time!

 

Mom and Dad came for a week and it was wonderful to have them both there, hanging around and helping out where needed. Mom taught school for me, cooked, cleaned, etc....Dad helped a lot too in various ways and it was nice to have time to just sit around and chat and have him joke with the kids. :)

Here I came back to find Wade had slipped into my invalid spot! (See his wide open smile?? He's lovin' it!)

 

This was a cute one of Wyatt and Wade helping with the blender...

 

Wyatt took one of the hats Auntie Lisa made and tied it around his waist to create a carrier for piglet and penguin. So nurturing...

 

Ah, yes, here is Wade again sneaking in to snuggle with me. :)

 

Had to sneak this one in of Wyatt building a creation...

Garrett enjoying some extra attention from Grandma. :)

 

We had an early Christmas with Mom and Dad and Jim made an SCD version of Aebleskiver. So yummy!

 

We decided not to decorate the Christmas tree with anything other than lights this year, but Mom and the boys actually had a lot of fun making paper chains and snowflakes, pictures, and packets of candy to open on our little family Christmas. It was fun to see what the kids' idea was of decorating a tree.

Here we all are...

 

Wyatt got a bin of his OWN Kinnex!

 

Wade was really patient about waiting his turn to open things!

 

Jim had fun doing most of the shopping this year on Black Friday and got a number of great gifts!

 

Garrett got a joke book! (We're enjoying hearing some REAL jokes these days...) ;-)

 

Garrett had been really really sad earlier this year when his vacuum broke (his yellow stick vac he got for his 6th birthday...) He kept asking us if he could have another, planning how he could save enough money for one, and started bringing Jim little ads from the newspaper for vacuums on sale. Jim played it cool, and little did Garrett know he had one waiting for him in the trunk of his car! When Garrett opened the vacuum up, he was more excited than I think I've ever seen any kid with a new gift! He said, "Whoever got this for me MADE MY DAY!! This is the best Christmas gift EVER!!"

 

Wyatt got a bubble toy which he really loved!

 

Wade got a new race car which he was very excited about!

 

And Jim surprised me with the complete I Love Lucy collection.

 

Checking out the microscope with Wyatt...

Halloween & Thanksgiving

 Alright, so here are some more photos of Fall goings-on... Halloween was fun. We handed out candy for a little while and then went around to trick-or-treat. (Not sure why I didn't get a picture of Wyatt - he was a Special Forces guy.)

 

Jim carved a great tank pumpkin. The boys drew what they wanted and Jim carved theirs. Except - Garrett did a great job carving his own this year!

 

Wyatt during school time - cutting out his "favorite things" from newspapers and gluing them onto construction paper...

 

Jim and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We went on a nice date to the Village Tavern.

 

And then we drove to Indiana for Thanksgiving!

 

We stayed with Jeff & Lisa and the kids (all same ages as ours) and had a really nice time. It was fun to see the kids enjoying their cousin time!

Here's Ronan and Garrett, both 7...

 

Fiona and Wyatt 5 months apart, 5 and 4, had a great time together.

 

 

Fiona was so sweet, she wanted Wyatt to have a shirt that would remind him of her (with glasses) and gave this to him...

 

So nice to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa! Walt is going through chemo right now for lymphoma and is pretty tired but was still able to be with everyone and it was nice to get to spend time with him.

 

Wade loved interacting with the kitty - a real live kitty!

 

 

Wade and Annika interacted too, in their 2 year old ways...

 

Thanksgiving!

 

 

It was nice to spend some time at Chick Fil A with Walt & Judy and chat while the kids played (after eating biscuits and gravy, of course...and then getting treated to a milk shake!).

 

...and then it was on to an early Christmas!

 

 

Saying goodbye at Five Guys...It was a good week!

Fall Fun

We've been doing a lot this fall! From Garrett & Wyatt's birthdays to starting up the school year, to Friday Outdoor Exploration days, to visiting the local pumpkin patch...plus we started teaching the 2's every other week at church and started going to a small group nearby on most Sunday nights. And then there is Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesdays for me, Wyatt, and Wade (it has been so good; we're studying the life of Moses and the kids study the same thing in a kid version in there excellent kids classes!), while Garrett goes to his Wednesday charter school. Whew!

Plus tomorrow I have an MRI to see the exact location of the mass near my fallopian tube and after the doctor reviews it we have to make a decision about surgery - whether to try taking it out and risking a lot of bleeding or just go for a hysterectomy. Prayers are appreciated for wisdom and not feeling claustrophobic tomorrow in the MRI! Thanks.

So back to the pictures...
On Fridays our curriculum gets us out into local parks and open spaces to observe different parts of nature. It has been fun to have an excuse to see the local beauty and I love the hands-on learning the boys have! Here they're looking at a wasp's nest...

 

Inspecting an ant hill.

 

 

Using the binoculars...

 

 

Garrett had his 7th birthday at Big Dry Creek Park with Aunt Luanne and Uncle Ed (who stayed with us for a few days in September) plus our friends the Malm's there to help celebrate! Afterward we came home for chocolate cake and cards and a big gift - a remote controlled truck!

 

 

He was very happy to get it!

 

Had to stick this one in - Wyatt "mowing the lawn"...so cute.

 

For Wyatt's birthday, we went to the Ya Ya apple orchard in Longmont and had apple cider doughnuts and enjoyed seeing the orchard and animals.

 

Such a blessing - a girl offered to take our family's picture! We hardly ever get our whole family together, and they turned out pretty well!

 

Thumbs up for apple cider doughnuts!

 

It was so precious...that night was the night before his birthday, and I was downstairs and he came down in tears wanting to give me his "last 4 year old hug" and was crying about the poignancy of it all. Grandma Cox was on the phone so she talked to him and chirked him up and he was ready to move onward and  upward to being a 5 year old... :)

 

Waking up to the streamers!

 

And a big present ... a new bike!

 

Happy birthday Wyatt! Red velvet cake and all.

 

We went to the Denver botanical gardens at Chatworth with my friend Jen and her two boys. It was quiet a miserable day, I hate to say. The air conditioning was broken on the van and it was a long drive on a hot day. Then the boys were full of it the whole time and when we went into the visitor center the lady in charge yelled at them for playing with the fireplace metal curtain... Anyway, we did it. ;-)

 

Jim took the boys to the pumpkin patch on the opening day (while I was sidelined on the couch for a couple of days with bad pain). They got the hugest pumpkins! It's worth it to go on the first day! They were all so proud of their $6 huge pumpkins, freshly picked from the field.

 

Happy fall! :)