Halloween

The trick-or-treaters
Savanna was sure her mask was supposed to go this way.
Noah wow-ed all the girls in his Legolas costume again this year.

Joel was "Miscellaneous."

Aubrey, Abram's friend from school, and Abram.

I usually make costumes for Halloween. It's one of my favorite things to do. But this year with our house being such a disaster, and the location of my sewing machine being a mystery, I skipped the costume making. The kids were suprisingly fine. I think I'll still make a gingerbread girl costume for Savanna for Christmas. Every day is dress-up day at our house. Thanks to my efforts over the years, we have a well-stocked costume box(or shall I say boxes?).

Mark took them to trick-or-treat at the dental office. Most of the businesses on our street hand out pretty dang good candy on Halloween. I stayed home to sleep off the verced from my fun procedure earlier that afternoon.

I'm fine!

Well, it's nice to have that overwith. I have to go back in 5 years for another colonoscopy, but I'm done for a while.

There was absolutely no sign of Crohn's, which is what the doctor expected to see based on my symptoms last month. No inflamation or anything. He did find one very small polyp which he removed and is being sent away for pathology, but he expects that to be nothing.

So it was just a weird one-time infection that caused me to go to the ER is such pain last month. I kept telling myself that's what it was, because I got better so quickly with the antibiotic. But sadly, there was only one way to know for sure!

one half teaspoon for fast, effective relief

My colonoscopy is today. You can imagine how my night went.... If not, then watch Dumb and Dumber. Hopefully I will have some answers today as to what sent me to the ER last month. And also hopefully it isn't anything really bad. I'm quite anxious.

Which reminds me. It's time for a grammar lesson. Some of you might be saying, "Are you crazy? Who would be anxious about a colonoscopy?"

The answer is EVERYONE!

Anxious and eager are not the same thing. You are EAGER for Christmas, vacations, a party, or payday or a birthday. You are ANXIOUS (same root as anxiety) for colonoscopies, speaking in public, going to the dentist, or for final exams.

Of course, it is possible to be both eager AND anxious at the same time. For example, I am anxious about having a colonoscopy, but I am also eager to find out what is wrong with me.

My apologies to those of you who did not need or want this little grammar lesson. I just didn't want any of you spreading a rumor that I was excited about a colonoscopy. :)

A nightmare

Last night Zacky woke up crying. He has what I call "night terrors." Every now and then he'll be screaming, kicking, crying and I can't hold him because it hurts! All I can do is let him lie down on the carpet and do his kicking and screaming. Sometimes it lasts an hour. He's not awake, but not asleep, so there's nothing I can do. And then some random thing will snap him out of it, and with a drink and a hug he's back in bed asleep.

He had a night terror last night. He didn't want anything, and was kicking and hitting so much that I had just let him work it out on the floor while I was lying on the couch trying to talk to him. After about 30 minutes, he calmed down enough to say through is sobs, "No watch anymore. No watch anymore" I repeated, "Zacky no watch anymore?" He said, "Yeah. No watch anymore." Then he walked over to the blu-ray player (in the dark), pushed the eject button and removed the disc that was in there. By the way, the TV and blu-ray were off, and hadn't been on since that afternoon. I told Zack thanks for the disc, and said, "Zacky is all done watching. Do you need a drink?" He jumped into my arms, gave me a huge hug, I gave him a drink, and he went back to bed.

At first I was stunned by this bizarre end to the night terror. And then I realized that Zack had had a scary dream, and he thought he was watching it as a movie. My boy is smart enough to know how to end a movie--just push the open button. He sure is a descriptive boy who always uses his words so get what he wants. I never would have figured that one out.

Crazy Noah

Mark and I decided Thursday to paint the 3 upstairs bedrooms over the weekend. So we painted Thursday night, all day Friday, and all day Saturday. The bedrooms look great, but the rest of the upstairs is insane. Everything that was in the bedrooms is in the loft or one of the bathrooms. Saturday night after Mark got the trim painted, I shampooed the carpets in the bedrooms (YUCK!) and they are ready to move back into. Savanna and Zack get to go upstairs tonight, and they are excited about their new room. Abram and Jake will be in a holding pattern until the basement is finished and they can move in down there. It's moving right along, though.

After our busy weekend, I was looking forward to resting Sunday. We went to church, and I was ready for my usual Sunday routine of feeding everyone lunch and then crashing on the couch for a couple of hours. Well, I got lunch ready, and then Noah walks into the kitchen with blood all over his hand, and his hand on the back of his head. He said, "Oh, crud. My head is bleeding." No tears, no panic. But his head was bleeding. Aubrey had been lying on her back and bouncing Noah on her feet up in the air. When she pushed him back, she miscalculated how close she was to the corner of the wall, and Noah's head split right open. So I put Noah in the car and headed to the urgent care.

The doctor there kept laughing at Noah and his never-ending questions, and his lack of hysteria over his injury. "How old are you? How high can this bed go? Do I get a treat? Are you going to give me a shot? What is that for? Are you going to look at my eardrum? Will you shave my head?" and so on. The doctor asked Noah how he had hurt his head. Noah calmly replied, "Playing." The doctor decided on stitches rather than glue or staples, put the topical anesthetic on, and left us for a half hour to let it work. Boy, has that stuff come a long way! They didn't even need to give Noah a shot. The doctor took out a pointed instrument and touched Noah's head to test for numbness. "Can you feel that, Noah?" "Yeah." "Does it feel sharp, Noah?" "No, it just feels sticky."

And then the sutures began, and Noah laid perfectly still on his tummy while the doctor stitched. Good as new. He still wants me to shave his head, though. Nobody can see the stitches right now.

Election Time

Joel's 4th grade class is holding elections for class President, Vice-President and Secretary. The job descriptions of each are quite nebulous, but the kids are taking it very seriously. Since Joel has a friend running for President, and Joel isn't sure what a Vice-President would do, he decided to run for Secretary. He has to give a speech at school on Friday before the class votes.

Here is the text of Joel's speech that I found on my computer this morning. He was working very hard on it, and I had to laugh when I got a chance to read it. If only politicians today could be as clear and honest.

Secretary Speech

My name is Joel. I am 9 years old. I am running for secretary. I come from the Republican Party. I would make an excellent secretary for the following reasons:

-I’ll make sure there’s enough time to finish up your work.
-I’ll answer the phone when I hear it ringing and Mr. Dietrich tells me that I can get it
-I’ll help you with your questions and writing
-I’ll make sure the teacher sees you when you are raising your hand
-I’ll make sure nobody is listing to their iPods and MP3’s or playing on their cell phone
-I am very organized
-I am very loving
-I like outdoors
-I am trustworthy
-I am responsible
-I am really serious
-I am such a nerd
-I am funny only at good times
-I love roller blading and riding my bike
-I am very playful
-I always say words like “thank you” “please” “you are welcome" " excuse me”
“Hello” “goodbye”
- I dislike the idea of killing birds
-I will make the class a better place even though it is already good
- I don’t make fun of people
- I don’t rub myself in people’s faces
- I encourage people
- I’m kid friendly
- I encourage
-I recycle
-I am friends with a lot of people. I get along with everyone.
- I am not a video game nerd
- I love school abcdefghijklmnopwqrstuvwxyz

A good surprise

I came home from running errands to find this giant surprise on my porch. My mom ordered it for me for my birthday last month, but apparently they couldn't ship until this week. It was worth the wait! Mmmmm. I love caramel and chocolate covered apples. Thanks, Mom! It made my day. Who needs a birthday cake when you can have a scrumptious Williams Sonoma apple?