Fall Soccer

We finished up our first real season of soccer. I can't really count the Spring since Abby was out most of the games with a broken arm. Crazy that we started and ended the year with broken arms. It's a dangerous sport. Too bad she got hurt just being with the team and not playing.

This was a good season for Abby though. She finally felt the taste of getting a goal and then she hungered after it and was successful in many games. I felt bad that Todd missed her two best games which were during the week and at night. Here's hoping that in the Spring she'll improve even more and have no more injuries!

A Tale of 3 Girls

This is long so I don't forget this years down the road. Don't feel like you need to read the whole thing. Here are the highlights:

-Abby broke her other arm

-Kaitlyn had a back surgery

-Olivia turned 10 months

All this in less than 24 hours!

ABBY:

Thursday was going to be a busy but a good day. After school, we enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather and played in the backyard for a couple of hours then headed off to Abby's gymnastics class. We just signed her up again because soccer was now over for awhile. After gymnastics it was a quick run home for a change and grab the cake for our soccer party at Chuck E Cheese. The girls were so excited to go - it had been awhile since we had been there.

There were squeals of excitement from Abby's teammates and Abby as they ran off to have a good time. I ordered our pizza, grabbed the girl's drinks and was just joining the group when we hear a piercing scream. Abby is up and her arm is droopy. This time Abby has broken her left arm at a soccer party as opposed to her right at a soccer practice earlier this year.

I grab Abby's arm and push the bone back up and hear a snap. It's not so droopy anymore. I quickly turn the stroller around and tell Kaitlyn we're going. There was confusion on her part because we had just got there and she wanted to stay and play. Abby's coaches helped me load the kids and get out the door. We flew to the ER close to our house. There were no red lights and not a lot of traffic (and thankfully, no cops either).

On the drive up Abby was doing well for what had just happened. She was crying and sobbing but I think there was some shock in there too. She was saying things like: "I WANT JESUS!!! I WANT JESUS!!!" and "I want to play at Chuck E Cheese" and "I don't want to go to the doctor and get a shot." Gee, she just broke her arm and that's what she is worried about a shot!

We get to the ER and Olivia is crying because she's just tired, Kaitlyn's upset because we didn't stay at CEC and Abby is shaking for shock. Todd was still in the air coming home not knowing what was going on. Luckily, Grandma lives close by and came to the rescue by taking Kaitlyn and Olivia home. Abby and I were done shortly thereafter. What a trooper Abby was. She was most upset that she didn't get her soccer trophy, to play with her friends, or to eat cake. The medicine kicked in and she really hasn't missed a beat since.

Showing off her new splint

Abby made a sign that reads "Abby has tow brokn ams"

KAITLYN:

Friday morning I already knew was going to be rough. Kaitlyn has had a growth on her back that we noticed a couple years ago but were watching. We finally saw a specialist and made the decision to have it surgically removed. We left the house at 6:00am (Grandma saved us again by watching Abby and Olivia this time.) and Kaitlyn was surprisingly happy. She did great with the Dr. marking her back and was brave as they wheeled her away. She did say, "mom come with me" but was comforted by her stuffed dog instead. Todd and I waited for about an hour and then she was done. The growth ended up not being what we thought it was (lipoma) instead it was a cluster of blood vessels that would grow with her and could cause problems later (it had already grown a little in the last couple of months). I can't spell the correct name but the Dr. also said it's common with those of German descent - Todd and I looked at each other and knew it came from my side of the family. Kaitlyn did great through the surgery, woke up a little woozy but has done well until around 6:00 when everything starting hurting again. Fortunately, the next couple days she'll have some good medicine to take care of the pain. She will be back to her old self in no time at all.

After the surgery

Bandages to cover about an inch and a half cut.

They had to go a little deeper than they first thought.

OLIVIA:
Good news here. Olivia turned 10 months today and won't sit still for me to take a decent picture. This little girl is always on the move. She stands well holding on to something and can stand on her own for a couple of seconds. Her little personality is coming out and she just loves being with mom, swinging, playing peek-a-boo, and prefers to eat real people food (anything she can pick up with her hands) as opposed to the baby jar food. She currently weighing in at 21 lbs, has 4 teeth - two on the top and two on the bottom, and can crawl up the stairs.

Abby on Medicine

The other night Abby wanted to play a game of chase so we did. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt and this time it was Abby. While running through the kitchen, she ran right by my recipe binder that was open and a corner was sticking over the counter tops. It happened to be the same height as Abby's eye. It gave her a good scratch on her eyelid - we were lucky it wasn't the eyeball. After a cold washcloth we told her she'd be fine. She didn't buy that and wanted medicine because her eye still hurt. So Todd gave her medicine - a little bit of corn syrup, some water, and blue dye (maybe a little too much blue) in a medicine cup.

Abby drinking it down: "mmmm, that tastes good."

Todd: "Does your eye feel better?"

Abby: "YES!"

Todd: "Did you like that medicine?"

Abby: "yes"

Todd: "It's called placebo."

Abby: "I like placebo. Can I have some more?"

Pumpkin Carving

I know this is past Halloween but I like how these pictures show the contrast of personalities of these two sisters.

Todd cutting Kaitlyn's pumpkin holds over the top and tells her to act like she's eating it. She thinks it's yucky and refuses.

After much convincing, she opens her mouth and actually tried to bite the "guts".

Won't stick her hand in the pumpkin - "ewwww, gross!"

Our little girls who doesn't like to get her hands dirty. Classic Kaitlyn.

And here's Abby, can't wait to dig in and get all dirty!

Abby's pumpkin

Kaitlyn's pumpkin

(It's a scary tree but I accidentally cut off two of the arms)

Halloween Crafting

With just about every holiday, Abby wants to go all out. And by all out, it means decorations (kid made) on EVERYTHING! Halloween is no exception and her excitement was very contagious so we did a lot. I think next year I'll do an "advent" to Halloween. Here are a few of our creations:

One sick day Abby and Kaitlyn made crazy face bags. They were set out on Halloween along our sidewalk welcoming Trick-or-treaters.

This idea came from Family Fun.

Halloween morning greeted us with pumpkin and ghost pancakes.

We made Haunted Houses.

This idea came from makeandtakes.com

Glue Ghosts were hung to scare.

Family Fun idea

Painted pumpkins

Kaitlyn started off as a Mummy and as she started to add eyes, it then just became a big swirl of pink, blue, and white.

Trick-or-Treat

Our cute kitty, Tinkerbell, and purple butterfly

Kaitlyn was sad that her wings didn't really fly and that her wand wouldn't work.

Meow!

When the girls picked their costumes back in Sept. I thought they'd change their minds at least 3 times. Not this year. They picked their costume and stuck with it! Yeah!

For the past several years we always get together with a group of friends to have pizza before the treating. Here's this year's motley crew.

Showing some scary teeth they got at a Halloween party.

Grrrrrrrr

We had a practice run of Halloween at Dad's office on Friday. Abby was sooo excited to go to dad's work. She even wanted to spend the night there.

Pretty kitty - love that smile

Unsure of why we stuck her in this costume and what everyone is doing

Just love this sweet face.

After about an hour and a half of trick or treating I was done but the girls were not. Disappointing groans when I said they only had 2 more houses to go. They have gobs and gobs of candy! Time for the Mom and Dad Halloween tax.