Halloween 2009

We had a wonderful Halloween! This morning, the kids watched their favorite shows and all of them had a Halloween theme. I carved 3 of our pumpkins while the kids watched. Once I opened the first big pumpkin, Carleigh exclaimed "Oh, bird SEEDS!" I tried to explain that they are pumpkin seeds but she was determined that they were bird seeds.

After lunch, I baked pumpkins cookies and we played a few games until an early dinner of pizza. Then, we had to make the rounds to visit my sister and her mother in law and then off to my parents before heading to our friends for trick or treating.

Visiting Memaws and Papaw's

Trick or Treating

We went to our friends Niki and Shannon's house for trick or treating. We had a lot of fun and Carleigh was spooked a couple of times thanks to an incredible Hulk (her age) and a Jason wielding a mask and talking to her in an scary way. We walked for an hour and a half which was great for them. Carleigh was crying and tired at the end and persuaded Niki on carrying her.

Ending the night

We stopped by my sister's house to see my niece and her boyfriend. They were having a costume party and Carleigh wanted to see Gi Gi aka Jeremy. Normally she is crazy about him but she was not digging his duds as Michael Jackson. She was a bit scared of him!

Trying on costumes

Last night, I decided to make sure that everything fit for Saturday. So we tried on the costumes. After finishing all the velcro snaps on Cody's costume, he said in a low voice "Booooo!" I am still a little puzzled why a scarecrow would say "Boo" but Cody IS Cody!

Carleigh LOVES her Dorothy costume. There was a bit of argument because she wanted to be Dora but she didn't tell me this before I bought her costume. Once she saw it and saw all the sparkly sequins, she did not want to take it off. She told me that she wanted to "go see herself" and went to Cody's dresser to admire herself. Both wanted to wear the costumes to bed. Cody exclaimed "costumes!" when I put them back into the closet. Needless to say, Saturday will be a fun evening!

Halloween 2008

Last year, my handsome boy was Mickey Mouse (his favorite character) and my beautiful girl was Minnie. Cody REALLY enjoyed his costume and did not want to take it off after the fall festival was over!

Going Well!

Cody has slept in his bed bed for 2 nights now! Yay! I am so proud of my boy. Cody and Carleigh have quite the obsession with the beds. Well, they want to JUMP on them constantly and we have already had some bumps on the noggins!

Also, his intervention specialist emailed me that he did a great job yesterday and participated in class discussions. AND this is the best news....his DIBELS (reading test) scores came back and he was AT GRADE LEVEL! He is bringing home little paper books and is doing a little bit of repeated reading with me. I always knew Cody was smart and this just reaffirmed that my precious boy is on his way to reading!

Our Weekend

This is our weekend in a nutshell:

Friday: I finished off parent/teacher conferences and left school early. It was nice to have time to do a few errands and jobs before Matt arrived home. We did our usual Friday night routine of grocery shopping and dinner.

Saturday: Matt had to work until 2pm, so I stayed home with the kiddos trying to decide how to get Cody's room ready for the big move. Then, my sister, mom, and I went shopping and had lunch at Panera (yum!). Our friends Shannon and Niki came over and we had yummy pizza before heading to Tom's Maze in Germantown. Our friends had never been there before and we had never taken the kids before so it was a fun and interesting experience to say the least.

Basically you are given a sheet with 12 squares. The maze is divided into 12 regions and you have to find the mailbox which has a square piece of the maze that you tape onto the blank map. After you find all the pieces, you head to the Victory Bridge and exit the maze. It was a bit muddy and we are thankful to have worn old shoes! Everyone did great! Cody was a bit tired and bored so he and Matt exited the maze about 10 minutes before we completed it.

Sunday: I took down Cody's old crib and the old bed we bought when we were fostering (going to sell in warehouse sale) and cleaned out his room before we picked up the furniture. Then, we picked up the furniture, put it together and decorated the room ala Mickey Mouse. The rest of Carleigh's furniture arrived and was assembled. We were all exhausted from all the moving and putting together, but it was well worth it!

Tonight, I will be transferring Cody and Carleigh's clothing into their appropriate new places plus decorating Carleigh's room.

What a weekend!

Cody's New Bedroom

Last Thursday, my sister called and said that someone was wanting to part with their little boy bedroom furniture and wanted to know if we would like to buy it. Given that we were looking for furniture for Cody and they were selling it at a great price, we gladly agreed.

So, yesterday, my sister, brother-in-law, Matt, Cody, Carleigh, and I all piled into a truck and a mini-van to pick up the furniture. It's really nice, sturdy wood. I still deciding on whether or not to have it distressed or painted, but for now, it will do. I absolutely love all the drawers for clothing and bedding storage and fill that we can finally get clothing and things organized! Yay!

We also have Carleigh's new computer desk/shelf, her personal desk/shelf and chest of drawers now, but I haven't taken pics yet as I want to decorate it and set up the computer before taking pics of her new room.

New curtains are in order for both rooms, plus I have Christmas ideas that would make each room complete.

I love decorating kids' rooms!

He loves it!

Before we were finished putting the beds together, the kids were dying to test out the beds. Carleigh of course was confused and thought one of them was HER bed. Of course I explained it a gazillion times that HER bed is in HER bedroom with HER new furniture. *sigh*

After I took the pics, Cody informed me that I needed to turn out the lights and close the door. I did so and he then made fake snoring sounds. He is such a HAM let me tell you!

He absolutely LOVES his new Mickey bedroom, but was rather confused at first when we were taking out all the old furniture (and getting rid of OLD toys for our warehouse sale!), however, now his bedroom is clean and organized which is the way I like it!

More ramblings

Today, I started walking right after dinner (thanks to Matt's new job and job schedule but oh, did I mention his new job?) and talked with a neighbor who told me that if I walk from the beginning of our street all the way down to the gravel back lot, it is 1/4 of a mile. So I walked 4 miles today in an hour and 20 minutes. My niece walked with me again for part of the time and then I did the rest on my own.

It was nice walking in the daylight, but tomorrow I will have to walk LATE as I have parent/teacher conferences until 8pm. I then came home and did my regular exercises. Tonight's pains are in my feet. I have flat feet and they are just not used to that much intense, power walking. Hopefully by next week, they will be used to this strenous routine. I have to push myself hard or I won't follow through or continue. So I cannot let myself skip a day or it will become two or three.

My next task is to totally change my diet. Due to a condition I have, I really need to re-evaluate what I eat and go on a diet that helps reduce the symptoms I have and not enable it. This will probably be the hardest thing, plus cooking for the rest of my family. Thank goodness they are not picky eaters!

On to Matt news....he was called yesterday to begin his new job! It starts out as a temporary position, but hopefully he will get hired on. Prayers are much appreciated! We LOVE LOVE LOVE his new hours (gets home before ME) and he gets to see my wonderful sister alot as they are in the same building. His first day went well and he enjoys what he does now rather than his old job.

My kiddos are healthy right now, but that can all change in a blink of an eye thanks to H1N1. It is hitting our school really bad and luckily I haven't caught those yucky germs. Carleigh will continue to take allergy meds for awhile and we are hoping that stops all the ear infections she has been having lately.

We are looking forward to weekend plans to a HUGE maze in Germantown this weekend with friends and of course the kids are excited about Halloween. Gotta love Fall!

Fitness Plan

Yesterday I started my lifestyle change. My first goal was to get moving. I walked for 45 minutes and power walked for 1.5 miles up and down our dead end street. Then I came home and did some resistance training.

Today, I walked for an hour with my niece Britt and it amazing how fast an hour goes when you are talking to someone. I was pushing Cody in the umbrella stroller for the majority of the time which really gives an extra workout! Britt was walking Rudy who picked a fight with the golden retriever down the street. It was so funny because every time we went past that dog's house both dogs had to act "fierce." Can you imagine a little yorkshire terrier fighting a large golden retriever? Britt and I laughed every time! I think we wore that poor dog out because he was starting to drag towards the end. Yep, my sister's dog needs to get on an exercise program himself!

I am very serious about getting in shape and starting to eat right. I have several goals that I want to accomplish by the end of the year and hopefully I will share them with you if it happens! Most importantly, I want to get healthy and have more energy.

Tomorrow, I plan on walking for 1.25 hours plus possibly doing Wii Fit with my niece. We both want to lose weight (my goals being much larger than Britt's). So far two days are under my belt and I feel so much better....and even 3 pounds lighter!

Update to Cody's Appointment

We journeyed to the main branch of Children's this morning for our initial Developmental Delay & Behavioral Pediatric visit. We are happy to report that Cody does not have ANY type of Autism or PDD. Basically, Cody is developmentally delayed and probably has an undiagnosed genetic disorder. The doctor referred us to genetics again to see if anymore testing can find a disorder. It was a tough appointment hearing your child's limitations. Being a special needs mommy is one of the toughest yet rewarding jobs you can ever have. There are more laughter than tears by God's infinite grace. Without a doubt, I know that Cody was placed in my home so that Matt and I can be his advocate. No doubt! We do have a prayer request: please pray that we and Cody's school can work together to make Cody's Kindergarten year more successful. Also, Matt and I need wisdom on how to best communicate with his teacher and intervention team on what is best for CODY.

Busy Week Ahead

I will be less stressed and happier when this week is over. Tomorrow is Cody's big appointment at Children's with a Developmental Pediatrician. We made this appointment 7 MONTHS ago and am now finally getting an appointment. We had to collect many forms from teachers, IEP, evaluations, plus a parent packet for the dev. ped. Hopefully we will get some answers tomorrow and get a clear look on what age level Cody is developmentally plus figure out some things that we are concerned about. Then in the afternoon, it is OT/PT time and luckily Matt will be helping me take them as he has the day off to go with us to hospital appointment.

Tonight and tomorrow night I have to have ALL GRADES and report cards entered into the grading system and that means I have to finish grading last week's tests. I do not have my student teacher this week so I am also doing all the teaching and not having the time to get all the grading done, but thanks to wonderful parent helpers, I got a big dent in the grading accomplished today.

Hopefully I will find some time to relax and get some home projects completed or taken care of. *sigh*

Thursday and Friday are parent/teacher conferences which means my students have a 4 day weekend (I am sooooo jealous!). I will be working late Thursday evening, but the bright side is leaving at noon on Friday. Yay! Once this busy week is over, I can relax. We have another corn maze planned with our friends on Saturday, so we are really looking forward to it.

Down on the Farm

Yesterday, we visited Barn N Bunk on our quest to find smaller pumpkins, but all of them were gone except for the very large pumpkins. We then visited Niederman Farm had a fun on the hayride to the pumpkin patch, 2 mazes, playing in the tunnels, playing on the wooden ship, exploring the wooden houses, feeding the goats and sheep, watching a pig race, petting the bunnies, going on a train ride and playing at the sand table. Everyone had a wonderful time!

Pumpkin Patch

Carleigh has been BEGGING to go to the pumpkin patch and when the wagon ride dropped us off at the pumpkin patch, she was excited! She found a pumpkin that had a small worm and was excited about it. Yuck! She will hold a python, pet any animal, loves bugs, and now is a fan of worms. She is tough! The kids enjoyed the wagon ride and the wooden playhouses.

Barnyard animals

A-Maze-ing Good Fun!

At Niederman's, they have a kiddie maze and Grandma S walked with us. The big Harvest Moon Maze was much larger and longer to complete. We had to amateurs trying to lead us (BIG mistake! LOL) but we finally made it out alive! Carleigh complained toward the end that she was "hurt"! Which meant that she was tired of walking.

When we arrived home, Cody walked 3 steps, collapsed to the floor and fell asleep with his coat on. Carleigh exclaimed that she was tired on the way home and fell asleep on the way back. She remained in a coma, um sleep when I transferred her to the couch.

Hmmm....I need to go to corn mazes EVERY day! LOL!

Flashback to 2007

In 2007, I went back to dressing them in the same theme. This year, Cody was Peter Pan (who would not wear the hat!) and Carleigh was Tinker Bell. Aren't they adorable?!

Home Today

My mom was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday so I had to take off work today. Matt took off on Wednesday and his parents helped us out yesterday. It's very stressful to try to figure out babysitting at the last minute. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to take today off. After getting Cody on the bus, Carleigh and I went to McDonald's for breakfast and visited my mom. Our last stop was to go grocery shopping and get my prescription filled. After waiting a long time, I find out that my doctor goofed on the script and now they are waiting for him to call the pharmacy back. Ugh! I will definitely call before going back there again!

Carleigh and I enjoyed coloring pumpkins and she has a strange fascination with ghosts. Whenever we are out, she is always looking for ghost decorations. However, when we visited the costume department, she said that masks were "scary" and "I want to go home NOW!" I highly doubt she would want to go to a haunted house anytime soon! LOL!

While shopping, she saw several pumpkins and wanted me to buy them. This morning she thought that we should go to the pumpkin patch TODAY and of course I tried to explain to her that we will go tomorrow (weather permitting). It's hard explaining to a 4 year old that she has to wait another day, plus Matt and Cody would miss out on all the fun. She is definitely in Halloween mode!

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2006 was the only year that Cody and Carleigh did not dress as a "pair." (Minus the year that Carleigh wasn't born. He was a Hershey Kiss that year.) Cody was Murray the red Wiggle and Carleigh was Little Red Riding Hood. That year was when "The Wiggles" were THE SHOW for my two. They still watch it today, but not as much. I have had nights where Cody was sick and we were up all night and the only thing that calmed him down was watching old VHS tapes of his favorite show. (Now we have DVR and tape it on the Sprout Channel.) And yes, I know most of the songs by heart and the motions.

Time Warp

As Halloween is ever approaching, I thought I would post one of my very first blog pictures (way back in 2005). Can you believe that this pic was taken 4 YEARS ago? It's amazing how time FLIES! I get very teary eyed when I look at it. My babies are GONE!

If you are new to my blog, on the right, you will find archives of my blog. I started my blog in 2005. Click on 2005 and you will find posts from the beginning of our journey.

Buddy Walk "Crew"

We were walking for D.J. and our team name was "Racing for D.J." What a crew, eh?

The Buddy Walk

We traveled to Sawyer Point on the Ohio River for the annual Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome. Our little friend D.J. has Down Syndrome and we walked as a family to support our little friend who is more like a part of the family. The weather was dismal and cold, but we were thankful that it didn't rain. After the walk, we had lunch that was provided and enjoyed meeting lots of Star Wars characters, Reds mascots, and lots of other interesting things.

Please excuse my camera in the following shots. I didn't know it until afterwards, but the lens had a smudge which made all the shots "cloudy." I need a new camera!

Tumble Bus

The Tumble Bus was there for the Buddy Walk. Cody and Carleigh had a blast! Cody did a great job on the balance beam and they conquered the climbing wall and trampoline. What a creative thing to do!