Halloween

I am posting several posts right now and am probably not going in chronological order, so bear with me.....we're jumping around.

Every year we celebrate Halloween by going to my brother's house in Cameron. We trick or treat up and down the street he lives on. We have pizza and hang out at his house handing out candy. This year, we also trick or treated the street over from his house and then we visited some "scary" houses in town. Turns out my kids like to be scared as much as I do......not at all. They ended up sitting in the car with me while others trick or treated the scary houses.

This year, Morgan was Indiana Jones, Marshall was Mutt Williams (Indy's son), and Maggie was a mommy. I am posting their classroom party pictures as well as some of our Halloween pictures below!

On Friday, I went up to the school to see the costume parade and attend the classroom parties.

Maggie and one of her classmates at their party. Their class decided to watch a movie rather than have a "traditional" classroom party.

Marshall during the costume parade.

Morgan at his desk during his classroom party.

Marshall dancing during his classroom party.

Morgan as Indiana Jones during the costume parade.

Maggie with her baby during the costume parade.

Fall, Fall, Fall

I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving! It doesn't feel like it should be that late in the year yet! Oh well, I guess time marches on! Everything in our life is busy as usual, but we are enjoying ourselves running from activity to activity!

Greg is doing well in his surgery recovery. His pain from before surgery is completely gone and he is walking more upright than I have ever seen him walk before! He will be off work until at least February 1 and in the meantime, he is using every opportunity of good weather to take a walk outside!

Morgan has started playing basketball in two basketball leagues for the Fall. One plays on Saturdays and the other plays on Thursday or Sunday nights. So far, his team is playing really well. He is also staying busy with Boy Scouts. He had his first overnight "shakedown" with the boys who will be going to the National Jamboree in August. They spent the weekend at Camp Gieiger going through Project COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Encounter) and just getting to know each other. He will be gone for two weeks this summer to the National Jamboree in Viriginia. I sure hope that he has fun!!! It is going to be the longest two weeks of my life!! 2010 is the 100th anniversary of scouting, so I know that it will be a super experience for him, but I know the four of us are going to miss him!

Maggie is plugging along in school, dance, and Girl Scouts! About a month ago, she decided she wanted to join Girl Scouts, so she joined a troop in Cameron, since Winston doesn't have their own troop. On the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, she goes to her meeting and then gets to spend the night with Granny! She thinks that is pretty special. Last Saturday she got to go with her troop to Build-A-Bear workshop! Each girl was allowed to spend $25 to build the animal of their choice and purchase an outfit. It was part of earning their Moneysense patch! It was also her first outing without me going along and she had a blast! She has her annual Christmas recital on December 6, so they are busy getting ready for that in dance class. She really LOVES the gymnastic part of her dance class!

Marshall is about to legitimately lose his first tooth! I say legitimately because he got his two front teeth pulled out three years ago after he bumped into my friend's daughter and they started to turn gray! He is very excited to finally lose one! He is busy with his Cub Scouts. He is a Tiger Cub and is working toward earning his Bobcat badge! He meets with his Den every other Monday and then has pack meetings or activities once a month! Wednesday night, the Pack went and tourned the Bell Tower in the Daviess County courthouse! He was excited because he got to write his name somewhere in the Bell Tower so that some day when he brings his son he can show him that he came when he was a kid! Marshall is also playing basketball, but just at the school in the mornings. He will start in a league after the first of the year! I'm not sure if any of us are ready for him on the basketball court!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is about getting together with family and enjoying their company. There is no tie to shopping or gift giving, it is just okay to sit around with family and be content with being together! I hope that each and every one of you has a Happy Thanksgiving and we hope to see you on our next trip!

Halloween 2009

This past weekend was Halloween, but this past week was the buildup to Halloween. Every year, I think that it isn't going to be so busy, but every year I am proven wrong.

This year at school, a committee that I participate in hosted a Trunk or Treat and Chili Supper on Friday night. This, added to the general chaos of getting ready for the kids' classroom parties and getting ready for the daycare party, just increased the hecticness (is that really a word?) of the week! Except for the shopping, Halloween rivals Christmas for the amount of work it takes to pull off!

Needless to say, the school parties, the Trunk or Treat and Chili Supper, and the daycare parties went off without a hitch and were very fun for the children!

On Saturday evening, we headed to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Cameron to trick or treat. This is an annual tradition for our family. We gather at their house and trick or treat up and down their street. We eat supper together, which is usually pizza (this year it was leftover chili from Friday night) and then we take the kids to some "scary" haunts in town. We stuck to the same agenda this year and had a blast as usual! When we went to the "scary" houses, I learned that my kids are pretty much chickens like their mom and dad! Neither one of us cares too much for scariness!

Morgan dressed as Indiana Jones, Marshall was Mutt (from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Maggie was a mommy!

The Fall Rush

Well, it has been a while since I have gotten on and posted, so I should update evryone on the status of our family.

Greg is recovering very well from his surgery. He hasn't had any type of pain medicine since the Wednesday after his surger on Friday! He is getting around really well, and I think the biggest problem for him now is going to be getting through the rest of his recovery without going stir crazy. He went back to the doctor last week and he will be off until at least February 1!!! That is a long time for a guy who likes to stay busy!

Morgan is doing well. He starts one of his basketball leagues on the first Saturday in November, so we will soon be running to ball games again! He is going to go the Boy Scout National Jamboree this summer for two weeks (gasp!) in Virginia! This weekend he has an overnight stay at Camp Geiger (our local Boy Scout camp) to get to know the other boys who are going from our Council. He likes his teacher this year and enjoys his school work as much as a kid can!

Maggie joined Girl Scouts last week and is excited to get to do that! She still does her dance and gymnastics, but was wanting to get involved in Scouts as well. So, she joined a Troop in Cameron. I'm sure that is going to add quite a bit of activity to our life! She is doing well in school this year, and has a super teacher!

Marshall, too, has started Scouts: Cub Scouts. It has been a long time coming for him since he wants to be just like his older brother! He also goes up to the school almost every morning early to play/practice basketball! He enjoys school and I am just thankful that he doesn't cause trouble. His teacher called the other day with a funny: They were talking about ribs and Marshall raised up his shirt and sucked in his belly to show her his ribs. Then, he said, "I look hot when I take off my shirt!"........She began laughing and as he was walking away, he looked over his shoulder and said, "What? I really do!" Arrogant little fellow isn't he?

As for me, I am just busy chasing everyone around. That's standard operating procedure for us!

Take care!!

Greg's Recovery

Greg is doing well since his surger last Friday. We had our first outing today to Wal-Mart to find tape for his bandage! He was released from the hospital on Sunday morning and we went home. His mom, dad, and brother Mark were waiting at our house for us with dinner warmed up! After searching for a chair that Greg could actually sit in and get out of, I went back to Wal-Mart to pick up his pain medicines. He did great on Sunday and even went outside to walk around.

Earlier this week, he was battling some nasty side effects of oxycodone. The medicine was making him miserably nauseaous, but he has had no pain medicine since Wednesday and has reported that the nauseaousness has passed!

He is walking without the aid of the walker most of the time, but does use it to get out of bed first thing in the morning. The kids have been great with helping and are really on their best behavior....I'm sure that will pass some time in the next few days!

We are spending this weekend pretty much at home with a quick interruption Saturday night for the kids to go bowling with Granny!

Greg's surgery

Well, I am currently sitting in a chair in Greg's hospital room updating this blog. Greg's surgery was at 7:30 a.m. this morning and took less than 2 hours to complete, which was less than the time they had told me to expect.

The doctor was able to relieve the compresion of his vertebrae, release the nerves, fuse the bone together, and place a cage in between the L3 and L4 vertebrae. The doctor said the surgery went as well as it could have gone. Now, we are just waiting for the anesthesia to wear out of his system. He is really sleeping hard at times and says he feels "loopy" when he is awake!

Well, that is all for now! The kids are with Granny this weekend and I don't think they even realize what is going on with their dad.

Life

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything, so I guess we are just ready for an update. School is back in session and all three kids are doing very well. Morgan is in 6th grade and has adjusted to the increase in homework well. Maggie is in 4th grade and she is loving it. Marshall is in 1st grade and loves to do his math homework! Every year I worry that he will show his argumentative side to his teacher, but so far he has managed to keep that personality trait in check at school. His teacher called the other night to say that he is doing well and she has no concerns!

The kids have already started their school year activities. Morgan and Marshall go to school by 7 a.m. everyday for either open gym or "Rowdy Redbirds" basketball fundamentals. Maggie has her tap/jazz/gymnastic class on Monday nights. She loves her class! This will be her 7th year at Meri's Dance Studio. It just seems like yesterday that she began! Morgan is busy in Boy Scouts and Marshall finally got to join Cub Scouts. We haven't really started activities yet, but he is proud to be a Scout like his brother!

Greg is going to have spinal fusion surgery on October 2, so please pray for his speedy recovery! His back pain has been pretty bad for a couple of years and he was getting epidural shots for them, but they had stopped working, so we went to see a surgeon and surgery is the only way to get his pain under control at this point. So, we are very hopeful that this is going to help him and that he will be pain free following surgery!

Other than that, just regular stuff going on. We have a Parent/Teacher Organization Family Fund Day tomorrow and it looks as if the weather is going to be beautiful for it!

That is all for now!