Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Mallory has changed her tune from wanting a kitten to wanting a baby. That is her new obsession. I hear, "I want a baby" several times a day. My reply is always, "You'll have to talk to Daddy about that. He doesn't want to have another baby." She knows she's not getting him to budge at this point. So her little brain has been hatching a plan. She informed me earlier this week that, "Since we can't have a baby, we will just steal one from some people." She told me this with a straight face and an earnest heart. She is completely serious. I told her, "Oh my! We could never do that." She simply and sincerely asked, "Why?" I told her if we stole a baby from people, they would be very, very sad. I asked her if she would be sad if we had a baby and someone stole it from us. She barely shook her head yes. And then said, "We can still steal one." She's getting desperate.

Ross Keeps Us On Our Toes

I do believe Ross has his holidays mixed up. Halloween is the holiday that you are suppose to scare everyone, not Valentine's Day.

I was murmuring about a snow day on Thursday when I got the text Wednesday night that school would be cancelled the following day. By early Thursday morning, I was grateful he was home with me, not in his homeroom.

The kids all slept on the floor together in Mallory's room Wednesday night. Sometime during the night, Drew had a bad dream and came to sleep on my floor. Grateful for the chance to sleep in, I dozed in and out of sleep in my comfy bed Thursday morning while I listened to Mallory, Elizabeth, and Ross playing in her room. Elizabeth came in screaming something about Ross shaking and she couldn't wake him up. I don't exactly remember what she said, but I know I was running down the hall before she could finish telling me. I found Ross on the floor, face-down, partially under the bed convulsing. I rolled him over to find his eyes closed, his body rigid, and his lips blue while he twitched and labored to breathe. He was making very scary, almost gurgling noises. I began shouting his name and rubbing his chest with my knuckles, trying to stimulate him. Within a few seconds color returned to his lips as his tongue moved enough to allow the air to reach his throat. He stopped convulsing just a second later. I presumed it was his diabetes, so I pulled out his glucose monitor to test his blood. I'm beating myself up now because I should have given him an injection of his emergency glucogon. It is a special syringe and vial that he carries with him at all times to be used if he is ever unconscious. Anyway, as I tested his blood, it was 140 which is completely normal. That is why I didn't use the glucogon - because his blood sugar was normal. Anyway, I held a glucose tablet (rapid sugar tablet) to his lips to see if he could lick it, but he could not. I then had Elizabeth go get some juice. I squirted a few drops into his mouth and he began to swallow a little. He slowly began to take in a little more. Within five minutes he was awake and reactive and taking in juice on his own. I tested his blood, and he was already at 245. I was grateful it was rising. He was very upset to learn what had just happened. He had no recollection of even waking up that morning, even though he had already been awake for at least a half an hour. According to Elizabeth, they played for about a half-hour. Ross was sitting up on the bed, watching the girls play on the floor beneath him. She said he sat straight up and just dropped to the side and began convulsing and making "funny"noises. He then fell to the floor, and she thought he was joking. She kept calling his name and tried to tickle him. When he didn't respond, she came to get me.

After I felt Ross was stable, I called his endocrine team at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital to tell them about the episode. They suspected his 24 hour insulin (He takes a dose of Lantus at bedtime.) needed to be reduced from 20 units to 18. The nurse thought that possibly he had a seizure because he was hypoglycemic, or low, and when I began to stimulate him, his blood sugar rapidly rose. That didn't sound so feasible to me because everything happened within about three minutes. But... who am I to question an endocrine nurse?

He very shortly began complaining of a severe headache. He was just writhing in pain, trying to get comfortable. I gave him a dose of ibuprofen, but it didn't touch the headache. An hour-and-a-half later I gave him a dose of Tylenol. He begged me to call the hospital back. I said maybe we should give the Tylenol a half-hour to work. If it didn't then I would call. Well, it didn't, so I called the nurse back. I told her I was very concerned about the headache. She told me she wanted to check with his endocrinologist and stepped away from the phone for a few minutes. She got back on and said Dr. Dempsher thought perhaps this was not diabetes related and wanted me to take him to our ER since we are an hour away from the children's hospital. I called my mom/neighbor to come up with the other children, and we were at the ER in five minutes. He already began feeling a little better at that point. When we got to the ER, they took blood tests, performed an EKG, and a CT scan. The first two were fine, but the doctor said he saw some swelling on his brain. I was a little concerned at that point, but not too much because he had no fever and his white blood counts were normal. He wanted us to be taken by ambulance to Cardinal Glennon. I was glad to go. By the time we got there, Ross was pretty much feeling just fine.

Lots of waiting and lots more questions in the Cardinal Glennon ER. I felt a lot of relief when the neurologist said she saw no sign of swelling on the CT scan. She said when people aren't use to reading pediatric scans, they can mistake a child's brain as being swollen when actually it's just kind of "crowded" into the skull. Our beloved diabetes nurse heard the crazy news and came to find us. He did not think any of it sounded diabetes related. A few minutes later a diabetes nurse practitioner came in to get the history. She did think it was diabetes related. Shortly after that we were told we were being admitted for more testing.

We got comfortable in our room and tried to settle in for the night. Ross continued to feel fantastic and has continued to. We woke up this morning to waiting, testing, waiting, testing, and more waiting. He had a MRI and an EEG. All were clear as expected.

Basically, the diagnosis is this was just a random thing. The neurologist told us that as kids are growing and developing, and their brains are continuing to grow, sometimes an electrical misfire occurs and can cause this. He said chances are 70% to 80% that he will never have another episode again. If he would have another seizure, technically it will be considered epilepsy, and he will have to go on medication. Right now, there really isn't anything to treat.

Edward and I are a little divided on this. I believe this was not diabetes related because I tested his blood within three minutes of the seizure, and he was in normal range. On a side note, had I given the glucogon, it wouldn't have helped, but I'm still kicking myself over it. It wouldn't have hurt anything if I'd given it to him. Anyway, Edward feels it was diabetes related. He believes his blood sugar was low but as he began seizing, his liver produced a natural glucogon (which we all have) which rapidly raised his blood sugar. We'll never really know, I suppose.

We feel grateful for the love and concern we've received. I continue to have the word GRATEFUL in my mind today. I'm grateful Ross is well. Grateful for modern medicine. Grateful for my family. Grateful for the peace I feel. Grateful.

Ross getting an EEG - smiling through it all!

My Baby Boy Turned 6

Our Trip to Nauvoo

I keep forgetting to post about our trip to Nauvoo, IL. We travelled to this historic little town in late October. It's a sweet little place that takes you back into the mid 1800's. This website provides a little more information. "Historic Nauvoo is located in Western Illinois, bordered on three sides by a bend of the mighty Mississippi River. The restored homes, mercantile establishments and community buildings maintain the charm of what once was a beautiful, industrious city. Today, Nauvoo provides an opportunity to experience the people and times of the past."

The fall folliage was AMAZING!

One of our first stops was the LDS Visitor's Center. We watched a wonderful movie there that recounted the early history of our church.

This picture of Drew was one of my favorites from the whole trip.

We took a cold and wet covered wagon ride through the town. We were grateful for the quilts we had to cover up with!

The beautiful Nauvoo temple

We toured several homes that have been restored. Many of the contents were original to the homes.

We visited the post office (top) and mercantile (bottom right). We learned how the people made yarn (bottom left), candles, rugs, tin, bricks. We visited the home of Johnathan Browning, the famous gun maker, and saw many of his early guns. That was very interesting. We got to sample some cookies from a bakery. We also visited a small school house. I know I'm forgetting some of the other homes or stores we visited. They were all so interesting. The kids were so well behaved and enjoyed learning about how the pioneers lived. Nauvoo is definitely a place I recommend for anyone to visit. One of the best parts is everything is absolutely free!

Watching a blacksmith make a horse shoe

Everyone got in on the pioneer life!

Getting water from the well.

All Good Things Must Come To An End... Less Than A Week Later

I've discovered I'm pretty allergic to cats. Which makes it kind of difficult to actually own a cat. We really grew to love little Ruby, but she had to go to a new home. I tried telling myself my nose and eyes weren't really itching, but after I could barely open my eyes Wednesday night, I couldn't deny it any more. I knew the kitten had to go. Of course the kids were devastated when we told them. Luckily after posting about it on Facebook, a friend decided to adopt her. I felt really good about it. She even told the kids they could come visit her when they wanted and could possibly cat-sit sometime.

Several times today Mallory has said something about since we can't have a cat, now she wants a baby. Not a baby doll. A real baby. I told her she had to convince Daddy of that one.

Because We Just Really Don't Have Enough Going On...

...we adopted a kitten.

Mallory has been talking incessantly about getting a kitten. Edward and I decided we would get her one for her birthday, three months away. While looking on a classified's website, I found this kitten:

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15504606

Unfortunately Elizabeth read the part about it being at a non-no kill shelter, and she was HYS-TER-I-CAL. I mean, you can't even imagine how upset she was when she read that it would be euthanized in three weeks if it wasn't adopted.

So after convicing Daddy, we headed off to pick her up. Mallory was in heaven! At the shelter, we were directed to the "cat room" where about 15 cats were roaming around. Mallory would run over and pick up a kitten, love on it for 10 seconds, see another kitten walk by, put down the kitten she was holding, and pick up another kitty. She repeated this 57 times. It was pretty cute.

After much debating/fighting, the name that was chosen was Ruby. The other top picks were River (She was found in an icy creek.), Sally, and my personal favorite - Jennette. :) Mallory was pretty insistant on that, but luckily for us, she's easily persuaded.

We were curious how Stella would react. After chasing the kitten under the safety of the kitchen cabinets, Stella was a bit anxious. The cat hissed at her a few times and swatted at her nose, but other than that, she's a pretty confident and calm kitten. We've been very surprised that she's not more scared of Stella. And we've also been surprised that Stella hasn't tried to eat her. She's very curious about her and mostly just wants to play with her. Once she realizes that Ruby isn't really interested in playing just yet, Stella will just lay down by her.

To be continued....

The Cone of Shame

We've discovered a new form of discipline for Stella. Just kidding. We had her fixed since she spends most of her day out in our newly fenced backyard (Can you hear the chorus of Hallelujah?). And to keep her from bothering her healing incision, she has to wear this dorky cone. The kids affectionately refer to it as The Cone Of Shame (They picked that up from the movie Up.). Edward said when he went to pick her up from the vet's office, and they brought her out, he had to try really, really hard to keep a straight face.

And we were told she could possibly settle down after being fixed, but I'm pretty sure that won't be happening any time soon. Aside from acting stoned the entire day after surgery, she is back to her rowdy old self once again...Cone of Shame and all!

Christmas Tree Parade

I'm carrying this over from my friend Emily's blog. I'm posting what our Christmas tree looks like.

Because of this creature (the dog of course)...



...our Christmas tree looks like this...


It is the world's ugliest Christmas tree. And it is coming down today. I usually enjoy keeping it up until New Year's Day, but I'm about a week past having the energy to chase the dog 86 times a day to get an ornament out of her mouth.

All I Wanted Was a Quick Family Photo

Once again, I informed my family that we would be taking a quick family photo after Church. And once again my news was met with moans and groans.

I staged the family and set up the camera. Dead battery. So I scrambled to find some more. That reminds me. I need to get batteries before Christmas morning. So I staged everyone again and set the timer. Click. I looked at the picture and said, "We may have gotten a great picture the first time! Oh, wait. No, Drew - cooperate."

Take two. "Drew. Mallory. Cooperate!"

Take three. "Drew, don't smile so hard."

Take four. "There we g..., NO! Mallory, please smile."

Take five. "That's as good as it's going to get."

A little editing and there we go. Although I don't like how I look. :(

Christmas photo - 2009

Mary's Lullaby

After an unfortunate accident, my Aunt Cathy called me last night to tell me she wouldn't be at our Christmas service this morning. She asked me if I would take over for her. She had created a beautiful program. She is our choir director, and she was to sing a solo. She's a tiny woman, but she has big shoes to fill!

I had never sung the song she was suppose to sing, so I wasn't very comfortable performing it as a solo. After reading over the program, I had the perfect song in mind. It is one of my favorites. You can hear it here:

http://mixpod.com/play/urezt

The words are beautiful.

A Message From Santa

A found a spectacular (FREE!) website. You take a few minutes to enter a little information about your child, along with a photo, and Santa sends a video message to your child. It's really neat. I was just going to make one for the little kids, but our bigger kids asked me to make one for them too.

And I was cracking up as Mallory watched hers. There is a part where Santa asks if she's been a good girl this year, and under her breath she muttered, "Not to you." She, of course, is talking about a freak-out upon seeing him last week.

Here is the website:

http://portablenorthpole.tv

Have fun!

Come Let Us Adore Him

This is one of my favorite gifts we received when we got married. It is a Fontanini nativity set. It is beautiful. It is also made out of plastic so the kids can play with it without breaking ears off of animals or crowns off of kings. It has been well loved and used by our kids.

One year, when Elizabeth was about two, she was given a tiny homemade baby Jesus about the same size as this one. She left both baby Jesus' in the creche all Christmas season. She said they were twins, and she named the second one Regis. So we had baby Jesus and baby Regis.

As usual, the Nativity set has been getting a lot of play from the kids again this year. I walked past it this morning and noticed an extra visitor. Upon closer inspection...

...I noticed Diego was also worshiping the newborn King. :)

Frankenthumb

Stella is beginning to be one expensive dog!

We decided to put up a smallish fence for her. We've been pricing materials for the last few weeks and had intentions to begin on Friday. We rented a monster of an automatic post hole digger. It's a huge rig that you have to tow behind your vehicle to get to your destination. Big! Anyway, we got about four holes dug when one of the two hoses connecting the engine to the enormous drill bit started spewing hydraulic fluid. It looked just like when you get a small hole in your garden hose. The pink oil was just spraying. Edward grabbed the hose and immediately yelled and let go of the hose. I thought he got a burn, so I booked it to the house to get some ice for him. He yelled for me to come turn off the machine. "Oh yeah!" I thought. "That's a good idea." By that time he'd run into the house and was running his thumb under cold water. I could just see a pretty small flesh wound that was bleeding. His thumb really started to swell.

Basically what happened was the equivalent of Edward holding his thumb over the nozzle of a high powered pressure washer. The liquid (hydraulic fluid) blasted through his glove first (thank goodness) and into his thumb.

Edward mentioned something about possibly going to the ER. I said surely he didn't need to because it didn't look that bad. He asked me to call my sister who is a nurse to get her opinion. After describing the injury, she asked if we wanted her to come take a look, and we did. She asked when was the last time he had a tetanus shot. We told her it was our first semester at Mizzou as newlyweds, 12 years ago. She said it would probably be a good idea to go get one. Our doctor was out for the Thanksgiving holiday, as were all other doctors in town except two. And of course they didn't accept new patients. So off to the ER it was.

Being the good and caring wife that I am, I sent Edward off to the hospital alone so I could finish digging. Actually, we weren't too concerned at that point, considering we were expecting a quick tetanus shot then a trip back home. I called the rental company, and they sent someone over to replace the busted hose. I continued digging holes when Edward called me informing me he was most likely being sent to St. Louis for hand surgery. WHAT?!?!?! The ER doc had a call in to the hand specialist at a St. Louis hospital to get his opinion. While we were waiting, I hitched the post hole digger up to the Jeep and returned. I still hadn't showered that day, so I took a quick shower. As soon as I got out, Edward called back and said he was definitely being sent for surgery that night. I got the kids settled with my mom (This is why we love having family so close!!!!) and joined Edward in the ER. To my happy surprise, they let me be his ambulance to the city.

After arriving at the ER in St. Louis, we waited and waited some more and explained the situation 87 more times. Once the surgery team arrived they explained to us why they needed to operate. They said that hydraulic fluid would potentially eat up the tissue in his thumb. But even more scary, it had the potential to travel down into his hand, wrist, or even elbow and cause a lot of damage. They were very pleased he came in when he did (thankfully he didn't listen to me when it first happened!). So, he was taken back for surgery at 8:45 p.m. I got a call in the waiting room at 9:00 p.m. that surgery had begun and he was doing well, and by 9:15 the surgeon was in telling me how great it went. He said that the hydraulic fluid was just contained to the end of his thumb. Most likely the glove dissipated a lot of the fluid. He said there are times when they have to go in two or three times to clean out the wound, but he didn't feel like that was necessary this time. He did sew a shunt in the incision for drainage. Ouch!

Edward got to his room at 10:15, and we settled in for a long night. I was worried I would be sleeping in a non-reclining chair but was relieved when an aide delivered a recliner to me at midnight. Edward woke up feeling nothing and doing great, so we were discharged at about 10:30 a.m. We head back in tomorrow for a post-op visit.

He felt great all day yesterday but has felt pretty crumby most of the day. That is mostly due to the oxycodone he is on. His thumb was hurting when he woke up so he took the pain meds. That left him feeling pretty nauseated. He has spent the evening taking it easy. Maybe the doctor can help us figure out something else we can do for the pain.

So, not only are we paying to install a fence for Stella, she is also causing us to hit our astronomical insurance deductible. Edward's about ready to get rid of her at this point.

And, my wonderful father came and manually dug the rest of our post holes while we were gone. He's the best.

Give us a thumbs up, Eddo!
Thrilled that I'm making him pose for pics. :)

Close Encounters of the Furry Kind

Alright, this is a good one.

Let me start off by saying I don't usually get too upset when I see bugs, reptiles, or even small critters. I don't run away screaming. In fact, I get onto Elizabeth if she acts too "girly" around bugs and insects. That's not the kind of women we are.

However, I can see where some women (and, frankly, some men.... You know who you are.) feel a wee bit paniced at the sight of bugs and vermen after two encounters this week.

I LOVE to thrift shop. It's a thrill for me to get something ugly for just a bit of spare change and make it beautiful. I frequent the clean thrift stores frequently. Some of the, shall we say, grosser ones don't get my business as often. I was looking for some cheapy glass ornaments that I could spray paint to make a wreath, so I went to a particular thrift store where I knew I could find some for about $.25 a box. Let's just say this place is a little on the dirty side. After finding what I needed, I flipped through a few clothes racks on my way out. I was flipping through a skirt rack, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a leaf (or so I thought) on a skirt. Just as I started to slide the hanger over, that "leaf" scurried up the skirt! It was a mouse. A very much alive mouse! Eek. I didn't scream, but boy did I freeze in my tracks. I certainly wasn't expecting THAT! I asked a frozen Mallory if she wanted me to move the skirt so she could see the mouse, and she quite confidently told me she didn't. I then went to check out. When I was finished, I told the saleswoman, "Oh, and you might be interested to know there is a mouse in your skirt display." She didn't seem like she was a lady that liked mice very much. I wished her luck on that one, and headed out to my (clean) van.

Now, on to encounter #2 - the same week! We were met by a welcome committee when we returned home from church today. Who was there to greet us upon arrival, you ask? A. Full. Grown. SQUIRREL. Holy cow!!!!!

Everyone went into the house while I was still in the van piling things in my arms to carry into the house. I heard Ross say, "A squirrell! And it's dead!" Guess what? No it wasn't! It was very much alive indeed, just perched upon my curtain rod. It's head was making those rapid and rigid movements as it checked us out checking it out.

Some will wonder how it got into our house. Let me explain. When we moved in, our house had a wood stove. After much consideration, we felt like with very little children we needed to have it removed for safety reasons. In the living room, I capped the metal piping (what is it called, anyway?) with a plastic lid. I have never climbed onto the roof to cap it off up there. So that poor little thing had to have been so scared when he tried to climb on the roof and fell two stories through my obviously non-squirrell-proofed chimney.

Back to the story. My very strong and brave husband (who would NOT have been so had it been a snake!) got a broom and told me to do the same. We opened all the doors in the house and made our way to our visitor. That sucker took a flying leap from the curtain and landed a good ten feet away on my couch. Let me tell you, THAT'S WHERE I WAS STANDING, and I let out a holler like a woman giving birth to a ten pounder! Okay ladies. Now I can kind of see where you spaz out when you see sweat bees and ants. I'm beggining to relate.

About this time, Elizabeth is hiding behind Mallory, using her as a human shield. Ross and Drew are running around with excitement, Edward is taking charge, and I'm beginning to laugh like a crazy woman. So about this time, I'm thinking, "BLOG. Gotta get some pictures." Out comes the trusty camera. I also pulled out the video camera because I'm thinking this little buggar just might win us $10,000!" So, I make Edward stop every few seconds so I can get just the right shot. I know! Pretty smart of me!

Anyway, Mr. Squirrell jumps from one room to the next. Then where does he go? Upstairs! That's where our bedrooms are! Luckily, all the doors were shut, so he comes right back down. He was like a pinball, pinging from room to room, under couches and tables, up on curtain rods, behind the furniture. Finally, I saw him run away, and we think he ran out the back door. After much searching, we never found him. But, we did find my cell phone that has been lost for two weeks! Hooray! Something good DID come out of this craziness.

Now, like I said, we are pretty sure he ran out the back door. No one actually saw him do it, but we couldn't find him any where. Wouldn't it be something if he's just been hiding all this time and comes to snuggle up in bed with us tonight?

And, while all of this was going on, Drew kept saying, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
And Ross suggested that we mount it. He said we could let Stella (our puppy) take care of the squirrell. Then we could chop it's head off, put it on a board, and hang it on the wall.

Oh, only at our house!

A First Visit From The Tooth Fairy

Mr. Drew has just experienced his first loose tooth. Being the cautious boy that he is, I pictured his tooth would have to get so loose that it fell out in his sleep. I imagined he wouldn't let anyone touch it. I was wrong! He worked on it for about two weeks. He came home from school yesterday, and he had it super loose. He let me wrap string around it. One tiny yank, and it was out. He was very pleased that it didn't hurt at all.

He cracked me up when he said, "I can drink with my teeth together now." and "This is the first time I ever tasted my lip." What a funny guy. And all night he would say things like, "This is the first time I ever took a bath with a missing tooth." or "This is the first time I watched TV with a missing tooth."

And the Tooth Fairy barely remembered to do her job. She cruised in here about 10 minutes before it was time to wake up. Whew! That was a close one!

She's a Big Girl Now

This probably falls under the category of TMI, but this news is worth celebrating! I think (hoping I'm not jinxing myself!) this girl is 99% potty trained! Wahoo! After abandoning ship earlier this summer, we attempted round two last week, and she has done great! I even let her sleep in her undies last night, and all was good this morning. The first few days we had a lot of accidents, but that comes with the territory. By day four I was venturing out to run errands. She is doing so, so great! We are thrilled. Congratulations, Mallory!

Boo Crew

Halloween 2009

Ross, the shark eaten boy
While perusing the Internet for costume ideas, Ross found a similar, store bought costume with a price tag of a mere $60. Knowing that this mom usually makes the costumes, he said, "I'll be that." I'm glad he has confidence in my abilities. I had NO idea how I would pull it off, but I think it turned out pretty well. The gray fabric is so cool! It feels really rubbery. The best part is I got it on sale for 50% off at Hancocks! I think I paid $8 for two yards. The hardest part for Ross was only being able to use one arm, as the shark got the other one.


Madame Fortune Teller

Elizabeth came up with the idea of being a fortune teller. I thought it was pretty creative. We later found the same idea in FamilyFun magazine. We had all the jewelry and the scarf and skirt. I picked up the lovely shirts at a thrift store for a couple bucks. The hardest thing to come up with was a crystal ball. All of the clear sphere shapes I found were made of glass. Then it struck me. A hampster ball! $8 spent at the pet store and we were set!

Elizabeth was so funny. She got ticked off any time someone said she was a gypsy! The nerve!

Mr. Roboto

Drew decided on a robot this year. I knew we could easily pull this off with things around the house. We had the shiny silver lemay pants in the dress-up box. I covered the cardboard boxes with fabric (again 50% off!) and then gadgets from the garage. I just had to spend $6 on dryer vent tubes (what are those things called, anyway?).

Part of the reason Drew wanted the big robot head was so he could more easily hide his face anytime he saw a scary trick-or-treater. The poor boy is terrified of Halloween.

By the way, he won a costume contest. He was pretty happy about that.

Miss Mermaid

Mallory was adamant on being a mermaid this year. It worked out well because I had saved a cute mermaid idea from FamilyFun. I found a large green/metallic robe at a thrift store. Not sure what it was. Maybe a Statue of Liberty costume? Anyway, for $2 I knew I could transform it into a mermaid costume way cheaper than by just buying fabric. I added a little purple tule underneath for a little more girliness. And Elizabeth had the purple shells from a Build-A-Bear costume. They fit Mallory perfectly. The funny thing, though, is that they annoyed her so she ended up pushing them down to her waist like a belt.

Bird Attack

And I can't let the kids have all the fun. I have to get in on the action as well. This was a last minute thrown-together idea. That teasing was really fun to get out of my hair later that night. Edward and I wanted to be Dora and Diego for the church party, but Elizabeth was on the verge of tears at that idea. We decided against tormenting her... this time.

For the church party Edward threw on an outback hat and wrapped a large snake around his neck. I didn't get a picture because, well, I have four children to keep up with.

The kids are already planning what they want to wear next year.

JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes

Our Walk To Cure Diabetes turned out to be a fantastic experience.

On October 10th we travelled to Kansas City, MO to participate and do our part to raise funds for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). It was C-C-C-FREEZING!!!! It was 37 degrees the morning of the Walk. It was so hard to feel warm for the rest of the day.

We had a total of 31 walkers on our team, Ross's Gator Crusaders. We felt truly humbled and grateful to everyone that travelled far to join us in supporting Ross.

I am not an emotional person, but I couldn't keep it together that day. It was very inspiring to see so many people (thousands) there to support the same cause that is so close to our hearts.

Back at the end of August, our family set a goal to raise $1000 to donate to JDRF on Ross's behalf. As of today, we've donated $4,448.31. Out of the 385 teams in attendance, only 17 raised more money than Ross's Gator Crusaders. We are more than grateful. Words can't express the humility and gratitude we feel. We are almost finished with our huge list of Thank-You notes!

Edward is ready to start our fundraising efforts for next year. He wants to double what we did this year. Whew! Me? I need a little break. This has consumed me and my time over the last two months, but it has been absolutely worth every second.