Halloween Festivities 2013

I was lucky enough to be a part of Luke, Ava's and Sydney's Halloween pictures.  At night, we were the first ones out as always.  The kids were super excited they got a beanie Baby of their choice at someone's house.  After about 45, they all retired to either strollers or he wagon, except for Luke who was hands down the most excited to be out.  He showed a lot of independence this year.

Best Friend Day

Yesterday after school I took the girls and one of Ava's best friends, Pea to the mall with Megan, Nicolas and their crew.  They were so excited that after school they were holding hands and dancing around in a circle singing, "best friends day, best friends day."  We ate lunch in the car and headed to the mall to the American girl store.  Both Ava and Pea had their purses on and they're cute little outfits… They looked like mini teenagers. We ate hot fudge brownie sundaes at the American girl café and then went shopping for Ava's Christmas dress. On our way back through the mall we stopped at the wishing well because the girls wanted to make a wish.  Ava took a penny out of her purse for her, Sydney and Pea.  Pea closed her eyes and threw her penny in the Wishingwell and said, "I wish for a doc mcstuffins set."  Ava closed her eyes and through her penny in and wished that she could be a reindeer. I had no idea what she was going to say and I have to say I never thought it would be that!  I love the things that little kids say and that's one of the reasons why I keep this blog. 

Has a funny way of showing it...

A huge tree limb dropped in our yard yesterday after we had a big windstorm. It's burrowed itself 6 inches deep under our grass, thank goodness the kids were not out there.

Sydney definitely has a funny way of showing her love for daddy but she was the only kid that stayed outside in the cold to help him pick up all of the branches.

The kids best dinner ever!

A couple weeks ago on our way home from swimming at the club the kids were starving so we decided to let him get some McDonald's.  Mommy and daddy were hungry too but we don't like McDonald's so we decided to let the kids eat in the car and then we would go to red Robin for lunch.  And Luke proclaimed that it was the best dinner ever because we let him and the kids get a Sundae at red Robin after eating their processed McDonald's food.

Bothell Gymnastics Club

The girls started gymnastics at our new place in Bothell called Bothell gymnastics club. We love it… It is clean and fun! Ava is in class with Pea and Sydney has class with Naomi and Wyatt.  I can definitely tell that this is their favorite activity. Sydney has come such a long way since last year… She is very independent and mimics everything that the teacher does. She just loves it and so does Ava!

Boo!

We have been so busy getting ready for Halloween. Mommy is lucky enough to volunteer at all of the kids three Halloween parties.  We carved the spooky pattern on the pumpkin last night that Luke picked out.  Tonight we are going to finish our spooky cat and I will post a picture of that.

Goodness Graycie....

The first few days we had Graycie things were very overwhelming.... Especially for Sydney.  Ava would pick her up and put her in front of the food bowl, and then move her to the water bowl, and then put her in the litter box, deciding every move she took.  

We had friends over yesterday to come see her. She got so overwhelmed that she was hiding behind the dryer in the inset of the wall. I really thought she was lost for a good 20 minutes.  

All in all, she really does like the kids and is very tolerant. She couldn't have a better demeanor.

I really need to get my camera out and take some pictures but here are a few from my phone of the crazy last few days.

Sydney passed out in the car from sheer exhaustion our first day with her. We were on our way to the pet store to get her some kitty toys.

Meet Graycie Lass....

The kids and I went to go pick up our new eight week old kitty tonight. It was kind of a surprise… We knew we wanted to get one and found her on craigslist.

The kids and I got home at 8 PM tonight and they were very gentle with her. No one has held her and I had to put them in bed right away. They were so excited though and I know that they will be up early in the morning to snuggle with her.

More pictures to come soon…

Luke update

Luke missed a couple days of school this week but he was back on Thursday and Friday. Luckily they only had half days so he didn't miss a lot. His flareup went down and he has been feeling really good.  Hopefully that lasts for a really long time…

Here are some pictures of his recent flare up....

My Big first grader…

Luke got his pictures back yesterday… I love them!  We had his eye pea school conference yesterday where we met with his teachers and his therapist.  I am very pleased with the progress that he has made this year. He is excelling in math as he was one of the only two kids in class to get 100% on his test.  They also noticed what a great memory Luke has!  He has branched out and made a really good new friend named Jack.  We are really trying to work hard on his fine motor skills in writing and trying to help him read. He is dyslexic so it is a headache for him to look at words and try to read.  

Unfortunately, his HSP condition has flared up again.  I write this as we are heading to the doctor for our weekly appointment to have his kidneys and blood pressure checked.  He had about 25 to 30 hives on his legs and bottom last night that were itchy red and swollen. He also gets bad stomach aches mainly at night.  I am allowed to give him Tylenol for the pain and Benadryl helped the swelling last night.  I kept him home from school today because it hurts when he sits on his bottom. He was doing pretty good up until about 30 minutes ago his feet began to swell again just like the initial onset of the disease.  Please pray that this crazy disease goes away and does not come back for my board little guy. Sitting on the couch with your feet up is not an ideal way to spend your day when you're six years old.  Thank goodness for the iPad!

Special girly Day

Today I wanted to do something special for the girls.  While they were at school, I dressed up their American Girl dolls and made them pretty.  The girls were so excited and Ava was so thankful that I took the time to do that for her... It was so sweet!  We went to the America Girl store and bought a yummy brownie sundae to share.  It was delicious and had heart shape brownies in it with vanilla ice cream, cookie crumbs, whipped cream and a cherry.  What fun it is to be a Mommy of girls!

And we did not forget about the Luke... We stopped by the Lego store for him!

Halloween sneak peak...

Ava was planning on being a mummy for Halloween and Sydney has had heart set on being a "princess girl."  Today, while Luke was in school, I took the girls to the mall and we walked in the Disney store.  Usually indecisive but not today, Ava choose the new "Elsa" snow queen dress and Sydney chose the "rapunzel" bride dress.  I really like both dresses!  The only problem is that there is literally glitter everywhere! 

Grammy and Pop Pop's visit

We had a great time with Grammy and Pop Pop this past week.  We went out to dinner with them, colored with them a lot, snuggled up with them on the couch and took Grammy to our new gym.  They really were a big help to mommy as she had lots of appointments to take Luke to for his condition.  We had a rough week with the HSP but the infections seem to be going down.  Luke has been to school every day this week.

Luke's hospital experience…

We had quite the ordeal on Saturday night. Luke and I had a very busy day as we went to the gym, then to a birthday party, soccer pictures and then a soccer game.  He was complaining in the morning about his feet hurting him and didn't want to wear his shoes. And then as the day went on he kept complaining that his legs were bothering him much like he did last month when I thought he was trying to get out of playing tennis.  And again,I thought he was trying to get out of playing his soccer game so I made him  push through and play.  We ended up taking him out of the game in the last quarter.  

On our way walking back to the car from the game, he was complaining and did not want to walk at all.  He took off his socks when we got to the car and we drove home and again he continued to complain about his legs hurting him and his feet.  He said his feet were itchy.  When we arrived at home, he sat on the step and wouldn't go inside the house and was screaming in pain. It was then I looked down at his feet and they were completely swollen. I knew something was wrong and I yelled to get Steve.

I took him to the closest hospital, Evergreen because he was in so much pain. He was admitted right away and the doctor told me he thought he knew what Luke had.  He said it was a classic case of HSP.  When they learned that Luke's kidneys were okay they were finally able to give him some painkillers to take care of his fever and throbbing legs. He and I stayed in the hospital overnight so they could monitor him.  They checked his blood and urine twice and in the morning he was able to walk again.  The swelling in his feet did not go away until that night.

With HSP there is not much they can do to treat it. They just need to treat the symptoms when he has them. If it gets bad enough then he can go on steroids but hopefully that won't happen.  We need to have his urine and or blood checked for the next six months to make sure his kidney and liver functions are okay.  Rarely does the disease come back and the prognosis is excellent.  They think it is caused by his antibodies trying to fight a cold or bug and it goes all wrong. His body attacks his own body body and the blood vessels explode causing the rash that he had on his legs and butt.  It causes vasculitis in his joints on his legs ankles and feet.  Which is basically arthritis.  

In some cases, the doctor told us, kids come in with some of the symptoms Amanda up having their appendix removed because their stomach hurts them so bad. Only to find out that there appendixes fine and then the rash usually appears.  Luke was complaining about stomach pain but not as much as the leg pain.

He only took one day off of school and I sent him back today. He had a hard time leaving and sheds some tears on the bus as it drove away which broke my heart. His new teacher is absolutely amazing as she emailed and called me at the end of the day. She even checked his feet to make sure they weren't swollen.  She said he was all smiles today at school and that made me happy.  I am amazed at how strong he was in the hospital and how calm he remained through the pain. He is my tough little man!   

Sydney's first day of school

Today was Sydney's first day of preschool. Her best friend Naomi and Wyatt were in class with her. They all did a really good together and Sydney did not miss me when I left.

My Sunflower Girls...

This summer we grew some sunflowers and they got absolutely huge.  I cut them so we could enjoy them and had the girls pose with them in the backyard.  I got so many cute shots of them, I couldn't decide which ones to post.

Ava's first day of Pre-K

Today was Ava's first day of pre-k. She did not blink an eye and had such a great time with her best friends Nicolas and Pea.

Luke and his buddies!

I have been so proud of Luke and how social he has been lately.  His new teacher said he was still very reserved at school but I know the "talker" is in him and once it is unleashed.... school will be a different story.  With his new friends in the neighborhood, Sammy and Danny, he is so social and just loves to see them every day!  I took this panoramic of them playing outside last week.  It didn't come out right because Luke was riding his bike so fast but I still like it!

Tennis Lessons

Luke and Ava finished up their tennis lessons a couple weeks ago.  Funny thing, I loved the class but they didn't.  They said it was too long (it was an hour.)  Coach Jessie did work them very hard but that was why I liked it!  I took my camera to the last class and I think I got better pictures of Sydney hamming it up then I did the actual tennis players!  Ha!

Bubs first day of school.

Luke was so excited to get on the bus today for his first day of first grade. The house seems empty without him already and it is only 10 AM. I can't wait to hear how his day went....