Rollercoaster

The past couple of weeks have been such an emotional rollercoaster for us. I will talk about the up side later but today I needed to post that my wonderful Grandma has passed away. She was an amazing 88 1/2 year old beauty that loved the Lord and I am so blessed that she was in my life. The past several years her health has quickly faded so her death is a blessing in the fact that she is not suffering and can now do all the wonderful things that she used to do but with the Lord. The hard part is knowing that all we have left is our memories, although they are quite wonderful, there are no more memories to make. But I have to not focus on myself but on the fact that she is singing and laughing and full of joy, something she has not been able to really do for awhile. I just pray for my Mom, who was her main caregiver for these past years. Her main focus was my Grandma and now that focus is gone, there is now a big hole in her life and we have to make sure we fill it up with her kids and grandkids. Thanks for listening.

My smiling Grandma and her pearls! She so loved pearls, kids and the Lord!

Halloween and Catch Up Time

Yes it is almost Thanksgiving and I am posting Halloween pictures but they are so cute that I didn't want you all to miss out on them. Micah was a puppy this year and got to wear a costume that I made for Olivia.

Do you like his guards?

What is nice about the costumes that I made is that they actually hold up over time and each kids has worn them. Great memories when you look at the pictures of each one in the same costume!

We also did our annual pumpkin carving where each of them get to pick out their own pumpkin. Micah's choice was unique as he is, he picked a white pumpkin, it was so cute listening to him say, "whi punkin"

It usually is a very long night because just getting the guts out of four pumpkins takes awhile and we usually have a loss of interest about half way through and Russ, Olivia and I end up finishing them up. So we decided to cut our losses and have Micah color his - it worked out great that is until it rained a few days later and the washable markers washed right off. Thankfully he didn't notice.

Last year Micah was able to go trick or treating but he really did not understand what was going on. This year, he understood, it was all about candy! Every time we went to a house, I would remind him to say, trick or treat and then thank you(which only family members can really understand). What was so cute is that some people would try to hold a conversation with him, like "So what are you dressed up as?" or "Are you having fun?" and his response to everyone, no matter what the question was was "TRICK OR TREAT". I think he was trying to nicely say "Hey people, just give me the candy".

And speaking of candy, that is our reward of choice for potty training. We are doing pretty good with it but some day I feel like it will never happen. Micah know that if he does things on his own or goes #2 in the potty, he gets a bigger reward. So when he talks about it, it goes something like this: " When I go poo poo in the potty, I gets lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota CANDY! YEA!!. Can you tell he has a sweet tooth.

Mica is also growing like a weed. When we brought him home he literally wore a 12 months pants( at 2.5 years old!) so this summer I was wondering what he would be wearing once he was home a year.......... 3Ts! Can you believe it, now they are slightly long but still, he grew in 1 year what kids normally do in two. So back in October I took his measurements and compared them to the ones taken when he was home one week - he grew 4.75 inches and gained 10 pounds! Man, no wonder my back is aching all the time! I really try to do everything to not have to carry him anymore( no I love to hold him, if he lets me but sitting down is the preferred method).

I love how 3 year old minds work. They get something in their head and that is the way that it is. My wonderful niece sat for the kids a few weeks ago and ever since then, I get the question from Micah about "Where is Christmas?". Now her name is Christa, but for now and forever, in Micah's head - she will be Christmas.

Well I have to leave you with the wonderful picture of the week in our house. It is of our Toothless Wonder - Luc. We know what he will be singing for Christmas this year!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!