Doing service in her own little way.

This last week Corky and I were so impressed with our Gracey-girl. You see, her favorite thing in the world is to accomplish something. Anything. When a challenge is presented to her, especially when followed by a prize, she puts her blinders on and moves forward until her goal is accomplished. Of course, we are talking about a 6year child's goals, but they are her's. Her kindergarten teacher presented a challenge to the class that if they ALL could count to 100 by 5's, then she would walk them to Braum's for some ice cream. Braum's is awesome. I have talked about it briefly here.

So Gracey has this challenge in her head to count by 5's and pretty much accomplished it within a day. As the week goes on, I asked her at dinner one night how her class was doing with their goal. She said a lot of them can do it but there is one boy that is having a hard time remembering. Then she said,

"but I have been practicing with him at recess to help him learn!"

Corky and I made a huge deal to her about how kind that was and how proud we were of her for helping him. It's true too, we are very proud. Even though her ultimate goal is that she will get to enjoy an ice cream party, I know that she is on the right track to experiencing the joy of serving others. As she grows, she will learn that the ultimate prize for helping others is simply the love and satisfaction of doing good.

Beiber Fever

It is happening. My kids are jumping on the bandwagon and totally digging the Biebster! I think it started last summer when we were visiting St. George, I took them to a Zumbatonic class (Zumba for kids) and they danced to "Baby, Baby, Baby, Oooooh!"

Last month I worked at Gracey's school's book fair for a few hours with my kids in tote. I told them that if they played patiently, I would let them pick out their own book that was $5 or less. Gracey could not decide between a Justin Bieber book or the Justin Bieber poster. I realize a poster IS NOT a book, but after how well they behaved for me, I didn't even care. Like I said, this was a real struggle for her as she saw more and more people purchasing the poster. I mentioned to her that I would buy the poster for her if she wanted to use her own money for the book. She jumped on the idea and walked out of there a very happy girl.

Now to my favorite part of the story....

She was very proud of her poster and could not wait to show Corky. I don't remember seeing the reaction that Corky had, so I must not have been there. I do remember I had to be to the weekly youth activity for church that night so Corky put the girls to bed. When I came home, went into the girl's room to give them goodnight kisses, I laughed when I saw this!



Corky is such a good sport and helped her hang her beloved poster right above her bed!

Now, as Gracey crawls into bed every night, she says, "Goodnight Biebs!"

And if anyone is curious what book Emily picked out, Gracey encouraged her to pick out a book about Taylor Swift.

Got Milk?

Gracey has been growing, what seems, right before our eyes! I really don't know where the time goes, or how all of the sudden she has turned from my baby into a real person. I thought I would highlight a few things about her that are worth sharing, but most of all, worth remembering.



Last month, Gracey started getting serious stomach cramps. She had no other symptoms of illness, but her stomach would hurt her so badly that she would be unable to move. About a week of these stomach cramps coming and going, something told me to have her avoid dairy. My little brother developed a lactose intolerance when he was in elementary school that I vaguely remembered. I decided to give that a shot. She quit milk and cheese cold turkey and sure enough, no more stomach pains. I was planning on giving her some dairy after a week or so as a cruel, but insightful, confirmation that she was indeed lactose intolerant. About the same time I was planning on doing that, I get a call from her school telling me that she had stomach pains again. Sure enough, she had pudding for a snack and that did it. She had no idea that pudding had milk in it and her teacher admittedly said she wasn't thinking. (I don't blame her at all. Gosh, she has 22 little ones to take care of!) From then on, we gave her lactose enzymes and she was fixed. She was so good about remembering and reminding me to have one. The tablets made life so much easier for all of us. She could eat any dairy product she wanted without having those awful pains afterward.

About a month later, we both forgot one time. It wasn't until about an hour or so AFTER mealtime that we realized it. It was at that time we also realized that she wasn't having any stomach pains either. So we decided to experiment once again and try having dairy without the tablets. Wouldn't you know it...no more cramps. I don't know what the heck was going on in her little body for that month, but I am glad it's over.

And if anyone needs lactaid enzymes, we have a whole lot that we will share.

Just when we thought they were a thing of the past.

Sunday morning started out pretty ordinary I guess. I woke up not feeling well, which wasn't a surprise since I have had a case of the flu a few days prior. Corky was at church meetings already so I was going to get my girls ready for church, head to Sacrament meeting, then I would come home and rest while everyone else stayed at church. When the girls woke up, I knew immediately Emily wasn't feeling well either. She had a fever and no appetite at all. I then decided that I would stay home with her while Corky would come pick Gracey up before church started.

I walked out of the bathroom with Gracey, where I was helping her do her hair. I took one look at Emily and immediately knew she was having a seizure. She had a blank, glazed over stare, and would not react in the slightest to my words. I ran over, knelt down in front of her,and holding her face in my hands, I just started talking to her. I had my phone by me so I called Corky. I knew he was in a meeting and wouldn't pick up the first time, but would realize it was urgent if I called a second. I know my husband so well because that is just what happened! I told him Em was having a seizure and he left the church right away and was home in about 2 minutes.

At this point Emily was still seizing, foaming a little at the mouth, and somewhat flailing her arms, trying to gain control. Corky opened the door and I wrapped her up in the blanket she was sitting on, realizing then that she had urinated. I asked Gracey to grab me some shoes and we were off. I sat in the back of the car holding Emily, while Corky drove the 2-3 miles to the emergency room.

She had a fever of 102 degrees and so that was the first thing that we needed to take control of. Fevers can make just about anyone have a seizure, but with her seizure disorder, she is even more susceptible. As she became more alert her bahvior became more normal. She tried to talk to us and also was trying to kick Gracey! We knew she was feeling much better and we were so grateful!




After a seizure, there is a time where the brain is trying to "wake up" and it can make the person act a little drunk. Emily was no different. She tried to eat the cotton ball that was used when they were administering her IV and she tried multiple times to have the doctor hold her, which I think he thought was kind of cute. I drove home to get her a change of clothes and my purse, so I will have to have Corky sit and write down anything else that I am not remembering I heard while I was gone.



She was feeling much better and got her appetite back, so the nurse brought some apple sauce for both girls, which Emily scarfed down in about 5 bites!



It was a stressful few hours but looking back, I am really grateful for the wake up call it was. Even though she had an EEG done a few months ago and we continue to give her anti-seizure medicine, we didn't really think we would experience this again. Now we know to continue educating ourselves, teaching Gracey what to do, and even start teaching Emily the symptoms so that she might be able to know that one is coming.

I was proud of all of us on Sunday for staying as calm as we did. Watching Emily go through that is no easy thing, but when you are educated, it is easier to stay calm. I knew that as long as she didn't have any foreign objects blocking her airway, she would continue to breathe. I also knew, probably above anything else, that Gracey was going to react in the same manner that I did, so I felt an even greater responsibility to stay calm and collected. Gracey will most certainly remember this, and I didn't want her to remember chaos or panic.

Just like anyone who takes a CPR class, you hope you never have to do it. Corky and I were scared, for sure, but we also felt prepared. We just really hope to never have to go through that again, mostly for Emily's sake, More than anything, we are SO GRATEFUL that Emily is doing well! We are grateful for modern medicine and knowledge of what is going on in that sweet, little brain of hers!

She came home about 3 hours after entering the hospital. As if our day wasn't crazy enough up to that point, that afternoon we got a new puppy (that deserves its own post), and Emily was playing dress ups like any other day! We love her and are so glad she is doing well!




Her and I are driving to Tulsa this afternoon to meet with her neurologist, so we will keep you posted.

Lesson learned?? Maybe? Sort of?

That seems to be the theme this week in our house. Gracey and Emily have been experiencing some consequences in the "boundary crossing" department, and it hasn't all been pretty.

I don't want to say that I knew it would happen, because I wouldn't have been surprised if she went all year without pulling it. I should say I figured it would happen. Few children, even the best of the angels, go through their entire adolesendent school years without receiving some sort of reprimand. Whether it be a big deal or not. This week Gracey had to a pull a ticket at school. This was devastating to her. I knew it would be when it eventually happened. I anticipated it in the past and nearly emailed her teacher to give her a warning if it were to ever happen. Not because I wanted to the teacher to treat her differently and not discipline her properly like any other student, but because I knew Gracey would take it more seriously than most.

Sure enough, it happened. Her teacher walked her to me after school, which is always an interesting sign, and told me what happened. Mrs. Springer even said, "It really wasn't her fault and I hated having to do it...." I guess some friends of Gracey's kept turning around to talk to her and instead of ignoring, Gracey was laughing and smiling with them. It was quite tragic. Her teacher said she sobbed and sobbed and didn't eat most of her lunch. She pulled her aside and told her how much she loved her and that she knows that it wasn't normal of her. I guess the rest of the day she was a perfect angel. Somebody even was talking in her face on the circle rug that day and she kept her eyes completely focused on her teacher.

I was afraid that her teacher was going to think that Gracey was scared to tell me, like I was going to punish her, so I made it clear that Gracey had extremely high (competitive) standards with herself and was so proud every week to bring home the paper saying she stayed on her green ticket all week long.. Corky and I had a great talk with her that evening about how proud we were that she learned her lesson and ignored the other kids,and this is a good way to remember to always behave well and obey your teacher and parents the first time they something of you. Now I will be honestly surprised if she has to pull another ticket this school year.

Now if only it was that easy with all kids...

Let's talk about Emily. She is not better or worse than Gracey, I am not saying that, just different. Corky and I have to figure out completely different, lesson learning tactics for her. It's difficult. Of course, there are some things that we don't budge on and that has been our issue this week with her.

She has consistently refused to eat her dinner at night. Not because its gross (except she says it is) but because she is stubborn. Since Gracey started eating table food, Corky and I agreed that our kids would learn to eat pretty much anything that was placed before them. We aren't their servants and I am not a short-order cook. Our kids eat what we prepare them. And if they don't, they eat it for breakfast. And if not for breakfast, they eat it for lunch. It sounds so mean writing it out but I would be really embarrassed if my kids said "yuck" or "gross" or refused to eat something at somebody else's home. I want them to be able to eat most things.

Anyway, Emily has been eating lots of dinner for breakfast this week. Last night though, was memorable. Emily has eaten her dinner for breakfast almost every other day this week, but last night's tantrum was awful and hilarious at the same time. She walked away from the table to go to the bathroom and starting screaming at Corky.

"DAD! COME HERE! COME HERE RIGHT NOW! WHEN I YELL FOR YOU, YOU COME HERE!"

We decided to not even validate her one bit and just completely ignore it. As a parent, a child's naughty behavior can get to a ridiculous point that it is just funny. Of course we don't show her that it is funny,and maybe that is why Corky and I get laughing so hard to each other.

When she calmed down Corky was really good to talk to her about being nice and she apologized sincerely....at least as sincerely as a 4 year old, that will most likely repeat the behavior, can be.

Sure enough, this morning she ate all of her Shephard's Pie, without any complaining at all.

We love our kids and love the people they are becoming. We love how different they are. As they continue to grow up, we look forward to celebrating and praising their differences. I write this mainly for myself, Corky, and our girls. Because I know that we will look back on these times and not only laugh, but truly miss it. Even as frustrating as it can be.

Emily is 4! Say What?

Emily is 4 years old (as of Dec. 27th, 2010) and she is proud of it. She has always been kind towards people but it seems this last year she has become very personable. I would still consider her a little shy, but I am not even sure that is the right word. She is an observer. She likes to watch people, see what they do, how they talk, and what they say.

At home though, she is an entertainer. This girl can break out the most awesome dance moves that any 4 year old has ever done. She can shake her booty with the best of them. (And when I mean best...I mean Corky!) She looks so comfortable dancing that it even makes me, her mother, a little jealous.

She loves TV. She'd watch it all day if I let her. Not just cartoons though. She loves to watch Billy the Exterminator, Wipe Out, America's Funniest Home Videos, and most recently (and totally random), Dog the Bounty Hunter. I am laughing now just thinking about her watching those shows.

She loves dogs more than I have ever seen a child love a dog. Because of her, Corky and I are nearly ready to break down and get one. She hasn't even asked for one either. But after we have seen her with friends and neighbors dogs, her demeanor and sweet spirit is just something else when she is around them. It's hard to explain.

Along with her sweet, sweet spirit comes a diva as well. Rarely does a day go by that our little drama queen, Emily, doesn't say something like,

"Gracey, I am never going to be your sister AGAIN!"

or

"I am never talking to you AGAIN! Ever! Ever! Ever!"

or my personal favorite, after she is sent to her bedroom for rude behavior,

"I am staying in my bedroom and never, EVER coming out!"

Can I laugh at that? Because I do. Every single time.

We love this girl, more than words could ever explain.

Me against the world!

Okay, it was really just me against all the neighborhood kids...but still.

It snowed for the first time last night this winter season and my girls were thrilled. As promised, the girls and I were outside playing in it the second we got home from picking Gracey up from school. The snow is way too dry to pack real well for a snowman, but if squashed hard enough, we could make snowballs.

If anybody is on the street in our neighbohood,having fun with anything, I swear all the other kids in the neighborhood can sniff it out and find it. So within 5-10 minutes we had quite the snowball fight going.

I am afraid today's snowball fight is foretelling my future with the neighborhood kids because they sure had it out for me. I am sure they were excited to be attacking me. You know, the mean lady that doesn't let them leave the house until they help pick up the messes they made. Yes, I am that lady!

It was a fun time and hopefully one that my kids will remember too. Maybe even be proud when they think back to the time when their mom took on the neighborhood, one snowball at a time!

New Year Resolution

I am about to contradict myself, just go with it.

I love that each year, people want to change. I think goals are good to have and if it takes a new year for people to make them, awesome. Usually though, for me, I think new year resolutions are lame. I am a firm believer that if you want to change something about yourself, there is no better time than right now, or whenever that "right now" is. Last year I semi made a resolution, only because it just so happened to be around the new year. I was running and exercising a lot and felt really great about it, except I wasn't stretching after. I committed myself to stretching really well every single time I exercised. It added at least 10 minutes to my already 60 minute workout and it made a world of difference, physically and mentally. It obviously gave my muscles a chance to recover after the workout is over and it helped me avoid injury. It also gave me 10 minutes to focus and meditate, particularly about my body and what it was capable of. I was able to appreciate it more and acknowledge that I was in a sense, saying "thank you" to my muscles.

Of course it wasn't a prayerful meditation. I was usually listening to My Chemical Romance or No Doubt in my ipod while I was stretched, but it still felt good to think about my body and muscles.

So that was last year....

This year I have a resolution once again, merely because the dates are convenient. I am resolving to get back into my regular exercise routine of running. It isn't that I have stopped exercising all together, I just haven't been running as consistently as I would like. Running is what gets my heart rate up to the BPM that I like and running is surprisingly the best therapy for my knee.

So my goal for this coming year, 2011, is to run at least 500 miles. That really isn't a whole lot, but enough to keep me consistent. It is an average of 10 miles a week, which doesn't seem like much, but it gives me a 2 week cushion for error. I am not training for a marathon. I am not even training for a 5k. I just want to run and I want to know that I CAN again.

So here's to 500 (minimum) miles in 2011!

Meet Me in St. Louis

I have actually never seen that movie, but I hear it's good!

Saturday after Thanksgiving, we drove about 2 hours from Melissa and Andy's house to take in a couple of sights of St. Louis. Above anything else, I wanted to see the Gateway Arch, so that is where we headed first.



As you can see by the red noses, it was quite cold. We didn't spend a lot of time outside, we went underground the the museum that showcases the western movement. I could have spent hours in there reading every bit of information they had of the old days. Of course, the kiddos only lasted about 1 minute at each stopping point. (And when I say 1 minute, I mean 10 seconds!)



This collage is all thanks to my up and coming photographer Emily. We need to work on the important skill of not chopping off the head.



After the museum, we went back to the vehicles and had a delicious picnic of leftover-turkey sandwiches, chips, and apples. It had warmed up some and we had a good time just hanging out and feeling thrifty by not eating out.



As we drove away from the monument I snapped some photos from the passenger seat. This is the coolest area. I would love to go back when the temperatures warm up a bit and spend some more time there. It's really beautiful.



We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Galleria Mall. A real mall, people. I can't barely remember the last time I was at a real, 2-level, jam-packed mall. For being all thrifty at lunchtime, we made up for it by going to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Funny thing happened right before dinner though. Melissa and I left the kids with the husbands while she came with me for a make-up consultation. We had about 15 minutes to spare so we browsed around Anthropology. It's a good place to browse for me because I can sit, stare, and fantasize for hours, but not be tempted to buy because everything is so dang expensive. Anyway, as we were walking out the door to leave we spot Stephanie Nielson of the Nie Nie Dialogues. I told myself if I ever ran into her, I would most certainly introduce myself and tell her how much I admire her courage. It was a moment of truth for me, so that is what I did. Melissa and I walked on over to her and introduced ourselves. Her mother was standing right there as well and was was a delight to meet as well. We probably visited for 5 minutes with the two of them. As were about to say goodbye it occurred to me that I had my camera in my purse, so I got brave once again and asked if we could take a photo. Stephanie's mother offered to take the photo but we insisted she be in it. We ended up asking a stranger and I think that made her mom feel pretty happy!



NieNie was beautiful. Her eyes absolutely sparkled and was the first thing I noticed when I looked at her face. And then her jacket...*sigh* I want it. She was very gracious and kind and told us how happy she was that we stopped to speak with her.

It was one of the highlights of the day for sure....and then we topped it off with cheesecake!

Oh, There's No Place Like Your Friend's Home for the Holidays!

For Thanksgiving, we finally ventured out of our little corner of Southeast Kansas/northeast Oklahoma, to the great state of Missouri! Our friends Andy and Melissa, the ones that visited us over Halloween, hosted us for Thanksgiving. When we all realized that we lived too far away to celebrate with our families, we decided to spend it together. And we had a great time.

Melissa and I spent most of Thursday morning preparing for the big meal. Corky and Andy went to a Turkey-bowl, then had some male bonding time over the Xbox. And the kids had a grand time playing together and watching Christmas DVDs.
Gracey, Emily, and Noah

Apparently sitting on the couch anymore isn't close enough to kill the bad guys!

Taking a break from their bickering to be thankful for each other!
(Okay, that's sort of a joke. They do fight a lot, but they play together all the time too!)



We were so glad to spend time with friends. Friends that now feel like family.

Gracey is 6!

Can you believe she is 6 years old? I really can't.



This girl is one of the kindest and most gentle-hearted creatures I have met. She is so eager to please and is always excited to show people what she knows.

She can be bossy, but not because she wants to be mean, she is just sure that her way is right. (I have no idea where she gets it from!)

She loves candy of all kind, but also eats her healthy stuff wonderfully. For example, at dinner time she will eat first the thing she likes the least, just to get it overwith. And rarely without complaint.

She loves make-up and dresses. She loves riding her bike. She loves doing crafts and reading books.

Did I mention she is a competitive? She really likes to win. Enough said.

She loves being with friends and she loves being at school.



We sure do love this girl. Happy Birthday, little lady.

Earrings

About 2 years ago, Gracey began showing interest in getting her ears pierced and I always said no. I was 8 years old when I got mine pierced. 8 years old is the age you can be baptized a member of the L.D.S. church as well. So having ears pierced and being baptized at 8 made that birthday a very special time for me. I always thought I would hold out with my girls until they were 8 years old as well.

Last year Gracey really wanted them done. I decided to get very specific with her on how it happens. I said, "Somebody takes a really sharp earring, puts it into an ear-piercing gun, then pushes it through your skin."

Was that mean of me to purposefully scare her? Oops.

She absorbed that for a minute then said calmly, "I think I will wait!"

Mission accomplished.

Then about a month ago, even after remembering the specific details of how it is done, she said she wanted them. At that point I had to evaluate if the reasons I wanted to wait until she was 8 was for her or for me. Corky and I decided to go ahead and make it part of her 6th birthday present.

After taking Emily to her neurology appointment, we found a Claire's store. We helped her pick out the small CZ earrings and went from there. She was anxious but in no way was she wanting to back out now. She was pretty excited.


After they put the purple dots on her ears I made everyone look at them to make sure they were straight. Heaven forbid my daughter has crooked earrings!

When Gracey gets a little nervous, she laughs in the funniest ways. It is like there is something in her that is ready to explode. Her reaction was priceless. I wish we could have had the sound recorded. When it was all finished, she let out a mix of loud laughter and scream! The two ladies who did the piercing laughed really hard and said they had never had that reaction before.


Gracey looks so grown up now. She reminds me every morning and night to clean them and she loves the way they look! It was a fun time for all of us.

Emily's big brain update. It's a long one.

Last month Emily had a sleep deprived EEG as a follow up to her seizures from a couple of years ago.

(For those that didn't read my blog back then and are interested, you can read updates from that week here, here, here, here, and here)

The day before the test we had to keep her up until midnight, then wake her up at 5:00am the following the day. We had to somehow keep her awake until her 1:00pm appointment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was actually quite nervous to how the day was going to play out. Thankfully Corky was has a couple of vacation days left and was able to take one to help with shifts. LUCKILY the day before we were notified by the doctor's office that there was a cancellation and she could come in at 8:00am but stay on the same sleep schedule. We jumped on that. It was the late morning drive to Tulsa that I was most nervous about. I was afraid that she would fall asleep in the car on our 1.5 hour drive.

We have great neighbors who offered to let Gracey sleep over on the school night so she could just go with them in the morning. So we sent Gracey off and had quite the party with Emily. We took her on a late night ice cream run to Braum's. We played a mean game of Candyland. Then let her sleep in our bed for the 5 hours we were allowed.

The night time was easy and fun. The morning was rough. She was so sleepy.

After the car ride, which was full of popcorn and juice to keep us awake, we arrived safely to the office.

It took about 1.5 hours to get all the electrodes to her head and she behaved so well. She would start dozing off but we were able to keep her awake with lots of coaxing.

I snapped this picture just before the EEG was about to start.

It was a 20 minute test that consisted of 4 parts.

She had to sit perfectly still for about 4 minutes, which she did wonderfully.

Then she had to hyperventilate for 4 minutes, which was stressful. We were told the goal was to keep a toy windmill turning the whole time. She looked like she was going to pass out a few times, literally. Her eyes rolled back a little and Corky or I would hold her back. We would do that all while we insisted that she keeps blowing. We wanted there to be no reason the test wasn't clear.

After that part, she had to stare at a disco light (that's what we called it) for a few minutes.

Finally, they wanted her to sleep. Once she was given the okay to go to sleep she was out in about 15 seconds. She was so incredibly tired.

I took this picture after the test was over and all the electrodes were removed.


The technician wasn't able to tell us if she had any seizures at this time but was able to tell us that the quality of the test was really high. We were happy that the neurologist would be able to give us a correct update on how she's doing.

We got a call saying that the test came back showing she still had signs of seizure activity in her brain and so we were advised to make another appointment. We went on Tuesday (Nov. 9, 2010) and it was very informative.

I wasn't sure at the time, but I kind of had a feeling that she had a tiny seizure during the disco fever portion of the EEG. She just stared at it and I thought I saw the same cathartic look in her eyes that she had during her other seizures a while ago. I was surprised to be told she had 2 little seizures during the hyperventilation portion. So those times that Corky and I just thought she was light-headed, she was actually having a mini-seizures.

Anyway, it is all very interesting. She will continue on Keppra, her anti-seizure medicine, for at least another year, then we will do the EEG testing once again. Her medicine was adjusted, but only because of her current weight and height. He said the risk of her having more seizures has significantly dropped but this medicine is simply a protection. Our insurance covers it for the most part so why not give her some more time to be seizure-free before taking her off it completely.

Just a warning.

Thought I would ask for forgiveness for my errors and mistakes now. Below you will find 6 new posts. I didn't take the time I would like to edit, so undoubtedly there are going to be spelling and grammatical errors up the wazoo. I say this because those usually annoy and embarrass me. But I don't feel like taking the time to correct at this time so I am leaving them alone for now.

Enjoy! :)

Dear Noah, come back and play!

My girls are really missing their buddy Noah. Gracey pretty much hovered over him the whole time while him and his parents were visiting. She's the mothering type, and I warned Melissa that she would probably smother him. And she did.

Both of my girls really enjoyed having him to play with and I think he enjoyed them too!





In this picture, the girls made a big pillow pile and they would crack up at themselves after they would jump or fall into it.

Halloween 2010

So obviously our Halloween weekend was quite eventful and super fun. I have no complaints. It is something that I will look forward to every year from here on out. Because of all the activities prior to the actual Halloween day, I was anticipating Halloween to be pretty low-key.

It was low-key, thankfully, but still fun. I will tell you this, if Halloween were ever to be considered "romantic," we lived it. As I followed my girls from house to house, I felt like I was in the movie Hocus Pocus, even though nothing about that movie screams romance. The weather was chilly but nice, leaves crunched under our feet, and you could smell the smoke from the chimneys of homes. (oh my gosh, this is sounding so lovey-dovey, ooey-gooey. Forgive me!)

In two words, Halloween rocked!

Neewollah - The Grand Parade

If you like parades, this is the parade to watch. It was 2 hours long, covered nearly 2 miles, and had 140 floats. This parade is what this small, 10,000 person town, brings 80,000 people to! There were floats from all over Kansas and parts of Oklahoma.



I was told for weeks that in order to ensure a good spot for the parade, that I should park our chairs the day before. I was assured countless times that our chairs were safe. Nobody steals or moves them, it's an unwritten rule that this town goes by. I just though my "city-living" made me skeptical so we did just that. Out of 80,000 people, can you guess who had 2 chairs stolen? Yep, us. I was quite annoyed at first. I walked up and down the street trying to spot our chairs and was prepared to let who ever took them really have a piece of my mind. We didn't see them, but I was committed to enjoying the parade anyway.


It really was a lot of fun. It was fun for me to spot people that I know or cheer on some of the Young Woman who play in the marching bands in surrounding towns. I am mainly in love with the tradition and how much this town loves what they do!

The Pumpkin Patch in costume

After the kids parade we had some time to kill before dinner, so Melissa and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch. I wanted some pictures of the girls with their costumes and Noah loves being outside so I knew it would be a fun activity.

Neewollah - The Kiddie Parade

This new town of mine goes crazy for Halloween. They have a long standing tradition to host a festival call Neewollah (Nee-a-wall-ah!) To say it's a big deal is still an understatement. When people find out we are new to the area, usually their first question to us is "Have you heard about Neewollah?" This is not a joke.

So a strong tradition that we got to participate in for the first time is the Kids Parade. All children in town (or outside of town if you want) are invited to put on the Halloween costumes and show them off in the parade. They line up in sections, age groups, schools, or floats and walk downtown on the main street. Like any parade, there are people lined up and down the road to cheer them on.



We were lucky to have been able to ride on a float provided by Emily's preschool. It was fun to be up higher and the girls felt like royalty waving to everyone.

I couldn't get over how grown up Gracey looked with a touch of make up on her eyes.

And Emily just looked adorable in her alligator costume, even though she didn't want to wear the head after about 10 minutes.

I had my cell phone so was able to text Corky and let him know when we were coming, this was the view of him from where we were in the parade.

The girls had a blast and I had a ton of fun being a part of it with them.

Woo Hoo for visitors!!

Last week some friends of our came to visit from Missouri. It was Andy, Melissa, and their cute son Noah.

(A little background)
Andy and Corky knew each other at West Point where we all hung out. Corky then graduated and he and I got married, while Andy took 2 years off of college to serve an LDS mission. After his mission, he went back to West Point to finish up college. Corky graduated over 7 years ago, so that was the last time that we had seen Andy. Andy then got married to Melissa. We had never met Melissa in person but her and I became friends because of our contact with Andy. Melissa was only 1 of 2 facebook friends of that I had actually never met face to face. *shout out to Penny B.

We were so excited to have them come for a few days to visit. Thursday {10-20-10} we walked around the Independence Zoo.



That night we went to the little carnival that was going on.



It was a fun day. My girls absolutely love Noah, so we were so happy to know that we still have 3 more days of enjoying our friends!