Carving Nemo...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
 
Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween tomorrow. We're looking forward to our first trick-or-treating experience this year. Plus we plan to be home in time to hand out plenty of candy to other little ghouls as well. Daddy got away without carving a pumpkin this year and last night I carved our last one with Fender's favorite little fish.

HONEY HINT: 2 teaspoons LOCAL honey/day = kids less prone to allergies. For those of you with children out there, particularly those prone to seasonal allergies, this was a tip from Fender's doctor at his two year check up. The key is local honey, like at a produce stand or farmer's market. And don't give it before bed of course, because it isn't good for the teeth if it sits in the mouth all night.

Other than all of that...just thought I would note that Fender has really taken to trying to dress himself this week more than usual. First he tried his socks and shoes...not a lot of luck with that yet, but practice will make perfect. And last night he was determined to put his shorts and shirt on all by himself. He needed a little help, but he nearly did it all on his own. Won't be long now. Here are a couple of pics of him trying to get his shoes on.
 
 

Carving pumpkins...

We decided to carve our pumpkins Sunday night with "Grannama" visiting. Gran's birthday is tomorrow and Halloween is one of her favorite holidays. Knowing I have little interest from my boys to get involved in this holiday, I took advantage of having her here to help.

Since we were carving nearly a week in advance, I read up on how to make our pumpkins last longer. First step was simply to wash the exteriors well with soap and water. Fender LOVED this part of the experience. I gave him the dishcloth and he washed them all down while I cut the tops off.

Next came the clean out. Long story short...Fender wanted nothing to do with getting pumpkin guts all over his hands. See video below. He repeatedly insisted..."No get dirty...no use hands. I use the spoon." Not much scooping got done with the spoon, so I had the honor of gutting the pumpkins. No worries, though. I enjoy it! I've included a picture of the innards from our giant pumpkin this year. It may gross some out...but it looks pretty cool to me.
 
 
 
 

Videos:
Okay. I think the videos work now. If not, you can see the first one here: Fender's Pumpkin Cleaning video.







Gran and I were up until 3:30AM finishing the pumpkins...granted we only officially started working on the patterns at midnight. They were definitely the most advanced designs we had tried to date and mom's was even labeled "Advanced Level 3" while mine was "Intermediate Level 2." We mostly complained about the difficulty the whole time and then laughed about how we kept complaining but were determined to see it through. It was tons of fun. We still have one more pumpkin left to carve, but we haven't decided on a design for it yet and I'm still trying to talk Daddy into carving one. We'll see. The rest of the "preservation" included washing pumpkins, inside and out with bleach water to kill any germs or bacteria that cause decay and then coating the inside and carved area with petroleum jelly to keep moisture in and everything else out. Petroleum Jelly is terribly hard to work with and only time will tell if I managed to coat anything properly. Oh well, I gave it a shot.

Here is a closer up of the two we finished. Mine is the Panther and Grans is the Dragon.

(Non) Scarecrow festival...

We drove to Kaufman for their annual Scarecrow Festival today. Not a big drive...only 9 miles south. Surprised to see there wasn't a single scarecrow to be found. I seriously may write a letter to the Chamber of Commerce to suggest they maybe decorate with a couple in the future just for kicks.

The main square was lined with booths for crafts, antiques, city businesses, churches, and food vendors. But on one of the side roads they also had BMXers on ramps for a bit when we first arrived. They had the typical group of bounce houses which we didn't participate in. Fender and I did ride the elephant. And we stopped and bought 3 balls each for Fender and Daddy to throw in the bucket to try and win a prize. Well, Fender with his left handed pitch...landed two balls in and won himself a soft plush basketball. Drew's all bounced back out so we were excited Fender did so well on his own. That was a lot of fun.

We also enjoyed some delicious BBQ Grilled Cheese sandwiches from one of the booths. And fresh lemonade to wash it down. The sandwich had Gouda and Swiss cheese with BBQ brisket. Then we took a rare excursion to Brahms for ice cream when we got back to town. It was a pretty great day!

Just playing...

Just hanging around...
 

Oh my aching back...is it from climbing and hanging or pushing the big pumpkin around the house?
 

Lego building time with Daddy.
 
 

An update on my eye...
Only a remnant remains of the gas bubble in my eye now. Yea for laying down to sleep again! Bad news is vision is still cloudy (better than just before surgery, but not clear like it should be). Doc says he saw a bit of cataracts starting, which the surgery can cause. Thankfully (I think), they have another surgery for that. But more bad news...biopsy was negative for toxoplasmosis and now he really has no idea what is causing the uveitis...which flared back up yet again when I came off the steroids, so I'm back on them a third round. :( I see a collegue of his on Wednesday then I'll be back at my doc a week later. My poor pupil has been in a state of permanent dilation since all this started...anytime it starts to get smaller, I go back in and they dilate it again. :(

Another angle we're working on is a strange lump in my neck from back in June. My regular doctor thought it was just temporary swollen lymph node...even though it was as hard as bone. Original CT scan in June revealed nothing to be worried about. But doc in pre-op for the eye surgery found it and was concerned and wanted me to follow-up with it. My eye-doctor said the same thing and thinks it may be related to the eye problem, which originates somewhere with a faulty immune system. So...I will now be having a consult with a surgeon at Baylor (hopefully this week) to do prelim stuff and likely set a date for a biopsy of the neck mass. Ugh.

But...the main thing is I feel good. Other than the fact that I can't see out of one of my eyes and my weight is coming back, all of which can get frustrating after a while, I still feel healthy and happy. And with the bubble nearly gone I can start working out again. Yea for getting to workout while on steroids?? :/ Well, at least it seems to help curve some of the typical weight gain steroids cause. Blessed are all who were gifted good metabolisms where you rarely if ever have to worry about what you eat. This, however, is not one of the many blessings I have received.

And speaking of blessings...you are also blessed who have a church you regularly attend. Tomorrow is Sunday again and we're not sure where to try this week. With my church currently in limbo between preachers and not feeling spiritually guided to any of the four we've tried recently...this week we may have to sit and regroup. There have been pros and cons for each church. They have all done their part in making us feel welcome and wanted, but we haven't quite found the spiritual focus we're looking for. I've never been in search of a parish before and it is very exhausting. I am so thankful for the strong, stable, spiritual upbringing I received and I very very much want to provide that for Fender. So we're certainly not giving up...we're praying that we'll find the right place for all of us soon.

Seven things...

Alright, I was indirectly tagged by a friend's blog to list 7 random (not necessarily interesting) things about me. You pretty well know all there is to know about Fender, but here are a few things just in case you didn't:

1) Fender had only 3 ear infections total in his first two years. (I pray he has as good health or better for the rest of his life.)
2) Sadly he has hair like his mom in that you can do anything to style it (using tons of gel, hairspray whatever) and it looks great for a few minutes, but within an hour or two it all falls straight down and looks like we've done nothing to it.
3) He sleeps in the dark in his own room in his own bed every night.
4) He can and will sit through FINDING NEMO in its entirety.
5) He's most ticklish in his armpits.
6) Favorite color is definitely blue. Out of the entire box of crayons...that is the one he goes for first every time.
7) Fender will tell the dog "Dobby, come here, now." But when we ask him to "come here", he pretends he has know idea what those words mean.

Some pictures of artwork with Daddy this weekend...
 
 
 

And a Halloween preview of our little Yoda. Thanks for voting.
 

Okay...if you are interested here are seven random things about me...
1) I hate spending money, especially on myself. I mean…I loathe it. I’ve always been this way, it is just part of who I am. Whether we have lots of money or no money, I can’t make myself comfortable with any sort of frivolous spending, especially if it is for me. And even worse, I actually don’t like presents or anyone else spending money on me. Weird, huh? I would prefer all birthday celebrations and Christmas celebrations sans presents. That said…as much as I hate spending money, I typically have to hold myself back from buying something for Fender or Drew every time I’m at a store. Gifts are good when bought with joy and not as obligation.

Which brings us to numero 2: Keep the presents…let’s PARTY. I love celebrations…give me parties galore…celebrate the person’s life at a birthday, celebrate the birth of Christ at CHRISTmas…celebrate for days and weeks with family, friends, food (lots of sweets), fun, songs, games, whatever you want…presents just aren’t necessary. I love me a house filled with happy people!!! It is one of my favorite things!

And that segues into numero 3: I LOVE the holiday season, but you may not know that I start celebrating the holiday season as early as possible. Football on the tele every Sunday feels like the holidays to me. And this year we had a beautiful cloudy and cool Sept 1st, which really got my spirit soaring and looking forward to the fall! That’s all it takes…just a cool, cloudy day and some football and it may as well be Christmas! And who needs gifts when you have the holiday spirit floating around.

4) Charlie Brown and The Grinch: We don’t have a lot of traditions, so you probably don’t know this one. We watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” every year for Halloween and the original cartoon version of The Grinch every year at Christmastime. I couldn’t find Great Pumpkin on TV this year so I just went to youtube and Fender and I watched it a couple of nights ago. Ideally, we get to watch it on Halloween, but better safe than sorry… especially this year since we’ll be gone some for Fender’s first trick-or-treating experience. Oh how I love Halloween!!! Trick-or-treaters, candy, costumes, tons of ghastly Halloween specials on TV. And I say “I” because Daddy hasn’t quite been converted into the whole Halloween experience yet. But we're working on it. In his defense, until recently he’s had to study for an exam every Halloween so I suspect it won’t be long now that his time is free and Fender is getting old enough to enjoy the whole experience too.

5) I’m an artist…NOT. You may or may not find it interesting to note that I have zero artistic ability and I am not being hard on myself. Not one artistic gene in my body. I can draw stick figures…but not even the cool stick figures that do things like jump or swim or fly. My stick figures stand straight and still and the difference between a girl and a boy stick figure is a triangular skirt I put on a girl. I’m not kidding or exaggerating either! I can draw a patch of grass for them to stand on and sometimes a flower nearby. But that’s it.

6) Mildly OCD about a clean house. I actually like picking up things off the floor, doing dishes, and putting things away at the end of the day so that I wake up to a fairly organized house in the morning. (Well I don't have to be the one doing all the picking up, I just want the house picked up.) I’ve been told countless times not to “worry” myself or “stress” about having things picked up (especially when Fender was just born, and anytime I’m sick) but what I don’t think people realize is it really bothers me so much more to walk into a messy room and not do anything about it. I never “overdo” as anyone that has ever been to our house will attest. I certainly don’t stress about keeping it spotless, but the simple act of cleaning up a mess when we’re through with it (be it dishes in the sink after dinner or toys in a box after playing) goes a long way and makes me feel great too. Our house having clear tables and floors makes me smile…they can be disinfected and vacuumed later. Also, clutter in anyone else’s home doesn’t bother me in the least.

7) Used to be a gymnast. Yep. When I was a little girl I was in gymnastics at the Maverick Boys and Girls Club for a while. Could do back flips and such. I only ever competed in one competition and I took first place in tumbling...out of more than 50 gymnasts! Earlier that same day, however, I also competed on trampoline and half way through I got nervous and started doing my "optional" routine instead of "compulsory" and finished last...but the components were flawless. It was fun. Yea for first and last place. :)

And a bonus fact: Prefer ski trip in snow covered mountains over the beach every time!!!

Momma's eye surgery and a party...

By request I will share Fender's initial reaction to my skydiving video. As usual he kept most expression hidden until the end, but did scoot back closer and closer into Daddy's arms as he watched so we knew he was concerned. And then as soon as it was over, out of nowhere his lips pouted and he started to cry...such a sweet boy. But not to worry...within a minute we reassured him everything was fine and then he said..."Momma fly through the air like Batman." That cracked us up. He asked to see it again yesterday and this time he was able to enjoy it.

Yesterday I had my eye surgery and there was a slight complication. He did the vitrectomy and biopsy as planned, but also found part of my retina very weakened, apparently due to the toxo spreading, so he had to put a gas bubble in my eye to help it. Well for those of you without gas bubbles in your eye I will tell you what it means...it means I can't fly anywhere and I have to stay upright until the bubble is absorbed in about a week. That means I have to sleep sitting up too! No bending, no lifting anything over 5lbs, and no driving for the same amount of time either. Plus it meant that he couldn't give me the whole antibiotic dose in the scar that I needed so I will have to have another injection (likely two) into my eye to kill the toxo after the gas bubble is gone. He also said it will take about a week and a half before we know if my vision has been restored. And he won't have the biopsy results for a week either. So...basically just more waiting while the toxo continues attacking, but saving the retina became the priority during surgery.

As for the procedure itself, I was put under general anesthesia for the numbing portion and most of the vitrectomy, but was awake for the rest of it, which got to be a bit painful when he was poking around on the weakened retina so I got a second dose of local anesthesia during the procedure. But haven't needed pain medication since.

To switch gears...Fender and I went to a "first" birthday party on Sunday for Miss Corley Ann, a good friend of ours. The birthday girl thoroughly enjoyed wearing her birthday cake. Fender really liked her drum set. Here are a couple of pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

 

Woo-hoo...this year we finally made it to our first Pumpkin Patch. It was fun...but hot! The boys were not at all interested in picking out our pumpkins. I blame all the distractions. Maybe next time I'll find a pumpkin patch that is 90% pumpkins, 10% food and games. This one was more 40% pumpkins and 60% not, as you can see from the pictures. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.


Daddy says Fen is too young for bounce houses and bounce slides...but he let him try one out and he scaled it in seconds and bounced his way down with a smile. Then he was carted off to Jail for breaking the law.




And what is our little boy doing with those pumpkins? Putting them in a straight line of course.




Happy Birthday to Daddy, yesterday!
And yea Longhorns and Red Raiders on their big wins today!

Skydiving...

Well...here you go...what a blast!!! What a thrill. Thought I'd have a moment where I thought, "What the heck am I doing?" Just about the time I was supposed to jump, but nope...I was giddy the whole time.

We arrived at 10:30 for an 11AM appointment. Filled out a little paperwork saying we are aware things could go horribly wrong. Had 20 minutes of 1 on 1 instruction and suit-up time and then the plane pulled right up to us. Typically things take a bit longer, but Drew got a nice little package for us...complete with video and pics so we were up, out, and video in hand by Noon. We (me, pilot, co-pilot, instructor, and videographer) had the plane to ourselves, which they said is typically filled with about 15 or more.

The plane ride up (about 12 minutes to 13,500 feet) was awesome in itself. First, I've never been in such a little prop plane before and certainly had never been flying with the side of the plane open before. That was incredible. Then we got the "2-minute" till jumpers away and made sure everything was tight and snug on our harnesses, hats and glasses on. Got a red light, and scooted to the edge of the plane where I hung my feet out and underneath...blew a kiss at the camera, then "ready...set...away..." and I'm falling out of a plane...plummeting to earth at 120mph...except it doesn't feel like falling at all. We were floating on the air and it was AWESOME! I tried to take it all in, while looking up to see Dave recording the video and waving at me all the time. The 60 seconds of free fall were over all too quickly. The shoot was pulled; Ernie (my instructor) took me on a few spins and turns on our 4 minute parachute sail down. It was way way off on the horizon but I could actually see downtown Dallas from there (and we were up past Sherman...way Northeast of Dallas). Soon we were coming in for our landing. I was waving at Drew once I could see him, but he said he couldn't tell. Landing was quick and easy. I got a free mug and a t-shirt for my birthday (I'm sure it wasn't because we paid a heap for the jump). ;)

Here are some pics and Drew's video of the landing, but if you are interested there is a video of the entire jump here: www.skydivedallas.com/videos.htm Just scroll down to October 2008 and click on my name. I have to say that the video we got is clear and you can see me smiling the whole time...it isn't that clear in this video...I almost look concerned...but be assured I wasn't and I was grinning the whole way down. See pictures below...Super super fun! I loved it all. Over way too fast.

 
 
 
 







Drew's video of my landing...Drew also likes to note that the plane landed at the same time I did. You can see it drive by at the end of the video. I think my flying through the air anywhere near a flying plane violates one of his "safety" standards.