The Perfect one

We have been so incredibly spoiled with amazing fall weather this year. Last year we ran out of time to go to a pumpkin patch and get pumpkins, so this year I really wanted to make it out. Since today was so nice outside we decided to go get our pumpkins.

We heard about a really neat pumpkin patch north of Solon that had animals and other fun things to do besides just picking out a pumpkin. We found out after getting there that this was NOT that pumpkin patch. This place had pumpkins, LOTS of pumpkins, but only pumpkins. The kids had so much fun anyways and then we had time to play at the park afterwards. (More on that in another update.)

A few weeks back the corner of the streets were getting new "zero entry" curbs as I call them. You know the ones you can easily get up with a stroller. They started on our corner after the kids had already gone to school. On the way home from school I was giving them clues about something exciting that had happened while they were at school. I said "it was mushy, noisy, kind of wet and there's something orange around it." Corrine whispered into Ammon's ear "mom got pumpkins!" Really I was talking about the cement truck, the wet cement and orange cones, but pumpkin did go with all of those clues except the noise.

Since then Ammon has been asking every few days if I got thier pumpkins yet, but I told him HE gets to pick out his own. So Ammon was beyond thrilled to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out his pumpkin today. This pumpkin isn't the one that made the final cut, it was the 1st one he fell in love with.


Simeon was so helpful with Rebecca. He walked around with her helping her choose her pumpkin and putting back the ones she decided not to get. Simeon's had a 'scar' on it which he's going to use when he carves it.
Ammon found this pumpkin with a spider living in it. It looked so neat. He dropped it right after this picture and the spider "crawled inside" as Ammon said, but I think it might have gotten smooshed!
Rebecca would have brought home 100 pumpkins if we'd let her. She kept going and picking them up and carrying them around. The ones that were too big to pick up she'd point to.
Alot of the pumpkins were on old carts that were neat in and of themselves. Ammon is holding a gourd that is the size of an eel in this picture.
Corrine had a hard time deciding on a pumpkin because she didn't want any dirty spots, any bruise marks, any marks really of any kind, and it had to be the right size. I think she picked out a great one!

I love this picture of Rebecca-blue sky, brown corn field, orange pumpkins and a HUGE smile on her sweet face. This is why I LOVE fall in Iowa so much!

Next year we'll try to find that other pumpkin patch and she the zebra I heard they have, but we may come here to get our pupmkins just for the beautiful scenery.

Off to the Zoo we go

Today we didn't need to watch our friend Nathan, so we headed to the Niabi Zoo. The day was perfect- it was in the mid 60's, and sunny.

We started out at the elephants, which Rebecca didn't know what to think about at first. Then she warmed up and was pointing and talking about them.


We then headed to the Kai pond, which also had alot of ducks and some huge swans at. I gave Rebecca some food to give to the duck. She wasn't fast enough letting go of the food and the duck ate it out of her hands nipping her fingers. After that she wanted nothing to do with feeding the fish and ducks herself, but rather watching me feed them.
Some of our favorite animals today were the tiger. It was walking around making lots of noise. It was just a few feet away from us-behind thick metal bars, but it felt so close.


The wolves were up and active walking around. They are usually so hard to see, so it was exciting to see 2 or 3 of them walking around and another resting.


The Gibbons were fun to watch. Rebecca imitating them was the highlight of the day! We say Rebecca is in a "Monkey See Monkey do" stage. This pictures shows that perfectly!!


They have 2 baby giraffes right now. One was getting a bath by it's mom on it's neck hair. The other was so cute watching it reach down to eat the grass. We spent alot of time watching them, and she'd go back to them over and over.



We couldn't go to the zoo without riding the train around the park.



I loved watching her watch the animals. There were times she'd get really close to the fence, other times she's squat down for a better look, she'd point, or start talking to me. Every animal was a different reaction.



Seeing things through Rebecca's eyes is so much fun. It's like seeing the world for the 1st time again.

The Command Center

My GRAND dream of having a BIG white board mounted on the wall to keep things organized on has finally been realized and I'm in love!!



Over a year ago we wanted to hang a white board like this on the wall, but we never had the perfect spot, so we we never did it. Over the year the board became the kids drawing board, the FHE lesson board, the after school and chore board and eventually I tossed out the wall mounting parts because they were always in the way.

This fall we brought that grand dream out again. The only problem was we didn't have wall mounting pieces. Johann tried to find some at Menards, but couldn't, so he got a 2nd board.

A 2nd board!! Now we could have our mounted one to keep everything organized and 2nd one for the kids drawing board, FHE board, after school and chore board.

I never thought I would be so in love with a white board on the wall, but I am!

To make it even better we put the board on a big open wall in the dinning room, and under the board we put in 4 double hooks for the kids and Abracadabra-the Command Center is born. One thing not in the picture are the kids daily school activities lists-what day they have PE, library, science club, Spanish club, soccer ..., that are on a piece of paper under their hooks.



Under each day we put what we are having for breakfast (yes we have to have do this because we have some early mornings and a hot breakfast just won't fit), dinner and all activities in time order, colored coded per child. We also put spelling lists, flash cards, math check lists on the board.

If your wondering on colors-Simeon is orange, Corrine is pink, Ammon is green and Rebecca is purple. Black is family and really blue should be mom-I need my own color too! If all the kids are going to something I write it in all the colors or black with 1st letters after it.

I'm amazed at how helpful this board has been to keep everything organized and one more thing I LOVE about it-when something is done I erase it. It's so nice to see things done and over with.

ANOTHER YEAR

ANOTHER YEAR of seeing Simeon carry his WHITE SURVIVORS ballon. ANOTHER YEAR of being together as a family. ANOTHER YEAR of HOPE and COURAGE. ANOTHER YEAR of health. ANOTHER YEAR of smiles, tears, fears, laughter, pain and joy. ANOTHER YEAR of growth. ANOTHER YEAR of worry behind us. ANOTHER YEAR of surviving.

ANOTHER YEAR-it's been ANOTHER YEAR.





4 years we've gone to Light the Night. 4 years we've watched our Simeon carry his white SURVIVORS ballon. This year Rebecca was able to enjoy the night- and enjoy she did. Her smile seemed brighter and bigger tonight. I think she knew why we were there and so happy. It was ANOTHER YEAR. For her it meant ANOTHER YEAR she got to enjoy with her biggest brother.


This year it was just the 6 of us. Each year our team has gotten smaller, and this year, his 1st off chemo it was the smallest, but the BIGGEST in FAITH and JOY.

We were the very last team to walk around the stadium because we were waiting for a ballon horse and sword to be made. But it was nice to be the last. We could walk at our speed, the kids could enjoy the time walking with eachother holding thier lit up ballons. Rebecca could join in the walk and hold her ballon proudly. Johann and I could take a step back and watch our kids be our kids. All 4 TOGETHER-healthy, happy, TOGETHER.


Even though tonight was a celebration, tonight was not without fear. There is always fear, but we try so incredible hard to push it back, to fight it back and NOT let it take over our lives. Tonight Simeon was not himself, he hasn't been for a week or so. He's tired and he's down. And it worries us. As we walked to celebrate his VICTORY, we walked with some fear dragging us down. The fear of relapse will never go away, but hopefully will fade with time.

Tonight was NOT a night to think about the "what if's", it was a night to celebrate ANOTHER YEAR. ANOTHER YEAR!! Each and every year with our 4 kids will be ANOTHER YEAR Heavenly Father has blessed us to be TOGETHER here on earth.

We have no idea what next year, or even tomorrow will bring. So we live for TODAY and pray we get ANOTHER YEAR TOGETHER.

Lamp posts and flowers

When we bought our house 4 years ago-you could tell that the lady before us loved working in the yard. When she moved she took many plants with her leaving bare spots for us to figure out. In the front yard we had a dirt landscaping area on both sides of the sidewalk and I just couldn't keep up with so much dirt to be weeded and filled with plants, so we turned the dirt area connected to the lawn to grass, except one small circle around the lamp in the lawn. The lamp is old and run down and doesn't work, but I love the look of it, so we've left it.
2 summers ago I transplanted iris's around the lamp post and they grew beautiful and full this past summer. Along with the iris's we had a vine growing. I took twine and tied it to the lamp post to encourage upward growth. Growth did I somehow encourage, because the vine took off and grew like crazy. Before our trip this summer I started thinking that maybe the vine was just that-a green vine, and that it wouldn't have the beautiful blooms I so hoped it would.
When we got back from our trip the vine had morphed into a shaggy looking mass all over the lamp post. I was now determined to get this shaggy looking thing down as soon as I could. I looked awful! With getting back from our trip I was busy getting back into life and the vine got neglected.
Then one day I saw a white flower. Then another and another. Each of the fuzzy/shaggy looking spots were flowers blossoms. My vine was going to flower-and flower ALOT.
After a few weeks the vine was in full blossom, and the butterflies loved it. We had monarch butterflies in our yard all day long. Some would even land on us or the kids toys as they played with them. It was so neat to see the butterflies and the beautiful flowers this summer.



I have to be honest I don't have the slight idea what the vine is or called and if it really is a true flowering vine or a weed vine that flowers to trick you into thinking it's a real flowering vine. I just know that it was so beautiful and I can't wait to encourage it to grow back up the vine next summer.

Horseback Riding

By Corrine

Today I went horsebackriding with my girl scout troop at camp Conestoga.


Cassie, Lauryn, Mykenzie, Olivia, Corrine, April, Greta, Allysa and Madilyn

My horses name was Rose. She was dark brown and very tall.




This was my 10th time riding a horse, but my 1st time steering it by myself.
We played a cup game on the horses. In the cup game we had to steer our horse and grab a cup off a post and put in back on another post.


Another game we played was with flags. We had to ride our horse close to the flags, grab a flag out of a bucket, ride your horse to another bucket and put your flag back in.



I was nervous when I first got on my horse. But then I was fine. I got to lead the pack around the arena.
I got new cowgirl boots to ride on my horse.
After we went to a shelter at the camp and ate our lunch. We played tag around a camp fire ring. (There wasn't any fire in the ring.) It was fun.
Next year we get to go wash horses and then we get to ride them too.

Shark Teeth

Corrine has a funny way of losing her baby teeth. We call it "Shark Teeth". What are shark teeth you may ask. Let me explain. The adult tooth starts to come in under the baby tooth like normal which starts the baby tooth getting wiggly. Then the adult tooth moves behind the baby tooth and starts coming in there. (Think path of least resistance.) This leaves the baby tooth wiggly, but not being pushed out. For weeks if not months she had a wiggly baby tooth and an adult tooth poking through behind it.
So have you figured out why we call them Shark Teeth? A shark has many rows of teeth. As one tooth gets broken off another tooth moves forward into it's place. Just like Corrine. As her baby tooth falls out, the adult tooth moves into it's place.

She has lost 2 teeth-the bottom front-and both have happened this way.

Right before our vacation this summer she went to the dentist. She had lost one of her front bottom teeth, but the other wasn't even wiggly. Teeth are suppose to come in and out in pairs. Since she didn't have the pair come out close to eachother we started to suspect that she might not have an adult tooth under her 2nd bottom front tooth. It runs in my family to have missing adult teeth. (I have a baby molar still in good shape at 31 years old!) They did an x-ray but they couldn't tell from it if she did have the adult tooth, so they said when she came back in in December they would do the BIG x-rays to check.
One day when we were in Yellowstone this summer she said "my tooth is lose." We told her not to wiggle it since we didn't want a tooth without an adult tooth under it to fall out. She kept saying over the rest of the trip it was wiggly, and she could feel a tooth coming in behind it.
Sure enough we took a look and she did have an adult tooth coming in behind it and her tooth was wiggly. Our fears of her getting the dreaded missing adult tooth curse ended right then.
Lastnight it finally became lose enough and she went into the bathroom and pulled on it and it fell out. She heard a 'tink', looked down to get it and it was gone.
We searched the bathroom high and low 5 times. We got out a flashlight to check around, we emptied the toothbrush cups and went through everything, but there was NO tooth to be found. She was standing over the sink, so it probably went down the drain.
Corrine was ok with this and said she'd just write a note telling the tooth fairy what had happened and hope that would be alright.

(You can see the hole from the tooth in this picture.)

The tooth fairy thought it was ok and left her this note and Gold Dollar.



(You can see the adult tooth already coming in in this picture.)

She said next time she pulls a tooth out, she's going to make sure the drain cover is closed!