Happy Halloween!

Tonight Addi, Matt, and Jamey came over to go trick or treating and we had a blast. The kids rode around in Caiden's new wagon and Caiden walked part of the time with Addi's broom! She was a witch and Caiden was a monkey!!!

Caiden and Jon

The wagon ride...

Our family!

Walking down the street

Caidne and Jon

Chunky Monkey

Me, Caiden, Addi, and Jamey

2nd and 3rd place!!!

Our friends Shannon and Scott had their annual Halloween party this past Sat. night. It is HUGE. They have a DJ, block the streets off, have a tractor hayride, and have the firefighters come judge the costumes and chili! We dressed Caiden up and he one 2nd place for the "under 5" category! He kept calling his monkey costume his jacket and he tried desperately to get the banana unattached from his arm! Jon entered the chili cook-off and got third place (using new spices for the first time!) out of 10 entries. We had a very successful evening! Caiden rode on the hayride four times, at some cookies (he almost ate a piece of baloney from his Lunchable...it was actually IN his mouth and we were SO excited. But, then it came out...the kid won't eat!!!), played with glow-sticks, danced to the music and sat in the firetruck. Lots of fun! Thanks Shannon and Scott for inviting us!

State Fair of Texas

We decided to go with the Stewards to the State Fair for a few hours before the horrendous Cowboys game this morning! They had free tickets and parking passes so we thought we'd take advantage and get the boys out for some fried food! We didn't do too much...looked at the cars, fed the animals, ate some lunch, and walked through the Midway. Enough to make us tired =)

Pumpkin Prowl and the Park

On Sat. night we went to Sachse for a Pumpkin Prowl. Jon, Chilet, and Austin came out for pizza before hand and Grandma, Aunt TT, and Poppy all came over too! We also saw Shanna, Ross, and Rowan there! The pumpkin prowl was cute...sorta like an easter egg hunt but you gather pumpkins. Caiden decided to show us how the terrible two's are going to go and pitch several fits while we were there. The park was way too crowded so we took the boys back to the park across the street from our house!

Happy Hour and a Sleep Over

Busy weekend! We started Friday night out with Happy Hour with Jamey, Matt, and Addi, Shanna and Rowan, Tiffany and Reagan, Jeremy, and Michele! We had a great time relaxing form the week and talking about things other than school =) Jamey, Matt, Addi, and Jackson spent the night and Jon made Caiden and Addi pancakes for breakfast!

A Day Off...

Mrs. Marsha went to TN to visit family so today was my day off with Caiden. Jamey took the day too so we could take Addi and Caiden to a pumpkin farm. We went to Owens Pumpkin Farm in Richardson and had a blast! They loved it...we saw horses, pigs, and chickens, fed goats, road on a hayride, and picked out a pumpkin! We met Tiffany and Reagan for lunch and then headed over to Target for some shopping. Caiden was off on his napping schedule and only slept 45 minutes this afternoon and was a CRANK during dinner but managed to put on a smile while we went on a walk with daddy!

It's Just Not Our Week!

I spilled my water on my cell phone and lost everyone's numbers...if I need your phone number, please send it to me =)

We thing Caiden was sick from the steroid medicine because he didn't take it with food...we'll see what happens tonight after his second round of it!

Really?

So Caiden made it through Tuesday without anymore rashes (he woke up and they were all gone)! He didn't eat too good at Marsha's but he did pretty good at dinner. We did our normal nightly routine and he was in bed by 8. A little after 9, I heard him coughing pretty bad and it was one of those gut feelings that I needed to check on him. I flipped the video monitor on and sure enough, he was throwing up. It was EVERYWHERE...all in the bed, all over his pillows, and all in his hair! YUCK! No fever though...weird.
I slept in the extra bedroom with him in case he had anymore explosions (his bedding was being washed) but he never got sick again. Bebe didn't have to work today, so she is coming to stay with him in case he is still contagious with a little bug! Thank you Bebe!!!

Another Medical Adventure...

Caiden got an ant bite on Sunday that caused his hand to swell pretty good but then got bite again this afternoon. That bite reached the size of a quarter within 10 minutes so I decided to take him in to the Dr. Of course, the pediatrician office was closed and the Pediatric After Hours office is 30 minutes away, so we went back to the FastER clinic 10 minutes away. While we were there, Caiden started breaking out into a dark red rash around his ears which quickly spread to his tummy and back. They gave him a shot of steroids to help with the reaction and kept him there for over an hour. He never had trouble breathing, but of course I was having a panic attack thinking something worse was going to happen.
Jon had football games, so I called Poppy. He came to stay with us to make sure everything was okay and watched Caiden so I could go back out to get the medicine from the pharmacy.

So far so good...we'll see what he looks like in the morning!

You can see the bite on his hand in the first pic and the ankle bite in the last one...

17 Stiches Later...

Our first camping trip of the Fall was definitely will remember! We went close to home at East Fork Park at Lake Lavon. Chilet, Jon, and Austin brought their new pop-up out for the first time. The boys had a blast taking walks to the lake (Austin thought it was a beach), playing on the playground, blowing bubbles, watching Blue's Clues (yes we take a T.V.!) and even riding on our friends' boat (they both passed out and used the boat experience as "nap time"). The weather was perfect and the food was great, but several things did go wrong!

We woke up to Caiden throwing up on Sat. morning but he didn't have a fever. He was pretty fussy and not hungry the entire day (but he still played!). We could tell he wasn't himself but he wasn't sick after about 9am. That afternoon, we were in the middle of a round of horseshoes and Chilet "scraped" her leg on the metal horseshoe post. We didn't really think she needed stitches but we were scared about her not having a tetanus shot in 12 years. So, we decided to go to to a place called FastER care in Richardson (the two on Wylie where we were, were closed) and found out quickly that she definitely needed stitches. We learned several things from this experience...

1. The Minute Clinic inside of CVS closes at 4pm on Sat. (thank goodness =)
2. You have an 8 hour window to get stitches from the time of an accident
3. Just because it doesn't seem deep, doesn't mean that it isn't
4. A 3 inch "laceration" requires 17 stitches
5. Butterfly band-aids and a first aid camping kit won't cure all "scrapes"
6. Wal-Greens pharmacy in Richardson closes at 6pm on Sat.
7. Wal-Mart pharmacy closes at 8pm on Sat.
8. You can get cheap Christmas gifts for boys (and I'm sure girls) at the Wal-Greens in Wylie
(they have a 24 hour pharmacy!)
9. A tetanus shot hurts worse than a 3 inch "scrape" the next day

She ended up surviving the stitches and tetanus shot and we made it back to the campsite in 2 and 1/2 hours. The boys had already made dinner and Caiden had passed out at 7:30 in Jon's arms.

BUT, at about 11:30, the little guy decided he wasn't done throwing up and decided he needed another round. At 12 I took him home to get some Pedialyte and we made a pallet on the floor to sleep. He woke up once around 3 and then went back to sleep until 6:45 when he woke up for good. He was back to his normal self so we decided to go out to the campsite for pancakes and one last walk to the lake with Austin (and to help Daddy clean-up)!

It was a fun trip, even with the trip to the ER and stomach bug. We are planning on going again, to a different park, in November. We already decided we need to locate the closest ER before we go...just in case, and we're bringing a medicine cabinet with Pedialyte in it too!

Just relaxing...

Looking at some birds

Touching the trees

Playing at the lake

Here is the request of a "little scrape and then 17 stitches later" picture...
I don't remember it looking that bad =)