Camping and the Pumpkin Patch

Friday (Sept. 23rd) school was closed for Parent/Teacher conferences. Both girls had great conferences. Gracie's teacher said she's doing great in Kindergarten and that she is a wonderful student. Maggie's teacher confirmed for us again that she is an excellent student, she is reading several grades above where she needs to be, she's kind to her fellow classmates and other then a little too much chatter :) she's a model student.

 

Before we knew Arnie's surgery would be rescheduled we were trying to squeeze in a couple more fall camping weekends. Since the girls were off school we headed for Mahoney with Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Mark, Aunt Laura, Elsie and Reid.

 

Hey, where is Mom supposed to sleep???

 

 

Friday we made great use of the day off and visited Vala's Pumpkin Patch. We had the place mostly to ourselves and had a great time. Grandma and Grandpa kept the babies so the big girls weren't slowed down at all.

 

 

 

 

Think Daddy will agree to pain his tractor pink??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Reid, can I borrow that?

 

 

It rained all day Saturday, but it was still fun to all be together. Saturday was our 11th Anniversary. It's been a heck of a year, I'm hoping 12 will be a little less eventful (wishful thinking).

Go Big Red!

Once a year we decide to take the girls to Lincoln for a Husker game. Usually by half time I'm asking myself what in the world we were thinking! This year wasn't all that different :) Maggie is starting to be a bit interested in the game, Gracie still doesn't really care but likes the tailgate and the snacks and Haddie mostly slept through it.

 

Game, what game???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute little Husker!

 

a few pictures......

School is totally exhausting for Gracie. By midweek she's a bit of a mess, this morning she cried because she couldn't decide what she wanted for lunch and tonight she fell asleep crying that she wanted kindergarten to "be like preschool" so she could take tomorrow off to spend with me. More then anything I wanted to say that I wished Kindergarten was like preschool too....but that probably wouldn't have helped :)

 

Maggie is loving 3rd grade and has been a great big sister to Gracie at school. She's had a little homework and getting used to having a schedule again is taking some time, but she's doing great. She's excited to be learning to write in cursive and to have scored above 7th grade level on her first reading test. 

 

 

 

Mayo....

....not the food, the hospital.

Arnie and I made it home last night from a couple days of appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. It seems like we spent most of the trip in this waiting room. The good news is we met with 2 outstanding doctors and we know Arnie's case is in good hands. They basically confirmed everything we already knew, gave us a ton of education on what happened, how much it will improve on it's own and what to expect when they operate. The bad news is, they confirmed surgery is necessary. In 6-8 weeks after another cat scan in Norfolk, we will return to Rochester for the colon resection surgery. It's more complicated then we originally understood it to be, but we have quiet possibly the best surgeon in the country on the team and we are very grateful for that (and she could easily be Aunt Diane's twin! I wanted to take her picture but I decided she might think that was strange). In the next 6 weeks we hope that the inflammation will decrease and simplify the surgery a bit. It's critical that the infection not return and that Arnie keep healing on his own.

 

I'm praying that we will be able to stay calm and not worry too much about what's ahead....that's easier said then done. The girls did great while we were away. Maggie and Gracie stayed in Norfolk with Grandma and Pops and Haddie hung out in Omaha with Grandma and Grandpa. The next trip will be quiet a bit longer, likely 7-10 days. I've never been away from the kids for that long, it's going to seem like an eternity. Probably harder on me then them. Thank God for FaceTime and good help!

 

Arnie is feeling better and getting stronger every day. The doctor told him to start exercising and build up as much strength as possible before the surgery.

 

We are very lucky to have all the support and help we have. I can't imagine trying to navigate this alone. All you have to do is spend a few hours in Downtown Rochester "people watching" to know it could be SOOOO much worse. Thanks for worrying about us.

Everybody's growing up....

The girls first day of school was delayed by a few days due to construction in their building. Maggie's first day was yesterday and this morning was Gracie's big day.  Both girls were so excited for school to start. The differences in the girls have been on full display the last couple of days. Wednesday night I asked Maggie what she was going to wear for her first day, she said, "I'll just pick something when I get up." I asked if she wanted to do anything special with her hair and she said, "PLEASE don't make me curl it!" Her backpack was in the dining room, mostly ready because I put her school supplies in it when we got home from shopping, but she didn't give it a second thought. Last night Gracie reorganized her school supplies for the umpteenth time, lined up her backpack and everything else she needed right next to the door, laid out EVERYTHING she was going to wear today and made sure I knew she wanted a "fancy bud" in her hair. :) These girls have grown up in the same house but they sure are different (and we wouldn't want it any other way.)

 

When she finally did pick clothes she thought "I am your future president" was the right message :)
Love this girl and wish we could vote for her now!

 

 

 

Maggie reported that her first day was good. She loved being back with her friends and her table partners are 2 of her best friends (the teacher might be sorry about that!) She likes her teacher and comments regularly on the "big kid" stuff she'll get to do now. The 3rd graders get to help the Kindergartners get settled (the kinders start half yesterday and half today), so Maggie had a kindergarten lunch buddy. We had lots of talks about how at school it wasn't her job to boss Gracie around, we'll see how that goes! I think Gracie will be glad to see Maggie at recess and lunch today.

 

All tucked in and ready for bed, tomorrow I start SCHOOOL!!

 

 

 

 

 

She was pumped that it was a little chilly this morning so she could wear a "teacher sweater" for her first day!

 

LILY!! These 2 are going to be trouble. The kindergarten teacher has always lined the kids up in alphabetical order,
Lily's last name is Rugg.....I'm thinking Mrs. Marsden might change that line order before too long :)

 

 

 

 

Bye! See you after school.

While the big girls are starting school, Haddie is working on rolling over and growing like a weed! She's not going to know what to do with all the quiet around here during the day. We went to the doctor yesterday and she weighed in at 17lbs 14oz and 26.5" long. She's wearing 9 month clothes and starting to really fill her carseat, I'm determined to leave her in there for the winter but I might need a lift to get her in and out of the car.

 

 

 

Maybe she needs a bigger crib???  When I help Gracie make her bed this is the safest place for her to hang out....I guess we'll have to rethink that.

 These pictures have nothing to do with starting school but here they are......

Everyone wears a skirt to go ride the 4 wheeler!

 

If tug of war was an Olympic sport.....breezy would win!

Update on Arnie-

They did a CT on Wednesday, we hoped they would say the drain could be removed. They didn't. The abscess is still there and bigger then they'd like. The current plan is to wait 2 more weeks and check it again. If it's healed up at that point, they take the drain out and we proceed as planned, if not, they quit waiting for it to heal and just move forward with the colon resection. We are currently waiting for word back from a doctor at the Mayo Clinic about an appointment for a second opinion. Keep praying. Arnie has been so tough through this whole process, but he's definitely getting tired of it.