Happy Halloween

I got all Betty Crocker-ish in honor of Halloween today.

 

Jack-o-lantern cheeseburgers

 

Mummy dogs

 

and chocolate covered yumminess !!

 

I probably should have spent my free time today folding the piles of laundry or paying the stacks of bills, but playing in the kitchen was so much more fun.

After dinner the kids couldn't wait to get their costumes on.

Maura was a Monster High character

{not sure which one...don't even know their names!}

 

And Audra was Anna from frozen...

because she loves Frozen,

but mostly because it was the warmest costume I could find!

She managed to keep the wig on just long enough for pictures, then she wanted nothing to do with it.

 

We went to the same neighboring neighborhood for trick or treating that we did last year.  With only 4 other houses on our road the fun wouldn't last very long.

 

The other neighborhood has plenty of the kids friends and all the houses really get into the Halloween spirit.  We made sure to plan our route so we made it the stretch of houses with hotdogs, soft pretzels, popcorn and hot chocolate first.  Then there was Maura's favorite...the "haunted house".

They set up canopy tents in their front yard to create a walk through experience.  Even Audra went through with her nurse!  At the end each kid is asked if they want a trick or a treat.  Those who ask for a treat get an A-Treat soda can!  And those, like Maura, who prefer a trick get to dig through "stuff" {dry rice and beans I think} for their prize...a full size candy bar.

 

Even Blitz got dressed up,

courtesy of a hand-me-down costume from Audra's nurse.

Other October Stuff

Lots of fun things happened at school for Audra this month.  I love getting texts/emails from her teachers throughout the day showing all that she is up to.

 

Art Class...

I love this! 

While I'm sure she had some help with parts (most) of this masterpiece,

I'm thinking the "flowers" were done by her.

This will probably make it's way to a wall at home night next to Riley's flower vase painting.

Crazy hair day...

Practicing writing letters in shaving cream...

Audra and I spent time every weekend watching Maura play soccer. 

I don't seem to have any pictures of Maura actually playing soccer,

but plenty of pics of Audra ?!

"The Dads" went on a quick trip to Florida this week for Uncles Tim's birthday.

While they were sleeping in, eating out and enjoying Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios...

us Mom's were taking turns working and watching kids.

 

I had Tatum and Teagan for one day,

but my ability to entertain them only lasted so long...

they couldn't wait for Maura to get home after school!

Pumpkin Patch

October seems to be flying by and Maura just reminded me today that she hasn't been to a pumpkin patch yet.  I totally forgot that she wasn't with us at Corn Cob Acres.  And she was not going to be happy if she didn't pick out a pumpkin and carve it before Halloween.  So I dragged my tired self out of the house with a smile on my face {I worked 7pm-3am light/this morning}.

 

 

And it wasn't hard to keep a smile on my face with these two as my company...

 

We went to a small local pumpkin patch which was perfect!

Maura could pull Audra around the patch in a wagon,

and Audra could sit pretty like a princess.

 

 



And we can't resist a good old Corn Maze...

 

Back home and ready to carve...

 

Maura ended up doing the small pumpkin Audra had picked out at Corn Cob Acres.

She wanted to do a pumpkin all by herself...

so I convinced her that the smaller one would be easier

{less "guts" to clean out}.

 



Daddy carved the bigger round one we picked out today.

And Blitz, well he supervised.

The finished products...

Maura also picked out a small white pumpkin today which we decorated with a kit of colorful adhesives.  I might like that one best!



 

Boo at the Zoo

My sister and I are always looking for fun adventures to take our girls on.

Today it was Boo at the Zoo,

something we had never done before ! 

 

 Audra had her bucket in hand ready to receive treats...

First we checked out some of the exhibits,

I mean we are at the zoo and all !

 

 

Maura liked the scary Halloween decorations,

the other girls...not so much

 

We followed the map to all the treat stations,

and enjoyed some rides along the way

 

And of course we couldn't resist feeding the giraffes:

 

We ran into a new friend while there...

Moana !

 

Tubie tune up

After seeing the surgeon on Friday, the verdict was surgery is needed for her g-tube.  And today was the day.  The surgeon was concerned there could be a fistula (essentially a "tunnel" between her stomach and the infected area of skin) that is causing the area of infection to continue to fill up and not heal.  He also thought there could be a retained suture from her initial g-tube placement surgery that is aggravating this whole situation.  So the only way for him to know for sure and determine the appropriate treatment is to have a look in there. 

Precious girl fell asleep in my lap this morning waiting for her home care nurse to arrive and accompany us down to the hospital. 

 

We arrived at the hospital right on time, but of course things were delayed and we spent quite a bit of time in the waiting room.  Audra was so good about it though.  Maybe she knew what she was in for and therefore didn't mind waiting it out.

Her iPad entertains her for hours...



Still waiting,

and still smiling!

Once it was finally her turn things went quickly.  She put up her strongest fight ever letting the anesthesia take effect.  I went into the OR with her like I always do to hold her and reassure her until she fell asleep.  She was in and out of the OR in under an hour.  The surgeon did find a fistula but not exactly what he was expecting.  Turns out the fistula was running from the abscess to her g-tube tract.  Very unusual.  This required the surgeon to open up her skin through the abscess all the way down to the level of the fistula and leave it open so that it can heal from the inside out essentially.  This also meant that he needed to take her cute little button g-tube out and place a temporary catheter into her g-tube tract that is secured with a huge adhesive disk with a zip tie sort of thing that goes around the catheter.  It's gonna be interesting trying to keep her from picking and pulling it apart.  This means no bathes, no gym and no sports.  Which for Audra will be devastating not being able to go on the trampoline in our backyard !

Hopefully it will heal up quickly now and all this tubie drama will be done.

Mid-Autumn Festival

We just got around to celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival today.  The actual holiday this year was on Wednesday, Oct 4th.  It's always celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar. 

The traditions of Mid-Autumn Festival include having dinner with family, hanging lanterns and admiring the moon.  In Chinese beliefs, the full moon is a symbol for family reunion.  Mid-Autumn Festival is sometimes called the Moon Festival because it is celebrated when the moon is known to be the biggest and fullest. 

Mooncakes are a must-eat Mid-Autumn Festival food in China.  They are traditional Chinese pastries filled with nuts, beans, seeds, fruit, lotus or egg.  And their round shape symbolizes reunion and happiness.  We have tried authentic mooncakes a few times but we just can't learn to like them {except for Audra!}.  So this year I bought a mooncake mold and made butter cookies stamped with the mooncake design.  They were much yummier!

 

 

Charlotte and Whitney came over for Chinese food, mooncake cookies and floating sky lanterns.

 

 

We still aren't brave enough to attempt lighting the lanterns, ever since that one little lantern mishap a few years back.  So we still play it safe by filling the lanterns with helium balloons.  

 

It was cloudy and overcast so the picture aren't so pretty this year

 

Ahhh, this is much prettier :)