Happy Thanksgiving---the extra thankful edition

I know Thanksgiving is a little outdated now with Christmas on the horizon (less than 2 weeks away, really??), but I have too much to be thankful for to skip over it completely. Three weeks ago we took a trip up to New York and Pennsylvania to spend time with my family for Thanksgiving. We had been looking forward to the trip for several months and when we finally all got together the occasion did not disappoint. The kids were in heaven to be with cousins and the activities we had planned felt close to perfect. I have plenty of pictures of our fun weekend; however, since Thanksgiving is all about gratitude I feel like I have to jump directly to the most traumatic experience of our trip since I have no doubt it occurred in a way that we can only feel immense feelings of gratitude for.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving while we were all together in Pennsylvania we had planned to go to a nearby indoor water park. The temperatures were close to freezing outside, but inside it was  perfect--just like the rides that the kids dashed to and from for hours. We were just about done for the evening when Sam and my brother-in-law decided to give the surfing/body boarding simulator a try.

My brother-in-law went first, and, although it appeared to be a bit of a rough ride, Sam decided to go for it anyways.

It didn't start out too bad...


 

...but on his last run things didn't go so well--


at all.

As soon as he got up he knew something was wrong. He had fallen on his head and left side, yet it was his right arm that was tingling and numb along with pain in his neck. After sitting for a few moments he decided he needed to go to the hospital. My dad and brother-in-law took him while my sister and I took the kids home and waited to hear the news. A few hours later I got the call the he had indeed fractured a vertebrae in his neck and chipped another.  It wasn't the best news, but for a fractured vertebrae finding out that he had no permenant spinal cord or nerve damage was just about the best news we could get. It wasn't until later when we discovered that only 3% of the people who fracture a vertebrae in their neck do not become paralyzed or die that we fully understood the magnitude of our blessing. It is definitely a sobering statistic and will leave us forever grateful for the comparatively small trial we are currently enduring.

Sam is in a neck brace 24/7 for 5 weeks with the major limitation being that he can not drive or lift anything more than 10 lbs. He has also endured some expected discomfort, pain and soreness, but, all things considered, he is doing pretty well.

I told Sam he wasn't going to get any sympathy with this picture...

so he gave me these.


He doesn't always feel this cheerful about the neck brace, but he is doing his best to have a good attitude. (He told someone at work he felt like Guy Smiley.)


This certainly isn't what anyone would hope for from their Thanksgiving weekend, but in the end it's almost appropriate timing since I don't think I've ever felt so grateful in my life. Things are a little inconvenient now, but whenever I find myself getting a little overwhelmed ( I think I can officially cross "chauffeur" off my list of desired future professions)  I try to immediately turn back to the immense feelings of gratitude that should (and usually do) define this experience. There is no doubt--we have been blessed.

Another home video...

This is Sam posting. I made a short video. Lindsay helped. In fact, Lindsay's help made it lots better than it would have been.  Don't worry--it's short.

Halloween is for the birds

I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween. I hate all the extra chaos it always seems to bring to our lives, but I love how much my kids love it and get so excited about the holiday and everything it entails. In fact, they get so excited about it that what they are going to be for Halloween is a topic of conversation we enjoy year round.

About 6 months ago the kids (mostly the boys) decided that this year they wanted to all be birds for Halloween. It sounded interesting at the time when I agreed to do whatever I could to make their Halloween dreams come true, but as October edged closer and closer I began to wonder what I had gotten us into. Birds don't sound that difficult to pull off until you get very specific birds requests including a peregrine falcon, great horned owl and  a flamingo. Google and Pinterest were zero help with falcon ideas (apparently not a popular costume this year) and they were only mildly helpful with the other two. With little inspiration and boys very interested in accurate costumes I felt a little over my head. Enter: "Save-the-day-Sam" to figure things out.

 I must admit I was a little skeptical that Sam would be able to do any better in designing something, but boy was I wrong. I'd like to say that I was the one that pulled off the impossible, but in reality Sam did most of the boy's costumes all by himself. One morning during the costume making craziness I woke up and to my utter amazement Sam had made a pair of pants for each of the boys. Seriously---I have no idea how someone with almost no experience with a sewing machine can whip out two pair of pants, but he did. Ruby's costume was much more my speed and I have no problem taking complete credit  for my little flamingo. Speaking of my little flamingo---here are an excessive number of pictures of her. Narrowing down the options to just these was hard enough.

My adorable great horned owl. Don't be fooled by their quiet nature, Max will eagerly remind you that owls are actually quite vicious creatures---the great horned topping that vicious list.

I don't know, Max--it's hard to be too scary when you are this cute.

My fearless falcon.  Reed was really the driving force behind the whole bird thing. He and Max have been crazy about the "super birds" for a while, so it was no surprise that he had his heart set on a being a peregrine falcon, the fastest bird of them all (fastest animal of all, in fact). Reed could tell you how fast, but I can't.

This was not my original vision for the falcon costume, but I trusted Sam and Reed and am glad that I did.  I think he looks pretty great.

The mask was all Reed.

The whole aviary crew. They all loved their costumes and while they may not have been perfect, they all acted like they were. As we were racing to finish the last few details before our ward's trunk or treat Max said, "Homemade costumes are great because you can get exactly what you want." I'm glad they all felt like they got exactly what they wanted.

Oh yeah...and Sam must have been going for "Dad of the Year" or something because he also gave into the kids requests to make themed Halloween bags...Whhhaaat????

Max's Moment

When I sent Max to Kindergarten a month or so ago I had no doubt he was ready. In fact it seemed he had been "ready" for years. What I didn't know was exactly how that "readiness" would translate into his performance and perception as a student at school. Max is a very smart boy, but not "showy smart" like Reed. People could always recognize that Reed was smart because he has such a great memory, knows lots of stuff and  readily shares all of his stored information. Max on the other hand is smart in a way that only becomes obvious when you take the time to notice.

  Max has also always been my Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as far as behavior is concerned and  I wasn't sure which one would show up in the classroom. He can be ridiculously polite, sweet, kind and thoughtful. I have thought before that if you could make it on adorableness Max would be set for life. On the other hand he has also been known to be relentlessly stubborn, sometimes making  his wishes known only in the form of a glorious fit. 

During the first few weeks of school I waited anxiously, curious to know which direction things would head for him. My answer came sooner than I anticipated when Max came home after the first few weeks of school with a notice that he would honored at a special lunch assembly for receiving the "Character Counts" award for the month of September, selected from his class for being an example of good character. When I asked Max if he knew why he was chosen he said, "I don't know. I guess because I always follow direction." His teacher later elaborated that Max is always eager to do the right thing and reaches out to help others who need it.

Max was so excited when we came to eat with him at his awards presentation.

Of course he chose a Lunchable as his "special lunch". 

Ruby was pretty excited to be there too.

The proud recipient.

Ruby-- doing everything she can to keep the attention on her.

The other part of my question was answered a few days later when  I got an e-mail from Max's teacher letting me know how well his was doing. She had just done the reading assessments and wanted let me know that Max had tested far beyond anyone else in her class. She was emailing to get my permission for Max to join a special enrichment group with 3 other Kindergartners from other classrooms who were also reading on the same level. I was thrilled and overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude that my prayers had been answered that his teachers had taken the time to see what a capable boy he was. I was also so proud of all the effort Max has put into learning. Reading came unusually easy to Reed, but Max really worked at it and I  absolutely love that about him. I knew his academic achievements had come from both natural ability and lots of determined effort.

Max is  now doing great in his enrichment class and has continued to make great strides as he is challenged. The other afternoon while I was helping Reed with his homework Max asked if it mattered who he did his out loud reading to. I told him it didn't matter and naturally assumed he would be reading to Ruby.

I was wrong. Now Monkey know a lot more about George Washington.

 

I love this boy and I'm so glad he is getting his opportunity to shine.

Wow...I've posted 3 days in a row. Is it too early to say I'm on a roll?

Canned Food Drive

Sam and I are always trying to encourage our kids to "think of others" more. We have also had great intentions to incorporate more service opportunities into their lives, but planning those types of opportunities don't seem to happen as often as we would like. So when our Stake Day of Service arrived, including a canned food drive, we knew this was an opportunity not to be missed.  We also knew our kids would need no encouragement to get involved. For some reason, they LOVE canned food drives.  I can only guess it's because it's been one of the few experiences where they have felt like they personally contributed to a big service project and have enjoyed the good feelings that service brings. Whatever the case may be, they were thrilled when we told them we were going to be canvasing the neighborhood with flyers and knocking on doors to encourage food donations. What was even more surprising and pleasing to me was that Reed and Max wanted to knock doors on their own while Ruby and I worked on the opposite side of the street. (Sam got to be on his own team.) I was a little nervous about how they would handle talking with people, but as I listened from across the street all I could do was smile and be impressed with their bold and courageous presentation. I even laughed a little to myself when I heard them explain that we would be by the next day between 8 and 9 a.m. to pick up any donations, followed up quickly with "And a good thing it's going to be Saturday, otherwise we would be at school at that time."  Watching them scurry from house to house was pure sweetness as I couldn't help but imagine them as confident future missionaries.  Even Ruby was anxious to contribute in every way she could. She really wanted me to let her do all the talking and while I always let her help, it was almost never enough for her.

The next day collecting food was even more exciting for the kids, dragging their wagon through the neighborhood watching the back of our truck fill up. Reed even told me, "This is almost as fun as trick-or-treating" Max added, "Yeah...it's like practice trick-or-treating." This was obviously a light bulb moment for Reed who then suggested we do a canned food drive every year a few weeks before Halloween.

Reed had no problem leading out  in this activity. I could see on his face how happy he was that his efforts the previous day had been fruitful.

My hard-working Max is never far behind when it comes to keeping up with Reed.

Ruby wouldn't  dream of being left out of this (or anything).  She chased the boys and wagon through the neighborhood helping wherever she could.

No--our life is not always sunshine and roses or a truck load of canned food, but sometimes it is and that's something I definitely don't want to forget.

It's official...

...I stink at trying to "catch up". And, while I am not willing to admit defeat, I am willing to move along for now and hope, for the sake of record keeping, that keeping up with a more current moment in our life will be more motivating.

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. For as long as I can remember that has been the true, and living on the East Coast for the past  8 years (Yikes!) has only solidified its top spot. Living in a more rural area sure helps too. Every drive out of our neighborhood is a scenic one. With an intro like that you'd think I'd have some lovely pictures of some of the beautiful Autumn foliage that abounds, but I never seem to have my camera at the right moment. I did, however, have my camera on our recent trip to a nearby farm and corn maze. What says fall more than a corn maze, and, as beautiful as fall can be, my children are always my favorite subjects for photos.

Gaver's Farm is a true farm, but first and foremost it's a "fun farm". The gigantic jumping pillow was a definite highlight for all of my kids.

Rubber duck races were also a favorite. Although playing beside constantly running water for too long did not bode well for my recently potty trained Ruby.

The super slide.

 I have no idea what straw jumping is, but this is what my boys decided it was.

The 5 acre corn maze was the big event of the outing, but it was also the part I was actually dreading. This was my first corn maze experience...not from lack of opportunity, but lack of any desire whatsoever. Being claustrophobic and without a great sense of direction corn mazes fall pretty low on my list of things I would ever choose to do. At least we had a map.

 Ruby's exuberance at the start of the maze told me that she clearly had no idea what a corn maze was all about.

Her continued exuberance as we traversed the maze however told me instead that she had not inherited any of my corn maze loathing qualities.

 I told Sam to take my picture, because I was sure this would be my one and only corn maze trip.

 In the end the corn maze wasn't as bad I anticipated. Doing something the kids are super excited about is always fun. Hurray for fall and hurray for hopes of not being a slacker anymore!