Holiday Panic?!

I'm still working on the Disney post, I'm on Day 2 so it's slow-going. I've realized Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is in 41 days - just typing that makes me feel anxious and stressed. OK, last week...

Timber stayed w/ Grandpa & Grandma and Hadley loved it. She sobbed in the evening because she missed Timber.

There's been a lot of crying around here lately. School seems to completely exhaust my kids (except at bedtime, grrr) and they easily lose their sh!t most evenings. They get off the bus smiling, but by the time they walk into the house, they are falling apart. Finley's issue on this particular day? He couldn't decide if he should go to church choir practice - he seriously cried like this for 10 minutes. I wasn't making him go, I wasn't making him stay home, it was totally his decision and he didn't know what to do.

Auntie Shawna went to Iceland and sent postcards!

Anytime Hadley gets a cold, she gets croup for 1-2 nights. In August (yes, August), I noticed she was coughing a lot and waited for the cold to hit - it never did and no one else in the house ever got a cough. In September she was still coughing, I wondered if it could be seasonal allergies. At every soccer game, Little Sister hacked and hacked. Playing outside, sometimes she needs to slow down because she's coughing. In the evenings when we settle in, I have noticed some wheezing. Right before FL, I decided I should bring her in, I had a nagging feeling that it was more than a long lasting cough. But of course I was out of time, so I would wait until we got back (what's another week after it's been this way for 2 months?! Yes, Mom of the Year right here). Last Sunday night, I was up w/ her wheezing and she had croup. Monday I kept her home, the cold started, and I finally made an appointment.

We didn't get to see our pediatrician, but we saw another one and I really liked her (coincidentally, she lives in our neighborhood and was the pedi that saw Hadley when she was born). We both agreed that we were dealing w/ two issues - the current cold/croup that will run it's course and the 2.5 month nagging cough. Dr. Stevenson could hear some wheezing and decided we should treat her for asthma for one month and follow-up in December to see how things are going.

Twice/day Hadley is receiving an inhaled steroid and we have a rescue inhaler (albuterol) to use as needed. The hope/plan is, once the steroid kicked in (4-5 days), she will not need the albuterol very often (if ever).

So far, she likes the inhaler, it's like a new toy and she can administer it herself. I'm happy that we have a treatment plan, the coughing and wheezing are already better. I'm not happy that she might have asthma that could affect her forever. I'm hopeful that she could outgrow this.

Little Sister has once again, created a house inside our living room. Most evenings it flips to the other side and then back again. She admitted that she likes organizing her things over and over, I like listening to her thought process (as she talks out loud) and how she talks to her babies. Each day I have a MAJOR urge to bring it all back downstairs, but when I've even brought 1-2 things down, she instantly recognizes items missing and drags them back up.

I voted...

...and so did the kids in Finley's class. He got caught up in voting (they had a mock election at school) and he decided to have his classmates vote on which Beado creation they liked better - the ice cream cone or dolphin. He's now busy making 19 dolphins to pass out to all the friends.

On their 43rd wedding anniversary, my parents were awarded the 2016 Philanthropist Award for EC County. All of their hard work and dedication to making our community a great place to live was recognized and celebrated over a luncheon.

Nolan represented the grandchildren and even got to be part of Grandpa's acceptance speech.

Congrats Mom & Dad - may you inspire us and others to always give back.

Nolan had a sleepover, I sent Hadley to take a bath and the next thing I knew everyone was swimming.

Finley showed off his reading skills...

...and Hadley showed off her new trick.

Love this.

The kids celebrated Veteran's Day at school, they made a poster about Grandpa and invited him to attend the celebration.

The Cub Scouts walked the flag into the gym...

...and then created a path for the veterans to enter through.

Each branch of the military stood for recognition and I overheard Finley telling friends, That's my Grandpa! w/ a giant smile on his face. He was so proud to have his Grandpa there.

Mrs. Gilbert photobombed my picture of Hadley, not only photobombed but also distracted her and I only got this one picture ;)

After the program, the veterans lined the hallway and high-fived the students as they went back to class.

I think this kid smiled throughout the entire program. It meant so much for him to have Grandpa there.

Dear Grandpa, Thank you for serving our country. I am so grateful for how brave you are. Thank you for serving in the army. I feel safe knowing you protect our country. From, Finley.

Veteran's Day flashbacks, Grandpa...

...and my Grandpa Poorman.

Grandma also found this picture of Grandpa (on the left) wearing his Boy Scout uniform. But not acting very Boy Scout-like by punching his brother ;)

The kids bounced between home w/ Patrick and staying over at Grandma & Grandpa's this weekend (where ice cream and popcorn are served for dinner)...

....because I was in Hayward for Girl's Weekend.

Where we eat jello shots until we do things like - see if Rachel can fit in a refrigerator (obviously she does)...

...pretend the canoe rug is real (and think we are super-funny doing it)...

...and we risk injury building the annual pyramid. Our combined 41 kids would be SO proud!

I've just realized Blogger now has emojis - I need to try one 😂  this means face w/ tears of joy which describes how I feel about Blogger having emojis, I've always wanted Blogger to have emojis! But I can't find "eyeroll" which is my most favorite emoji. OK, I don't have time for this when the holiday panic is settling in 😝. Off to continue stressing over (and creating) my holiday to-do list 😉