Goofy's surgery

Goofy had surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed on December 5.  Tink helped him prepare a lot, telling him how everything happened when she had hers removed.  That helped a lot.  He couldn't eat anything that morning, except Jello and clear liquids.  He was hungry, but such a trooper.  He wasn't really nervous at all either.  It seemed like a long drive up to downtown Denver, but we made it there an hour earlier than we needed to be.  The good thing was, they also were able to do his surgery an hour earlier because we were there and they were also ahead of schedule! 
He made us laugh so hard in the operating room, though.  He had picked out an orange scent for his oxygen mask, but then when the anesthesiologist added more scent to it, he wanted nothing to do with it.  So she got him a new scent and he was still a bit wary.  They told him to blow up the balloon and he started breathing into the mask super fast.  It was so funny.  The laughing gas kicked in and he finally got to the point where he would lay down.  He was falling asleep fast, his eyes rolling in the back of his head, but continued to breath really, really fast. I just couldn't help laughing at my sweet, funny boy.  They told me he could be my labor coach when I deliver! 
Oh, that was another funny thing. This one nurse could not believe that I was 28 weeks pregnant. She kept going on and on and how she didn't even know I was pregnant.  I think it was just the shirt I was wearing, I don't know.  It was funny too, though.
The surgery went well. The doc said his tonsils and adenoids were huge.  He also cleaned out his ears while he was at it.  About an hour later, I went back to see Goofy and he was still very much asleep. They had tried to wake him and he moved around a little bit, but took about another half hour before we could get him fully awake.  He had a grape slushee and got to watch How to Train your Dragon on a portable dvd player while sitting up in his bed.  We had to wait another hour or so, but could finally leave.  He was doing great, though didn't want to take the prescription pain medicine they gave him.  I guess it tastes really yucky.  He threw up in the car a little after taking about an hour nap.  We picked up the other kids from Nana and had dinner with them.  Goofy ate two full bowls of oatmeal!! Poor guy had been so hungry. 
Here is a picture of all of them on my bed for storytime that night.  He looks great, doesn't he? (We are starting a new tradition of reading a Christmas book every night in December until Christmas.  We wrapped them up and we rotate who gets to pick one and unwrap it that night. It's been fun!)

I had to wake him up every four hours to give him his medicine.  The next day, he wanted to try some different medicine, so I gave him some Motrin.  He took a five hour nap that afternoon!  I was worried about him sleeping that night, but knew he needed the rest, so just let him sleep.  He woke up during dinner and came down with swollen eyes.  Bucko took one look at him and burst into tears.  It was a bit shocking, so I called the doctor to make sure it was ok.  They said it was just from all the fluids from surgery and as long as he wasn't in pain, it was fine.  So our worries were put to rest.  He was happy after we knew it was ok too.

He has done really well. There have been rough days when he is in a lot of pain and super tired, but as long as we give him the Motrin every six hours, he does fine.  As it wears off, though, he starts to hurt, even now.  His scabs should be falling off which has made the last few days a little harder for him, but he is on the mend.  He is SO much quieter at night too! He has woken up crying a few times, but sometimes I think it is from dreams.  I have only given him allergy medicine once since the surgery too! He hasn't had a runny nose at all!  I'm so glad we did the surgery. I think it has already benefitted him a lot, and I think it will be for the best for the rest of his life as well.  So proud of our little guy.  We just love him so much.

Sixth Grade Band Concert

Tink had her first band concert on November 28.  They did a great job.  I videotaped it for PC and Nana and Johnny were able to attend as well.  Pictures never turn out the greatest at schools, but she is at least looking at me in this one.  She looked so grown up.  We were proud of her, and she is still enjoying playing the saxophone.

Third Grade Concert

On Wednesday night, Bucko had his third grade music concert.  We didn't have the best seat for watching him, as he was right on the edge and the wall was kind of in the way.  We did enjoy the music, though.  They had several different types of music and it was fun for everyone.  The coolest thing, though, was Bucko was one of five students chosen to play the drums for the last song.  It was the only song they used the drums, and I was proud of him.  They played a "heartbeat" rythmn--ba, bum.....ba, bum.....ba, bum for the song.  It was pretty neat.

Two Front Teeth...and other randomness

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, see my two front teeth.  This is Minnie's theme song for the next several weeks.  She lost one front tooth a few weeks ago.

And then lost the other a few nights ago.  I helped yank both of these ones out.  They were so loose, I just grabbed ahold of them and tugged.  She didn't even know they came out!  We all think she's super cute with both of them gone!

We tried this new hair-do with Tink for church a couple Sundays ago.  It looked so pretty, I had to take a picture.

And last, but not least, Minnie and Goofy got new pajamas.  Minnie loves the zebra print one and Goofy loves the puppy dog on his.  He wore his for several days straight and only changed out of them when we went someplace.  As soon as we were back home, he quickly changed back into his pajamas.  They both needed some warm pajamas that fit them! 

Sweet Girls

I have the sweetest girls as my daughters.  Two Sundays ago, Minnie did secret acts of service for us after church.  They had a lesson in Primary about service and she had three hearts that she needed to put somewhere after she did a secret service.  I caught her straightening up our shoes in our hallway closet by the garage.  That was something that really needed done!  And then she made Goofy's bed for him and left a heart there. She also straightened up the family and living rooms.  It was just so sweet.  Here's a picture of the shoes.  Can you see the heart on top of her flip-flops?

Then, a couple days ago, Minnie asked me if she could wake up fifteen minutes earlier than usual.  I told her, of course, but asked why.  She said she wanted to make me breakfast in bed! Isn't that sweet!  I took a picture when she first brought it to me, but it was too dark to share.  There was more light by the time I had finished, so this is what my tray looked like when I was done.  She even put a flower on the tray.  This was all especially nice as I had been really sick the two days before.  I'm still not sure if I had food poisoning or some kind of virus, but it was awful.  I called my father-in-law and a good friend to come and give me a blessing.  It had only been a couple hours, but I couldn't keep anything down and just felt so awful.  The next day I was extremely dehydrated, so had some major fatigue and a headache.  I drank a LOT of water and recovered pretty quickly, but it is always scary when it is that bad and you worry about the baby.  Anyway, I was so grateful it was short-lived and grateful for some wonderful children as well!

Thankful

For the first Family Home Evening in November, we made our annual Thankful Turkey.  I mentioned to Bucko that I was going to be doing that for the lesson and he asked if I was going to do the story about when the turkey gets angry and his feathers change colors.  I had forgotten all about that story, so looked it up on the internet. As I read the story for family home evening that night, I had each kid take a turn coloring in one feather as Tom Turkey's feathers changed colors.  It was a great lesson and a good lead-in to being thankful.  I was just so impressed that something I had done a year before, Bucko had remembered and wanted to do again. It is a good story and I don't want to forget to use it next year, so I'm going to put it here as well.  But first, here is our thankful turkey.  He is hanging in our dining room now.  We have much to be thankful for and could have made a lot more feathers, but we stopped with this many.

This story came from www.fheinasnap.blogspot.com. 
It is called The Turkey with the Terrible Temper.
Once there was a little brown turkey who had a terrible temper. He often flew into rages and ranted around until he was a nuisance in the farm yard. One day he lost his temper about some little thing and got so angry he flew into a rage and went RED as a beet. The other turkeys laughed at him and said:

You're RED, RED

RED as a beet:

Red from your head

To the tip of your feet.

Tom Turkey didn't like anyone or anything so he ran away and hid. He sat and sulked for a long time. When he calmed down and came out of his hiding place he was really RED all over. His head was RED and his neck was RED- he was RED from his head to his feet.
He hurried to the edge of the farm to visit Dr. Owl who was wise and knew all the answers to everything. "You have to learn to control that temper of yours!" hooted Dr. Owl. "if you don't remember in time you will end up being a very sorry turkey."
The next day Tom Turkey was brown again except that he had a red feather in his tail. He was very glad to be brown again, but he still thought it was everybody else's fault that he gotten so angry the day before.
Tom's mother called to him to help with the Monday wash. But Tom got the BLUES as soon as he started working. he moaned and groaned until his mother said he was acting like a baby. You can guess what happened next- he lost his temper again. This time he went BLUE all over! As he was running, the other turkeys yelled:
You're BLUE, BLUE
From your head to your toe,
BLUE all over
wherever you go.
This time Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed his mother for losing his temper . By morning he was BROWN again but now he had a blue feather next to the red one in his tail.
You can guess what happened the rest of the week. On Tuesday Tom didn't want to clean up the yard. He said he hated cleaning up with a PURPLE passion. Just as soon as he said that, he was in a rage he turned PURPLE all over. the turkeys shouted:
You're PURPLE, PURPLE
That's all we can see,
You'd better go hide
Under your favorite tree.
Of course Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed everything onto everyone else.
On Wednesday morning he was BROWN again but he had a purple tail feather added to his RED and BLUE one. He was beginning to feel ashamed that he couldn't control himself like he wanted to.
He went out for a walk when he saw a big ear of corn that his turkey friend was eating. Tom was GREEN with envy. He thought the farmer had no right to give someone else the cob of corn. And before he knew it, he had turned GREEN all over, and was in another terrible temper tantrum. The turkeys all turned to him and yelled:
You're GREEN, GREEN
GREEN as the grass
Why don't you get wise
And stop all the sass
And of course again, Tom Turkey went to his hiding place to sulk and feel sorry for himself.
On Thursday morning he was BROWN again but now he had a green feather amongst the other brightly colored tail feathers. But something was happening to Tom Turkey. He was really beginning to change. He wanted to keep his temper. He didn't feel like being ashamed of himself. He was determined to try hard and do just that.
Of course all the turkeys like to tease Tom and while they were playing a game of Gobble and Waddle someone called Tom a coward. Before Tom stared to think he had flown into another tantrum. this time his face turned YELLOW and his neck was YELLOW and the turkeys were saying he had a YELLOW streak down his back. They yelled:
You're YELLOW turkey
Just like we said
Why don't you go home
and hide under the bed?
Tom Turkey had turned YELLOW all over because he had forgotten to control his temper. But this time he sat under the tree and thought a long time about everything. He had only himself to blame for his mistakes. He was beginning to realize that he was the only one who could make things better.
When he awoke in the morning he was brown again with a new yellow feather in his tail. He didn't say a word to anyone, he just went about his business and said to himself, "I can do it, if I try hard enough!"
Mother Turkey asked Tom to keep an on the little turkeys while she went to the store on Friday. While she was gone all the baby turkeys ran through the house with muddy feet. When Tom saw what they had done, Tom almost lost his temper. But this time he just held his breath as long as he could. He turned as pale as a ghost, but didn't lose his temper. The turkeys yelled:
You're WHITE, WHITE
But your temper didn't show
Maybe you're changing
We really hope so.
All Saturday and Sunday he kept calm and was tickled pink to think he had gone two days without a terrible temper tantrum. He was still a little brown turkey, and a very happy one too.
He reported back to Dr. Owl on Monday and Tom Turkey thanked him for his help. Dr. Owl told Tom he earned the wright to wear the brightly colored tail and that he should show it off proudly from now on.
So when you go to the farm and see the turkey with his fan shaped tail all unfolded, remember this story about the turkey with the terrible temper.

Halloween

We had Trunk-or-Treat at our ward building the night before Halloween.  I even dressed up for the fun. (Hey, that graduation gown has gone unused for far too long, and it was definitely the easiest costume to cover the growing belly!)  We had a lot of fun.  Tink was a witch, of course.  Minnie went as Belle again this year.  Bucko was a bow hunter, and Goofy was a monkey.  Fits all their personalities perfectly.  (Not that Tink is a witch--she just loves the twist in Wicked, that the wicked witch is really good.)
The kids liked doing the cupcake walk and the beanbag toss the most.  One fun part was a guy dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow. He played the part up perfectly and stayed in character the whole night.  You can see his "ship" in the bottom right picture.  Tink walked in front of him when I took the picture, so you can only see his hat.

I decided not to hand out candy from our trunk this year with PC gone.  I needed to be with the kids and walk around with them, so that is what we did.  Bucko got separated from us for a few minutes and that was scary for both of us.  I know it's just at church, but you never know what can happen and there were a lot of people there.  It was a good night, though. They had tons of candy, so we only went to a few neighbors' houses the next night for trick-or-treating.  They still have so much candy. We will probably be able to use it for gingerbread houses at Christmas.