Lots of treats

Tonight we went to the park across the street for the Community Halloween Festival.

The kids had a great time and played lots of carnival games.

After the park we came home to get the wagon so I could take Cayson and Carly out

trick or treating. Thad stayed home with Burke and handed out candy on the porch.

Halloween is getting to be so much fun as the kids get older!

Cayson racing to bite the donut. SO FUNNY!

Thank goodness for the balloon keeping Burke occupied!

Cayson in the sack race.

Carly even got to play games and won!

While I took Cayson and Carly out Thad stayed home to hand out candy with Burke.

Our neighbor came over and while they were talking Burke got into some mischief. 

We ripped a plant out and still have the water going and Burke found the mud entertaining.

At least daddy took some pictures with his phone!

Cayson and Carly and their loot!

We are going to have a sugar high for weeks...eek!

Trunk or Treat

We had a really good time at our ward Trunk or Treat tonight and the kids filled their buckets!

 I tried to get a good shot of all 3 kids...

I FAILED!

kayaking damage

(I was loading pictures on the computer and found this...enjoy!)

Remember during the summer when I ran into that tree while kayaking...

Well this was the damage. And YES, I do have a nice big scar.

Dance and packing peanut fun

Carly started dance today. They had a halloween party and Carly had a great time.

I look forward to many more dance lessons.

She was so cute in her costume running all around the room.

I can't wait for her recital in June!

 We got a package in the mail today. 

As soon as I opened the box and the kids saw the packing peanuts they got the happiest look on their faces. Burke immediately climbed in the box, Cayson started pulling the peanuts apart and Carly started throwing them. They had a great time for 30 minutes then I had a horrible time trying to clean up the mess. FYI, packing peanuts suck to clean up.

Pumpkin carving

Monday night for Thad's birthday Maury and the kids came over. Thad picked hawaiian haystacks for dinner and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. After dinner the boys...Thad, Maury and I, carved pumpkins. Posey and Carly enjoyed themselves playing in the toy room with Dolls. Burke enjoyed himself trying to put whatever fell on the floor in his mouth. We had a fun time celebrating Thad's birthday with family. Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!

Here's Carly in the bucket at 17 months and Burke at 14 months.

Cute.

Carly loves playing in the hot tub sink. She makes me laugh.

Vegas getaway

Thad and I decided to take a weekend away from the kids and go to Vegas for his birthday.

Nora came up to watch the kids and did fabulous, they have been asking for her all evening!

We got an amazing deal and stayed at Palazzo.

Our fun included but was not limited to:

-Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis

-Wynn dinner buffet

-Watching the filming of Cops Las Vegas

-P. Diddy saying "hi" at PF Changs

-Bodies exhibit at Luxor

-Mandalay Bay shark aquarium

-Watching a man loose $900 in 3 minutes playing poker

-Eating lunch at Serendipity3

-Drinking fun "virgin" drinks in the bar and pretending to be drunk

And most of all, I enjoyed being without the kids!

 Here is our super cool room at Palazzo

 We had to wait 45 minutes to eat at Serendipity 3.

This is how we entertained ourselves.

 This is the hot dog I had.

Yummy dinner buffet at Wynn

 Thad drinking his O'douls and my coconut "cocktail"

I will miss you, Las Vegas!

Not happy

I thought I'd try and change my layout. I saved my template and everything and all my friends and family got erased. I'm not happy!

Shunt surgery

 Carly had her shunt surgery Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at Cardon Children's Medical Center. We arrived at 11 for a 12:30 surgery. First it was pushed back an hour. Then he came in and said it would be another hour. After 2 hours behind I asked about how much longer it would be. They said another hour or more. So finally at 4:15 the anesthesiologist came in to talk to us. He gave Carly some versed to calm Carly (it knocked her out) and they took her back at 4:45. Then we waited. 

Dr. Moss came to the waiting room at 6:20PM to let us know that Carly was out of surgery and that it went well. He replaced the shunt and tubing completely and placed a new programmable shunt with a siphon control valve. The shunt was partially obstructed so it was very good that we went ahead with the surgery. Before the surgery he said that if it was his granddaughter or daughter that he would not do the surgery right now. I still had a feeling that something wasn't right and we decided to go ahead with it. I asked him after if my instinct was right and he said yes, definitely. See, mom's know best!!! 

We went to go see her and let me just say that she looked so much better than her first surgery. She was OUT! She didn't actually wake up until almost 9 and when she did she was not happy. She was trying to pull out her tubes and IV. We got her calmed down and gave her a sippy then she threw it all up. Daddy had to go home to the other two kids so I stayed the night with her. It was pretty uneventful. She actually slept pretty well and I got a little rest. At 5AM they came and got us for CT. We went back to sleep after CT and after being cleared to leave we headed home at 3:30PM. It is so great to be back home although she has been little miss cranky pants. Its time to get back to life as usual and hope that things improve for Carly. Next thing on the agenda...no infections!!!

We have been truly blessed by the amount of love and concern that our family, friends and complete strangers have shown for us and Carly. Carly's life is nothing short of a miracle and we feel blessed to be her parents. 

 Waiting patiently...

Waiting not so patiently...

 Knocked out with versed heading to surgery

Finally seeing Carly after surgery

Splotchy red face

I guess this makes going to the PICU a bit more welcoming!

We actually really liked this PICU. Cardon is a very nice hospital and best of all, its brand new!! 

Joe's Crab Shack

We went to Joe's Crab Shack tonight with my parents and Woof and Jean.

We love Joe's!

 We ordered garlicky mussels for an appetizer. Woof had never eaten a mussel before and I got him to try one. Thad had never eaten a mussel before and was certain he wouldn't like them but because Woof ate one he had to try one. Guess what?! He liked it! Ok, he didn't eat all of those but he ate at least 5!

Somehow we managed dessert. We shared a root beer float!

And now, I'M STUFFED!!!

 Umm, what's wrong with this bench? This just made us laugh!

Rheumatology

Carly had her rheumatology appointment today. Her doctor was very nice.

We talked about Carly's fevers and he looked at her blood work.

Based on what he knows he thinks she has Marshall's Syndrome, also called

 PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, cervical adenitis) syndrome.

I have some more lab work that needs to be done so I'll wait for a couple of weeks after surgery and get it done.

We see her doc in 2 months and during that time I have to keep a log of all fevers.

At least this gives us an idea of what is going on. Seems right and fits her symptoms.

While we were waiting for the doctor, Carly and I had some fun taking pictures.

I sure love this cute girl!