End of Summer

It is getting colder and colder here and I think I have to admit that summer is over. In fact, I'm probably going to have to put my flip-flops away and find some real shoes. (Maybe it is a good excuse to buy the new boots I've been eyeing.)

Looking back through pictures, I discovered these that I never posted. As the summer was drawing to a close, we tried to get out into the fresh air in the evenings before the time change. We rediscovered the rope swing in the middle of our neighborhood.







Everyone enjoyed it and like so many other things, it made me wonder why don't we do this more often? Of course, now with the cold weather, coming rain, and time change we will need to wait until spring before we can visit it again...

A Knight, An Angel, a Masquerade Ball & a Monkey?

We had quite an assortment of Halloween costumes this year. Each child (except Henry) got to pick their own and we ended up with Sir Cooper the Noble Knight. He was wearing the Armour of God.

He picked it out himself months ago and has been talking about it ever since.

Miss Grace picked an Angel costume out of our dress-up clothes.

I made this for Emma when she was in 1st grade in the Christmas pageant.

Emma and her friends decided to be guests as a masquerade ball.

She borrowed the dress from Grammie and made her own mask.

Henry was adorable as a Monkey, complete with banana in his back pocket.

Jason did a great job picking this one out!

Thunder

I remembered to take the camera to Emma Jo's soccer game today! This is the first time this season!

While the team was warming up, Henry played with an extra ball.


Then the game started. We did great the first half! But the 2nd half was another story. Cloverdale is always a tough opponent and they ran away with the game the 2nd half.



Cooper made sure to put on plenty of sunscreen.

What Happened to September?

What happened to September. The month was a blur. The kids are firmly settled in school. Emma has started soccer. Gracie is a brownie. Cooper is loving being an Owl. And Henry is still not sleeping!

School started the Wednesday after we got home from Santa Cruz. Gracie is in the 2nd Grade, Emma is in 7th and Cooper is an Owl.

Mrs. Williams is Gracie's teacher. I am very excited to have her as a teacher. Emma Jo had her for part of the day in 2nd and I've always been impressed with how calm she is. She works in the nursery at least one weekend a month and she and her husband have lavish loved on each of the boys while they have been in the nursery. She is also part of a prayer group at school and she prayed for us throughout Henry's pregnancy.

This is Emma's 2nd year in Jr. High. She has the same primary teacher. Her class is a combo class with the 6th graders but they have many core classes separate. She is studying History, Math, English, Science, Computers, Spanish, Latin, and Bible. This year we have new teachers for Spanish, Computer and History. I'm very happy that Emma is experiencing multiple teachers each day. I hope it prepares her for High School in a couple of years. I'm leaning towards public High School and I pray that it isn't too hard of a transition.

Cooper is an Owl this year. His teacher is Ms. Anderson who is the sister of his assistant teacher last year. He is in a small class with 7 boys and 2 girls. He seems to be thriving and he can spell his name!

Henry started walking just after his 1st birthday and now he is running everywhere. He learned how to tackle and wrestle while we were in Santa Cruz. Now it is very common to hear Jason and I telling him to "be nice to your brother, don't tackle your sister!" He loves them but he isn't gentle. One of Henry's favorite ways to express his love is to sit on your head.

Emma Jo is now fully engulfed in Soccer. She is playing for Coach Rob again on the Red Thunder. He is a great coach and she is really enjoying the season. Emma plays multiple positions but usually plays either Attacking Mid or Goalie. She also plays Defending Mid, Full Back and even played Forward last week. She is becoming very skilled at controlling the ball and not panicking under pressure. Emma has a great kick and can boot the ball past half field on Goal Kicks. I am really enjoying watching her play. Last Saturday Emma's game was at 7pm under the lights. It was very exciting game and made me hope that she might like to play for Windsor High in a couple of years.

Gracie is in her 3rd year of Girl Scouts, this year as a Brownie. She is also doing ballet this year after a two year absence. She is loving both, especially Brownies with Rhoda. Last weekend was "Fall Encampment" for girl scouts and Grace go to go to Cazadero with Rhoda and 6 other girls from her troop. They left Friday evening and didn't return until just before lunch on Sunday. Grace had a great time and I don't think she missed us at all. Cooper on the other hand continually asked when we were going to pick up Grace. They are great playmates and Cooper was bored without his "girlie".

Life can be a little overwhelming with four children. I've been swamped at work and have started going to Oakville 1 or 2 days a week. This just adds to the chaos of multiple after-school activities each week. To top it off, Henry still doesn't sleep. In fact he has become a worse sleeper over the past month. He used to go to sleep around 8pm, wake for a snack around midnight, another snack around 3am and then up for the day around 6am. It wasn't ideal but it was okay. Then he started waking around 11:30pm and not going back to sleep until after 1:30am. After a couple of weeks of that, Jason decided to step in. Now thankfully Jason puts him to bed 4-5 nights a week. It is tough on Jason but so nice for me after 13+ nights of taking him to bed every single night. Now I have the option to unwind a little in the evenings and I even have gone to a few women's events at church. I pray that someday soon Henry will start sleeping and that we can encourage it without forcing him.

It only takes a second!

Friday evening Henry fell off the kitchen counter and fractured his skull. I feel like a terrible mother, and so so guilty. I knew he shouldn't be up there, but he is such a crab when I set him on the ground to get anything done. I'd gotten in the habit of setting him on the counter right in front of me when I'm working on something in the kitchen. Friday had been a long day. I got home from work late, Jason didn't feel well, the other kids were watching TV and the kitchen was a mess. I just wanted to pick up a bit so that I could get dinner started.

I set him on the counter and turned my back for a second to throw something in the trash. In that second I heard aloud THUD. I turned around and found Henry laying flat on his back. I picked him up and tried to sooth him. He almost immediately vomited. A friends daughter had a skull injury earlier this summer and I learned from her that vomiting was a very bad sign.

I took Henry to the ER and after an hour was finally seen by a doctor. The doctor had told me that I should just go home and "observe" him for 24 hours. I insisted that something wasn't right and I wanted testing. She relented and ordered a CT scan. After another hour and half we finally had the test and knew he had a skull fracture. Thankfully the skull hadn't moved and it appeared he was fine, but the decision was made to transport Henry to Oakland Children's Hospital via ambulance for further evaluation.

Oakland Children's Hospital ER was amazing! We immediately had several doctors, nurses, and surgeons evaluating Henry. We were admitted for overnight observation. It was the longest night of my life, and a very trying day, but in the end it was determined that Henry was fine. Because the skull did not move there was no brain injury, bleeding or swelling. The fracture in itself isn't dangerous. We now have to watch him and try to prevent him from further injuring the skull for at least a month. After that time he should be good as new, as if nothing happened to him.

Henry Eating Ice Cream

The last night we were in Santa Cruz we treated ourselves to Marianne's Ice Cream. We had heard that it was a locals favorite and not to be missed. While enjoying our ice cream we all remarked at Henry's facial expressions. Whenever he eats anything that is cold or sweet (or both) he makes the most awful face like we are torturing him. Then he opens his mouth and wants more.

Pictures from Santa Cruz

The opinons about Santa Cruz were unanimous. The best part of the trip was "playing with our cousins" or "spending time with the family". The 2nd best part was "going to the beach"! We had a great time in Santa Cruz and hope we can go back in a year or two.