Jeff risked his life and put up Christmas lights on our home. We are all glad that he is okay and his feet are safely planted on the ground. Our home does look beautiful though!!

Door Bell Ditchin

I HAD to get rid of some of our Halloween candy! I'm trying to get healthier. So, for Faychee (FHE) we made some cute Turkeys and loaded them with our left over Halloween candy and went door bell ditchin. The kids had so much fun that they didn't care we were giving away all of our candy!

We were feeding the missionaries right after church on Sunday. I cooked the cornbread right before church so that I'd have 1 less thing to do before they came. I only had enough eggs to double the batch. After I pulled them from the oven, I went to shower and get ready for church. This is what I found when I got out. Sullivan climbed up and grabbed scoopfuls of cornbread to eat.

I managed to save a few pieces of cornbread and ended up throwing together another salad to compensate for the lost cornbread. I could have gotten frustrated by the whole thing, but instead I just took it as a compliment...I must make REALLY good cornbread!

A flapper, skeleton and ninja

*Side note...I bought these costumes after Halloween the year before on major clearance. I honestly thought a flapper was just a dancer from the 20's/30's. Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me realize that a flapper is not just a dancer, but a prostitute. By the time we realized my error, it was too late and K had to use this as her costume. I apologize for this and the next time I will make sure to pick out appropriate costumes no matter how much money I save! ;)

Bad Kitty

This is the pumpkin that London decorated for her schools book character pumpkin carving contest. She had free reign to do whatever she wanted. She picked a book, I picked up some black paint and she did the rest. I think it looks adorable (especially the little details like the 3D paper whiskers)! I was pretty proud of her creativity.

Riding with Grandpa!

Corn Maze

We did a corn maze again this year. They did things a little different than the year before. Instead of having a map with the locations of the punches, this year their was no map and you had to wander around till you found the 5 punches. I much preferred the year before. I can navigate with a map, but without one I just get frustrated! Still, we had a lot of fun and ended up finding all 5 punches and each of the kids got a free bag of cotton candy as a reward.


Found the tower, now where to find more punches!

The corn maze is connected to a park that has homemade slides...they are huge and both girls are pretty scared to go down them. Jeff talked London into it though.

Kamryn and Sullivan watching Jeff and London go down the big slide.

Foodcraft

When Ash is near, we always get to do fun stuff with food.

This knife weilding auntie came for a visit before Halloween. So, Jamie and Mal and kids came over and we all carved pumpkins, decorated Haunted House sugar cookies and ended the evening outside by the firepit roasting smores.


London dressed up for the occasion, church dress and all.

Sullivan had a lot of fun digging inside the pumpkin. He'd keep his hand in there for quite sometime, guess he liked feeling the sliminess of the guts.

K made Sam his very own vampire pumpkin since he was too little to carve one for himself.



This family photo kind of cracks me up. We all look like deers caught in headlights. My camera is kind of tempermental due to excessive use and for some reason it likes to act up every once in a while. I think this had to have been the only clear photo out of the 10 that were taken.

All Boy

We have this drain off area on our driveway where puddles of water collect. Sullivan LOVES to play and get dirty in them. I usually put him in play clothes and let him go at it. I'm all for Sullivan acting like a boy. See how much fun he's having...



But, when it gets to this point I have to step in...

Eww!

Last days of summer

First day

London started 2nd grade.

Kamryn started 4th grade, in a new school.

Every year I am to check in with my pulmonologist who LOVES to torture me and run pulmonary function tests and any other array of torture he can think of. Nah, it isn't that bad. It usually makes for a long day and I really hate the doom and gloom speeches and looks I get when everyone sees how bad my lungs really are. Other than that, I'm grateful that I can schedule everything in one day and get it over with.

I have a new pulmonologist...YAY!! The last one had a personality like Eeyore. So...we have an appointment before we schedule all the tests. He notices how much phlem I am coughing up and asks if this is normal. I tell him I'm coughing phlem (sorry this is kinda gross) about every 10 minutes. He is a little concerned, says that my pulmonary fibrosis is a dry lung disease and this shouldn't be happening and schedules a CT scan of my lungs to see what is happening.

The day of the tests arrive. I'm so grateful that Jeff works for a company that is willing to let him work from home so that he can keep an eye on Sullivan while I am away. My Mom had a bad reaction to the Iodine that is injected before a CT scan a few years ago and has had some problems since then. I'm kind of nervous about the CT scan, never had one before.

The nurse instructs me that she needs me to take a pregnancy test before the CT scan...weird, but okay. It never fails either...as she takes those little droplets of my urine and slowly drops them on the test and sets the timer for 3 of the longest minutes ever, I'm secretly hoping that she says "You're Pregnant." I know, of course, that I am not, but I still secretly hope and then I start day dreaming of the phone call I'd get to make to Jeff. And yes, my heart was a little sad when she said I wasn't pregnant.

She inserts the IV into the crook of my arm with the longest needle ever. I was afraid that if I bent my arm that it'd poke right through my skin. Stiff arm...I look like a complete robot idiot. CT scan only takes 10 minutes and the iodine made me feel so warm and tingly that I liked it. No side effects, yay!

Onto the pulmonary functions tests which is hard work for a person who has yuck lungs.

Then I get to see the Dr. and discuss all these results. From my CT scan he immediately notices that I've developed what is called Acquired Bronchiectasis which are these little pockets in my lungs that fill with phlem...a lot of cystic fibrosis patients have this. Since I don't have a problem coughing this stuff up then I don't need the medication yet. This will more likely get worse as I get older, but for now it isn't that big of a problem...just gross for people who are around me a lot.

Ultimately, my lung function has declined. The biggest decline was in the size/volume of my lungs which affects my ability to get oxygen. I've noticed more as I've monitored myself that my stats drop more sitting than exercising. When I"m more relaxed, my breathing isn't as deep and therefore my stats drop. Which is good and bad at the same time. Exercise should still be possible and I've just got to remember to breath deeper all the time. He's assuming (and I agree) that fat is making it harder for my diaphragm to expand and that is why my lung size has decreased. He's hoping that if I were to lose some weight that my lungs would expand more. That's pretty motivating to lose some weight!!

I started pulmonary rehabilitation 2 months ago. They taught me some breathing techniques and different things I could do to help keep my stats above 90% while I work out. Currently I am using the things I've learned and applying them as I work out at our local rec center (BIG THANK YOU to my sis-in-law Malorie for watching Sullivan). I have a long way to go but support, love, and any encouragement would help along the way. Really though...anything to just feel better and breathe better will be worth it!!

If this post seems depressing, please know that it isn't. This is the norm for me, probably sounds worse than it actually is. In fact I am doing completely awesome. I remember seeing a pulmonologist a year or so after my accident and he gave me 10 years to live. Can you imagine how I felt after hearing that??