Carving Out Memories

The kids had a wonderful time carving pumpkins this year. Nolan was able to do a minimal amount of cutting, and Lilly actually had enough courage to stick her hands in and pull out the goo. Nolan and I went online to find patterns this year and he selected which designs we should try. He liked so many that we had to narrow it down to ones we could successfully accomplish. Mike and Nolan baked the seeds again this year, and they were very tasty if I do say myself! That is typically Mike's job...he doesn't get into the whole carving thing, so I usually end up doing that part. I did get him to cut out the cat pumpkin tonight, but wasn't able to get him to help me with the other four. I have to admit, that by the fourth one, I had enough too. My kitchen was a complete disaster and why go through more work when there is only a week left to enjoy them? The kids were extremely excited to light the jack-o-lanterns on our front step. It always makes them look so magnificent when they're lit...I guess it was worth all the mess and work! Plus, it's one more tradition...one more memorable moment for our family.

Brandon's Eight!

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A Big Day for Nolan

Dear Nolan,
I just wanted to tell you how proud of you I am, and how much I love you. Today was a big day for you. Going to the U of M Children's Hospital was a little scary and tiring for you, but you did it. I knew you were a little anxious, because you weren't able to fall back asleep this morning. You've never had to get up at 4:00 in the morning before. Counting all the semi trucks on the road seemed to help take your mind off things. When we arrived at the hospital, you had a lot of questions. You were really worried about having another I.V. placed in your arm, but luckily they saved that part for when you were sleeping. The only thing that bothered you were the big hospital socks with grippers. (You thought they were a little itchy.) I thought you looked cute in their jammies.

You loved the T.V. in the bedroom and were able to watch a cartoon before they wheeled you off to the operating room. The doctors and nurses all thought you were really brave and cute. Many stopped by and asked you questions. You received a lot of stickers from them (even before the surgery). They sure kept you busy, and it made the morning go pretty quickly. When it was time to take you to the room, dad followed you in his blue suit. It kind of looked like a space suit. Dad's mask even had whiskers on it, so it made him look like a tiger in a space suit. We giggled about that. You weren't too scared being wheeled to the OR, because I think you were pretty fascinated by the rolling bed. Hearing you say, "I love you, mom," as they rolled you down the hall, melted my heart. I had a difficult time walking behind you. I have to admit, I was scared. The nurse brought me to the waiting room where I could see your name on a T.V. screen. The screen told me where you were and how long it would be before I could see you again.
Dad said you did great! He got to go in with you and hold your hand, while you drifted off. You got a little giggly from the laughing gas and then slowly fell asleep.
Both dad and I were surprised when the doctor found us in the cafeteria 20 minutes later. We thought it was going to take an hour, but he reported that we have a very healthy little boy. He said your tummy was a nice pink color and was in good shape considering all you've been through. He did tell us that you had some bumps on your small intestine, but we shouldn't worry. They are going to call us in a week with biopsy results. He is still worried about how much you vomit, and said we would talk about that more when the results from your tests came back.
We were so happy to hear that news Nolan! It took you about 30 minutes to start waking up, so we still had to wait outside before we could come back in to see you. When they called us in, I wanted to run to you...just to hold your hand, run my fingers through your hair, and kiss your cheeks. I wanted my little boy back. You were extremely tired and not super responsive, but recognized us and gave us a half grin when we walked in the room. I can't explain the emotion that ran through me at that moment. I felt so much love for you, that my heart ached. I also felt regret...I am sorry for getting upset with you and losing my patience sometimes, but I am trying to be the best mom I can be. The sweet inncence of you, your sensitive side, and your love of life flashed before me and I instantly prayed to God to thank him for giving us the joy of you. We stayed by your side for about an hour and then were transferred back to a regular room. It took about another hour for you to gain enough strength to sit up and visit with us. The nurses brought you a Popsicle and a purple balloon to help you feel better. It was nice to see your smile return. The only tears we saw were at the very end, when they took the tape off around the I.V. and removed the needle. They only lasted a minute and you were ready to go home.
We made it home in time for lunch. You even woke up and asked if we could stop for rice and beans. =0) This made me smile, because I knew my little Nolan was back! I love you so much buddie. We are doing everything we can to try to figure out why you're sick so much. Thankfully, your spirit shines bright and most days you're a pretty happy-go-lucky four year old! I pray you never loose that, because you (and your sister) mean the world to me (us).
Hugs and kisses XOXO,
Mom

Feeling Festive

Nolan has been wanting to make a scarecrow ever since he spotted the ones in our daycare lady's yard. Hers are store bought, so I am not sure what gave him the idea of constructing one of our own, but hey...why not? It was a nice evening for raking leaves and we discovered they are perfect scarecrow filler. The kids loved stuffing Mike's clothes with leaves and trying to assemble him. We had two corncobs w/ husks that we used for the hands and my sun hat worked pretty well on the top of the rubber ball head. Nolan glued the button eyes and nose on, and I added the rosy cheeks and smile. He actually turned out pretty cute, considering we just used what we had around the house. I couldn't get Lilly in any of the pictures once he was assembled. The scarecrow actually scared her... she wanted nothing to do with him!

Mike's First Deer

Mike and my dad were drawn for the big Camp Ripley hunt this year. They both headed out bright and early this morning to sit in a tree stand for close to 12 hours. How anyone can sit there that long is beyond me. (But that is coming from someone who has a hard time sitting through an entire movie.) The weather was absolutely perfect and they were both geared up for shooting a big one. Mike said it was very peaceful. Close to a dozen deer came near him today, only a couple close enough to make the kill. At 1:00, a button buck crossed right in front of him and he excitedly pulled back his bow and took the perfect shot. The deer dropped dead about 100 yards from the place where he was hit. It weighed about 100 pounds. Way to go Mike!

The kids were pretty excited too. Lilly didn't know quite what to think when she saw it on the back of my dad's truck tonight. Nolan tried to comfort her by telling her it wasn't real and was bravely petting it. When I corrected him and told him it was real, he got really big eyes and backed away for a second. He began asking a lot of questions and inspected closer. I am a softy, so I had a little bit of a hard time telling him Mike shot him. When he understood the whole story and realized dad shot him with a bow and arrow, he was intrigued and acted like most boys his age do. He came into the house and starting shooting things... my, oh my! I am sure the grandpa's will be happy to hear there is another potential hunter in the group...as his mom, I am not so sure! =0)

A Mazen' Farmyard

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Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween from the Houghton Family
Ahoy Matey!
I make such a cute Cheerbear...please give me candy!

Give me candy...or I will make you walk the plank!

Sweets for the sweetie!

Yahoo! We just got an apple from the produce section!

Top Step: Ellie-3(princess) Sophie-3 (unicorn) Nolan-4 (pirate) Maggie-5 (frog)

Middle: MaKenna-4 (penguin) Grant-1 (frog) Ryan-3 (baseball player)

Bottom: Lilly-2 (CareBear)

We hope you all have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Our family met the Kruse's, Kiergaard's and Privatsky's this morning for an early trick or treating session. Coborn's Superstore and the strip mall sponsored this event for the children. It was a lot of fun to get them into their costumes. ( It's kind of nice to have another chance to wear them too.) The kids' buckets were full of treats by the time we were done. Both kids had a hard time deciding on a costume this year, but these pictures prove they picked the right ones. It was even fun for Mike and me...we love to feel like kids too! Happy Halloween!

Fall Fun

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Thank you grandma and grandpa for having the kids over tonight. Mike and I were able to enjoy a nice dinner together...and Nolan and Lilly had a blast. Spending time with you is something they really look forward to, and we appreciate it.

What a Hoot!

Nolan is a great baker's man...mixing all on his own.

Time to frost...what a fun way to make a mess!

Nolan sliced 48 Oreo cookies in half to make the eyes for the owls.

Lilly helped add Junior Mints and pieces of candy corn for the beaks.

Ta da! Look at all my yummy cupcakes!

Oh Boy! I can't wait to taste these!
The kids and I took some time to bake a batch of owl cupcakes. What a hoot!

A Trip to the E.R.

As many of you know, Nolan has a long history of colds and vomiting. This horrible rollercoaster of sickness began when he was 20 months old. At that time, he caught RSV a nasty cough like virus that weakens the lungs and immune system. He's battled what feels like hundreds of colds and sinus infections in the last two years. Mike and I have lost tons of sleep, weeks of work, and a lot of money over the past two years dealing with it. We've had Nolan seen by just about every type of doctor and specialist searching for an answer. Trips to our local doctor, the chiropractor, vudo doctors, and even the University of MN have not been successful. We've been told he has acid reflux, a sensitive gag reflex, and history of chronic sinus infections. Doctors have been telling us for the past two years, that he will out grow this. Nolan has been on more antibiotics in two years than both Mike and I combined have been on in our entire lives. He has been on various vitamins, herbs, drops, and pills to try to keep the coughing spells and vomiting down, but nothing seems to work. Yesterday morning, our little guy woke up and had a coughing spell which led to vomiting. Mike and I became very alarmed when we saw not only vomit, but blood. At first, we thought the blood was coming from his nose, but then noticed it wasn't. It was bright red and coming up with each purge. He proceeded to throw up enough blood that Mike and I became very worried and called our pediatrician. Nolan was seen at Centra Care clinic at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. They did blood work and thought that he should be sent down to the U of M for further tests. When the U of M heard about his condition, they sent us to the E.R. in St. Cloud in case there was an acute bleed and would need immediate attention. Mike and I were worried as any parent would be, but were able to remain calm because Nolan was acting like a typical four year old. He had eaten a good lunch, took a nap, played outside, and was very chipper despite the circumstances. We checked in the E.R. at about 5:30 last night. The were very friendly and surprisingly quick. Within the first hour, they drew blood through an IV in his arm (tucked under the blanket). Nolan was not at all thrilled with this...in fact, he cried and got so worked up that he vomited again. The nurses and doctors saw firsthand the blood we had seen earlier. Thankfully, he made it through and was rewarded a large bag of goodies for being so brave. At about 8:00p.m. we were told that his hemoglobin level was normal. This was good news. If the levels would have dropped, it would have meant he had internal bleeding and we would have been rushed down to U by ambulance. The normal levels indicated that the blood was most likely coming from a tear in the esophagus, feeding tube, or stomach. The vomiting episode in the morning most likely caused tearing in one of those areas. We know that Nolan throws up a lot and believe that all of this wear and tear on his insides are not good. The doctors sent us home with a prescription to help heal those areas and would like to see us at the U of M next week to do an Endoscopic procedure. They will be putting Nolan out and then running a tube and camera down his throat to see if everything is the way it should be. We have been thankful for normal test results and feel blessed that they really can't pinpoint anything dramatically wrong with him. At the same time, we feel cursed! Poor little Nolan has been through so much! We are lucky that he is such a trooper and bounces back pretty quickly. We ask that you all pray for him so that this test goes well. We also ask you to pray for good health for Nolan. We are entering cold and flu season...it seems like once it starts, we have are in for another rollercoaster ride- all winter long. Mike and I pray that what the doctors say is true...he'll out grow it. A healthy Nolan is a happy Nolan and... a happy set of parents.

Muffins with Mom/ Donuts with Dad

What a great way to start out our day. The school hosted a parent/child breakfast for all the families at Oak Ridge Elementary. Both Nolan and Lilly thought it was neat to eat in the cafeteria. Yummy! Yummy!

House Hunting

On Sunday, Mike and I decided to go out house hunting. At this point, we aren't able to move up our closing date (Dec. 19th), so we figure we have quite a bit of time to see what's out there before having to move into an apartment. Who knows, maybe we'll fall in love with something and will be able avoid the apartment thing altogether. Why not see what is out there?
I really didn't know what to expect, but thought I would keep an open mind. I knew it would take the perfect house to convince me to give up building the one I designed, but why not check it out. So, we contacted our realtor and set up nine showings. It was fun to be on the other side of things. All the homes we chose to view were in Sartell and in neighborhoods we'd enjoy living in. Some people went through a lot of work to show their home, while others didn't. Neat to see various floor plans and decorations. There were a couple of houses we thought we could live in, but in all honesty not quite perfect for us.
We've decided to focus our energy on building my dream home on Mike's dream land, and are having our blueprint finalized. Our next step will be getting bids on the design to see where we're at financially. We also need to close on the sale of this house, move into the apartment, and pray that all goes like we hope. Thankfully, Mike and I have been patient with the whole thing. The land has been sitting empty for two years now, if it needs to sit empty a little longer- so be it. I believe that in the end, all things will turn out the way they're suppose to.

Family Hike

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Card Shark

Now that the days are getting shorter, we've had to come up with some new activities to keep us entertained until bedtime. Nolan has been really interested in Math and anything that involves numbers. He's been reciting some of the basic addition facts at the dinner table, and even managed to count to 100 last night. I was so proud of him that I actually did a little dance around the living room to show my enthusiasm. He thought it was funny and wanted to do it again- just to see if he'd get the same reaction. Because he is so interested in numbers, I pulled out a deck of cards and taught him how to play "Go Fish". He caught on immediately and begged to play again tonight. I know the game isn't hard, but to actually see him hold the cards in his hand and ask for aces, jacks, and the eight of diamonds...made me feel good inside. It reminded both Mike and me of playing card games as kids. We both thought about sitting at the kitchen table with our parents, grandparents, and siblings. Kings in the Corner, Solitaire, Crazy 8's, Spoons, Cribbage, 500, and Bridge are the games we remember playing most. We are looking forward to introducing more of these games to Nolan this winter.

All In A Week's Time

Monday: Fused Glass 101

Wednesday: No Cats Allowed

Friday: Foster Parent Found

Sunday: Bowler Boy

Our Bowler Babe!
Feeling Proud After Getting a Spare
Who has time to bowl, when there are suckers to eat?

Monday: Denell and I went to the Paramount Theater in St. Cloud for our second jewelry making class. It was a two session course that taught us how to fuse glass. The pendants were created by cutting and arranging various pieces of glass and then firing them. We were able to take home our first four pendants, but have to go back to pick up what we made in the second session. Both Denell and I thought it was easier the second night and are excited to go pick up our other creations.

Tuesday: Steph hosted Bunco at her house on Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun to see everyone again. She served a delicious meal and a very yummy dessert. Plus, I won first place!

Wednesday: We toured Grandview Estate Apartments in Sartell in hopes to find a place we can call home during the winter months. They don't have any three bedroom apartments available at this time, but did have a large two bedroom with vaulted ceilings as an option. The square footage happens to be the same as the three bedroom apartments, so we are going to try to make it work. The kids are super excited about the move, because not only do they get to ride up the elevator to our apartment, but there is a huge indoor swimming pool, hot tub, workout rooms, movie theater, car wash, and community rooms for having friends and family over. The place is pretty amazing actually. Mike and I are thrilled about FREE heat this winter and NO SHOVELING! =0) However,we were very SAD to find out that they don't accept cats. This actually brought tears to my eyes... When I asked Nolan what he'd rather have, an apartment with a pool and no Winnie, or an apartment without a pool and Winnie?, he replied, "I want the cat to be with us." I thought it was so sweet. We did look into three other apartment/ townhome options in Sartell, but unfortunately they don't have openings, or their leasing options won't work for us. Now what??

Thursday: Nolan continues going to Northcrest Gymnastics on Thursday nights. He is loving it. I haven't had the chance to capture this on camera yet, but will do so in the near future. He is getting stronger and little more coordinated. His favorite thing is the trampoline. Lilly went to ECFE with Mike and had a fun time. Mike came home with a good report and said that her favorite activity of the night was the puzzle table.

Friday: Cat Sitter Wanted! Mike and I sat down to try to make a decision on the whole cat thing. Thankfully, my grandma is willing to be a foster parent to Winnie while we are in the apartments. We truthfully they will make a purr-fect pair. Thanks so much grandma!

Saturday: Mike took the kids to the Kid's Expo at the Civic Center while I worked the last day of the garage sale. The kids had a blast. They brought home a big bag filled with goodies.

Sunday: God made Sundays a day to rest, right?...well, that's just what we did! We started out our day by going to church. Nolan is really enjoying Sunday School, and we are enjoying the fact that we only have one child to entertain and keep still through the sermons each week. =0) We've started a simple tradition after church (one that I remember as a kid), going to Coborn's to pick out a donut at the bakery! Yummy! We spent the rest of the morning playing, reading the paper, and doing laundry. When the clock struck 1:00 everyone hit the hay. We were all out for close to two hours. It was absolutely perfect. There is nothing better than taking a nap on a dreary, rainy day. After nap, we knew we needed to get out of the house, so we took the kids bowling. It was a nice family outing that turned into a pizza party and NO cooking or cleaning up the kitchen for me. We ventured to Target to get a few necessities and headed back home for a little more playtime, bath, books and the bedtime routine. And here I sit... finally alone and in absolute silence! YES! Another week is done...SIGH! I better get out the calendar and plan for the week ahead. DEEP BREATH!