Giving Thanks!

This year on Thanksgiving, as always, I have many things to be thankful for! At the top of the list are my husband and my children. In addition to them, I am incredibly thankful for having a home to live in and food to eat. We are so blessed for Greg to have such an incredible new job. These things are only the tip of the iceburg.

For the holiday this year, we drove to Greg's parent's house in Medford, Oregon. Greg's sister and her family joined us there. It was a nice family weekend spent together. Kyler and Caden adore their baby cousin, Brody! They couldn't get enough of him. Sometimes too much; always in his face and overstimulating him. But I am glad they love him. It's very cute to see them together.

We got to enjoy the dedication of Brody at church on Sabbath. What a special occasion and yet another reason to be thankful.

We had a table overflowing with food, leaving enough leftovers to eat another full thanksgiving dinner for the next two days! Talk about abundance! I hope your thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.

These are two of the napkin rings that Kyler made at school.  Aren't they cute?  :)

Thanksgiving Feast

Friday, November 18, I got to help out in Kyler's classroom and attend the Thanksgiving Feast he and his classmates helped prepare for themselves and their parents. It was so much fun.

All the parents brought food items to the feast and the kids made all the decorations. After having chapel in the morning and a few “normal” school activities, we all headed into the community center room where some of the parents had gotten everything ready. It looked great!

The kids made placemats with turkeys on them, using their handprints in paint for tail feathers. They also made turkey centerpieces out of pinecones. The tail feathers were glued on and had things written on them that they were thankful for. And they made napkin rings that were absolutely adorable!

The day before all the kids had made an apple pie from scratch. They cored, peeled and cut all the apples, and made the crust. Kyler wouldn't eat any of it but I had some and it was delicious! They did a great job making it. :)

It was a very fun day and the kids did a great job with everything! Before we all ate, the kids performed a little Thanksgiving piece they had worked on followed by prayer.

Boring Heart?

Thursday, November 17, Caden had an echo. At his regular cardiology appointment in October, his doctor had some possible concerns about what might be going on. I talked about this in a previous post. The tech isn't allowed to tell us anything about what she sees, so we have to wait for a follow-up with Dr. Van Gundy to find out if there truly is anything to be concerned about or not.

But I have to say I was dreading the appointment because the last echo he had was really stressful. He wouldn't hold still and was squirming around and crying and not behaving at all. It made it really hard on me. But this time around, I talked to him quite a bit about it all day before the appointment. I told him it wasn't going to hurt and that he just had to hold still long enough for them to get good pictures of his heart. And I think what closed the deal for him was knowing he got a sticker at the end if he did a good job! :) So easy to please, I tell you!

He was happy to lay down quietly on the table while the echo tech did the ultrasound. He held perfectly still and didn't talk or cry at all. When it was all done, he sat up and asked for his sticker. I love this kid! As long as he understands something isn't going to hurt him, he almost always behaves beautifully. And right now he has a big obsession with stickers and will do just about anything for them. Great to have as a bribery tool when necessary...

The funny part about the whole thing is that apparently the time slot for his echo was double-booked. The other child was a little girl who was probably 5-6 years old. The tech came out and told us she was sorry for the inconvenience but she wanted to take the little girl first because she thought it would go really fast since older kids are usually easier. Well, that didn't exactly go as she planned. The little girl screamed and cried during the whole thing and it took much longer than she anticipated. It was fine for us to wait, it just made me laugh when Caden was such an angel. She told me she's never had a 2-year-old behave as well as he did. :) That's my boy!

Feeding Himself???

I can hardly even believe what I am writing! Tonight, November 16, for the first time in his entire life, Caden spoon-fed himself! It all came about following this conversation:

Caden: “Apple, Mommy. Apple.”
Me: “Do you want to eat an apple?”
Caden: “Yeah.”
Me: “Will you eat applesauce if I give it to you?”
Caden: “Yeah.”
Me: “Okay. Will you feed yourself if I get it for you?”
Caden: “Yeah.”
Me: “All right.”

So I get the applesauce out of fridge and sit him down in his booster seat with a spoon and small bowl. To my COMPLETE shock and joy, he actually dipped the spoon in the applesauce and put it in his mouth. There was no complaining or gagging. Nothing! Incredible!

In the past, he has asked me for various food items, but when I question him as to whether or not he will actually eat it, he always tells me “NO!” And at times he will wait until I get the food out for him before he says “no” and runs away. This time was different. When he took the first bite, I cheered so loud for him and he got a huge grin on his face. You could tell how proud he was. My parents were here as well and they were cheering also. He totally loved the response and kept going!

What a day! I can only hope and pray this is a turning point for him in regards to eating. I would love for him to start feeding himself but time will tell. At this moment I am just completely overjoyed with the small step he took in the right direction. I am such a proud mommy right now!!!

House Hunting

When we came to Walla Walla this to look for a place to live, I didn't realize how hard it was going to be. This is a very unique community in terms of housing options. There is a lot available right now but it is a very diverse group of houses. From one street to the next the quality of houses vary greatly. You can have a very nice, high-end house and right next to it is a dilapidated house that is barely still standing.

The biggest problem we keep encountering is either finding a house we liked, but in a location we didn't like or the lot was too small. Or, we found land we loved in a great location. But we just couldn't seem to find both a house and land that we liked at the same time. We really don't want to settle for something we're not going to be happy with. So this has been a big stress.

Greg started his job last Friday so most of the house hunting has been up to me. I have seen probably 85 homes in Walla Walla in the past week! It's exhausting! Lucky for Greg I narrowed the list down to 10 houses for him to look at. From those 10 we easily cut the list in half. The remaining five houses are very different from each other with distinct pros and cons. I am not sure what way we will end up going, but at least we have some options.

It has been a productive trip to Walla Walla and I am really glad I was able to come. It has been a fun week because we've gotten to see old friends and catch up with people we haven't seen in many years. We are definitely looking forward to moving back here.

We fly home tomorrow and then it's back to the busy daily routine at home. Greg will be home over the weekend and then he's back to Walla Walla to work during the week. It's going to be a very busy five-six weeks for us before we move! Hope we can get everything done that we need to in order to be ready.