Halloween 2015

We had a fun Halloween this year! It was perfect that it ended up being on a Saturday. I'm sure the teachers were glad about this also. The weather was beautiful which made for perfect Trick or Treating weather!

Our little Trick or Treaters

This year Emerson was a puppy. It was a hard call between puppy and monkey as her favorite animal but we settled on puppy. Grandma Susie made a super cute and cuddly puppy costume. She only wore the hat for a little while but she has been asking randomly throughout the week to wear her puppy costume again.

Since the weather was so nice Emmy and I walked around and went Trick or Treating also. She thought it was really fun and would point at the houses and say House Treat. Once she got her candy she did a really good job saying Thank you. She is getting so big!

 

Abby was Little Red Riding Hood this year. I am still a little perplexed on how she picked this but it was really cute. I don't think we have read the story in a long time and it isn't a movie or show that she has watched. Her requirement for the costume was a hood cape. Thankfully Grandma Susie was able to make a super cute costume that included a hood cape.

Last year Bryce and Caleb did scary so I was assuming that they would want to go that route again this year but they surprised us by wanting to be football players. Their costumes were easy since they had the jerseys that they needed. Bryce was Jamal Charles from the Chiefs and Caleb was Jordan Westercamp from the Huskers.

Bryce's dread wig cracked me up!

We drew a little mustache on Caleb. It was hilarious!

The kids wanted to Trick or Treat with friends so we had everyone over for pizza before and then we headed out for Trick or Treating. We had a fun group and the boys and Abby had their friends to walk around with.

Bryce, Kasten (claw machine), Caleb, Kamden (vending machine), Brett (pack man), Bretts cousin.

 

Addison and Abby
These two have become good little friends this year!

When Abby decided to be Little Red Riding Hood Robb told her that he would be the wolf. He is such a great dad and made good on his promise and walked around with a pink robe and a wolf mask.

We had a fun night walking around the neighborhood with the kids and everyone got enough candy to last us for months.

New Job

I have been working in the Endoscopy unit at St. Elizabeth for a little over and year now and I was feeling like it was time for a change. Endoscopy isn't something I would ever choose but I happened to fall into this position when the NICU started losing business and at the time it was the best decision for our family. It offered fairly stable daytime hours and I had already been helping in the unit so I knew the doctors and the staff. I liked the daytime hours but the hospital went through a crisis period where they stopped accepting one of the main insurances in the state. When they stopped accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield our business plummeted and the morale everywhere did too. They laid people off from our unit that had trained me which I felt terrible about. It overall became a very hard place to work. I had been working on call weekends just once a month and I was on call 1 night a week if I didn't work that weekend. When we laid off staff we still had to cover all of those hours so I was then working on call shifts every other to every 3rd weekend from Friday at 3:30- Monday at 7 am. We also had to work call shifts 1-2 nights a week and we were frequently having to stay until 6 at night and then go in again in the middle of the night and then be expected to be there again at 7 am. It started affecting Robb's job and it just wasn't working for our family. I started looking for other jobs but was disappointed to find that working at an office paid significantly less than a hospital job. I applied at the Gastroenterology office and got called in for an interview. As I already said GI wouldn't be my top choice but this would hopefully be an easy job to get since I had already been working with all these doctors at the hospital. After the interview I got a call that they were offering me the job. Robb and I took the weekend to think about it and decided that I would take it even though it was less money. Family time and weekends off count for something! I accepted the job on a Monday but had to wait until Wednesday to tell St. E's. We had a staff meeting early in the morning to more or less talk about how we were going to handle our "staffing crisis" and then I went into the managers office and told her I was quitting. It was TERRIBLE! I didn't know if I was making the right decision or not and I really liked most of the girls I worked with so it was hard to tell them that I was leaving too. They did offer to let me stay on as supplemental and for now that works out great, mainly because then I am grandfathered into the hospital and wouldn't need to obtain my BSN within 5 years if I decided to go back. Change is always hard and I just hope that this works out better for our family. I guess I thought by 33 I would have my job/career figured out and I feel like that is far from the truth. I think after a while nursing burns you out and I would almost rather do anything but be a nurse, but since pastry chef and barista at Barnes and Noble pay even less than my office job I guess I will give this a shot for now.

Grammy Hansen's Pumpkin Patch

Grandma Hansen has been planting pumpkins and gourds the last couple years for the kiddos. The kids look forward to picking out the perfect pumpkin each year. The boys also have fun searching for gourds for me so I can use them to decorate with.

Abby found her pumpkin right away and then had fun cutting gourds out of the fence line and trees.

 

Bryce climbed the tree to get to get pumpkin that had grown on a vine there. He was pretty proud of himself!

Caleb looks pretty serious in his search for the perfect pumpkin.

He found it!

Emmy even found an Emmy sized one.

Lucy got to meet Grandma for the first time. She was terrified of the other dogs at the farm which made it difficult during the visit but she finally decided she could get along with Lassie and Grammy put Gaby in the barn. Such a spoiled dog already.

I guess Emmy took it to heart when we said that you had to be able to carry your pumpkin to the car. She has always liked picking up heavy things.

It's a good thing that Lassie has such a good temperament! Emerson was convinced that she was big enough to ride. Every time Lassie laid down Emmy was attempting to ride her.

Thank you for the great pumpkins and gourds Grammy! Oh and the 2 dozen cookies, 2 pitchers of lemonade and supper.

Roca Scary Farm

This year we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Emmy's Daycare during Fall Break. I wasn't able to go last year so I was excited to go this year. We had a beautiful day to go. It was chilly in the morning but ended up being really nice out.

Abby and Emerson
My little cuties

Emerson found the goats of course! She loves animals.

Abby loved the animals too

I think Bryce and Caleb were a little too big for these bikes this year!

It was fun getting to see Emmy interact with her daycare friends. She kept looking surprised to see them outside of daycare.

 

Bryce and Caleb waited in line to ride the big pedal cars. This year the boys went in the scary haunted house. Bryce loved it and wanted to go with the other big boys again and again. Caleb said he liked it but suddenly was really busy helping me with Emerson when they wanted to go again. I guess he is like his mom, I didn't want to go through it either!

The big kids helped all the little kids go down the giant slides. They had a blast!

 

Emerson and her bud Beau. These two are quite the pair at daycare.

We had so much fun! It is always fun hitting up Roca Scary Farm. This pumpkin patch is more our size and next year it will be just minutes from us.

Abby picked a pumpkin that was Emerson sized. Emmy fell asleep during the hayrack ride but the big kids made sure she still got a pumpkin. 

Caleb went to the very edge of the field to haul a big pumpkin back.

Bryce also searched the entire field for his perfect pumpkin.

Emmy and I on the hayrack ride. This little girl is done. She fell asleep minutes later. Too much fun for 1 day.

   

20 Months

This picture is a perfect reflection of your personality. You are a little spit fire! This month your comprehension and vocabulary have really taken off! We felt like you understood a lot before but now you really seem to "get" what we are saying. You like to try to say everything that we say. You are starting to say 3 word sentences and you are putting multiple thoughts together. You get super frustrated if we can't figure out what you are saying and most of the time that results in you throwing yourself face first on the floor and screaming and crying until you forget what you were mad about in the first place.

 

We have had wonderful fall weather this month and we have still had fun playing outside in the leaves and playing with the pumpkins on the steps.

This is the "cheese" smile. Most of the pictures I get of you are with this smile. That or you decide you want nothing to do with getting your picture taken and you won't even look at the camera. This happened with family pictures which was really frustrating! We got no pictures of you alone and no pictures of just the kids. You screamed and cried and threw a complete fit. Needless to say, it was a frustrating morning for everyone. This picture also really shows off your teeth. You have a mouth full of teeth and the only ones you are missing is you vangs (Abby's word: she combined vampire and fangs). They are so close to coming through but they have looked that way for a month now so who knows when they will actually come through.

Even though it is getting chilly out you still love to be naked! Most evenings during supper you request your shirt off and then when you are out of your high chair you proceed to take your pants off. You love to run around and fight with the dog without your clothes on. Even though you love to be naked you hate baths and we can't quite get you to use the potty chair. You like to go into the bathroom while you poop and then you come out and tell me to change you but you don't want to go on the potty. We have also had trouble getting you to poop and not hold it for days on end. We have resorted to offering chocolate chips for pooping and we have bought the book Everyone Poops. All the kids think this book is hilarious and they are all willing to read it to you anytime you want to read.

You absolutely love the kids. You get really sad if it is just you and I home for the day. You spend a lot of time asking about the kids and looking for them. Although it is apparent you love all the kids, Abby is probably your favorite. She is so patient and willingly spends a lot of time playing with you. You like to dink around in your room with Abby. Many times you come out covered in makeup or with your hair put up crazy. You also enjoy coloring, playing with dolls and stuffed animals and you love loading everything you can into a purse or a bag. You have a monkey and a little metal bucket that are your favorite toys this month.

 

You have no fear and you love to keep up with the big kids. You like to crawl up on Caleb's bed and love the jungle gym and slide out back.

You love animals and have no fear of them. You have really started to get into seeing the animals at the Children's Zoo. Along with loving the goats because they are always so hungry you also love the Choo Choo Train. None of our other kids were very into the train but you ask about it all the time.

We have made huge strides this month in your sleeping! You take one afternoon nap and go to bed about 9:30 and sleep until 6:30. We finally had to take away nursing completely in the middle of the night. You would always wake up between 1-3 and then nurse on and off the rest of the night. We finally decided we couldn't keep that trend going because you weren't sleeping enough and either were we. It took about a week and a half of you waking up and having to sleep with dad on the couch so that eating wasn't an option. Now we just need to take nursing away before bed which is going to be tough!

Uncle Andy is in town now for college and he agreed to babysit you for the evening while we went to a work thing for your dad. He was a good sport even though we warned him that you were a turkey to get to bed. Andy turned on "Ducks" (The 5 little duck song and many other nursery rhymes that you watch on youtube)`  and you eventually fell asleep.

The House

The new house is coming along slower than any of us would like but according to Robb I can't say too much and it will happen when it happens. I guess me complaining isn't going to make it happen faster so we are trying to be patient. The basement walls have been poured for awhile now and the basement plumbing and floor are completed. They put power out to the area this week and will  hopefully start framing soon.

I had to get some pictures of the kids since Emmy cried and screamed for professional pictures the other day.

Can't wait for the house to be done and get to live out in the country!