Halloween

Emmy's friend Olivia invited the neighborhood and us over for supper, followed by trick-or-treating. Emmy was so excited to go with her friends, and it was nice to see her having such a great time. They all dressed up together and had a blast running around the neighborhood, collecting candy and making memories.

Emmy came up with her costume all on her own—she wanted to be Barbie. She gathered all the pink items she could find, and when we were at Von Maur, she spotted a pink fringe jacket on the clearance rack. She knew right away she had to have it, and I have to agree—it definitely added the perfect touch to her costume!

Kenzley and Olivia were zombie basketball players.

Abby went to a friends house hand out candy. they dressed in black and wore SWAT hats. They looked cute. 

 

Abby's Confirmation

Abby had her confirmation this year. We are very proud of her for doing the work and committing to being a part of the church.

Susie made a lunch for us and we all came back to the house to celebrate. We were lucky to have so much family join to celebrate this day with her.

 

Steph's Surgery

Steph has had her pacemaker since she was 13 and later got an ICD. Essentially, she has been dependent on medical technology to keep her heart functioning since then. When she got her ICD, the newest technology was the double coil leads. These leads were screwed into the heart muscle, and over time, scar tissue would form, making it very unlikely that they would come out. This was a great advantage for older patients who didn’t plan on having the device removed. Most people getting these implants were in that category. However, as with any new medical technology, the downsides often aren’t known until years later—and this is where Steph’s situation comes in.

Now almost 40, Steph needed her leads replaced after one of them snapped. The problem was, these leads were never designed to be removed. The surgery to replace them was extremely risky and nerve-wracking. Even though I wasn’t the one having the procedure, it was still terrifying for me to think about. Steph’s doctor, Dr. Law—who has been her doctor since the beginning—was involved, but he had referred her to a cardiothoracic team for the actual surgery. Steph met with the team beforehand, and the day before her surgery, she went in for pre-op testing and to go over all the possible scenarios and risks. While informed consent is vital, it can also be frightening. We really needed Dad’s calm presence in that moment. Mom is a wonderful person, but she was understandably anxious, and it didn’t bring the same sense of calm that Dad always provided. I’m sure he was silently panicking, but he was able to reassure us that everything would be okay.

The day before the surgery, Mom, Draven, Steph, and Lester went down for the appointments. Robb and I joined them at the AirBNB later that evening. The next morning, we left early for the Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. Yes, Steph still has surgeries at the Children’s Hospital because all her doctors are pediatric specialists. She was terrified, and honestly, nothing anyone could say or do would make her feel better. We were all scared for her. I just wanted to be there for her.

Then began the long day of waiting. Lester spent most of the day sitting by the windows with his headphones on, clearly nervous, and I felt awful for him. He has been such a support to Steph since they met. Draven stayed occupied with his own headphones. I passed the time doing hand embroidery, while Robb watched movies on his phone. Mom couldn’t sit still—she paced constantly and talked more than usual, so I tried to step in and handle questions to spare Lester from having to answer them.

A couple of hours into the wait, we got the good news: they had managed to remove the lead, and the small section that couldn’t be laser-removed would be left in place. The greatest risk with this procedure was that the heart tissue could be delicate, and lasering it could cause irreversible damage. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that the most difficult and dangerous part of the surgery was over. They then placed the new device and leads, and Steph would be heading to recovery soon.

Lester and I went up to speak with Dr. Law, who was very pleased with how everything had gone. It was reassuring to know that Steph has a doctor who treats her like a daughter.

About an hour later, Steph was moved to her room in the cardiac care unit. Lester and Draven were allowed to see her first, and when it was my turn, I found her already chatting with the older woman in the bed next to hers (yes, they still had double rooms, which felt odd). The nurses had offered Steph applesauce after her procedure, and in true Steph fashion, she responded, “What am I, a toddler? No, I don’t want applesauce.” That’s when we knew she was back to her old self.

I was so relieved to see her acting like herself again. I knew the risks, but in order to support her and not make her more anxious, I had to stay confident and reassure her that her medical team was excellent and everything would be fine. It was a huge relief when that turned out to be true. Steph and I have always been close (except for those teenage years when we nearly killed each other over clothes), but I feel like we’ve grown even closer since Dad passed away. I need her—she’s my person. I can’t express enough how thankful I am that everything turned out for the best.

Pet lover

While most people in our family like the animals, I don't think there is any doubt who Loves the animals. They are a lot of work, but they bring me a lot of joy too. The fall is the best time to do some trail walking. Currently we can only go about 2.5 miles without Scout needing lots of breaks at the end or needing to be carried. Lucy isn't getting any younger either. She would walk as far as I would let her, but she would be really stiff the next day. 

Nibbles the bunny is about the nicest bunny that you will ever come across. He does not get enough attention from the girls, so I have to bring him in to cuddle. He will gladly sit with you for hours; he might nibble on your shirt, but he will sit nicely. 

 

Hanging out with the Novell kids

Andrea had a family emergency and asked if I could pick up the girls from daycare and then get Nina to dance. Abby and Emmy didn’t know the girls were coming over for the night, so they were thrilled to come home and find them at our house. I’ll admit, I kind of forgot how much work it is to have kids at that age! By the time I picked them both up from daycare, installed the car seats in the van, and strapped them in, I was sweating!

Emmy kept Nina occupied with coloring and crafts until it was time for dance class. Meanwhile, Abby faced the task of coaxing Nina into her ballet tights and leotard, even though she wasn’t too excited about going.

We no longer had any sippy cups at our house so after dropping Nina off at ballet I stopped and grabbed a Dollar Store sippy to get us through the night.

Nicklynn loves to eat so Emmy got a kick out of feeding her.

We all laughed when Nicklynn put on Emmy's crocs and started walking around in them.

These little girls are absolutely adorable, and I love that my girls have the chance to help take care of them. Having neighbors and friends who are willing to help with anything is so important, so whenever we're in a position to lend a hand, we do our best to help out.

 

Pumpkin Patch Sisters

The girls have been wanting to go to the pumpkin patch just for a couple hours after school. I finally decided that it would be okay. Caleb dropped them off and they walked around and had fun for a couple of hours, and I picked them up after I got off work. When you go to the pumpkin patch with your high school sister, she gets you to take Instagram worthy pictures with her. 

These two are adorable!

 

Girls Rule

Abby and Kaylee had come up with the idea of making a poster to ask the rest of the girls to go as a "girl group" to Winter Formal. They made a sign that said, Boys Suck Be My Chick to Winter Formal. They had used the Chick Fil A sign for the word Chick. Their sign was cute and for the execution of this they had wanted to bring fries for everyone, but Chick fil A is closed on Sundays. They had to settle for handing out sodas from the restaurant. We had to get the cups the week before, we all got a drink and Abby washed all the cups and got new lids and straws she then filled them with ice and soda in the mall parking lot before we went in. Her and Kaylee had quite the plan. The girls all thought that it was really cute. They went shopping as a group to get dresses for the girls that hadn't picked one yet. All the girls found dresses and were excited for the dance. 

Poor Abby got a really bad headache during the shopping process and called me to come get her. I had to be somewhere and felt really bad because I couldn't go get her. Brother to the rescue. Bryce picked her up and was even super nice to her since she felt sick. There are moments where they are really sweet to each other. 

 

Mum is the Word

I am going to brag about my plants for a post. Every fall I want to buy and plant mums to have color. The problem with that is, mums really need to be planted in the spring so they are established by fall and can bloom. No one wants to buy mums in the spring though because they are just green plants, and you have no idea what they will look like in the fall. I finally bought mums in the spring and planted them, and I was rewarded with beautiful fall blooms. I had scattered these plants around the landscaping so that I have color when the other plants are dying off. 

My knockout roses have been blooming beautifully too.

Our sumac tree is also beautiful this time year. 

 

Abby babysitting the Salsman kids

Abby is a great babysitter and has watched Karter, Kinsley and Kash a handful of times. She watched them on a day she was off of school, and they didn't have daycare. She went there early in the morning and was planning to watch them until supper time. The parents Ashley and Kody had a wedding party to go to and had asked her if she was willing to stay longer. Abby was fine with staying. I told Ashley that I would go check on them since it was a long day for her. Emmy wanted to play with Kinsley also. When we stopped over, Abby had everything under control. The house was clean, the kids were playing, and they were doing great. They all played in the garage shooting hoops for a bit. I had brought them caramel and apple slices for a snack. We all got a kick out of the fact that Kash was scared of the brown dip but once he tried it, he wanted to eat everyone's with his finger.

Abby babysat that day from 7am until 11pm. It was a super long day for her, but she had fun with the kids and was glad to do it. Kash routinely asks for Abby to babysit him and that makes Abby happy.

 

68th Street Singers

Bryce had thought he was going to go to Freeman this school year, so he hadn't tried out for show choir. When he changed his mind and decided to stay at Norris, Wes the choir teacher and one of his best friend's dads talked him into joining show choir again. Since he didn't try out, he was automatically in the 68th street group. Most of the other Junior boys had moved up to the Gold group but he was fine with being in 68th Street group. Bree is in this group, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to put in as much effort as he would need to if he was in the Gold group.

While we were in Iowa City for Steph's surgery, he had a show choir event at Peru State College. He was supposed to get on the bus at 6am at Norris. Bree was panicking because he wasn't there, and she couldn't get ahold of him. We were out of town and Bob was staying with the kids, but he is not a morning person. Bryce had gotten out of bed when his alarm went off, turned the shower on and proceeded to lay back down and fall asleep for 40 min while the shower ran. By the time he woke up he had missed the bus by a long shot and decided to just drive there because going to this event was a big part of his grade. He was driving too fast for his truck which tops out at around 70 and he was going 78. Somehow a bolt came loose from his brake and caused his tire to pop and the rim to break and his tire to be flat. Thank goodness he was ok! He called Bob and Bob had it towed to the Walmart in NE City to fix the tire. As it turned out it was not just the tire, and they needed an additional part. Long story short, Bob ended up going there and taking Bryce to Peru State and taking care of the pickup. Poor Bob had to deal with the pickup when Andy drove it and now, he has to deal with it when he is watching the kids. 

Bryce made it in time for the performance and group pictures. Grandpa saves the day. We got a text from his teacher saying how proud he was that Bryce had overcome so much adversity that morning and still made it to the performance. I wish I could share his thoughts on that. Robb and I were not super happy with him. In fact, we were upset that he had missed the bus. This is not the first time lately that we have had to tell him that waking up to an alarm clock is a life skill. We were very thankful that he was ok, but he was in some trouble for the rest.

They had their first performance, and he did a great job. He looks so handsome in his suit. I'm not going to lie; it thrills me to still have a reason to go to all the show choir performances because I love to watch them!

 

Roca Pumpkin Patch

I bought the kids season passes to go this year with the intention of making it there multiple times. I should have known better because October always flies by! Bryce, Bree, Abby, Emmy and I went for the afternoon. They always add new things every year and this year it was a couple of carnival rides. They were fine but the kids liked the other attractions more.

The slides are still one of Emmy's favorites.

Bryce and Bree can always find somewhere to play basketball.

We had beautiful weather and it's always fun to go to Roca Scary Farm.

 

Winter Formal Shopping with Aunt Steph

Steph came to Lincoln to spend the day with us before her surgery. She got the joy of shopping for Abby's winter formal dress with us. Abby, Kaylee and I had stopped at Von Maur the weekend before and there was almost nothing there. This made me a little nervous, Norris doesn't do a homecoming dance instead they do Winter Formal, but it is right after all the other schools do homecoming. In years past with the boys, the stores have been picked over with everyone buying for homecoming. Steph, Abby, Emmy and I went to Gateway mall to look at Dillard's and Windsor. We went down the escalator to the junior's area and it was full of formal dresses. I was relieved! We all started to grab dresses that we wanted her to try on. Some of them just because they were really pretty or cute and some because I had to know how that looked when it was on. She tried on a lot of dresses. Steph hasn't been shopping with the girls in a while and got a kick out of the running commentary from the dressing room. "I look like crazy Barbie in this dress." it was one that had a feather boa on it. She wasn't wrong. The next dress we could hear her from the dressing room say, "It feels like tiny knives all over my body." That dress was covered in sequins. Buck up buttercup, you aren't going to get sympathy from Steph. She was the one that had socks tucked under her arm pits with dance costumes, so the sequins didn't cut her. Beauty is pain.

She tried this blue one on and we loved it, but it was a little too small which made a short dress even shorter. We sent a picture to Robb asking if he thought it was too short. He had an A+ dad answer. At first, he said that was probably my department to decide and then he said, "if she is comfortable in it, then I am comfortable with her wearing it." Best dad ever!

She decided on the pink one in the same style just a size bigger. The dress fit her beautifully and she seemed comfortable and confident in it. We had a winner!

Emmy hated literally every outfit we brought her to try on. This was the look she had with everything that we picked out for her. I think Emmy tried on everything in her size and decided that she hated it all, so I am really hoping that Steph is on board to come shopping with us when its Emmy's turn to pick out a dress for Winter Formal or Prom. I need someone to have a good sense of humor and keep me from losing my mind.

This was the one thing that she did want to buy. A pink cowboy hat. Oh Emmy!