Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween weekend. (Luke is Batman but didn't have his cape or mask on in this picture - but my other ones are blurry- sad!). Friday we went to our small Magnolia village trick-or-treat event. We trick or treated a few stores and then had pizza with our friends Jeanne and Rich and their kids. After that we carved our pumpkin patch pumpkin into an awesome house. Bennett was so cute. As soon as Kurt carved the top off the pumpkin, Bennett turned it into a shape sorter toy and kept trying to fit the top back on. He also loved "helping" take the pumpkin guts out.


On Saturday we were invited to our friend's Nicole and James' house (close to us)for dinner and trick-or-treating. Both boys did such a great job trick-or-treating. At the first house the lady gave out full size candy bars and gave 2 to Bennett "because he was so cute". He had a big bag of M&Ms in one had and a Three Musketeers in the other. It was adorable. (And he did NOT want to put them in his pail!) Luke was awesome. He did a great job walking to each house and walking up the stairs. He would take one piece of candy (or maybe 2). Both boys tried to walk into almost every house but that was just cute, not annoying. We had so much fun (even Kurt said "this is so fun!"). For all those Republicans, we trick-or-treated Ron Reagan Jr's house. Who knew he lived so close! He was out front lighting the 10 or so pumpkins he carved. We talked about how we both disagree with our parents politics. Kidding about that last part (although we could have!).

Lots of developments going on here! Bennett has been running all over the place and climbing on EVERYTHING he can. He is 'shooting' baskets with Daddy and throwing a ball. The most exciting thing that he started at the beginning of October was to point. He points at everything now and I get so excited each time! He points in the super cute "hey look at that" way at planes in the ski, animals at the farm or his brother coming up the walk from the bus. It is so fun to see and I appreciate each and every point since it is such a great communicative developmental area! Woo hoo! Pointing at planes is his favorite. He points when he hears it and then we search the sky to find it. Both Kurt and I have noticed that he points and then we have to concentrate to hear the plane. He has great ears! He also has an obsession with shoes! He loves his shoes, my shoes, Luke's shoes, Kurt's shoes (which are a bit hard to carry).
Luke is still loving his school. He jumps up and down when the bus comes. His speech therapist emailed today to say that he did an awesome job discriminating between 2 PECS today. (See previous post about his therapy). I am considering getting him involved in some type of swim lesson (eventually!). He LOVES the bathtub. He gets so relaxed. He lays flat on this back and the water just covers his ears. I think he would lay there until the water got cold if I let him. It is sweet how happy he is there.

Thank you!

How do you thank your parents for all they have done for you? I don't think you truly know how much your parents love you or how much they sacrifice for you until you have a child yourself and know just how deep the love goes.
My dad had a big scary heath issue last week. Thankfully he is back home and doing great but the week he was in ICU was terrible. The entire time I just couldn't stop thinking that I still want to be his daughter. I know I always will be, but I rely on my parents for advice, love, support etc. and I am not in the least ready to give that up. He was so heavily sedated that he would try and say things with his respirator tube in his mouth. He couldn't make any sounds so we were just trying to lip read. It was so hard to understand him and SO frustrating for him, but thankfully he doesn't remember any of that. The one thing he 'mouthed' that came out loud and clear was "I love you too".

You always know your parents do love you but when you look back you can really see it. My mom putting little notes in my lunch for me to find in elementary school. Having caramel apples waiting for us when we got home from school. Sending me letters before I went to camp so I would have mail on the first day. Having a family dinner EVERY night even when she worked full-time. Hiding notes in work folder as an adult telling me how much she appreciates me. I remember my dad picking me up from school early so we could watch John in a soccer game. I felt so cool. He helped me pick out a dress for our Homecoming dance and once nearly chopped his finger off creating sets for my dance team shows. He drove me to Taffy's Restaurant and waited in the car while I applied and got my first job as a hostess / waitress. It's really not the big things that stick in our heads as memories but the every day moments that mean so much.

My parents worked so hard to ensure us kids had everything we needed. "Everything" changes depending on the circumstances for sure. When we were younger during the good years 'everything' was learning to ski, art classes and soccer leagues etc. During those couple lean years 'everything' was totally different but exactly what we needed as well. My parents focused what they could on education and gave up things for themselves such as golf clubs and vacations. I don't think I ever thanked them for coming through on the other side of those lean years as such great people, such an amazing couple and such great examples of how to fight for what's right and for what you love. Thank you.

One of the doctors in the hospital called John and I "kids" and not in a good way (we were being advocates!). He's right of course, we are kids. Everyone is someone's kid and parents never stop that fierce love just because their kid has kids of his/her own. My parents ached for me when Luke got diagnosed and celebrated with me when Bennett gave us his first big smile. (They even have the message I left with the smile news still on their answering machine!). They continue to give us 'everything' we need now as well. They love our kids, they love our spouses and the love being with us.

So thank you Mom and Dad. Thank you for caramel apples, soccer games, tuna on toast, homecoming dresses, flowers on valentine's day, photo albums, economics at the kitchen table, heart shaped cookies, Eaglette sets, driving me to Vandy when I was a senior in highschool, notes in my lunch, strawberry short cake underwear, table soccer games and family dinners. Thank you for doing all those small things that really show someone how much you care.