Halloween 2018

Halloween has come and gone, and we had a great time celebrating all things pumpkin! Since our kids go to Montessori schools, they don't dress up in costumes or have parties at school {fine by me!}. Trent did have a program in his class where he dressed up like a real person and gave a report on the person and his class had to guess who he was, so he dressed up a little, and of course, I decked the girls out in all things jack-o-lantern.

Trent with glasses and gray hair to transform into Steven Spielberg!

And my cutie pumpkin girls!

We had friends come to our house to trick or treat. The weather was really wonky because a cold front blew in at 4:30 and rain was in the forecast, so we hit the streets at 5:45. Luckily the rain held off until about 6:40, so the kids went to a lot of houses and ended up with a crazy amount of candy, most of which Brent is taking to work tomorrow!

All the kiddos, minus slow poke Paige!

Here she is!

Pumpkins galore

We tried the wagon to see if we could hurry up this princess.

But then she decided she wanted to push it. Sigh.

The dads

Another neighbor drove some of our crew back home once the rain came. 

 We ate pizza and candy and a great night was had by all! And the stars aligned so that my big kids don't have school tomorrow too!!! 

The moms {the rain did a number on my hair, ha}

And with that...bring on the turkey! {grin}

Photo-a-Day: Week 43

Day 295: Testing Out The Halloween Costume

Day 296: Another YouTube Victim

Day 297: Walking Into School {DYING}

Day 298: Town Halloween Festival!!

Day 299: Amazing Little Dental Patient

{Everyone was oohing and aahing over how good she did!}

Day 300: Beyblade Battles

Day 301: ANOTHER Halloween Festival - We Are Killing It!

Currently: It's Candy Time!

Current Book

Jumping on the band wagon

Current Song

We listen to Pandora a lot after school, and Trent really likes a station that plays a lot of Imagine Dragons and pop/hip-hop music. I am really digging this version of the Maroon 5 song Girls Like You.

Current TV Show

Brent and I are still enjoying New Amsterdam, and 

a co-worker told me I should watch Manifest, so I'm going to give that a try!

Current Drink

It's raining AGAIN, so today called for a warm chai.

Current Shame-Inducing Pleasure

I have one word: SUGAR.

Current Outfit

I already took my bra off, so there's no picture.

But a school t-shirt and jeans. Looking SUPER good.

Current Celebrity Crush

Favorite IG account - anyone else love Gary?

Current Mood

Excited! Tomorrow is School Conference Day for Trent and Drew.

We already got their progress reports, and they were great!

I nerdily love to talk to their teachers and can't wait to hear how things are going.

Current Anticipation

I mean do I even need to say anything here?

Halloween is next week! 

Thanksgiving is in 4 weeks!

Which means I will decorate for Christmas in FOUR WEEKS.

ALLLLLLL THEEEEE FEEEEEEEELS!!!

Current Wishlist

I mean seriously, how perfect is this for me?

Current Film

Going Friday with some Mom friends!

Current Picture

She is the cutest!

Photo-a-Day: Week 42

Day 288: Fort Building

 Day 289: Bestie Massage Time

{Celebrating Her Birthday}

Day 290: Picture Day at School!

Day 291: Bathtime With Bubba

Day 292: Aunt Patty Love

Day 293: More Face Painting!

Day 294: Why Ride When You Can Push?

More Genetics Fascination

We had a check-up last week with Trent's MTHFR specialist, and once again, I left fascinated by what we talked about and also loving his doctor even more! She just really understands Trent's mutation SO well and gets him.

First off, Trent is doing SO good. I want to state that because we are just so proud of how hard he's come and the young man he's turning into.

The start to the school year was really rough for him, which we honestly fully expected, because he's been saying since the end of last year that he was really nervous to move to Upper Elementary. {Quick Montessori sidebar: You are in a Montessori classroom for 3 years - Primary is 3 years old through Kindergarten, Lower Elementary is 1st - 3rd grades, and Upper Elementary is 4th - 6th grades.} Even though Trent changed schools mid-year last year, he was really nervous about this transition because it meant he went back to being the youngest in the class. But after we got over the hump of the first 2 weeks, he's been great. 

I was describing all of this to his doctor, and she recommended we talk to his behavioral therapist about CBT {Cognitive Behavioral Therapy} which basically rewires the way your brain responds to certain situations. Well, guess what? When I talked to his therapist, that's what they're doing! HAHA! So I can check that off the list - love when those line up!

The next thing we talked about was his specific mutation. She pulled up his genetic profile and commented that he also has an FOLR2 mutation.  So his MTHFR mutation means he can't properly methylate folate, and the FOLR2 mutation means he can't absorb folate - kind of a double whammy. Luckily, the medication he takes helps with both! She wants us to increase his dosage when he turns 10, which is perfect being in the summer because messing with his dosage can cause a little bit of a regression until he adjusts to it. 

That led into her deciding to prescribe him a prescription size dose of Omega-3, it's considered a medical food apparently? This will also hopefully help with his anxiety and therefore his aggression and some of his ADHD tendencies {even though he's never had a formal ADHD diagnosis, we've had several comments about him having some tendencies}.

Then we also talked about the vitamins he {and the girls} take. I asked her about Vitamin D and how I heard you needed to take it w/ K to help with absorption, and she said that was true AND the version they formulate has the K - boom, yay! She also told me to stop giving the kids vitamin C - the real benefit is when someone is sick and you get a HUGE dose through an IV - like 40,000 mg, and it can leech your copper and zinc levels, and it is the most bio-absorbable {meaning absorbed through food}. Her recommendation was the Smarty Pants multi-vitamin, since it has methylated folate in it, but we've tried that before and [shocker] Trent doesn't like it. Knowing that his diet isn't the best - we're so proud of him for now eating apples, carrots, and bananas, but he doesn't eat anything green - like he threw up when we got him to try a green bean! - we're going to try her office's version of a 'super' greens powder. He doesn't like the taste of the version we've tried before [shocker], but she swears this one is good, so we'll see!

And there you have it! Our latest checkup on Trent - more really cool information. I still want to do a 23andme profile on the rest of our family since Trent is heterozygous for each of his mutations, and I know my MTHFR combination means the girls each have a 50/50 chance of each mutation, so it'd be interesting to see what the girls actually have. 

I'm sure no one is still reading this, but I love learning more and more about this!

Fourteen

When I look at these 2 crazy kids and think about the years that have gone by...

I am immeasurably thankful to have married my best friend. 

From a young, new family of two.

To a family of three.

One more made four.

And a complete family of five.

So thankful for these past fourteen years.

Hopeful for many, many more.

Happy anniversary to us!

Photo-a-Day: Week 41

Day 281: Pumpkin Patch Fun

Day 282: Nighttime Creeper

Day 283: 'No, You Can't Get In The Pool!'

Day 284: I Won't Post About This Again

Day 285: Crime Scene or Bloody Nose?

Day 286: Another YouTube Victim

Day 287: Neighbors or Future Sons-in-Laws?

Five on Friday

ONE

Chalazion

I had my chalazion drained yesterday. It wasn't too bad overall but was gross because the doctor was explaining IN DETAIL everything he was doing to a nurse who was observing.

Allena's inner thoughts as I squeeze the armrest to death:

Please stop talking about how you're squeezing pus out of my eyelid right now.

Luckily, it was super quick!

The doctor said it's going to look gross for a little while.

Gee thanks because my face has been SO pretty lately already.

The evolution of the chalazion

TWO

New Amsterdam 

Brent and I started a new show together!!!

I'm always nagging him for us to find a show together, and he suggested this one.

Anyone else watching it? We both really like it.

We don't do well with shows you can binge

 - he'll just stay up for hours and get way ahead of me - not nice!

I'm trying to get him to watch Game of Thrones since I've already seen it!

THREE

Shoe Update

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was on the hunt for some booties.

They came in, and I LOVE them.

But I also went on a shoe binge and bought 2 new pairs of slip-ons.

I wore the same Tom's for the last 5 winters until I busted a hole in the side, so I needed some new closed toe slip-ons for our brutal winters on the days my flip-flops won't work. I think I succeeded!

FOUR

Binge Mode

Speaking of Game of Thrones...

Thanks to Erika's suggestion, I've started listening to the Binge Mode podcast.

They have a Game of Thrones one which is obviously on hiatus, but I'm enjoying listening to it episode-by-episode.

They also have a Harry Potter one that goes 5 chapters per episode.

This little book/TV/movie nerd heart is in heaven!

I have laughed SO hard many times and also teared up - it's absolute perfection.

FIVE

Anniversary

Guess who's anniversary is next week?!?!

We hit the big FOURTEEN! We have babysitters lined up but no concrete plans yet.

14 seems like a lot, huh? [in a good way]

I'm really proud of us and am looking forward to celebrating!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

It's been since my niece, Blair, was a toddler, and she's 7 1/2, but I finally took my kids to a pumpkin patch! 

Our last pumpkin patch adventure...

The Swope Six was only a Swope Three!

All 3 kiddos were off school on Columbus Day, and my mother-in-law was game to go, so we went to the greatest little farm here called Sweet Eats Farm and had such a great time. It was a win-win because I accomplished something I had on my Fall Bucket List, AND I didn't torture Brent with an outing since he had to work. I've now accomplished 3 things on my list!

There was a petting zoo!

Lots of happiness with chickens, pigs, llamas, BUNNIES!

Cutie pies! Was glad T at least found an orange t-shirt to wear, ha.

They had a blast jumping on this giant trampoline.

And of course face painting was a hit.

This is supposed to be a pink bunny? I feel like it looks more like a cat?

She told the face painter she wanted to be a 'butter-fi'.

Cutest little butter-fi!

Caught them in the act of being sweet together

Pumpkin posing

Picking out a pumpkin

Pumpkin painting {Bucket list #4}

Me with my little loves!

{Fall shirt - Bucket list #3}

We had such a good time and are hoping to go back with Brent soon!! {Fingers cross but not holding my breath, ha}