Happy Birthday, Ben!

Happy Birthday to Ben!

Ben and Jon caught nine crab this weekend and had quite a feast on Sunday. We all went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and got three pumpkins to carve on Halloween. Jon brought a fresh salmon fillet to the house and cooked it on a cedar plank for Saturday's dinner. I did have a bite. Lauren tried it and liked it. She said it was yummy and ate quite a bit of it.

Natalie had her big developmental clinic on Friday and they didn't really say anything new. They're going to do some tests on her bladder and kidneys just because we haven't done studies on them before. Eventually they want to do a study (probably by ultrasound) of her heart, too. They just want to make sure they check everything so if she has any problems we catch them soon. We're getting a new referral for her physical therapy so she can go to a pediatric physical therapist where she'll get PT, OT and Speech Therapy. It should be more comprehensive, and she'll have therapists who deal with kids all the time. This Thursday I'm taking her up to Seattle Children's Hospital again so she can have some tests done with the hematologists to see if they have any input or if we can get a better idea about what is going on with the clot in her brain. Then next week she goes to see the ophthalmologist, which will be the first appointment she's had with them since we got here. I'm anticipating surgery on her eyes, and hope they can do it before Ben deploys in the spring.

Lauren is going to be a candy corn for Halloween. I picked up tiger ears and a tail for myself and Natalie is going to wear the chili pepper costume that Lauren wore for her first Halloween. I picked up a double jogging stroller on Craigslist for $40 last week and Jon did a quick fix up on the brakes for me. I can take the girls out more easily now. The weather finally turned and it's been colder and more overcast. We've had a few days in the 50s now.

Lauren starts ballet next Friday and I'm still considering putting her in part day preschool. She said she'd like to go, so I'm going to see what her options are.

Feeding the Ducks

This is Lauren totally excited and running to go feed the ducks.


Actually, she mostly just threw bread in the water. I think the ducks were overfed and not at all interested in the three bags of stale bread we brought.

But, she had fun anyway, and it was a good chance to get some pictures of her, and of Katrina and her girls.

We headed to the Central Texas College campus which has a nice pond with a fountain and a bridge, along with a big park area. There were birds and flowers and fish and turtles and the overfed ducks.

It was a good day, even as hot as it was, and we had fun.

Afterwards we headed to Katrina's house to eat dinner and carve pumpkins. I'll have to get the pictures from her. I carved a Cinderella pumpkin for Lauren and a cat pumpkin for mine. They're pretty cute. Hopefully they make it to Halloween.

I got a call this morning to confirm my appointments down in San Antonio. Along with the ultrasound and MRI, I'm meeting with a pediatric neurosurgeon and cardiologist. It will be a lot to do, but at least I'm doing it all in one morning.

Ben heads back to Baghdad on Tuesday to join the rest of his troop. The unit has less than 100 days left over there. We are still waiting to hear the date he'll be coming home. It will depend on what the doctors say this Friday when I meet with them.

Ben's Birthday, Visit, Halloween

We had a great time with Sarah and Evan this weekend. They got in about 8 pm on Ben's birthday and we just had some pizza and relaxed for the evening. We didn't wear ourselves out, we just spent time hanging out together over the weekend, and it was so nice to have them here. Saturday Ben made an awesome brisket while Sarah and I made twice baked potatoes and cupcakes. We served up Ben a cupcake with all of his candles. After he blew them out, we had to relight one for Lauren to blow out, too. We had a nice lunch on Sunday before we had to take them back to the airport.

This year Lauren was a ladybug for Halloween. We planned to just show her off to a couple friends and then pass out candy, but Ben took her out and she had a great time seeing all the other kids dressed up. She came back with a little bit of candy, but soon forgot all about it.

Lissa and Skipper are getting here on Friday.

And Happy Birthday to Jayna who celebrated her 23rd birthday yesterday.