Trick-or-Treating

We had not carved pumpkins yet, so I thought today had to be the day. We carved a big and small pumpkin so Kailani and Zachary each had one; they switched a few times.

Tonight we met at Danielle's house for a pre-trick-or-treating pot luck. The kids had a great time playing. We did a pin the mouth on the jack-o-lantern and a candy corn guessing game. We all set out for trick-or-treating together, but we lost some of the others along the way. Trick-or-treating is so much more tiring as a parent!

Halloween parties

Today the kids had their Halloween parade and parties at school. I felt really bad that I wasn't able to go, but I've already missed so much work this year and...for some reason the parade is always at around 9:30am, which makes it hard to go unless I take the whole day off. Luckily, Becky and George were able to go so someone was there to watch Kailani and Zachary parade around the playground. Becky actually went to watch Kailani last year too. Becky took some good pictures for us. Thanks Becky:) Kailani and I spent the afternoon together again. We had lunch and then got our nails done. She had her first class of the second art session. She did some painting for future projects, and she took home a turkey today. It's actually pretty neat...it's a lollipop holder. This evening, Kailani decided to skip ballet because I had signed the kids up for a costume carnival at another park before I had even signed Kailani up for ballet. I let her choose which one she wanted to go to and she chose the costume carnival. We had a great time. There were different activities set up throughout the community center. Kailani and Zachary both really liked the cake walk. Zachary got the hang of it fairly quickly...walking around to the music and finding a chair when the music stopped. He had a blast. Zachary won first and then Kailani won right afterwards. They each won a cupcake and some cookies. After the cake walk, they did a flashlight candy hunt. Zachary needed a little help with this, but parents weren't able to go out with them. Luckily one of the staff members helped him fill his bag:) They showed a movie after that, but we decided to head home instead because it was getting late. We don't really have much going on this weekend except trick-or-treating on Sunday, so it will be nice to relax a little.

Update on Bruno

I took Bruno to the vet today for a follow up from the ER visit on Sunday. After hearing everything that was going on and considering some of the other issues Bruno has had over the past few years, the doctor thinks it is possible Bruno could have cushings disease. This disease causes elevated ALT (liver enzyme) levels, which he has and had a while back. She recommended repeating the blood work for the liver enzyme levels today. She'll call me with the results tomorrow. If the levels are still elevated, she'll recommend a blood test for cushings and an ultrasound. She said cushings is very hard to diagnose.
What makes me think cushings could be the issue is that one of the symptoms is loss of blatter control, which Bruno has been having issues with for the past 2 1/2 years...ever since we moved into this house. In my heart, I know something is going on other than behavior. Other symptoms include an increased appetite and thirst. It's hard to tell whether or not he has these last two symptoms. Of course he wants to eat all the time and begs for food from us, and he does drink a lot of water...not sure if this is not normal though. The good thing is, if he does have cushings, it is treatable with medication.
So I guess we'll know more tomorrow, but I would be happy to finally have some answers if this is what is wrong. I would just feel horrible that it's gone on this long without knowing.

Another ER visit...this time for Bruno

Today was such a great day. We hung out at the zoo, shopped at Costco, did some much needed cleaning and organizing of the toy room, had a home-cooked meal, and even baked some cookies for dessert. But that all changed after...Bruno had his dinner. He got sick a few times, so Kailani decided he needed to go to the doctor. I took him in because this is how it all started about a year and a half ago when Kailani and I were supposed to travel to PA for Easter. It ended up being something serious and I didn't want to take a chance with going back to work tomorrow and all.
It was very difficult to take two kids and an 85 pound dog out at 8pm. Although it was bedtime, the kids were running around inside the vet's office. After an hour wait, we finally got to see the doctor. He suggested doing xrays and blood work, which was quite expensive, but again, I didn't want to take any chances. We had to go home and come back for him in an hour. Well, in the meantime, Kailani fell asleep...and it had started to rain. This time I decided to take the double stroller in to the vet's office. Both kids were sleeping, so it was much easier than it was earlier. After another hour wait in the office, I was finally able to talk to the doctor.
Bruno's ALT (some sort of liver enzyme) levels were about 2,000, which is pretty high; although, last time they were over 6,000! I think the levels should be less than 100. The doctor suggested taking him home and watching him over the next day or two rather than hospitalizing him and doing further tests, which I agreed with. He seems to be doing okay now. He is just sleeping. Hopefully I can leave work early tomorrow so he doesn't have to be home alone all day. I really would like to at least check on him to make sure he's doing ok. He'll need to be on a special diet of chicken, rice, and cottage cheese for a few days. I don't think he'll mind though. He seemed to like that a lot last time.
For now, all I can do is keep my eye on him and hope he'll be okay.

Meeting Jan Brett

Today we went to the zoo for an author signing. Jan Brett was there signing her new children's book. Probably her most famous book is "The Mitten." Kailani picked out "Gingerbread Boy" and Zachary got her new book, "The 3 Little Dassies." She personalized and signed a book for each of them, even though she was really only signing one per family. We got to meet a real dassy who lives at the children's zoo. I never realized it was there. Kailani enjoyed meeting a real author. She's been learning about authors and illustrators at school.

Not so spooky spooktacular

Today we had the annual Halloween "not so spooky spooktacular" party with the meetup group. It was raining on the way there, but luckily, the weather cleared up quickly and it turned out to be a nice day. There was a bounce house and an inflatable slide for the kids. Kailani spent most of her time on the slide. She loves those things. They had a pinata for the kids to hit. Every child got to take a few swings, but one of the dads ended up breaking it. Kailani and Zachary both got a full bag full of stuff. We did a mummy race...all the kids were wrapped up in toilet paper and ran a relay. The kids had a nice time.

Fun Fridays

Kailani and I have been spending our Friday afternoons together. It's been nice to have time to do that. This afternoon we did a little shopping to prepare for the royal tea party we are hosting for our playgroup in a few weeks. As of today, the meetup is full and there's even a waiting list...we'll see what happens the day of!

Today was Kailani's last art class of the fist session She made a Halloween gingerbread house. The teacher had baked the gingerbread from scratch. Kailani had a fun time decorating it with all of the candy. When she showed her finished house to the teacher she asked if Kailani was going to take it home to share with daddy...Kailani said "yes." She will actually be able to share the next gingerbread house with daddy...maybe he will even help build it. She'll start the next 5-week art session next Friday.

Kailani also had ballet tonight. I paid for the Nutcracker performance she'll be doing in December at the high school. Daddy will be here to see her perform:)

House hunting...soon

We are officially on the hunt for a house! We just got our preapproval through Wells Fargo and will seek out a few other preapprovals just as a comparison. I think we were offered a pretty reasonable rate. I've been looking at houses online that meet our criteria and there are some really nice houses within our price range in the area where we would like to live. Unfortunately, we can't officially put in any offers yet...our current lease is up in February. Plus, at this point, Jason isn't here to look at any houses. We are looking forward to being homeowners soon...and to getting out of our current house!
I've also started looking in to schools for Kailani for next year. I am not convinced that a traditional school is the best place for her...this is coming from me, who works with homeschool families every day. Although I can't homeschool her, I would like to find a school that caters more to her needs that a traditional classroom. High Tech High is a charter school that focuses on project-based learning. I think a lot of the funding for the schools was donated by Bill Gates. They are opening brand new K-5 and 6-8 schools in the fall (http://www.hightechhigh.org/schools/HTMCV/). I would love to get Kailani in there. Applications are available starting on December 1. Anyone who applies must attend an informational meeting in January or February. We'll find out if she gets in sometime in March. Their website states that generally four times as many students apply to their schools than actually get in. Students are chosen randomly by a computer so we'll just have to try our luck. I'll have to start looking for other options so we have a few schools in mind. Chula Vista schools are on a year-round schedule, so she'll start kindergarten in July. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up!
It was pouring down rain today, but we still headed to Chick-fil-A for our weekly Tuesday kids night. We changed it up a little tonight and got soup and salad. It was perfect weather for soup! Kailani filled her stamp card tonight and she picked Chick-fil-A band aids for a prize.
Kailani is enjoying pre-K. She is learning new things every day. She was excited that she was able to be a helper at lunchtime today.
Zachary is starting to enjoy helping around the house. His new job is to give the cats their treats when I feed them at night. Sometimes he goes a little overboard:)

Tombstone party

We had a great day today at Becky's Tombstone party. Surprisingly, only 2 people out of the 15 cancelled their RSVP and everyone else showed up! Becky had a house full, especially since it was raining and we couldn't use the outside. We ate pizza and other goodies, played games, and made crafts. I took our photo printer so we could take pictures of each of the kids to put in a green picture frame (leftover from the St. Patty's Day meetup that no one came to). The kids had a great time.
This week, Kailani will be learning about fall at school. She is able to bring in a few items that remind her of the fall. She picked up a pine cone when we were at Heritage Park on Friday. But...when we were at Brayden's party on Saturday, she found an even better pine cone to share. She'll take her pine cones and a small pumpkin to school.

The kids will have their Halloween parade and class parties an the 28th, but of course I will have to work. The time they have the parade (9:45) is always so inconvenient since I only work 8-12 on Fridays. Even though I've missed so much work already this year, I really want to take off to go. I don't want to miss Zachary's first parade (last year he was too little for the parade).

Brick or Treat

Today we went to Brayden's first birthday party. Kailani and Zachary had a nice time playing with the other kids. They had a guy there doing caricatures. I got one done for each of the kids. Surprisingly, we've never had one done before. They turned out really cute. Zachary was wearing Mickey ears from the party in his.
After the party, we headed to Becky's to waste time before going to Legoland. The community center next door was having a Halloween party that we "crashed." The party was for people who live in military housing, but we tagged along. We each got a free meal (shish kabob, corn on the cob, and sweet treats). They had a scene set up and the kids had their picture taken. It turned out really cute.

After the party, we headed to Legoland for Brick-or-Treat. Kailani decided to be Belle tonight and we modified Zachary's costume because it was cold and rainy. First we went to Sea Life Aquarium. Zachary was really amazed by the fish this time. Then we headed to Legoland to do the Brick-or-Treat trail. Everything was different this year...the trail was in a completely different place than it usually is. It took Zachary about 2 stops to realize what he was supposed to do for a treat. At the last stop, the kids got an apple. That was the first thing Zachary pulled out and ate:) We had a busy day!

Tomorrow we're off to Becky's for a Tombstone Halloween party. She's hosting a party through houseparty.com and got all kinds of free stuff to host the party. It should be fun. There are 15 adults and 30+ kids coming...let's see how many actually come.

Mommy & son dinner

I saw on Facebook this afternoon that tonight was a mommy & son dinner at Chick-fil-A, so we decided to go there for dinner. Kailani was surprised because she said, "we only go to Chick-fil-A on Tuesdays. There was a daddy & daughter dinner a little while ago, but of course we couldn't go to that:(
It was actually a very nice dinner. They had the one whole side of the restaurant closed off and decorated with balloons, tables cloths, etc. Employees greeted us at the door and gave me a carnation. They seated us and even took our order at the table. All of the decorations were Toy Story themed, and Woody even came as a special guest! They took a picture of us with Woody. I'll post it here once I get it. There was a girl making balloon animals for the kids. We waited a long time in line, but Kailani and Zachary each got a balloon dog. I am glad we decided to go. We had such a nice time.

Seaworld's Halloween Spooktacular

Today we headed to Seaworld to see what their Halloween Spooktacular is all about. We've never gone at Halloween time and the kids were all excited about it when we were there for the walk last weekend.

When we first got there, the kids each decorated a pumpkin. They used paints and glitter, so needless to say, they were a mess.

After lunch, the kids played at the Sesame Street Bay of Play area for a while. They were in bathing suits and I think Zachary got the most wet:)

We checked out the new dolphin show, Blue Horizons. The show was a mix of dolphin stunts and people doing acrobatics. I think Kailani liked the acrobatics the most, but Zachary liked the dolphins. He clapped whenever he saw one do a trick.

Before we left, Kailani and Zachary each decorated a cookie. They sold cookie decorating sets in little plastic lunch boxes. The kit came with a cookie, icing, m&ms, and sprinkles. Kailani decorated a ghost and Zachary decorated a pumpkin. I think Kailani put every last m&m and sprinkle on her cookie.

It was really hot, but we had a great time today.

Walk on the Wild Side

We were up bright and early today and had another busy day. We participated in the Walk on the Wild Side at the zoo this morning. The walk was a little different than it has been in the past, but the kids still enjoyed themselves.

Since Kailani had done art yesterday, we had the entire afternoon open. We headed to Oma's Pumpkin Patch. We usually go to one of the pumpkin stations in a parking lot, so we thought we'd try a real farm this year. The kids each got to pick a pumpkin, ride the hayride, and walk through a hay bale maze, and play all of the games. They had a lot of fun, but it was really HOT!

Kailani's day

Today I decided to pick Kailani up from daycare early so we could spend the day together. We went out to lunch and then went shopping at our favorite place...Target:) I took her to art this afternoon so we don't have to go tomorrow. It's been tough to make it to the 2:15pm art class on Saturdays because it's right in the middle of the day. We're going to go on Fridays from now on. This just means I have less time to get things done after work, but it also means I don't have to take Zachary. He has a hard time sitting in the stroller and watching Kailani do art. After art class, we picked Zachary up and then headed back to the park for ballet. Since we'll have the whole afternoon tomorrow, we're planning on heading to the pumpkin patch after the Walk on the Wild Side.

6-week follow up

Today Kailani had her 6-week follow up for her broken arm. She had several x-rays and the doctor said everything looks great. She doesn't even complain about her arm hurting anymore. We do have to go for another follow up in 3 months, but I am happy with how quickly she healed. I promised Kailani that after the doctor we would go get "Beauty and the Beast;" it came out today. I had a $10 off coupon and when we bought the movie at Vons, we got a free box of popcorn, princess water bottle, and pumpkin. What a great deal. I also hear that if you buy a few cans of princess soup or spaghetti0s, there is another $5 rebate:) We got the new "Tinkerbell" movie the other day and there was a deal for a free charm bracelet with that one. I got the charm bracelet, and Tinkerbell charm, and a rose charm (with "Beauty and the Beast"). If we get "Santa Paws" we can get the third charm. I'm all about the deals!
Kailani watched "Beauty and the Beast" twice tonight and ate almost a whole bag of popcorn! We finally got a chance to sit down and make a book with the pictures from the butterflies she raised. She is going to take it to school to share...too bad tomorrow's sharing is for letter D. She'll be taking the dog from the Grinch...we got the book and the dog at Kohl's over the weekend.
Jason finally got his photo album from Operation Love! The kids and I had our pictures taken at Old Poway Park in July. As part of Op Love (http://www.oplove.org/), photographers do free sessions for military families with deployed family members. The photographer made a photo album with all of the pictures from the session and sent it to Jason. The package was postmarked September 13, but just arrived yesterday. It's crazy how long it takes to get to him in Virginia. If I mailed something to Virginia it would take a few days! It was very hard not to tell Jason we were doing the photo session, but I managed to keep it a secret until he got the album yesterday. I've got another AB430 training tomorrow. I am going through the administrator training program to get my tier 2 administrative credential. It will take me a year to complete all necessary workshops, but by the end of this school year I will be done...although I can't officially get my tier 2 credential until I've had the tier 1 for 2 years. Luckily my school district is paying the $3400 it costs to go through the program:)
I started a new class today for the University of Phoenix. There are only 10 students, which is the lowest number I've had yet. It will make it easier to grade papers. I was planning to teach one more class before Jason got home, but I was asked and the class would go through the middle of December. So...I didn't accept the class. I'll take a break and maybe start up again after the new year or after Jason leaves again. It gives me something to do on nights like this when I am bored. Plus, the extra money isn't bad:)

Shamu and You Walk

We had a very busy day today...just as we like it:) We woke up bright and early for the Shamu and You Walk. Kailani and Zachary each had their own t-shirts and numbers. Everyone who looked at Zachary commented on how cute he was; one even mentioned that he should be on an ad for the event. I agree...I think he's a cutie:) The walk took us through SeaWorld. We got to see lots of different animals up close. The kids all crossed the finish line together. After the walk, we visited many of the vendor booths and got free food and prizes. We had a great time!After the walk we stopped home for a short time to have lunch, but were headed off in no time. The Chula Vista Fire Department had an open house today for fire prevention week. We went there to check it out. The kids got fire hats, rode the little fire engine, looked inside an ambulance, and watched the fire fighters use the jaws of life to take a car apart. On the way out, Kailani decided to participate in a hose relay. She got all dressed in fire fighter gear and ran with the hose. She did such a great job!

After the open house, we headed straight to art class. Kailani did a lot of painting today to prepare for future projects. Today she finished her scarecrow. It is on a wooden stake, so we can put it in the ground out front. She was talking a whole lot during class today and the teacher commented on how talkative she was...normally she's pretty shy.

We've just been relaxing for the rest of the night. Both kids are passed out and I'm getting a few things done while I watch a movie. I finished teaching a class on Monday and graded my last few papers last night. I have a few free nights before I start a new class on Tuesday. Depending on how this next class goes, I may teach one more, but then take a break over the holidays.

Ballet...take 2

Kailani was looking forward to ballet today. Becky decided to sign Jaylynn up too, so this was the first class the girls took together. They had a great time. We got the paperwork for the Nutcracker performance and Kailani is so excited that Daddy will be home for it. We do have to pay additional money for her to participate, but she wants to do it. I think it will be cute to see.