Two Weddings and a Kidney Stone

About a year ago one of our friends Robert got engaged and asked Nathan if he would get ordained to perform his ceremony. So, I got online and after a short questionnaire and $35 he was ordained! Word got out that he was ordained and he had several people start asking him to marry them also. One that he agreed to do was for Nathan's racing friend Matt and his wife Jarrah - whose wedding happened to be the weekend before our friend Roberts wedding. They had a beautiful small wedding at a home in Dardanelle. I was so nervous for Nathan but he wasn't worried at all and he did a great job. This gave him a little practice for last weekend, which was Robert's wedding.

But, before we get to that wedding, we need to back up a few days before that. On Thursday at 2:00 a.m. I woke up to Nathan getting a heating pad out and putting it in bed on his back because his back hurt. Then we all got up and went to work like normal. Well, about 9:00 a.m. Nathan started texting me about how he thinks he messed his back up because it was killing him. I called and made him an appointment but he couldn't get in until 1:00. Then he started texting me to come home as soon as possible. He was in so much pain when I got home I knew I had to get him to the doctor now and not wait until 1:00. So, I text the doctors office and they said to bring him in immediately or go to the ER. So, I took him to the doctor where they sent him to the ER for a CT scan and blood work. This entire time he is in a lot of pain, cannot get comfortable, burning up, freezing, and nauseous. It was awful. They found a stone on the CT and gave him some pain medication and told him the stone was small enough he should be able to pass it. So, it was a rough couple of days. I took the kids out of the house on Friday to get them some clothes for upcoming pictures and Nathan something to wear for the wedding. That way he could rest more easy.

"Please sit on this bench while I look at these shirts for Daddy" - this is how they looked when I turned around :)

On Saturday at wedding time he still had not passed it! He was able to tough it out for a few hours and once again did a great job at the ceremony - especially since we typed up the ceremony a few hours before the wedding and this was his first time out of bed in days. We stayed for the reception and he even ate for the first time in days. But, the pain started again and we made a quick exit.

After another rough night, he finally passed the stone on Sunday! He immediately looked better and I could tell he felt better. We decided to carve pumpkins that night and I was so glad Daddy felt better so he could help!

Here is to hoping there are no more kidney stones in the future, but lots more fun with friends and family!

Kindergarten So Far!

Since we are at the end of the first nine weeks of school, I felt it was time for an update on how school is going for him (and me :) ) Noah still loves getting up and going to school every day. Even though, he says he still misses going to Mrs. Laurie's every day but is glad he still gets to see her at drop off and pick up for Ryan. I was afraid by now the newness of school would have worn off and he would not be as happy about going - but so far so good!

We drop Ryan off at 7:30 a.m. in town with the babysitter, and Noah's bell doesn't ring until 8:15 a.m. so Noah and I have a little time each morning together to talk, go over what all he is going to do that day, and say a prayer before dropping him off. Except on Wednesday mornings - he loves the breakfast pizza so I make sure to get him there early on that day so he can eat breakfast at school. Noah insists on blowing me 3 kisses and throwing me 3 hugs before he will go inside - so I am that crazy mom blowing kisses and throwing hugs while slowly pulling away from the school :) Noah is still going to work with me after school and it is really working out great. First I make him do homework (which luckily is only once a week) and then he gets on the computer and watches videos or plays with toys. He rarely disrupts me and I am still getting all my work done. I am really enjoying getting to see him more now.

I am amazed at all the papers Noah brings home from school. I figured I would keep them all so he could look back at them someday. Well, the big expanding envelope I got was filled up after 2 weeks! So, we are going to have to go through them together and I am going to let him pick out some of the ones he wants to keep. I LOVE looking over all his work with him. As soon as I pick him up the first thing he does is ask for his binder so he can get all the work out and explain to me what all they did that day at school. A lot of times he even wants to re-do all the work from school at home again :)

Feeding Elliott after school, the mini-horse at my office :)

I am volunteering at school on Fridays. I have to say, I absolutely love it! The work is not hard, it is a change of pace for me, the teachers are so nice and make me feel appreciated, and I love the girls I volunteer with. I also get to eat lunch with Noah on Fridays, which is so special for me. I just love watching him light up and tell the kids in line "that is my momma" when he sees me waiting at the end of the hall. I have also started reading to Noah's class every other Friday. I did not sign up for this originally. I am scared to talk in front of strangers or crowds so this intimidated me. But while I was volunteering the volunteer coordinator said "you signed up to read to Noah's class right" I said yes. I am not sure why I said yes, because I was scared to death to do it, it just came out. But, I am glad I did. Noah was beyond excited and it was not anywhere as bad as I thought it would be. The kids were very good and so funny - they kept complimenting me too, which I didn't hate :)

Noah's first parent teacher conference went great! Ms. Damon said he was doing amazing and right on track for everything. The only thing he is struggling in is neatness and spacing of his letters. He just doesn't care about staying in the lines when he colors or making his letters the same size. But Ms. Damon assured me that neither did any of the other boys in his class and that it is usually a boy thing :) So, I am going to work on that with him. Another thing that has come up is Noah's speech. His teacher has recommended him for speech. We are not surprised and are happy he is going to a school that recognizes he needs help and then offers it. It was hard for me to be sure if his speech was bad enough for speech therapy because I hear him talk so much I know exactly what he is saying. Once his teacher told me she was recommending it, I listened to him talk to a boy a little older than him at our house. The little boy kept saying "huh?" or "I don't know what you are saying" and for some reason listening to him talk to him I could hear how bad it really is. It almost made me cry, but then I realized it is such a small thing and is completely fixable. It was just hard listening to him talk to that other little boy. Noah's grandpa and uncle both had speech therapy and talk just fine now. I know he will too. I want to get him all the help we can before he gets older - I know first hand that kids are mean and I cannot even think about Noah being bullied. I went over it with Noah. He knows that he is difficult to understand sometimes so I told him that wouldn't be a problem after this. He said he knew kids in speech and they said it is fun and he seemed excited. So, this is a new season of our life we are ready to dive in to!

Perfect Saturday...

Saturday was just one of those good days. The really good ones that I once dreamed about and now love looking back on. I got the kids up and we got them dressed all cute for some pumpkin patch pictures. The kids had so much fun! They loved picking out their very own pumpkins - they both went with green pumpkins this year. We did the haunted maze and the kids picked out a bunch of gourds to put in my bicycle we have decorating the porch.

My mom got me this bike planter for my birthday and I love trying to find new ways to decorate it with the changing seasons!

From there we went to me and the kids favorite - Cracker Barrel (or the Barrel place as they call it). They know if they are good while we eat we will get a little something from the country store on the way out :) They ate their "pannatakes" (as Ryan says) like angels :) I even found the perfect sign for my china cabinet that I had been searching for!

The perfect sign I found for the china cabinet!

We then went home and the kids played while I cleaned house. The kids just love to have time to sit and play without having to rush to get ready for bed or get ready to go somewhere - so they were happy with about 3 hours of interrupted play time! Then it was time to head to the Haunted Hay Maze! We got to the farm about 30 minutes before dark so the kids enjoyed feeding the animals, playing pumpkin tick-tac-toe, going to "jail", playing air hockey, and riding the rocking horses. Then it was time for the maze! I wasn't sure how they would do or what to expect - it had been 2 years since we had went to a haunted maze together and Ryan had never been. I carried Ryan and held Noah's hand. They both squeezed on me when something would jump out, but then laughed - they loved it! They liked it so much we went through 3 times before heading for some Happy Meals!

We wished Daddy would have been with us - but he had to work and then there was a big race at our local dragstrip he wanted to go to. It was just a really good day - the kids were good, the weather was perfect, and memories were made!

I was lucky enough to have Columbus Day off Monday. I decided to use it to clean some stuff out of our house. I took 4 boxes to donate at a local church, 6 bags to the Pregnancy Help Center, 4 boxes to the consignment store, and 4 bags and a box of stuff to the recycle center! Then I went to the grocery store to get the stuff I forgot on Friday when I was there, cleaned the bathrooms, did all the laundry, did the dishes, and cleaned a big part of Nathan's shop. I even managed to surprise Noah at school for lunch (When he saw me he said "It's not even Wednesday yet and you are eating with me!" - he cracks me up. He kept wanting to take silly pictures on my phone - I just love having special one on one time with him) So, basically I kicked Columbus Day's butt! I just love having that an extra day off every now and then to get some extra stuff done so I can spend more time making memories on the other days :)

Fun Fall Days!

 This last week was full! It was spirit week at school and Ryan's daycare participates too - so the kids got to dress up each day! It was so much fun! Both kids are great sports and loved getting to dress up. Noah couldn't wait to tell me each day what the kids in school had on. On Friday Nathan and I had lunch with Noah at school and he informed us that we were supposed to go to the homecoming game. We decided to all go - the kids lasted until halftime. Noah had fun telling "go panfers go!" and Ryan liked the popcorn :)

Favorite Character Shirt Day - we have 2 Batman lovers :)

Tacky Mismatch Day

Camo Day

Farmer Day

Red/White/Black Day

Daddy's first day to have lunch with Noah at school :)

Family school lunch selfie :)

Cheering for the Panthers!

Enjoying her popcorn :)

Also during the week Ryan had her 3 year check-up. Thankfully there were no shots this time. She was such a good girl at the doctors office. She sat in the waiting room quietly and then let them weigh and measure her - which she normally does not allow! She is in the 99th percentile for her height and 87th percentile for weight - she is a tall girl! She insisted Dr. Harrison call her Tootie (our nickname for her ever since Noah called her a Little Toot when she was a baby) and had him give her bear a check-up too :) He said she looked perfectly healthy and saw no issues with her.

Sprinkle donut date before the doctor visit :)

Saturday morning, Nathan went to an auction and the kids and I went to the fire safety parade and fair. We had a donut picnic waiting on the parade and then headed over to the fair. We had the best time! The kids got to bounce in the bounce house, get their faces painted, meet Sparky and Smokey, meet Molly the Fire Safety Dog, get their scent sealed for the search and rescue dog to use if they ever go missing, get their prints made in case they are needed later, do a junior firefighter course, and play and explore fire trucks! They were so good and kept telling me how much fun they were having - such a good day of memories :)

Watching the parade

Junior firefighter obstacle course

Checking out the fire trucks

Getting fingerprinted and meeting Molly the Fire Safety Dog

Meeting Sparky and Smokey - Ryan was not about to go near them :)

Saturday night we had our first Girls Night Out and Boys Night Out. Ryan and I had been invited to her babysitters house for a Garden Party. It was so beautiful! She had the prettiest decorations! She had beautiful quilts, flowers and fall decor everywhere. We had the best time visiting and the food was delicious! The boys didn't have a plan when we left them. I text Nathan and asked what they ended up doing and he sent me a picture of cars racing from up in the tower at our local racetrack. He said Noah had fun for a while, but was still a little young to enjoy it for too long.

The food table at the garden party

Seating at the garden party

Desserts at the garden party

Everything was so good and beautiful!

Sunday we had more September birthdays to celebrate. So, after church we headed to the park to meet my family. We celebrated my nephew Christian and my sister-in-law Emily. That is the last of our September birthdays! The weather was perfect and the kids were having so much fun playing together. When we got home, the kids and I decorated for Halloween. I let Noah decorate the front door window clings however he wanted - and I did not touch them at all (he will tell you that over and over) - I usually even them up and move them around, but he was so proud that I didn't want to take that away from him. We have our costumes and are all decorated! We are ready for Halloween!

Noah and Marley hanging out :)

The girls made nests for the birds :)

Helping Emily blow her candles out :)

Ryan got to help Christian blow his candles out :)

What I put on our chalkboard for Halloween :)

Some of our porch decorations :)

We have a few more things to get for the porch and we will be done!