Halloween pictures

We got the kids' halloween costumes last weekend and took a bunch of pictures. Most of them are of Belle because it's harder to get a good shot of her and it's fun to take pictures of babies too! Audri is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Isaiah is a monkey (so appropriate) and Belle is Snow White. They all look adorable and are excited for trick or treating. Well, Belle will spend Halloween in the hospital, but I couldn't not celebrate her first Halloween, so I had to get the costume and still take pictures.

Jose is in Ames, Iowa today and probably tomorrow. The Huskers were playing at his brother's college so they set up a brothers get together to go to the game and hang out. We thought we'd all go, but money is tight and then we'd have to do a hotel and more food, etc. so we didn't go. Plus Jose was excited to just go and have a guys' weekend and not worry about being a spouse or father for awhile. He so deserves it anyway. So the kids and I are doing the norm at home - cleaning, laundry, and I will attack some homework soon too.

Belle is still recovering from the crud going around. It's been about 4 weeks now! The doctor put her on prednisone for 5 days - today's her last day. It has helped a lot. She just can't cough strong enough to get the gunk out of her chest due to the low muscle tone, so she needs all the help she can get. She is almost back to normal now, just a slight wheeze, but I think that may remain throughout the season. Hopefully this will be it for awhile or she won't be able to have her procedure done on the 31st. I'm very anxious about it but want to get it over with.

Audri is still loving dance. They did a bit of tap last week and that's exciting. I'm happy she has something just for her. I know she's going through a tough oldest child stage right now, so I have to work on lessening her level of anxiety and give her more just Audri time.

Isaiah is very excited to go to "Mrs. Pam's house" for preschool. That's what he calls it. He asks every morning if he gets to go to school and usually cries when it's not the day. He is as strong willed as ever and we're working on using our words instead of hitting, or screaming.

Jose had a couple weeks of not working quite as much, but has gone back to long days and being called back in. He has planned to leave yesterday afternoon for Ames, but got a bunch of files thrown at him last minute so he worked until like 8pm and then got up at 4am today to leave. The raise was promised to be on the last two checks...but we have not seen it! Hopefully soon. He has been organizing and re-organizing his garage when he is not working. I love having someone so organized since I only am in certain areas of life. He got a lot of shelves from my parents and it has helped make more room in the garage since it's all full of daycare toys. It makes him happy to have a place for everything on a shelf. :)

We still haven't been able to fill our last 3 spots for the daycare. We are at 11, but 2 are gone all day for school. Both Shannon and I could use the money to have more kids sign up, so keep praying for that. Other than that my life consists of trying to stay on top of what needs to be done for the kids' school, doctors and house work. I am taking some time out for myself on Tuesdays. I have been going to an OA (overeater's anonymous) group for about 10 weeks now. It's been so great and I love the ladies in my group. I've lost 11 pounds and it's amazing the process for these meetings. It's basically like AA (alcoholics anonymous) but for over eating instead of drinking. It's a very spiritual program, which I love so my relationship with God has never been better. And I'm amazed at how easy it is to say no to those foods that I loved so much before. I get to get closer to God, work on myself and a better life and lose weight all in one program (and it's free!). Send me an email if you want more info on where we meet, what I'm doing exactly or anything else. We would love to have more people join us. http://www.oa.org/index.htm

On a more stressful, sadder note. We found out on Wednesday that my Dad has cancer. I am a huge Daddy's girl and it has been hard to handle. I talk to my dad numerous times a week and I have about the best relationship with him than anyone else in the world. He has prostate cancer and a growth on his bladder that they will take out and biopsy on Thursday next week. We do not know if it is contained within the prostate or has spread anywhere else. November 5th is the big day where he will get all results of the cat scan, bone scan, biopsy, etc. And then they decide the plan for how to attack it. He was in the Viet Nam war and they used a chemical called Agent Orange. This has proven to cause cancers, other diseases and birth defects in children. You can find a lot of info on the internet about it. He was in an area where it was stored and largely used and during the years it was used the most! Very scary. I know it has really shaken us all up. Dad has been in a lot of pain for about 2 months now. He fell at work in like June and he's had 3 doctors tell him he must have re-injured it this fall and made it worse. It's in his leg, pelvic, thigh region and I just don't think he or the rest of us are convinced that's truly what it is. He hasn't been working for the 2 months now because he can hardly walk, sit, drive, etc without all the pain. He's not sleeping well either. It's so hard to watch him be in pain and feel like I can do nothing for him. Please pray for him throughout this time and for the family as well. He doesn't talk about it much; I think to help us deal better and because he wants to be as optimistic as possible, but he has expressed fears and saddness at times.

So there's my little update for the week. I feel like I was writing a Christmas letter. :) Hope you are all doing good and would love to hear from you!