Pumpkin Patch

Today was our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  We've been going for so long, I'm not even sure what "annual" it is.  We've been going with Aunt Jill, Uncle Adam, Trev, and Ty since Ty was in a stroller, though, so it's been a long time - and we were going alone before that!

We've managed to go the weekend following the boys' birthdays (10th and 11th) for a couple years now, so it's nice to be able to give them their gift in person.  As they get older, I need new ideas.  Thank goodness for Pinterest who showed me how to tape dollars bills end-to-end and have them unroll them as their gift.  Unrolling $25 in ones is pretty fun for a 9 and 12 yr old!  Ty was wearing his as a scarf, while Trevor was trying to get all of his stuffed into the car again. :-)

The kids are so old now, that it's hard to get them to stand still and take a picture, but I was able to get a few out of them.  This one is my favorite, because of that adorable photobomber between Noah and Livie. ;-)

They played on the hay stacks a lot and spent tons of time playing tag.  They're almost too big for the little houses now, so tag fit them perfectly.

Trevor liked hanging out with the guys today.  I love this picture. :-)

This is another spot where I get pictures taken of them every year.  Pretty soon, they won't be fitting into these windows very easily!

They were having some wild animal thing and they brought this wolf with them.  Madie LOVES wolves, so she was pretty darn excited to see one up close and in real life.

You can see the crowd that gathered to see them.  He was showing everyone a porcupine.  My camera starting dying at this point, so I got very conservative about taking photos.  In fact, most of them were taken with a quick turn-on and click motion, so they aren't very good.  Because, I was careful about the pictures I took, I didn't get pictures of them going through the corn maze or riding the train.  They went into the corn maze all by themselves and I totally thought it would take them a good solid 30 min to find their way out.  Nope!  Finished that thing in 15!  They rode the train too, which is something they love to do, even if their heads hit the top of the train car.  It's fun to watch them, that's for sure.

My attempt to get a quick shot of our kids on the pumpkins didn't turn out great, but it makes me laugh.  Noah fell into the pumpkins and I didn't have time to make him sit up again, so we dealt with what we had!

The boys did a great job carrying the cart around and, as you can see, we filled it up with tons of pumpkins!

Of course, their very favorite thing in the whole wide world?  Picking out gourds.  They could stand there for a half hour just finding 2 gourds to take home.

I stole this picture from Jill.  She got a great shot of the kids!  So glad they love each other so much and have so much fun when they are together.  It was a beautiful day and we were so glad to spend it with them!

Last, but not least, is this picture that Jill took on Pete's phone.  I always love to get one family picture when we're at the patch.  Again, with my camera dying, we took what we could get and this is what we got.  Madie's not smiling, but hey, I still say it was a successful picture!  Thanks, Jill!!  So, there you have it.  Another fun time at the pumpkin patch.  Hope we continue this tradition for years to come!

Saline Class

Today was a big day.  Not THE big day, but a pretty big day nonetheless.  Today Noah got hooked up to his pump!  The reason it's not THE day (in all caps) is because he's hooked up with saline and not insulin.  

I can't tell you how thankful I was that we were the only ones in the class today with our rep.  It gave me time to deal with the emotions I was going through and have her undivided attention when I was finding myself overwhelmed and confused by it all.  It's literally like starting over again.  Thankfully, once I navigate through this and figure out how it works, it'll be so much easier!  But, for now, the learning process is a hard one.  I'm not device savvy.  Noah and Pete, on the other hand, were picking it up in seconds.  When I was feeling particularly overwhelmed, I got pretty teary-eyed.  How was I going to learn all of this?!  Then, a bright shining star was presented to me - a step-by-step manual with pictures!!  Ahh....  There was hope!

When Noah was diagnosed, we went straight to the insulin pen.  It was something I used when I had gestational diabetes with Livie, so I went with something that was familiar to me.  Well, now we have to use vials, because you can't fill the reservoir using a pen.  You have to use a syringe.  So, check me out looking all nurse-y!  Kinda felt cool, I'm not gonna lie.

Angela, our rep, walked us through many different features just to get us started.  Noah has a new BG tester, that communicates directly to his pump.  He loved that!

Then he got the whole thing hooked up to the infusion set.  The scary part for him was having to get the needle inserted.  It's attached to a spring-loaded stamper-looking thing.  The needle looks a lot longer than his insulin pen needles, so he got very nervous and a little weepy.  But, he mustered the courage and let me do it and he said, "That didn't hurt at all!".  So, after that it was all easy-peasy.

We finished up everything, got our new prescriptions and our new doctor's appt (with his new doctor) and headed out the door.

His sisters did a great job of being quiet and content while Pete and I worked with Noah and the rep to get things started.  Can you tell how proud Noah is of his new pump?!

He picked out the pump belt.  It's a sock monkey one, of course.  I hope to get another one soon, so he has a plain one for church and stuff.

I thought I'd give you an idea of our homework for the next 2 weeks.  Each day we have to do what is listed.  It will get us familiar with many of the different aspects of the pump and its settings.  We also have to keep a detailed food log and insulin log to help the doctors determine what his setting should be.  Because he will be getting constant doses of insulin, his ratios could very easily change.  There is a lot to learn and a lot to do, but the first steps are taken and we're off!  Just so glad I have my cheat sheet book that gives me those step-by-step instructions that I so desperately need!

JDRF Walk 2013

Yesterday morning was our 2nd Annual trip to the JDRF Walk in Schaumburg, Illinois.  The weather this year was absolute perfection!  It started off cool (low 50s), but by the time we left, it was a sunny 63 degrees.  

We got there a little earlier this year, which was nice.  We didn't feel like we were rushing to get there.  Walking from the parking lot to the starting line is quite a trek in and of itself!  Kendalyn and Livie held hands most of the way.   They're such buddies. :-)

We paused for a quick picture of our walking kids.  Avery was in her stroller most of the time.

When you enter the park, there is a band playing - I'm guessing a local high school band.  And, there are cheerleaders lining the road as well.  You can see behind us how many people are there.  That's only about half of them.  Jeff and I were talking and we guesstimated there was probably 10-12,000 people that attended this - all in support of someone they know and love that has Type 1!

Em and her family joined us again this year.  I'm so glad they did.  It's really nice having their support. :-)

The balloon archway was our starting line.  Though, no one really lines up.  They blow a whistle and everyone starts heading that way.  There are people all over the place, playing at the bouncy houses or dancing to the DJ that is playing music, or loading up on lots of free snacks that are at the snack pavilion.

Sweet little Avery was just chill the entire time we were on the walk.  She just took in the sights and had a great time!

We saw this shoe mascot and everyone wanted a picture with him. :-)

The band and cheerleaders that greeted us as we entered the park were now lined up at the starting line and played and cheered us all on as we began walking.  I can't begin to tell you how amazing the energy is there!

My superstar!!!

Kendalyn and Avery took turns riding on their dad's shoulders or Uncle Pete's shoulders.  Livie did too. :-)

When we were walking, I saw this group ahead of us and laughed.  If you can't read their shirts, they say "Watch out for Presbyterians".  I had to send that to Pastor John - especially since we missed church that day.

The walk is really pretty.  Weaving through the woods and out into the open plains.  Really beautiful scenery.

I think these were the shirts that made us laugh the most. :-)

This was the halfway point.  At each section there is a team of people cheering you on and a snack tent with people passing out apples, orange, bananas, water, pop, popcorn, and more.  There are kids of all ages, parents, grandparents, friends, dogs, and I even saw someone carrying a bunny on a leash!  JDRF Walks are 5 kilometers of fun, let me tell ya!

This was the finish line!  The kids started running for it, so we adults did too.  Last year some of the kids struggled to make it the whole way.  Noah was one of them.  He didn't slow down once.  He kept at it and was still full of energy when it was over.  He wanted to finish the race, so we could go to Barnes and Noble.  A boy after my own heart!

Here's another picture to show you a bit more of the activity.  That big tent was where the DJ was and all the dancers.

Aren't these girls adorable?

We were able to visit some of the tents.  They had a place where you could draw a picture and they were going to make it into a mural.

Madie put Minecraft characters on hers. :-)

I drew Phineaus and Ferb and Kendalyn helped color it for me.  We finished up our time by checking out of our hotel and hitting Portillos for lunch.  We decided, after last year, that this should always be our lunch after the big walk.  It was delicious!  We said our goodbyes, went to Barnes and Nobel for a little while (I LOVE that store!!!), before heading over to Jill's for a couple hours.

These cousins never have any fun together, do they? ;-)

It was a short visit, but we were so glad to see those sweet boys!  Trevor is a 6th grader and will be turning 12 this week.  He's gotten so tall and his voice is changing.  Ty is getting really tall too.  He's a 3rd grader and just got a chinchilla named Skip.  They are both fantastic kids and these cousins always have a ball when they are together.  It was a great weekend all around and we're so thankful to everyone for their support!

Shedd Aquarium

This weekend was our JDRF Walk weekend.  Last year my sister and her family came out on Friday and we went up on Sat to spend the weekend together in Schaumburg.  This year we did the same thing, only we went to Chicago on Sat instead of staying in the area of the walk.  It was a fun time, but I think we both agreed that next year we'll stay in the area of the walk, because the traffic in Chicago got a little crazy and, by the time we got back to the hotel, my kids and her kids were exhausted!

We got up to Chicago around lunchtime and we parked at Soldier Field, the Bears Stadium.  We saw this trailer parked outside and had to get our picture taken here.  Gotta represent!

We had gotten McDonalds, so we ate outside before heading over to the Aquarium.  I've never been there before, so it was really fun to see it.  The Stadium and the Aquarium are right on the lake, in this really beautiful area next to the Planetarium and the Field Museum.  You could see the Skyline behind it too, so it was really beautiful.

You can see what I mean in this picture.  See the skyline back there?  Just really cool!

When we walked up the Aquarium, we saw this fountain.  Kinda looked like Obama holding a fish.  I don't understand it, but whatever.

The first thing we saw once we got inside was this big, round aquarium.  We almost couldn't pull the kids away from it.  They thought it was so cool!

While Em and I were with the kids, the dads stood dutifully by with the strollers. :-)

They had aquariums filled with everything you can imagine.  There were sections for the Amazon, for river, for the Great Lakes.  There was so much to see and do!

Here's Livie and Uncle Jeff checking out something fun!

It was this little frog!  Livie, of course, loved the frogs!  I did too.  They were such bright colors and so tiny!

Livie's face in this picture cracked me up!!  I don't know if it was the size of the crab that made her look like this, but something "wowed" her!

The weather outside was getting pretty cloudy (there was a huge thunderstorm that passed through while we were inside).  But, you can still see the lake and the skyline here.  I loved it!

In the Polar area, there was a place to touch starfish.  They were really big starfish too!  Kendalyn was too nervous to do that, but my kids loved it!

I think my favorite part was watching the Beluga whales.  They were just beautiful!  I could sit there all day and watch them swim.

The penguins were really cute too.  They were communicating with each other and a couple even got into a fight, which was quite hilarious.

Near the penguins, there was an area for the kids to climb and penguin suits to put on.  I only got this picture of Kendalyn and Livie wearing them, but the other kids put them on too and played here for quite a long time.

This was the picture that was taken when we first walked in.  It cost me $30 to get, but I didn't care.  I loved that it had all of us in it!  Avery didn't want her picture taken, but that just makes it more fun, if you ask me. :-)  

Noah

I thought I'd blog about Noah tonight, because a couple of fun things happened this week for him and I wanted to share. :-)

Yesterday, Noah got to sign up for band!  They are given time during the school day to look at the instruments and try them out.  It helps them to figure out what instrument they want to play.

Noah came home last week and told me he wanted to play the trumpet.  This, of course, made me really happy, because both my dad and myself played trumpet!  Dad was actually quite accomplished at it.  I did ok - playing it for 4 yrs between my 6th and 9th grade years.  So, yesterday, we went to the school and got him signed up and ordered a trumpet for him.  It should come in next week.  Listening to him play it was hilarious to say the least!  Reminds me of Madie trying her flute for the first time.  Now, Madie's a fantastic flute player!  So, hopefully Noah will do just as well. :-)

Another thing that happened was Noah wrote a persuasive essay about his favorite relative and he picked me as his favorite!  Read below to see what he wrote:

Seriously.  How could I not love that to pieces?!  I gave him such a big hug that he basically told me to back off, because I was breaking his glasses. ;-)  I then bugged him to death about it until he finally said, "If you don't stop, then I'm ripping it up and writing a new one about daddy!" haha  He finally relented when he realized that meant he would have to rewrite 5 whole paragraphs and he quote "never wants to do that again for the rest of his life!".  Anyway, it was really sweet and I was really touched that he thinks that about me, regardless on if it's true or not.  We're gearing up for our weekend in Schaumburg for the Diabetes Walk!  Em, Jeff, and the girls are coming in a couple days and I can't wait!!