Zoo Halloween

Oma and Opa took us to the Zoo Halloween on Sunday!  It turned out to be a beautiful day and the zoo was very crowded.

Taylor wanted to be Sofia the First this year (Oma made her dress).  She talked Ben into being Sofia's brother, Prince James. And, Drew is a doctor!

Ready to go!!!

 Oma, Daddy, and the kids rode the train!

 I think the two mazes were everyone's favorite thing (besides the candy trails)!

 

Here is a picture of Sofia and James.  Oma also altered the jacket I found for Ben, and he makes the perfect prince!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Drew!!!

Our baby is 2!!!  Saturday night we had a little party for Drew with friends and family.  I did a farm theme since he likes farm animals and tractors.  Aunt Marcy made him the cute tractor shirt!

Troy smoked pork for a pulled pork dinner!

 Opening presents...

 He got lots of fun new toys and has been very busy playing with everything, but he LOVES this chainsaw.  I am about to go deaf from hearing this thing ALL DAY LONG!

 Blowing out candles...

 This is what all that green frosting does!

 Today grandma brought a DQ cake up and we had that after lunch.  Drew blew out his candles about 5 times before we finished singing "Happy Birthday", Troy had to keep relighting them.

 The party people!

 Happy Birthday, Drew!!!

We went to the doctor today for his 2 year check up.  He weighed 27 lbs. (60th %) and is 34" tall (40th %).  He got a flu shot and finger prick and didn't cry once!  He talks like crazy and still goes pretty much nonstop all day long.  He is starting to be a little more trustworthy now as I can leave him alone for a few minutes and the house won't be totally destroyed.  Drew LOVES to be outside and "help" Daddy in the yard.  He also is an amazing scooter rider and can ride a tricycle and even a bike with training wheels if he can reach the pedals!  While he exhausts me most days, he can also be so sweet and funny and I wouldn't trade that for anything!!!

Fall Fun and Fort 4 Fitness

We've been enjoying the cooler temperatures (especially in the mornings) and the occasional rain!



Drew had a phase where he did this many, many times a day (he never actually went though)!

His FAVORITE thing....making coffee!!!

Last weekend we went to the Johnny Appleseed Festival.  The kids liked playing the games and if you ask Ben, he won them all!

We've been making apple chips with all the apples we picked!

This weekend Taylor and I ran in the Fort 4 Fitness races!  Taylor ran the 1.2 mile kids run and LOVED it!!!  She found a girl from her class and we ran with her the whole time and the girls never once stopped to walk!

On Saturday morning I ran my 2nd half marathon with my neighbor friends!

I had the best cheering squad!  They went around the course and saw me 3-4 times!

 

Apple Picking

One day last week Oma and I took the kids to Cook's Apple Orchard to pick some apples.  They had a huge amount of really good apples!  We filled up 4 bags!

 He was bound and determined he was going to pull Taylor and Ben in the wagon....it didn't happen!

Fishing

We went to one of the neighborhood ponds Friday night to fish!

Ben's catch...

Taylor caught 2!

Vladi's first time fishing!

Drew's first catch....the biggest of the night!

Happy Ben!

From these pictures you can't tell what a mess these kids have been!  Snotty noses, wheezing, fevers, coughs, etc.  Taylor missed two days of school last week, one to have her nose cauterized and allergy testing done and another because she had a horrible cough and was wheezing so much she needed  breathing treatments.  Ben is back on his "rescue" breathing treatments every 4 hours because he is wheezing and having a hard time breathing!  Hopefully we are on the mend soon!!!

Sick Ben

Poor Benny had to spend all day Monday and Monday night at Parkview Hospital.  He woke up many times during the night on Sunday with a fever and really struggling to breathe.  Around 4:30 a.m. Monday morning I decided to take him to the E.R.   I was hoping after a breathing treatment we would be heading home.  Well, after three breathing treatments he was still wheezing quite a bit and had low oxygen levels so he was admitted.  After a chest x-ray our pediatrician determined that he basically just had an asthma attack triggered by a virus, allergies, or both.

While in the hospital he had breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock.  He was also getting IV medication (steroids).  He was an AWESOME patient!  He never cried or fought what the doctors and nurses wanted him to do, even when getting his IV in!  He loved getting all the apple juice he wanted on demand from the nurses and watching as much TV as possible!

Grandma Parker brought Taylor and Drew to visit Monday evening.  They all three enjoyed getting to play in the hospital playroom.

He kept his oxygen levels up all Monday night while he slept so we were discharged Tuesday morning.  It was obvious he was feeling much better!

 

Tomorrow is Ben's last day to take the oral steroids (what he was getting through his IV) and he will continue to have breathing treatments twice a day for a month.  Now we are dealing with his crazy behavior/lack of appetite while on all this medicine.  I'm hoping after he's done with the oral medication he starts to level out a little bit.....he has been SO hyper and not sleeping or eating well.