Halloween my way

Ok I admit it, I am in my thirties and I still love to dress up for Halloween. At my house if you have more than one party to go to then you can be more than one thing for Halloween. We have a large collection of dress up clothes so that helps to make it possible. I even had more than one outfit for Bella to wear this year thanks to my Mom. Since my kids are too big to buy fun clothes for, my Mom will sometimes splurge and send me a little something for my dog to wear. I of course enjoy such silliness. That helps take the pressure off Chris and Anthony who really don’t enjoy dressing up. So this year I didn’t make them.

I was a bit nervous having a diabetic child this year for such a sugar frenzied holiday. I was worried about the hardship this would cause for her and I had all kinds of plans in mind and ways that I could advise her. She really surprised me when she got home and gave all but 5 pieces of her candy away! She said it was fun to collect but she really didn’t want it. GASP…. I could learn a thing or two from her! Kira you are my hero and you make me so proud.

 

These ridiculous eyelashes were so heavy, this was the only way I could actually see.

A short adventure

We had a grand scheme planned for a few fun days in Denver, but we all know life doesn't always turn out like we plan. We had to go for one of Kira’s study check ups but we also had tickets to see the musical Wicked. Kali and Kyle have not had the pleasure and I had promised that I would find a way for them to see it. Thus hatched my plan.

However a severe snowstorm was NOT part of my plan. This was a quick Fall trip as far as I was concerned.

Somewhere near Wamsutter, Wyoming my plans were thrown off course as we hit a slick spot where snow had blown onto the road. If you look at the semi heading towards us, that is about where we lost control and spun a 360 before actually going off sideways till we came to a stop. I was afraid that we were going to hit one of the signs or posts but luckily we missed all of them.

After a quick call to 911 they dispatched highway patrol and a tow truck. One and a half hours later a different tow truck arrived and pulled us out and warned us how bad the roads were just up ahead. He told us to go back to Rock Springs for the night because the roads were closed anyway and we would not be getting anywhere near Denver. So what do you do in Rock Springs for fun?

 

Eat at McDonalds of course and submit yourself to complete silliness because it is the best way to celebrate the fact that everyone is alive and well and miraculously not hurt.

We learned that Kyle and I can both touch our noses with our tongue. Kira has the longest tongue but lacks the coordination to make it touch.

I can puff my cheeks out the farthest.

Kali is the only one who can take a handheld picture of all of us without cutting off important parts of faces.

Kyle prefers a strawberry sunday over hot fudge? Go figure.

Kali makes the best worried look.

And lastly Kyle and Kira can actually pass for twins when dressed accordingly.

In the morning we waited for I 80 to reopen till noon, but with record snowfall for that time of year it didn’t. We decided to head home. What a crazy trip.

My singin’ son

Last night was Kyle’s first concert choir performance for this year. He takes his singing pretty seriously, he’s even in voice lessons. He was nervous about it all week. He didn’t need to be. They did a great job.

 

Yep that’s Kyle kind of a goofball but he always makes us laugh.

They were singing “double, double, toil and trouble” from Harry Potter

A ”cute” appendicitis

Yep of course I’m talking about Kali. What part of her isn’t cute?

 

After having stomach aches for most of the week, we knew there might be something seriously wrong when she came home Friday night a full 2 hours before curfew. That is just not like her. Then when I woke up Saturday morning, I found her sitting at the computer researching appendicitis on the internet. The biggest clue here is that it was SATURDAY at 7:30am, even if the house was on fire I would still have to drag her out of bed. But she wasn’t doubled over or crying… hmmm time for the “fail proof test” stand on that chair and jump to the floor. If she collapsed to the floor writhing in pain then we would head straight for the ER, do not pass go , etc., etc. Instead she jumped and landed on her feet with barely a grimace. Well I had a very busy day ahead of me and this just wasn’t in the plan. I asked if she wanted to go straight to the Dr and she said she could wait till Dad woke up and could take her. Okay who am I to argue with that.

Fast forward several hours and Kali is in the ER with her Dad waiting for the results of the CT scan. I am pretending not to be distracted as I am finishing my last session of 4 back to back sessions that day. Just knowing that my poor needle phobic daughter had her first IV and I wasn’t there holding her hand was really starting to get to me. Thinking of her hearing the news of having surgery without being by her side was killing me. I got to the Hospital as soon as I could and found out they had already called in the on call surgeon. Kali would be having surgery that night and as quickly as possible for acute appendicitis. So much for the “fail proof test”.

Anthony was a champ and had spent the day with Kali calming her fears and just being the amazing Dad that he is. He left to go get some food as soon as they took her for surgery. Now I am totally alone in an empty waiting room that doesn’t have any cell phone reception. I start to think about how far we have advanced medically and that people used to die from this. I am so grateful that Kali won’t even have to be cut wide open because they are going in laparoscopically. The surgeon comes in to tell me they are finished early and that everything went perfectly and since I work at the hospital I am welcome to join Kali in the recovery room. (I am a back up tech for the gastroenterology department, and had not worked for over 1 1/2 years before that very week when I was covering a few days for someone out of town) I see the advantage so I take it. Oops. I wish I had stayed in the waiting room. Coming out of anesthesia is not a pleasant thing. Lots of disorientation and writhing in pain till you become fully awake and aware of what is going on.

Anthony came back in time to sneak a peek in the recovery room also. He agreed that if we ever go through this again we will pass on that opportunity. We followed Kali upstairs to the regular hospital floor, Anthony said goodnight and headed home to check on the rest of our kiddos.  I settled in for a long night of watching Kali sleep peacefully and remembered all the sights, sounds and smells of hospital life. One of Kali’s closest friends came to visit that night for a few hours and I welcomed the distraction. 

This is what she looked like most of the time.

 

The next day she woke up  quite a bit more and even got to walk the halls before she could go home.

hospital life…

and of course this was the best part… coming home.

Vintage Fire Truck

On my way to a photo shoot the other day I saw this really cool old fire truck as part of the decor for Hook & Ladder  (a mom and pop style burger joint). And I thought to myself what a cool prop that would be for a picture someday…. except that the space around it was not very picturesque, and It would never be in the shade, and finding someone who could see the same potential and coolness factor in that truck that I could is highly unlikely. So I just made a mental note of where to find it again should I ever need to use it in a photo.

Fast forward an hour and a half. I had just finished shooting a double senior session for some boys.  They were saying how much fun they had and that they were surprised how quickly the time had passed. I asked if they might be up for a few more pictures in another location and they were all over it. This is why I love to shoot seniors. They are almost always up for anything I suggest. Here are two of my favs from that day.

Thanks boys, you guys are great!

Do dogs blush?

Well maybe my little Bella is exceptional because low and behold when I got home the other day, her cheeks were all pink!

You can tell by her ears that she was a little embarrassed.

I had already started picking up all the trash that she had strewn around from this garbage can.

“yes, that is the brush I used”

“but I thought I looked purdy? all sparkly and everything.” “what? you think I look silly?”

So what did I learn from all this? Never let your Boston Terrier get bored! They will find trouble, in ways you couldn’t even imagine. And lastly Bella is all girl, pink is definitely her color. :-)

Homecoming Dance 2009

It was a pretty fun weekend around here.

Big group dates are the BEST!

The Girl

The Boy                                      

 

I think the pictures say it all.