Baby Olivia --

My good friend Beth came over today with her new 6 week old baby, Olivia. It was great to catch up! She lives in Wisconsin now, so we don't get to see each other very often. She was in DSM today, so we got some time to visit and I got to meet her new baby.

Colby LOVED the baby!! It was so cute! I thought he might get jealous when I was holding her, but he didn't seem to mind --- He just kept getting up real close to the baby and looking at her and smiling and laughing!!

I told Jeremy that Colby really enjoyed having a baby around so maybe he should think about that a little, but I didn't get much of a response!! Ha!!

STABLE ---

We heard from Wendy today that Elise's tumor is stable. It has not grown, nor has it shrunk. We were hoping for news that it had shrunk, although, it is still great to hear that it is stable. The doctors were happy about the results. She is feeling good and that is something to be thankful for!!

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/eliselambert/createorsignin

Thinking about Elise Today ----

Our friend Elise is having her MRI done at St. Jude's today to check on her brain tumor --- We are praying that it has shrunk!!!!! Wendy and Brian (her parents) will find out the results tomorrow morning. THINKING OF YOU ELISE!!!!!! YOU ARE SO BRAVE AND WE ARE PRAYING FOR THE BEST!!!!!!

A Couple of Firsts.....

Today Maddy had her first "school friend" over for a play date. It was kind of cool because it is a friend she has made all on her own and they have been talking at school for weeks about wanting to play together. I had no idea who this girls' parents were or where they lived, but I told Maddy I would get ahold of her Mom and find a day for her friend to come over. I ended up meeting her mom this past weekend at a b-day party for a different kid in their class, so we got it all set up for Brittany (Maddy's friend) to come over after school today. They were both so excited (as was Colby) and had a great time. It turns out, that they live just a couple blocks away from us, so that is really nice as well.

Tonight, we had conferences for Maddy with her teacher (and also got her first report card). Another first for us!! We had Maddy and Colby go over to our neighbors' house for a half an hour while we went up to the school. It went really well and Maddy is in the top of her class for reading. Apparently there are 5-6 other kids ahead of her in all 3 of the Kindergarten classes. I was surprised when the teacher told us this as I guess I didn't realize they "ranked" the kids in this way. However, I was happy to hear that Maddy is doing good and is also attentive and gets along with the other kids. She really does love school and seems to be having a great year! We are very proud of her for working so hard!! I'm thinking I might take her out for ice cream tomorrow after school.

Halloween Festivities....

I just now realized that I did not post anything about Halloween! We had a great week leading up to Halloween. Jeremy's Mom came to visit for the whole week and we had a nice time seeing her! It was a very busy week with a Halloween party at Colby's Parent's Morning Out program and Maddy's school. Maddy also had a Fall play. Of course, I had signed up to help out at both parties so we were busy doing that and making treats, etc..for the parties as well! Oh, and for some reason, I also decided to host a candle party this same week! In the midst of all of this, we all ended up coming down with bronchitis by the end of the week. We had all been coughing and it just seemed to get worse as the weeek progressed. Friday morning, we were all at the doctor! I guess that is probably why I didn't get anything posted on the blog! Lots of cough syrup, cough drops, kleenexes, antibiotics, humidifiers and inhalers later --- we are doing much better! Sorry Barb for bringing you into our germ infested house and getting you sick!! Misery loves company, I guess ;-)

I also realized that the only pictures taken with Grandma Barb were on her camera --- so, I will post those once I get copies. For now, I have posted a picture of Maddy and Colby right before trick-or-treating. They were so excited and running around everywhere with the neighbor kids, so I only got one picture!!

Cousin Time!!

We had Ben and Jordan over last Friday night for a couple hours while Josh went to a wake and Missy was out of town. The kids all had a lot of fun playing. I got a pretty cute picture of the four of them eating pizza:

Colby's First Haircut!

It was way over-due, but we kept putting it off as I think we were scared to have sharp scissors go near Colby's head! He is so active and constantly moving that I wasn't sure how we were going to get this done!! So, finally the other day, I just decided to take him into Great Clips after Maddy got home from school and see what would happen. (it's funny because for Maddy's 1st haircut, both Jeremy and I took her to a "kids' haircut place" and spent a lot of money to get 1 or 2 pieces of hair cut off and a picture taken, etc....we are more practical about these types of things nowadays ;-))

So, back to Colby.....He did not want to sit on the chair, so I sat down and put him on my lap. Then, he was having issues with the gown they drape around you, so I told the lady to just not use it (we both ended up with hair all over us!) The lady cutting his hair was pretty good, but she was definately taking her time --- Maddy helped me distract Colby and overall we got it done (even though, towards the end of his hair-cut I was standing up holding him while she was cutting!) I would consider it a success as his hair is cut, looks pretty good, and no injuries to report!!!