Happy Halloween!

WOW! What a fun day! It seems like we have had non-stop Halloween activities today and it has been a blast! We started the day at Mary Grace's Kindergarten Halloween party. The kids had so much fun decorating pumpkins, playing games, eating yummy snacks and collecting lots of treats. Then all of the students at Indian Lake headed out to the front of the school for the Halloween parade. The parade was fantastic!.. All of the students were dressed in their costumes... some had the most creative costumes I have ever seen. Mary Grace sported her hot pink Super Girl costume. Almost all of the children had parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends attend the parade. It was a great event for the school. I am amazed daily by the overwhelming parent support at Indian Lake. After the parade we headed home to get ready for the Pumpkin Festival at Moss Wright Park. After spending the first half of the day watching Mary Grace wear her costume, Carolyne was eager to get dressed up as her "nice" fairy witch. This was our 6th year to attend the Pumpkin Festival. We started the tradition when Mary Grace had just turned one year old and could barely walk down the trail in her little ladybug costume. The girls always have so much fun! We met up with our trick-or-treat crew... my brother and his family, my sister, and my parents. We were also happy to see Carleigh in her awesome vampire costume and Tucker dressed as the cool red Power Ranger. Check out the picture of the group and the amazing, creative costume worn by my niece, Kailey... she is the box of popcorn. She will be featured in a few of the area newspapers, so look for her sweet "popcorn" face in your upcoming paper. After a trip down the trick-or-treat trail, we headed to the bouncy slide and Smores roast. The girls really enjoyed roasting marshmellows by the fire and making a Smores treat. Afterwards we visited with my grandparents before supper. We finished off the night with our annual stop by Brody and Colby's house to top off our Halloween buckets with yummy treats. We were excited to see Brody dressed as Batman ready to greet us at the front door. This has been a great day! We are exhausted, but the girls have loved every minute! They are already talking about what they will be next year for Halloween.

A Fun Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Today, Mary Grace's Kindergarten class visited Honeysuckle Hill Farm in Springfield. This was the first field trip this year and the kids had a blast! The day started with a bus ride to Springfield. This was Mary Grace's first time to ride a school bus. She was so excited! Jason and I, Carolyne, and my mom (Nana) were happy to be able to go along on the trip. Of course, we followed along in our car, although Carolyne would have loved to be on the "big yellow bus" with the big kids. The field trip started with a short lesson on how pumpkins are grown. The kids were amazed! Next we checked out all of the farm animals... pigs, donkeys, goats, cows, horses, chickens and even the farm dog named Trigger. They really enjoyed the booth that simulated the process of milking a cow. The girls were able to sit on a crate and "milk" a wooden cow. Carolyne got a big kick out of the water squirting out of the "utters". I think we went to that cow booth at least three times. We then took a short hay ride around the farm and finished the morning off in the corn maze and corn pit. What a sight to see... 21 Kindergarten students and their siblings knee deep in a pit of dried corn. They LOVED it! All of the classes took a short break for a picnic lunch and then headed to watch the pig races. We ended the day playing on the slides, swings, and seesaws, and then walking down to the field to pick out our very own pumpkins. What a GREAT day! Mary Grace had so much fun with her friends and really enjoyed her very first school trip. Carolyne had tons of fun too and is already saying that she can't wait until her Kindergarten trip to the pumpkin patch. A big THANK YOU to Mrs. Seigenthaler and all of the Indian Lake Kindergarten teachers for organizing such a fun fall adventure for the kids. We had a blast!

Way to Go Tigers and Green Monkeys!

Today the girls played in their final soccer games of the fall season. They have had so much fun! Since this was Carolyne's first year to play, she spent most of her time just running around the field. During the first few games, she did not attempt to get very close to the soccer ball. In fact, after getting tackled during the second game, she began waving the other players by to let them run past her toward the goal. But, by the end of the season, she was a little more aggressive and even scored a few goals. She has really enjoyed meeting new friends and has even volunteered on occasion to lead the team warm-up or end of the game cheer. Soccer has been a great experience for her to break out of her girly shell. She emerged as a team leader and even enjoyed playing a little rough... just like a little "tiger"!

Mary Grace also had a great season! Her coach taught her so much about soccer... I know at this point she could beat me in a game of soccer, hands down! She learned how to play many different positions on both offense and defense. She especially enjoyed playing defense... she could stand guard near the center of the field and give a power kick when the ball rolled in her direction. She scored several goals this season and assisted her teamates in scoring even more. Her team, the Green Monkeys, finished the season undefeated. I would have to say that she probably had the most fun when she was cheering on the sidelines with her teamates. She made some really great friends and is already looking forward to playing again next fall. She is really enjoying being involved in sports.

Carolyne's Visit to Kindergarten

Today Mary Grace celebrated her 6th birthday for the last time. It seems like we have been partying for weeks. Her Kindergarten class had one party today for all of the students with a birthday in October. All of the "birthday" parents brought a special treat to share with the class during lunch. Carolyne was so excited to be able to attend this school party. She has been asking for weeks to go eat lunch with Mary Grace and her class. So, this morning we packed Carolyne's lunchbox and headed to school. She was thrilled! Mary Grace was such a sweet sister... sitting next to Carolyne and making her feel like one of the "big girls!" Carolyne got lots of attention from Mary Grace's friends... she thought that was really special. After lunch she hugged all of the kids and said her goodbyes. She thinks she is ready for Kindergarten now. Lucky for me, she still has two more years to go! I know she can't wait to go to school everyday with her big sister!

Mary Grace's Birthday Bash

Today we celebrated Mary Grace's 6th birthday with a "friend" party at the indoor playground at First Baptist Hendersonville. Mary Grace selected a "Littlest Pet Shop" theme for her party. She invited all of her Kindergarten classmates, her close friends, and her cousins. She was so excited that 11 friends from school, Carleigh, Dylan, and her cousins were all able to attend. She had so much fun! They spent the first hour playing on the playground and the second hour enjoying pizza, cupcakes, face painting, and balloon animals. Each guest also got to take home a bag of cotton candy made during the party. She received so many wonderful presents and had a great time celebrating with all of her friends. It is hard to believe she is already six years old! Thank you so much to all of you who attended. This was one of her best birthday parties yet! Happy 6th Birthday, Mary Grace!

Fever Frenzy

As many of you know, little Carolyne has become our fever expert. Back in June of '06, Carolyne experienced her first high fever episode... six days of fever reaching up to 104.5 degrees. In the 10 months that followed, Carolyne had recurring high fever episodes every 4 weeks. These episodes led us to the Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The purpose of our visit was to diagnose the cause of Carolyne's regular fevers... the signs were all pointing to Periodic Fever Syndrome, or PFAPA. To make a long story short, after our visit to the Vanderbilt Clinic, Carolyne began taking Cimetidine, a medication used to treat ulcers that has been found to prevent fever attacks in PFAPA patients. She continued the Cimetidine for three months and, to our surprise, was fever free. After a three month trial with the medication, the doctors suggested stopping the medication to see if the fevers would return. Typically, in PFAPA patients, the fevers do start again without medication. Fortunately, Carolyne remained fever free for one full year. In July of this year, the fevers returned. This time around, I began charting the fevers and even marking my calendar for future occurences. Luckily, this time they began occuring every 6 weeks instead of every 4 weeks. In September, I marked my calendar for October 16th. Carolyne's fever recurred yesterday, October 15th. Is that crazy or what? So today we found ourselves at the doctor's office one more time. Our pediatrician now feels confident with the PFAPA diagnosis. Unforuntately, there is no known cause for PFAPA, no test to diagnose it, and no specific treatment to cure it. We do know that most children outgrow the disease by 10 years of age. So, we will start the Cimetidine again next week. The good news... the fevers do not have a viral or bacterial cause, therefore, they are not contagious. Hopefully, the Cimetidine will do the job and ward off future recurrences.

Mary Grace is SIX Years Old!

On Saturday, October 11th, Mary Grace celebrated her 6th birthday! I really can't believe it! People always say that children grow up fast. I think that is impossible to understand until you become a parent and you are blessed to witness it for yourself. I can remember, very clearly, rocking Mary Grace to sleep every night. She seemed so small. And now she is a "big girl". She is no longer small enough to fit in my arms. She does not need, or want, to be rocked to sleep. She does not need to be fed or have her diaper changed... those days are long gone. I must admit, it makes me a little sad. I miss her being a "baby". But, I am very excited about watching her grow and change. I can't wait to see what God has in store for my little Mary Grace! On the day of her birthday, our family joined us to celebrate. We had cake and ice cream and enjoyed a lively game of kickball in the back yard with all the kids and "young" adults. Kickball is a lot harder than I remember. We had so much fun! Mary Grace really enjoyed playing with her cousins! She had a great birthday!