11 months!!

Hudson looks a little banged up for his 11 month pictures but I was still able to get that cute little smile!

This boy is into EVERYTHING now and definitely keeps us on our toes. He loves climbing the stairs and enjoys yelling at his minions (all of us) from the landing that overlooks our living room! He is super loud and doesn't sit still for a moment. He loves to eat and cries after every meal is over! We sure do love this little man and can't imagine our lives without him in it. It's hard to believe that he will be one next month!

Dog Bite

I was in the middle of making dinner on Monday, October 28th when I heard our dog Maya start growling and then lunge at Hudson. Hudson had been trying to use Maya's fur to climb up and when Maya barked at him, her bark collar went off which startled her even more and she bit Hudson hard across the face. Hudson started screaming and at first I thought he was just scared but then I saw blood running down his face. I had no idea where the blood was coming from so I hurried to clean him up as best as I could. He has a mark right on the edge of his nose, one on the side of nose and a pretty deep gash on his cheek. It took us a while to calm him down and then I called Jason who was at an MSO board meeting and he rushed straight home. We took him to UNI Urgent Care but they felt he was too young to treat so we took him to After Hours Pediatrics. The doctor there wasn't comfortable stitching on the face since the mark on his cheek looked like it might need a stitch of two. We weren't up for spending several hours at the ER that night so the next day we took him to another Urgent Care facility where they prescribed him some oral antibiotics and cream to help prevent infection and said they really don't like to stitch dog bites since the risk of infection is so high. He may have a little scar on his cheek but being so young, hopefully he will heal well!

We also took our dog Maya to the vet and she was put on a 10-day quarantine to stay away from all human and animals which is quite challenging to do in our home. This is just a precaution to insure that she doesn't have rabies (pretty unlikely since she is mostly an indoor dog.) Maya doesn't understand why she can't be around others and is always trying to escape. Once the 10 days of quarantine are up, we need to make a decision about whether to put her to sleep. She is 16 years old, her hearing and eyes are failing and she has some pretty bad arthritis. She has been a really good dog for us for many years but the last few years she has gotten really grumpy and this latest incident was very scary for all of us. We have a pretty tough decision to make soon:(

Pumpkin Carving Time!

After church on Sunday, October 27th we carved our pumpkins that had been sitting on our front porch for the last few weeks. We had pretty big pumpkins this year so it took a while just to clean out all the pumpkin seeds and gunk inside of them!

As you can see from this picture, Hudson wasn't much of a fan of this tradition!

After cleaning them up, we all came up with a design for our pumpkins. Some of them turned out a little better others, but we laugh at our "good intention" pumpkin creations!

 Nolan's "Lantern" that he decided looks more like a salt shaker, Landon's "NASA Rocket", Abby's "Hakuna Matata", Maylie's "Devil Jack o' Lantern" with toothpicks for horns, Jason's "CTR", and finally my "Mickey Mouse" that completely fell apart and is being held in with toothpicks!

Mummer's Day Parade

As City Champions, Landon's baseball team from the Spring was invited to participate in the Alsatia Mummer's Day parade. They put together a little float with some hay pales piled on top and painted some baseball signs with their team nicknames on them to wave around.

It was our first time going to the Mummer's Day parade which is a huge deal around here. It's the largest night time parade on the East Coast and we all had a great time watching all the bands, floats and characters parade down Potomac Avenue. It may just have to become a yearly tradition for us from now on!

Middle School Cross Country Race

Washington County held their Middle School cross country run on Saturday, October 26th. It's kind of sad because the Elementary cross country run is hugely popular with over 100 kids running each race but the numbers go way down in middle school. I am happy that my kids still want to participate though!

Landon started the 6th grade boys race at 9:30 a.m. There were only 24 boys who participated. He started out strong, and probably a bit too fast!

But he held his own and came in 9th place overall with a time of 7:13 for the 1.1 mile course!

He was pretty pleased with his effort!

All of the 6th grade boys who participated from Western Heights including the boy next to Landon who won the race! Landon was the second fastest from his school!

Great job Landon!

We waited around for a little over an hour for the 8th grade girls race. There were only 4 runners and Abby was the only runner from her school! it was kind of sad to see such low numbers but I was proud of Abby for giving it her all!

She came in 4th place with a time of 8:20. She was pretty bummed about coming in last, but when you only have four fast girls competing, it makes it pretty challenging. I kept reminding her that she did better than everyone else that never even attempted the run that morning!

She has run with her friend Avery in every single Cross Country run since 3rd grade. It is so fun to see these girls grow up into such great young women!

Nolan earns his Bobcat!

During his Cub Scout Pack meeting on Wednesday, October 23rd, Nolan earned his Bobcat rank. He was pretty excited as this is the first Cub Scout rank that he has earned since joining in July. 

They have a tradition to pin it on the Cub Scout upside down so then he has to do a "good turn" to be able to turn it right side up. Nolan LOVED it!

So fun to see him recognized for his efforts these last few months!

Fall Fun

We were able to get together with Tasha's family on Saturday, October 19th. It was a beautiful Fall day to spend at Misty Meadows where we enjoyed the petting zoo, playground, bikes, the Corn Maze, and of course their yummy ice cream!

These cousins sure do love getting together (despite Nolan's expression in this picture!!)

Cub Scout Hike

Nolan had a Cub Scout hike on Saturday, October 19th. I was able to go with him which made for a fun bonding time for the two of us!

We hiked over 3 miles along the Appalachian Trail and spotted a few critters along the way including a Garter snake and several woolly caterpillars!

Sure do love this little nature-lover of mine!

Trip to Great Wolf Lodge

We got a great deal on a one-night stay at Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos mountains of Pennsylvania so we took the kids out of school a little early on Thursday afternoon and drove up to spend some fun family time together. They had Friday off from school so it was a fun way to have a short fall vacation!

We had a really nice room with enough beds for everyone and a separate bedroom for Jason and I. We started out by doing the Trick-or-Treat trail around the hotel and then ate some pizza for dinner before heading into the water park for the evening. We had a great time enjoying the lazy river, the wave pool, the climbing areas and of course all the different water slides!

After changing into our pajamas, we went and got ice cream and then did their mining adventure which was a huge hit with all the kids!

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and then got started on our MagicQuest adventure all around the hotel. The kids took turns going around to all the different Quest items and using their wand to capture each item!

We spent a couple of hours doing the Quest and then changed to go back to the water park again! I just loved all the fun family time that we were able to spend together!

All the fun wore out a couple of our family members!!

Hudson couldn't go on the water slides so we took turns going around the lazy river with him which he really loved!

He also quite enjoyed the wave pool with the little water fountains that would splash up and get him!

I tried to take a few pictures of Nolan in the wave pool but he was determined to hide from me!

We stayed in the water park until 3 p.m. and then finished up our MagicQuest adventure before driving back home that evening.

We all had such a great time!! Thank you Great Wolf Lodge for the fun family adventure...we will definitely be back soon!