HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This past weekend we celebrated Brody's 3rd and Briana's 1st Halloween! We did lots of fun activities in honor of the holiday. On Friday night we went to our local Hy Vee grocery store to Trick or Treat. I really love that they do this because it is in a safe (and warm) environment and the employees there love seeing the kids dressed up. This particular Hy Vee does it on the same night as the mall's Trick or Treat so it is not very busy which is nice also (the one at the mall is an absolute zoo as I have worked during it before. I dread the day one of Brody's friends tells him about it and he wants to go...) We have been practicing saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" for two months now and I was confident Brody had it down pat. At the first station he said both things to the girl handing out candy and she was so surprised that a two and a half year old said that. And then he never said it again for the rest of the time we were there! Stinker! He did say thank you a few times which is definitely important! On Saturday we took Brody to Boo at the Zoo at Niabi while Grandma Barb watched Briana since she is just too little to be going yet. Brody had a great time visiting all the stations they had set up. Not too many animals were out as I am sure they don't like this time of year. We finished off the trip by riding the train. On Saturday night we carved our pumpkins. Brody thought it was really funny to dig out the insides last year but this year he was just not having it. I don't know if he was tired from his busy day or if he just really didn't want to touch the inside. Luckily I had already bought an Elmo decoration for Brody's pumpkin that just sticks inside the pumpkin. On Sunday we took the kids Trick or Treating in Grandma Diane and Grandpa Mel's neighborhood. Grandpa stayed home with Briana while we walked around the block. Every where we went this weekend we got SO many compliments on Brody's costume! I had to special order it but I am so glad we did as he really liked wearing it as well. Briana was a sweet little lamb and for everyone that got to see her thought she was so adorable as well. After Trick or Treating we stopped to visit Grandma Candy and then went to Grandma Barb's so everyone could see the kids in their costumes. They were loved by all and spoiled this Halloween! We have enough candy to last us quite awhile! Brody and Briana also got special Halloween bags from Mommy and Daddy that they enjoyed opening last night!

This week has not all been fun as we have had two sick little kids. Jackson picked up bronchitis at preschool so I took both kids to the doctor to get checked out because I was pretty sure Brody had it too. They usually do not give antibiotics for this but since the boys both had pretty bad coughs they gave them one this time. Brody has not been on medicine since last December so to almost make it a year is pretty darn good. Briana checked out good even though she was congested. That afternoon she started coughing a little so I called the doctor back and they said to just watch it. The cough continued to get worse so the next night I ended up making our first trip to the ER with her because the cough was really freaking me out and I didn't want to take the chance with her being so young. She also has bronchitis but instead of an antibiotic they gave her a steroid to help with the inflamation. I'm not sure I think it is helping either of them as they still both have a cough but they said it can take up to two weeks to get better and at least with the medicine they won't be contagious anymore. It's just that time of year unfortunately. Now that we are approaching winter we will be keeping the kids at home to hopefully help keep them healthy. It has worked well for us in the past so hopefully this year is no different. It just breaks my heart when my kids are sick but they both have handled this surprising well and have not let it slow them down at all.

We hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!!