Little Monkey and Friends

Today, we had the opportunity to go to the hospital for something fun for a change. It was the annual Heart Transplant Reunion.

We started celebrating at home, of course. Getting dressed up gets us all crazy like that. Here we're waltzing to the theme song to "Sleeping Beauty." I'm singing - "I know you." Thankfully, the kids appear to be completely tone deaf, so they're having a grand old time.



Of course, putting on the fancy clothes means prime picture taking opportunities.



Yep, another one.



And again.



This year marked the 25th anniversary for Jordan's primary cardiologist. Dr. A and her team have been there for many of the kids that have grown up to come back and help her celebrate. That was inspiring.



And though you can't see her here, in the distance at the podium is one of those individuals. "T." is a 20 year plus heart transplant survivor who got her second chance at 12. She's now gone on through college and graduate school, and become a pediatric occupational therapist, who works at the hospital. It was such a rare gift to see how transplant life might look like down the road. Maybe it seems odd to think that way. For most parents, you can kind of chart the course of life you hope your child will take. But for us, there's a lot we just don't know. Seeing a survivor who's living a healthy, happy life twenty years post transplant is a glimpse into the future we hope we can share one day.



When there's hope, you can believe.

Labels: autumn, Jordan, Jordan and Mina, transplant

Labels: autumn, goofy pics, weekends

Five years.

There are some birthdays you remember when you get the invitation in the mail.



And there are some birthdays you never forget because they are written across your heart.

Dear Breanna, today would have been your fifth birthday. We can only imagine what you would be doing now were you here. Would you be in school? Would you be laughing and smiling and dressing up as a princess for Halloween?

We don't know what you might have done had you lived Breanna. But we do know what you managed to do in the short time you were here. You saved another human being.

My son.

And that makes you a hero so many times over.

It's with bittersweet tears I wish you peace on this, your special day. I wish your soul is at rest and you are watching your mommy far up in Heaven.

Thank you Breanna.

Now and forever.

Labels: birthdays, milestones, transplant

Halloween!!! My favorite holiday of the year. And this year's bounty of photo opportunities proved to be fun as ever. Behold! My costumed freaks!



Just kidding.



Here they are - presenting, Chef Jordan. Like I always say, never trust a skinny chef.



And of course, "Pink" Princess Mina. I don't know what this look is about. She's practicing for her teen years.



The town holds an annual Halloween parade. This year, they began the parade at a new location - the renovated park and dog run located not far from our house. In the minutes before the dedication and speeches, we got to meet up with friends and admire costumes.



Again, I have no idea what is going on here but I can assure you, we'll be keeping close tabs on her as she gets older.



Mina and Olivia.



Like all good meetings, the best ones are made only just tolerable by the assortment of pastry available for consumption. Here, Jordan eats a chocolate croissant while the mayor makes a speech.



The parade begins.



And it continued... a good half mile or so down Broad Avenue. As you can see, the degree of cooperation began to wane as the route continued. Mina hit outright defiance about 100 yards into it, and I had to carry her.



Our destination - the town rec center, decked out in full Halloween spookiness. You can see they are trying to walk that fine line between being cute and cuddly for the younger set, and creepy-eerie for the tweens who still participate.



Mina enters the witch's lair.



We wised up this year and skipped the long line for the picture in favor of just letting them decamp in the center of the gym.



We did manage a few pictures with friends.



As we left the rec center, Jordan seemed especially pleased with himself. A mini-snickers bar might have something to do with that.



At home, we worked on our pumpkins. This year we did painting, carving, and "Potato Head" accessorizing.




Voila - Mina and her princess pumpkin



After lunch, and a failed attempt at nap, we headed out for trick or treating.



I'm always pleased to see a good Halloween set up.



And I love the little bits of creepy.



Jordan wasn't fazed at all by this. Mina freaked just a bit.



But she's game for posing next to cute signs.



We joined up with friends on their block for some group trick or treating.



Which is definitely more fun.



David was kind enough to hold hands with Mina for much of the walk.



It could be a little spooky.



Jordan and Maximo. I love how he's using the hook to hold the pumpkin.



A rare group shot. Mina's actually in there somewhere. She might have snuck into the house - she had a tendency to do that. Jordan also felt comfortable enough to start asking random strangers for a drink of water. I'm surprised he wasn't asking to use their bathrooms, but I guess I can anticipate that for another year.

Happy Halloween!

Labels: autumn, friends, Halloween, holidays

Halloween party posing..



Halloween... it's not just for kids anymore. This is the infamous "Bunny." She accompanied Mina to the Halloween party at school today, dressed in coordinating Princess costume. In fact, Bunny has been accompanying Mina to school every day this year. I was under the impression that Bunny was just keeping Mina company at naptime. Judging from the school pictures they sent home today, it appears Bunny spends the entire day with Mina.



Yep.. there he is, tucked in her lap at music time with Kimmy Schwimmy.



And there he is again, posing among the princesses and her nap buddy in the Spiderman costume.





sigh...



I'm pleased to report that Jordan's got no time for this silliness these days. As he pointed out tonight he was "too busy" to come over and take pictures. He would rather spend his time drawing and writing out words and making signs. I'm astounded by how much he's learning in school this year. His handwriting is amazing, and even more exciting is how he's putting letters together on his own to spell out words, recognizing words in books we read and saying them, and putting two word sentences together. Coming from someone with a lifelong LOVE of books, I'm so excited to see him on the verge of learning to read for himself.



I finally convinced him to come over and pose once I showed him how the self-timer worked.



Of course, as you can see from this layout, I still need a little practice with it myself.

Labels: autumn, Halloween, school

HALLOWEEN!!!













The last two pictures don't necessarily have anything to do with Halloween per se. They just represent my latest fall baking attmempt - pumpkin squares. Note, if you will how tidy the magazine picture layout is. That little girl and grandma are baking away in the most pristine kitchen I've ever seen. Mine, as you can see, is what it looks like in real life. Thanks Family Fun.

Labels: autumn, baking, Halloween

We spent this past weekend enjoying back to back birthdays. I say "we" because I think I might have enjoyed them about as much as my kids did.

In particular, I'd highly recommend throwing your next kiddie birthday at a chocolatier-establishment where kids can dip fun stuff into chocolate, and walk home with their own hand-crafted chocolate pizza.

Yes!



Round one - the dipping. First you start with a plate of this.



Then you do some of this.



Try to avoid the prying grown-up paws that keep interfering.



A little bit of chocolate ... and you get some of this!



And this!

Pizza making consisted of shaping a disk from melted chocolate into a circle...





What I love about this picture is the look of sheer delight in the chef/owner's face. Everyone should love their job this much. She looks downright gleeful. I suppose I would too if I were surrounded by luscious goodness all day long. I'd also have three chins and waddle like a penguin, but I digress.



And then the fun part - decorating. With oreo cookie crumbs and gummy worms, of course. Because obviously, what else would you want on your chocolate pizza?



He concurs.




I can claim some responsibility for this.

Labels: autumn, birthdays, weekends