November Happenings

According to our photos, there wasn’t too much exciting that happened around here in November except for Thanksgiving.  We did have a pretty fun night for family night.  Shane was activity, and he made up a variation on our traditional “three catches” game, and added that you have to catch the football while jumping off the trampoline and into the beanbag.  It was quite a hit with the boys.

     

We also had some beautiful fall days, and the boys had fun playing basketball outside.

   

Some day-off-of-school fun with the marble game:

September through November, I had fun playing on a church women’s basketball team.  We had our final game in November and thought we should catch a picture, reminiscent of high school basketball team photos.  And Asher found a new hiding spot.  He thought he was pretty funny.

 

Happy Halloween 2014

We celebrated a great Halloween this year, our first in our new home.  It has been a pretty rainy week, so I was worried trick-or-treating would be miserable, but luckily the rain stopped Friday morning, and the afternoon was dry and even pretty warm. 

 

     

Asher was a monkey this year, and even says the sound for a monkey.  He also liked the banana in his pocket.  He needed a little bribing with some fruit snacks for the group shot and for his individual shot.  Davis finally got him to smile by doing all sorts of crazy things behind me.

 

James changes his mind almost daily for the last month on what he wanted to be for Halloween.  Luckily, they were all costumes we already had.  He wore his Super James costume from last year to his preschool party and to Shane’s work trick-or-treating, but for the official Halloween trick-or-treating, he went for the bug costume.  He especially liked the binoculars. 

Davis has know for awhile that he wanted to be a robot, just like Landon was last year.  Unfortunately, I tossed the box in the move last year, so I had to make it again, but it’s pretty easy.  This one was definitely a favorite and got the most comments as we went to trick-or-treating.

 

Landon dressed up as a character from Harry Potter.  He read all the Harry Potter series this summer, and then read it again and again.  He didn’t want to be Harry Potter because of his blond hair.  He especially liked his wand which lit up and made different noises.

   

James and his good friend Ty both love to dress up.  They were excited to see each other’s costumes and to pose for a picture.  The little monkey wanted to ride his scooter around while he waited for the other kids to get their pictures.

We went trick-or-treating just walking around our neighborhood, and passed several haunted houses, spook alleys, and pretty elaborate cemeteries.  The evening was beautiful, with clear skies and a bright moon.  We came back home after and watched The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while warming up with some hot cocoa. 

Pumpkin Carving 2014

We got started a little late carving pumpkins this year with Landon’s late soccer practice and a late dinner.  I always love carving pumpkins – I think it is my favorite part about Halloween.  Shane and I didn’t carve one for us yet, but we did get one carved for Landon, Davis, and James.  Davis wanted a minion and James wanted a Lego guy.  Landon wanted to design his own, shaped like a Flatto (a character he invented and has written a few books about and made a card game after).  Asher sat and watched it all, happy until he decided he needed one of the carving knives to be happy, at which point he went to bed while we finished up.  :)

         

Pumpkin Patch

We had our traditional trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  The day started out rainy for the first time in a couple of weeks, but the rain stopped and the sun came out just after we arrived.  My parents were up for a conference and were able to join us, and Camille and Bryce came down with Avery from Seattle. 

We always love to get some of their delicious pumpkin donuts!

 

   

 

Precoa Fun Run and 5K

Shane’s work did their first kids fun run and 5K on Friday.  It was a day off of school for the kids, and the weather was perfect.  The kids did a one mile run.  Landon and Davis started out for the first lap trying to stay with James, but then I told them they could go on ahead of him.  James was trying so hard to run fast and catch up to them.  He finally had to walk after a little bit, but he picked it back up and started running again.

Shane worked hard and gave it his all, and pulled off a first-place finish for the Precoa competing males.  I came in third for the females.  My mom was there to help watch the boys and cheer us on.

   

Some of the group – Can you spot me and Shane?

 

Go Team Malan!

Asher at 18 months

Asher turned 18 months old in September, a much awaited milestone since he got to start nursery at church.  Asher is such a fun, sweet boy and he bring so much joy to our family.  It is amazing to see all he is learning to say, do, and understand each day.  Some fun things about Asher at 18 months:

• He says “Dad-doo” for dad, and walks around the house during the day pointing out items that belong to Shane, “Da-doo shoes,” being one of his favorite.  He also points to his car in the driveway and says, “Da-doo vroom vroom.” 
• He loves to say hi to everyone in the family, especially dad.  “Hi Dad!,”  “Hi Mom!” and “Hi Da-di” (Davis).  His favorite is “Hi Dad!” and he will say it over and over.
• He loves to play with cars.  Each morning, as soon as he is done with breakfast, he walks up to the toy closet, holds onto the handle, and looks at me with his pleading blue eyes and says “Vroom vroom?”  I get the cars and the race track out, and he spends a lot of his time playing with them.
• He loves his brothers, and his brothers love him as much or more.  He loves to try to do what they are doing, to follow them around, to laugh at what they’re laughing at, and most of all, to do silly things to make them laugh.
• He is a great night-time sleeper, and he takes one nap each afternoon for about 1 1/2 hours.
• He still loves his “ruff ruff” and blankie  to sleep with for naps and at night.

*HLHS Update:  Asher had an appointment with his pediatrician and his cardiologist this week.  He is developing normally at this point, and his heart condition is still the same.  His pulse ox numbers remain in the low 80’s, and his echocardiogram looked good.  His heart function is still strong, and his pulmonaries are growing like they should to be ready for his third surgery.  He has a little leakage with his tricuspid valve, which has been there the whole time.  Dr. King said things still look on track for a third surgery between age three and four, with a heart cath procedure just a couple months before that.  He runs around and plays like any other 18 month old, but I can hear his heavier breathing when he is running a lot or going up the stairs, and he sometimes just stops what he is doing and sits to take a break.  He seems to know when he needs one.  His coloring looks pretty normal most of the time, but when he cries or is really running hard I notice his toes and fingers look blue.  We feel so grateful every day for his health and his strength despite only having one side of his heart!