Doernbecher

Hunter had another Doernbecher appointment today. It was one of the back poke ones. So no eating for at least 6 hours. Poor guy!
Hazel was a trooper the whole time. She was as happy as can be on the way there. It doesn't hurt that Hunter likes to sit next to her instead of in the front seat. What a brother!
Hunter's counts were pretty good. ANC 1.0; Hemoglobing 12.8; and Platelets 82. All in all good stuff. He also is 1/5 inch away from being 5' 1". Yes he is excited about that.
Hunter missed his first swim meet today. He just wasn't feeling very good after getting home from Doernbecher. Luckily his coach is so nice and had no problem with it. He has another meet Tuesday.

Time Trials



Hunter joined the swim team at CHS. He has been practicing for two weeks every day but Sunday. He loves it. Hunter even said it might be his favorite sport. He is also excited he doesn't have to wear the speedo briefs. Phew!

 I'm sure it feels good to his body. No impact on his joints.

Monday night he had a time trials. This is so they have numbers to go off of for the rest of the season.

Hunter is the second from the top.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving over at the Coles. The Tokarskis, Blisses, Justin Hales and us were there.

We played Pit, ate to much and had a great time hanging with each other.

 

Aaron even had time to play the piano. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day for him to get a chance to do that.

The End

Gavin's football team had their last game the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It was a t CHS on the turf thankfully. It was a rainy morning. They were supposed to play five 20 minutes games. They ended up playing 4 because the team they were supposed to play last just left. Who can blame them it was wet and freezing.

Gavin had a blast and made some new friends.

He does wish he got the ball more and is begging to play tackle. We aren't to sure about that. I have a great time watching him play. He is really a great athlete.
Now he is looking forward to basketball.

Futrure Gymnast?

The Friday before Thanksgiving, as a family we went to the OSU Gymnastics exhibition. The kids were not super excited about it. Aaron and I were more so because it was free.

 

 

Hunter wanting me to see what Hazel was up to.
The kids asked more than several time when we could go. I wanted to see some of the floor exercises. Thankfully we waited. Hazel loved watching the gymnastists flipping all over on the floor.

I don't think she has ever sat so still for so long. It was so cute to see her expression as they flips continued. Totally worth her all the complaining to see Hazel so thrilled!

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Climber

I know this is super blurry. But you can see the smile on her face.
This little lady has become quite the climber lately. Just look at the progression of pictures and you"ll see what this cutie has discovered.

 

 

 

 

 

Once again blurry. Once again you can see the happiness on her face.
Silly Hazel.

 

 

Lost It Again

Graham last his other bottom tooth two weeks ago. It was bedtime and he had already brushed his teeth and was in bed reading stories. Graham came out of his room excited to show me that his tooth was just hanging by a thread. I told him to yank it out. And HE DID!
Graham was so thrilled to have pulled another tooth out. What a cutie!
He also combed his own hair after his bath. Impressive for a 5 year old, I think.

Flag Football

 Gavin's flag football is come to an end soon. I wasn't able to be at his last game. I was in Portland at Time Out For Women.  But I hear he was on fire. The first play of the game Gavin was quarterback and ran it in for a touchdown. Sad I missed it.

They did win the game.

Today he only got the ball once. He was so disappointed. But he made some great plays with blocks and pulled flags.

The last play of the game was an extra point after they scored a touchdown. The quarterback didn't see Gavin open in the end zone and threw the ball to three of the other teams guys. Oops! Gavin was on the other side and end of the field and caught the kids with the ball right before he scored a touchdown. Awesome!!!
Next week is five-20 minute games at CHS on the turf. Super exciting!

Jumping

Gretchen is still doing horse riding and loving it. In fact I finally bit the bullet and bought her all the gear she needs. Ouch!! Gretchen is really doing great with it.

Gretchen was doing several jumps in a row. She started with two then Nicole would add another.
Gretchen is doing four right her with the first one being on the ground.

You can't see here face because I was taking the picture from the car. It was freezing outside and I didn't have the right kind of shoes on either. I know whaaa!

It was pretty fun to watch her do this. There was one time that she was going through the jumps and ended almost slipping off. Luckily she wasn't to shaken up and got right back to and did it perfectly.
So fun to see her excelling.
The horse she rides is Spirit. Gretchen and Spirit have a special bond. I wish I had the camera out when Gretchen hopped off of Spirit. Spirit nudged Gretchen a couple of time. It was really sweet.

Halloween

 Halloween seemed a bit strange around here the year.

Hunter had a Doernbecher appointment. Which he did not want to switch to the following day. He has had previous appointments before or after Halloween but never on. He wasn't going to miss it this year. Thankfully Aaron offered to take him.

The kids didn't have school, except Hunter. And he only went for half a day. That was nice not to have to run around getting kids to school.

Harrison, Graham and I were the only ones that went downtown for trick-or-treating. It was very strange. I think this was one of the first years I didn't have a stroller. Plus only two kids. The stress level was way down, almost nonexistent. No pictures. Oops!

After downtown we headed home for a quick bite. Then headed out in the neighborhood with only 3 kids. The older three were off doing there own thing.

Hunter was at the Hansen's to hang out with his friends. Gretchen went trick-or-treating with Tianna. Gavin went with his friend and neighbor Mason.

Weird! Our kids are getting that old.


Hazel was not excited about getting here costume on. Once it was on though she kept saying,"I have dis."and pointing to her antenna. So cute!

She thought she was so big walking around the neighborhood with her glow stick

 

Hazel would walk up to the door. By the time she got close the boys were heading to the next house. So she would just turn around and follow them. It was pretty fun.

Graham was excited to be a General. He told people that he was George Washington. I think that was mostly because Harrison was Abraham Lincoln.

We ran into these two nerds while we were out. Goofy girls.

Graham was so sweet to grab Hazel's hand and help her down the street.

We also ran into this poor soul. Unfortunately he had already run into trouble on his bike.
This was all Gavin's doing. Creative!
We were done trick-or-treating before 7:30. What! We headed home to hand out candy and watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.
It was a weird Halloween but also less stressful.

Harvest Party

Tuesday before Halloween Graham's class had a Harvest Party. They had fun activities they did. It was very fun. Hazel was with me and kept trying to sneak pieces of candy.

The kids made cute spider hats before the party.

Hazel sneaking some frosting on her finger. That is Aaron standing behind her.

Graham very happy with his loot.

Hazel not sure what to do with a Jell-o Jiggler.

FHE Pumpkin Carving

The Monday before Halloween, we carved our pumpkins. It was so much fun.

We had them mostly cleaned out before we carved them. So helpful.
Also pay no attention to the messy garage. There is some organization there. But not everyone in the family likes to keep it that way. Such is life with eight people.

The kids and Aaron did their own design. It was fun to see what they came up with.

I guess Aaron had to clean out some of the pumpkin insides. The kids surprised me by cleaning them all out while I was taking Gretchen to horse riding lessons. Very sweet.

Gretchen's didn't quite turn out. She gave up on it. Gavin did finish it the next day and it looked great. She was doing her running shoe. You'll have to take my word on it. I forgot to take a picture of it. Oops!

On the left is Hunter's, Gretchen's is in the middle, not that you can see it. Graham's is on the right.

Gavin's is on the left. Harrison's in the middle and Aaron's in the right.
I think they turned out great!