~* A RoLLeRCoAsTeR Day! *~

WOW! What a day it turned out to be at our house! I often tend to take things for granted and today was no exception! I was taking for granted that my kids did not know that it was Halloween and that we would not be going Trick-or-Treating! Boy, was I wrong! When we woke up from nap, Garrett informed me that it was Halloween and that we needed to get ready.
"Oh" I said "Do you want to go Trick-or-Treating?" He answered with a firm "Yes!" So I began to scramble in my mind where we would be going......the thought never crossed my mind of what we have done previous years, after all he is older so we will need to do what the other kids do ~ go door-to-door. When speaking of my plans to go OC to Kurt's parents house, Garrett was raging mad stating that we would not be going to OC. I couldn't figure out what in the world would bother him about going to OC.......then the tears started to roll down his face! What is the matter with going to OC Garrett?? He promptly replied that we have never gone to OC for Halloween, that we would be going to Grandma Rocky's like we always do! Caught a bit off guard, I quickly reminded him that Rocky was spending Halloween in Heaven with Jesus and that she would not be at her house. Garrett was not having it.......he insisted that if he called her, she would come home so that he could help her pass out candy! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH what an emotional afternoon it was! I took for granted that Garrett completely understood that Rocky was not coming back to be with us! He has not mentioned her for awhile now! I really thought he got it, but boy was I wrong! This is the first "holiday" per say that sticks out in his head, that we always go and be with her! He was DETERMINED to call her and that she would come home to be with us!

Which brings me to say that if I have learned anything from reading blogs and from life experiences these last few years it's that we aren't promised tomorrow and we also aren't promised that life will be easy. With all that has gone on for me today - I hope I'm learning to treasure every last minute.

You never know when it might be the "last". On this same exact day last year, I had no clue that one year from then, I would be explaining to my 5 year old that we would never again pass out candy with Rocky. That this was the "last" time that we got to do it! I know that it is a memory for him that is special!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take - but by the moments that take our breath away!

We ended up having a fun night, which I will post pictures of tomorrow! For now, I am off to bed and am sure that I will sleep well tonight! Crying always seems to make me tired!

~* A Photo Session!! *~

My Grandma Rocky was always quick to point out that I did things very differently with Garrett than I do with Ethan and getting pictures is definitely ONE of them! I would never let more than 3 mos go by without having Garrett's picture taken! Poor Ethan, his hasn't been done since LAST CHRISTMAS! It is a lot of work to get both of them to cooperate and while my friend Sly was on strike, I didn't have the energy to take them anywhere else! Garrett loves to please Sly and Sly loves Garrett, (not to mention the outstanding work he does!!) so it is a Win - Win situation! Here are a few of my favorites from our session last week!

And my favorite one of all......

If you want to see them all, click here

The password is leapfrog.

Hope you enjoy them!

~* A FuN Fall Night! *~

We have had some pretty nice evenings this week and what better thing to do than play in the leaves! Monday night the twins raked the leaves so that Garrett and Ethan would have a pile to play in! They had a great time jumping in them and using the sliding board to slide in them!

Fall is a great time of year! One of my favorites by far! I hope this finds you and your family healthy and doing well! We have been able to stay healthy this far! Here is hoping that we stay that way :)

Last weekend, my mom and I took the kids to Port Farms up near Erie. It was such a beautiful, sunny afternoon! I don't think many of those sunny days are left! The boys and even the twins enjoyed it! It is so hard with the girls right now, they want to be so grown up......but geez I am not willing to let them go! They say "Well you know, we ARE almost 13 and a teenager!" I say, "Well YES, but you are not yet!" I know the day will come where they do not want to go do stuff like this with us anymore! Garrett refers to them as his "best friends"! They are so good to my boys!

Farmer Hunter on her tractor...........
The girls trying to give Ethan a ride on the bike............

Tailor and Ethan going for a ride through the dark tunnel...................

Hunter braving the HUGE slide! So FUN!

Ethan braving the little slide ALONE!

Garrett showing Ethan how to do the little slide............

GHOSTLY GARRETT!!!!

I think this part was my boys FAVORITE! It is a HUGE area filled with kernels of corn! We happened upon one of Garrett's school friend while playing in here!

~* CaNcEr Affects My Family! *~

If you know me, you know how cancer has affected my family this year! I guess that is why I made it a point to take the boys down to the Franklin Park for the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month last week on Tuesday. We were a bit late getting there, but it didn't matter! The result was the same! The city of Franklin was kicking off the month by turning the water in the fountain pink. Cancer survivors were invited to put dye into the water, while others looked on! Garrett thought it was particularly neat to see the water pink! He sure doesn't understand what is symbolizes, but he sure feels the void that cancer leaves behind! We went with Missy and her 2 girls.......stopping for dinner at McDonald's! Fun was had by all and all was for a good cause!

This was Garrett's expression for most of the night, are you surprised? Always keeps me on my toes!
Garrett and Josie...............

Brotherly love on Garrett's part!

Admiring the PiNk!

Missy handing out money to make a wish.......all money that is put into the fountain this month will be donated to The American Cancer Society! If you are down that way, stop by Fountain Park to make a wish! We made many that night! I can only hope half of them come true ;)

Pink and white balloons filled the sky to comemorate the lives taken by cancer.....what a breath-taking site that before this year would not have been so touching to my family! How time can change everything!

Who can believe that I let the month of September fly by and hardly post a thing! Things have been so busy around here.....I don't even know where to start! My school year got off to a rough start, with a lot of changes taking place at our school! It is really too bad that politics take the fun out of working with children, but I guess that is how it goes! On a better note, I finished my Autism Certificate at the beginning of the month through PSU and am now taking classes toward the supervisor's certificate (which has ended up being more work than I bargained for!) but will hopefully be worth it in the end!

The boys are doing well! Garrett LOVES kindergarten and is doing fantastic in it! He loves his teacher and the 7 other children in his class! He has 2 favorite days: Library day (Tues) and Soup day (Wed). Miss Bajorek is his librarian and always seems to have a dinosaur book picked out for him! He is counting down the days until his birthday and has a list a mile long, it seems! Of course everything on the list has something to do with dinosaurs! Books by far are his favorite thing right now! He lives for bedtime when him and Kurt read a chapter out of a chapter book each night!

Ethan continues to be Ethan! He is still a loving little man, that takes a ton from Garrett! He moved into a BIG BOY BED this month and LOVES it! I was not ready for that, but whatever! That is one step closer to not being a baby anymore! Ethan enjoys going to Miss Paula's everyday and playing with his friends there! We have been truly blessed with our babysitter, she is a wonderful person and Ethan loves her! The next step for Ethan is to get rid of the BINK! He is STILL attached to that thing! I think we are going to make a trip to Build A Bear and stuff it in a new animal! Keep watching for that post! It will show up when I get brave enough!

A few weeks ago, the boys and I went with my mom and dad and the twins to Cleveland for the weekend to go to the zoo! They had a dinosaur exhibit this summer that I wanted Garrett to see! We had a GREAT time.....a get-a-way that we all needed! Kurt had to stay beind to work all weekend, while we enjoyed ourselves! I have put a few pictures from our trip!

I hope this finds you all doing well! It is pouring down rain and there is nothing better than a nap on a rainy day, so that is what we are off to do! Happy Fall ;)