Here it is, the end of November already. The month has flown by, and not without some fun and some not so fun stuff.
The not-so-fun: besides injuring my knee, two of our sons-in-law have lost family members. Jeff's uncle died from the H1N1 virus (aka Swine Flu), and Paul's aunt died unexpectedly also. Both funerals were the same week. It has been a really hard year for the Skeens. First the loss of Paul's Grandfather, then his dad's stroke, which ended eventually in his death, now the aunt. They did not come for Thanksgiving. They spent the holiday with the Skeen family (a needed time alone to heal and move on). Besides that, Dora has been sick with strept throat and Maclay has had an ear infection. All are doing much better now.
The Fun Stuff: Kelsey has been practicing and now has had 3 performances with Ballet West in the Nutcracker. She is a soldier, and for those of you who have seen the Nutcracker - she is the soldier that lights the cannon. She is enjoying it, and has 3 more performances this weekend. They will be performing Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night at the Capital Theater in Salt Lake. (We could not take pictures, but hopefully will get a professional copy).
Jennie and Jeff and Evan and Jaime came for Thanksgiving. We all ate too much and enjoyed the afternoon together.
We are working on potty training the boys. Yesterday they were both dry after nursery at church and went to the bathroom between nursery and Sacrament meeting. Yay for them!!! Both say "Good Job" and we do High 5s and put stickers on their potty charts.
December, as always, looks to be a very busy month. We start with our ward party tomorrow night, then Thursday is my retirement openhouse. Tomorrow and Wednesday I teach my last ACLS class as the coordinator (I may help some next year, but won't be leading). Next week I have meetings nearly every day, it's my birthday, then Friday (11) will be my last day at work. I will take the rest of the month to use up vacation time and be on call for my manager, who is having surgery. I hope to get some house cleaning done and finish my quilt top before the end of the year. We will see how that goes. With Christmas in there, my quilt may not quite make it.
Well, it is time to go to work, and I am training my replacement today, so I better be on time.

Don't Mess with the Wheelbarrow or Big Rocks.

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to move a big rock for my flower bed. I had dug up all the grass and thinned the iris and day lily plants. I wanted to move around some rocks, so I got the rock into the wheelbarrow and as I went to move it, the rock rolled and tipped over the wheelbarrow. In the process, I twisted my knee, fell down, and hit my head on another rock. Up I got, hoping no one had seen me, and replaced the rock into the wheelbarrow. Again, it rolled and flipped me back to the ground. So the rock stays where it was. My next door neighbor actually saw it happen and came to help me put the rock back in it's original spot and we left it alone.
I ended up in the ER with an injury to my knee. I was on crutches for a couple of days, but the swelling caused more pain when I wore the brace, so I gave that up for an ace wrap. On Saturday I spent too much time on my feet, and the swelling and brusing followed gravity and my foot and ankle swelled up, and the bruising showed up there too. (A normal phenomenon). I can't get the computer to post my pictures. But the bruising is pretty well healed.
I am now walking without ace or crutches, but I am wearing support knee-high stockings. The place that hurt the most was the puncture wound on my head. It was too small to staple or stitch, but it did bruise. I now feel more pain where my muscles attach, both above and below the knee. Probably from trying to protect the injury.
Jennie's babysitter has sick kids, so we have had Hayden at our house for a couple of days. He is getting so big. Yesterday Grandpa took all 3 boys out for a ride in the wagon. They loved it.
Will try later to post pictures. Weird how that works sometimes.

Peek-a-Boo

A note from Jennie:
We've been playing "Peek a Boo" with Hayden quite a bit lately. He usually laughs, and some times gets a look of anticipation on his face just before we cover his face or hide from him. But other than that, he's pretty passive about it.This morning at about 5:45 I heard him fussing just a little in his crib. I couldn't tell if he was awake or not. He doesn't normally wake up quite that early, even with the time change, but he went to sleep earlier than usual last night. So, I walked in his room as quiet as I could and peeked over the crib. He was super still, and the way he was laying there was a shadow over his eyes, so I couldn't tell if they were open or not. Just about the time I decided he was still asleep, he said "Ba!" And grinned his little two tooth grin! He was so proud of himself. He is just SO CUTE!! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Trick or Treat

October is over and it is already November. Time just flies by.

My retirement is set for December 15. Yeah, I have Christmas off!
The boys really got into Trick or Treating this year. They are old enough to understand, and both were so cute about it. Ryan would say "Trick or Treat", then Jackson would echo it. They were both very polite and told everyone Thank You". We only went to our next door neighbors, because they had a Trunk or Treat at the park in the afternoon, where the local businesses were lined up with treats for the kids. Then we had Trunk or Treat at the church, where they really loaded up their buckets. Both had gallon ziplock bags full of treats.

Jackson is a skunk, and Ryan is a tiger.

The first few stops, Jackson thought he should eat everything right there. He soon learned that he could not get that much in his mouth at once.

Here they are in front of the rear of the new fire truck. They call it a "Tiller" it is on a 5th wheel and the rear end can be turned by an operator in the cab of the end.

At the Church, ready to Trunk or Treat

Jackson had a great time.

Ryan did too.