Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! What a fun day for Devin! He really got the idea of trick or treating and the party day at school. Last night Devin and I made "Express Mail" for Devin to hand out to his friends at school. We labeled business sized envelopes "Express Mail from Devin" and decorated with Blue's Clues stickers. Inside we put a small pack of raisins and fruit snacks. Devin had a blast handing out his "mail" and the kids all liked receiving it (sorry, didn't think to get a picture!)

Here is a pic of Dad and Devin dressed in their Mailman Best this morning...

...and then Devin's pal, Lexi, the French Fry pack armed with her ketchup bag. These two trick or treaters were a big hit as you can imagine!

One of our neighbors took the time to make this scarecrow and Devin really seemed to enjoy it.

Here is Devin after receiving one of his treats! He and Lexi really had a great time prowling though the neighborhood trick or treating. Today was a great day all around!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
~

Too Cool for Words

Really?

This was one of our conversations on the way home from school today (Aaron seems to be one of Devin's favorite friends to play with at school):

Mommy: Devin, Where was your friend Aaron today?
Devin: He sick. He throw up. Aaron throw up in car Mommy.
Mommy: Oh really?
Devin: Yeah (as he makes some, uhhh, noises to go along with what he is telling me) he sick.

Interesting.......sure do hope Aaron is feeling better and that Devin doesn't catch it!!!!!! lol

Trick or Treat!

Today was Trick or Treat in my parent's city, the area in which I grew up. We have made it a tradition to bring Devin up there, since it is different than the Trick or Treat time in our town, to join in on the fun. My parent's neighborhood is the perfect area for kids to seek out treats and they always go through SEVERAL LARGE bags/boxes of candy/treats each year giving to the kids. We had a great time traveling the neighborhood with some of our new and newer friends!

Here is Devin just before we left the house.
Mr. Postman, got your letters?....check!
Phew, time for a water break. All this mail delivery is making me tired!

Grandma, Devin, and of course sweet Micki girl!
~

Fun with Lexi

Devin's friend, Lexi, from our development came over to play this morning. The kids had such a fun time together. While she was here we made ghost cookies (as seen on Kaycee's blog). The kids thought this was great! The picture below is pretty typical of how this event went. Lexi was busy~ helping to dip and decorate the cookies. Devin was busy too~ he was busy eating the ingredients!!



Here are the ghost cookies!!! Very simple~ Nutter Butter cookies dipped in melted white chocolate with mini chocolate chips for eyes!
The following is a video I captured of the two kids playing. They play so nicely together and are adorably cute! (Please excuse- as usual- the pig-like grunting noise. I am not sure why my camera makes that noise when I record with it, but.....whatever!)

Thank You Ladies.....

(I feel kind of guilty admitting this, but....)

I feel so much better knowing that all of you are in the same boat as me with potty training! Yay! Devin is not the last one on board with this thing!!!! Thanks for speaking up too!

Potty Training

I am beginning to feel as if Devin will never get potty trained. Devin had started off potty training fairly well at the beginning of the summer. I started giving him "naked time" each afternoon and he was starting to get the hang of pee and poop needing to be excreted in the toilet. He even pooped on the potty for a week straight! Then something happened. I don't even know what it was or exactly when it happened, but he started to REFUSE the potty.

I am torn between so many different methods. Do I take him out of the diapers even though he is refusing to use the potty or do I wait? Do I try giving him periods of naked or underwear time again (like at the beginning of the summer)? Do nothing and just wait for him to let me know when he is ready? The other issue is that he is not home with me all the time. He is at daycare/school most of his day. They offer him the potty there, but they are not pushing him. They will do a potty chart with Devin, but if he won't even get on the potty its kind of hard to do a chart......

By the time we get home I have to make dinner, clean up, do the Nebulizer with Devin, bath time, bedtime routine, etc. There really is no time!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Will Devin EVER get potty trained????

See You Next Year

My beloved Red Sox lost the last and final game in the ALCS series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last night. Their season is over. It is the Devil Rays who will match the Phillies in the World Series in the coming days.

The Red Sox are now forced to surrender their World Championship Title.

So long Sox, see you next year!

~

Miracle

The Red Sox performed a miracle last night!

What an intense game. So many times Erick and I almost threw in the towel and went to bed. Like most others in Red Sox Nation, we kept saying, "They are down 7-0. We are done. We should turn it off." But then, maybe because we like the torture, or maybe because we are eternal optimists, we kept flipping back to the game. I am so glad that, unlike many others, we did not abandon the game! We stayed awake until nearly 1 am, despite needing to get up early for work this morning, to see this miraculous victory.

Read the entire story here. GO RED SOX!!!!

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Happy Birthday Erick!

It was 35 years ago today that Erick was born. Yay! Happy Birthday Erick! To honor Erick's special day I made him a cake, Italian Wedding Cake, at his request. (See recipe at bottom)Devin and I practiced singing the birthday song all throughout the day. We sang in the car on the way to school, on the way home, making the card for Daddy, and well you get the idea!

By the time Daddy walked in the door, Devin and I were ready to sing and get the "party" going as it was well past 6 o'clock. Devin was getting tired and quite cranky- poor little guy!





Eating the cake was Devin's favorite part. Like father like son!



This is Sandra Lee's Italian Wedding Cake recipe

Ingredients

* 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (recommended: Betty Crocker)
* 1 stick butter, softened
* 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
* 3 egg whites
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (recommended: McCormick)
* 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (recommended: McCormick)
* 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained (recommended: Dole)
* 1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut (recommended: Baker's)
* 2 cups chopped pecans, divided (recommended: Diamond)
* 2 (16-ounce) cans cream cheese frosting (recommended: Betty Crocker)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly coat 2 (8-inch) cake pans with cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, butter, buttermilk, egg whites, and extracts. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in crushed pineapple, coconut, and 1 cup pecans. Divide batter into 2 prepared cake pans. Bake in preheated oven for 31 to 36 minutes or until tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out on to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small bowl, stir together remaining 1 cup pecans and frosting. With a serrated knife, cut both cakes horizontally to make 4 layers. Frost the top of each layer with 1/2 cup of frosting and stack on top of the next layer. Use remaining frosting to frost the entire outside of cake. Slice and serve.

My personal notes: I choose not to add coconut as I do not like it. I sometimes add cut up maraschino cherries to the cake batter....mmmmm. I do not cut the cake to make 4 layers ~ 2 layers work out fine for me!

Picture Time

Here is Daddy reading to Devin during a recent Nebulizer treatment. This is the machine that is now helping Devin to breath properly. Its amazing what a kid will do for a sticker! :)The next few pics were taken outside yesterday when Daddy and Devin were playing around.
Come and get me Daddy!!!!

Hi Mommy!!
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UPDATE on Devin

Devin had a follow- up appointment with his Pediatrician yesterday. She said that he is bouncing back nicely. He is to continue with his treatments and medication for a few more days and then he will be on maintenance nebulizer treatments for the winter. The idea of that is to keep the lungs open and working properly.

Thank you to everyone who expressed their concerns and well wishes! We greatly appreciate it.

Devin's Trip to the Hospital

Devin spent the last 25 hours in the hospital. Let me back track....Originally his Ped thought he had pneumonia and sent us to the hospital because his breathing was terrible. Very labored, tugging, pulling from the belly, etc. At the hospital they did chest x-ray, blood work, IV and started Nebulizer treatments and Respiratory PT. After the x-ray came back Devin's doctor decided that it did not show pneumonia, but asthma. His diaphragm was flat (or something that indicates asthma) and he was responding to the steroids (not the antibiotics) and nebulizer (which he would only respond to for asthma). So it was decided that basically yesterday was a severe asthma attack. He now has a nebulizer at home, meds, etc.

Let me tell you- all of those things- chest x ray, IV, nebulizer, etc. are VERY difficult with a two yr old!!!! He was a trooper and except for the meds making him very HYPER he was a good boy.

I am glad to be home. Hopefully this asthma thing will stay at bay with us now doing treatments every day.

Here is a video of Devin at the hospital. This was after 2 treatments. Notice his breathing. belly movement, and his attempt to talk. It breaks my heart.

Sick

It always breaks my heart when Devin is sick, but today is worse. This morning, when he woke up, was the first time he verbalized, "I don't feel good." It was so sad.

He started with cold symptoms the other day and today is very wheezy and short of breath. His chest/neck are working over time.

I am calling his doctor as soon as they open.

Dance Party

Fun with Mommy!


Phew....so tired!

Mmm...Mmm...Good!

As I smelled the Sweet Potato Meatloaf that I made cooking in the oven this evening, I decided that I *had* to share it with you! It is a sweet, very unique type of meatloaf...not your Mom's meatloaf for sure!

I remembered to grab some pics only moments before my plate was clean!

Here is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS

* 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (or you can use 1 package of the instant)
* 1 pound ground turkey breast
* 1 large egg
* 1 small sweet onion, finely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/4 cup honey barbecue sauce
* 1/4 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* 2 slices whole-wheat bread, torn into small crumbs (or bread crumbs~ about 1/2 cup)
* 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
* 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.

2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the sweet potato, and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes, and mash or whip until smooth. (Or make instant sweet potatoes according to box directions)

3. Mix the ground turkey together with the egg, sweet onion, garlic, barbecue sauce, ketchup, Dijon mustard, and whole wheat bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes, and stir until evenly combined. If the mixture seems too wet, add more bread crumbs. Use your hands to form the turkey mixture into a loaf shape and place in the prepared baking dish.

4. Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour. Slice the loaf to serve. ENJOY!

Picking Pumpkins

We had promised Devin that we would go pick out some pumpkins, so today we went to the local farm. We picked out 2 medium sized pumpkins for our steps and several gourds. We got a gourd for Grandma, a couple for the house, and one for my table at work. It was fun!


Me and Devin~ not sure why he looks scared here. I promise he has no reason to be. LOL

Daddy and Devin

Devin found this gigantic cookie inside the farm stand. Guess what we had for dessert tonight?

Stopping to smell the flowers on the way out.