Halloween!!

This year the Halloween season was a little different in the Rowell household. Jordan was out of town on business for 23 days. He left on the 16th of October and gets back on November 7th. So, we were fatherless during the Halloween season. It was not only hard for me, but very hard for the boys. So, I tried to do a couple of fun things the boys would enjoy. Here are some pictures of what we did for the past couple of weeks.

To kick off the Halloween season, we went on a hayride and picked out some pumpkins. We have a local farm that plants hundreds of pumpkins and you get to go and pick out your pumpkin from their fields. The boys had such a great time. They tried to pick out the biggest pumpkin that they could find. Dylan couldn't even pick his up and Luke struggled to bring his to the trailer which was pulled by a tractor.

Here are some pictures.

This is a picture of us before we went to the field of pumpkins.

This is a small section of the pumpkin patch we went to.

Luke and Dylan with the 3 pumpkins we picked out.

Dylan and Luke with one of the pumpkins that they carved.

"Witches Night Out"

Another activity we did was attend Gardner Village's "Witches night out". We went with Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Pat (whom the boys ADORE). Honestly, it really wasn't too kid friendly (it was more of a girls night out), but I think it was cool for my boys to see 400 plus women dressed up as witches. At this event, their was a petting zoo. That was the biggest hit with the boys. Mason thought the little goats were pretty cool. Luke was scared to death of all the animals and Dylan was hugging and petting every animal he could get his hands on.

Mason was laughing and smiling as he got to pet the little goats. He kept saying "nice" as he pet them. We are trying to teach him the different between being nice and hitting someone. He did a great job and being "nice" to the goats. There were a few goats that were larger than him and that did make him nervous, but the billy goats were his friends.

Dylan loves all animals. Unfortunately, he is allergic to their hair. So, he left the petting zoo with red eyes and was all congested. But, in his eyes, it was worth the sacrifice.



The only animal that Luke wasn't scared of at the petting zoo... DUCKS!

Uncle Pat at "Witches Night Out" carrying Dylan through the sea of witches and warlocks.

Here are their Halloween costumes for 2008

Lucas is Iron Man and Dylan is Bumblebee transformer. They couldn't wear their masks to the Halloween carnival or trunk or treat so we colored their hair instead.

Superheros looking intimidating!!

Mason was a crocodile. He usually doesn't have chubby cheeks but in this costume he was all cheek!

Happy Halloween!!!

Learning how to use a spoon!

I know that many people give their kids utensils to use while eating before 18 months, but I guess I am a little slow or a little scared. I hate cleaning up big messes. When I think of my baby using a spoon, I picture food splattered everywhere and a big mess for me to clean up. But, I decided that Mason is old enough to start learning how to use a spoon.

So, I decided to give it a try. The minute I put a spoon in Mason's hand he thought he was Hot Stuff and started talking (of course gibberish) and laughing. He held the spoon for a moment and then he looked down at the pudding container. He studied it for a minute and then put 2 and 2 together. He slowly lowered the spoon into the pudding and scooped out a big blob of pudding. With a big smile on his face, he raised it to his mouth and did the best he could to put it in his mouth. He got most of it in his mouth but of course some didn't make it. But, he thought the whole process was cool and for the next 15 minutes he went to town eating his pudding.

Here are some pictures...

A SnowMan in October????

I wasn't expecting snow in October, but when it came it was cool! The minute the boys saw the snow outside, they had their snow clothes on and were heading out the door. They played outside in the snow for over an hour (which never happens, even when it is sunny outside). While they were outside, Luke started rolling the snow and making the body of their snowman. Jordan and Dylan jumped into the action and with 10 minutes they had a snowman.

Here is their masterpiece...



Here are some pictures of the boys playing in the snow...

Enough with the MotorCycles!!!

This past weekend, Jordan's good friend Kevin came from Texas to visit us. The real reason for his visit is because he bought a chopper motorcycle from Ebay and had to pick it up in Boise. His plan was that he was going to drive it from Boise to Texas. The one thing he didn't plan was a snow storm in October. Because it was blizzarding, he had to rent a UHAUL and drive to our house for a pit stop.

Well, the minute Jordan saw the bike he eyes were glazed over and the drool couldn't be contained. He loved it! He took it for a spin and was VERY impressed. But, again we will NOT be getting a motorcycle for a long time. Thank goodness he has friends with bikes who can satisfy his craving until he gets his own.

Here are some pictures of the boys and the chopper...

Motherhood on one foot!

We all know that motherhood is one of the most challenging roles in life. For me, it is the most difficult thing I have ever done. I struggle on a daily basis with motherhood and try every moment not to let it overwhelm me. But motherhood with one foot is completely different. I know I have taken having two functional feet for granted. Only having one foot makes everything much more difficult. I have to let some things slide (like doing a lot of cleaning, chasing after Mason, going up and down the stairs for different reasons, taking showers and doing errands) because it either hurts to much or is to difficult to do. Now, motherhood and running a household is harder than ever. But, I am so blessed because I know that in a matter of weeks it will all be over. For others, they have to deal with physical limitations for the rest of their lives. My respect and admiration goes out to those people.

What did I do? Well, it has been 6 weeks since my stupid incident. It was a Sunday evening on the Labor Day weekend and my sister and her husband were stopping by our house on their way home from Yellow Stone. We were all in our garage and Mason needed to go to bed. So I ran into the house to put Mason down for the evening. After I put him in bed, I turned around and started walking toward the garage. I opened the door from the house to the garage and quickly come down the cement stairs. My left food hit the ground to the garage when I heard a crack inside my body and then felt a flood of the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life. Somehow I landed wrong on my foot and I fractured my foot and sprained my ankle.

I have never felt that kind of pain before. I am such a wuss when it comes to pain. I have never broken a bone or sprained an ankle, received stitches, or have had really anything bad happen to me physically. The worst thing I have every experienced occurred in January when I hit the door frame with my head (it hasn’t been a banner year for me).
The minute I hit the ground and felt the pain I was screaming and crying and carrying on like I had been shot in the leg. As I said, I don’t handle pain very well. I started going into shock because I was freaking out because it hurt so much. About an hour later (and 1000 mg of ibuprofen) I calmed down. Don’t get me wrong, it still hurt, but not the sharp, horrible pain that it had previously been.

Unfortunately, Insta Care was closed so I waited until the next day to go. They took some X-Rays and a CT-Scan to determine that I fractured my foot and sprained my ankle. They gave me a medical boot to wear first and then when I came back for my 2 week check-up, I got a hard cast on. The reason why I got a hard cast was because I wasn’t wearing my removable medical boot as often as I should. I thought it felt very uncomfortable. I didn’t realize how comfortable it was until I got a permanent cast on. I wore the permanent cast for a week when I came to the conclusion that the cast had to go. It hurt, it stinks (literally) and it is creating blisters and sores on my toes and leg. So, I asked Jordan to cut it off. He was a little hesitant at first, but being the handyman he is, he agreed to my proposal. To be honest, I think he thought it would be cool to do because he has never cut off someone’s cast before. So, he got out his Die Grinder and started grinding away. It took about 20 minutes to remove the beast, but I am happy to report that I am cast free or their wasn’t any blood shed. I am now wearing my hard boot and will for the next 3 weeks. I haven’t told my doctor but it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Here is a picture of the mangled cast..

Here is what I am wearing today and probably will for the next month or so...