Spring it On--Months 8-9

The past couple of months have been busy, again.  We did have a break at the end of March, when swimming and hockey had ended.  It was a nice couple of weeks.  It seemed like we had so much time in the evenings.  It is unreal how much time it takes out of the schedule to get the kids to after school activities.

Dan and I had our last volunteer session at the State swimming meet.  Dyllan did not swim in it, but Dan and I worked in the hospitality room.  This is the room that is set up to feed all of the volunteers, officiators, and staff for the swim meet.  It is really a production to provide 3 meals a day, plus snacks for all those people.  Because of all our work at church, we were very prepared to help, and knew just how to handle food for crowds.  It went well.  We were happy to be done with that for the year.  Dyllan misses swimming and is excited to be able to start back up in the Fall.

Easter Sunday was fun.  The kids got Easter baskets with candy and toys in them.  They each got a new outfit for Spring.  We dyed eggs at a friends house.  She has been a little stressed out with nursing school, and ended up getting the wrong container of eggs out of the fridge.  So, the kids ended up dying some raw Easter eggs, and some hard-boiled.  It was suspenseful to see which one you were going to get.  For Easter dinner, we had the Murphys over and the Roundys.  The Roundys are a newer family in the ward.  Their daughter was asked, with Dane, to M.C. the ward talent show.

Soccer has started for Dane, Dyllan, and Deagan.  They are on the rec teams and it only goes for 6 weeks.  They each have a practice during the week, and then a game on Saturday.  With all three of them, our Saturdays are pretty well taken up for the next month.  We only have 1/2 days that we get to work on the much neglected yard.  Soccer is going well.  Dyllan has found that she enjoys playing goalie.  Deagan and Dane are major contributors to their teams.  All three of them won their first games with a score of 4-2.  That was pretty fun.  The second games were different.  Dane won, Dyllan tied, and Deagan lost, but he was the only one to score on his team.  It's fun to watch, but the spring weather seems to be a problem.  We have had cancelled practices due to lightning, and games played in the pouring rain.  I guess the kids don't mind too much, but I'd rather stay in the car to watch.

Speaking of which, we have spent 2 whole Saturdays (about 5 hours each) weeding, edging, and trimming the yard.  In addition, Danyon and I have spent 2 Fridays out in the yard as well.  It really is quite a mess.  All of the beds got overgrown with grass while we were in Europe.  It seems that even if you pull the grass, it grows back.  It had an extensive set of roots that go through each bed.  We still haven't even touched two beds.  We are finding that we are running out of time to get everything ready for just the maintenance phase of summer.  Our garden is almost ready to rototill.  We are excited to be able to grow things again.  In addition, we want to add a few shrubs to the yard.  When we moved back in, someone poured grass killer in each of the beds.  This proved to be fatal for some of our shrubs.  The good news is, I get to choose which ones I want.  We are hoping to be done before school lets out.

Danyon has decided to quit swimming.  It wasn't fun for him any more.  He hadn't moved up in levels for months.  His teachers kept getting shuffled around, so he had different teachers every week for a month.  He decided he didn't want to go any more.  He still loves gymnastics.  I'm not sure if it is actually the gymnastics, or his friend Ethan, that he likes going for.  But he practices every once in a while, so that's good.

We took a trip to Branson, Missouri.  It is about an 8 1/2 hour drive.  We weren't sure what to expect, but we had a great time.  Our condo was right on the lake.  Dan took the kids fishing every morning.  He was in heaven!  He even chartered a fishing boat to take he and Dane out on the lake.  Dane had his first experience with fly fishing.  Dan loved that, too!  During the day, we went to a fish hatchery, we went for a hike to a man-made water fall, we shopped along the "strip", went swimming, and we even went to a movie. In the afternoons, we ate ice cream.  In fact, food was a major part of the trip.  They had all kinds of Bar-be-que and down home cooking.  We loved the food.  There was even a Lamberts--home of the throwed rolls.  The kids probably ate 8 rolls a piece, just because they threw them at you and you got to eat them.  My favorite part of the day was the evenings, though.  We went to a show every night.  The first night, we got to see a magician, Rick Thomas.  It was a good show.  The kids loved it.  He is an entertainer, for sure.  The next night, Dan and I went to a gospel show.  The kids didn't want to go to that one.  It was a family who sang gospel songs, most of which Dan recognized.  Dan loves the gospel harmonies.  We went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.  This was an event that was cool.  We started out with some pre-show entertainment.  It was a juggler.  He was pretty good.  Had we not seen so many jugglers before on cruise ships, we would have been very impressed.  Next, we were escorted into the arena.  We sat down at our tables, that surrounded the arena.  The horse show started and while watching the show, we were fed a feast.  Each individual received a bowl of cream of vegetable soup, a cheddar biscuit, a whole small rotisserie chicken, a pork loin steak, corn on the cob, a half of a baked potato, and an apple turnover for dessert.  We took home a ton of chicken and a few turnovers as leftovers.  The food was good and the show was good.  That can be a hard combination sometimes.  The food was better than the food that they serve at our dinner theater here in Indianapolis.  We were very impressed.  The next show was SIX.  They are a family of 6 brothers who sing a capella.  We loved their show.  As an interesting side note, they are all LDS.  The kids couldn't believe all of the sounds that could come out of a mouth that sounded just like guitars, drums, saxophones, etc.  It was a fun show.  We bought some of their CDs and even stayed after to get them to autograph them.   The last show we went to was Clay Cooper.  This was a country music show that was very entertaining.  The kids loved it.  That was saying something, as the songs were mainly old school country.  Dane was taking notes at all the shows, collecting some good material, as he was asked to be a co-M.C. for our ward talent show.  He was able to get enough good material to last him 2 talent shows!

On the way home, we were able to stop in St. Louis at see the Hedquists.  It was just a short visit, but we really enjoyed seeing them and spending time with them.  It is only a 4 1/2 hour drive, so I think that we will go back to visit sometime.  We didn't get to spend any real time in the city, as we we anxious to get back to get things ready for the week ahead, but would like to spend some time there soon.  They say that there are a lot of cool, must-see museums and a zoo there.

We had the Ward Talent show not long after our trip.  We spent the week trying to prep Dane for his M.C. job.  He also decided that he wanted to be in the talent show.  He called a few friends and got a "synchronized swimming" skit put together.  It was a lot of fun.  He and his friends did a great job.  We also learned that night, that Dane could do a mean "whip and nae nae".  Dan had the hard job of keeping the two M.C.s in line and keeping the sound system working.  It proved to be a hard job, as one of the amps blew a fuse right before the evening started.  No one noticed, and everyone had a great time!  To see Dane, go here:  https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=91B4A71CAE8F8D2C!396916&authkey=!AAFTEdKdJPOvGUU&ithint=video%2cmp4

Dan has had a crazy travel schedule the last couple of weeks.  He spent one week in Washington D.C.  He got to run past the White House, War Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial every morning.  It was nice for him to be so close to the sights.  He came home a day early and surprised me with flowers!  It was nice having him back a day early.  The next week, he was not so lucky.  He started on Tuesday morning.  He flew to Visailia, California, had 2 meetings, then flew to Modesto, California, had two meetings.  Then on to Twin Falls, Idaho.  He had two meetings there, then flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  They had 2 meetings there, then headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin.  They had 2 meetings there, and flew to Syracuse, New York.  They had a meeting there, then headed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  They had a meeting there, and then, finally, got to fly home on Friday night.  It was exhausting for everyone--including the corporate jet pilots.

We are excited to have Grandma coming and to go to Charles' wedding.  We have a fun-filled summer awaiting, as well.  You'll all have to stay tuned to see all of the exciting happenings going on in the Baker family.

Love--Exciting and New--Month 7

Dan did not travel once the entire month of February.  He got so sick of it in January, he made a point of it, not to do it in February.  We really enjoyed having him around more.  It was a huge help with kids activities and everyone just likes having him home.  Dan did have an unfortunate event this month.  He was at the last 5 minutes of the last hockey practice of Deagan's season.  He was playing with the kids, skating backwards into the corner, meaning to give a pass to kids who were going to the net.  All of a sudden, he hit a rut in the ice and went straight backwards, head first into the boards.  He hit his elbow next, then his head hit the ice and bounced.  It knocked the wind out of him, and it took him about 5 minutes to decide if he could get up off the ice.  He hurt his back really bad, and although he managed to get on his hands and knees, it took several more minutes for him to decide if he could get off the ice on his own, or if he needed to be carried.  He was having flashbacks the whole time, of his senior year in high school, when he hurt his back so bad that he couldn't walk for three days.  He finally pulled himself off the ice and drove Deagan home, but it took him 20 minutes to get from the car into the house and on the couch.  He got a blessing that night, and felt much better the next day.  He was very sore and only lasted 2 hours at work before not being able to sit any longer, so he came home, but at least, he was walking.  It took several days before he could sit comfortably.  He felt great by Friday, the next week--until he had a sneezing fit, which set his back, back several days.  A week and a half later, it still hurts to run and to lift anything, but he is on the road to recovery.

In the meantime, on the same day as Dan's accident, I got hit with a cold.  I spent 3 days doing almost nothing.  I had a fever and body aches for three days straight.  The kids had to make their own dinner and do all the dishes.  I was out for the count.  I finally started feeling better on a Saturday.  I still have a cough, but I feel much better!!!  I was also asked by a friend to go to a circuit weight lifting class.  I thought this would be a great idea.  I went to the class and was able to do all of the stations.  We were partnered, so I had to do them all, or else I would let my partner down.  It went great.  It felt really good to use weights in my workout routine.  Then, I got home.  I realized my mistake by the first time I went to climb the stairs.  I barely made it up!  The next two days after that, my muscles were so sore, I was not very quick at anything.  Even sitting on the toilet hurt to get up and down.  The pain only lasted for 3 days, then I was able to get back into real life again.

Dan and I decided last minute to do a Valentine's party.  We had 3 couples show up.  We played "minute to win it" games and we had a great time.  We are starting to get back into the habit of inviting people over again.  We have a good time and enjoy the people in our ward.

Danyon continues to do his swimming.  He has had a few substitute teachers, which has set him back. He still has not passed the second level.  If this continues, I think that I will put swimming on hold for a while.  But, we did start gymnastics.  It has been a hoot to watch, as Danyon does not follow directions very well.  He doesn't know how to skip and learning the basics for kart wheels can be pretty funny to watch.  He has his friend, Ethan, in the class, and he loves spending time with his friend.

The other day, Danyon came up to me and asked if he could have some sex.  A little taken back, I asked him to repeat what he wanted.  Again the reply was, "sex".  I sat there and tried to think of what he could possibly want.  I asked again, "what do you want?"  He grabbed my arm, and said, "C'mon mom.  Let's go.  I want some sex."  Dane who was sitting next to me at the time, was rolling in his chair.  He thought it was hilarious.  So he asked him a couple more times what he wanted.  Each time Danyon was insistent.  He wanted sex.  All out of ideas, I finally asked Danyon to show me what he wanted.  He took me to the pantry and pointed to the snack bucket.  "There mom, I want the sex in there."  Apparently, Danyon has a hard time pronouncing certain consonants together and when he says "snacks", it comes out very much like "sex".  So, let it be known to all--if Danyon ever asks you for sex, he really just wants some snacks.  I have tried working with him on this specific sound, but he still has a hard time with it.

Dyllan contines to do well in school.  She also still loves swimming.  She had her last SuperSplash last Monday night.  She was supposed to swim in three events, but she missed the butterfly.  She had too many numbers written on her arm, and she got confused as to which heat she was in.  She did swim the 100m freestyle and the 50m breaststroke.  She was disqualified in the breaststroke, as she did not have a two hand touch at one end, but she has learned from the situation, and is excited to do more meets next year.  She only has one more week of practice, then she is done with swimming for the season.

Deagan finished up his last practice and his last games of hockey this month.  He played very well in his last regular games.  He scored several points during each game.  We got to sit with Dan during the game, because of his hurt back.  It was nice to have him to talk to during the game.  Deagan also had a mite major graduation game to finish the season.  He moved on to full ice.  Deagan had a couple of firsts during this game.  He scored a goal during this game, and had an assist.  He also had his first (and the only) penalty of the game called on him for hooking.  He wasn't truly hooking, but the ref thought he was.


Dane had a jazz band concert this month.  He only got to play 2 songs, but we went and enjoyed it anyway.  His voice is changing and he is talking much lower lately.  He has a mustache growing in.  He is finally growing up!  He got to tour the FBI building this month.  He really liked the gun room there.  He also got to go tobogganing with the scouts this month.  There wasn't any real snow, but they had enough fake snow to go down the hill.  The toboggan run is on a designated permanent track. The scouts had a good time.  Dane and Dan got to play in the brass band at the church.  We had a linger longer, celebrating the 20th birthday of the ward, and the band was able to play.  The day was snowy and cold, and as a result, the last hour of church was canceled.  They still had the linger longer, but most people went home first.

Winter hits!--Month 6

This month has been winter, for sure. We have had snow, ice and cold. Our house remains cozy and warm, thanks to grandpa, who fixed the fireplace over the Christmas break. 


The kids reluctantly started the new semester. This one, however, is going much more smoothly than the last. It seems that we have finally settled in. The kids know the routine and don't feel like they are always a step behind everyone else. Things are going much better, in that respect.


Dane had a music competition this month, ISSA. He was in a saxophone quartet and a large wind ensemble. His groups won gold medals in both! The guy that critiqued the larger group was weird, but had an incredible ear. When we walked in, he started telling us all a story that had no point and no end. When they handed him the music, he stopped the story, and told the group to go ahead. At the end, he could tell the students which ones played well, which ones hit wrong notes (along with exactly where each was hit in the music)--all within a band of 15 different kids and four or five different instruments. He also gave the group pointers on how to create more musicality. I don't know how someone can listen to the piece as a whole, and each of the different instruments, from each of the different kids, while looking at the music for the first time, and putting it all together in minutes.


Dyllan swam in her first swim meet. It was an in-house swim meet. She had three events: 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, and 50m freestyle. In her heats, she came in 1st, 2nd, and 1st. She did very well. She is excited to swim more and wants to be the "top swimmer in high school". She has a lot of work to do it, but she is on her way!


Deagan has continued with hockey. He is still enjoying it. He usually scores 3-5 goals on game days. This week, he gets to try out being goalie. He is very excited for this new challenge. We'll see how it goes. 


Danyon has also continued swimming lessons. He asks almost every day if it is swimming day. He loves it! Especially if he gets to see his friend, Ethan. Danyon can swim 10 feet and roll over on his own. He just needs to work on a stronger forward pull to go to the next level.


Dan has traveled a lot this month. He has tried to make it to everyone's kick off meetings for the new year. Starting tomorrow, he has a new job title. He is now Director of Food Chain and Market Access . That should keep him busy for awhile. I'm afraid that he will probably be traveling a lot in the next few months trying to get everything set up for his new role. Although he has been traveling a lot, he still has the travel bug. He has planned 3 family trips for us coming soon this year. He also traveled back to Canada this month, sadly, for the funeral of his grandmother. Dan was grateful that he could be with his family. The rest of us were sad that we couldn't make it.  


I have been busy getting the kids to their normal activities. I also found time to start quilting again. I bought a kit of island fabrics with my Christmas money, and I got started right away. It took me only 2 days to get the top all finished. I also made a wreath for the front door. And I made a cute Valentine's centerpiece. It has been fun to get back into creating things again. I think I have been trying to get back to my crafting roots, as I was asked to be the Camp Crafter for girls camp. I'm not really sure what that will entail, but I figured I better get working on something.


It has been getting lighter in the evenings. The sun doesn't set until after 6:00pm now. We had a very unusual 60 degree day yesterday, and I'm starting to get Spring Fever--already. I've been working on eating healthier and exercising every day. It has really been a chore to get back into a workout routine. I have not enjoyed it, and every day has been a struggle to get it done. I feel like I finally had a small break through this week (not with weight loss), but with energy levels. It seems like every time I work out, it drains me of energy and I have no desire to continue. This week, after a couple of my workouts, I've actually felt like I had more energy. The desire to workout is still not strong, but it is getting better. I'm hoping that it is my metabolism that is changing and I will drop the weight! It is certainly a slow process to have only lost 2 pounds in a month of eating healthy and exercise.

Tis the Season to be Jolly--Months 4-5

The holiday season has come and gone!  We have done our best to party it up as much as possible.  We have squeezed a lot into the last two months of the year.

We had our first snow of the year!  It didn't last long, but we were able to enjoy how pretty it makes everything and how much fun a snowman is!  Do you wanna build a snowman?

November was unusually warm.  The kids continued their normal routines.  Deagan was finally able to play hockey again—from his broken arm.  He really enjoys it and loves going to practices.  Danyon has passed a level in swimming and is now in Junior level 2.  He really enjoys that and asks everyday if it is a swimming day.  Dyllan is also enjoying her swimming.  Dane continues his saxophone and has enjoyed freeing up his schedule a bit to concentrate on homework. 

All the kids did really well in their semester end piano recital.  Deagan played Ode to Joy and Robin Hood.  One was a duet with Dan, but Dan didn’t find out he was doing the duet until about 5 minutes before we left for the recital.  Deagan forgot to tell him.  They both did great!  Dyllan also did a duet with Dan.  They played Star Wars and 10 Little Indians.  Dan was forewarned about this one and was ready to play.  Dane played  Edelweiss, Come Follow Me, and Serenade.

For Thanksgiving, we invited 16 people, making it a total of 22 people for dinner on Thanksgiving.  We loved it!  Everyone pitched in and we had a great time!  One family ended up having a baby the day before Thanksgiving, so the mom was in the hospital.  The dad and kids still came and even showed up with pie.  It made the dinner overwhelming for their family, but we enjoyed having everyone one here.  Liz and Csaba drove out from Utah to spend some time with us.  We loved seeing them and spending time with them. 

We were less impressed with the Black Friday deals this year.  We were expecting big things since we haven’t been in the country for the last two.  We did get our poinsettias for $o.99, which we loved, but did not find much else worth shopping for on Friday.  It seems that since stores were open on Thursday, most shoppers were already done by Friday.  It was a quiet day.  We decorated for Christmas over that weekend.  It took a long time to get everything up—3 days.  Now that we know where all the new stuff goes, it should go quicker next year.   We also spent time visiting with Liz and Csaba and watched movies.

That weekend, we had to replace the submersible pump.  It had been on its last legs for a few months.  It finally went out.  The back-up pump also has a hole in the pvc pipe and was having a hard time keeping up.  Dan got it all fixed up, after much worry, and bailing of water by the kids.  Then, two days later, our water heater broke.  We are having to replace a ton of stuff.  Since returning from Austria, we have replaced the dishwasher, the microwave, the carpets, the paint—inside and outside, the submersible pump, most of the plumbing in the hot tub, and the water heater.  Grandpa also had to fix the fireplace and change several light bulbs.  Maybe we should have moved into a new house.

It seems like things never slowed down.  I was called into Young Womens.  A few weeks later, I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting.  I thought that we could relax for a while after that.  However, I was wrong.  Dan and I were asked to do the Ward Christmas party with one other couple.  The problem was, we only had 3 weeks to get it all planned, decorated, cooked, and done.  Thanks to lots of help from other people, we were able to get it all done!  The party turned out great!  We had a Polar Express party.  Guests would arrive at the ticket booth, then board the Polar Express.  The conductor ensured that they arrived in one piece.  Then people could visit Santa at the North Pole.  After that, we had a nice ham and mashed potato dinner served to everyone at the north pole.  Kids were able to make crafts in Santa’s workshop.  We had a small program with music, a spiritual message on the true meaning of Christmas, and a Mormon message Christmas video, all while people enjoyed trays of cookies and a hot chocolate bar.  It was a ton of work, but it really went well and, I think, everyone had a great time.

December brought more fun.  It seems like we couldn’t focus on anything else but the party, but we still managed to squeeze in some fun things.  Dane had his band concert.  We enjoyed hearing the holiday songs. 

He is in both the Jazz band and the Symphony band this year.  We were able to continue to do our usual Christmas activities most days.  

We had a couple of firsts.  We went to the Festival of Trees in Indianapolis.  They have several trees on display.  They also had crafts for the kids to do, and we even found Santa in the elevator!  Another big surprise for us was that they had a whole room full of Indiana authors, all with copies of their books.  We were able to pick up a few children's books and have them autographed by the authors.  It was a fun time.  Another first, was the German Christmas market in downtown Indianapolis.  We got all dressed up in our Austrian finest, and found this to be a dud. They only had about 6 vendors, and nothing from Germany.  We'll wait a few years before we try that one again.  

We had trouble with watching the Grinch in the hot tub, as we had so much rain that our projector would have been ruined.  So we improvised and just sat in the hot tub first, then went up and watched the Grinch.  Everyone had fun shopping for their siblings.  Mom and Dad were here for Christmas.  We really enjoyed having them.  We were able to carol, have a cookie party, and make lots and lots of cookies and candy.  There wasn’t much time to relax and enjoy the candle glow and it did seem weird to be out in t-shirts instead of coats and mittens, but Christmas came anyway.  Christmas Eve was one of my most favorite yet.  The kids opened a new puzzle and worked on that during the day.  Mom, dad, and I were able to bake breakfast rolls for the neighbors and ourselves and we managed to get everything ready for the dinner a couple of hours early.  I decided that this year, we would eat an early dinner—5:00pm, so that we would have time to enjoy Christmas Eve.  It worked really well.  We were able to eat, clean up, have a recital, read the Christmas story, read The Night Before Christmas, and write Christmas cards to Christ.  We were able to open our new ornaments and get treats out for Santa—all without a rush.  It was so much fun.  Dan and I even managed to watch a Christmas movie before bed.

Christmas was wonderful.  We had a great time opening presents and just spending a relaxing day together.  It seemed like about a day after Christmas, I was finally relaxed enough to contemplate Christmas and the gift of our Savior.  I was finally ready to celebrate Christmas! 

During the break, we thought it would be fun to rent the ice rink and play some hockey for an hour.  We invited some friends to join us.  We played a small hockey scrimmage at one end of the ice and the rest of the ice was set up for regular skating.  We all had a great time.  I got to actually try playing hockey.  It was fun.  Danyon got to try to skate for the first time.  He would rather sit on his 5 gallon bucket and be given a ride on the ice than learn how to skate.  Dan even left him on his belly on the ice for a few minutes to see if he would try to get up.  It didn’t work.  Danyon was happy enough to just lay on his belly on the ice and wait for someone to come and pick him up.  Dan is hoping for a change of heart before next year when he can officially start hockey.  After we skated for the hour, we had a tail gate hot chocolate party in the parking lot.  We had a great time with friends and hope to make this a new tradition.

Our New Year’s Eve plans were pretty low key.  We went to a friend’s house and just hung out, played games, and ate chips and dip until midnight.  We had a great time.  We cheered, kissed, and hugged, then went home.  Once we were at home, we jumped off our furniture to jump into the new year and we waltzed.  After that, we promptly went to bed.

It seems that ever since, I have been a slave driver.  We have been taking down Christmas decorations and lights and cleaning the house for two days.  It has taken a while, but we are now ready to start a new semester.  We are ready to tackle new classes, all our activities, and our new diets.

Here’s to 2016!!  We are excited to see what adventures lie ahead.  Bring it on!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!--Month 3

This month has been really busy with a ton of fun stuff and a touch of some not so fun stuff, but that's life!  Since we feel that writing this blog has become a family history of sorts, we have decided that it is important for the kids to help in writing their family story.  So, we let each of the kids pick a couple of events that we wanted to cover in our story, and let them write.

Just before completing our boot camp, Dan started having pain in his shin.  His shin would swell up and he had a ton of pain, walking, sitting, or doing anything with his leg.  He tried to take it easy for a couple of days.  Even after staying off of it for almost a week, he still was having a ton of trouble with his shin.  He decided to go into urgent care to see if they could take an x-ray.  After hours of waiting in urgent care, he was told that he probably had a stress fracture in his shin and that he should stay off of it.  It was depressing news to hear.  Getting back in shape would have to wait. 

Hockey started!  Deagan was on the ice three times a week.  He would play and skate and he loved every minute of it.  He was so excited to go to every practice.  He was even practicing hockey in the basement on the days when he didn't have practice.  Then at the end of practice one day, they were playing "Sharks and Minnows".  A whole group of boys happened to land on Deagan at one end.  He didn't notice anything then, but a couple of minutes later, while coming off the ice, Deagan fell and landed on the same arm again.  It hurt a whole lot.  He was almost crying when he got to the locker room.  Mom helped him get his gear off and then checked out his arm.  She felt like she better take him in to urgent care.  (Yes, the second time someone in our family was there that day).  It ended up being a buckle fracture.  They put him in a splint for 2 weeks.  No more hockey until further notice.  Deagan was upset that he couldn't play.  After two weeks, we went in again to have another x-ray.  The doctor put Deagan in a full cast--which was disappointing, but it will only be for 2 more weeks.  A whole month without hockey is killing Deagan!

The very next day after breaking his arm, Deagan and Dyllan ran in the Liger mile race.  We had been planning on and training for this race for weeks.  Deagan and Dyllan had been training with Dane after his cross country meets.  Deagan was not going to let a broken arm get in the way of his run.  He ran before Dyllan.  He got a good start, and even with a hurt arm, was able to come in 5th at 6 minutes 42 seconds.  He was running with 3rd and 4th graders, so he did really well.  We would have liked to have seen what he could have done without a broken arm.  As for Dyllan, here is her rendition:
"Mom, please wait here and see how I am doing at the end", I said.  I walked over to the start line.  A man said, "OK 5th and 6th girls, this is a short, fun, race so can go as slow as you want, but there will be no shoving or pushing.  So, ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!"  I was off into the race.  I could hear the crowd cheering.  I knew I was off to a great start.  I passed two girls who quit running because talking was more important, apparently.  I ran faster than the wind and gave it all my might.  I was almost finished.  Just a little more.  My heart was pounding.  I drowned out all noise and ran.  Just one more step.  YES!!  I finished.  I was thirsty and ready for a rest as they cut off my timer chip.  I got 9 minutes 30 seconds.  Yes!  3 minutes faster than the last time!  I walked forward and received a dark blue ribbon.  "Next time, I might be in first,"  I said to myself.

We were lucky enough to have mom and dad drive over for a visit.  It took them 2 days to get here.  They said that the drive wasn't too bad--except for Kansas.  We were excited to see them as we hadn't seen them for a year.  They got here, and that was when the fun started!  My birthday was the very next day!

The sun rises.  Beep, beep, beep goes Dane's alarm clock.  Mom walks into the room.  "Wake up, Dyllan".  I open one eye and yell, "Happy Birthday!"  "Thank you, dear."  I got up and got dressed.  I got out the door and the whole day all I could think of was mom's birthday.  Mom's birthday.  Mom's birthday.  OH!!  I wish my mind could get off the subject, but no.  The thought just kept dancing and prancing through my head.  But, soon the day ended and it was time for presents.  Yes, she had been opening them all day.  She had 40 of them all together.  Each had a reason that we love her and a gift to correspond with it.  We all made mom a great dinner.  The Murphys came over and brought cupcakes for mom.  Dad bought an ice cream cake that said "Happy Birthday, Allynn".  They were all yummy.  Then it was time for bed.

The headless horseman

Then, the kids had Fall Break at school.  They had both Thursday and Friday off of school.  We wish that Dan had it off of work, but we weren't that lucky.  Thursday, we started off the day with looking at pictures from mom and dad's trips to Europe.  It was fun to see the places we had visited, and fun to see the places we haven't!  Then we watched "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".  The kids enjoyed it.  We ate popcorn from our pumpkin popcorn containers.  We also watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".  Watching Charlie Brown is a yearly tradition for our family.  That evening, we went to Conner Prairie (Conner Scary, during the month of October).  They had shows for the kids to watch.  They saw a chemistry show and a magic show.  There was also a marionette show of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow".  We walked around the grounds and onto a scarecrow trail--where some of the scarecrows come alive!!  We weren't too frightened by these, as there was a group ahead of us that came across the live ones first.  By the time we got there, we knew what to expect.  After that, we found the screen where Disney's "Icabod Crane" was playing.  We watched most of that--until it was time for us to get in line for our hay ride.  The hay ride is the big event of the night.  Everyone wants to go on the hayride.  We were loaded into wagons that had a soft straw in the bottom.  We didn't sit on bales of hay.  We sat right down in the wagon.  Then we went for the scariest ride of our lives.  The trail was decorated with tombstones, lights, sounds, and other scary stuff.  We took our ride in the black of night, but luckily it was a full moon.  We had the light of the moon to guide our wagon masters way.  Then, all of sudden, we saw the headless horseman!  He came riding up to our wagon and along side of it, wanted to get all the heads in the wagon!  We barely escaped, and were on our way again.  Then later, there he was again---the headless horseman, himself!!!  He galloped along our wagon again, trying to get the kids heads.  Luckily, we lost him on the covered bridge.  It was a pretty cool ride.  A definite highlight of the season.


Friday, we spent the day grocery shopping.  Dad spent all of his free time working on little projects around the house that we haven't been able to get to yet.  It is so nice to have pictures hung and shelves hung.  It was great to get all the light bulbs changed.  Dad did every kind of job.  It was awesome to have a handy man around for a little while.  That night, some friends invited us to go out to dinner with them to a place called Bonges Tavern.  It is a little bar, in a very tiny town (about 12 houses), about 25 minutes away.  We were told that this place is awesome.  People drive from miles around to go to this place.  Since there are only about 12 tables, the wait to get in can be upwards of 3 hours.  People will drive here and tailgate in the parking lot, waiting to get in.  It is worth the wait!!  The bar does not have a set menu.  The waitress tells you what the chef is cooking that day.  We enjoyed mushrooms, prime rib, lamb chops, and molten vanilla sugar cake for dessert.  The food was stunning, and the company with friends--even better!

On Saturday, Dyllan woke up and to her surprise, Dad and Dane had brought Jack's Donuts home.  They are her favorite!  Even though the Jack's Donuts were there, we still had to go on a walk in Brown County.  It is about an hour and a half drive from our house.  Grandpa pointed out all the pumpkin patches on the way there.  About ten minutes from arriving, Dane and Dyllan heard a small voice from the back of the van saying, "I have to go pee!"  Dyllan turned around to see Danyon with tears in his eyes saying again, "I have to go pee!"  Dan drove off the road into a rock parking lot.  It was Danyon's first time peeing standing up, and he had a hard time with it.  Ten minutes later, we found ourselves in the beautiful Brown County State Park.  The fall leaves had turned and it was beautiful.  We found our way to trail number 7.  We walked and walked around a lake with beautiful trees on both sides.  We walked and walked until we saw a tree with a hole in it's trunk, big enough to have Danyon's whole body fit inside.  It was cool.  We kept on walking up and down and soon reached a fallen tree.  We sat on it like we did the trains in the salt mines and took pictures.  We kept on walking while the clouds darkened.  We finally finished the hike and found a picnic table.  We got our lunch out.  Just after we started, it started to rain.  We moved our picnic to the van.  The rain wasn't letting up, so after our lunch, we drove around the rest of the park and decided to head home.

The whole rest of the next week, we spent all of our free time working on costumes.  Dad did his projects while mom and I sewed.  Dad also spent some time smoking a brisket and some pork.  It was really good.  We also had a scary meal of Jack-o-lantern chicken pot pie and some witches brew in blood streaked glasses.  Thanks to dad who bought the vitamin B2 which works best for glowing and the black light to make it all glow.


On late Wednesday night, Csaba came to visit. He was checking out Bloomington as a possible place to start and finish graduate school. He got here late Wednesday night, and left Friday morning. On Thursday Csaba spent 2 hours practicing before a lesson. He spent the rest of the day playing and didn't come home until late. The next morning he left Indiana.  It was great to get to see him and to spend time visiting with him.

The Halloween party at the church was fun.  We dressed up as Harry Potter. Dane was Draco, Dyllan was Hermione, Deagan was Harry Potter and Danyon was an owl. I was Professor McGonnagal, Dan was Hagrid, Grandpa was Dumbledore, and Grandma was Luna Lovegood. For the party Dyllan decorated the back of the car, Dan and Grandpa made corn bread and two pots of chili, and the rest of us got our costumes on. At the party there were fun games and great bowls of chili. Mom's chili won third place in the contest. After we finished at the party we went home and went to bed, as it was very late, and we were very tired.

Halloween day was fun for us.  Dad, Mom, Dan, and I went to the temple in the morning.  It was awesome.  The temple is so beautiful!  We went out to lunch with Mom and Dad.  Then we got home to carve our Halloween pumpkins.  We started cutting the top off and taking out all the seeds and guts of the pumpkin.  We each carved different pumpkins.  They were all fun.  Dyllan made a witch on a broom.  Dane carved a skull with a hood on.  Deagan carved a skeleton with horns.  Danyon's pumpkin was a bat with a tomb stone.  We put in a strobe light and light them up for our trick-or-treaters.  Dane went to a friends house to watch movies and opted out of trick or treating.  Dyllan, Deagan, and Danyon had a great time.  Danyon has decided that he loves Halloween and trick or treating.  Dan and I were able to take them out while mom and dad stayed at home to hand out candy. Our house looked pretty scary with our strobe light pumpkins and our fog machine.  It looked great!  It was a good night.  It got a little windy towards the end, and started to rain just as we arrived home.  We had tons of candy left over and with all the stuff that the kids got and the trunk or treat and from trick or treating, we will be eating candy until June!