Pinterest

I am so addicted to this website! I LOVE the ideas that it has inspired me to do. I have become very creative/thrifty with some of my decorations. I have made a few wreaths now to hang on my door based on the seasons. It is fun to make it my own instead of trying to find one I like at the store. Usually the ones I like are so outrageously expensive so I don't purchase them anyway. I haven't spent more than $10 on a wreath that I have made. Here is my latest:



I have finished decorating for Christmas I pinterest has inspired some of my decorations. My sister suggested putting my village in our fireplace since we don't use them. I have one upstairs and one in the basement so I divided my village up. It looks amazing! Thanks Patsy! Here are some pictures:

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We were so lucky to be able to celebrate with my family on Thanksgiving and then celebrated with Nick's family on Friday. It was great to see everyone. We sure missed Ali. The kids woke up Wednesday morning and said..."I can't wait to see Auntie Ali tomorrow." It was really sad to break the news to them that they wouldn't see her until Christmas :(

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. Can you guess which ones Charlie took?

Wordless Wednesday

Surgery

Charlie and I headed to the hospital at 7:00 this morning. Nick stayed home to get the other two off to school. Then he came up to be with Charlie and I. Friday I was told surgery would be at 8:00 am. Well 8:00 came and went and my dad said he saw that he was scheduled for 8:40 am. Charlie got some nice relaxing drugs at 7:45 so he wasn't to concerned with what was going on. When 8:40 came and went we were all getting restless. He was wanting to go home and didn't really want to sit or lay in the bed. Finally at 9:15 he was on his way back to surgery. He did great and it only took 20 minutes. The doctor said that his adenoids were huge so it was good they came out. His tonsils looked great so she didn't need to remove them...phew. She did say his left ear was completely filled with fluid so she removed all of it, put in a new tube and saw no signs of chlosteatoma. The right ear tube was removed and a new one was put in. We stayed at the hospital until 11:00. We are now home resting. Nick went to work so it is a quiet house for Charlie to just rest in. I am saying lots of prayers that our ear issues are over and we can avoid the hospital all together!!

Gearing Up...

Tomorrow morning Charlie has surgery on his ears again. We are hoping this will be the last one. We have spent the weekend trying to quarantine him to the house as much as possible. I didn't want him to get sick and not be able to have surgery. Tonight we are working on putting up the Christmas tree. This week I will work on my village. I am excited to decorate our house this year. It has been a long time since we have decorated this house. It always looked so amazing. Charlie is over joyed with helping me get everything out of the boxes. It is getting interesting ;)

I will update after his surgery tomorrow.

Tree Lighting

Today is the Tallest Tree Lighting event in Mankato. A few of the radio stations in town put together a big event and light their radio tower. There is a parade, music and food. This year I will be a vendor there. Nick and Annie have been amazing help AGAIN. They have helped me get everything ready this week. I don't know how I would've gotten it all done without them. I will have cupcakes and pops there for purchase. Nick is going to be there with me tonight. It is going to be cold but it will be so much fun!! If you are in Mankato or coming to Mankato tonight come up and check it out. The parade starts at 4:30 and the events go until 7:30 tonight. The parade is starts on Commerce Drive and ends on Lee Blvd next to the radio station head quarters. Come say hi if you come up.

Conferences

I am such a proud mom! We had the kids conferences tonight and it was the best conference we have had for Braeden. I just can't even tell you how proud I am of him. His teacher told us that she has gotten a few phone calls from the Media teacher saying how proud she is of Braeden. A boy moved to Mankato a few months ago and doesn't even speak English. He has some really bad medical problems and has been sheltered by his parents for a long time. Braeden has helped him in media. He helps him find books, the bathroom, where he needs to go and helps him learn the computer. WOW...all I can say is WOW...we did something right. No one had to tell him to take him in, Braeden just did it. His teacher said this little boy has been sad because he doesn't know English or how to adjust into the school. Braeden has really helped. It brought a tear to my eye. I am a very proud mom tonight. He is doing excellent at school and is in the beyond math club and the beyond reading club. He is getting challenged which is all we have ever asked. His teacher loves his stories and said she loves when he raises his hand to participate.

Emma is doing fabulous too but I didn't expect anything less from her. She is a great student and a wonderful helper for her teacher. Again she is in the beyond reading club and beyond math club. Her teacher had nothing but great things to say about her!

The kids definitely got their math skills from their dad! We are so blessed to have such a great school with fabulous teachers!

Happy Monday!

I can drive! WAHOO....I am so excited to have my freedom back. Today I will be taking Charlie to his preschool screening. This is the next step in getting speech help for him. I am anxious to move on to the next step and get the ball rolling in the right direction. He tries so hard for everyone to understand him. He gets frustrated when we don't know what he is saying. We met with his teacher on Friday and she says the same thing happens at school. Hopefully after this next surgery he will be able to hear better and this will help his speech. He has his preop appointment this afternoon for his surgery on the 21st. We are looking forward to the new year and hoping it will bring a surgery free year.

It is another full week at the Otto house. The kids have a full plate every week and this week is no different with swimming, basketball, dance and CCD. We also have conferences for Emma and Braeden tomorrow night. Phew....

STUCK :(

Have you ever been stuck at home? Have you ever just wanted to get out but can't because you don't have a private chauffeur? This is my situation right now. I hate feeling stuck! I hate not being able to just get in my car and leave. I had a bunch of things I could've gotten done today had I been able to drive. UGHH...it is so frustrating and yes I know there are bigger problems in the world than me not being able to leave the house. I am also sure there a lot of other people that would love this simple little problem. I get it but right now I am bored, crabby, feeling trapped, claustrophobic and any other feeling that describes being STUCK. I appreciate my father in law yesterday for doing all the driving for us. I got out for an eye appointment. Today my hubby picked me up for a delivery...WAHOO...I was out of the house for maybe 20 minutes. YIPEE...thought about walking down to Mocol's just to get out of the house but I would've had to get the stroller out. That is on the restriction list because it weighs more than 5lbs. Shoot...No working out and being stuck makes this chica crabby. Sorry for writing a crabby post but that is how I feel...CRABBY!! I am entitled and I don't think others can comprehend how annoying it is to have one good eye and one blurry eye. I think I will enjoy it more next week when I can drive, lift and workout. Tomorrow all the kids are off of school so we WILL be going on a walk. Nick will have to get the stroller ready or Braeden can. We are getting out of the house and enjoying some fresh air for a LONG LONG walk. I am sure I will hear complaining and moaning BUT they will get over it and I will wear ear plugs. HA...this too shall pass and thanks for reading my crabby post!

Eye Update:

Things are going well today. I went to my follow up appointment and had my patch removed so I could try out my new eye. The nurse did a bunch of tests with my eye. It was amazing how much better I could see. Everything was so clear and not cloudy. My eye still has some healing to do. The doctor said he would not fit me for new glasses for a few weeks. For now I will have blurry vision but hey blurry clear vision is good for now. The doctor is strict and has me on some strict restrictions for this first week. No lifting, no straining of any kind, no driving, no rubbing of the eye, no water in the eye and rest rest rest! I can do this but it is difficult when I am so use to going going going all day long. Not working out and resting is not something I can do but for my eye I will rest!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Happy Birthday to my hubby! He has spent the day catering to his wife. Probably not his ideal birthday. We celebrated Saturday night with the kids and then again on Sunday with his parents and grandma. It was a great weekend and we used the 'fancy' dishes Sunday night. The bonus of the day is he is off of work. Charlie and him have racked leaves, ran errands and are now playing in the basement. I think Charlie thinks it is the best day ever to have his dad home all day with just him! We will be having ice cream cake tonight so I am sure he will enjoy that again!

On another note my eye surgery went well. I was completely stressed out and anxious but after my last eye surgery who can blame me. The doctor kept reassuring me this was nothing like the retina surgery so it would be a lot easier. Well until you have had one how are you to know. I truly was super anxious and nervous. Molly hooked me up with her friend Amber to be the anesthetist, SHE WAS AMAZING! I was barely out of the preop room and she was there with drugs. She listened to me all through surgery and they were pretty good. The doctor didn't want me sleepy throughout the procedure because sleepy patients jerk unexpected. Completely understand but I really didn't want to enjoy watching the procedure through my eye. He said he was numbing up the eye so I probably wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. He was right. All I saw were bright lights and water coming in. Nick said it seemed like it took forever, which it was an hour long surgery from start to finish. I am home and resting. When we first got home my eye felt like it was on fire. I forced myself to sleep and it feels so much better now. It is sore...DEFINITELY SORE! I am off for another nap. Maybe I can just sleep until it heals and I can see again. At least it is done and my goal is to be able to have my contacts back by Christmas. I am going to follow all the rules so this goal will come true! For now I have one good eye but hey one is better than none!!

Events for the week....

Today I started drops in my eyes for my surgery on Tuesday. Yuck...no more contacts for awhile for this chica. Getting use to my glasses again.

Tuesday will be two years since Grandpa Chuck passed away. Today we lit a candle for him at church. I can't believe it has been two years already. The time goes by way too quickly and we miss him every day. Nick's birthday is pretty bitter sweet since his grandpa passed away on it.



Tonight we are celebrating Nick's birthday with his parents. I will be making his favorite meal, lasagna with garlic bread. His mom and dad will be bringing ice cream cake for dessert, really the only dessert Nick loves. Braeden asked if we could eat on the 'fancy dishes' so we will be breaking in the china for the first time. I am pretty excited to actually use it since I have had it for 8 years and never gotten it out. It should be a great evening!

My surgery is on Tuesday, Nick's birthday. We will be hanging low and Nick has taken the whole day off. I am excited to have a quiet day with him and Charlie.

The kids are off school on Friday for a teacher prep day. I know they need to do grades but this time of year I feel like they are out of school more than in. For Thanksgiving week they go to school for 1 day and then home for 4. Crazy!

Our week is going to be chaotic but I wanted to make sure I took some time out to remember Grandpa Chuck.

Halloween

My kids had a blast last night Trick or Treating!! This was the first time we trick or treated around this neighborhood. When we lived in this house before we always went up to my mom and dad's. It was fun to stay around home. The kids went down two streets and have a TON of candy. Nick took the kids this year and I stayed home to pass out candy. He said Emma would've went all night but Braeden's feet were sore. I am sure they were in those cowboy boots! After they went trick or treating we headed off to go see my parents and show them the kids in their costumes. Rylan stopped by our house earlier in the night and were able to see him in his costume. He was a hamburger! How stinking cute! Here are some pictures from our fun night.....