VICTORY!!

After months of working with the school, trying to convince them that a school nurse was needed for our growing student body, I am SO happy that the new school nurse starts today! She will be working 4 hours a day and helping Hunter with all of his diabetes needs while at school. We first approached the Superintendent in September expressing our concerns with the quality of care given to Hunter at school. Since he began school 2 years ago I have been going in every day to count his carbohydrates at lunch time and help him with his insulin pump. I also spend a lot of time on the phone with his classroom teacher talking her through low blood sugars and other issues that arise. Hunter's classroom teacher is wonderful and takes such good care of him, which has been such a blessing. Caring for low blood sugars and such often takes her away from the other students though. Although I love seeing Hunter midday, it was difficult getting out of the house with 2 little ones at 11:00 every day. We live 10 miles from the school and I also take the kids to school and pick them up...making 3 trips a day. After many visits with the superintendent, calls to school board members, gathering opinions from community members, talking with legislatures, doctors and lawyers we are thrilled that this victory has finally come. I have cried many tears, looked seriously into homeschooling and lost a lot of sleep. This is the first day that I have ever sent Hunter to school without having to worry. The nurse is a wonderful lady from the community who will be such an amazing asset to the school system. Not just for Hunter but for EVERY student! Of course we are hoping that this position will slowly grow into full time but for now we are just so happy that the majority of the day is taken care of.

It's that time again!

This weekend we are having our annual fundraiser rummage/bake sale to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Our family takes part in the Walk to Cure Diabetes, which will be held at the end of this month. Last year our team raised $5000 and this year we hope to up that. We have piles of donated items for the sale and I'm still cleaning out closets and going through drawers. Our rummage sale brought in $650 last year! It is a great fundraiser and something the whole family enjoys helping with. I am super excited the forecast says 25 degrees for Saturday. That sounds heavenly compared to today's -25 degrees! If you live in this area and would like to come to the sale drop me an email and I will give you all the details. :)

This picture brought a smile to my face today!

Church Christmas program

I'm still here!

I know that I have been terrible about posting this last month. We are really struggling with the harvest this year. We still have 1 field of corn to combine and it is raining right now. I can't even tell you how frustrated we all are. We are usually done with harvest by the 10th of November. So, I'm still cooking meals for the guys and running for parts when needed and offering as much support as possible to my exhausted husband. For one week they ran the combines at night when it was colder and the ground was harder. The kids and I haven't seen much of Robb. Luckily they never work on Sundays so we savor every minute of that day with him. It is time to wrap this up and look forward to Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, I haven't even started my shopping yet....everything gets put on hold until harvest is done. Say a prayer today for all of the farmers still struggling to get their crops out of the fields in this terrible weather.

So much to be thankful for.....

What a blessed year we have had!

It's hunting season!

Robb got this 4x4 on Sunday with his rifle. The whole family was with him which made it even more exciting. Robb wasn't sure if he wanted to shoot it because it wasn't quite as big as he had hoped, but the kids were yelling from the back seat, "Shoot it dad PLEASE"! So he gave in and shot it. :) It is a very nice deer and the kids haven't stopped talking about the great hunt! On Monday while combining Robb spotted this 6x5 buck. He shut the combine down to hunt it down. He was pretty proud of his 58 yard shot with his bow. Ruby looks thrilled about it too. :) So it looks like we will be eating some venison this winter and hanging more dead animals on our wall. Yippee.

Too cute!!

Ruby smiles instantly when the camera comes out. I think we have a little star on our hands!!

Ruby

Ruby is now 8 months old and such joy! She says mama, dada and baba. (no idea what the baba means) She is thinking about crawling and just started some finger foods. She is just starting to wear 12 month clothes and loves her snuggle time with mommy. Ruby thinks daddy is a hoot and is always laughing at him. Hunter, Brylie and Gage know just what to do to get a belly laugh out of her. She will sit on the floor for the longest time just watching them entertain her. She would love to pop some teeth through but no success yet. Sleeping has never been an issue for her, she loves her nap and wakes up once during the night. (I think it's mainly just for more snuggle time with mommy) :)

Ruby Katheryn Sifan is a ray of sunshine and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

Little Miss Snowflake

On Saturday night Brylie participated in the Little Miss Snowflake contest in the local Snow Queen pageant. She was so excited about the pageant and talked about it everyday. There were7 little Kindergarten and 1st grade girls that participated in the Little Miss Snowflake contest. Miss SD (the emcee of the night) called the girls up one by one and introduced them. Last years queens then drew a name out and low and behold it was our sweet Brylie! They placed a crown on her head and she spent the rest of the evening on stage with the other queens. She was in all her glory...it was totally her cup of tea! All of the cute little girls that participated.

Brylie was the first one called up on stage. Miss SD was so nice and Brylie thought she was just beautiful!

The stars of the evening.

Grandma Corinne came to cheer her on.

Hunter was so proud of his sister!

Brylie's cousin Kassidy was in the Jr. Snow Queen contest. She looked stunning and did a great job!

Thank you Jodi for snapping some wonderful pictures for us. You're the best!!

VOTE

What a privilege it is to vote. I love that we live in a country where freedom of speech is embraced. Please use your voice and vote today.

Trick or Treat

Indiana Jones

A beautiful Bride

Batman!

The cutest pink leopard ever!

I just thought the tail was so darn cute! :) The Three Musketeers.

The whole gang!

Trunk or Treat at the church. Aunt Kristi decorated her trunk with a patriotic theme.

She made the kids say the pledge of allegiance before giving them candy. :)

Trick or treat fun.

We visited Great Grandpa in the nursing home.

Waiting outside of Great Grandma's door.

Great Grandma had lots of treats to share!

Happy Halloween!

Fall Fun!