Halloween - A Week of Dress Up

I don't remember Halloween being a week long celebration when I was a kid. It was just the night of trick or treating and that was it. Well, things have certainly changed. We dressed up at least 5 times. You can just guess who was in dress up heaven. The 5 was the "official" dress up and go out count. I can not say how many actual costume changes were made at our house in the past week. A LOT! (Speaking of, you should see Brie now. She is wearing a green size 12 month swim suit, green tinkerbell hat as a skirt and a red flowing cape.)

We started off with Boo at the Zoo. This is a blast. I think it is so fun to see all the kids in their costumes roaming the zoo looking for candy. We met our friends Rick and Arielle and kids, who were visiting from PA. For this time around Brielle chose to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Ava wanted to be a giraffe because we were going to visit the giraffes, of course.Zach and a monkey that was born the same day as him. So cute.
Then we got to dress up for ballet class. This time Brielle was Alice in Wonderland. She and her friends tapped and danced all over the place in their costumes. They had a good time and it was adorable to watch.The next day both girls dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Brie went off to preschool all dressed up and Ava wore her costume to our Kindermusik class together. Brielle finished preschool with a parade of the kids for the parents.After all of this excitement we took the Dorothys to Gardner Village for more Halloween festivities (more of this in the next post).
We are getting closer. October 30 was trunk or treat at the church. They both were Dorothy again and collected quite a bit of loot in their little Toto baskets.We made it. Finally, it's Halloween! We dressed up one last time and went trick or treating around the neighborhood. Ava had lost her red, ruby slippers so just wore brown ones. Brie loved her ruby slippers so much that she added them to her Alice costume. I was just thankful we made it out the door one more time. Whew! Until next year.The girls went around with their friends for awhile. I love this picture. They are all just noticing a motorized bat coming toward them. Oh and I am also very appreciative of all the candy they brought home to mommy. I don't think they have any idea that I have a huge bowl of candy in the cupboard that I taste from all day!

Kirkin O The Tartan

Sunday was Reformation Sunday. We attended the annual Kirkin O' The Tartan. It was very nice once again. This time we took the girls. They colored during the sermon on having confidence in God, but when the pipers played they certainly paid attention. Brie let out a cheer for them and Ava covered her ears. She is still saying "Pipers too noisy!" Bagpipes were not meant to be played inside, but it sure sounds cool in that church. Scott having his Buchanan clan tartan blessed by the pastor.

Zach's Firsts

Zach had his first bath and the girls were there to help. Poor kid. He really already has 3 mothers. They were amazed at his little body squirming around in the water, were terrorized by the thought that he might pee on them at any moment and were thrilled to soap him up. He survived! And smelled so very baby good in the end.Zach also watched his first baseball games with his Daddy. It is a good thing he was born early because the Red Sox games in the post season were short lived. The Red Sox are done until next season, but at least Scott enjoyed a few games watching his favorite team with his son. I sure do hope this kid likes baseball!And what gave little Z his first tastes of luxuriousness during the hours of baseball? A new, beautiful, soft and cozy blanket from Aunt Laura! Yeah! Hooray! Our blanket arrived from Laura for Zach and it is absolutely perfect! We love it. It has the soft red minkee on the inside and the coolest baseball and striped fabric on the other. We use this blanket every day and again (just like Ava's) everywhere we go we get oohhs and aaaahhs over it. Love it. Lucky guy.

Sunday in the Canyon

Yesterday was a broadcasted stake conference. Zach and I still haven't gone back to church and the thought of taking Brie and Ava to sit for two hours was not a pleasant one . . . . so we had our own little Sunday meeting in the canyon. We went up Millcreek Canyon and it was SPECTACULAR, SPECTACULAR! The leaves were all different colors and beautiful. It was a sunny day so the sun shined through all those leaves and made it even more vibrant. We drove up the canyon, got out to do a little "hike"/walk and then found a perfect spot by a river to have our picnic.

We had a picnic lunch that Scott packed for us. The girls tried to catch the falling leaves. We took pictures. And then we had a little church lesson. It was such a nice day to spend with each other. Loved it.Brie and Ava on their "hike".
Ava trying her hardest to force a smile. She is learning. Her mouth is also filled with cheese stick.
Ava found a walking stick like Brie.CHEESE!Our picnic.We had hard boiled eggs. Seeeeeee!
Zach slept through it all, but got covered in leaves.
Scott and the girls catching the falling leaves.
Me teaching the lesson.

Building A House

So I have taken some time off of doing or thinking about Primary since our program. A few things this week are bringing me right back. And really, I am excited to get back into it. I really do love being in the Primary with the kids.

Our Sacrament Meeting Program was the week before Zach was born. That worked out well. It was GREAT! One of the counselors wrote it and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The talks by the children were wonderful and showed so much understanding and feeling. The songs were sung well and they really knew them. The props held by the sunbeams were a hit! At one point 3 sunbeams were holding tools made of cardboard and Brie was being hit on the head with a hammer by Marissa, Natalie was sawing the podium and Brie broke her wrench over the podium. So funny. I loved being a part of it all. We finished the program with the congregation joining us in singing "The Family Is Of God". This song is wonderful. Everyone was in tears. It really is a beautiful song and a very special Primary program.

As part of our program we showed the house that we built as a Primary. I'm including this picture for my sister-in-law, Laura, because she helped me brainstorm the idea. If anyone else is in primary, you might like to see it too. I noticed that in the months of June and July each Sharing Time focused on one principle that will help us have happier families. So, we built a "happy family home" block by block (computer paper boxes) each week. Each block represented each of those principles. We talked about that one principle in Sharing Time and then I sent the kids home with an index card asking how they lived that principle during the week. For example: Did you say your personal prayers every night this week? They could draw a picture or write how they did. Then on Sunday they came back with their cards and put them in the slot at the top of the box. They also told us what they did. It worked GREAT! They were excited to bring the cards back and I believe they learned something more by actually putting into practice what they learned in Sharing Time each Sunday. In the end, our house was built on the principles that will bring more happiness to family life. Ta da! And in the end, Scott was thrilled that my Saturday nights were not spent gluing a box and making my cards.

I'll be back with the Primary in just 2 weeks. Can't wait!


P.S. In the meantime, if anyone has any advice on how to make me and Brielle being in Primary together any better I would be glad to hear it. That part of it is a joke and not a funny one.

Bye, bye Bella

Ava says "bella" for grandma. She calls both mine and Scott's mom "Bella". I think it is so cute and quite appropriate. My mom came to stay with us for a week to help with the birth of baby Zach (who Ava refers to as "Hack"). She got here the Monday after he was born, just in time for Scott to go back to work on Tuesday. She left last Saturday and we have missed her. Ava keeps pretending to call Bella or taking the keys and telling us she is going to drive to Bella's house. We all wish she was still here and are so grateful that she came.

I knew it would be nice to have some help around here with baby #3 and I am so incredibly glad that my mom was willing and able to come. Bella came and saved the day. She made a week that could have been very hard and overwhelming be a very pleasant one. The girls were CRAZY. Ava was recovering from the fact that I left her for a couple days while in the hospital. Brie was just stir crazy and then had strep. So, Bella took care of the meals and the dishes and the house and the shopping so that I could just take care of kids that needed me. She read to the girls and took them out so that I could take a nap (YEA!) or nurse Zach. Most importantly, she could hold Zach or take care of other things while I helped Ava realize I still loved her and wasn't leaving her. And my favorite part of all - the morning she left, Scott took the kids and my mom and I cleaned. It was awesome. No interruptions. The two of us went at the vacuuming, dusting, mopping, bathrooms, laundry, etc. My house was sparkling when we were done. I wish that could happen every week.

Bella helped so much. I am so thankful to her for giving up her week at home, flying here and taking such good care of all of us. And thanks to Dad for surviving without her.

Zachary Scott Buchanan

We had a baby boy on September 29! We are so excited for him to be here. He was born at exactly 37 weeks, so 3 weeks early. I knew he was going to come early, but we wanted an October birthday for him so bad. Didn't happen. Maybe there was a little bit too much nesting happening. On Monday I went to my doctor's appointment (where I didn't let him check me because I didn't want it to start labor), took the girls to the library, took the van through the car wash and vacuumed it, went shopping for sheets for girl's new beds, trimmed the bushes and flowers, dusted the shutters, made dinner, etc. I guess I should have taken it easier if I wanted him to wait a few more days. That night Scott was laying on the couch in SO MUCH pain from his double ear infection. His ears hurt, his head hurt and he just felt awful. We went to bed at 11pm and prayed that the baby would not come yet because Scott felt so bad. My prayer did not work.

At 12:30am I sat up in bed and knew that my water had broken. I woke Scott up with an apology and told him we had to go to the hospital. I once again felt so surprised that the baby was coming so early and felt very not ready for it all. We called a girl from our ward who babysits often to come stay with the girls through the night and Scott and I drove to the hospital.

We got there and waited a while for anything to happen because of some emergencies they were taking care of. I had contractions on my own for awhile and then about 3:30 am I got an epidural and they started the pitocin. Getting the epidural was probably the worst part of it all. It hasn't been bad before, but the guy doing it was just chatting and making jokes and not paying a bit of attention to me. I hated it. My blood pressure crashed right afterward and I felt like I was drifting away. Once that was stabilized we just waited until I was dilated and ready to push. We were absolutely thrilled when Dr. Thackeray got there and it was time. By the way, I love Dr. Thackeray (my O.B.). It just made everything more calm to have him there and know that he would be delivering yet another one of our babies. I pushed for about 20 minutes and then was told to relax for awhile and lay on my side because the baby was turned side ways. This got the baby's head where it needed to be and I got to start pushing again. After another 20 minutes he was here. He was born at 8:50am. He was perfect, very blue, but perfect. As I held him in my arms I determined that he looked a lot like Brielle did as a newborn and he does. He is gorgeous.

I had a very nice hospital stay and literally pretended I was on vacation at a resort somewhere. I had a beautiful view of the mountains out the window and watched the rain and snow fall on them. I had meals delivered to me in bed. Scott and I watched movies while holding our new baby boy. Zachary spent the nights in the nursery, so we got good sleep after a sleepless night. And the girls were well taken care of at home (thank you Tawna and Sarah). It was wonderful.

We have all been home together for about a week now and we are doing well. Some moments are crazy and some are just heaven. Ava was a terror the first few days, but is now realizing that I am not leaving her again and is calming down. Brielle is a great big sister. She loves to feel like she is helping and loves to hold Zach. She just needs to control her wiggling and bouncing all around him. Scott went back to work yesterday and thankfully my mom arrived. It's so nice to have someone here to help with the girls when I am taking care of the baby. Things are very good right now. I should say though that I am VERY nervous for the months ahead of having three such small kiddos. Yikes. Wish us luck. We wouldn't want it any other way though. We are so happy to have these cute kids!September 28. The day started like this. I was on my way to my 37 week doctor's appointment.Surprisingly enough, the day ended like this. About ready to deliver little Zachary.He's here. This is when I really freaked out. When I saw these three little kids in a chair together and knew they were all mine to come home with me and be taken care of by me. Wow. I also panicked when I saw we were driving a mini van full of car seats. What have we done?Aunt Tawna and Zach.
Grandma and Papa meeting their new grandson.Zach in his car seat for his trip home.Brielle and Ava adoring their new baby brother.
We enjoyed a very relaxing, not leave the house, not shower, lay around weekend of watching conference. Here is Scott and Zach together.And me pretending to watch conference, but just staring at my boy.Yea! He takes a bottle too. Actually, he takes anything. I've never experienced nursing like this. Wow. From minutes old he was a good nurser and continues to be. He's killing me. Thank heaven Scott can do one bottle each night for him.Smiling and giggling in his sleep.Scott took the girls to the zoo for his last day of paternity. They were all so excited to see the new baby elephant. He called me to say they were miserable and leaving. It snowed on them. They were all freezing. So Scott took them to Friday's for hot chocolate and chicken fingers. That made it all better.