The Veldmans: Chemo, candy, and a tooth

We hope that you all had a safe and fun Halloween. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, and then Christmas. I would say the Christmas season, but I feel like that started a month ago in all of the stores. I'm usually not big on Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, but I'm just about done with the kids already. Not that I normally stress around the holidays, but it will be one less thing to think about when I would rather be snuggled up on the couch when it's snowing outside. Speaking of snow, it's supposed to make it's first appearance here either tomorrow or early next week. I am Not excited about this!!! Getting the kids strapped into their car seats with big winter coats on, and the time it takes for boots, hats, mittens, etc. Not to mention that just thinking about the driving gives me anxiety. What are you going to do? It's only 6 months right? :)

Back to Halloween, we had a very busy day. We started the day off with Grant's 2 yr well child check. He is a big healthy boy weighing in at 38.2 lbs and is 37 1/2 inches tall. He continues to have his umbilical hernia, but it is very small so Dr. Saxton doesn't think that it needs surgical intervention unless he would have to go under anesthesia for another reason. I was pleased with that, since the last time he had anesthesia he had a horrible wake-up. Both of the kids got their flu shots and then we were off to surprise Mema for her last chemo treatment. The kids and I went and got balloons that morning (which was a slight nightmare) and they made cards/posters for her. She was very surprised. Then Boppa treated us to lunch at McDonalds. That evening they came over for dinner and handed out candy while Nate and I took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. They brought back tons of candy. Thankfully they were happy with just going around the block, as it was quite chilly out. Ava loved getting the candy, Grant loved knocking on the doors.

I had to work on Saturday and Sunday. On my way home Sunday evening I got a text from Nate with a picture of Ava captions "Notice anything missing?" Ava lost her first tooth. I was shocked. I was even looking for facial trauma thinking that she must have fallen and got it knocked out. Well, she didn't fall, but it didn't happen entirely naturally either. She told me that she bit into Grant's soccer ball to see if the air came out of the black dot. When that happened her booth evidently bent a good 45 degrees backwards into her mouth. There was blood and whining, and then Nate plucked it out. They called our friend "Dr. Greg" to make sure that everything was ok. Ava was reassured that he said she would be ok. Monday night she left her pillow on her bedside table and the tooth fairy brought her a nice dollar bill. She informed me Tuesday morning that the tooth fairy came and brought her a dollar bill. Then she said, "sometimes the tooth fairy brings $5. Thanks Grandpa B for telling her that. From now on we'll make sure to bring her teeth to your house.

Wednesday Ava had dance and they started to work on their recital piece. Yes, it will take them 6 months to learn this. I am already looking forward to the recital though (hopefully I can get that day off work). They are all so cute!

We have a fun weekend planned. Our friend Erin is coming to visit for the night and bringing her sweet little man Carter. He may be the happiest baby I have ever met, and I can't wait to see him again. Tomorrow morning we have Maddie coming over to babysit for the day. I'm hoping that Grant doesn't freak out when he wakes up and she's here, since she'll be here all day. Nate and I are heading to the IA/MN football game. Of course the weather is supposed to be "blustery" with wind gusts up to 30 mph. It will be a chilly one, but I'm sure a great time spent with friends that we don't get to see very often. Sunday we are hoping to check out a new church by our house. We're still looking for a new church to call home. It's kind of difficult to do with two small children that are used to going to Sunday school rather than sitting through an adult service. Hopefully it goes well and we find something that feels like "home" soon.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Mema was surprised. This was her last chemo treatment...YAY!!! Unfortunately, next week she will start radiation 5 days a week for 28 days. Praying that this is easier on her than the chemo! We can't wait for this chapter to come to an end. Ava is ready to have sleep overs again. :)

You wouldn't be able to tell from this picture that he was on the floor screaming"off,off, want to watch football with Boppa" three minutes prior to this picture