October 2013

We love October!! Halloween is BIG for us, and we spend the whole month celebrating it! We got the house decorated before the month even began, and Cason and I started our "Month of Horror". We watched a "scary" movie every night together- most of them were dumb, but there were a few good ones, and it is Cason's favorite tradition!

Lilli spent most of her days drawing spooky things, and doing Halloween crafts, and we all joined in when it was time to make sugar cookies, caramel apples, and carve pumpkins.

Towards the end of the month we went to the Farmstead with the Hankla's. Lilli had been talking about it all month, and it didn't disappoint. She was in charge for the evening, and she had a blast! She didn't like the "Creature", but she loved everything else, especially the bounce pad!

I had to go to class on Halloween, so Cason and Lilli dropped me off, went back home to get ready, and then came and picked me up so we could start trick or treating right away. We went to a different neighborhood this year, and it paid off! There were so many decorated houses, and Lilli got LOTS of candy! She was a little scared of a few houses, but for the most part, she would go right up to the door by herself and ring the bell. She only said "Trick or treat" about half of the time, mostly she just said "HI!!! My name's Lilli!!" and then she's say "Happy Halloween" or "Goodbye!" after she got her candy. "Thank you's" only happened if I reminded her :)

She insisted that she be a ghost for the big day, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't talk her out of it. Ghost costumes are hard. I didn't want to do something lame like a sheet over her head, and I couldn't find any ideas I liked for a homemade one, so we decided to buy one. We looked EVERYWHERE. No one sells good ghost costumes. She ended up with a mummy costume from Target, and we just told her it was a ghost. It's my least favorite costume she's worn so far, but she was satisfied, so I guess it all worked out. She wanted Cason and I to dress up too, so Cason wore an eyeball mask, and I wore a simple witch costume. It was a great day, and she's already looking forward to next year!

I finally made it to the doctor this month, and I was put on several new medications for my stomach problems. I had a pretty bad reaction to them at first, but I'm doing better now. I'm still not 100%, but I'm hopefully getting there. Along with the medications, I am no longer drinking caffeine, or eating dairy and gluten. It's been a REALLY hard transition. Gluten free food is expensive...and gross. I'm mostly just not eating at all, but I'm trying to find some things that I like, and if it's going to help me feel better, it's probably worth it.

September 2013

September is always a busy month for us- School is in full swing, and there's a lot of celebrating to do!

We celebrated Cason's 27th birthday on the 14th. We did just what he wanted: He and I went to dinner and a movie while lilli played at grandma and grandpa's house, and then we all had some ice cream cake from dairy queen. I love how easy his birthday's are! It doesn't take much to make him happy!

5 days later, was our 5th anniversary! Again, we kept it pretty low key. We had lunch as a family, did some shopping, and then dropped Lilli off at my parent's house so we could go to the Cheesecake Factory. We had planned on doing something a little more elaborate, but we had to make a couple of big purchases earlier in the month, so it didn't work out. It's ok though. I think we both needed a relaxing day!

A lot of our time has been spent fixing up our apartment. I've had a "honey-do list" since the day we moved it (almost 3 years ago), and pretty much none of it was done, but something finally clicked in Cason's head, and we got going. We cleaned out all of our closets, started work on cleaning out our garage, hung curtains, and rearranged our bedroom. The biggest improvement, was that we bought a new couch! We had our old one for less than 2 years, and it had completely fallen apart. Furniture Row swindled us, and we will never shop there again! We did our research this time and bought one from Costco...our fingers are crossed that it will last us!!

I struggled with a lot of health problems in the month of September (or should I say every month this year?). Anyway, we think we've finally figured out what's wrong, and hopefully I'm on the road to recovery. I couldn't get in to see the doctor, but I've been able to feel at least marginally better by changing my diet. I've cut out dairy which has been HARD. I don't think I knew how dependent I was to it, especially the milk! I miss it so much!

Lilli started drawing a lot this month. She'd do about 10-20 pictures a day. She seriously LOVES it! Her favorite things to draw are: herself, Stitch, and WALL-E. She's quite the little crafter too, and I have a lot of fun doing little projects with her!