The "No Boot" countdown has ended

I am currently looking at both of my feet.  Surprisingly, it has been an adjustment since Friday to be without it.  The orthopedic doctor said that I still have to wear it when I am going to be on my feet a lot or active or on uneven ground, etc. and I have to go to physical therapy for a few weeks.  It is definitely getting better and I am glad that I am on the end of my recovery.  Of course, I was hoping to hear that I was free and clear to go back to life as usual, but I am glad that the doctor is managing my care well.

It is amazing how much muscle a person can lose in a short period of time.  My leg and foot that have been in the brace are about 1/2 the size of the other one.  I am anxious to get active again, but I am trying to be good and listen to the doctor!

The last weekend of October in pictures

The first snow of the winter came on October 26th.  As you can see, it didn't amount to much here, but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to get out in it!  On the positive side, they were able to get themselves completely dressed to go out all by themselves!  If you have ever tried to wrestle your kids into snow gear, you know what a blessing this is!

The snow caused Bella's last soccer game to be canceled, but we still had our end-of-the-season party at our sponsor, Pufferbelly's.  Each player got a free ice cream.  Bella didn't want to smile for the camera, so Josh just told her to make a funny face.  She is becoming so animated these days.  We may have a future actor on our hands!

Bella with her trophy after her coach (and Daddy) gave it to her.

Pumpkin carvers hard at work.

This was right after Bella had a meltdown about not being able to cut her pumpkin easily, so she moved to help daddy, who had a much less elaborate design (mostly straight lines).

I love to watch Elias hard at work. The concentration is written all over his face!

Elias took this picture.  He carved almost this entire pumpkin himself.  I wasn't crazy about the somewhat scary design, but daddy keeps reminding me that he's a boy and that is just what boys do.  This picture was taken while Bella was in time out after her second meltdown of the carving time.

These are the finished products.  The one on the far right is mine.  I think it is my favorite pumpkin that I have ever carved.  Bella's is next to mine.  Notice that hers has ears with earrings, because she wanted to make it a girlie pumpkin.  I carved the majority of hers. The WV one is Josh's.  Since he had to draw the design onto all of our pumpkins and had cleaned 3 of the 4 pumpkins himself, he decided to go with a simple design.

We had many people compliment us on our pumpkins and a few even asked us where we had bought them, because they thought they were fake.

Lit up on Halloween night. 

Bella as the little Mermaid.  It was only in the 40s on Halloween night, but Bella refused to wear anything on her arms, because, "Ariel doesn't wear anything on her arms".  She went all the way around the neighborhood for over an hour, in heels also, "because that is what princesses wear."

Elias the pirate.  He wanted to be black beard, hence the black stuff on his face.  He wanted to wear an eye patch, but the doctor told him at a recent visit that he would need both eyes for depth perception to get up and down stairs, so he opted to go without it!   

This is Bella and our neighbor's little girl.  I wanted to get a picture of Bella's red hair.  If you have never used the hair color spray, it is a mess to use and it takes a ton of it.  And I am not sure how many chemicals we inhaled in the process.  Bella and I both had red spray up our noses and in our ears - and I didn't even spray my own head!  We had borrowed a wig from a friend, but Bella decided she wanted to use her own hair and just dye it.  It took two washes to get it out and left a red ring in the tub.

 

 

The spoils of their labor, after they had already eaten 3 things each.  Luckily, the majority of it is candy they really like and there are several bags of pretzels popcorn, chips, cookies, etc..  We will go through it and pick things out to send with our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes and then the kids will get two pieces a night after they eat dinner.  We generally still have candy left by Easter, even with Josh and I snatching a few things for ourselves!