Grayson has taken over the drilling... watch out!

Becca is trying out the heavy machinery! Look at her concentration!

Out comes the drill! Gregg's favorite way to carve a pumpkin. I think he saw this in a magazine years ago. The pumpkin looks cute when it's full of holes with the light shining through.

Well, here we have Grayson helping clean out the pumpkin while Becca is performing... shocker!

Becca observing how "yucky" it is inside the pumpkin.

The pumpkin carving begins... Yes, Grayson does have a very sharp knife, Gregg is trying to protect himself and Becca is oblivious to it all :)

I just finished reading this book to Becca before she went to bed. I thought I would share this with you all because this book makes me so incredibly happy! I read the Pippi Longstocking books as a child. I watched her on our console t.v. too! How I loved her! I longed to be that free. She was the coolest girl ever!

Pippi Longstocking is not your average little girl. For one, she lives all by herself in a large house, with no parents around to tell her to do anything. Then there's the animal factor. Instead of having a little kitten like a normal girl, Pippi has a pet monkey named Mr. Nelson, and a horse who lives on her porch! But even with all of her strangeness, Tommy and his sister Annika - who just happen to be Pippi's next-door neighbors - think that Miss Longstocking is the best thing to ever happen to them, which is why they try to spend all of their time with her. But the fact that this red-haired girl doesn't go to school puts a damper on their weekdays. But definitely doesn't put a damper on the crazy adventures they have together, as they get into all sorts of mischief and trouble.

Gregg and Eli got up early this morning and went to Scottsdale to Mayo clinic. They met with the head of the nephrology department. It was an informative trip. He is going to ask Dr. Masood about his steroid usage. Yeah! Hopefully no more mood swings !!! :) Dr. Cohen felt like the transplant is further down the road than Dr. Masood. We will have to just take this one day at a time I guess... Not too earth shattering but every little bit helps :)

Time is flying by as I continue to get older! I remember when it took FOREVER for Christmas to come around again. Not so much now! I am trying to remember what has happened since my last update...
Let's see:

Eli had a doctor's appt. and his numbers are not good. His creatinine (protein) level in his blood is very high and his kidney function is decreasing. Gregg has started the testing process for a transplant. He is looking good so far! The doctor said he has a 90% chance of being a match. We are going to meet with a transplant specialist from Mayo, and go from there. Eli is still working about 50 hours a week. He loves the money but I don't know how much longer he can work this hard.

Gregg and Grayson went camping up at Big Lake. We bought out the store of snack items! They go for one night and for some reason I feel like they need enough food for a week?! I know that is soooooo unlike me! ha ha They had a blast. It was freezing, of course, but they slept in the car because the wind and rain pounded all night.

Becca performed at the High School football game with a large group of girls. The cheer squad did an excellent job teaching them the cutest dances and cheers. I will get the pics up as soon as I can get them off of Carrie's camera :) I need to stop using my cell phone for pics because the quality is so poor. I am going to get right on that!

I got my haircut! I know to most of you this isn't a big deal. To me it is huge! I miss my old stylist so much! I have been determined to get to her somehow. With all the craziness of the past few months it hasn't worked out. Thank goodness Connie and Sam had a hair intervention in TJ Maxx! Connie saw a girl with cute hair and said to me "her hair is cute ask her who she goes to" I said "which one"? (There were two girls and they both had cute hair!) I looked and agreed with her. She made some more comments about me asking her and I was ignoring her :) All of a sudden the one girl said " I don't mean to listen to your conversation but we heard you and she is my stylist" (the other girl) Then we stood in the store for thirty minutes talking and laughing about my hair issues. I ended up making an appt. and she was great! I really wanted to go back to Chloe but maybe next time :(

I know I am forgetting something... I guess I will have to add it later. Thanks so much to all of you for being so great! I don't know what I would do without you.

Tons and Tons of Fajitas!

I can't believe I'm done! I couldn't have done it without the help of my great friend Latisha! We stayed up until 2 am last night cutting chicken and veggies. I went over this morning to dominate her time once again! We cooked it all up and then I was off to Gregg's work. After spilling over quite a few times, I made it! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I appreciate it sooooo much! You are the best! I'll hang out until 2 am with you anytime! :) Gregg and Grayson are going on a scout campout tonight. I am busy getting food, tents, sleeping bags and extra clothes ready to go! After I get them off... Becca goes to cheerleading practice right after school. After two hours of practice we are off to the football game where she is performing. I think Eli is going too... :) Although he says he won't sit by me because I am his "mom", I still love him! Someday he will think I am cool! I had about three hours of sleep last night and I was hoping I would get a nap in... no. I will sleep well tonight! (hopefully my insomnia will ease up because I am a zombie) Once again, thanks so much to Latisha for helping me out!