Hospitals!

The month of November began with a trip to Children's in Atlanta for Brent's hernia surgery and ended with a trip to Martin Army Hospital on Ft. Benning to have our last baby.

We discovered last Spring that Brent had a hernia.  After several visits with different doctors in the area, we were finally referred to Children's Hospital.  Brent always had a missing testicle which is what was to blame for the hernia issues.  Dr. Cerwinka was going to find the testicle and fix the hernia in one surgery.  There was much less anxiety for Ben & I before this surgery because we have faith that Brent is in the best hands possible at Children's.  They just know how to cater to all of us and make us feel as comfortable as possible.

The "Book Fairy" (A 93 year old woman who has been volunteering for 30 years!) made a visit to Brent's room and let him pick a book to take home.  After carefully choosing one, he insisted on getting another one to take to Brody.  Then a duo of clowns visited and kept Brent entertained with music and bubbles.  After that, a video game counsel made its way into the room.  Everyone kept Brent so busy that he did rather well not getting anything to eat or drink until well after lunchtime! 

Not too long after they took Brent we received the call that the surgery was done and he was doing well.  We were told that he asked for his Mommy right away and didn't seem to be in much pain.  They wheeled him back into the room and I started to cry so the nurse did everything she could to get him into my arms so I could just hold him.  I was so sad because we were told by the doctor that he needed to have one of his testicles removed because it non-functional and could potentially cause more problems later in life.  While this doesn't eliminate his chances at having babies later in life, it is still sad nonetheless.

Brent recovered fast from surgery.  We have found wonderful friends in the Ripley Family. They came over and treated us to dinner so we could all rest from the week and enjoy a little company.  The boys had such fun making their own pizza and they ended up tasting pretty good too!

The boys have been "Angry Birds" crazed since Chelsea first showed Brody how to play the game on her iPhone.  The boys received the PJ's and the game from Tia (Tery) and playing the game has become a nightly ritual since!

Ben had his 36th Birthday.

Brent had his first Dentist appointment.  He did pretty good and his teeth look great!

MaJ & PaJ made the trip to see us for a couple of weeks to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and to be here for the birth of our 3rd child.  We spent a little time at the Civil War Naval Museum here in Columbus the weekend after Thanksgiving.

While it was overcast, it was a nice day out.  We spent some time out by the Riverwalk where the boys had fun rolling down the hill.  Brent decided to take a potty break at the bottom of the hill!

Who's Keeping Up??

Time just ticks away too fast!!  SO much has happened in the past 3 months since my last entry.  Highlights it is!

The rest of October brought a few trips out into the woods for Ben to deer hunt.  His friend from College, Mike, who now lives near Atlanta came for opening weekend with his step-son Sean.  Mike shot the hog and a deer and Sean got the other deer.  Halloween brought Ben's unlucky, lucky day.  It began with him successfully shooting 2 bucks. However, after stabbing himself in the thigh while gutting the second deer, he spent the rest of the day in the Emergency Room.  Brent stayed as far away from the deer as possible while Brody couldn't get close enough!

Grandma Aunt Irm, GrandpaGrandpa, Uncle Cory, Aunt Christina, Hannah and JP stopped by for a quick visit on their way home to Wisconsin from Destin, FL.  It's always fun to have cousins together.

Halloween Fun!  

We went to a local "Pumpkin Patch" to pick out this years pumpkins.  This time of year always makes Ben & I miss Wisconsin as it's just not the same going to get pumpkins that have been shipped in on a truck! However, the boys know no different and had a great time!  

Aunt Jen sent the boys a very fun Halloween Package that included these neat "Mr. Potato Head" pieces to decorate their pumpkins.  No knives required :o)

Aunt Jen's package also had some fun teeth in it.

The boys were Pirates this year.  It worked out well because Brody's costume was a handmedown from friends in South Carolina that Brent had worn earlier in the year to a Buccaneer dinner.  I happened to come across the same costume for Brent to wear on Craigslist for $5!!   

We Trick-or-Treated the neighborhood with our neighbor Miss Stacy and her daughter, Lia.  Brent knew exactly what to do while Brody hung back a bit.  By a few blocks Brody was an expert just like the older kids.

Ben was a trooper going Trick-or-Treating after getting home from the ER.  Walking (Limping) as far as the boys wanted to go.

Benning Oktoberfest 2011

After Ben returned home from Savannah for the week, we decided to squeeze a little family time in at the Ft. Benning Oktoberfest.  As usual, there were plenty of "bouncy houses" and the "bungee jumpee."  The boys are becoming such pros at these things.  Brent even started doing flips on the bungee jumpee.  The boys love going as high as they can.

We then ate a little festival food and rode the hayride, twice.  It was a nice evening.

Go Packers!!

Ben & I had gotten tickets to the Packers vs. Falcons game.  So, we had one of ChelChel's high school friends come over to watch the boys while we headed for Atlanta.  They were invited to the neighbor girl's Costume Birthday Party so we dropped them off there before we left.  I didn't want them to wear their Halloween Costume's just yet so we opted for Brent's costume from 2 years ago and a Wonder Pets costume we happened to have. 

We met up with Ben's friend Mike from College, his wife (Cheryl), his stepson (Shawn) and Shawn's girlfriend (Michele) for some tailgating before the game.

 It was so fun to see the game in person.

 The Packers were off to a rocky start but began to dominate in the second half.  It was really sad how the Falcons fans bailed on the game with every 1st down the Packers achieved.  By the end of the game, there were only a handful of Falcons fans left in the stadium.

Fall Activities

Last weekend we took a trip to Athens, GA to tailgate with the Walkers for the UGA game.  The boys were very excited to see where ChelChel goes to school.  The boys & I went for a 2.5 hour walk around campus Saturday morning.  The campus is straight out of a movie.  So much history.  So many neat things to see.  And of course, so much Red & Black!!

 Chelsea has brought us cupcakes from this bakery a couple of weeks ago so when we came across it, the boys and I shared a "Birthday Surprise" cupcake.  So yummy!

 These were some other kids that were also in the tailgating lot with us.  Brent played so hard with them into the dark of night.  He had so much fun with them.



Ben was off of work yesterday as part of the "Columbus" holiday weekend.  He's been wanting to take the boys fishing for many, many weeks now and they finally found time to do it.  There is a great pond with a nice a playground nearby on post.  All three of them had a good time.

The boys are going to be Pirates for Halloween this year.  In the spirit of this, we picked up these masks at the craft store and spent some time coloring them this afternoon after lunch.  They thought they were so funny!!