Carving Pumpkins!

Yesterday morning Nadia had her last soccer game of the fall season. Each child received a really nice medal at the end of the game to commemorate their participation on the team this season. That didn't happen last time; it was a pleasant surprise. We were very glad it was the last game because the wind was blowing and the temperature was only 48 degrees. We were COLD! My parents left their house early that morning so they could arrive in time to join us for the game. They were impressed with how much Nadia had improved since they had seen her play a game last spring. She's not the strongest player on the team, but she's no longer one of the weakest. She wants to play again in the spring. Maybe she'll score her first goal next year! If both kids want to play soccer next fall, Nadia would be on a U8 team, and Ian would be an a U6 team.

We came home, had lunch, and then Paul and I started our trek to King of Prussia with Oliver. There's a REALLY huge mall there, but we went see the CHOP urologist who did Ian's second surgery. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to get there, and we were there for 2 hours. I wish they had let us wait in the waiting room where they had toys, but we spent almost the whole time in an exam room, where they didn't have any toys. Dr. Canning said that Oliver needs to have two shots of testosterone 6 and 3 weeks prior to the surgery because his penis is too small. The other option would be to wait until he is 2 1/2 years old to have the first surgery, but that would mean he couldn't be potty trained until he was over 3 years old, and it also means he might remember the surgeries. We opted for the testosterone shots. He thinks that it will take two surgeries (like Ian) with at least 6 months in between, but he says that he won't know for sure until he's in the surgery. It would be awesome if would only take one surgery, but it's probably better for me emotionally to just assume it will take two surgeries. We're hoping the first one will take place in early January. We shall see when the scheduling coordinator calls us.

While we were driving to and from the urologist, my parents were doing things like carving pumpkins with Nadia and Ian, taking the kids to McD's for dinner and to enjoy the play land, and giving the kids baths. We got home shortly before they went to bed. I was really dreading having Oliver in the car for 6 hours as that was the longest he ever spent in a car in one day in his life, and he doesn't like being in the car, but he did pretty well. He slept for two hours on the way there, and he slept for about an hour on the way back. We kept him up an hour later once we were home (until 9pm) in the hopes that he wouldn't wake up too early this morning, but he still got up an hour earlier than usual this morning. My parents spent the night and went with us to our former church this morning because I was playing the handbells. After having lunch at Perkins we came home and watched football with them. Paul took Nadia and Ian to a church's trunk or treat event this afternoon, which they really enjoyed. My parents left after we ate dinner. The kids have never gone trick or treating before, but we are planning to take them this Thursday night. No one goes trick or treating around our neighborhood. They'll probably wear different costumes on Thursday, but today Nadia went as Rapunzel and Ian went as a clown. It was great seeing my parents. Hopefully we'll see them again next month for Thanksgiving! I have more pictures, but I'll save some for later this week!