A couple of goofy videos...

Dinnertime at the Scruggs household is never boring. Tonight, Carter practiced his "oh-my-goodness" face:

Not to be outdone, Hannah practiced the Pledge of Allegiance:

I'll translate:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the nice snakes of America, and to the pleasure for which it stands -- one nature under God, invisible, until you touch the straw.

Out on the town!

We got all dressed up for our usual Friday night date to Walmart (did you know there’s no hyphen in it any more?!)…Carter was such a little stud muffin in his new button-up and khakis. All he needed was a belt (I’ll take care of that tomorrow).

 

Hannah Banana sported her new t-shirt dress I made her…

Yet before we could actually make it inside Walmart, my sweetheart had a slight wardrobe malfunction:

H: Mommmmeeee!! My panties!!!

And sure ‘nuff, there was a big problem with her panties…they were down around her ankles. In the Walmart parking lot. In the Ped Xing. She was just wobbling along trying to keep up with us.

So in the interest of not getting run over, I ever-so-discreetly bent down and yanked them back up to their proper place. Who knew elastic would just give out like that?!

Now, panties are at the top of our shopping list for tomorrow. It never even occurred to me to actually buy panties for her while we were inside the store. I’ll blame it on short-term memory loss as a result of ingesting excessive amounts of aspertame.

Trick or treat…

Couldn’t resist sharing a few pics from tonight. I was so proud of Hannah and Carter for being such little angels tonight! These costumes would have been PERFECT if it hadn’t been 90 degrees tonight. Poor little babies were drenched in sweat! But neither of them complained or asked to take off their costume. Carter really surprised me. He even tried to say “trick or treat” and “rahhhh” like a true (Auburn) tiger. (But don’t tell his daddy…I let him think it was a McKenzie tiger hee hee.)

 

       

 

Oh – I almost forgot to mention that Hannah’s pumpkin won an honorable mention in the K4-3rd grade division. We’re so proud!

The great pumpkin…

I’d say Hannah’s pumpkin turned out pretty good considering I didn’t even know she needed a pumpkin until 2:00 this afternoon.

 

 

In case you can’t tell…it’s a lady bug. I thought it would be utterly appropriate since Hannah loves bugs and she’s going to be a lady bug for Halloween. Again.

And yes, I even let her do most of the painting. She’s actually a good little artist. You can tell by how well she painted the face :)

Other updates:

Carter is doing remarkably well. Still seeing some progress with his thumb and index finger stretches, and his scar is slowly softening and fading. He’s just so amazing. So smart! And sneaky!!

Mimi has become the possum whisperer…it appears that their back porch has been claimed by a family community of possums who apparently love cat food. Daddy was, um, taking care of the possums while he was home, but when he went on the road Mimi had to take matters into her own hands. Hannah’s take on it was so “Hannah-like”. She said, “If I were a possum I wouldn’t go in Mimi’s yard. It’s not safe in Mimi’s yard for possums. I’d stay in the woods with my mommy and daddy.” Me, too, baby. Especially after the spice rack incident.

We baked cupcakes for the big Fall Fun Festival at Bev’s…Hannah and Carter “helped.”

Look at my brown-eyed girl…

And “Mr. Mischief”…

Life is good. We’re so blessed!

Quick update

We visited Children’s Hospital again today for Carter’s check-up with Dr. Chaignaud (pronounced “Shay-no”), the surgeon burn specialist. I’m always a little apprehensive about these visits. Part of it is being so afraid that they’re gonna look at him and tell me I’m doing a terrible job of taking care of him. The other part involves wrangling a rambunctious 18-month-old in a waiting area for a long period of time while trying my best to keep him from touching anything that might possibly host a germ of any sort. (An impossible yet admirable goal)

Dr. Chaignaud seemed to be pretty pleased with Carter’s progress today, and she said we should just keep doing what we’ve been doing and to come back to see her in 3 months. I am pleased with his progress, too, and it’s so reassuring to hear from the expert that we’re on the right track.

She said we should call Dr. Ray (the plastic surgeon) tomorrow to set up an appointment with him so he can determine whether it’s time for the scar release surgery that will loosen up those restricting scars that are hampering Carter’s hand function. So I’ll do that first thing in the morning.

Lynn, the super-sweet occupational therapist, also checked in with us to adjust Carter’s splint that he wears every night to stretch his thumb. I knew that he had gained a lot of mobility in his thumb since his last splint was too easy to put on – and that was a good thing. Lynn was also happy with how well he’s able to move and grasp with his “bo-bo” hand.

And once again, the Lord had me walk down the hallways of Children’s Hospital and realize just how blessed I am. Little boys racing down the hall in wheelchairs and bald-headed little girls towing IV poles really have a way of speaking directly to my heart. And what breaks my heart is how happy these children are. So if you ever get to feeling sorry for yourself and need a reality check, I strongly suggest a visit. (Or watch a St. Jude telethon…just make sure you’ve got a box case of Kleenex nearby.)

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“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed;
when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost.
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.”

Meanwhile…

I couldn’t resist sharing Hannah’s “when I grow up” work from school. I asked her who it was in the picture, and she said, “You!” I take that as a compliment (I think).

 

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Carter has graduated from calling everybody “mama”…now he calls Pop “BOP!” and Paw Paw “BAW BAW”. I wrote it in all caps because he doesn’t “say” it, he YELLS it.

Can’t you just see the sweetness in this little grin?

And yes, that’s a “bo-bo” on his head. We literally have ONE step inside our whole house and he fell down it. Oh yeah, and under the big scrape is a smaller scrape where he had a run-in with Granny’s recliner. And if you look REAL close, you can see the faint bruise on his right cheek. I forgot what happened there, but it was definitely a bad week for him!

Accident prone doesn’t even begin to describe my children these days. Some might call that payback. Like the time at Disney World when Daddy bought a $4 Sprite and I spilled it before anybody could get a sip.

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Hannah is a movie addict. Lately her favorite is Charlotte’s Web, and she has both the cartoon and “real people” versions. So one Friday night a couple weeks ago, she talked Jason into fixing her a bowl of popcorn, and she settled in.

A little while later I went to check on her and saw this…(I couldn’t resist snapping a pic)

Back to "normal"

Things are finally getting back to "normal" around our house. Here are a few highlights:

At dinner Thursday night, Hannah said, "Daddy -- I gotta talk you over something. You know my friend Gabby? She said not tonight but the next night when it gets dark outside, they're having a football at my school and I wanna go." Why? "Because they got big lights there and the bugs come because that's where all their friends are and I wanna go see 'em." Who can argue with that? And we did go, because she asked so sweetly. And she had a ball catching hard bugs and talking to the big tiger and getting a ring pop and glow necklace from the concession stand. And we won...which made it even better for us!

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Hannah also hit us with this conversation last week: "Mama -- you know how they're building the fire station? Well that's how me and my daddy are gonna build a horse pen for when I get a horse."

"We can't get a horse, baby," I said. "Horses eat a lot of food and we can't feed one." (Yeah -- that'll get her)

"That's why we're gonna get a little horse."

Oh.

"And we can put it in the yard and it will eat all the grass and Daddy won't have to cut grass. Ain't that a good idea?"

Ummm...

"So I'm gonna ask Santa Claus to bring me one."

"He can't fit a horse in his sleigh."

"He fit my Jeep and the horse is little, too."

So I took the easy way out..."You're gonna have to talk to your daddy about that one."

~0~

Carter loves putting his dollar in the collection plate every Sunday. We've learned not to give it to him too early, though, because he tries to give it to everybody that walks by. And if they keep going, he starts yelling "HEY!"

This morning as I was taking communion, he helped himself to one of those little cups of grape juice. We grabbed it just in time to avert a total disaster, and the gentleman holding the tray snickered more than a little. Afterward, we gave Carter his dollar and he started looking around for a silver tray. It took them just a few minutes to get to us (we sit in the very back), and when it finally was his turn, Carter slammed it down into the plate and then smiled this huge, toothy, slobbery grin. That same man is still smiling about that one.