Much to be Thankful for

As the Thanksgiving weekend ends, we have been reminded of how much we have to be thankful for (the 5 F's): family, friends, faith, fellowship, and food. As December begins and we look toward the Christmas season, we are grateful for all the blessings in our life. We all have our challenges at times, but this time of year we are reminded of the gift we were given with Jesus' birth. Our month will be very busy with the following activities: Ryan and Tyler's school Christmas program this Tuesday - the 2nd, moving this weekend - the 5th, 6th, and 7th (we think), Ryan's basketball games on Saturday's, Grant's dedication in church on Sunday the 21st, Christmas celebrations from the 23rd - 26th, and concluding the month and 2008 year with Grant's lip surgery on the 30th (we think -- not confirmed yet). With all the events and activities, our goal is to make sure and keep our focus on the reason for the season and the life we've been given through Jesus' birth. May you all enjoy the joyous season of Christmas!

Here are pictures of the house: outside, kitchen, living room, basement, and deck in back.

Trick or Treaters

I'm about a week late getting this posted, but I thought
better late than never. It was a beautiful night for trick or treating --- very nice weather and not too windy (like it's been lately). We didn't end up leaving the house until later (around 7:30) because Chris was cutting milo. We mainly went to family members and hit a couple other houses along the way, although most of our time consisted of driving --- making sure we made it to Moundridge, half-way to Halstead, and then to Newton. Here's a picture of the Huxman Boys: Ryan - the football player with Grant - his football, Tyler - spiderman, and Andrew - the skunk with the sticker saying "little stinker" (couldn't have had a more perfect nametag). They had a good time and the oldest (Ryan) actually fell asleep in the car at 9:15 and didn't even enjoy any of our time in Newton. Maybe the "football" just got too heavy for him to carry --- ha, ha!

Grant's doing Great

Well, obviously I've started school and feel swamped with everything (and feel I'm chasing my tail constantly) because I haven't given a Grant update since the first week of October. I'm so sorry to those of you who aren't around us to know how things are going. Here's a little run down . . .

We went to Olathe and actually picked up the obturator (for his mouth) October 16. It looks like a small retainer (as the picture below shows - the obturator is on the left and the larger thing on the right is the mold of the top of his mouth which they used to make it). What we didn't realize until we got there to pick it up is that it has to be taken out and rinsed after every feeding. This has taken a little getting used to, but really isn't that bad. It took him a while to get used to having it in, but now things are going great. He eats much quicker and is taking 4-5 ounces every feeding. We feel it has improved his eating a lot and are very glad for that. I don't have a weight update for this week yet (he gets weighed tomorrow) but last Monday he weighed 8 pounds. YEAH!


The biggest change with him has been his interaction with people. He is smiling a lot and starting to coo some. He lays on the floor and just swings his arms around and kicks his feet. It is a very fun stage! His brothers are still enjoying him a lot. Tonight, Andrew even was asking to hold him, so we gave him the opportunity.

Speaking of Andrew, the highlight for his life is that we are completely finished with his "bebe", or pacifier as most of us call it. If we'd tried to break him of it, we probably wouldn't have been successful, but it just kind of happened. No complaints on our end and not near as many from him as we thought there might be.

Ryan has officially finished football. His team ended the season 3-4 and then played in the Warrior Bowl in Newton this past weekend winning 1 and losing 1. One of the highlights for him was playing at Fischer Field on artificial turf at night with lights. Here is a picture of the Moundridge boys that played on the Halstead Hurricane team. They all had a great time!!!

Now on to Tyler, I don't know there is much to add about him. He just goes, goes, goes a hundred miles an hour. I'm finding I need to take more pictures of him I guess. Here is one of him with some of his friends at a Moundridge High School football game (with his brother Andrew getting in the picture - and obviously an older picture because he still has his "bebe" in his mouth).