Hailey's Mouth Surgery

My lunch date!

 The day before my birthday on Nov. 1, Hailey had to have surgery to uncover two teeth buried deep in the roof of her mouth. We had planned this surgery for about a month now and while she could have had it sooner, it interfered with her birthday and then Halloween. So Nov. 1 seemed like a good date and one that  gave her a few days off after to be home and recover. It also gave me more time to prepare her that she was going to have to be put out/get an IV. 

She actually handled all that pretty well. It was the aftermath that has been very difficult. While her healing is going well, she is very, very sore. The oral surgeon said that she was a difficult case and that her recovery time will likely be one week longer due to how deep the teeth were in her mouth and how her front teeth are inverted. 

So I've been her nurse for the past two weeks - trying to keep her medicated so the pain isn't so severe as well as find soft things for her to eat and ones that aren't too cold or too hot. Drinking is hard for her. Taking medicine is hard for her. She pretty much is eating Campbell's Double Noodle Soup and pudding (all varieties although her favorites are double chocolate and tapioca!). 

I've been picking her up from school at lunch so I can dose her with even more medicine so she can get through the day and so she can eat what she wants at home. 

I'm hoping she turns the corner real quick on this recovery time because it has not been a fun few weeks for her at all. 

One of her friends dropped off a stuffed Fox and a "Get Better Soon" card 

Happy Birthdays!

HBD to me!

Tom and I both celebrated birthdays recently (on two consecutive Saturdays). We now are both on the other side of a half of a century. 

My favorite time to celebrate my birthday is not on the weekends (surprisingly). I'm not sure why but it just feels like you need to do something more because it is the weekend. Well, we certainly didn't do anything more for either of our birthdays this year as we were knee deep in our kids' activities/plans. But, I think both Tom and I were happy to let them do their own thing. 

Hailey had just had surgery on her mouth the day before my birthday so she wasn't in any shape to do anything special the next morning. Austen was still coming off a high from winning a big soccer playoff game the night before and had practice that day (and then went out and celebrated with a late lunch with his teammates). I did play paddle tennis in the morning and then ran home to take Peyton and her friend to their tumbling class. The afternoon was kind of quiet. We had all the kids home to open presents and then Peyton was off to a Halloween party and the rest of us went to dinner (Hailey did not eat). 

On Tom's birthday, Austen had an early playoff game up north so it was up early and then off to watch more soccer. The afternoon was much like mine and pretty low key. We had everyone home to open presents and then we all headed out to an early dinner (Hailey still did not eat) so Austen could go to a party that we dropped him off at on our way home. 

Pretty low key birthdays during a crazy few weeks of sports and activities for us but Tom and I both agreed that we wouldn't want it any other way. Happy Birthday to us! 

Happy Halloween!

Hailey as Phoenix

Halloween came upon us rather quickly and while the older two traded their Halloween parties at school for real parties with costumes, Hailey still participated in the usual elementary school fun that surrounds this holiday.

First, she knew what she wanted to be for a few months now. One of her favorite movies is Top Gun: Maverick so she had declared that she wanted to be one of the female fighter pilots named Phoenix. When all the other girls are wearing matching costumes or cute and cuddly attire, my girl is doing her own thing. 

She came home for lunch that day and then I went back with her to see her in her final elementary school Halloween parade. After the parade, the room moms took over (I am not one of them this year nor leader of the room moms) and she decorated a trick or treating bag before school got out and she raced back home to get ready. 

We had 7 girls over for Portillos before trick or treating and they gobbled down the food before heading out to collect their candy. Tom and I, and a few other parents chaperoned from afar (last year) while they ran up and down our streets collecting candy. After almost 2 hours, Hailey was done. Her bag was heavy and she was tired. Luckily the weather had cooperated and it was fairly nice out so they got in a full two plus hours of trick or treating before calling it a night. 

Austen and Peyton held down the fort at home handing out candy. But, next year, I'm sure Tom and I will be the ones handing out the candy at our door as I'm sure Hailey will be out and about with her friends - on her own. 

School Halloween Parade

On the Trick or Treating Trail

Group Shot

Hailey's Haunted House Birthday Party

Hailey has the perfect birthday. Right around Halloween so there is always fun ideas when we are thinking of her birthday party. She likes to keep it small so she invited 6 friends to help her celebrate her Golden Birthday.

There was one activity that she said she wanted to do for her birthday party and that was a Haunted House so I scoured the internet looking for the best Haunted Houses for tweens. Most of the friends she invited were chickens so I didn't know how she thought they'd actually want to do this with her but I did the research and we found one that sounded perfect nearby. Plus, I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that you could buy fast passes to this Haunted House if you had a larger group so you didn't have to wait in line (which that night ended up being two hours long). 

First though, we had the girls meet at our house to decorate pumpkins (the craft kind so they could keep them). Then we had a reservation at Jo Jo's Shake Bar for dinner. The weather was perfect so we were able to sit outside on their back deck where they had a pop Halloween display. Most of Hailey's friends had never been to Jo Jo's before so they definitely enjoyed the experience especially when the shakes came out! 

After dinner it was on to the Haunted House which was actually a Haunted Forest. First, you climbed into a wagon that drove you through a forest. Clowns ran out of the woods and chased the wagons with chainsaws. The girls screamed. And, I wondered how many were going to make it through. We already had one drop out before the Haunted Forest who got picked up early by her Dad. 

Next, the wagon dropped us off at a Haunted Trail and we began our slow descent into the forest as a group of 9 (Peyton came too). The girls clung to me, Tom and Peyton. Smokescreens, scary monsters and snakes and spiders came at us from all directions as we made our way through the trail. Halfway through, Hailey got bold and declared herself not scared of any of these ghouls and goblins. Miraculously, all the girls made it through. Most were happy they did it and Hailey said it was her best birthday ever. 

Another fun and unique birthday party in the books for Hailey, and her official last party until her Sweet 16! 

Decorating pumpkins

Jo Jo's Shake Bar

Hanging out at Jo Jo's

Pumpkin Patch

More fun decorations!

On the wagon ready to head into the forest

Austen's Senior Day and Conference Champs

It has been a road to get to the conference championship for Austen's high school soccer team but it was everything I knew they could do. I say that because this summer, Austen and I talked about how this team may be less skilled and talented than the previous two Varsity teams but I knew these players, particularly the Seniors, and knew that they had a good shot at winning conference, especially if they had some help from some good juniors too. 

Conference Champs!

These Seniors had grit and chemistry. After a rocky 1-6-1 start (which rests solely on the coaching), these boys turn it around and go 5-1 in conference play to win the West Suburban Silver Conference Championship outright. Our conference is challenging. Not impossible but we have some very good teams in it. One of these games, we go into overtime and the rest are pretty close. But we squeak it out with a 1-0 win over Downers Grove North last week and the boys, these boys, are so happy that together they did this. They played for each other and in the face of a very difficult beginning, they persevered and came up with the trophy. I told Austen, everything from here on out is just gravy. They accomplished what they set out to do this year.

They enter playoffs on Wednesday and will take on Jones College Prep in their first game and if they win, they will play for the Regional Championship on Saturday afternoon. Wins would be nice but I'm so happy for these boys to get that conference trophy, especially since no Varsity team has won it outright in the four years that Austen has been there. Congrats to them!

We also got to celebrate Austen's four years in the program with Senior Day. Tom and I were announced with Austen for one of his last game's on Dickinson Field. Here's what they said:

Welcome to Hinsdale Central's Bank Stadium where today we honor and celebrate our 13 Seniors who have all played in the Hinsdale Central Boys Soccer Program over the last four years. These boys have come of age together as friends and teammates from their freshman year, Saturday morning practices with donuts, compliments of Coach Begley, to winning the Hinsdale Central Freshman Shoot Out which included them having to be escorted off of Centennial Field after they beat a stunned Elgin team looking for a fight. 

The memories these boys have made together over the last four years will be forever etched in their minds long after this season is over and they leave Hinsdale Central. But today, we honor them as current players and have asked them to share a few thoughts and memories about playing soccer for Hinsdale Central...

#18 Austen's favorite moment of his high school soccer career would be making his penalty kick sophomore year in the regional final game shoot out vs. Whitney Young to advance to sectionals. A funny memory he has about a coach is one that I'm sure all our Seniors here today will remember - on bus rides to games freshman year they would play music and Coach Ferraro would tell them to turn that terrible music off! 

Austen's freshman coaches (now retired) were in the stands supporting the now Seniors that they coached four years ago. It was great to see them and know that they were still following their players after all these years. In fact, most of the boys' memories or favorite moments involved their freshman year and that's when you know that that chemistry and the ability to play hard for each other was formed four years ago. That's what our current coach didn't know about them and couldn't see - at least in the beginning - I'm sure by now he realizes his mistake. 

I couldn't be more proud of these Seniors. I've enjoyed watching them play throughout their four years and will miss being in the stands and watching them play next fall. What I won't miss is all the volunteer hours that I put into the program. I am looking forward to having my late summer/fall back next year if Peyton doesn't rope me into volunteering more for cheer!  

At any rate, congratulations to our Seniors and to Austen! What a ride it has been watching him play over the course of his four years. He's left us with unforgettable memories and friendships too. 

Senior Day!

Proud Parents

The Seniors!

The Senior Captains

Some of the Seniors at their Senior Dinner

Hailey Turns 11

Last Friday, Hailey turned 11. Of course our Friday was jam packed with non-birthday, non-Hailey things so we tried real hard to make it special for her in spite of these events that got in the way of her birthday. 

First, Tom and I picked her up from school and took her to lunch (they have open lunch at her school) at the restaurant of her choice. She ordered sushi, chicken tenders and had to have the cookie skillet at her classmates' suggestion. She ate all of it and was back at school in time for PE class (which she said she could miss since it was the very boring gymnastics unit). 

We picked her up after school as it was the only time where all 5 of us would be together for a quick 15 minutes of opening presents before Peyton had to be back at school for cheerleading and I was going to work her fundraising tailgate for cheer. 

She opened up her presents really quick. She got a lot of things from us that she didn't ask for but loved like Halloween earrings, new Nike Air Max sneakers, basketball attire and new basketball shoes. Peyton wrote her a really nice card (not really) and for the first year, Austen bought her one from the store. (I really like when they write their own cards to each other unless they are not very nice - like Peyton's who said "Happy Birthday to the girl who can't ride a bike!")

After opening presents, Tom dropped Peyton and I off at school for cheer and the fundraiser tailgate. He hung with Hailey, and Austen eventually left for his soccer game. 

After working 1.5 hours at the fundraising tailgate, Tom and Hailey picked me up and we jetted over to Austen's game (30 minutes away) but not before picking up Hailey's dinner of choice (Cane's). Normally, Tom and I would split games and one of us would go see Peyton cheer and the other would go to Austen's game but this was a big game for Austen to help secure a conference title so we told Peyton that we were going to Austen's game. Hailey didn't mind too much going to Austen's game since the time would be shorter than going to a football game to see Peyton cheer. Plus, I told Austen he needed to score a goal for Hailey for her birthday. 

Well, it was an exciting and crazy game and Austen ended up scoring two goals for Hailey! After scoring his first goal and heading back to the half line, he points at Hailey in the stands to let her know that that one was for her. Then, at the end of the game, the boys come over to the stands to clap for the fans and the fans clap for their 3-1 win. Austen holds up 2 fingers for Hailey and she beams. You can see how much she loves her big brother even if she has to go to his game on her birthday. 

We get back in the car to drive back to pick up Peyton but not before picking up a Hailey request - Portillos chocolate cake. We get Peyton, Austen comes home, and finally we all sing to Hailey at about 9:45pm that night. 

Before bed, I ask Hailey what the best part of her birthday was and she says, "Austen scoring those two goals for me and giving me the shout out." Oh my heart. How great it is to have a big brother who loves his little sister and makes her birthday special even when she has to go to his game on her special day. 

I'd say Hailey's golden (11 on the 11th) birthday was one she'll never forget. 

A new basketball!

Bracelet maker!

Two goals for Hailey!

Happy 11th Birthday!

Austen 3; Uncle Mark 0

I'd be remiss if I didn't write about Austen and Uncle Mark playing against each other the past three years. As soon as Austen made Varsity sophomore year, Mark and Austen's coach agreed to play each other over the course of the next three years. 

Austen holds up the #3

And, this past year was the last year they will do so. We had the entire family come out for the festivities which was so fun and nice of them! 

Austen scored the first goal for his team who went on to secure a 3-0 victory (it may have been their team's first win). And, that made it three years in a row that they beat Uncle Mark's team. Austen may or may not have scored in every single one of those games. 

The best part is that over the course of the past three years, he told none of his teammates that he was playing against his uncle. And even after the final whistle in their last game together, he still didn't divulge any details - typical Austen. 

It's been a great and memorable three years of playing against each other. Thanks for setting that in motion  Uncle Mark!

The fans

More fans

Austen's cheer squad