Happy Halloween

Sienna's 2nd Halloween - Cutest chicken on the block

Trick or treating at her first house; a bit unsure on what to do.

She was pretty excited about her M &Ms.

But way more excited when she got a "kuc ka" and tried to eat it the whole wagon ride home through the wrapper. She enjoyed it more with the wrapper off.

Family Updates

Sienna turned 14 months yesterday! She has become a busy little toddler and never stops moving. It's amazing to me how quick she's learning and picking things up. You can give her many simple commands and she'll follow them. "Go bring it to [insert name]" is becoming so handy. She loves being our little helper in any way she can. She's starting to have a whole list of words. I'm not sure anyone else would know the difference between "ba" for ball and "ba" for bottle, but we know what she means. She's also been making animal noises. Every time she's near the toy box she finds her little horse puppet, pulls it out, and says "neigh!" In the rest of her free time she's either eating or reading books. She hardly touches her other toys when there are books around. 

Posing before the Vikings game

Looking at the camera wasn't nearly as exciting as the pumpkins.

In other news Conner seems to be doing great. We took him back to the chiropractor last week and she said he was doing really well. She had high hopes for him going forward. He's goes again tomorrow and hopefully that will be it for awhile. He's been off his pain meds for a week and is dying to run around outside but we're restricting him until after that appointment. Hope for more good news!

Cookie Kisses

This is my favorite book of Siennas'. Watch and see why!

Conner

It's been an emotional roller coaster of a week. It's a really long story but to be short Conner wasn't feeling well last Friday night, so we took him into the vet on Saturday am. I didn't think he was really that sick, and was shocked to hear his results. He had a nerve pinched in his back and it was cause by a disease called IDD (Intervertebral Disk Disease). It's where the vertebraes start growing together and eventually lead to rear paralysis. The vet didn't know how long it would take. Could be months, could be years. For now Conner was on strict bed rest and pain killers. After 2 week he should be feeling better but will have to live a limited active lifestyle (ummm do you know my dog??) As you can imagine, Justin and I were devastated. You know in your head that your dog won't be around forever, but Conner's only 8. I figured he had a few more good years in him.

We got through the weekend and Conner didn't appear to be feeling much better. Most the times when he'd start to walk, his nerve would pinch and he'd freeze in place while his whole body started to shake. I felt so bad for him. Come Monday morning Justin is telling a co-worker about the situation. The co-workers knows of a great animal chiropractor and next thing I know we're bringing in Conner. Who knew they had such and thing and only my family would figure that out. We should be deemed poster children for Eastern Medicine.

I was hopeful but still skeptical. I'd love to say after the appointment Conner was frolicking but that wasn't quite the case. However he did seem to be feeling better. He was walking much better last night and there was even some tail wagging. The chiro adjusted him in 8 places and seemed to think with regular maintenance he will be ok. It's amazing to me the different prognosis the 2 different doctors have given us. I have a million unanswered questions but for now I'm hopeful that Conner will be ok and be able to live a normal dog lifestyle. We go back again next week and hope for more good news. Send good doggy thoughts our way!

Apple Orchard

I finally got my family fall fun weekend day! We went to Emma Krumbies to their scarecrow fest. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day out.

Sienna hung with the Minnie Mouse scarecrows. 

She helped feed the goats.

Posed for some cheesy pictures.

We rode the train around.

Smelled and picked a few apples.

Posed under the apple trees.

And also by the pumpkins.

Patio & Deck...or lack thereof

The past couple months we've been doing some [de]construction on our house. The deck was starting to fall apart due to water issues in the ground - that are now fixed but too little too late. It was also too small so instead of fixing it we decided to tear it down and start over. 

In addition to a new deck, we also added a patio slab where a future screen in porch will go. 

Deck in process of the tear down. The goal is to get the deck down this fall and put a new one up in the spring.