I was playing with her halloween pictures.

Happy Halloween!
I could not decide on just one picture, so here goes!  Quinn is a fancy little clown this halloween!  Oh what a fun time we had taking pictures this morning!

Quinn started having so much fun with pictures that she was singing at the top of her lungs!  

Check out how hard Quinn has been working!  She is figuring out rolling more and more, she really does a great job getting her legs and rear into it.  We just need to keep working on getting her arms stronger, but she is doing pretty good with them as well!  Oh she inspires me every day!  Thanks Diane for inspiring her to work so hard!  Thanks to Grandpa Harold for cheering Quinn on in the background!

Today Tabi came over and took pictures of Quinn for her yearly pictures.  We love how patient she is, and how creative!  Can't wait to show you some of them when we get them!  Thanks Tabi!

If you are in the Lincoln area and want some great priced picts from a great person, check her out!

http://creativeeyesstudio.com/index2.php#/home/

After the second group of pictures, she decided she needed a cat nap, and then we finished them up, but Quinn was not a fan of taking pictures for most of the time, thank goodness for a few super cute ones!  I'm starting to run out of wall space for new pictures, but I will come up with something!

OH, I love this dress she has on, it's so cute and the story behind it is even special.  As I read  blogs from many other parents with kids who have different struggles.  Well one of the kids has a grandma who makes these beautiful dresses, and we got one, and it is so lovely!

Well it's officially getting cold here, we are pulling out hats and coats and gloves!  They sod guys say that it's still safe to put it in, but I'm thinking if they don't hurry, there is going to be snow on the ground!

and here is a picture from the party.  Quinn's group dressed her up like a mummy!

Finally when Quinn got home from school on Friday, she had lots of treats, from friends and from school. The other fun thing she got was a nasty cold!  So now her cough is rough, and she is tuckered out!  So we are cuddling up.  We have a house full of kids this weekend, but we are giving Quinn some extra breaks to rest and feel better!  I've said it before, but we are loving doing foster care, we are getting as much out of it as we hope the kids are.

We are so thankful for our nurse Melissa!  I fought getting a nurse for a long time, and now I am so grateful we have one.  She comes and hangs out with Quinn two or three nights a week, and also meets the bus after school, to get Quinn when I have meetings for school.  I have to say it's nice having someone there to help keep Quinn's machines up and going, help with meds, get her ready for school in the morning, and the list goes on and on.    Quinn's newest trick, is that she wants to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning to play with Melissa!  We are trying to get that to stop, but it's so good to see that Quinn is loving Melissa!  It's so nice to add another amazing person to our wonderful team of folks who help Quinn be her best self!

Well, we found out that Quinn has some penicillin allergies!  We also found out that after taking that antibiotic for two weeks, she did not get hives until the day after she was done taking them.  Weird!  Glad we got it figured out!  I also did not know that hives can be one giant red spot on each leg in the same place.  So tonight we are thankful for Benadryl and a doctors office that is open until 7:00.

Welcome to our Fall Break!  It's been exciting!

Cleaning up paperwork.  Calling about bills, and Quinn's supplies.

Cleaning floors, garages, laundry, you know the fun stuff!

We also spend a number of hours with Troy and Kurt working on her power chair, again!  I'm hoping that it will stay in working order for awhile.  I can think of a number of other things Quinn and I can do with our time, but I am very thankful for these two guys for working so hard to help us get Quinn's chair in the best working order as possible!

Then after all that excitement, Quinn needed her Monday, late afternoon nap.  I have to admit, we did do a few Christmas things today as well!  I know that is a bit early, but the season goes so fast, and it takes Quinn a bit of time to get all her work done!  I am sure excited to decorate our house for Christmas this year, I wonder what John would think if I did it before Thanksgiving this year?  Hmmmmm.

Well Quinn is acting like a 5 year old right now.  If she does not want to do something she will not do it.

We spent over 15 minutes at therapy waiting for her to answer us, and instead she wanted to watch a different therapy and student work.  So after blocking her view, she was moving all around to try to see around us.

Finally she decided to give us a full answer, and did great for the rest of therapy.

Another example of this is dane class.  She is still upset that two of her favorite teachers are not there and so she does not want to work.  I also think it's a bit of them not knowing how to inspire her to want to as well, but I really believe that she misses a few of her old teachers.  So they worked so hard to try to get her to take a few steps, and she would not do it.

It was interesting watching her, she has willpower like no other, and no matter how hard they tried, she was not going to take a step!

On the other hand, she has been walking in her walker like crazy, and walked to her power chair at therapy with a little help from Suzanne.  So she is a tricky kid, and when she knows she is going to be held accountable, she will work her tail off, but when she knows she can get away with stuff, she will take advantage of it as well!

A Saturday in the life of the Otte's:

The day started out with a run to the vet with Blue for an update of shots, and trimming of the toenails, and I am so excited not to hear him moving from room to room, all night long.  No more click, click, click, click!  Hooray!  Then thanks to friends, I got to the gym to work out, and being accountable for me is a big deal, and having someone there who will give me a hard time, if I'm not there is very nice!

Then I came home to Greg, and Grandpa Harold being here to smooth out our yard, and get rid of the weeds.  We were planning on getting sprinklers and sod when we moved in, but the Nebraska drought changed that plan, so now we are getting it done.  So it went from weeded, with huge water cracks, to looking nice and smooth and weed free!  We are so lucky to have Greg sticking with us, as he is crazy busy, so we are so thankful he is still helping us out!

Greg moved the boulders into place to decorate our landscaping, and now we have 4 beautiful boulders decorating our front yard.  I love them.

As I turn to look at our front porch and door, it looks so empty, as we had a few big pots of flowers sitting there all summer, and now I'm thankful for the pumpkins, and our door art, but it sure looks empty now.  We had our first freeze last night, so the pots are sitting in the garage now.  

Next up were haircuts for Quinn and I.  Quinn got 4 inches cut off, and she is as cute as a button!  She was just as cute before, but she is just adorable now! 

When we were done at the hair dressers, we came home to see Greg working hard in the back yard, and John and his dad checking out our nice clean dirt yard, with no weeds!  Horary for that!

So now we are resting, and relaxing for a bit.  I've got a big pot of soup on the stove, and we are going to enjoy a bit of football on the TV.  What a wonderful day!

Oh, on a side note, we had Quinn's first parent teacher conference on Thursday.  I got there early, because I totally wrote the wrong time down, so we were sitting reading books, and both conferences before us, walked by us and the parents said, hi Quinn, so she is already known to the parents of her classmates.  Once we started ours, we were told how she loves her classmates, how she is a hard worker, and is willing to work hard for the teachers, but will always work harder for her classmates, and how if she won't answer the teacher, the teacher has a couple of students that will ask her the same question, and she has always answered them.  We hear some fun stories about personal interactions with Quinn, and how all the teachers are working hard to help Quinn be her best.  I had to remind them that Quinn can write with help, and she will talk, using real words, but was told that is not happening yet, but I'm ok with that, because so many things are falling into place, and giving it a bit more time, even more will.  The interesting part of the night, is as I got Quinn into the van, she says "home", I said are you ready to go home, and she says "dad", then giggles.  Oh, she is quite a girl, not a word in school, but the moment we are in the van, she is more then willing to talk again!  Oh, she is quite a girl!  I love her so!

Blessings to you, and thanks for checking in on us!  Susan

What a week!  A crazy Nebraska football game, and I ended up going to the hospital.  After throwing up over 20 times, it was time.  Then I found out that over 30 other teachers at my school were also throwing up all day!  Weird!  Glad that Saturday is over, but we did get to watch a great football game, as we sat in the ER room.  We are also so thankful for Grandpa Harold and Grandma Martha for watching Quinn as we were out.  Actually I can't think of the last time John and I were out alone on a Saturday night, wow, date night in the ER.  Hey it's a start.

Oh, a sweet sleeping Quinn.  Well granted this is Monday at 5:00 and dance class is at 6:00.  Well, we missed dance class again, I wonder if it's because she choose not to sleep the last two nights.  Her allergies are a mess right now, and it's frustrating seeing her fight her allergies, but these moments where she can rest and look so adorable, are pretty wonderful.

Well today, not only did we finally get Quinn's power chair back, we also celebrated dad's birthday!   Happy Birthday John!  Look at Quinn just stare at dad.  Oh those two are pretty amazing together.  Here we have the three generations and they are all doing so well.  Yeah for that.
I think the only things going on here right now are Quinn is working so hard at school, and fighting her allergies, I feel like by the time she gets home, she is wiped out.  I think that is the way it is for many kindergartners, but I know if we give it time, Quinn will get use to working hard and will be ready to work and play with me at home as well.
Well, we are thankful Quinn is doing well, we are thankful for all the folks at her school who continue to learn about her, and more then that, they are holding her accountable, and making her work.  I was worried that would not see how smart she is, but it sound like that is not the case at all, and I love that.  I will find out what is going on for sure on Thursday, as I am going in for parent teacher conferences.  Oh boy, our first one, that should be interesting!