Winter Time

So many things to blog about, like....


First Subject: How we got all dressed up

M and I got dressed up twice in the past week for two pretty fancy dinners for my work. The first was at the country club her in town (it's on a lake and pretty, but not as fancy as those big city country clubs). We had a nice time -- great food, that's for sure. It was nice that M knew some of my friends and even their spouses because he's played poker with them a couple of times. By the way, M looked pretty nice that night :> (see above).


Second Subject: How we've all been sick for the past week.
First, R got it...he woke up in the middle of the night with a "tummy pain" -- he pointed alternately to his stomach and then later to his chest, and then to his stomach. It was quite frustrating at 3:00 in the morning not to really know what was hurting him. Sometimes he would moan in pain and curl up his legs (like when you have a stomach ache) then later he would cough and cough and say that his chest hurt. Hmm...what's a mother to do. Do I give cough medicine that will help the cough, but might hurt his tummy? Do I think that it's his chest that hurts, but not his tummy? But, those moans and that fetal position thing look like a stomach ache. In the end, I gave him no medicine, but sat with him for three hours until he fell back asleep. Then I crawled back into bed for an hour nap before I had to get up. We kept him home from school on Thurs and Friday, then he seemed fine, so we let him go to Cub Scouts (but not hockey because of his cough). Next thing I know, it's Sunday night and he's vomiting. I stay with him for awhile, leave him a big bowl, and go back to bed because I'm soooo tired. On Monday morning, I felt horrible. I've got it too. Fever of 100, nasea, vomiting, and aches and pains. R and I were out for two more days. We were back at school and work on Wed.

On Thursday, M calls me in the morning saying that he feels like he's "been hit by a truck". He called me in the afternoon telling me that T had vomited. I came home a bit early to care for the sickies, walked in the house to M moaning and T throwing up red jello (through his nose) and saying sadly "I'll NEVER be healthy again!" I took care of those two very pale looking, high fever guys Thursday night and went to work on Friday. M felt better on Friday night (or pretended to for my sake) and we went to the big company Holiday party. Saturday was good - all healthy. We went to hockey, a birthday party, and I fixed dinner for the family and Uncle Dan (who was visiting for a great Christmas present for me -- story to come later).

After dinner on Saturday night, I felt LOUSY. The worst I've felt in FOREVER. My stomach hurt, my legs hurt, I was freezing (or hot!), my nose was stuffed up. I felt TERRIBLE. I was up all night with nasea, vomiting, and a general feeling of ickiness. My fever was over 102. I was lethargic and slightly delirious (and example of said delirium was when I was so cold that I tried to take a hot bath to warm myself up, but couldn't get the water hot enough to feel warm at all to me.) Anyway, I was sick in bed all day on Sunday -- couldn't even lift my head up off the bed. I missed work yesterday, sleeping most of the day. Thankfully, Iam MUCH better today. I hope that I'm the last of this cycle. We've sprayed lysol everywhere, changed the sheets, thrown out the toothbrushes and are washing our hands like crazy. Oh yeah, did I mention that this flu is closing down schools around here because of how contageous it is? Crazy nasty thing!


Third Subject: The weather
It is definitely not "way down in the fall" anymore. We are talking full-on winter!! Since the first snow in mid-November, we've gotten 24 inches. Yep, you read that right. That's two feet of snow so far. Some of it melted, but I'd say that we have about and 12-18" base out in our yard right now. Amazing. It's been so cold that it hasn't melted much. It was 12 degrees on my way to work today and 21 degrees on my way home. Last Wednesday, it was 4 degrees.....4. Here's a picture that M took for me to show you some of the beauty of the cold. As R said, we have REAL icecicles mixed with our FAKE icecicles. The really long one there is about 14" long. Cool.

This is NOT an Announcement

Tonight at dinnertime, R said "I think we should have a baby girl." T agreed, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

Oh, I said. I'm not sure about that. Daddy and I like the family that we have now and we think that God is happy with our family as it is now too. But, if God wants us to have a baby girl, we will have one.

R said, "Well, we don't have to have it right away. Maybe in January or something...some time this winter would be good."

I explained to him that it takes about 9 months for a baby to grow in a mommy's tummy. So, the earliest we'd be able to have one is around his birthday, if that's what God wanted.

He thought that's okay...as long as it's not really on his birthday. T agreed.


DISCLAIMER:
As I say in the title, THIS IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANY KIND. It's simply a re-creation of a dinnertime discussion.

Kids Tell All

Today we were taking a friend of R's to McDonald's with us and M was asking the kids what they wanted to eat and drink. After the kids told us what they wanted, M and I said what we wanted. M said he'd have Diet Coke. Zach, R's friend aked why he drank Diet Coke and not regular Coke. M replied that he had diabetes and couldn't have a lot of sugar.

"Oh, you have diabetes? My dad has diarrhea!" said Zach.

M and I are still laughing about it five hours later.

So Many Things To Be Thankful For

I have so many things to be thankful for. Here's just a few iin no particular order:

• Two beautiful boys that make me smile
• A great husband that I love so much
• A job that pays enough for M to stay home, but doesn't stress me out
• Diet coke in the morning
• Warm blankets on my bed
• Hair scrunchies to hold my hair out of my eyes
• A calm between two snow storms that allowed us to drive to M's parents house for Thanksgiving
• People who read my blog and make comments
• A safe car to drive in the snow
• Hot chocolate with little marshmellows
• A son who loves to do crafts with me (T)
• A son who loves to watch airplane shows with M (R)
• A great elementary school that teaches R music, art, and art appreciation, language arts, gym, Spanish, as well as the three R's
• Family all across the country
• 8:00 bedtime for the boys, which gives me a couple of hours before I go to bed
• Songs, singing, and a family who loves to sing
• Dolly Parton, who gave us "A Coat of Many Colors" -- the current bedtime favorite"
• "Too many kisses" - a game both boys play with me in which they compete with each other on who can give me the most kisses
• Books, libraries, and Scholastic book orders
• My comfy red chair
• God who loves me even when I haven't even started looking for a church yet
• The boys' prayers at dinner time -- T usually thanks God for "having a wonderful day" and R asks that God "make sure our family gets home safely"
• M's love for me and all the sweet things he does to show me he loves me

I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving!

You Can Infer It

R, T, and I were reading a new-to-us book by Eric Carle (a wonderful children's author) called "Slowly, Slowly, the Sloth" about animals from the rain forest. We came across an animal that was hard for me to identify, so I asked the kids, "what animal is this?"

R answered, "well, the author doesn't tell us with his words, so we have to infer what the animal is. I think it's an anteater."

I said, "'infer' is a new word for you. What does that mean?"

R said, "well, authors use words and sometimes drawings to explain what they're trying to tell you. Sometimes they don't tell you exactly what they mean, so you have to infer it from the clues they give you."

Yep, he's six and knows what "infer" means. Some adults I know get "infer" confused with "imply."

I love his school :>

Two Happy Boys

R and T are having a nice weekend. R had a playdate yesterday with a boy from his class (who is also on his hockey team.) They had a blast. They even played with T, which is great. R had hockey this morning and made a goal playing "D" (defense). He says that he likes playing "D" because he can stop the other team. Just for the record, there isn't a position that he doesn't like at this point. He just loves the game. He said, "I'm just so happy when I'm out there on the ice!" Gotta love that.

T and I read some books and did puzzles during our "mommy and T time." I'm giving him some special time because he's been feeling a bit left out with all of the activities that we do with/for R (scouts and hockey). He likes having this time together -- he's such a lover (when he's not being a snit -- there's no inbetween with him!)

Good Fall Fun

T is dressed for winter even though it's just fall(dressed himself, of course) to show grammie and papa the "nature trail" that M blazed with his lawn tractor through the field just past our woods. The boys love to go out and get "lost," each with a walkie talkie in hand. They communicate with each other to find thier way. Good fun.


Below, you see a proud R. He designed this vampire jack-o-lantern, which M drew and grammie helped cut out. Notice the sharp fangs, which every good vampire must have.

Trick or Treat

What a fun Halloween! I took the day off because my mom and dad were in town and I had a lot of fun doing the mom thang all day (with the help of grammie!) Here's my day:

• 7:00 up and at'em - get R and T dressed and breakfasted
• 8:00 send R off to the bus (with costume in backpack)
• 8:30 leave to take T to preschool
• 9:00 to the grocery store to get eggs
• 9:30 bake two batches of brownies with newly purchased eggs
• 11:15 pick up T from preschool
• 12:00 make lunch for mom, dad, T, and M
• 1:30 go to R's school (with newly baked brownies) to do the room-mother thing (Grammie went to) -- Halloween bingo, costume parade for the whole school, and a party with many sugar-laden treats
• 3:40 Take R to the doctor for his annual check-up (I know, I know, M made the appointment on Halloween)
• 5:00 Go home and make two boxes of mac n cheese for kids' dinner to go with M's homemade and delicious chili
• 5:15 the H's arrive for chili and trick or treating (they live in the country and have no homes near by to go to for trick or treating)
• 5:45 Get kids in their costumes and apply appropriate make up
• 6:00 trick or treating around the neighborhood (grammie and papa stayed home to give out candy)
• 7:00 Back home where the kids got to eat two pieces of candy each
• 7:30 H's go home
• 8:00 Kids in bed
• 8:30 three games of Pegs and Jokers (a perfect ending for a busy, but fun day!)
  
  
  
  

T loved his dog costume. He was also a dog last year, but wanted to be a different dog this year. He's a golden retriever, just like Mackinaw (he even let people call him Mackinaw for that one night.)

R LOVED being a vampire. He got to wear this costume three times this "season." He was especially excited to use the "real" fake blood on Halloween night (the other two times we used a red make up crayon for the blood.) The "real" fake blood was drippy and never dried -- he loved it!

So Proud, Man!

Tonight was R's parent-teacher conference at school. It's such a fun experience when your child is doing well -- and he is doing well. She even called him "profound" in how he answers questions. He's curious and loves to learn -- you couldn't ask for much more. R always wants to do his best, which leads to a bit of perfectionism (I really don't know where he gets this -- not from me nor M.) Anyway, sometimes he gets so caught up in doing things exactly right, that he gets a bit paralyzed and can't go on until it's perfect. This is primarily the case in spelling words. They have a journaling exercise in which the children write about whatever subject they're given. Spelling doesn't matter. The idea is to get thier thoughts down on paper. Evidently he has a hard time with the "spelling doesn't matter" part because he really wants to spell it right. I'll work on not being so perfect at home -- I certainly don't want his idea of perfectionism to hinder his creativity.

All in all, he's doing a great job and you can tell that the teacher just loves him. She asked him some questions about what he's learning and the proud and caring look on her face was precious as she was looking at him while he answered.

It warms a mom's heart :>

As we were leaving R's classroom, we saw Mrs Edwards, his kindergarten teacher from last year. Wanting to give T some attention in this R-filled night, I told Mrs Edwards that T would be in her class next year. She looked pleased and bent down to talk to T -- who immediately turned his back to her and refused to talk. Oh well, he'll learn...right??

Conversations from the bath tub:

The boys are in the tub right now. I just overheard R say "oh, careful T, I just tooted and it smells really bad!" T said, "that's okay, sometimes that happens."

Way Down in the Fall

The boys and I just had a discussion about the seasons. Around here, the leaves are definitely changing, the air is crisper (56 degrees crisp), and the squirrels are gathering nuts for the winter. In a Dolly Parton song, she sings about being cold when it is "way down in the fall." T says that it's not that late in the year yet and R says that he was cold at school, so maybe it is way down in the fall. We compromised and agreed that, right now, it's way in the middle of the fall.

We just went to a Fall Fest party at the home of one of R's classmates. Totally fun for the kids. Totally insane for the parents. They played a bunch of games with prizes for everybody for each game; they ate hotdogs; they decorated pumpkins; they had a pinata; and they wore costumes. Oh yeah, and there were 46 kids. 46. Kids. Yikes!

I had to go to the grocery store after the party and R said that he was embarassed to go in his costume. He's a vampire. Black pants, white shirt, red cumberbund, black cape, white face make up, red blood dripping from his mouth, hair slicked back, fang teeth. He wanted to take the cape off to go in the grocery store. I convinced him that he'd look better with the cape because then his face make up made sense. I don't think he really got what I meant, but he went in full-costumed anyway. He got lots of smiles. So did T, who was wearing a dog costume -- a different dog costume than the one he wore last year because he didn't want to be that dog, but he wanted to be a golden retreiver like Mackinaw. Too cute.

It's been a full on busy day. M and R had hockey team pictures at 8:00 am this morning. This means that they had to be at the rink by 7:40 or so to get suited up. M suggested -- and I quickly agreed -- that I stay home with T :> I took a long bath and read a lot of a great book (Julie and Julia) for an hour. Then, I cooked up some bacon and had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast for them when they got back.

After our late breakfast, we all worked in the yard. M had tilled out a bigger area in the front yard for a flower bed. We got some tulips in the mail last week that I ordered from Holland, MI. Sixty bulbs in all. T and R helped me plant them six inches deep. They'll be so beautiful in the spring! T asked me to read the names of the flowers as we planted them. At the end of the morning, he said, "I can't WAIT to see the Pink Imaginations come up, can you mommy?" I didn't tell him, but I, actually, am most excited about the Red Cashmir and the White Trumpets...but I'm sure the Pink Imaginations that we put around the mailbox will be divine.

Fun with Uncle Dan in Our Second Corn Maze

We had a great weekend with Uncle Dan last weekend at another corn maze. In my quest to see all of the corn mazes within 50 miles of our house before the month was over, we discovered a really fun place. We all had a great time. I tried to post these pictures earlier in the week, but Blogger wasn't cooporating -- it still isn't cooperating, but I posted them the old school way. Enjoy!

T and R goofing around in the hay bale maze.

R, pretending he's a farmer and chewing on a piece of corn straw (he saw his daddy doing it earlier and thought that it was pretty funny.) 

A rare picture with me in it. I know, it's not the best of the boys -- but I don't look too bad! 

Uncle Dan with R and T -- all ready for the corn maze. (Yes, T picked out his own outfit, bandana and all.) 

Sleep is Good

I got a GREAT night's sleep on Friday night and last night. I'm such a happier person (and wife and mom) when I've had over five hours of sleep in a night :>

Uncle Dan came over this weekend and we had a really nice visit. He and M went skeet shooting yesterday, and last night we played 3-way pegs and jokers (after a tasty dinner of chicken, spinach casserol, and tomatoes with mozerella). Today, the boys took Mackie for a walk in the woods while I finished up some work and then we went to our second corn maze of the season. Lots of fun there -- I'll have pictures for you later this week.

I'm off for my last(!) business trip tomorrow at 4:00AM. Wish me luck!

So Tired...

I don't know how I'm awake right now... I don't think I've gotten more than 4-5 hours of sleep each night for the past three weeks with all this traveling. On Wednesday, I was up at 4:30 and in bed after midnight. That's a long day, especially when it included six hours of driving to Chicago and back. The crazy thing is that I was so wired, despite being exhausted, that I couldn't sleep that night. And the same thing happened last night. I didn't get to sleep until after three in the morning. Arghh! Tonight, Tylonal PM will be my friend....I better take it now so that I can be awake at 7:00 to get the boys ready for hockey.

I'm back from my third (out of four) business trips in so many weeks. I'm pooped! The boys made "welcome home" posters for me -- so cute. R wasn't feeling well today and had a fever -- that poor boy has been getting sick a lot. He still has a bit of a fever now (don't ask me how high it is; I dropped the thermometer in the toilet and threw it away and haven't replaced it yet). His only other symptom is a headache. Bummer.

M is at the Tiger Cubs meeting right now. I was supposed to help him, but I'm home with the kids since R is sick. The theme is Health and Safety. I organized the meeting and got most of the stuff together, with M's help. They will be making first aid kids and talk about safety. They'll also make firefighter hats and play a firefighter relay (they'll have to put on their hats and some big boots, run across the floor, blow out a candle, and run back to give the boots to the next boy.) Should be fun.

Meanwhile, I worked with R on his vocabulary words because he has a test on Friday. I'm impressed with his sight reading skills. Funny, though, they don't teach phonics at his school. When I asked him to sound out a word, he looked at me like I was weird and named the letters in the word instead of sounding it out. So, I taught him how to sound out words. I did this because he saw the word "car" and quickly said that it was "color". I guess that he just saw the first letter and quessed....strange. But, all in all, he got more than 90% of the words right on the first try, so I told him how proud I was of him.

I have a long day tomorrow. I have to drive to Chicago, leaving at 6:00am and I won't get home until about midnight. Some folks are spending the night, but I don't want to be away more than I already am. Then I'm home until Monday, when I'll fly to Cincinnati for one night. Then I'll be done traveling for awhile. Whew! By the way, M is being quite a trooper about all this traveling, which makes it so much easier for me. He says "well, it's your job" and "I know you're not doing this because you want to." He also appreciates all my efforts to get home quickly. I sure love that man!

Breakfast Conversation

I made eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast this morning. R polished everything on his plate pretty quickly. T ate his eggs (and then some) and most of his toast. R, upon seeing that T was slowing down, said to T "can I have that piece of toast with honey on it?" T said, "sure you can. here you go." R got it and said, "Honey toast! Prepare for your doom!" and quickly took a bite.

Life with boys...such testoserone-driven drama.

Share and Tell

We got a note from T's preschool last Monday letting us know that they were going to start doing Share and Tell, one child at a time. When they sent a bag home, we were to help our child pick out a non-toy to share. The kids would be asked to say three things about what they were sharing. So, last Friday, T brought home a pillow case with a drawstring in it, and proudly told me that he was going to be the first one to share....

Fast forward to Monday at lunch time, when M and T took me on a "lunch date" and M whispered to me "ask T about Share and Tell." YIKES! I immediately remembered that we completely forgot about it!! So, I said to T:

Me: T, what happened at share and tell?
T: I shared; I told.
Me: Oh...what did you share and tell about?
T: Air.
Me: Air?
T: Yeah, I talked about air.
Me: Wow. What did you say about air?
T: I said, 'This is air. You need it to breathe. It's air. The end."
Me: That's great.
T: Yeah, I know.

I was so impressed with his flexability and improv on the spot! Most four year-olds would cry or pitch a fit or say that they forgot! Not my creative T! No way...he shared about air.

Later on in the lunch, I spotted on T's wrist the friendship bracelet that he made over the weekend. I said, Hey, you could have shared the friendship bracelet. He said, "Why? I shared air?"

Exactly.

A Day At The Farm and Corn Maze

When my sis was in town last weekend, we went to a local farm for a day. It's fun to see how these farmers are creating profitable attractions for visitors. I know farming isn't an easy vocation and I like to see the creativity they each have. Anyway, this one has a u-pick apples (which we're going to go back to do), a corn maze, a cute barn store full of tasty and cute items, a wagon ride, and a little kids playground area. We went mainly for the maze (my quest is to do all corn mazes within a 70 mile radius of our house this fall -- I think there are three of them). Last year when we went to a corn maze, there were triva questions at each juncture. If you answered it correctly, it told you the correct way to go. If you answered it incorrectly, it told you the wrong way to go.

At this maze, there was nothing. No questions, no hints, not even a clue as to where you were supposed to exit! It was ridiculious!! But we had fun.

R and T didn't know which way to go...

M, with his boy scout training and smart brain, began droping kernels of corn to mark our way (how hansel and gretle of him!) so we would know if we were just walking in circles. The boys had fun, we had to keep telling R to wait for us because he would run ahead to see what was around the bend and we couldn't see him. Once I realized that we might be there awhile, I stopped drinking my tasty fresh apple cider in case M would need some glucose out there...I was a bit worried. But, never fear, with M's leadership, we made it out! And we were so proud, man!!




And now for laughs, here's me and my sis as scarecrows...kinda scary!