Another One Bites the Dust

The stomach virus has now successfully taken down, Nicholas, Nicholas again, Mommy, and Katie. All 3 seem to be recuperating just fine on a diet of oyster crackers, saltines, oodles of Dora soup, mashed potatoes, Sprite, Gatorade, Pedialyte, popsicles, jello, and anything else bland and tasteless.

Katie was hopefully the last victim, this morning. Daddy has midterms this week and next, so there is great hope in this house, that the stomach bug has officially been Clorox wiped, Lysoled, bleached, and sanitized OUT!!

Prayers would be most welcome.

MOM, I Puked!

While that is probably the grossest title ever, it is the statement that describes life the last 12 hours.

On Monday night at 9:00 during my favorite, Dancing with the Stars, Nicholas ended up throwing up in bed. On pillows, pillowcases, sheets, and into the mattress. You get the picture. But yet he remained absolutely normal in activity, and just kept saying I puked.

Then he woke up Tuesday morning, fine as could be. Spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday fairly normal. Then midnight last night, another round of throw up, with the call of Mom, I puked. He has since managed an episode of projectile vomiting. Amazing how far pancakes can fly. But he keeps asking me for food.

I'm telling you, this boy would literally have to be dying, not to be hungry. In the meantime, he will be subsisting on oyster crackers, popsicles, jello, and pedialyte for the day. He luckily had a doctor's appointment scheduled tomorrow for his 3 year old checkup and flu shot. Maybe this is just an effort to get out of the flu shot. Could he be that smart??

Definitely YES!!

The Boy Who Golfs

Thanks Uncle Doug!!

Purdue Game Day

Last Saturday we went with Grandma and Grandpa B. to the Purdue v. Iowa football game. We met up with my parents and brother there, and I think everyone had a relatively good time. The weather was gorgeous. A little cool in the shade and just about right in the sun. But the best part for the kids was getting to slide down the fountain after the game.

Plus we all got to enjoy a nice dinner together in our own private dining room before we all returned home.

It's Finally Out!!

It took a month and a half, but the little tooth that wiggled and jiggled is finally out!!

And the toothless girl couldn't be happier.

A Day of Learning

Okay. I know this weekend was ridiculously hot for the 2nd weekend of October, and I know that I complained that it was too hot and there were too many bees to host an outdoor picnic. But really, I didn't need the temperature to go from 91 to 51 in 24 hours. Really, a gradual downward spiral towards fall would have been okay by me. The kids didn't even know what hit them when I handed them socks this morning. I think Nicholas may have even looked at them as foreign objects never seen before in his short life.

Anyway, we went along in our lessons today, since it was way too cold to go outside, and I have instituted frequent breaks throughout the day. I find that we could sit 2 hours to get certain things done in the morning. Or I can break it up in 2 subject intervals and get it done usually faster.

So, we worked on our history lesson for the day on Egyptian writing, and did our map work. And as I am helping Katie with her maps we are reviewing what we learned about ancient Egypt's kings. And she tells me that the white king won against the red king, and took over all of Egypt. And I inform her that she has it backwards and the red king won and that is why the first pharoah's crown is red on top and white on the bottom. 2 minutes later, I find she was indeed right, and after I tell her, she smile and giggles, reveling in the fact that she knew more. I knew this day was coming, but I didn't have any idea it was coming this soon.

But so far, The Story of the World seems to be a hit. The textbook (if you want to call it that) is engaging and well-written. It presents new vocabulary with each lesson. The activity book is also laid out well, with excellent ways to eek out a good narration after reading. And then it has some awesome craft and activity ideas to reinforce the lessons. Plus the list of fiction and nonfiction books to correspond with each chapter is fabulous. With the addition of our own timeline, and using the globe to find places, this is definately turning out to be an excellent year of history.

The PARTY

While Nicholas informed me nightly that he wanted a blue birthday cake, I had already envisioned a dump truck cake for him for his 3rd birthday. After all, isn't a toy and dessert all in one a good thing? So here is the picture of the cake this year.

One brand new dump truck, 2 pans of brownies cut into squares, one package of Oreos crushed, and a package of gummy worms. 15 minutes and the cake was done. Oh, and don't forget the bed liner of wax paper so that the toy needed minimal clean up. Of course, being the birthday boy that he is, he managed to find the cake prior to the birthday celebration, but since it was covered with red plastic wrap, he only really knew that his cake was in a dump truck, he didn't see the gummy worms.

He still needed some help blowing out the candles for his official celebration this year. More spit than air seemed to be coming out. And as I served cake into bowls for his little guests, he swiped as many gummy worms as he could.

We ended the party with a ribbon pull pinata. Katie was the lucky contestant who opened the pinata filled with candy, mini-playdoh, cars, and bouncy balls. For you people who are nuts enough to use real pinatas and trust children under 10 with a stick, bat, or other whacking device, I am not that brave, and I have never seen one open that way. Seems the Daddy is always stuck using tools to gouge a hole at some point. So for now I stick with the ribbons.

This small but fun birthday party was definately a hit. He had a great time playing with his friends, being sung to, eating cake, opening presents, collecting pinata treasure, and playing outside in the heat and mosquitoes briefly. I don't think I have ever seen him so happy!

Happy Birthday #3

Happy Birthday to the cutest big boy ever!

The one who likes to say "Chicken Feet".

The one who asks for ice cream for breakfast.

The one who happily dips his apples in ketchup.

The boy who is always hungry.

The one who loves all things green.

The one who drives a pink Barbie Jeep around without a care.

Who loves Playdoh and Legos and playing outside.

The boy who is all boy.

The one with the sweetest wet kisses.

The one with the most vigorous hugs.

And the one who loves his daddy, mom, and sister at different times in different ways.

Happy Birthday #3!

I DID IT!!

While I am not completely thrilled with the new look, it finally is more fall themed and I got my picture of the kids up.

I finally with no help from any blogger people figure out how to clear the cache on the computer and that seems to have fixed the problem of making changes one at a time. Now unfortunately I am forced to do this if I make an error and want to make a change every time. I still blame Blogger, but I am done making changes until Christmas time.

Halloween Fun

We live in a very large neighborhood with lots and lots and lots (did I say lots) of young kids. And with Halloween comes the giddyness of young kids dreaming of what they will BE for the holiday. But also comes the goofiness of the young parents in the neighborhood. And last year that goofiness came a few short days before Halloween. But tonight when the doorbell rang at 8:30 in the dark, it caught me off guard, and made my heart beat a little faster with fear. Who rings the doorbell at night??

Why the Boo people of course. You see I received a lovely paper bag of treats with this picture enclosed.

The idea is that someone comes to your house after dark and deposits a bag of treats on your doorstep and then rings the doorbell and runs. Enclosed with the treats is this picture, which you are supposed to hang up on the front door so you don't get BOO'd again, and another page with what is this year a weird poem. The poem instructs you to make two copies of the poem and two copies of the above sheet, and then go BOO 2 other houses within 24 hours.

Last year was our first experience with this, and having never had anything like this type of neighborhood in Texas, I found it kind of a cute way to do something surprising for others. So I pass this on for anyone who would like to try it in their neighborhood.

This year's poem is this:

The air is cool, the season fall

Soon Halloween will come to all.

The spirits are after things to do

In fact, a spirit brought this gift to you.

Boo is the shield from the witching hour

Just hang it up and watch its power.

On your front door or window is where it hangs

It wards off Goblins and their scary fangs.

The treat that came with coupled note

Are yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The power comes when friends like you

Will copy this and make it two.

The others here among our friends

Will give Halloween treats near twilight's end.

We'll all have smile upon our faces

No one will know who "Boo'd" whose places.

Just one short day to work your spell

Work fast and no one tell

And don't forget a nifty treat

Like something cute or something sweet.

Please join the fun - let's really hear it

And spread some "Boo's" and Halloween spirit.

Like I said, last year's poem was much better but I don't remember it, but the idea behind it is a fun one.

Tree Installation

When having your old purple leaf plum tree pulled out by professionals, and your new October Glory maple tree installed...

the best seat in the house is definitely sitting on the driveway in the Barbie car with your cold drink of water...

Oh, and don't forget the baby!

Soccer Boy, Part 2

One boy -(minus) one pair of cleats - (minus) one pair of shinguards = PURE JOY!

What a difference 2 weeks and no soccer equipment makes.

All In a Days Work

For some, work is considered a job.

For others, it is too much fun!!

Still Angry With ME

Blogger still is quite upset with me. As you may have noticed a very large picture of my wee ones was once in the title, but has since disappeared. It takes approximately 3 days between each mistake before I get a chance to try to correct it. Something is wrong and I have e-mailed the blogger people but nobody seems to care about lowly old me on the totem pole, and therefore it may still take a few years before this site is back to being about something other than fighting to change the look.