School Field Trip

Last week I was able to attend big sis' first field trip for pre-k.  It was a fun little adventure to a local pumpkin patch.  My group included a trio of girls who overall were well-behaved during our outing . . . although I have a greater appreciation for those pre-k teachers after the experience!  Big sis had fun and was better behaved than I expected.  I visited her class once before and she was acting out big time.  So it was good to see that it might not be the norm every time.  I picked a few choice photos to highlight our adventures.  Sorry there aren't more - I was too busy running with the 4 year olds :)

Darth Vader goes to the ER . . .

So I posted a little too early today . . . little man ended up at the ER after a stressful naptime.  As soon as I got home from work he started sounding worse.  Disco was home with him this morning and little man stayed close to the couch and was much less active than usual.  By the time I took over little man was struggling when he breathed.  We set up an appointment with our pediatric clinic.  But we couldn't get in until 4:20 and by 1pm I just couldn't take the difficult breaths any longer!  Aunt K, who is a respiratory therapist, could hear that something wasn't right over the phone.  And by the time she got over here I was pretty much set to take little man to the ER unless she told me something different when she arrived.

Little man was a trooper the whole time!  But in true two year old form, little man refused to have his temp taken and fought the entire breathing treatment.  Otherwise he was pretty pitiful and pretty much all of the staff could hear him breathing/barking from the hallway.  About 30 mins before we were set to hear the word about whether we had to do a second treatment and stay over night the meds must have finally worked.  Because he started talking again and getting interested in eating and reading books. 

So we are home and somewhat healthy tonight.  Thanks to all our hospital friends who took my calls about the ER and Dr. B for bringing a lot of laughter and a familiar face with her down to the ER - I needed to laugh!

Disco filmed a "post-interview" with little man as I talked to him about his adventure. Little man did a lot of mumbling so I had to do a little interpreting:

Our Little Darth Vader

oh if we could get rid of croup in this house!  now little man has it.  he was a little hoarse yesterday.  but today he sounds like Darth Vader - even when awake.  poor little man!

big sis had the same thing last weekend.  they both ran a fever last Saturday so i thought little man had the same bug too - just with stomach issues on top of the snotty nose.  but alas, i was wrong.  because big sis had diarrhea on the way to Dallas and now little man has croup.  they just traded bugs over the course of the week.  guess they are getting really good at sharing and taking turns!

here's hoping little man gets over his congestion quickly!

little trip to the Big D

We are back from our super fast, whirlwind adventure in Dallas.  Our little family usually takes a trip down to Dallas every 1-2 years for visits with friends and family.  This was a trip we planned quickly at the beginning of October to visit Aunt V.  Luckily we were able to stay with some friends with kiddos about the same age as ours so they had plenty of ways to run off their excess energy.  After plan A and plan B for Saturday morning fell through we went to plan C - IKEA.  Can't say that we were disappointed about that!  There are times that we have planned our whole entire Dallas visit around shopping at IKEA so it was a treat to be able to squeeze in an hour to explore with the kiddos.  

Big sis and little man were pretty excited about visiting Aunt V!  And they were really well behaved for two kiddos out of the element for 1.5 days.  We didn't get to stay as long as we might have any other time . . . too much to prepare this week for school and work.  But it was great to get away for our little trip to the Big D.  The kiddos even treated us to sleeping in Sunday morning.  I can't remember the last time I slept until 8:45am . . .sleep rocks!

Last Year's Halloween Crew

We have quite a few fall or Halloween related activities planned over the next week.  Unfortunately I probably won't have enough time to post pictures when I want to . . . If you haven't guessed by the "retro" pictures I have posted so far, this October turned out to be busier than we expected.  But we are used to this chaotic schedule for now and I am glad we are making more time for FUN.  I look forward to a simpler schedule next fall . . . but that isn't going to stop us from making the most of this one!

I'll try to get some "new" pics up soon.  But for now here is another picture of our past fall activities.  This one was taken by our neighbor as we went trick or treating last year.  A bat, a witch, and a giraffe beggin' for treats!  ;)

9 Years down. . . and VEGAS to go!

October 20, 2010 marks our 9th year anniversary. An amazing 9 years it has been!  Even though this year in particular has been difficult as far as schedules go, our very generous friends have offered to watch the kiddos while we grab a quick bite to eat in celebration (thanks catlady!). 

Disco and I met on a blind date in college so technically we have known each other a lot longer than 9 years.  We used to take trips every year to celebrate our wedding anniversary (see list of previous trips here).  I don't think we even got to take one for our 8th anniversary last year.  I guess technically this year we are taking a trip this month . . . to visit Stew's aunt.  With kiddos and in-laws in tow.  I know, not the romantic getaway as in years past.  I am sure it will be a fun trip nonetheless! :)

NEXT year for our 10th anniversary we said we would go to Vegas.  And I am holding Disco to that agreement.  Here's to another year of love and laughter!  "Happy happy happy happy happy anniversary, happy happy happy happy happy anniversary, happy happy happy happy happy anniversary, happy happy happy happy happy anniversary, happy happy happy happy happy . . ."

croup, poop, and more . . .

From the title you might have guessed that we survived our whirlwind of a weekend . . . but we picked up a few bugs along the way.  All of us have some sort of congestion.  Big sis has croup.  I have a sore throat.  Disco can't hear out of one ear.  And little man, in addition to his green snotty nose, has a case of diarrhea.  Fun times!  ;)

Thanks to all the family who helped out with the kids and borrowing/transporting stuff for work as well as friends and family who listened to me whine (and borrow tents).  I am also grateful for beautiful weather today because we all feel much better outside right now!

Hope everyone is having fun getting into fall and pre-Halloween activities this week!  Here are some more "oldie but goodie" pics of the kiddos.  This time I am highlighting big sis' first fall.  We hadn't started the blog at that point so some of these may be new to you.  Enjoy!



Little Giraffe



A little pumpkin on the porch . . . she was sick here too :)

Pumpkin Patch Pic . . .updated patch pics to follow this week

One of my favs!

Little lady bug on her 1st Halloween adventure!

My Corner of the Yard

This is where I wish I could spend my whole day: 

While I was away in Utah, Disco completed this project as a surprise.  It was a great "welcome home" gift after my first out of state trip without the family!  Obviously there is some more cleaning to be done around the hammock. . . 

And I keep getting "visitors" in my oasis:

 

But all in all it is a great way to hang out in the yard while the kiddos play and Disco tends to his hops.  Thanks Disco for the surprise!

New Do

Look who got a new haircut!  Is it just me or does this haircut make her look older???

Little Man Sings His ABC's

Little man has been singing his ABC's lately.  But he has refused to be in front of the video camera.  I finally caught him in a "diva mood" today and he allowed me to tape his performance, although he refused to look at the camera.  It is a cute video of him singing his abridged version: "ABCDEFG nest tine, nest tine won'd you sin wif me."  I am bound and determined to catch the sweetness that is his version of the entire song.  But here is this "preview" until I can capture the rest. 

Enjoy!

Family Night

Tonight we had a visit from the Great Pumpkin!  I was supposed to take a vacation day tomorrow.  But since this time of year can be unpredictable for our study, it worked out that I could take part of the vacation day today and part tomorrow.  For today's 'vacation' I did a little shopping . . . at the new Target.  It was awesome!  That's where I ran into the Great Pumpkin.  And the Great Pumpkin was kind enough to give me some Halloween treats to bring home to the kiddos. 

And even better than the Halloween treats was the opportunity to actually watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!"  We have been limiting TV during the week for many reasons.  So a "movie" during the week really generated a lot of toddler/preK excitement around here.  We all had a great family night!

I don't have a recent pic that really goes with our great pumpkin theme from tonight.  So here is an "old" pic of baby little man sportin' the Charlie Brown hairdo:

Apple Pickin'

A couple of weekends ago we headed out to an apple orchard for some apple pickin'.  It was our first adventure at an orchard and the kiddos treated it like Easter.  I guess I can't blame them - we did bring baskets from their Easter basket collection.  :)

The kiddos had a great time!  They kept running around and shouting and giggling and grabbing all the apples they found on the ground.  We finally convinced them to look up in the trees for the apples . . . and to not bite into every single apple they had in their baskets.

Disco got some great pics to start our fall adventures - enjoy!

A Boy and his Tiger

Sorry LSU fans, this isn't a post about Mike the Tiger . . . it is actually about my favorite Calvin and Hobbs cartoon.  I fell in love with that dynamic duo in high school.  And I hope now that we have little man running our lives that Calvin will give me a little insight into the "boy" brain, especially since I am lacking a Y chromosome! 

Little man is definitely being 2 these days.  His tantrums are increasing in numbers, length, and volume.  If we had less going on around the house I think we wouldn't notice them as much.  But since we have a chaotic schedule this month, any additional stress is pretty noticeable.  He threw a fit so big the other day in Sam's Club that I was really having a hard time ignoring it.  A kind woman came up and said "you are being a good mom" and I just lost it and began balling in the middle of Sam's right along with little man.  You know how that works when someone is "too nice" and your emotions take over . . .

Anyway, after a LONG weekend with several rounds of tantrums from little man, I came home from work early today to catch up on some homework.  And then we had another "Marvelous Monday" with dance, park, and backyard activities.  The kiddos were in good moods and it was a very pleasant afternoon!

I am sure you are wondering about what any of this has to do with Calvin and Hobbs . . . The cartoon that I love most is this explanation from Calvin as he debates whether to study or go sledding with Hobbs:
"In the short term it would make me happy to go play outside.  In the long term it would make me happier to do well at school and become successful.  But in the very long term, I know which will make better memories."   As you can guess the cartoon ends with them sledding outside . . . I hope that we can continue to make extra time to have fun on Mondays!

Random Silliness

Little man being little man . . .

Pink Friday

Thursday big sis was telling me all about what she needed to wear on Friday.  I can't remember how we got on the topic, but it was one of the first things she told me after school.  She started with "the boss teacher" telling the kids that they needed to wear a pink shirt and "if we don't have a whole pink shirt then any little pink would do."  My first question was "who is the boss teacher?"  Big sis had a hard time describing who that was . . . it wasn't her teacher or the teacher's aid or anyone from her after school program.  Finally we figured out it was her principal.  :) 

Then it hit me why the kids were asked to wear pink on what is normally their "school spirit" day.  It is PINK FRIDAY.  I was going to wear pink anyway because it is the beginning of our "race season" at work (I work on a breast cancer research project and October is national breast cancer awareness month).  So we all got into it since THE WHOLE STATE should be wearing pink this Friday.   Happy Pink Friday everyone!