Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!



So it wasn't a cold night after all...well at least most of the night. Campbell sported his costume and didn't put up one stink about it. Nolan loved his costume but we did have a little talking to after he was mad about the "soot" that I put on his face. I think he thought I was putting real makeup on him and no fireman he knows wears makeup. But once we got past that, we went to trunk-or-treat at our church and had a blast. My mom could open up her own Halloween store and decorated her trunk. All the kids loved it. Campbell didn't really care about any of the decorations, he was more interested in playing on the stairs. That's always fun chasing a 26 lb dog up and down the stairs.

We ate hot dogs and Nolan did a cake walk and just loved every minute of Halloween at church. We made it home barely able to drive to our house our neighborhood was so jam packed. Our neighbors really do it up. So we decided to actually go trick-or-treating since we've only visited trunks this year. Campbell of course fell asleep on the way home after church. Poor thing was so exhausted. We just went around the block. Everything was going well until we got to the last house...strob lights, some guys with blood running down his face, and chasing kids with a chainsaw....REALLY is that necessary? Of course, Nolan was completely freaked while Campbell is totally oblivious. I'm afraid I'm going to have nightmares after that one myself though, I can't blame him. What a fun FILLED night. Whoever thought of adding that extra hour of sleep on Halloween night is a genius.
Campbell on the way home from trunk-or-treat getting ready to trick-or-treat.

Campbell's reaction after seeing himself in the mirror for the first time. This is after wearing it all night!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Not so Itsy bitsy spider

This week the boys were back at school, thank goodness. Nothing like paying for a week of daycare and not using it at all. It has been a busy week with costume parades, parties and all sorts of festivities. The good thing about teaching is that most days I get off of work earlier than I did when I was working in the corporate world. The bad thing is that it makes it almost impossible to go to things of theirs at school during the day. They had a costume parade at school that I would have loved to go to but just couldn't. So out of guilt, I "labored" over these spider cupcakes for their parties. I know, can you believe that I made cupcakes after Nolan's baseball cupcake fiasco? I just never learn, do I?

It ended up being a family affair and we got them done pretty quickly minus Nolan slipping in an M&M here and there along with some Twizzler bites. AND lesson learned from last time, they were put in the fridge so the tops wouldn't fall off! I was pretty proud with how they turned out knowing my bad luck with baking cupcakes. The things we mothers do out of guilt...






Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Trunk or Treat...SMELL my feet

My mom's church had a chili cook-off this past weekend. We decided since we're beginning to join the land of the living again with all our illnesses mostly subsiding (I'm battling a nasty cough now), that we'd join the fun. We had the boys bring their costumes and the cars in the parking lot were decorated and church members passed out candy. Nolan really enjoyed it. He did it last year at our church but I don't think he remembered it.

I'm going with the coordinated outfits as long as they'll let me. Last year, Nolan was a cowboy and Campbell was an indian (Awww). This year Nolan is a fireman and Campbell is a dalmation (awwww again). I don't know how much longer they'll let me do it, but so far it's been fun and they look so adorable. Campbell's costume is like a jumpsuit made to withstand Tundra temperatures. I bet he burns some serious calories in that suit....maybe I should borrow it? Hmmmm. Nolan's is plastic made of the same material as a slip-n-slide and sticks to him.

Well, Sunday afternoon was pretty warm. Campbell was in his costume TOPS 15 minutes. I checked and took his hood off and it looked like I had just taken him out of the bathtub or pool! His hair was soaked! Bless his heart, the things I make him do to look cute. I'm praying for a cold Halloween night! Otherwise, I might have a couple of stinky feet trick-or-treaters!








Thursday, October 22, 2009

More flags, more fun!

Justin's work, Alcon, has a big family day every year where they pay for everything...and I mean everything including food and souvenirs. Usually it's at the zoo or at Six Flags. It was originally scheduled in September, back during our monsoon days when it rained for a month it seemed. So they put out some rescheduled dates and we went this past weekend. It was the most PERFECT weather. I was a little nervous about going with the boys since Nolan is scared of his shadow and I've never really checked out the "kids" section of Six Flags.

It turned out to be a blast. Nolan was riding all kinds of rides. There were a couple that he looked at and quickly shook his head and we just didn't force him. Some of them were really fast though and he was a champ. It was Fright Night though and they had some really scary looking people walking around like zombies but we did a good job of distracting them the other way. The last thing we need is something else to give him nightmares. Campbell even rode a couple of rides and it was the cutest thing ever. They ask me if we wanted to put him on some of the rides but I'm just too neurotic of a mother to do that just yet....knowing how Campbell climbs out of things.

My first date with Justin was 10 years ago this month and at Six Flags. I asked him out (I still give him grief for that one) and it was the best first date I've ever had. It was so much fun 10 years later being at the same place, the same month and seeing what all has happened in that span of time. What made it even better was that it was just as fun as our first date.







Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I'm sick of sick days!

So guess who stayed home today...my wonderfully amazing dad with both my boys. He did so great with them and they loved it. I'm so thankful because I'm already really dipping into my sick days and it's only the second 6 weeks! I decided 10 sick days is not enough for a teacher (who is exposed to every sickness known to man at school) and especially when I have two children of my own (in daycare at that!).

Nolan spiked a slight fever last night but all was good today. Sure enough, at 6:30, another fever at 101.5. Looks like I'm staying home tomorrow. Seriously, can someone just throw me a bone here?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Bleach bums

Update on Campbell...actually make that both boys. You guessed it, now they're both sick. Daycare called yesterday and said Nolan was running 100.4; barely a fever. So I pull up to daycare and the owner is covered in bleach spots and my poor 4 yr old is holding everything in his hands from his cubby including his pillow and blanket to take home. I mean I can't blame them and of course I want to wash them but I think he probably thought he was part of the haz-mat that needed to go.

I took him in to our most popular hangout, Carenow, where they know me by name. He has tonsillitis. I'm just glad that strep and flu test came back negative on him. How sad is it that I'm glad it's only tonsillitis? So both boys stayed home with Justin today. Campbell is going to stay home one more day with my dad (hopefully) but Nolan is going back tomorrow. Cam has been fever free for almost 72 hrs. Nolan has been fever free for 24 hrs. Even then, it was a very mild fever (99) by the time I picked him up from daycare.

Dear Santa,

I know it's a little early in the year, but all I want is a Clorox cleaning crew to scrub my entire house with toothbrushes and bleach.

Yours truly,
Andrea

P.S. Can you please come and take care of my husband when he gets sick. He'll definitely be next. This photo was taken the day before Campbell tested positive for flu and strep.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Swine '09


Yep, my nightmare has come true. Campbell has swine. All Spring I was so worried about the boys getting it. I guess it was inevitable with it everywhere around us. We had the most fabulous family day yesterday....soccer game, Six Flags, and the most perfect weather. He had a little runny nose but he has that all the time it seems. This morning he felt the slightest bit warm before church and by the time we got out of church, he definitely had a fever. We came home and put him down for a nap after some Motrin but he just kept coughing and waking himself up.

I rushed him to Carenow 15 minutes before they closed...bet they loved me for that. But I definitely didn't want to go to the ER where I would definitely expose him to everything under the sun. I hadn't had time to post but we took him for his well check up last Friday. We had a 4:15 appt and didn't leave until 7:00 p.m. Ridiculous, maybe? Carenow seems to think that he might have gotten it there from our almost 3 hour wait, but who knows.

Campbell is the friendliest baby ever. He'll wave, blow kissed to total strangers. I don't know if it was from out check up last week or not, but every time a nurse or doctor came in, he would scream like they were some horrific monster. Maybe his shots last week made a traumatic impression? They swabbed his throat and tested him for strep...positive. After which he threw up his banana all over me. Then they swabbed up his nose for the flu...again, positive. Then we had x-rays. Luckily his lungs look ok. They didn't officially test him for swine but they said that's not seasonal flu time yet so they're treating anyone who tests positive for both like it's the swine. I just can't believe he just started showing symptoms today and how quickly this all manifested. It was quite an exhausting doctor's visit. Bless his heart, he was so scared and upset.

They sent us with prescriptions for Tamiflu, antibiotics and a steroid to keep his lungs open. Drove immediately to the pharmacy...they're out of Tamiflu but I was able to go to Walgreens and get it. We could only get him to eat a banana and yogurt for dinner. You can tell he feels so miserable.

Everyone please just keep him in his prayers. It scares me that he's so young and has this. We're all taking turns including my parents to stay home with him this week to make sure he's getting better.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Pimp my pumpkin


Nolan comes by it naturally. He's so creative just like his daddy and he gets his love for fall from me. When we had Aubrey's invitation on the fridge for a month, he kept asking when we were going to the pumpkin patch. Every grocery store trip, he wanted to get another pumpkin. So I gave in and let him get a couple of small ones.

As I was unloading the groceries from the car, he found the sharpie in the drawer and drew a face on it before I even knew he was doing it. Justin, the art critic that he is, examines his pumpkin and can't believe the detail on his teeth that he can draw at the age of 4. Since we just took them to the doctor the handout for development on 4 yr olds said that he should be able to draw a circle, triangle and maybe a square...I'd say we're past that. Genius. We took a quick video of him right after he made his new friend.

I can't wait to see him when we carve a pumpkin. Stay tuned!




Saturday, October 10, 2009

Pumpkin Patch Bash

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Fall? I mean, everything about it...football, the colors, the food, the holidays, the weather. It's just the best.

We went to the best birthday party today. It was so great that I'm totally stealing the idea next year for Nolan's birthday. My cousin Erin had her adorable daughter's party at a pumpkin patch. They had a hay ride (although we missed it because we're directionally challenged), corn maze, and beautiful fall scenes everywhere. It was the perfect fall weather day to go for an outing to the farm. Believe it or not, the boys were even cooperative...there wasn't anything "forced" in Forced Family Fun...just family fun! Well, maybe on a couple of pictures, but I remember that last year's pumpkin patch pictures were when the phrase "FFF" was first coined as our family motto.

Looking at these photos just makes me melt...all my favorites all in one day! If you want to see all the rest of the pumpkin patch photos click here.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Two things I know for sure...

When Campbell is unhappy two things can make him go from a complete tantrum to a ridiculous grin in .2 seconds....food and going outside. The owner of the boys' school told me that they have to feed him lunch earlier than all the other kids because there is NO way he's waiting until 11:30 like the rest of them. 11:10 is all he can wait and that's AFTER snack at 9:00. She said that the other day when he ran out of snack he screamed so hard his face turned purple. So she ran to get him more snacks and just like that he just started smiling again. He so has us all trained.

Any time Bandit takes a potty break outside he thinks it's time for him to go outside too. Not a big deal right now, but hard to do with cold weather coming up. If I'm cooking dinner and I can't take him outside right at that second, we're talking about an on-the-floor screaming tantrum. It's not a pretty sight. It's nice knowing that we have some secrets in our pocket that will keep him happy though. He just loves going to Nolan's soccer practices. He shags balls for the team...he's the little Dinosaur mascot. Here are a few of my favorites.

Looking up and loving on his PopPeek-a-boo!

You can't catch me!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Good times


Tonight started out kinda rough. I was busy upstairs putting Campbell's fall clothes out and putting summer stuff up. Meanwhile, I could hear Justin getting a little flustered with the boys downstairs. Campbell was splashing in the dog's water bowl obsessively and Nolan managed to not turn on the bathroom light and peed on the floor and dropped his dragonfly ring from church in the toilet. Good times.

So Justin and I got in our "mission mode" and got down to business. Bath time, story time, bed time in record time. Well, Nolan saw that Campbell had on his doggy jammies and he wanted to look just like him. So after he got on his jammies, he wanted to read the book to Campbell. It was the sweetest thing in the world seeing them snuggle and Nolan "reading" to him. He knows about 20-30 sight words but he has this book memorized since he was 2. My favorite part is when Nolan says, "I'm ready for some fun," and Campbell nods his head like yep you better believe it.

Oh, it seems like they do their cutest stuff right after we're the most flustered. God has perfect timing.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Soccer mom

I'm officially a soccer mom. I guess after having the hardest time buying our minivan, I decided to go full throttle. Why not? I must say, I love my van and I love watching Nolan play soccer even as much as I don't like soccer. I decided when it's your kid, you don't care if they're playing ping pong, you just love watching them have fun and succeed.

First soccer practice, Nolan cried the first five minutes. New situation, people, game but crisis averted and he started playing. Second soccer practice, no crying the first five minutes just picking "flowers" for me in the field. Awww, how can you be mad at that?

Nolan's first soccer game was also his birthday. So you know how we love to squeeze in as much as we possibly can and make things stressful for ourselves. We went to his game even though we knew we could stay only for about 20 minutes and then we would have to leave for the party. At first he didn't want to play but thanks to Pop, he had him out there and he was a soccer superstar. He mostly ran around with all the kids but he even got in a few kicks. Most importantly, he just had so much fun and looked so adorable in his uniform although we need to get new shorts. He almost lost them a couple of times with how big they are. We couldn't be more proud of him. GO DINOSAURS!



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