Finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch...

What a beautiful day! We are loving this weather and loving being outside OUT of the house. We FINALLY headed out to the pumpkin patch today. I think we got the last two pumpkins which both had lots of warts...but hey- we got pumpkins and pictures. Better LATE than never. Now on to carving...

Anakin

I finally made it out of the house yesterday for the first time in 12 days (besides dropping off at school). We are on the mend and it feels good. We are READY for the weekend.

This morning we got up early to watch Anakin Skywalker parade around school. The kids were so cute. Here is our little man...

Then as he got off the bus today guess who had another tooth necklace...yes our little Anakin. He pulled out his own tooth AGAIN at school. He likes to do it AT school so that he can go to the nurse and get a necklace and tooth certificate. Missing a tooth on top just seems big. 3 teeth down, many to go...

Poor Girl...

Poor Ellie Belly had to miss her Fall Festival at school this morning. She was hoping that she would be better, but woke up at 4 am again with 101 fever. So, no dress up fun at school today. No carnival at school. No pizza party at school. No train ride at school. She missed what might be the most fun day of the year at school today. Poor girl.

Hadley got to go although I didn't get to stay for the festivities as I had planned. But her teachers said she LOVED it. We couldn't decide what she was going to be today. We have two costumes...a flower pot..

and a Pink Poodle, which won this morning...

I told Ellie we should have dress up day at home too, so she was excited to get to wear her costume around the house while we played games and colored... She is our little Rock star- quite literally. :)

She doesn't really look like she is feeling all that bad, does she? But she is running a 101 fever still and coughing her little lungs out.

Ahhh...so ready for a healthy house. Hope we can all make it Trick or Treating this year.

Fun times, fun times...

Back to the Living...

So...what have we been up too???

Let's see...

Green tea, lemons, chicken noodle soup, humidifiers, hot tub, hot baths, hot showers, netti pots, kleenex, oranges, oscillococcinum, ibuprofen, more ibuprofen, thermometers, lots of time under blankets, pajamas for a week straight, and lots of prayers asking that this thing would leave our house.

Yes, I came down with the flu. I had fever for 8 straight days. My doctor said he couldn't prescribe me tamiflu as I wasn't over 65 , under 5, and I don't have a compromised immune system. And he told me since I am not a "medicine" person, I didn't want it anyway. Well after going through what I just did, I beg to differ-if it could have shortened it at all, I would have opted for it. Do you know how hard it is to watch kids with a fever? Thankfully Frank was able to take some time off...but it was still hard. Then Gavin came down with it at the end of last week. Really, the only one who hasn't had it is Frank....and I just keep hoping it escapes him as it seems to be much harder on adults than kids. I haven't left my house in what feels like forever...I am ready to enjoy the sunshine, or rain for that matter. I just want to get OUT.

I have only been to the doctor three times in five years and once was for a hurt knee when training for the marathon. So...I don't get sick. I am hoping this little bug will be it for awhile and I can go back to living my healthy little life.

Thank you sweet April for coming to my house and dropping off a goodie bag of meds. You are a lifesaver! I love you girl! XOXOXO

So, here's to hoping it leaves our house once and for all...and that none of you have to experience it!!

Our Little Ladies Man

Four out of the five days this week Gavin has come home with a "love note" or picture from a girl. Each a different girl. One girl even made a little book for him with a picture of them holding hands. We laughed when he got the first one. But each day as I open his backpack and find another, I have to make sure and tell him that the only girls he loves right now are Mommy, Ellie and Hadley. Let's hope he remembers.

I think it is cute, but....he is only in Kindergarten, right?

Playdates

Ellie is hitting the age where if we do not have a friend over it may end up being the "worst day ever." The girl has been missing her brother since he started Kindergarten. Today she begged for a friend to come over and was very excited when my friend Christi said Olivia could come play. They had so much fun dressing up, playing dollies, and having a tea party!

Love our Neighbors...

We love our neighbors. Love them. We love our hood in general. But it helps when you have the best neighbors on the planet. They are a couple who we just click with. They are funny, real, and great friends. Anytime we need something, they are here for us. Traci pretty much knows everything about me, she was my rock this past summer when I was a stress ball. And Frank and Rob are two peas in a pod. He is a natural born comedian, great husband, and dad just like Frank. And our kids all adore each other. It is a rare day when our kids don't play together. Tonight they came over for dinner. They asked on the phone what they could bring and Frank jokingly said Creme Brule and Tiramisu. He told them he was kidding afterwards. So I was upstairs about an hour later and I hear their girls walk in telling us how Rob had started a fire with his blow torch from making Creme Brule. We laughed and thought it was a joke. Little did we know, they really made some Creme Brule and Rob really did start a fire. Luckily nothing got burned. Gotta love them! The Creme Brule was awesome, thanks Traci!! Tonight as the Creme Brule is settling in my belly, my house is quiet because they took my kiddos home with them to spend the night. Oh, how we love these neighbors!!

Crazy Hat Day

Ride Your Bike to School Day

Today was Walk or Ride your bike to school day. Gavin has been so excited and anxiously awaiting this day for awhile now. I wish we could ride our bikes every day, but we have this little baby girl who is a sleepy head and sleeps in. But today, I promised G we would wake her up and ride our bikes. It all started out great, until Ellie half way there, could no longer ride her bike and I was on my bike which only has the baby seat- not trailer. It was a LONG walk/ride to school with lots of screaming and crying from a little four year old. I wish I had on camera the looks we were getting. Poor G.....I don't think this morning was what he had in mind. And Poor Ellie, she was an absolute wreck. I ended up walking my bike with Hadley strapped in, Ellie beside me and let Gavin go ahead of us. We just parked Ellie's bike in the grass and left it there until our way back when we once again walked the bikes home. Fun times. So this afternoon I made sure to ride Frank's bike which has the bike trailer on it. Much better. Much better. We met Gav outside of school and rode home like a normal family this afternoon. He loved it. We've been home for thirty minutes and he is already asking when we are riding our bikes to school again. Does he not remember this morning?!? Guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

Donuts With Dad

They both got up extra early to make it to school for "Donuts with Dad." Frank loved getting to meet some of the other kids in his class and Gavin enjoyed introducing them. After breakfast, Gavin wanted Frank to stay, and Frank was wishing he could. :) He is such a big kid, he would definitely fit in there. ;0)

Who Needs P.j.'s...

When you can wear one of Daddy's shirts to bed?

FLAG FOOTBALL

Gavin has been asking for awhile now to play football, and I was procrastinating signing him up. As a mom, I really don't want him to fall in love with this sport. Don't get me wrong, flag football is just fine. They are so cute out there running on the field. But when it comes time to tackle and get agressive physically, I'm not sure I want to be the Mommy watching her son get all banged up. But, I want him to play and enjoy sports now while he is young, so I signed him up. Well, he had his first game today and he loved it. Loved it. Did I mention, LOVED IT? It was so cute to watch all the little 5 year olds running around the field. I was very impressed at how quickly they caught on. His little friends, Cullen and Lawson are on his team so that makes it extra fun as well. They were all quite enamored with their mouth pieces. They felt big.

They aren't the Cowboys, Texans, or Steelers...no they wanted to be named the Jellyfish! So watch out other teams- the Jellyfish are good!!

Go Gavin, Go!! His own personal cheerleader who was very excited to see her brother!

A Picnic and a Movie

In the Gameroom...

Fun Times.