Halloween Parties at school!

Today was a little work mixed in with parties galore at school. Among the excitement, Taite managed to ace his math test (got more than 100% ~ extra credit!) so all was good. Taite's class was at the Big Blast party (large blow up play things in the gym with popcorn and music and lots of fun) from 12:15 - 1:15. His classroom party began at 1:15 and went until the end of the school day. There were 3 stations for the party. One station was decorating little gourds with permanent marker. When I took a picture of Taite with his gourd, it turned out cool ~ the eyes colored in on the gourd reflected the flash on the camera and made it look lit up!

The other station they had was decorating cupcakes. There were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and then we (the moms) passed out some goodies for them to decorate their cupcakes with. We purposely were in charge of distributing the decorating items so the kids wouldn't reach in with their hands or anything because of the illnesses going around. With that said, in between when we were passing the "goodies" out, the containers with the candy corn, gummy worms and M&M's were on a table and would you believe it was a couple of the parents who reached in with their hands to grab candy out of the dishes. . .

This is Taite's good friend, Isaac. His dad is a math teacher at the high school and he's a good kid, so we are pleased they are friends :~)

Taite and his masterpiece:

The 3rd station was Bingo. They were cards made up with the kids names from the classroom on the cards. There were a lot of winners at Bingo and they made many trips to the "treasure (junk) box" ~ the kids were happy! There were candy, punching balloons, vampire teeth, more candy, etc.

Brayton's classroom party was early in the morning. He laid the guilt card on us last night. He really wanted Chris to come to his party and I was thinking that Bray's party was the same time as Taite's so we could drive together and both attend a party. Then when I looked at the time of Braytons' classes Big Blast time frame and it was during Taite's classroom party, which reminded me that they had mentioned that their classroom parties might be in the morning. I called the school and at 8:36, they said the party was going on ~ it was from 8:30 to 10. I was headed up to Brayton's party (Chris had some work to do, so we decided that if Bray had someone there, he would be okay) when FedEx came with Chris' wallet.

Here is a picture of Brayton patting himself on the back with both hands. The kids all did a good job of following directions during their party, so they were rewarding themselves. Isn't it funny how I have a camera pointed at Brayton and even though the other girls in the picture I don't know, they are all smiling at the camera? :D

Brayton's class also had 3 stations and they were pretty much the same as Taite's class. Except they decorated cookies and not cupcakes in Brayton's class. I missed that part of the party when I arrived late. You can see some remnants of the frosting on his face though :D

This is a cute little craft that one of the mom's had made up. They were cute spiders and I am very impressed that she created it just the other night! They had 4 pipe cleaners and were to twist them up in the middle.

Of the twisted middle, they made a loop, twisted some more, pushed the ends through the loop and created the head and then spread the legs and formed the feet. Add some eyes and you have an adorable spider! They each had 2 small magnets that you could peel off and stick to the spider. We couldn't figure out how we wanted to hang the spider on the fridge and then I had an idea ~ we could cut the magnets so they were skinny and put 4 skinny magnets on the feet of the spider. Before Bray was done, he asked me not to throw this away. . . He thinks we should keep everything, paper, note, whatever comes home from school. I definitely will keep this one, it's very cute!

This was one of the prizes for the Bingo game ~ a sticky eyeball. GROSS!

I love that face!

Tonight we went out to eat and then did a little light shopping, but it was a 'little' too much because Bray was tired and whiny. On the way home, there was a lot of yawning coming from the back seat, so the boys were both in bed at 7:30 and Taite was reluctant, but running for an hour straight will wear a boy out :~)

Oh, it is soooo good to have Chris home!

Chris has said it many times since last night "It feels so good to be home" and I feel the same! My computer problem has been solved and I don't have to work at the office by myself :~) He was able to enjoy the BBQ ribs tonight and JoJo's and thought they were excellent even if they were just leftovers!

Tonight was Brayton's last Augmentin dose! He was happy because he does NOT like the flavor, though it's not nearly as bad as that antiviral drug. That means it's one less thing to remember in the mornings before school.

Tomorrow is a big day at school with the Mega Party (big blow up things and games ~ each grade gets an hour of time there and it's put on by the PTO) and they have Halloween parties to look forward to. It's basically a party day except for the math test Taite has to take.

Today Taite's class had a big science test and at the end of each school day, we receive an email from his teacher and here was a little from that email:
"Our Science Test average was 83% which means we have about 6 kiddos who failed the test. Not sure what happened other than I would imagine no studying or not enough!"
Chris and I read this and looked at each other. I was pretty confident Taite wasn't one of the 6 because I had studied with him a lot and had made him study for that 1/2 hour last night. When we got home from the office, the boys were just getting to the house and Taite said "I got 100% on my science!!!" (big smile!) YES! I asked him if he even thought of me when he saw his grade since I made him study for a 1/2 hour the night before and he did! He also said he was glad he studied, so hopefully it won't be such a chore next time, but I'm not holding my breath ~ hehe!

Grandma is enjoying her TV. Today Chris took her her mail and was talking about the extra channels she gets now with a digital TV. At first she said all she watches is the news and Wheel of Fortune, but Chris said that some nights she might just like to flip through and see whats on. Well, she said she had watched a show the other night on logging and it was kind of from when she was a kid, so it was interesting. Then she admitted to watching a show about cookies, but she said they were putting dried cranberries in them (kind of like "yuck!"). I'm glad this TV will give her some really clear pictures and different options on the long nights alone. Obviously, it doesn't take the place of an actual human, but we all know how nice it can be to have a little variety in life :D

Brayton said he has trouble getting to sleep at night so tonight I suggested listening to a CD. He said "oh, yeah, I used to like that music that you would play when I took naps over at the office" (great! that was a long time ago!) I tried to find some instrumental (that's all the farther I could narrow it down) CD's and came up with one. I tried to play it and his CD player needed a cleaning; tracked down the cleaning CD; got it playing and then tried the CD. It played and with the first few notes, Bray says "yeah, that's the CD I remember!" WHEW!!!

He's Home!!

Chris made it home at 11:00 last night with $4 in his pocket. He started out with about $80, but to get out of the parking ramp (twice ~ had to go back to get his bag) he had to give them almost all of his cash. Another funny story. . . he drove the truck so it would get used and then he could put in winter diesel, but he couldn't when it came time to because he didn't have any money, nor credit cards. :~) Today has GOT to be better, but he has to work on my computer and I foresee a few more swear words coming out of his mouth before that is done!!

It's almost over. . .

Today is the day Chris comes home from his travels (for awhile anyway). Well, that was the plan. . . His day started at 4:30 Vancouver time (that's 2:30 our time) and they went to the Vancouver airport and checked in. Chris called me during this time and we were cut off because the Medical Group was calling him to get some information straight. That call took about 1/2 hour and by the time he was finished, Chris forgot to put his wallet in his bag. . . He realized this after standing outside the tarmac and from that point, they do not let you back into the airport. A flight personnel went back into the airport to help find his wallet and came back with nothing. Chris called me at this time (the f-bomb flying) to tell me to cancel all credit cards, well at least the ones we could remember. I know, to be safe with something like this, we need to have photocopies of all our cards in a file somewhere for just such an instance as this, but we don't. Chris' flight was only from Vancouver to Seattle and by the time he called me to say that Vancouver Customs had found his wallet and turned it into Lost and Found, I had already cancelled 90% of his cards. I continued to finish the job because even though his money was in the wallet and they said it looked intact, Chris had just read about when people loose their wallet and it's returned with everything in it, people assume it's okay so they don't close the accounts and then the thieves are using the numbers and they are good. Kind of a stressful morning :D

I noticed that Brayton has been having coughing spells occasionally so I made an appt to have his lungs checked out (with kids still dying from the flu, we are not taking any chances!). The Dr. said that his lungs still sounded like there is "stuff" in them, but nothing to be alarmed about. We need to keep up with his neb treatments for an undetermined amount of time (possibly up to 3-4 weeks) and can try giving him Ibuprofen once a day to help reduce the inflammation in his lungs ~ hadn't thought of that one, nor has any other Dr. told us that, but it makes sense.

Tonight for supper (thanks to my cousin Kim) the boys and I had an excellent "Welcome Home" supper for Chris (minus Chris). I made homemade BBQ ribs and JoJo potatoes. The boys enjoyed getting messy, but they did wash their hands a few times during the meal (they are my boys, so what did you expect?) hehe It was good, but we really wish Chris would have been home. The ironic thing is that Chris was to the airport so early this morning, he could've gotten on earlier flights, but he realized it after checking his bag. Then he wouldn't have been available when the insurance thing came up and he wouldn't have forgotten his wallet. Oh, and the last let of his flight from Seattle to MSP was delayed 2 hours, so he could've hung out in Vancouver and caught a later flight which would have allowed him time to look for his wallet in Vancouver.

Taite is still struggling with this "studying" concept. He wants to set a number of times that he has to read over something and then be done, not declare himself done when he knows the information. Tonight I stressed to him, again, that before he asks me to quiz him, he needs to know the information. To make that happen, we recorded the Monsters vs. Aliens Halloween special and Brayton and I watched the Charlie Brown special the Great Pumpkin (or something like that) since Taite had seen it in school today.

Disaster #2 for Chris today (I'm not sure how I came up with 2) ~ he parked the truck in the ramp at the airport and to get out, you need the credit card you used to get in ~ that is on it's way home from Vancouver. . .

Oh, did I mention that my computer at work has something wrong with it? I couldn't log in from home this morning, so when I went over to the office, I couldn't get it to work either, so I shut it down. It turned on and kept looping through screens like it was trying to turn on, so I shut it off again. Annnddd, nothing. Well, it tries to turn on and goes through all the screens again, and again, and again. So, I had to come home, Chris walked me through setting up my work email on my laptop and then to access the other stuff that we use for work, I had to log onto Chris' computer from my laptop. The only problem I had was when I email docs, we create PDF's and the one I tried on Chris' computer said it was corrupt, so that didn't work so well and I'm saving that one for tomorrow (I sent the necessary details in an email and it just wasn't on an "official" form).

Oh, my poor husband (he has been waiting all day for homemade ribs because I told him how I started them last night and they slow cooked all day so they are soooo tender) he might not be able to leave the airport with the truck. He's waiting for a manager and they are checking on this. . .

And on a happy note (well, it just makes me laugh) the ugliest wedding dress ever is on Craigslist again! This dress has, no lie, been on CL for 1 1/2 years ~ it started out at $200 and is so ugly! The reason it's so funny is it drives Steph crazy, like Postal crazy! The only reason the dress is annoying, I think, is this lady used to post a whole list of crap on a regular basis. It was the same crap and you knew it was all just her posting because it said the same location and every time this list of stuff was posted it was all posted at the same time, same group of items (diaper points from HyVee, basket, free bed wanted for toddler, wedding dress, antique (not antique, just ugly) footstool, and these are just the items I remember!) So anyway, the basket that kept getting posted had this description about what a nice basket it was, yada yada and all it was was one of those that comes with plant arrangements (from a floral shop) for free and that started out at $5 and eventually (after months of postings) went to $2 when another CL scanner went postal on this posting of a basket. He posted a separate listing and said nobody wants the stupid basket and if it was so great, why didn't she keep it, did she really need the $2??? LMAO! I sent that guy and email for his posting thanking him. :D He'd took one for the team and went postal so the rest of us didn't have to! I feel like I'm typing a Miller Lite (or is it Bud Lite) commercial and here is where I say "Thank you Mr. Going Postal on a Craigslist poster person!" (think announcer voice here)

So anyway (sorry for the long posting tonight ~ Chris is gone, so I have no one to talk to ~ pathetic, huh??), this dress has been down to $25 for about 9 months now (you'd think this lady would get a clue. . .) and we (my mom, sister and I) are thinking of pitching in, offering her $10 and having a dress burring party! We'll take pictures and then post those for everyone else on CL who is oh so sick of seeing this reposting on CL! Okay, I would never post pics like that because it would be mean, but sometimes I like to dream that I could do something and not care about how someone else would feel about it ~ hehe

One last Chris update:

On the plane, he met a nice older couple who had to catch another flight and the wife was worried sick they were going to miss their flight. Chris helped them get their bags and find their gate. After that he went to the truck and remembered he doesn't have his CC. He is still trying to get that fixed and (may have to use all the cash he has ~ forgot to mention that ~ the only money he could come up with was Japanese Yen in his bag, so luckily Seattle is an international airport and he could convert it to US$ and that's what he's used for food all day) I might have to scan in and fax my credit card so he can leave the parking lot and he remembered that he forgot to pick up HIS bag at the baggage claim!!! I fell so badly for him, but just to speed things along, I might leave now (the boys will be fine, they are sleeping) and pick Chris up! :~) I think he can officially call this his DAY FROM HELL!!!

Day #2

Whew, the second day of getting the kids on the bus by myself AND getting Bray all of his meds ~ complete! I almost sent Bray out without any shoes, but I'm human :~)

I know it doesn't sound like much, but here is how it goes:
Prior to waking the boys up (or making sure Taite is up), I have the neb with Albuterol ready
6:30 Wake Brayton up
6:32 Start neb
6:32 - 6:42 Grab Bray's clothes
~ get him dressed
~ run downstairs to get underwear that was forgotten when I grabbed the rest of his clothes
~ get the 2nd neb ready
~ have water ready so he can rinse his mouth
~ pull out all the cereal choices for Brayton to decide what to eat for breakfast
~ trip over the dog
~ put all the cereal choices back
~ get his cereal ready without milk so it's not soggy
~ grab a drink of coffee when the opportunity presents itself (usually as running past the island I strategically place it in the center of the activity so the opportunity presents itself often)
6:42 pour milk on cereal while Brayton rinses his mouth
6:47 Brayton goes to brush his teeth; I remove the cup thingy with Albuterol and replace it with the Pulmicort neb (if we allow approx a 1/2 hour between these nebs, or in this case as much time as possible, the Albuterol has a chance to work and then the Pulmicort can work better)
6:52 remind Brayton to hurry up
6:55 yell at Brayton to hurry up
6:55 start 2nd neb
6:56 check weather.com for forecast so I don't send the boys in their winter coats which they are required to wear for recess and then are all sweaty because a simple sweatshirt would have worked (high of 57 today)
~ get Bray's coat, hat (I told him to hide in his backpack after he gets to school so he doesn't have to wear to recess because they make the kids wear it if they have it. . . hence the over heating) and gloves on (thin, one size fits all)
6:59 remember I forgot Brayton's shoes and get them to put on
7:02 Taite spots the bus go past the window (it comes from the east, so it goes to the corner and then turns around to come our direction ~ really nice because it gives us some "counting down" time)
7:03 Both boys are out the door with "I love yous", reminders to have a good day, hugs and kisses to start their day. . .
7:04 I slump in the chair (well, not really, but it seemed a fitting end I am really planning meals, getting started on work and so forth!) :~)

Have a great day!!

I should've known. . .

Last night Chris left for the airport and then had me check on his flight status. It was delayed at least an hour. . . Had he checked before leaving, he could've spent that time at home instead of a lobby!

The boys played Wii all day and after Bray went to bed, Taite continued to play. I told him at 8:50 that he needed to go to bed. He got ready for bed and then remembered he hadn't touched a thing in his backpack ~ no studying or anything!!! I was mad and told him he just had to go to bed and pay the consequences for not doing his homework over the weekend (yes, Bray did have some to do and when I reminded him, he went into his room and shut the door to complete his job). Today Taite was disappointed to know that he wouldn't get to play ALL day today! Wouldn't mean much if he only had like an hour away when home. . .

Oh, I skipped right over this morning. Before Bray goes to school, we are still nebbing him with Albuterol and Pulmicort which we try to squeeze in during his normal getting ready for school time (1/2 hour total time). It was a challenge, especially when you throw in the spilled cereal and milk (Taite) and a change of clothing from that one. I had to dress Bray while doing the neb and they both made it to the bus on time.

Taite is now practicing his recorder (new instrument for 4th graders) and he is extremely frustrated because he thinks he should play it like a pro even without practicing. He kept asking me how to clean the spit out from it and it finally dawned on me ~ he thinks that the spit is why it doesn't sound right. I tried it (the note he was having trouble with) and it played just fine. I stressed that he might have to work at this and actually practice on a regular basis. . .

This won't be too difficult as I am certain we will confiscate all Wii remotes until the weekends. I'm pretty sure this will help me get more help in the kitchen too, after supper. They eat and then disappear ~ just grateful something appeared on the table for their dinner. Speaking of which, I was very hungry for Swedish Meatballs tonight and I found a wonderful recipe!! It was so good ~ it's a good thing we don't have this very often because I could easily weigh 500 pounds!!!

Today my glasses I ordered came in! The boys really liked them; my mom, not so much. That's okay! I like them! I hope my husband likes them better than my old ones, but he is somewhat like my dad (who is having a difficult time picking out new frames for himself) they like the same old thing and would never change frames unless they were completely broken! :D

This weekend I attempted to make a bag with the "rag" approach. That just means that your seams are all on the outside and you snip them so when you wash your item (lots of people make blankets) they kind of fray and make a neat border. This little bag (it holds manilla folders so I can bring work to and from the office) was a pain in the ___ for all the snipping I had to do and after washing it, it should have had more of a seam allowance (farther distance from the edge of the fabric to where the stitch is), but it will work just fine because I spent a lot of time on it :~) I do love the colors on it and it's flannel, so after washing it, it's really soft!

Last night there was a party for my Grandma's birthday at my mom and dad's house. It was attended by many and it's always fun to see the boys' cousins! Josey is starting to walk and would walk with anyone who would walk with her. Taite took his turn too and here are a couple of pictures of the oldest and youngest cousins. :~)

Josey looks a LOT like Steph did when she was a baby! I'm jealous ~ neither of my kids look like their mama.

Maisie gets so jealous of the attention that Josey gets from everyone. Normally Taite gives Maisie all the attention, so when he was walking with Josey, she had to check with him to see if he still loved her. :-)

Tonight was the start of another week with Chris gone (well, until Wednesday). Hopefully it gets better for him because his flight was delayed over an hour. I failed at not getting Taite away from the Wii sooner than bedtime because he wanted to do his homework at 9, when he was supposed to be in bed ~ I've confiscated the Wii remotes. . .

A boy and his. . .

A Boy and His Dog

Since we moved Taite's bed on the floor, the dog loves to be able to get on Taite's bed. Last night I jumped on the bed while Taite was brushing his teeth and Baby must have been tired. She about ran into me trying to snuggle in! When Taite came to bed, she was even happier. Chris and I were talking to Taite for a little bit and when we were going to leave, Chris tried to call Baby out of the room and she just peeked her head over Taite's covers ~

This morning Taite said that last night was like a "once in a lifetime" thing ~ getting Baby to snuggle with him in his bed. He said that when he tried to kick her out, she didn't want to have anything to do with that. I told him, next time if he happens to fall asleep, that's fine, we can come and get her so he doesn't have to worry about it.

A Boy and His Camera

Since we found Brayton's camera, he keeps wanting to take "kid" shots ~ you know, crappy ones or ones of just things. Well, yesterday it was me he wanted to take a picture of ~ can't he see I am having a bad hair day??? After this one, he said I didn't really smile, so he took another one. . .

Not much better ~ still the same hair LOL

Today he was excited to see the huge snowflakes falling! I have never seen such big ones and they were probably 1 1/2 inches across! Mom compared them to ready made snowballs!

Unfortunately, as I am typing now, the scene is much different!

Guess I'll have to get out the snowman dishes :~)

Another Great recipe (if I do say so myself!)

I made a roast (the easy one ~ roast, can of beer, dry onion soup mix ~ YUM!) the other night and we didn't eat too much (just me and the boys). I reheated it Wednesday night when we were all 4 home and still had a lot leftover. So I decided to make a vegetable beef soup. The only problem was that I didn't have any fresh veggies ~ duh, I didn't need any! I cooked some barley (one cup comes out to 3 cups), chopped up my roast, added a can of drained veg-al veggies, one can of chopped tomatoes (not canned) and approximately 6 cups of beef broth (this could vary if you don't have much meat) and Brayton asked me where I "got" this soup from! I took that as a huge compliment because he had just had a can of Campbell's Vegetable Beef soup earlier in the week! I tasted it to see what spices I could add and it didn't really need any! I did add about 1/2 tsp of Emeril's Essence, but could've added a little more (you can look up the recipe for EE online and I smelled every spice I had and none of them smelled "right" for beef soup!)

We found Bray's camera!

Brayton has misplaced his camera for quite awhile and even had a new one on his Christmas list. (it's just our old camera that wouldn't turn on all the time and we got sick of it, so of course, since we got a replacement, it turns on for Brayton every time!) I found it on Chris' desk (apparently he didn't know we were looking for it! LOL)


Speaking of losing things, Bray lost a tooth yesterday. He was eatting some crunchy foccacia sticks and it fell out! He said "Agh! Remember that loose tooth I had? It just fell out! It's a good thing I had a bowl!" (his snack was in a bowl and he just spit his tooth into it :D) He was bummed right after that because he said people would tell him he looked stupid. PLEASE don't say anything to him about his smile fitting into the Halloween season or anything because I'm trying to keep him "okay" about it! His tooth in the front really looks big when there aren't any teeth surrounding it!

When we found Bray's camera (oh, I forgot to mention he has still been out of school ~ he isn't "jumping" back like we would like him to be, so he'll be home again tomorrow) he was ready to snap some photos and it was just the dog, me and him home. . . Here's the picture of him.

The picture of the dog. . .

The picture of me. . .

On the memory card in Bray's camera was this jem of a shot :D

I think kids can get you to do anything if they have a camera and ask ~ hehe

It makes me so sad. . .

I don't know if it's the rainy day outside or just who I am that makes this so heart-breaking for me:

My grandma's birthday is next week. She will turn 93 and a fitting way to honor everything she's seen and done is truly a challenge for me. It' difficult to come up with something that she will use and won't return to the giver (most cases it's stamps, stationary or a Walmart gift card). Last Saturday it occurred to me that if me and my cousins (who chose to) all chipped in towards a new TV for Grandma, it would truly be something she would use everyday and wouldn't buy for herself. Her TV finally got too difficult to work with the box and things so my mom took her TV from the camper over as a solution. My thoughts were also that if even a handful of us "cousins" pitched in, it wouldn't cost too much. I found a great deal at Walmart ~ a 19" Vizio for $188! I didn't know what the respond would be, so I didn't start looking at TVs until yesterday and was pleased that this would only be 1" smaller than what she had and with it being a flat screen, it can be turned so she can see it much better. I was floating on air and ready to get the TV when I received a gut wrenching blow ~ apparently, I hadn't considered the one thing that was on the minds of those who I invited to help with Grandma's gift ~ who gets it when she dies.

I will let you process that one for a bit. . .

I have to admit, I went through some stages here:
1. Speechlessness ~ this is not something that ever entered my mind
2. Childishness ~ I wanted to reply with WTF?
3. Anger ~ how dare this be cheapened by determining who gets the TV?
4. Extreme sadness ~ I am crying now as I type this, feeling pain for Grandma, hoping my boys' children don't get me anything when I get old, if their thoughts are "I need to make sure I get this back when she dies"

One last thing ~ I don't want to even do this project anymore because it's quite honestly been ruined for me. . . Nor, do I want anything to do with the contents of Grandma's house when she dies. I will just pray that she rests in peace ~ WHEN THE TIME COMES!

Uugghh, I wish this day was over. . .

Brayton update:

Last night when we put Bray to bed, he said in the mornings his chest hurts. So, this morning after nebbing him, I asked him how it felt and he said it still hurt the same as it did before the neb. I called the clinic (Chris is gone on a business trip) and they said he will definitely need to be seen. Here is a picture of him waiting to go for a chest x-ray. The Dr. said he had to wear a mask to the x-ray lab or the techs would be mad at her. The tech told Bray that he was the best patient she had today and he told me "I bet they tell a lot of kids that." We decided either they tell all the kids that or being it was only 10 am, she hadn't x-rayed too many kids yet today! The Dr said that the tech very well may say that to all the kids, but she tells the Dr how they really are and he really was a good patient. :~)

Afterwards, we picked up 3 prescriptions (thank goodness we met the deductible this year!) and headed home to start them. He is currently on Tamiflu, Augmentin (antibiotic ~ oh, forgot to mention ~ he has a little "streaking" on the x-ray which means he has pneumonia in his left lung), Albuterol every 4-6 hours and Pulmicort once a day. Which means. . . he will not be going to school for a few more days. We have orders that if he gets "worse" (not sure what that would entail) he is to be seen promptly. (I won't go into what Chris has read because it's only scary and I just may sleep in Bray's room so I can keep an eye on him.) Oh yea, he said he wanted to sleep in his own bed now because he can't get comfortable in the "sick room" bed. Good thing we still have a baby monitor so I can listen to him no matter where I am.

This one is for you, Steph

This weekend I decided to try and make my own chicken Alfredo pizza. The last time we tried one at Billotti's (I have NO idea what happened to the quality of food they used to serve, but it was horrible the week or so ago that we were there!) and were VERY disappointed. If you look at them, there really isn't much to them and my family is usually not too picky, so they were Guinea pigs. I bought a crust, but I usually make my own, used a jar of reduced fat/calories Alfredo sauce (will split in 1/2 next time ~ I'm going to try freezing the 1/2 I don't use), cut up chicken from the rotisserie chicken we had and mozzarella cheese. It was FABULOUS!!! And oh so easy with things I would normally have on hand! Our next one we are going to try and perfect is a fav. in our house ~ the BBQ chicken. We're going to use BBQ, chicken, red onion (sliced in big rings ~ yum), crumbled bacon and mozzarella cheese ~ I'm sure it will be a hit! I'm on a roll!

Just to clarify. . .

If my post from last night seemed a little "distracted", it was. I was trying to post while watching the new episode of Storm Chasers with Chris. It's one of our favorite shows to watch as a family! So exciting to see those tornadoes up close without being in danger :D

So, anyway, yesterday Chris did get a lot more done than smoothing out a little pile of dirt and rocks ~LOL!!! He got some things ready for winter (I hate to use that word, but we have to). He mowed the areas that had taller grass, pressure washed some things and took the motor off the pressure washer so it won't freeze over the winter. Some of my projects didn't seem near as productive. Do you ever get to cleaning and realize you are making more messes as you "clean"? You know ~ when you "deep" clean (the closets, etc.) then you need to "store" things until you can get rid of them. That's the kind of weekend I had, so we have some piles "to get rid of" scattered or rather placed in the middle of the floor. hehe

Taite

Tonight Taite had homework! He gets kind of grumpy if we push him to study for his homework, so I tried to "shake it up" a little tonight. He had multiplication flash cards he was supposed to study and they were just handwritten ones they'd done in class. Sometimes I am too "type A" and I had to re-do the flash cards on colored recipe cards written in Sharpie. Then I quizzed him on the facts, but he was taking so long to come up with the answers (the goal is to get through all 19 in a minute or less ~ we had to time him and record the time). I tried to give him some pointers and then had him read the cards out loud so I could verify he had the answers correct (I was cleaning up after supper). He was still taking a long time to answer the problems, so I started answering them before he could spit out the answer and the challenge was on. We brought out "Judge Bray Bray" to read the problems and Taite and I would shout out the answer. That really got Taite's brain working (and challenged) so he actually beat me a few times! Sometimes Bray couldn't decide who said the answer first and decided to issue a tie-breaker in that instance which was pretty creative and quick thinking on his part. :D Taite really enjoyed our "Challenge Session" and even got sweaty from the stress of trying to beat me! LOL In the end, I would say tonight was successful. The first time we timed his skills, he didn't answer 6 out of the 19, but the 2nd time we timed it, he only didn't get 4! Oh yea, after we put Bray to bed, Taite and I had "reading time" together. He already asked if we can read together tomorrow night too! I LOVE that he wants to read together ~ whatever it takes so he reads more and remembers that he likes to read!

Okay, I'm sure I've bored you some now, so I'll sign off! Take care and stay healthy!

A very productive weekend, despite sickness

Brayton is doing well, though his coughing still sounds painful. He told Chris tonight that his chest hurts in the morning, so we are watching that carefully since infections/pneumonia are what has been killing the children with this flu.

Despite Bray being sick (Taite is still up and at 'em), he and I finished cleaning up his room and getting rid of some things. The plan was that once his room was cleaned, we would look for a chaise lounge or chair and ottoman for his "reading corner". Well, this was my lucky weekend. . . I found an off-white leather chair and ottoman on Craigslist for $100! This will help him have a comfy chair and it's not fabric, so that will help with any allergens that would normally stick in a fabric chair. We are trying to figure out what causes the boys' lungs (Chris' included) to always be congested. Brayton asked earlier today if I would like to come to his room so he could try out his new chair :~) Here is a picture of Bray and I making (yes, making) Taite join us for reading tonight. Taite complained that he didn't have to read (meaning he isn't keeping track for school or anything) and kept asking how long he would have to read. Since all three of us were reading our own books, Bray would giggle and look to me when he read a funny part. Usually he and I read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books together and we laugh at the funny parts at the same time. He had a little difficulty not sharing that, but I wanted Taite to read too and he has already read the book that Bray is currently reading.

(Taite was embarrassed that I was taking his picture)

Taite had been complaining that his bed was uncomfortable and was sleeping in the spare bedroom when he came down with the flu. While he was sick, I bought a 4" (just got a 4" because that is better than 2", right?) memory foam topper at Walmart for his bed. Well, what I didn't think about is that his loft is already close to the ceiling and after he was "kicked out of" his sick bed, he complained that he couldn't barely get into bed because the ceiling was too close to the mattress. The only solution I could come up with was to put his mattress on the floor. He didn't use his desk anyway we moved his blankets, pillows and rug to the top of his loft as a sort of "get away". Bray was super excited and Taite didn't really care. :~)

Chris also had a productive weekend on the outside stuff. Yesterday I didn't know what he was doing and next thing I see him leave the yard with the truck, trailer and Lil' Green (my new nickname for our tractor). I didn't know what he was doing until he came home and had a load of black dirt. Remember when we moved the one rock near the house (a guy gave us a price on putting our name on it) and he had dug out the rock in front of the big rock and was going to put in dirt so we can plant flowers and such around it. He'd gone and got the dirt to spread in front of the rock and had leveled out the pile of crushed rock out onto the driveway. He just loves that little tractor and I am glad because it was kind of me who pushed him to get something smaller. . . You know how that goes if it turns out to be a bad decision ~ I never hear the end of it! LOL

Just a quick update. . .

So, as I was cleaning up Taite's pile of Kleenexes off the floor of the spare bedroom a.k.a. sick room, I was thinking I should've taken a picture. The kid is on his way to being the perfect sick male. . . I bet there was a whole box of Kleenexes on the floor, some used real well, and others looked like he pulled them out of the box and threw them on the floor! He wouldn't even try to hit a garbage, he would just toss it off the bed. The reason I was cleaning up the room was because Thursday night/Friday morning Brayton woke up with a terrible headache and a high fever. Since Taite was still in the sick room (makes you want to come and visit doesn't it ~ so you can sleep in the spare bedroom? LOL) we put Bray in our bed and I slept on the floor in our room and Chris moved to the couch. Chris suggested that I sleep in the bed with Bray, but if he were to turn and breathe on me, I don't particularly want this. . . He did sleep in until 9 am though, but still said "Taite finally got out of bed?" when he came out of our room. Taite was up and at it early yesterday! He feels like his old self again and he may be going through a growth spurt! He's eating like crazy, but being very conscious of his snack choices and eating healthy. He even asked me if he cooked a pop tart would it make it have less calories? Well, when you cook beer or wine in something, it's not alcoholic anymore. . .

We stripped the bed, anti-bacterial wiped everything and got the sick room ready for Bray. When I told him, he was in that room now he said "You mean I have the swine flu??? But my headache went away!" LOL His fever isn't going away as quickly as Taite's but I guess the thing to be concerned about is keeping his lungs clear and we have been making sure to get 3 doses of Albuterol in both of them every day.

I am home this morning with just the sick boy because Chris and Taite went with my dad to Cabela's. I have so many things to do today, that I don't know where to start! I really wanted to sew, but I think the cleaning and laundry will trump that :) Speaking of, I'd better get to it before they come home and I haven't accomplished anything except drink coffee!

We are surviving

So, this is the big MEA weekend of the school year. No school starting yesterday (Wednesday) and we had BIG plans! We are home because Taite has H1N1. Normally, we would not have known for sure what they have but in his case, he's had a cough for over a month and then he developed a fever on Saturday night. It was low grade until late on Sunday. It was just over 102 Sunday and Monday and his coughing seemed to get worse, so we decided to take him in. They listened to his lungs and the right one was clear, the left one was wheezy. They swab his nose to see if he for sure has the H1N1 and then prescribed Tamiflu since he was positive. Tamiflu prevents the flu bug from multiplying so the body can do what it does naturally to fight this off. He's been looking great after taking the Tamiflu, but still just prefers to hang out in bed because he fells "wore out". The fact that he isn't playing Wii or downstairs tells me that he really is wiped out. We plan on watching movies and tried the Redbox movies available at Walmart & HyVee. It's pretty slick and if you return them after one night, it's only a buck! They didn't have the movies we were hoping for, but we watched a good one anyway (Monsters vs. Aliens). Overall, we are glad we didn't "push" things just to try and fulfill our plans for this weekend. We've already promised the boys that we will reschedule the weekend since they are both doing fine in school.

I guess I should rephrase that a little. They are academically doing well. . . Brayton is having some behavioral problems (please do NOT say anything to him!) and we aren't quite sure what is prompting them. We have discussed it or rather exhausted the issue with him, so hopefully, this will be the end of the baffling behavior.

On a positive note, the weather has been conducive to sewing! I am thinking longer and more about getting a web page set up and printing some business cards. It comes back to the name thing and I'm leaning towards "Lisa 'n Stitch". The other possibility is "Me Sew Crazy", but I don't want anyone who doesn't know me to be scared to work with me because they think I'm a little loony ~ is that a legit thought?? I have my 2nd camera bag almost done and already have some more fabric to start on another bag. I did finish my Breast Cancer Awareness purse and I love it, but have to remind myself that I can't keep all the bags I make! :D I found some fabric today at JoAnn's that will make a super cute summer bag (yes, I am keeping one of these!) and as an added bonus ~ it was on clearance!! Just $3 a yard and the possibilities of coordinating fabrics are what make it even more fun! I will post pictures later on that one.

Speaking of posting pictures, I read Monica's blog and can't imagine the time she spends uploading pics! It drives me crazy waiting for them to upload and then to spend the time organizing them is even worse! What I don't get is that if I don't have the patience for it, how does Monica? She's more impatient than me! LOL

As I am updating the blog. . .

I know I have said this before, but I absolutely love how well our boys get along! We are truly blessed and I know it's a foundation for their lives together as brothers and friends! So, as I am adding to the blog, the boys are getting louder and louder. Not bad, because they aren't fighting, just boisterous. I will always remember what Lori (who I used to work with) said her dad would always say (he was a wonderful man, full of heart!) "If they are playing and having fun, no matter the noise level, be thankful they are not sick!" That was not the exact quote, but it gets the point across and keeps things in perspective! Here is a little clip of what they were actually doing: (watch it to the end because Brayton has a little "performance" towards the end) LOL

WE WON!!!

Yesterday was the last game and it was COLD!!! Chris had his guys show up a little early so they could adjust to the cold before the game. There were still a few who couldn't handle the cold and didn't want to play so they left the game. They were also the same ones whose parents signed them up and it wasn't really their idea, so it really wasn't a surprise they didn't want to hang out in the cold. The orange team scored 2 touchdowns and one extra point. The navy team (was undefeated!) didn't score at all. Here are a few pictures from the game.

This one made me laugh ~ I'm not sure what the 2 young refs are doing, but it looks funny!

The team before the game started. We had a few very large blankets and comforters available for the boys to wrap up in and keep warm. The ones using them in this picture are the same ones who didn't want to play.

The boy carrying the ball in this picture is Conner (he has the red sweatshirt on under his jersey) and he was the only one in the huddle who would raise his hand when Chris would ask "Who wants to carry the ball". It was always Conner (and only Conner) who would raise his hand. The others were too cold and afraid they would drop the ball, but Chris made sure to vary the ball carriers anyway.

This picture is a cool one to show how the Pursuit Drill that Chris ran worked great in what the boys learned. Navy has the ball here and the orange team is "picking their angles" instead of running directly towards the ball carrier. They are running towards the ball carrier will be going.

Eli's mom (the QB) commented that she had never been part of a cheering crew like they were for the orange team (Eli is her youngest of 3). We had a lot of fun cheering for our boys and last week I brought our cow bell :~) Chris wasn't really thrilled at first that I had brought it, but it was fun for the boys to have "real" cheerers. LOL

I am disappointed that I didn't get a picture of the boys dumping the water cooler on Chris! They had waited all season for that and then I didn't get a picture. I was trying to make sure that Chris passed out the certificates that we made for the boys. They turned out really well, I thought, and then Chris wrote a little personal note to each of the players and we listed the kids' names on the back of the cert.

Here is the little shrine that Taite set up in his room as a memento of his first year of football. I don't remember how many times he said that he was going to miss football. We already have plans to go watch a teammates hockey team so we'll have something to occupy our time a little!

Last night Chris wanted to have a celebratory supper with a few of our die-hard fans (those that showed up yesterday because it was coooold!). I had everything in place and even had time to run to town quick and that never happens for me! I should've known to watch for a disaster and it occurred when the coffee was brewing. We have never had this happen before, but the coffee grounds and coffee were running all over the counter! In the process of trying to clean the mess up, I ran hot coffee on my thumb and that hurts! I eventually got it all cleaned up and made another pot with no problems ~ not sure what happened with the first pot, but like I said, I think it just had to do with the fact that everything else went so well ~ hehe! As a surprise for Chris, I made Better Than Sex Cake. I found a wonderful recipe on AllRecipes.com and it's always good. When I was done making it, it looked so good, I couldn't resist throwing some candles on it even though there was no reason for them :~)

I need to confess. . .

We had Taite's conference on Thursday afternoon and we found out why they don't have any homework. It's not because they spend all this time in the classroom to get it done, it's because this has all been review so far from 3rd grade. She said Taite is doing fine, but will probably have an "awakening" when things turn from review and he will have to actually study which is a totally new concept for the kids this age. Things aren't as bad as they first seemed in his classroom (again, Chris would like to rub in that he was right, but doesn't ~ :D)

The Book Fair

On Friday, I helped out at the book fair at school. They always have a book fair during conferences. There was a time slot of 10 - 12 that needed filling because the person who had signed up for it had a sick child. I decided to surprise Bray by having lunch with him after my shift was over. I ran into Taite when he went to lunch and had to disappoint him to let him know that I was only having lunch with Bray, but promised to come back another day to dine with Taite. The book fair was slow when Taite was eating, so I went out to chat with him. He was sitting at the very end of the table and had 3 boys to his right (I only recognized one), across from him was his friend Isaac and next to Isaac was Paige and another boy on the other side of Paige. My first reaction to this was how comfortable Paige was sitting with the boys and vise-versa with the boys. I know a little about Paige and what I know is that she has 2 sisters, but she must prefer to keep up with the boys. :~) In Phy-Ed, they have a goal each year to run and not walk for like 12 minutes or something and Paige blew everyone's time, even the boys', because she was training for it at recess! Remember Paige's name, she'll probably be in the Olympics some year! :~) Anyway, that wasn't the point of my story. I joked around with Taite and chatted with the kids sitting near him. I was surprised to find how even at this age, they were still looking for an opportunity to interact with someone's mom. In the younger grades, you get random things "My mom works at _____" just so you'll give them some attention, but at Taite's age, they don't throw out the random things, but still just want to interact. Kind of cool. So, anyway, still not to the point of my story. The boy who was sitting next to Taite at the table, I didn't recognize. He joined in on the conversation to say he gets into trouble :~) and Paige added that it was on the 1st day! LOL After school, I asked Taite who that kid was and he told me the name and it was a boy on the white football team. This isn't a big surprise, but my first thought was "he looks so normal" ~ isn't that terrible??? This boy tried to rub it in when white beat orange in the game, but Chris told Taite to only say "Good game", over and over. This ended his boasting, but to even come to school and think to say that, is disappointing. As a mom, I am more emotional about this sort of thing and Chris will remind me that they are 4th grade boys, so this isn't so surprising :~) I guess it will only get worse and we can only stress to Taite to keep his good sportsmanship attitude!

Before I forget (to extend the first part of that last "story")

If any of you are ever near the school during the day around 11-12, please go and have lunch with the boys! It will be free ~ they just have to use their code to pay. :~) The food isn't bad either and you get 3 things to choose from.

The Last Practice

We are getting down there! It was kind of sad (when I could think about something other than the cold) to think about the end of 4th Grade Football for Taite. I will miss all of these little boys and their spirit for playing football and I am not even the coach! This is my favorite picture from tonight and I think it sums this season up perfectly. Taite is on the left and he's chatting with Noah #25, who is from Kasson. These two do not go to school together and didn't even know each other a little over a month ago, but are teammates and now friends. I love that!

Tonight Chris was the most relaxed about practice that he has been this whole time. It had to do with the fact that he had his mind made up before going to practice that he wanted the boys to remember to have fun. So, they ran some drills, but they were made more fun. The board drill they ran periodically this year, was turned into a challenge. Kind of a King of the Hill type challenge. If one boy won the drill, then he got to 'stay on the board' and challenge the next boy. To stay with the mood of the night, Coach Stemper and Coach Heinz demonstrated the goal of the drill. Chris would want me to point out that Coach Stemper has at least 20 lbs on Chris. :~)


The kids enjoyed the participation of the coaches and hopefully remembering to have fun will not be all that difficult!

Saturday is the very last game and I need to find my winter boots! Tonight I thought that 2 pairs of socks, leggings, jeans, a tank, 2 shirts, vest, hoodie, pullover, scarf, hat and mittens would be enough for practice, but it was not! I need much more for Saturday, so I'm thinking snow pants! I did stock up on hand warmers today at Shopko so we are covered there.

Yesterday I think I was nominated for mom of the year (okay, I made that up). It does make me feel good to have a warm breakfast for the boys before school, especially when they aren't late for the bus afterwards! I tried a new recipe yesterday and they were soooo good! Ham, Egg and Cheese Cups. They are like little mini egg bakes and were really good (did I mention that?). We had orange juice to go with the eggs and everyone was full before school. I am truly blessed to have the opportunities to be with the boys in the mornings before school. No matter how rushed we are, we always say our "love you"s and wish each other a "good day". I will miss that if I have to work elsewhere, but remember everyday how blessed we are.

Well, gotta run, Jay is on :D

Why do these things happen to me?

So, last night I was going to clean just the toilet (yes, the whole bathroom could've used it, but I was doing a quick thing) in our master bath. Chris was talking to me (of course) when the end of the toilet brush thing came off. Normally this just means, I snap the scrubby thing back on the stick-thing and keep cleaning. Since Chris was right there, that's not how it went. . . That stupid foam/scrubby thing went up over the trap in the toilet, so a quick simple cleaning session turned into a total toilet overhaul! Chris emptied the toilet and had to take it up off the floor and empty it more into the tub to get out the scrubby thing! He was not a happy camper because he had been gone all day and just wanted to sit and relax by watching a little FB on TV. Oops! Not only was I trying to help with the "situation" I had created, but Taite had found a Pokemon game for his Gameboy (will also work on their DS's) he really wanted on Ebay and I was trying to bid on that too. The only problem? Taite had found this on Grandma's computer when we were over there so she was also bidding on the same item! She did end up winning it and told Taite she would help him pay for it :D All, in all, the night turned out okay and Chris woke up today in a good mood and still loving me, so it's not so bad! LOL

I know this is long overdue.

Hey!

I'll try to catch you up with a quick one here today. . . (that sounded like a sports announcer ~ funny)

Thursday there was no FB practice because of the rainy weather. Chris commented when we were finishing up with supper that practice should've been fine and immediately after that, a crack of thunder sounded. Guess not!

We watched a movie and it was really good ~ August Rush.

Saturday brought more rainy, cold weather and the game was interesting. Chris had kids who normally want to play, complaining about the cold and then those that don't want to play walking off the field saying "I can't handle this anymore" ~ what? There were some very poor calls (one on us was a block in the back and after watching the video, the kid probably didn't even know he was touched in the back! It wasn't like he went down or anything and this call set up a safety ~ more like our center stepped on the foot of the QB and he fell down, but no one touched him from the other team, they just blew the whistle and called it a safety), very cold players, but technically, they WON!!! Both teams scored a touchdown, but only the orange team made their extra point (in this league, they can only do conversions, there is no field goal kicks). In the rules, this league does not give points for safety's (not that this one was a valid call. . .), but I'm sure in school tomorrow, there will be those on the white team who argue that there are points given for a safety. Whatever! We're calling it a win, the orange team felt like it was a win and the white team was hanging their heads like it was a win. I recorded the whole game this time, but was almost done when I realized that the tape might not have been in the right spot (FF past last weeks game). After talking to Chris (he put the camera away) he had rewound the tape to play it and record onto a DVD, so I had recorded over last weeks game. . . (I would've had the tape past last weeks game and he assumed I would pick a new tape ~ kind of like if I charged the batteries and put them in the camera bag, I would put one on the camera so it was ready to pull out and start filming) :~)

Today Chris helped my dad bring his "new" (used, but newer than what he had) combine home. It was quite a ways away, so it took them all morning and part of this afternoon to get it home and then they spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning it (I could go into icky details, but I won't!).

The boys and I went to church and then to the mall. We had some jeans we got for Bray for School that I wanted to exchange for darker colors (the trendy colors look good at the time, but I still like the darker colors for hiding stains). I don't know why I shop at Gap because I hate their return policy. It's only 30 days and for seasonal stuff I can understand, but for jeans??? She exchanged them (yes, the 30 days also applies to exchanges too) this time, but I need to remember for next time that they won't do it. I seriously think they need to rethink that one a little, but I'm sure they won't do it because of me! (I had printed off a coupon for 30% off this weekend and looked at their jeans, but I am not going to spend $60 on a pair, so I'm rather certain they won't change the return policy because of me LOL).

When Chris came home and showered after helping dad all day, we went back to their house for supper (the boys and I had been there, hanging out this afternoon). Mom was watching Josey today for Steph and Brian and I was in house when Chris walked in and I'd forgotten that sometimes Josey doesn't like him. She looked at Chris and had the biggest lip sticking out that I've ever seen, then she starts to cry a real pitiful cry like he is o-so mean to her! Big tears are shed and she looks away, calms down and then looks at him again and it starts all over! We laughed and laughed :~) (well, Chris wasn't doing so much laughing and mom was trying to calm Josey, but Taite, Bray and I were laughing hehe) I don't know what her deal is, but after having a bottle and feeling full, then she didn't cry or stick her lip out when she'd spot Chris.

Chris is counting the days (2 practices and 1 game) until he is done with football. I will miss it, but he seriously won't miss baby-sitting some of the boys. Seriously, if you have children, do NOT send them out for a sport to teach them aggression! We watched the video of the one boy and when the ball is hiked, he runs through the line (doesn't matter if we have the ball or not) as fast as he can, waving his arms like he is swimming and doesn't touch a soul. . . Not at ALL sure what he is doing! Oh, and if you sign your kids up for a sport to see if they like it or not, at least tell them they have to give it their effort. I understand not wanting them to quit, but as a parent, you are always watching your own kid, so you would see when he run/swims. . . Coach him a little so he knows that's not right because you would know how to get him to understand the best (if the coach doesn't speak his language). Next week is a really tough team and their one coach has been teaching this age for 4 years, so they are very well coached. Wish us luck!!