Fall Post

Well, we're in the thick of Autumn. There are lots of nice things about Fall--pretty leaves, crisp apples, Halloween. But to be honest, the first thing I think of about Fall is simply it means we're getting closer to winter and cold weather. And I can't stand winter. However, I'm trying to keep a positive spirit about the season. So, I'm focusing on the good things. We've got one week 'til Halloween. The boys are getting excited. I've carried on a Halloween tradition from my childhood. Every night during the last week before Halloween, my mom would come into our rooms after we had gone to bed but before we had fallen asleep. She would have a lit candle and would say in a spooky voice how many days 'til Halloween. Adam and Matt love this. Tonight is the first night of the countdown. I haven't reminded them about it, so they'll be surprised this evening. Here's a photo of the scary face I made for our front door. The boys think it's really cool because it's scary. The pumpkins are the ones we grew in our garden. The other two photos are of the boys helping with yardwork this morning.

Our Weekend

Last week, Robert got really sick. I took him to the dr. on Wednesday because he had started coughing up blood. They thought he might have swine flu so they did a flu test on him. Thankfully, it came back negative so he could take antibiotics. Initially we had plans to leave on Thursday for Kansas City to visit Rob's parents but we weren't sure if he would feel better or if we would go at all. By Thursday evening, he was feeling a lot better. I even let him sleep back in our room. He had been quarantined to the guest room in the basement, so we could avoid his germs. By Friday morning, he hadn't had a fever for more than 24 hours and he felt up to the trip. So, we quickly packed and got on the road in two hours. We stopped after a couple of hours for a break and some lunch. We pulled into Wendy's parking lot and Adam said, "I'm going to throw-up". We quickly opened and the door and he quickly did his business. I think he had just gotten carsick because he still had an appetite and wanted to eat lunch. He ended up eating 11 nuggets, oranges and a drink. We made it up to Kansas City (6 hours away) without anymore excitement. Saturday we did some shopping and had a nice bday dinner for Robert. We went to church on Sunday and saw old friends. We got a late start home--didn't leave 'til 1:30pm. Again, on the way home, Adam started feeling carsick. Thankfully, nothing came to fruition. We drove a few hours and stopped for dinner. By the time we got back on the road, it was 6:30-7pm and was getting dark. The last 110-120 miles we have to drive on a small state highway. It is desolate, has no shoulder and very seldom any traffic. We had 50 miles to go and BAM--a deer ran into our van. The driver's door, front panel, and headlight are all dented. In fact, the door will only open up about 8-9 inches without resistance. Thank goodness I'm not a big person. We have had the worst luck the past four months with moving objects and our van. Our car accident in June resulted in a $130 monthly increase for our car insurance. We haven't called yet about the deer because we're afraid what that will do to our monthly premium. Dumb deer!

What a Life!

Today I was thinking about the life of a 4 year old. They've got it good. They're old enough not to have to take naps, don't need to wear diapers, can get themselves a snack, don't have to go to school, and pretty much get to play all day. My 4 year old spent the day watching a little bit of Spongebob, played with Play-Doh, had lunch prepared for him, then made chocolate chip cookies, played with Mom whenever and whatever he wanted, watched a movie, played with his brother, had dinner prepared for him, and now gets to have someone read to him. It's like a permanent vacation.

Birthday Celebration....?

Yesterday was Robert's birthday. I won't say how old he is now, but the "less-than-a-year-to-enter-his-fourth-decade" countdown has begun. He took the day off, lounged around, watched TV, took some naps........because he was SICK. What a bummer-being sick on his birthday. We had an abbreviated version of a birthday party. No special birthday dinner--just chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. No birthday photos--he wasn't "beautified". And no birthday cake--at least for him. The boys and I enjoyed it. He finally felt better today and had a piece after lunch. Some type of flu bug has been going around here. Matt woke up at 4:30 this morning with a fever. He spent the morning in bed, when he wasn't throwing up. Adam finally felt better yesterday and went back to school. He had been sick since Friday. He said half of his class was absent yesterday. I haven't gotten sick yet and hopefully I won't. However, I'm exhausted from taking care of all of them and cleaning and disinfecting the house everyday.

A Bit of a Blur

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur--the feeling of "where has the time gone?". These are the random things I remember from the past 14 days. Grandma & Grandpa Leonard came down from Cheyenne the last weekend in September. The boys were excited to show them our 'new' (almost a year old) McDonalds. We also went to a craft show in the area and had a picnic afterwards. The previous post told about all the stinkin' repairs we've had lately. The van is back in the shop today, getting the final repair. Rob and I took the vacuum apart, but alas, it is still not working properly. It sucks up the dirt; it just doesn't go in the canister. So where is it going? Hmmm, the mystery of the day. Adam came home early Friday afternoon with a fever. He still has a fever, a bit of a cough and sore throat, and he threw up this morning. So, is it swine flu? I don't know. I know he has the symptoms of swine flu except for the high fever. His has been between 100-101, and it tends to come and go. Is it the regular flu? I don't know. I took him in 10 days ago and he got the FluMist nasal spray. We figure we'll just let it run it's course and pray the rest of us don't get it. I cut my hair a couple of weeks ago--cut 5 inches off. Now it's a bob. I was just tired of the length and it was so fried from the summer heat and swimming, so it was time to chop it. My watch has a pedometer on it, so I'm anal about counting my steps everyday. Last Tuesday I had 45,000 steps. That's my record so far. My watch also tells me my average mph for the day, how many calories I burned and how many miles the steps total up to be. Last Tuesday I walked over 25 miles. It was just one of the days, when I never sat down. I went with Matt's preschool class on their first fieldtrip. It was a "B" fieldtrip. We went to the Beauty salon, the Barbershop, the Bank, the store full of Balls, and the zoo to see the Baby animals. It was fun but definitely tiring. So, how's that for a random post.

The Broken, the More Broken, and the Most Broken

So, we're finally back on-line. Last Friday was a bit of a doosey. It was a cold morning so I drove Adam to school. As he's hopping out, the 'check engine' light came on. When I got back home, I went to check my email but I couldn't get the internet to open up. After a few frustrating minutes I figured out the wireless router was blown and no longer working. I moved on to vacuuming. And, you guessed it! That wasn't working either. So, the vacuum is still not working. We bought a new router and have the internet again. And, the van is going into the shop tomorrow to figure out what's wrong. Serenity now!