Veteran's Day

What a special Veteran's Day/Veteran's season we had this past week! It all started with a sensational Veteran's Day assembly at Sister's school on Tuesday. She was thrilled that both Papa and Daddy (our honorary veterans) were able to attend. After a great speaker, a couple beautiful musical performances, and several super student speeches, they held a roll call of veterans who the students had submitted. Each Veteran's name was written on a star that was placed onto a US flag. They also all came and stood and given a beautiful St. Michael medal with the Guardian Angel on the other side. After all who were present were standing, we all said a prayer over them. It was actually pretty emotional for me to see my father and husband standing next to each other up there.On Wednesday, we enjoyed spoiling our personal veteran with some family swim time, Burger King for lunch and Costco meatlover's pizza for dinner. I had a staff meeting for work Wednesday evening, so Sister's annual Veteran's Day party was postponed until Thursday.

On Thursday evening Sister hosted her annual Veteran's Day dinner party for Papa and Daddy. She does all the planning, but assigns jobs for others. She even wrote a beautiful prayer and speech for it. I've posted them below. What a talented writer she is! She typed them up. I just pasted them into this blog. For entertainment, Sister and Brother both performed some patriotic songs. Brother was especially proud to say the Pledge of Allegiance for us since he learned it in preschool. He followed it with God Bless America just like they do in preschool as well. I'm not sure that he realizes he can stop after the pledge is over. Oh well, all of us loved it and I even got it on video!

I hope all of you were able to recognize the special men and women in your lives who have sacrificed so much so we can have all the freedoms and safety that we do today. God bless America and thank you to all of our military personnel both active and retired!!!

Sister's Speech:

Today, we are here to celebrate the veterans, that have died, are wounded, and are still with us today. Every November 11th, we celebrate the people who are fighting, so we can live. War might end, but the veterans will never be forgotten. We will always think about the kind men and women, who have left their families, just because of the war. The war has divided our families in half, but we pray that one day, all the countries will make peace with each other. They may go scared, but I am sure that they will come back happy. The war is furious, but those men show that anyone can do it, if their brave enough. Today, we show our thanks, our happiness, our peace, to them. That they, men with families, left them to serve in the Army, Marines, Airforth, Navy, etc. They have risked their lives to save us. Us, people, they don’t know, they save. To help us. Veterans know we need a town, a town we truly except. Not a fighting town, a free, and brave town. We always think about the heroes who save us. They do more then save us, they fight for us, in the air, on land, and in the ocean. They have many, many, jobs. you can choose to be a plane, a boat, a sub, or just marching to battle. They are heroes indeed. They do paperwork, clean of ships. They do their job the best they can! The job that is most important is to fight for our beautiful country. They still have fun, like the veteran said, but they also suffer. They can choose to and to not, become a veteran. But they choose to become one, because, like I said, they may go scared, but I’m sure they come back happy. This party we are about to celebrate, is in celebration of them. They are heroes now and forever more. They make us and our country safe, but they might not be saving themselves. Think about it, our heroes who went into war, just to fight for our country. Help us think of them through the party. We will need help. That is what people and families, right this minute, are doing.

Sister's Prayer:

Dear God, May every veteran in your care be safe. Please keep close eyes on young soilders. We trust you and love you. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thankful Turkeys

We've begun a new tradition each November: making Thankful Turkeys. Yes, I completely copied this idea from a friend and fellow blogger. Her turkey was much bigger and more fancy and can be found here: http://princerellas.blogspot.com/2009/11/forgotten-holiday.html

Each evening I ask the kids to name one thing for which they are thankful. It has to be something new each day. For instance, Brother has tried to say the new girl in his preschool class three days in a row now. It only counted the first day. He's doing much better than he did last Lent when we did a similar activity. Every day he would just say, "Everything." Sister, of course, has lots of things to say and writes her own. Then we glue them to the turkeys. By Thanksgiving our turkeys should be covered in thanks!

By the way, the turkey with the pink background is Sister's and the blue is Brother's. Baby Bear doesn't have one since he isn't able to communicate well enough yet. (;

Baby Bear is 15-Months-Old!

Baby Bear turned fifteen-months-old on November 1st. Today was his 15 month appointment. It was a harrowing experience mainly due to the fact that we had to keep waiting for everything. Not a great time of year to have a well-child check with there are so many sick kids needing to see the doctor. Oh well, we survived with a huge fresh lump on the head (new spot this time), a frazzled mom, and two exhausted young men.

Here are Baby Bear's newest stats:
weight- 25 lbs 9.6 oz 65th percentile
height- 2ft 9.25 inches 95th percentilehead- 48.5 cm 84th percentile
He is able to say quite a few words including:
Momma
Dadda
dog
no
hi
bye
night (nigh)
this
there
He loves to copy the sounds Brother makes all the time (whooshes, whistles, crashes, and such). Sister is great at making him happy in the van by singing to him or making silly faces to him. As you can see from some of these photos, he can't stand having the gate closed on him and is always trying to figure out how to overcome it. He's tried climbing under, through the bars, and over. He will just hang there screaming or laughing while I try to get dinner ready every evening. Some of his favorite activities include: emptying containers, putting things into containers (not necessarily the ones they go in), driving trains and cars around, stalking the cat (and laying on him when he catches up to him), walking and running around, climbing everything (especially into Brother's bed where he'll hide among all the stuffed animals), and opening and closing doors, drawers, gates, etc. He is extremely independent and dislikes holding an adult's hand when walking around. He is also very opinionated refusing to eat certain things one day that he'll demand the next. He is funny and extremely social. It is difficult to keep him from going up to everybody around us to say hi.
He is still facing backward in his carseat because he loves to socialize with Brother and Sister who sit behind him in the van. With both the big kids they couldn't wait to face forward, but he seems to like seeing them and if I face him forward he wouldn't have anyone to look at.

All Souls Day

Every Monday morning Sister's school has a short assembly. The grades all take turns leading it. Today was Sister's class's turn. They did a wonderful presentation on the Beatitudes and followed it with a sweet ceremony honoring their loved ones who have died for All Souls Day today. Each student from her class lit a votive and placed it on a prayer table for a deceased loved one. Sister chose our family's matriarch who we lost last November. She was an amazing woman of strength and love. So, today we are saying prayers for our dear, Aunt Sissy. May God bless you and hold in in the palm of His hand!

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.

Trick or Treating

Halloween 2009

For dinner the big kids and I made our traditional mummy dogs and Halloween shaped mac and cheese. As you can see, Baby Bear was pretty upset that he didn't get to help. Next year, Baby Bear!We tried to get a family photo of the whole Toy Story 2 group. There's Buz Lightyear (who was worried that his wings wouldn't show so he kept jumping in front of the whole group, Jessie the cowgirl, Bullseye the horse, one of the military guys, but where is Woody? Sadly, he is being blocked by Buz. It was the only shot that I was able to get with his hat on too. You may notice I have a death grip going on his hands, so who knows if he is smiling or screaming anyway. My Bullseye mask seemed like a good idea when I came up with it late one night. Unfortunately, I couldn't see much of anything in it. Here's one where you can see Jessie and Woody better. Buz is actually smiling, even though he wasn't front and center. Unfortunately, I didn't make it into this one, so Jessie is holding the mask in memory of me. (;Before doing our traditional trick or treating around our neighborhood, we tried out the trunk or treating at the church. Each of the cars was decorated to represent a bible story or a saint. The kids had fun guessing which one. Here we are in front of Joseph and his coat of many colors. As you can see, I gave up on the mask and went for the cowgirl look. It was windy enough that our hats kept blowing off. Spiderman is one of Brother's friends.Here Brother and his friend are in front of Noah's Ark. It looks like Baby Bear is headed over to visit the Archangels and get some more heavenly chocolate.Sister takes Baby Bear down the slide and Brother has fun running around the play ground halfway around the trunks.Here the group is with Saint Peter. See, he even has the keys to Heaven around his waist.After finishing with trunk or treating, we went around our neighborhood. Brother and Sister had to keep reminding Baby Bear not to go into the houses. He seemed to think people wanted his company and was more than willing to check their houses out. He's certainly not shy! After collecting way too much candy, we went over to Memere and Papa's house to use their cable internet to video phone them. It was neat for them to see the kids in their costumes and Baby Bear running around. Then, we went home and watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown like we do every year.

Happy Halloween!!!

Costumes on Parade

Sister's school hosted its annual costume parade today. Siblings often participate too. Brother LOVES to be part of the parade. I think he enjoys it more than many of the students. You'd never know he was a tagalong from the big smile on his face as they marched through the school. We had a very limited time getting Sister's costume on her before the parade began. Still, you can see the wig better in this picture and the white trim I added to the hat.After the parade, all the classes had Halloween parties hosted by the classroom reps. Brother even got a cupcake and Baby Bear snuck a frosted cookie while Mommarrazi was at work getting photos. Suffice it to say, we had a late dinner tonight and Momma was extremely tired after working, then wrestling three kids into their costumes, and finally chasing them around the school.

We're Ready for Halloween!!!

The kids show off their pumpkins prior to carving.
The kiddos and I cleaned out the pumpkins. I'm trying to train them young to make sure they save every seed. Roasted pumpkin seeds are the best part of pumpkin carving! Notice Brother actually did a little cleaning this year. Last year he said it was too yucky. Baby Bear only helped for a little while since he kept chewing on all the pumpkin lids.

Sister made her own designs for Daddy to carve onto her pumpkin this year. She also drew one for Baby Bear's pumpkin.

Brother picked a pirate design for his pumpkin. Here is Superdaddy carefully tracing it out before carving.

We had a trial run with our costumes last night since Sister has a costume parade at school on Wednesday that we all get to participate in. Can you tell we're Buz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie the yodeling cowgirl?

After the picture, I stitched some white threading around Sister's red cowgirl hat to make it look a little fancier. Could you tell she's wearing a wig with long red hair. She loves it! I'll have to have her put it over her shoulder the next time I take pictures so you can see it better since it's braided.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

The flu or not the flu, that is the question.

Last Saturday Brother came down with a temp of 102 and was coughing. I called the nurse line and was told he could have the start of the dreaded Swine Flu. She suggested we keep the family home so we didn't spread the infection. On Sunday, his temp lessened, but he still had the cough. So, I kept him home from preschool on Monday. By Monday his temp was normal.

Baby Bear had an ear appointment on Monday. He failed. They said that he had high pressure in both ears and could have a cold or an ear infection. We were told to keep an eye on him and reschedule the hearing test in three months. They were offering regular flu and the H1N1 flu vaccines while we were at the doctor's office. So, Brother got both (they said as long as he didn't currently have a fever, he could get it). I received the H1N1. Baby Bear and I already received the regular flu shot a few weeks ago when we were there while both Brother and Sister were in school.

When I got home, I called my dh and asked if he could pick up Sister from school on his lunch break and get over there to get them both immunized. It would save us having to wait three hours during one of the flu clinics on a Saturday. He said no problem. Thus, Sister also received both the H1N1 and the regular flu vaccines and my dh received the regular flu shot. He isn't eligible for the H1N1.

On Tuesday evening Sister complained of a headache. I figured she was just tired since she keeps staying up too late reading by her nightlight. That night (Wednesday morning technically) Sister came in and woke us up saying she felt nauseous. Her temp was 103.7 and her head was really hurting her. By 7 AM she had been actively vomiting, couldn't keep anything down including Tylenol, and her temp was 104.8. I called the nurse line and was again told that she had all the symptoms of Swine Flu. She gave me some tips on how to administer the Tylenol so she'd be able to keep it down. Once she was able to keep the Tylenol down, her head began to feel a bit better. By afternoon, she was able to eat some toast and a popsicle. By evening she was able to eat some broth and crackers. Since Sister had been actively vomiting, I didn't take Brother to preschool. Who wants to have a puking child in their van? Not me.

Thursday we were all home. Sister still had a bit of a temp, but it was lower and she was feeling better. Unfortunately, everyone was really stir crazy and we were trapped in the house all day. I tried to have them do different activities, but it was exhausting. Baby Bear was really cranky most of the day. He'd had the signs of a cold (wet cough and green nasal drainage), but that was it. At bedtime his temp was 102.4. I gave him some medicine and he slept fine.

Friday morning, Baby Bear had a temp of 102 again when he first woke up. I gave him some more medicine. I was keeping Sister home from school since she still had a slight temp the day before, though her temp was normal before bedtime. Brother was going to preschool since he still had a cough, but had a normal temp since Sunday. I called the nurse line for Baby Bear. Again I was told it was the Swine Flu symptoms.

Now, mind you, Brother had a dry cough and a low temp. Sister had a painful headache, vomiting, and high temp. Baby Bear had a really wet cough, noisy breathing, and a low temp. How can they all fit the symptoms of Swine Flu??? Skip this. I'm getting this child checked out. I wanted his ears and lungs checked before we hit the weekend when the wait time at Urgent Care is hours and hours.

So, after dropping Brother off at preschool, the other two and I headed over the the doctor's office. The triage nurse said he didn't have a temp, but that could be due to the medicine I'd given him a little while before. After about a forty minute wait (much shorter than several hours) the doctor came in. He said Baby's ears and lungs were clear. It is just a cold. I mentioned Sister's previous symptoms. He laughed and said she probably didn't have the Swine Flu. According to him, the Swine Flu doesn't cause vomiting. There can be slight diarrhea due to the high temperature for several days, but isn't known for nausea or vomiting. He said the symptoms were: severe cough, high temp, and bad headache.

I'm relieved, but confused. Why is it that everyone who is sick lately is being diagnosed with the Swine Flu? One reason, I believe, is that they don't want it to be spread so they aren't actually diagnosing anyone with it. They are just listening to the symptoms and figuring better safe than sorry. That's just my humble opinion.

Either way, we are Swine Flu free and hopefully will stay that way. I'm happy that the kids are doing better and I'm not trapped at home anymore. Next week it's back to our regularly scheduled programing, I hope.

Here are a few photos showing some of the ways we kept ourselves entertained trapped at home all week. I hope your family is staying well!!!

Picking the Perfect Pumpkins

On Friday morning we went to the pumpkin patch. Sister had the day off from school and Brother's preschool was meeting there for their field trip. My dh took the morning off from work to give me a hand with the kiddos. It certainly wasn't the crisp fall day that I would have preferred. Instead, it was pouring down rain. It was the most rain we'd had in a very long time. Baby Bear refused to stand by the "How Tall This Fall" sign. He is such a mover and a shaker now.

Baby Bear loved the goats. He kept going back to them over and over again.Sister's favorites were the kittens. Brother wasn't so sure of petting the animals, even the sleeping ones. Then, they had fun racing through the hay maze. Brother and Sister made it through twice without help. Baby Bear walked almost the whole way through, but kept trying to go down every dead end and then got turned around. So, we finally had to pick him out or we'd be there forever.Baby Bear liked picking up pumpkins and dropping them, so we had to keep a close eye on him to save the pumpkins.Sister went all over to find a BIG pumpkin.I helped Brother pick one since he had trouble making up his mind.Brother on the wagon with some of his preschool friends.Baby Bear and Sister on the wagon after getting our pumpkins.