Halloween: Part 1

Instead of doing a really long blog about Halloween at the end of the week, I decided to break it down a little bit. Here is a little bit about our Halloween fun so far.

The boys are still recovering from the flu. They are finally all fever free! Can I hear an AMEN!?! I feel like I have had that thought before, but this time the fever has been gone for almost 36 hours- so I think we are safe this time. When they were at their sickest their fever seemed to come and go. Although their fevers are gone, they are still not back to normal. They are still napping and coughing and not eating quite right.

I have been trying to make this a fun Halloween week. I made tortellini with ghosts one night.

Tonight I made Mummy Dogs.

Something festive. Earlier this week, I also decided to make sugar cookies. I thought it would be fun to decorate some Halloween cookies. Which in hindsight was NOT a good idea- as 1. the boys were sick and 2. we ate more dough than cookies. I seemed to wallow in cookie dough this week- as I made 2 batches. Hmmm....note to self: next time boys are sick DON'T make cookie dough as I will eat the majority of it! Stress + Cookie Dough = Katrina Happy. Fat- but happy.
Anyway the boys eventually did get some cookies to decorate.

Alex
Zach

When I took these pictures, Josh was at his worst. That is why there aren't any pictures of Josh eating or decorating a cookie. Alex was at his best. He decorated two and ate them down. He had a great time. Zach decorated one then was finished. He didn't even want to eat it. We saved his cookie to eat later. Josh was asleep on the couch.

Zach, again. (but if you look in the background on the couch Josh is sleeping)

As the days went by and Josh perked up a little, he got to decorate his cookies too. So we seemed to have decorated cookies ALL week!! I am thankful that Alex is feeling good. He has been a great help cleaning up all the sprinkles that fell to the floor while protecting himself from germs. :)
Tonight our plan was to carve our pumpkins. That didn't work out. Josh is fast asleep on the couch. Matt and I decided we didn't want to carve numerous nights so we are delaying those plans for later.

Sickies = Big Bummer for Me!

It is amazing how much of this stuff we have used this week!!!

Well, this week has been NO FUN! It is hard having sick kiddos. Alex started to get sick on Sunday and fell apart Monday evening. Sunday he was a little off and most of Monday he was ok. He had a little fever but nothing too serious. Then Monday evening he was running a higher fever and was coughing so much he was throwing up. It came on so suddenly that Matt and I weren't sure if we should rush him to an urgent care center or wait till morning to call the pediatrician. I decided to call the doctor's office to get their advice. I talked to a pediatrician on call and she heard him cough and thought it sounded like croup. Croup isn't fun, as it is at it worse at night. So we spent a lot of time in a steamy bathroom. I am hoping my pores look better with all that steam! ;)

Alex

The hardest part of the week has been that I feel like I am pulled in three different directions. Alex was really sick and needed me. But at that point Zach and Josh were fine and needed different things from me. I tried to think of things to keep them busy so I could get other things done. Last week they had gone to a pumpkin patch and brought home small pumpkins. I didn't have the right kind of paint on hand so I got out my Sharpies (I know- what was I THINKING!) and let them color their pumpkins. They had a great time. Even Alex did it.

Josh, Alex, Zach

Zach
Josh

Alex

The next morning we awoke to Alex with a 102 fever and Zach with a 104.6 fever!! That was scary!! I got medicine into both of them and rubbed Zach down with a cool washcloth and gave him a bath. Luckily, it brought the fever down. This day was a little harder cause I had one really sick kid, one sorta sick kid and a healthy kid. Josh wanted to play and do things. Grandma and Granddad had brought over a bag of Halloween stuff (like stickers, paper, spider rings, etc) for the boys to play with. One of the things in the bag was pumpkin garland. Josh had a great time cutting that apart and then discovered that they stuck to the wall. He spent quite a bit of time decorating the house. When he was done our house was VERY festive!! In fact, when Matt came home for lunch his words were "Wow! This is quite a festive place!" That is how many pumpkins were on the wall. They were EVERYWHERE! Kitchen, bathroom, TV room, living room, dining room- everywhere! I was a least smart enough to not let him decorate upstairs or in the basement!

Its now the end of the week. Today Josh is running the 104 temp. It was really only a matter of time before he got it.

Josh

I took Alex to the doctor today- as he is still running the 102 temp and complained this morning that it hurt to breathe. Sigh. Shouldn't he have been the first one to get better? The diagnosis- the boys all have the flu. (We were worried that Alex may have pneumonia- but he doesn't.) They weren't tested for H1N1- as there isn't a point to it. They don't do anything differently with H1N1 than they would regular flu. Zach seems to be on the upswing. He hasn't had a fever for 24 hours! YEA!! So far Matt and I are still ok. Knock on wood!!! Tomorrow I have class all day and I am just praying that if I have to get sick too- that I don't get sick until after class- as I have a midterm tomorrow. Thank God its open notes because I haven't studied or researched ANYTHING this week. I have been busy taking care of sick boys.

There have been a few good moments. I have really enjoyed snuggling on the couch with all three boys and watching a movie. Its been nice having that down time. Or at least it was til our TV started to go out!! This just isn't our week at all!!

New Hobby: Glass Fusion

I have found a new hobby that I am really enjoying!! Its called glass fusion. If you have hear of the Peggy Karr plates you can purchase- its along those lines. Its pretty cool. You get to play with glass and create new and exciting things. I asked a friend of mine (Melani) if she would like to do it with me. Mel is creative as well and likes to try new things too. We enrolled in a class called "Girls Night Out" at Adventures in Art.
We weren't quite sure what we were getting into, but since we both like trying new things we were in! It was really fun! In this class we were able to create either a pendant, earrings, or a key chain. We could do more-for a fee. That night I made

a key-chain

and a pendant.

If I remember correctly, I think Mel made 3 pendants. I think we both learned a lot that night as to how glass fuses together and what it would look like after it was in the kiln. The colors and textures change a little. I really like my key-chain, but my pendant is just ok. We both agreed that next time we would do things a little differently.

Speaking of next time....we took a plate or bowl making class. We both made plates. The hardest part is coming up with the idea. Its a lot of playing around. There were a couple of experienced ladies there that printed out some pictures to put under their piece of glass to create their plate. One lady created a poinsettia and another a bird. They were pretty cool. I, however, didn't have a guide so I started to play with shapes and textures of glass.

There are a lot more types of glass than I realized. I thought glass was glass. Its not. They had this really cool "spaghetti glass" that you could stick into fire and bend it to how you wanted. They had glass that looked flat, like pebbles, sand, and kosher salt. And all of those things come in many different colors!! Its overwhelming with all the choices you have. I played with the different types of glass and moved things around awhile and came up with this:

This is before the firing. So far-I like it. I hope that I will still like it after the firing. We will see next week when I get to pick it up, as it takes about 60 hours in the kiln. Next month, Mel and I are going to try making Christmas Ornaments!! Very excited about that! We are also excited that our teacher said we don't need classes anymore. We should just come into the open class to create. That makes us pros- right Mel? :) hee hee

Fun Family Afternoon?

Matt, Alex, Josh and Zach ready for the movie to begin

So, yesterday afternoon Matt and I thought it would be fun to take the boys to a movie. Matt left work a couple of hours early, we picked the boys up from preschool, and went to a 3:40 movie. We decided to see Where the Wild Things Are. We have the book at home and have read it quite a few times. It isn't their favorite book, but I would say they like it. When they saw the preview for the movie they made the connection to their book and were excited to see it. Matt had read mixed reviews about the movie but we decided to try it out. We thought it would be something fun for our family to do. At first they were really excited.

Josh with ticket stub

But then the movie started. The reviews that said this movie isn't for little kids was right on. It wasn't like it was inappropriate, it was just really boring for them. It was also a heavy movie. The subject matter was WAY over their heads. So then Matt and I needed to bribe them to stay sitting and quiet with candy, popcorn, and pop.

Zach drinking all the pop

Zach got his love of diet Pepsi from Matt and I. We don't let the boys drink pop often, but when Zach gets the opportunity, he will CHUG it down. We probably should have left. Just when I was ready to, some kid was into the movie. Matt and I did a lot of yell whispering :)- if you know what I mean. Like- "SIT DOWN" and "SHHHHHH!" etc. I honestly can't give a great review of the movie, as I was trying to make sure my kids didn't disturb the people around us. What I can tell you is, the mother behind us was crying her eyes out when the movie ended. Which made me wonder how much of the story line I missed! :) Sure it was sad, but I didn't think it was THAT sad. But then again I am not really a crier so that might make a difference too. Who knows?!? Needless to say, the five of us were a little grumpy when we left the theater. :) Alex said he never wants to go to that movie again. Josh and Zach never want to see the "loud big TV" again. We had a discussion that not all movies are good ones, the enjoyment is being with the family doing something fun. Don't know if they bought that or not, but by the time we got home we were all happy. Except Zach, as he had a stomach ache from chugging the pop and eating a ton of candy and popcorn! :) Sigh....oh well we tried. Can't win them all right? :)

Triplets, Twins, a singleton, and SNOW!?!

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for us. In the morning, our friends Nick and Lisa came over with their twins to play a little bit. Nick is leaving for basic training on Wednesday, so it will be the last time we will see him for a while. We had to say our goodbyes before he left.

Walker and Jocelyn 10 mo.

It was a house full of multiples. Chaotic- but great.

Jocelyn and Lisa (left) Nick and Walker(right)

My boys had a great time playing with the little ones. They played trucks.

Jocelyn and Walker had fun crawling over Zach, like he was a speed bump.

They also had fun rolling balls across the kitchen floor.

Alex really wanted to hold the "babies". At 10 months, they would rather be on the move than to be held. Walker was a good sport and let Alex hold him for a few seconds.

It was a nice morning. Here is a group picture. Twins and Triplets.

Josh Walker Alex Zach Jocelyn

I fed the boys lunch and then they were off to preschool and I took a minute to relax and then did some homework.That evening we had Drew, Katie and Andi over. Andi is one month old. As you can see Zach was very excited for them to arrive.

I made homemade chicken noodle soup and we poured it over mashed potatoes. It was YUMMY!! Here are two of my mashed potato taste testers: (Alex, as usual, wanted nothing to do with it. He is such a picky eater!!!)

Zach and Josh

Our guests arrived! Yea!

Andi

Everyone is really excited to see Andi....and Katie and Drew too, of course! ;)

We all got a chance or two to hold Andi.

Katie brought cupcakes for dessert. She is a great baker!! They were so good that the boys were licking the cupcake wrappers clean!!! Now THAT is a good cupcake!!!

Josh

It was a really great night!! It was also a fantastic day, but we were beat after a full day like that. We were all asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows!

When we awoke the next morning, there was SNOW!! What?!?! Where did our fall go? Did I miss that? We got about 6 inches.

The boys were thrilled!! I headed to class to research stuff in reading (booo! hiss!) while the rest of the fam got to play in the snow! They shook snow off the bushes. (Zach, Alex, Josh)

Alex made a snow angel.

And these boys will shovel about anything if you let them!

After playing in the snow, what could be better than coming in to a cup of hot cocoa?