Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! We survived the cold, thankfully no rain or snow. The kids had a great time and are a bit hopped up on sugar. Hopefully they will sleep tonight once the sugar low hits :) Thanks to Beth, Brandon and Lindsay for a super fun evening and great company. Here are some pictures. Sarah didn't actually trick or treat, but she sure did look cute dressed up anyways. I even dressed up poor Jazz this year, it's hard to tell in the pictures but he is a karate master. Enjoy.

The Note

Well, for those of you who haven't heard, Alex's toe is officially broken. I knew it could not be good news when we got back from bowling last night and had missed not one, but two calls from the pediatrician. When I got a hold of them this morning they informed me that he had indeed broken his toe. Good news is, he doesn't need a cast, just some tape for now and a follow up x ray. No big deal. We can so handle this kind of broken bone :) So, we sent Alex off to school as usual today since they didn't give us any restrictions for him to follow I figured I didn't really need to inform the school. Well, apparently, Alex took the liberty to get himself excused from phy ed until his toe is healed. He comes in the door after school today and the first thing he says is, "Mom, you forgot to send a note". Now, with 2 kids in school, I will admit it's very difficult to keep track of everything they bring home and I figured I had misplaced a field trip note of some kind. So, I asked him, "A note for what?" Alex: "Well, a note that says I don't have to go to gym class, of course" Me: "Um, you are going to gym class, no reason you can't" Alex :" Well mom, my toe hurt really bad today and I told my gym teacher I had broken it and I couldn't participate in gym until it was better. The gym teacher made me show him it because he didn't believe me. Then he sent me to the nurse and said to tell you that you need to send a note." Couple problems with this scenario. 1) if you are feeling bad for the poor kid whose mean mom made him play in gym class with a broken toe- let me just paint a picture for you :) Just after this conversation, Alex went outside to play. He was seen scaling his hockey net and using a lightsaber as leverage to launch himself off of said net onto a table. From the table he then did a rolling jump into the leaves. This was repeated over and over for about half an hour. I somehow doubt the activities in gym class are more taxing on his broken toe than that whole performance. Problem 2) Alex has some kind of addiction to the school nurse. I can't get that kid to stop going there. Frankly, I'm getting tired of having to ask him how many times he went to the nurse each week. This is not going to help that problem. Dilemma 3) Should I send a note, and if so, what should the note say- "Dear Gym Teacher- my kid is a hypochondriac and is addicted to the nurse- please do not let him go there. If he whines about his toe, ignore him" Don't think I'll win any parenting awards for that. In the end, I think I'll just stuff him full of Ibuprofen and send him on his way.

In other news, Anna has informed us that she will not get swine flu because she doesn't really like pigs and she has decided not to play with them. Not sure where the occasion would have come up for her to actually play with pigs anyways, but I'm super glad I don't need to get her the H1N1 shot now :)

And so, life continues, one crazy day at a time. Chris and I aren't really sure whose running this show anymore but we are both certain it isn't either one of us.

SWEET- I got to see my BONES!!!!

Ahhh.....Fall- pumpkins, hay rides, apples, leaves and of course, broken feet :) Ok, so the last part is not usually a true part of fall, but at our house it seems nothing is "usual". First, let me say, it isn't actually broken but both the Pediatrician and I were ready to put money on us needing a trip to an ortho surgeon. Fortunately, it looks much worse than it truly is. Alex was wrestling around with Sarah and somehow managed to throw himself off the couch and caught just his baby toe on the end table. Ok, so no big deal, I figured he probably cracked it pretty good, but who hasn't done that before, right? Except that by last night it was a pretty shade of purple and black and the bruising and swelling went halfway down his foot. So, we were at urgent care before it opened. Alex, of course, thought this was the coolest thing ever because he got to see his insides on the computer screen. I think he was hoping it was broken so he could have a cast and use crutches. I'm sure this novelty would have worn off after a few hours. We are just happy it wasn't actually broken. The radiologist hadn't actually read it yet but the pediatrician said she looked really hard (because she was sure it was broken) but could not find anything. Phew. Here are a couple pictures of it- they didn't show up very well, but trust me, it does not look good. And, since I haven't posted any pictures of Sarah lately, I thought I'd throw a couple in here as well. Happy Fall :)

Lessons Learned

It has been an interesting weekend at our house. Sarah has not been sleeping for about the past 2 weeks, getting up several times a night, sometimes crying for up to an hour and a half in the middle of the night. We attributed it to her just being difficult since her ears are fine and she hasn't been sick. I thought she might be teething, but the top teeth didn't even seem close to coming in yet. She only has the bottom 2, so logically the next in line should be the top 2. Well, tonight, I was brushing her teeth (which is quite an event in itself since you practically need the jaws of life to keep her mouth open) when I noticed she now has a third tooth on the bottom. Go figure. Out of order, but I guess teeth don't know what order they are supposed to come in, right? Hopefully sleep will return, especially for Anna who has had to spend many nights on the couch to escape Sarah's tantrums.

Alex has learned a few lessons himself today. This morning he was taking a shower when all the sudden he started screaming, "Mom, come quick, I'm BLEEDING!" Well, sure enough he was bleeding. When I asked him how a chunk of skin seemed to be missing from his knee, he said, "I was kneeling down and there must have been glass in here". Hmmm...I don't think so. So, I asked him, "Did you use my razor?" Alex said, "Well, I think it fell off the shelf and cut me". So, needless to say, Alex will not be shaving his legs again anytime soon. After he was dried off and I was trying to fix his hair, I noticed that a large portion of his bangs were, indeed, missing. Granted, he does need a haircut, but I wasn't really thinking of letting him do this himself. Oh well, guess I'm just glad picture day has come and gone already.

Never a dull moment around here :)

A day in the life of a 14 month old....

Sarah is a busy little girl. When she is old enough to read this, I thought she may appreciate a summary of what her typical day was like when she was 14 months old.

6:45 Ok....I'm awake...where is everybody??? I must scream at the top of my lungs until they come to get me.

6:46 Clearly not screaming loud enough, I now must throw all of my stuff out of my cage.

6:47 Hey- you- over in the bed telling me to be quiet- why don't you get up and let me out of here????

6:50 Well- finally- there is that mom person, I must continue to scream and cry until she gets me out of here just in case she thought she could try and lay me back down.

6:51 Alright, new diaper time. After she gets this wet one off of me, I am going to make my break for it. Ok...here I go, screaming must commence and I must twist around and try to muscle my way out of here.

6:52 Damn, didn't work, guess I'll wear this dumb diaper again.

6:55 Ok, food time. I love this part. As soon as mom puts me in my chair I will immediately start banging on the tray and hollering. This makes her go faster. Ah....milk and oatmeal, yum.

7:00 It seems I can't get out of this chair yet. Mom has given me those round crunchy treats that I like so much. Ok, I'll sit here and eat. Oh, here comes the dog- he looks very hungry. One for me, one for Jazz, one for me, one for Jazz.....

7:15 Finally, I am let out of the chair. Now I must scream and beg for more food while Alex and Anna try to eat their breakfast. Oh- yogurt- Alex let me have a little taste, now I will stand by his chair and holler at him continuously until he feeds me. I love my brother.

7:30 Bath time. I'm taking a bath with Anna today. Yipeee- I get to splash water all over her. I have learned to crawl into the bathtub by myself. Someone keeps shutting the door though so I don't get to do this very often.

7:50 Time to get dressed. Again, I will squirm and wrestle while mom tries to pin me down and dress me. Boy, she is strong. Guess I'll wear this stupid looking outfit with the cat on it. Why must they make me look so ridiculous? She really shouldn't have bothered with the socks because as soon as she lets me go, I will be taking these off and shoving them in the first thing I see.

8:15 Oh yes- Anna left our bedroom door open again. I now proceed to take out all of the clothes from my dresser and bring them to mom. She is trying to do something in the kitchen. I'm such a big helper!

8:45 time for Alex and Anna to leave. I will help by taking all of their stuff and hiding it in various places around the house.

9:00 I have the house to myself. Now, where is that dog. I must chew on his bone and torment him by waving it in front of his face. Damn, mom took it away already.

9:10 time for the morning carbon monoxide test. When I push the button on this little white box in the wall, it screams louder than me! Then I scream and cry and the dog whines. Mom comes and shuts it off and mumbles something about how I never seem to learn.

9:30 Nap time. Ok, paci and soft pink blankey- where are you? We must turn on the sleep sheep and snuggle into our cage.

12:00 Ok- I'm awake and still trapped in this cage. HELLOOOOO!! Oh good, there's dad. Get me out of here!

12:15 Clean diaper time again, repeat previous routine.

12:20 LUNCH- yum yum. I love to suck on my food and then spit it out, spread it all over my tray and then lick it up like a dog. Boy, this is fun.

12:45 Ok- while I was napping, daddy left his glass of water on the end table. Here I come, water. Oh- that was cold! Now mommy is coming with a towel and mumbling something about how I create more laundry than anyone she knows. Oh well, at least I don't have to wear the dumb outfit with the cat anymore. Onto the one with the giraffe- so much better.

1:00 Ok, someone forgot to put up the gate to the kitchen, I love this cupboard full of toys. Even better is it is right next to the bowl of dog water. I think I'll help by rinsing them all off in the water.

1:10 Busted- out of the kitchen I go. That's ok, seems like daddy forgot to shut the snack cupboard, I'll just take out a few snacks for me and the dog.

1:15 Sorry Jazz- we weren't fast enough, they have taken them away again.

1:20 Ok, I guess I'll play with my toys for awhile.

1:21 All done- onto better things. Oh, here's mommy's cell phone, wonder who I should call today?

1:25 I'm so proud of myself- I can climb onto my rocking chair all by myself. Ooops, over I go, why does my head seem to hurt all the time???

1:35 Daddy is in the kitchen banging around pots and pans. I want to join him, but these dumb gates are too high. Instead I will just stand at the gate shaking it and screaming as loud as I can. If that doesn't work, I will shove all of my toys through the bars on the gate.

2:00 Cartoons- what are those? Ok, I've lost interest

2:01 Nap time again. Good thing because I am getting tired!

3:30 Ok, up again- let me out of this cage!

3:35 Diaper changing- repeat above.

3:40 Snack time. I think today I should like a bowl of small round crunchy treats so I can leave a trail of them all over the house. Jazz really likes snack time. I like it too- when you step on the treats they make a cool sound and the powder that sticks to your feet feels funny.

4:00 Ok, Alex and Anna are home. I will stand at the door and holler at them until they come in. Then I will go through their backpacks and rip up all the hard work they have done today.

4:30 Alex and I are playing shooting. I smack Alex in the face with my toy gun. I am really good at this. Oh look- someone left the bathroom door open- oh yes! Shoot- I'm all wet again and mommy says if I need a new outfit, it's pajamas for me this time.

5:00 Dinner time! During dinner I usually scream the loudest. They try to feed me my food, but I just spit it out and scream unless they feed me their food on their forks. Alex sits next to me. He says I give him a headache.

5:30 Anna wants to play babies with mommy. I want to play with mommy. I follow mommy around crying and pulling on her pants until she picks me up. Ha ha Anna.

6:00 Story time. Alex takes out his book from school and starts reading it. I take it away and try to rip the pages. I always have to get off the couch during story time. Guess I'll see what the dog is doing. Oh- he's eating dinner and someone forgot to put the gate up. Well, I share my food with him, so I'm sure he won't mind. Yummy......oh no, mommy took it away and washed out my mouth.

6:30 Time for pajamas. This is it- this time, they will not stop me. As soon as that diaper comes off, I'm outta here.

6:45 I lost, again. Ok, where is my blankey? Now I get to have this crazy little brush shoved into my mouth and rubbed against those 2 little sharp things in my mouth. My mom is really weird!

7:00 Good night- I am exhausted!!!

Poor Mr. Firsten

This is an appreciation for the poor janitor at Carver school, Mr Firsten. Alex loves to tell us the "worst" part of the school day. Unfortunately for the janitor, it usually involves him. Here is a list of some "exciting" things that have happened in the first grade classroom just this week:

Someone (still not sure if this was Alex or not since he won't tell me who did it) put the pencil in the sharpener eraser side first. This, of course, rendered the sharpener completely unusable and warranted a call to, you guessed it, Mr. Firsten.

Another distress call went out when the kids thought it would be funny to use all the bathroom stalls, lock them and then crawl under them. I'm guessing Mr. Firsten didn't fit quite as well when he had to crawl back under them all and unlock them. Plus, the thought of crawling on an elementary school bathroom floor is enough to make me want to use an entire bottle of hand sanitizer.

A stray Pokemon card somehow managed to get shoved down the toilet. Poor Mr. Firsten had to put on gloves and dig it out.

And the absolute worst happened yesterday. One of Alex's classmates threw up inside of their desk. Mr Firsten was summoned to dump out the contents of the desk and clean it all up. This, of course, was the talk of the dinner table last night.

Mr. Firsten, wherever you are- THANK YOU and I'm sorry :)

Sarah does the ELMO

What a cute little monster....oh and Elmo is pretty cute too I suppose : )