A Presidential Project

Jacob has been working on a school project that is due tomorrow. We are finally done! He had to pick out a president of his choice then write a 1 page report on that president. Then the fun part... he then had to make his president using a light bulb and a toilet paper roll, put it in a shoe box and decorate! Jacob choose to decorate his box with representations of different facts he learned about his president. Here is the final product! Boy am I glad this is done!

Happy Birthday To Me!

My Birthday is next week and I got an early present! A new camera! There isn't anything wrong with my old one, other than it's HUGE (and 5 years old) and I wanted one that was smaller. We leave for vacation next Saturday and we decided to get the new one in time for our trip! Since I started my blog, I find myself taking a ton more pictures and a smaller more compact camera would be much easier to keep with me! So we shopped around and got another Olympus! I love it! Seriously, it's not much bigger than a credit card! So here is the first picture with my NEW camera! I love Birthday presents!

Basketball Season

This weekend was the close of another basketball season for Jacob. This was Jacob's 2nd basketball season and has really enjoyed himself and has shown alot of improvement since last year! All the guys on his team are some of his closest friends so it was really fun watching them all play together! Only the last couple of games did they actually use a real referee and today at the last game, Jacob got fouled while taking a shot so got to shoot 2 from the foul line! He thought that was really cool!

"IT" Came!

Yeah! Finally a snow!!!! You have never seen 2 more excited kids to see snow! By 6:30 am, we got word that school was cancelled for the day - another reason for 2 kids to celebrate! While I shoveled the snow, the kids played, and played and played some more. Most of the kids on the street were out, so they all had lots of fun!

Tip For The Day!

Before I give away my tip, I must first give credit to my friend Shelly who shared this FABULOUS tip with me. Thanks Shelly!

For those of you who use a round brush to style your hair, here is a great way to clean your brush. Place your brush in a plastic cup and pour bleach into the cup to cover the bristles of the brush. Leave your brush in the bleach filled cup for about 30 minutes or so. Presto, clean brush! Amazing! Before you use the brush, be sure to rinse it out under water. I followed Shelly's advise and put the cup in the bathtub! I'm really really bad bleach, so the bathtub was a great idea!

In case you couldn't tell, it doesn't take much to make my day! :o)

A Nostalgic Moment!

As I lay here on the sofa, the kids are evaluating their valentine treasures from school. Jacob comes running in to me..."Look at what Allison got mom, I haven't seen one of these in years!" Really? Years?

Watch Out!

It's official, the kids are in charge! Both Eric and I have whatever it is that the kids had. They of course are now better! So, Jacob and Allison are in charge! Don't say I didn't warn you! :o)

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's my turn!

I've finally got both kids back to school today! That's the good news. The bad news is that now I have "it" - whatever "it" is! After tending to 2 sick kids for a week, I guess it only makes sense. I've been fighting an off and on fever for a day or so and now I'm just feeling plain lousy! Head congestion, chills, aching.

I think it's time we just set off a bomb in the house to disinfect everything!

Holes!

Since Christmas, I have had to re-stock Jacob's socks. One by one, they were all getting holes in them. Not a huge deal because they were about due to be replaced. Since I bought the new supply (the same brand I always buy!), I can not keep socks for this kid. He will wear a pair one time and have to take them off because they have holes in them. It's driving me crazy! He does the same thing with his jeans and dress pants with holes in the knees however, I think we've corrected that problem - at least for the moment! But the socks... honestly... I don't know how it happens! We're not talking a tiny pin hole, we're talking multiple, huge, crater size holes in his socks!

2 AM Party?!

As mentioned in an earlier post, we have been fighting a series of infections for the past week. Jacob has been out of school all this week due to severe asthma along with a viral infection that was giving him a fever. Ugh! I was all ready to send him back to school today since he stayed fever free yesterday but he now has this horrid cough which was triggered by his asthma.

Allison has all along been o.k. Once the antibiotic got into her she's been good to go. Until last night. I feel like I partially jinxed things since we actually went to bed early. She was up at 11:30 and I had to go lay with her for about 1 hour. Then at 2:00 she came in and was wheezing! So, I pull out the good ol' nebulizer that's been seeing alot of use these day and got her started on it. Unlike her brother, you'd think we were torturing her w/ the thing. She just about turns herself inside out using it. She is soooo not a good patient! About 1/2 way through her treatment, Jacob comes in to use the bathroom. Well, since we're up and he's due for another treatment, we might as well do it. So here we are, all three of us in my bed watching Tom & Jerry on Boommerang. It's times like this I'm so thankful for channels like Boommerang - something age appropriate any time, day or night! Oh, did I mention that Eric got up and went into the guest bedroom to sleep? Yeah, he did!

So after a 2nd nebulizer treatment for Allison this morning, off to school she went. Jacob on the other hand - still home! Yesterday he and I worked all day on school work. I'll end with I could NEVER home school! I have such a respect for those of you that can do that - it would just never work in my house! I think I'd have to send my kids to someone else's house for home schooling! :o)

I thought when your kids were 6 & 7 years old, we were entitled to normal sleeping patterns!

Turkey Anyone!

Anyone that knows me even just a little, knows that I'm not the biggest fan of the outdoors. Don't get me wrong, I love a good walk or bike ride, or sitting on the beach soaking in the rays. What I don't like are the creatures that live in the outdoors. However, no matter hard I try, these "wild" creatures seem to gravitate to me! Squirrels, Raccoons, and Turkeys!

For the past 4 years we have lived in our house, we frequently see turkeys. In the beginning few believed me that there were wild turkeys walking around our backyard. In fact, I think my dad phrased it best, "Do you know how many guys sit in trees for hours just waiting and waiting to see just one turkey and you are telling me you have 10 in your backyard?!" I've now made believers of the doubting by photographs. It seems they double every year. What started out as an occasional 10 or so turkeys a couple times a year has turned into a 40 + flock that frequents our neighborhood at least a few times a month!

The turkeys were back today. It occurred to me that I have never blogged about them before. So in honor of our neighborhood turkeys... here is a picture! (By the way... I like them when they are on the other side of the glass door from me!)

Allison is 6!

Wow! It's hard to believe that my little baby girl is now 6 years old! She has truly turned into a little lady! She loves anything that is girly - the more pink the better!

Allison's favorite foods are regular potato chips, broccoli, icecream, candy, pizza and chicken fingers. She loves to play with her friends, dance, go to school, sing, read books and play with all her little figurines! Allison is definately the more easy going one of our two kids and consequently makes us laugh at some of her sayings and the way she does things.

Allison is in her 3rd year of dance. She loves her teacher and dance friends! This year she has the priviledge of dancing on a performing team. They travel to nursing homes and local shopping malls with the older girls to perform! They are even going to be in a dance competition! She loves being in front of people performing!

Somewhere along the way, she has developed a really thick NY accent! We are not quite sure where this came from but some say that it's purely a developmental thing, so for now, we are enjoying it!

Allison tends to be very sensitive too. We are just now gaining some insight into her level of sensitivity from observations made by her teachers at school. Allison is a friend to everyone and has been especially sensitive and understanding to one friend in her class that loves her hair. This love of her hair has become a bit of obsession and yet Allison is completely understanding of the special needs of this child.

Happy Birthday Princess! We are so proud of you and love you lots!

Happy Birthday x 2!

Today is a very special day in our house. We have 2 birthdays to celebrate - Allison and Eric! Sometimes Eric's birthday gets lost in the shuffle of Allison's but I think he prefers it that way!

So... Happy Birthday Eric! I love you!

Ernie & Neal

Ernie & Neal are the names of the 2 guys that have been in our school for the last week. They have spent time in all the classrooms of the Kindergarten through 3rd grades helping them to write songs and then practice them for a grand finale concert. The concert was this afternoon. Unfortunately, Jacob wasn't able to participate - he is getting over from being sick. All the kindergarten classes sang the same song all together. It makes me laugh at how much she loves to be in front of people - no stage freight for her! It was like she was the only one in the room just singing her heart out! Even though Jacob couldn't be there, I took a picture of his class singing their song!

Dance Party!

Allison celebrated her Birthday today with her friends! She choose to have a Dance Party at the studio she has been taking dance class. The first hour the girls danced their hearts out to all of their favorite songs. Then they moved to another room were snacks and cake were awaiting them. Allison was in "little girl heaven"! She loves to dance so that in itself was thrilling. Miss Libby has been Allison's dance teacher for the last 3 years and was the one to coordinate the party! Needless to say, Miss Libby's prescence was extra special! The part of the party that stands out in my mind was while the girls were dancing, Miss Libby asked them all to form a circle around Allison. Miss Libby then put a crown on Allison's head and gave all the girls a pom pom. They all began to sing "Happy Birthday" to her and tickle Allison's tummy with the pom poms! The smile that was on Allison's face was just absolutely priceless and the giggles of her and all her best girl friends, is a picture that will stay in my mind for a long time!

Crazy Sock Day

Because our everyday life is not crazy enough...

Today was crazy sock day at school. Apparently every Friday during the month of February, is school spirit day. I've never given much thought to crazy socks but I will tell you this, finding crazy socks for boys is not an easy task! So, in honor of school spirit, here are our socks!

And The Verdict Is In....

So I sent Allison to school and she looked a bit gray when she got off the bus and just had those sick eyes. After recalling in my mind some previous illnesses w/ Allison, I remembered that back at Easter, she had strep throat and was quite often sick to her stomach. So I made an appointment and took Allison to the Dr. Upon initial examination, he said there's nothing wrong with her other than a stomach virus. I forced the issue and had her cultured for Strep, all the while stating that her throat didn't look at all bad. So w/in 5 minutes the Dr. returned just shaking his head saying he didn't believe it, it was positive for Strep! Bingo, the pieces of the puzzle are all fitting together! Yeah, we're on the road to recovery!

Until....

Jacob got off the bus. He walks in the house... "Mommy, my throat has been kinda scratchy all day." Are you kidding?! So I quickly call the Dr who squeezes us in (for goodness sake could he not have just written me a RX!). As the Dr. is examining Jacob he looks in his ears first. "Jacob do your ears hurt?" "No." "Are you sure, because you have a double ear infection!". I'm thinking, great, that's not even the reason we are here! Now we move onto the throat. Yeah, that looks worse than Allison's but we'll test it. Sure enough, strep throat!

So, I've officially won the Mother of the Year Award for today! Who knew?!

Is it or isn't it?!

Since being away on the Women's Retreat, I have been desperately trying to catch up on my sleep! (I'm too old for such craziness!) However, it's Friday and I'm still trying to make up for lost sleep!

I went to bed quite early on Tuesday night only to be awoken at what felt like 2 or 3 am but in actuality was only 11pm. Allison had what I thought was some type of a stomach virus. Without going into detail, it was one of those moments where Eric and I didn't know where to begin the clean up process. So, not knowing what was ahead throughout the rest of the night, I decided to sleep on the floor in her room. We got the air mattress out and the bed all made for me to sleep. Sleep was not on the agenda though. It felt like I had laid there all night just waiting for the next episode all the while Allison slept. So little sleep for that night. After no other episodes and her feeling 100% all day Wednesday, she went back to school yesterday. She ate all kinds of stuff and no issue. Whew - we lucked out w/ that stomach virus - must have been a 12 hour thing or something!

Then.... 2 am this morning, it was like dejavu! Are you kidding me?! So now what do I do? Get the air mattress out again and try to get some sleep! But once again, no rest for the weary. I spent most of my awake time trying to figure out what I was going to do w/ Allison today. She had already made her tearful plea that she wanted to go to school today and that she would feel better in the morning.

I got her up this morning, her color was good, she was hungry and bouncing around like Tigger! So off to school she went.

Did I do the right thing? Oh, I don't know?! The one thing I do know is that should there be a need for the air mattress tonight, Eric will be on it! No work tomorrow so no excuses!

A Table of Our Own!

After 10 1/2 years of marriage and many hand-me-down kitchen table sets, we finally have one of our very own! We picked it out the day after Christmas and it was just delivered moments ago! It was like Christmas morning all over for me! The table is bigger than our old table with no leaves in it and then we have 2 we can add! It's huge! We got 8 chairs to go with it too! Can't wait to eat at it!

100

This was the quote that we overhead between the kids while they were finishing dinner. Allison is talking to Jacob.....
"So now you tell me, there are more numbers after 100!"

Oh, the things we take for granted!

Retreat!

I just returned home from a wonderful women's retreat with our church! It took place at Sandy Cove Conference Center in Northeast Maryland. The conference center was located right on the Chesapeake Bay which was absolutely beautiful and provided the most awesome sunsets! Eight of the 10 women in our minichurch attended! Thanks to Melynie, we were all able to drive down in 1 vehicle, which at times were doubtful between all of our luggage and a year supply worth of snacks! But we all squeezed in and had a great time! I'm sure I speak for all when I say that it was a wonderful weekend to just refresh - our friendships with each other, our relationship with Christ, and ourselves!


Thank you girls for your wonderful friendship and for a great weekend!

Crazy Hair Day

February is "spirit month" at school and we kicked the month off with "Crazy Hair Day". Truthfully, I had hoped the kids would forget about the day but that totally not the case. In fact, Allison everyday this week... "Mommy, don't forget - Friday is crazy hair day!". So I figured that Allison wouldn't be too hard to come up with something, but what on earth was I going to do w/ Jacob's hair! Not to mention that Jacob just got his hair cut so it's really short!


Well.... here is the final product. Allison had 4 small pony tails - 1 on top of her head, 1 out the back of her head and 2 on either side just above her ears. We sprayed her bangs green and also the back of her hair. Jacob wanted green stripes on his head so there you go! Not too bad for rushing out the door on a school day!