Happy Halloween! 2009

Hair Cuts!

Here are my children today after much needed and long-awaited hair cuts...

We can finally see our baby's eyes again, and pretty ones they are! Thankfully, everyone at our house is feeling well now after three long weeks of coughing and runny noses, and we're praying it stays that way!

Update on Ella

The good news? Ella is feeling much better today. She's still running a fever, but not nearly as high. She slept much better last night and when she woke up this morning she was walking around, playing, and she finally ate something.

The bad news? Whatever virus had its way with Ella has moved on to me.

Having to take care of two small children while being sick has got to be on my list of least favorite things.

Thanks to those of you who said a prayer for Miss Ella, would you do the same for me?

Would you please say a prayer for Ella? She started running a fever at midnight last night and it's been climbing ever since. It's now at 103.6 degrees. She's restless and achy and just feeling crappy all over. We've never seen her so lethargic. This is definitely the sickest she's been in her two short years of life.

We took her in to her pediatrician this morning. They tested her for H1N1, which came back negative. They also checked her inflammation levels (which would indicate an infection in her kidneys, bladder, sinuses, etc.) and white blood cell count, both of which were okay too.

So the doctor's guess is that it's just a nasty virus that needs to run it's course.

In the meantime, our baby is hurting and it's hard to do nothing but give her Tylenol and Motrin and pray that she feels better soon.

It has begun. You know, cold and flu season. We've been hit by it.

Gracie threw up in the van this morning. I wasn't surprised because if my kids are going to throw up, they usually throw up in our van. So we pulled over on the side of the rode in the freezing cold while the snow flurries fell and started cleaning up. This time I ran out of plastic bags instead of wipes. Not sure if that's better or worse? Thankfully, she had a change of clothes in her backpack from school and we had an extra winter coat in the van. Thank you Lord 'cause that girl would have been cold in her short-sleeved spare shirt. I managed to get her clothes changed, the seat belt wiped clean, and her booster seat cover off before my gag reflex started to kick in. The puddled throw up in the bottom of her marker case and all that was in there with it went into the trash bag. I will gladly buy a new one.

After she threw up she felt great and proceeded to eat the biggest lunch she's ever eaten. A whole sandwich minus half the bread, a bag of chips (a small bag of course), a whole bottle of milk and a chocolate chip cookie.

When we got home I check her temperature, which was normal, and made her take a nap, which she actually did with much of a fight. She woke up and is still claiming that she feels good.

What else has hit us at the beginning of this October? Snow and cold temps. Did we skip fall? It has snowed or flurried several times already. Hmmmm.

On a slightly more fun note, we hit the Autumn Festival in Sioux Falls on Friday. It was fun, and there were lots of vendors, but I'm not sure I must go again next year. I'm wondering why they charge $6 to get in? Another hmmmm. The live music maybe? It wasn't a total flop. I did buy a baby sling, the girls got baby slings, and I bought one Christmas present. I probably would have bought more if I weren't so cheap lately.

On Monday we took pictures of the girls for Christmas cards. I had to bribe them with candy.

Finally, I heard through the grape vine that there's a new Target in Sioux Falls. Could it be true that there is a Starbucks inside? Target and Starbucks in the same place? Sounds too good to be true. My nieces are in trouble for not telling me about this. Watch out girls.

Gracie's Field Trip to the Fire Station

Weekend Wrap-Up, Halloween Cookies and Fall Decorations

Friday I had my second prenatal. The baby's heart rate sounded good and it was pretty routine. Our next visit is November 6th when we have our 20 week (or in my case, 19 and a half week) ultrasound.

Friday night we celebrated Mark's mom's birthday with a dinner at his sister's house. We spent the evening hanging out.

Saturday we wanted to take the girls to the corn maze in Harrisburg, but they were closed because of all the rain and mud. So we ended up spending a lazy day at home.

Sunday I taught my first children's church lesson. It was about Mary and Martha, the different ways we can serve the Lord, and serving with a happy heart. The time went by very fast. By the time I looked up at the clock it was 11:45 am and I heard the congregation singing their closing song. We'd only gotten through 3 of the 5 things I had planned, and we definitely didn't need the back up video and book I had checked out from the library! I think we had a total of 24 kids and sadly I ran short on 4 pairs of socks for the craft, but we made it work.

Monday my mom and grandma came to visit the girls. They brought some fall decorations for us so we spent some time putting those out and digging our other stuff out of the basement. Here's a peek...

Monday afternoon the girls and I decided to make Halloween cookies. Baking with a four year old and a two year old is, hmmmmm, interesting, challenging, exhausting...

and fun. We survived and so did some of the cookies. We might even make them again at Christmas.