Happy Halloween!

The kids were a little crazy today. Benita arrived right before lunch today, so they were excited about her visit. And they were super-excited about trick-or-treating tonight. Rain was predicted to start sometime between 6 and 7 pm - prime time for the main event. We were prepared. The kids started out sitting in the red wagon, holding a big umbrella that kept them both dry. That didn't last too long. They didn't care about getting a little wet and truthfully, it didn't rain that hard for very long. Lots of people were out in their cars, but so were others walking like us. It made for a little bit of a mess around the neighborhood. Again, the kids didn't care.

Payton had no fear. She would walk up to the door and say loudly 'trick or treat'. Ian was a little shyer. Plus, he still has that 2 year old speech impediment that comes out sounding like 'twick o tweet'. It was very sweet. Ian tired out about 3 houses before we were done. I think Payton could have gone all night.

Carving the Pumpkin

Daddy got the task this year to lead the pumpkin carving. Payton seemed interested for about 5 minutes. Ian couldn't have care less. In fact, the think he was rather put off by the whole thing. He adamantly yelled, 'NO!' when asked if he wanted to participate. Payton watched Daddy, but she didn't participate too much. She didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts - I don't really blame her.

Daddy decided to be creative this year and not do the traditional. He also chose a non-traditional method for carving.

Did I mention that Daddy's been into his power tools lately?

I thought it turned out great. Ian said it was 'spooooky!'

Fall Festival

Today, Payton's class had their Fall Festival (aka Halloween Party). Payton is a princess fairy this year. (Ian didn't dress up, but he is a dragon this year.) I helped lead a group of girls (and Ian) around to 10 stations around the school. There was pumpkin bowling, hot pumpkin, painting pumpkins, pumpkin sack races - you get the idea. Everyone dressed up and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Fall trip

Last Saturday, we were thinking about going to the Lexington BBQ festival. It's ranked in the top 10 festivals in the country by some Leisure magazine (that I'm too lazy to look up the title to). But, the fall colors were calling Scott and I to take a trip to look at them before they fall to the ground. Scott and I realize that this could be our last Fall to live in a place with such a glorious show of color right outside our back door. So, we headed up into Virginia. We went to Fairy Stone State park. We didn't find any fairy stones, but we saw lots of pretty color. We had a nice picnic lunch and the kids got to play on a little playground at the park.

The kids were getting antsy with all the driving and I was getting a little sick from all the curvy roads, so we headed back home. The whole trip actually took about 5 hours, but it was so beautiful!

Homeland Creamery

Last Friday morning, Jill invited us to go to Homeland Creamery with them that afternoon. Homeland Creamery is a dairy farm about an hour from here in the little community of Julian, NC. They only deliver milk (and I think some ice cream) to central and northwestern NC. I had never been to a creamery before and I figured the kids might enjoy it, so I packed a quick lunch for all of us, picked Payton up from school, and drove out there for a 1:30 pm tour of the place.

We had a little time to explore before the tour. We visited the turkeys, the calf, and the chickens. We milked the fake cow and took pictures next to the sign. What next, you might ask, do you do at a creamery. Well, they had a 20 minute hayride that took us on a tour.

We first went up the road a little ways to meet the pregnant cows and their lama (the lama wasn't pregnant). Then we went off-roading into an area to visit the 2 year old cows. Then we went down another little road to the juvenile cows (under age 2) - they came up to the fence to check us out. They were the most curious. Then we enjoyed the hayride down a longer dirt road to take a peak at, yup you guessed it, more cows. The last cows were the older cows that had already had a calf. There were 2 bulls with this bunch - they seemed happy

.

Then we headed back to the creamery and saw where they milk the cows. We saw the turkeys, calf, chickens, fake milking cow, and sign one more time before we got to have our ice cream sample - yum! The kids enjoyed the hayride, but got a little tired of the cows. When Ian tried to milk the cow, he was very intense. It was almost like he knew what he needed to do and he was going to get to it.

The chocolate ice cream was one of the best that I've ever tasted. Scott thinks the milk is really good too. He says he can tell a difference between Homeland's milk and the everyday milk I buy. Homeland follows organic practices, but isn't certified organic. I couldn't tell a difference, but I'm no connoisseur.

H1N1 Vaccinations

The Health Department had flu vaccinations on Tuesday. They were open to the public and started at 1 pm. Scott and I had been on the fence as to how proactive we were going to be about getting the vaccine. Then, on Monday, Scott attended a lecture at the hospital by an infectious disease doctor and concluded that we should get the kids vaccinated as soon as possible.

Thus, I took Payton out of school about a half hour early, packed a lunch, and arrived at the health dept. at about 11:30 am. There was already a line, but it wasn't too bad yet (maybe 50 in front of us).

Ian was asleep on my shoulder. I brought the diaper bag and my big purse with our lunch and snacks. Payton ate and lounged around while Ian slept for the first 30-40 minutes. A very nice man was in line behind us. He was saving a place for a 7 year old girl and her grandmother. We struck up a nice conversation which made the time pass pretty easily.

Ian woke up, ate a little and then the little girl arrived. Payton found a new friend right away. They kept each other busy and I kept Ian busy until we started moving.

One the line started moving, it still took us 50 minutes till the kids got their vaccines. They both got the spray and didn't mind a bit. It was so much easier than a shot - no crying kids.

We were back in the car at 2 pm. I was pretty tired, but the kids were great. At least the weather was beautiful - 55 and sunny.

Catherine's Wedding

This past weekend was Catherine's wedding in Augusta, Ga. She and I attended Rice together. When I got the save the date card, I was supper excited for this weekend to come around. Catherine is one of those special friends that you can not talk to for months at a time, but pick right back up like it was yesterday.

So Friday, Scott got home around 3 pm and I headed out. It's a 4 hour drive to Augusta. I stayed with another grad school friend, Kim, at the Marriott downtown which is right by the Savanna River. Of course, no road trip would be complete without a minor detour. When I got close to Augusta, Google maps said I needed to take exit 3. Unfortunately, for me, there was construction and there was no exit 3. When I got to exit 1, I pulled over and called my good friend Jill, who used to live in Augusta. She was so nice as to stay on the phone and navigate me to my hotel.

Kim was already there (in her PJs!), but I persuaded her to get dressed so that we could go have dessert at the Boll Weevil Cafe. I had a huge (foot tall) slice of chocolate cake and Kim had the berry tart. Both were very yummy - I ate on mine for the next two days.

Catherine's wedding was at 11 am on Saturday. We were almost late, but it wasn't our fault. There just happened to be a breast cancer walk going on right outside our hotel. The walkers were not too pleased when we had to navigate through the parade.

Everything was simple and very elegant. The ceremony was over at 11:17 am - short and sweet.

The reception was at the Marbury Center which is a converted old fire station. It was pretty cool. The food was very southern. There were cheese straws, ham biscuits and a cheese tray for appetizer. The lunch was BBQ chicken breast, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, asparagus, rolls and shrimp grits. The biggest surprise was the shrimp grits - they were hmmmm scrumptious!

After the reception, Kim and I went back to the hotel for a nap. We met Catherine and her husband and other friends out Saturday night at the Pizza Joint. It was a great opportunity to catch up and hang out with Kim and Catherine. And it was a nice little get-away for Mommy.

I got home Sunday at 2:30 pm. When I called Scott and told him I was on my way home he sounded so relieved. The kids were giving him the full court press Sunday morning.

Ahhh Fall

Yesterday, I got a couple of hours to myself, so I picked up some Starbucks and cruised around the area. Some trees are already in full Fall bloom around Winston-Salem. I ended up at Salem Lake and wanted to share it with the family, so after Ian woke up for his nap, we went for a little walk around the lake.

This little outing inspired us to take a trip up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We traveled up to Sparta, a little town off the Parkway. We had lunch at a local cafe and then drove north on the Parkway to meet Samuel and Sarah at an apple orchard close to Mt. Airy. The drive was beautiful in spots. I wouldn't say the area is peaking yet, but there is a lot of beautiful color out there.

This year we went to Levering Orchard. We tried to go to the place we went last year, but it was already closed. This made us very sad, but Jill went on a hunt and found this place (thanks for the leg work, Jill). At Levering, you could pay for pre-picked apples or take a little one lane road down to the orchard to pick your own. We wanted the full experience, so we went off-roading. Payton asked, 'Why is there grass in the middle of the road?' I was thankful for two things while on this road: 1. I'm glad we didn't run into another car going the other direction. 2. We didn't ever hit high center. Once we got to the orchard, we could pick Granny Smith apples or walk 1/4 mile to Mutsu (Crispin) apples. Of course, we walked to get both kinds. It was a little a wild under the trees and you needed a ladder to get some of the best apples. The ladder was actually the kids' favorite part - it was either that or the tractor.

Last day of visit :(

Well, Kaylee woke up with a low grade fever and her cough didn't seem to be getting much better, so she went to see the pediatrician, Thursday. The rest of us went out to Hathaway park. It was a beautiful morning. Kaylee checked out fine - must just be a virus The kids played at the park for a while then we ate lunch at Chic-Fil-A (always a favorite).

Scott was on-call Wednesday night and was taking a nap in the afternoon, but after dinner he got to play with the kids. The 'kick the ball over the house' - game was a hit with everyone - even Kevin Jr. Top the evening off with brownies and ice cream and everyone settled down pretty well for the night - except Kaylee. Poor Kaylee had coughing fits all night, but by morning she seemed to be getting better.

Watch out for those bees!

On Wednesday, we went down to East Spencer to visit Dan Nicholas park with the crew. We weren't there 5 minutes, when Kiera got stung by some type of bee. The bees were all over the playground there which made the start to the trip a little anxious. But, there was much more for the kids to see and do. We virtually had the whole park to ourselves.

Ian wasn't as scared as he has been on the train. And He actually could sit by himself on the carousel this time. Payton wanted to be on the giraffe on the carousel. The mini-zoo was nice and the weather was great.

Unfortunately, Kevin and I spent lunch with a sandwich in one hand and something in the other to swat away the bees while we ate. This time Kaylee was the one stung, but she shrugged it off pretty quickly. We finished walking around the wildlife area and headed home.

I got to sit in the very back of the car between Kiera and Kaylee. We were all asleep when I vaguely started to hear coughing coming from Kaylee. As I was waking up, I hear her vomit right between us. I groggily grabbed a towel and a plastic bag. She only threw up one more time. For what ever reason, it didn't phase me much. I think it helped that my sinuses were a little stuffed up.

Anyway, when we got back to the house, it was playtime as usual. The girls really enjoyed playing freeze-tag with Uncle Kevin.

Kevin and Dawna visit

Everyone is better. Scott went back to work today. Ian's nose is almost dry :)

Kevin, Dawna, and crew arrived last night at 9:30pm after the LONG trek across the country. They were very tired, and ready to be out of their car. Payton and Ian (OK, and me) were super excited to see their cousins. The kids stayed up for the occasion and it took everyone a while to settle down, of course. But, we're very glad they are here.

Today, the weather wasn't all that great. It was misty, rainy, yucky. So we went to the Greensboro Natural Science Center. Everyone was very well behaved which made the visit nice. The GNSC is really an easy place to take the kids to because it's not jammed packed with kids, it's easy to keep track of everyone, and there are lots of animal exhibits that capture the kids' attentions. So, it was a nice morning. We had pizza for lunch and all the kids, except Payton, fell asleep on the way home.

We laid low and played around the house this afternoon. The mist finally stopped and the kids played out on the driveway where it was mostly dry.

The saga continues

Yesterday afternoon at about 4:30, I noticed Ian breathing funny. It was like he was winded after running, but he wasn't acting like he was winded. I could just see him breathing a little harder and faster. It didn't sound like there was much going on in the lungs, but it was still worrisome, so I called the triage nurse at our pediatrician's office. After going through the run of questions, the Doctor wanted us to come in so he could listen to Ian. Dinner was done on the stove. I quickly covered it all and then shooed the kids out the door. We got to the Dr's at 5:20. The doctor listened and checked Ian over. Ian was great. He sat there and let the Dr. listen. It was amazing considering how Ian used to be. Well, the Dr. thought he could have heard something in Ian's lower right lobe. It was there, then it wasn't. He wasn't sure, so he sent us for an X-ray. The kids were starving, but it was almost 6 and the place closed at 7. So away we went. We didn't have to wait too long. We had about a 10-15 minute wait to get checked in. During this time, my kids decided to run around the lobby like a couple of banshees. Ian didn't act sick, except after exerting himself by running and jumping, he had to catch his breath. Of course, this would freak me out. Ian did get a great job getting his X-ray taken, too. He sat still and didn't get upset. We waited at the imaging place for the Dr. to give us a call with the results. Ian's lungs were clear, but considering Scott having H1N1, the Dr. decided to write Ian a prescription for Tami flu. It was interesting, the Dr. even said that what Ian has could NOT be the flu, but he wanted to ere on the side of caution especially when it comes to breathing issues.

We stopped at Chick-fil-A because everyone was hungry and then headed to the pharmacy. Only a few pharmacies carry the liquid form of Tami flu. The pharmacist has to grind up the pill and put it into a suspension. Well, the pharmacy closed at 6 pm, so Ian got his first dose this morning.

Ian ran a low grade temperature last night, but hasn't had one today. His breathing is still a little labored. Scott had a feverish night, but thinks he's slowly getting better :)

Payton seems a little sleepy today, but she was up at 6 am! Mommy is tired too, but OK.

The kids have been very sweet to Daddy. They've been making him lots of cards and brought him lots of 'presents'.

Swine Flu!

Scott had an interview in Dallas, Tx last Friday and then stayed with Aunt Lucy and Becky Fri. and Sat. night. Lucy was sniffly this weekend, but Mon. started a fever. Tuesday she went to the Dr. and was diagnosed with H1N1. Scott came back from Dallas with a runny nose (a little more than usual). Yesterday he broke out in a fever. He started Tami flu yesterday and we quarantined him in our bedroom. The kids wave at him from the door :)

As soon as we heard that Lucy was diagnosed with H1N1, I decided to keep the kids isolated, just in case. I could just see Payton's entire Pre-K class coming down with swine flu - not a good scenario. So far, Ian has shown some symptoms. He started having a runny nose on Tues. that seems to be getting progressively worse. He has a stuffy nose and a cough. He might have a mild temperature today - he's just a little grumpy. He's still drinking fluids, but all he wants to eat is 'chippys' and pretzel sticks. Payton might be a little stuffy, but she was like that before Daddy came back from Dallas.

Kevin, Dawna and the kids are suppose to come for visit on Monday. I hope that still happens, but we'll have to see how everyone and everything progresses. I've told Scott not to touch anything outside the bedroom and I'm constantly washing my hands. Ian's been coughing into his sleeve (most of the time) and I've told Payton to try not to touch Ian.