Home Sick!!

Jake is home sick today! His first absence of the school year. He came into my room at 4 a.m. so I knew it wasn’t going to be a great morning for him. He has an ear ache and slight fever, but he wasn’t happy as I ran through the rules of the day.

They are:

#1–Back to bed! He wanted to stay up reading–ha–nope, sick people sleep.

#2–No PS2 today! Of course, they only get Playstation on Saturdays–so that wasn’t a surprise.

#3–No playing outside after school! Just because the school day ended doesn’t mean you magically feel better.

#4–No Cub Scouts tonight. Same reason as number 3. Plus tonight would be his first time in his new pack–and it’s Pack Meeting. I don’t need a sick kid running around the gym whooping and hollering!

Honestly–number four is good–but I mainly just through it in as the deal breaker! If he were faking it–he would have gone to school just to keep number 4! Depending on Mom’s mood–I may not make him skip Scouts. He’s so close to finishing his Bear–so we may bite the bullet. And unlike the last house– where Scouts was 45 minutes away on a school night-this one is only 5 minutes away! Some how, that makes it so much easier to miss bedtime!

Half Of Halloween!!

Ok–I sat my two youngest in front of the computer screen last night-and hammered out what they each want to be for Halloween. Barrett, my soon to be 3 year old, wants to be Diego. There were so many cute choices–a full on furry Elmo costume had my vote–but a little boy in shorts and a t-shirt (in October in Chicago) is what my baby chose! Mommy may have to override this depending on the weather!

Blakelynn is going to be the Pink Princess. It’s not a Disney Princess–it’s a real little glittery dress–all it’s own design. I don’t know why I’m so anti-Disney Princess–but I am, so she will just be ‘a princess’. Which is great because then we can just hang her dress up, and she will have another choice for dress up!

Now, I just have to get my two older boys to nail something down! Then I can S.H.O.P. and call this Halloween thing…DONE!

Postie Con!!

I just bought my tickets to PostieCon07! I have to say–it was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. We booked through Vegas.com and got our room and our airfare in one great package! Just under $300, each! I couldn’t believe it! 2 round trip tickets from Chicago to Vegas, and two nights at Circus Circus. I chose Circus Circus because they have an 8 p.m. check out option–and our flight doesn’t leave until 11:30 pm on Sunday-so it was just perfect!

So we are flying out on Friday the 9th of November and flying home overnight, getting home early Monday, the 12th! Just me and him! For the first time in 10 years! Flying off somewhere without the kids! I’m so excited!!

Are You KIDDING??

Ok–what in the world is up with the Nobel Peace Prize? Al Gore???? What in the name of all that is Great—does the entire NONSENSE of Global Warming have to do with PEACE??? Peace–according to the dictionary means this: the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world. Non-warring…Global Warming! Not even close!!

And even worse…Mr. Gore has to share his prize with the U.N.! The U.N.??? Peaceful? Yes, and I’m the Queen of England! The U.N. has done more damage in the work for peace than just about anyone or anything else!!

So let’s see…if these two ‘entities’ can win the Nobel Peace prize for which neither one is qualified for, I’m expecting the Nobel Prize in Physics to be delivered to my door next week!

Sheesh!

Inuyama-Jo!!

I’ve been thinking more and more about Japan recently–and thought I would start seeing of some of my favorite places had photo’s on the internet already. And my first one is.

This is Inuyama-Jo, or Inuyama castle. In Japanese, Inu is Dog and Yama is mountain–so it’s Dog Mountain. Inuyama was my favorite city of all of the cities I lived in while in Japan. The castle sits on the Kiso river which is nicknamed the Japanese Rhine. I lived by many castles–but this one is my favorite–it’s not hard to see why!

Corn Maze!!

We did it! We went to Richardson Farm yesterday, just the 6 of us! It was AWESOME! There are 6 miles of trails inside of the maze system. We were dumb and didn’t bring a stroller for Barrett or a wagon for Blake or Barrett. Little feet get awfully tired, awfully quickly! But in my defense, a corn maze is just the most perfect feet for Barret “The Wanderer” to do his wandering! He was with us, so there was no getting lost–he doesn’t like to hold hands-so this was the best. He got so tired–you could just see it in his eyes and his chubby cheeks. So that cut our maze trip short–there were 24 checkpoints within the maze–and we found 17 of them, so still good fun.

After the maze, and a drink, the kids went down the slide a couple of times–and then it was time to start the hour drive home. I did take a ton of pictures, but was too tired to download them last night–I will do that later this afternoon and get them up–they are priceless!

Plans Today!!

Today I am having a lot of family over for lunch and to see the house. My mother in law, an aunt and uncle and a cousin and her little girl. I guess that’s not too many-but you have to realize we’ve lived in this state for 5 years and NOBODY comes to visit. So this is a BIG first!

We are having taco salad and fruit for lunch with a yummy pumpkin cake for dessert. I’m mostly excited about the pumpkin cake–I only get to eat it in the fall–and it’s finally fall! I will put the recipe up on Cheffin’ It along with a picture a little later!

I am making a little tea party for Blake and Sophia and probably Barrett. They are welcome to have Taco Salad as well–but Blake wants finger sandwiches. PB&J cut into various Halloween things! It should be a lot of fun!

Grayson’s Baptism!!

My mom called earlier today–always a treat when that happens! Turns out–they have made their airline reservations for March. They will be here the last week of March, and Grayson will get baptized the last Saturday of the month. I’m excited! My mom will be here in a couple of weeks-but this trip will be one where my dad will be with her. We use this time with my dad to get the kids caught up on their blessings. This time with my son having Scoliosis and my husband still suffering through pain all day long–I think we’ll be pushing to get him one too!

Tonight my parents are going to dinner with my mom’s siblings. Apparently my Aunty Peggy–you know her blog Pegs AZ Life–she and her husband have decided to head back to Arizona earlier than originally planned. I thought it was funny–the dinner came about because my aunt and my mom had only seen my aunt Peggy once since they moved home to Utah last April. I find it funny, because I live 1500 miles away from all of them, and I’ve seen her just as much as they have! Twice if you count the Sunday that they drove in and the Monday they left! Hey–I’ve seen her the most!!

Pay Day Loans…Not So Bad!!

We have been really lucky over the past couple of years. After my husbands accident at work, he was left without a job–and even a chance to get one. We had three kids and I was pregnant with number four. We had a little money coming in and it was sporadic at best–so we had to turn to payday loans to help get us through. The fee isn’t much more than it would be to simply cash a check–which we did there as well. It’s never fun having to share your money with someone else, but when you are desperately in need of emergency funds–you’ll take anything!

We have since gotten out of this rut–and have been able get ahead even. But we are still tremendously thankful that someone was there to help us in our time of need!

Cool New Bedding!!

We are getting close to the time when Barrett will no longer be in his toddler bed! It’s a shame–it’s only a year old. I think we may still have some time with it–but whenever the kids change beds–whether from the crib to the toddler bed or up to a big kid bed–we always take them out and let them choose their bedding.

I’ve been looking for some for Barrett, trying to incorporate something he loves into his bed. His love…Michael Jordan! In fact today I asked him who he wanted at his birthday–he was the top of the list. Sadly–it’s basketball season–so it’s not going to happen (not that it would even if it weren’t!!) but maybe I could get him this cool bedding, and have Michael Jordan slam dunking a basketball on his comforter! How cool would that be?

It may be just cool enough to get him to go to bed every night-on his cool Michael Jordan bed!