The signs that the flu...

outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, whatever you want to call it has officially hit our small town:

I counted only 12 walker/rider kindergartners coming out of school one day. There are four kindergarten classes at the school. (Remember that many ride the bus, but just the fact that I could count the walker/riders is a sign)

I was on hold with the pediatrician's office for 15 minutes this morning. Honestly I was feeling fortunate it wasn't longer. Kind of scared to actually visit the office later today...

The topic of conversation everywhere is the flu...who's had it, who's not had it, what the symptoms are, the extent to which people are going to not get the flu, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate (which is kind of a weird question since we are talking about who has it and who doesn't have it in the same breath)...I could go on and on

My kids get their temperature checked every morning and extensive questioning on possible symptoms that would make a CIA interrogation officer proud.

So, you may be thinking have we been sick? Yep, everyone but me has had some level of sickness (Go mom's immune system! That and I'm surprised I'm not drunk from all the GermX I've used in the last week.) John is still feeling under the weather hence the doctor's visit. Is it "the flu"? clueless on the answer to that one. Does it honestly matter? Nope, I'm just thankful that we've not had whatever it is as serious as some of my friends and feeling blessed that I get a few sick days to hang out with John-John.

Week wrap-up

Hello November! What? It's not November? I was fooled by the November like temperatures, the forecast for snow (earlier this week) and flu season. I thought we'd avoided that last one until last night. I guess my kids' bodies can only fight off so much. John's finally succumb to a fever. It really was only a matter of time...one of the other kindergarten classes at his school had a substitute teacher and only 6 kids in the class one day. The word on the street (very reliable sources...other moms) is that it lasts about a week and yes, my suspicions on this one were correct, you are contagious before the fever hits. We may only have 2 to go instead of 3...Ashley already experienced the sore throat for 2 days so I'm thinking her immune system kicked it before it overtook her.

We had parents night at AWANA on Wednesday night and it was a proud night. Sara earned her t-shirt and the other three all came home with their first patches. I love seeing them soak up God's word.

John learned all about spiders and bats this week. He thinks they are so fascinating. I think those creatures were made for little boys.

We got the older three's school pictures back. Nathan wanted to know where his were. He still is convinced at times that he should go to school and experience all that it has to offer. The pictures reminded me that it was a windy day. John's hair looked great. The girls...well, it was a windy day.

We said good-bye (actually see you later) to a dear friend this week. You can hop over to Joe's blog to read a tribute to Wally.

I'm off to family night at church (which I'm in charge of) by myself. The girls are off to a girl scout camp out and the boys, well, should be quarantined for awhile.

The incident we will call "The Whopper episode"

I tried to order a Whopper yesterday at our local Hardees. Really? It's a Hardees? Ever since we moved here over two years ago I have thought it was a Burger King for some reason and obviously keep forgetting. My coffee had worn off by lunch time. I was on an adrenaline high from a good morning Bible study. I thought I would treat my hubby to a Whopper (he's had a long week). So I pulled into the drive thru, was very confused that the Whopper wasn't on the menu, but would not be deterred so I asked the lady on the other side of the speaker "Do you have a Whopper combo?" After a pause she responded "This isn't Burger King." I was slightly dismayed and then my brain kicked in. She was right this wasn't Burger King. Evidently I couldn't get it made "my way".

recent mom moments

I had to dry John's socks to wear to school with the hair dryer because I didn't get them in the dryer on time. Yes, he has a lot of socks and they were all dirty!

Ashley informed me that I'm no longer allowed to lick my thumb and then clean her face with it. She was pretty grossed out the last time I did it and I would probably be grossed out if someone did that to me.

On Saturday I was so proud of my kids and somewhat proud of myself as a parent. They were so very good on a marathon shopping trip I took them on...for clothes. Sunday was perhaps my most humbling day as a mom...not a good day and ended the day wondering why God made me a mom. Maybe that's why He gave me Saturday as a reminder before the storm hit.

We were working on memory verses for AWANA and I got corrected by my kids (more than once) and I had the book! I guess it helps if I look at it.

I remember at 3pm today that I would need to fix supper tonight and had no idea what I was going to fix.

I found four more gray hairs while I was waiting in the car this afternoon for the kids to come out of school.

I have recently broken 1.) the door sensor on the dryer. You can now open the dryer door and have it continue to run. It's a good thing I no longer have a toddler in the house who would jump in for the ride. 2.)the door knob on Ashley's door while I was trying to unlock it. It was easier to break than you might think.

I have a dead mum in a pot sitting on my front porch. I think it lived for a week.

Needless to say, this hasn't been my most successful month as a mom, but I also can say that I've managed to laugh my way through most of these which has been nice. Maybe I can use them in a stand up comic routine someday.

Thursday randomness

I have a bunch of random thoughts rattling around in my brain so I thought I'd share...

It is Thursday and I'm not mopping. I haven't mopped on Thursdays for awhile. I figured life is short so why spend every Thursday mopping. Instead it has turned into coffee with a friend day. And today it had an added surprise involving John Denver. It was kind of God's way of reminding me how much He loves me. He never ceases to amaze me.


Sara told me the other day that she thought we had a weird last name.


I don't understand snooze buttons. I never have. Normally they aren't a big deal because I hardly ever wake up to an alarm clock and I'm usually already up when Joe's goes off. Let's just say the other night someone remaining nameless kept me up watching a movie until 11ish (we still haven't finished it) and then the alarm clock went off at 5AM and 5:04 and 5:08 and..then he (I should say we) got up at 5:11. So why didn't we just set it for 5:11? Again, don't understand the snooze option. The attempt was made to explain but I hadn't had my coffee yet.


A friend and I came up with a great idea this morning to take a day each month and swap each other's kids so that we could clean our houses throughly or do cleaning projects that never seem to get done. We were both very excited and then realized how lame we had become that we get excited over cleaning by ourselves for a day once a month.


I'm reading The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg and really enjoying it. We'll see if I get all the way through it. I'm kind of very skilled at reading 3/4 of a way through a book and then not finishing it.


Ashley's mouth is not cooperating with her new head gear. We will be making the third trip to the orthodontist in 2 weeks on Monday. A back bracket refuses to stay on her tooth.

Joe & I got to hear the testimony of our dear neighbor tonight. God has truly been doing amazing things in her life! She is meeting with the elders on Sunday to become a member of our church. So exciting and feeling so blessed that God let us witness her transformed life.

Catching up...

Well, I hate resorting to bullet points, but unless you want 12 different posts about completely unrelated things, bullet points are really the only answer. Here goes....

• The girls had a weekend of firsts...their first sleepover at a friend's house and their first football game. We are within walking distance of the high school so I'm not sure why it took a sleepover to get them to a game. The boys are feeling fairly left out so I see a football game in our future.
• Last week I forgot the pin number my debit card. The debit card that I've had for over a year. The pin number was completely gone. I don't know where it went but every time I went to the store I was completely blank. So I had to look it up. Nope, thankfully I didn't shred the pin number like you are suppose to. Otherwise we'd have taken an embarassing trip to the bank.
• Soup weather has arrived! I had brocolli cheese soup and wild rice soup over the weekend. So very good! And, no, they weren't homemade.
• I think I'm going to have to put my flip flops away soon. They are calling for frost this week. As Joe can tell you, it is a sad day in our house. I love flip flops, but when there is a chance of frost bite occuring I guess I should actually put on socks and shoes. And it is rather difficult to explain the girls why I'm allowed to wear flip flops and they are not.
• I sorted the boys' clothes this last weekend and I'm not sure which vegetable it was this summer that they ate that made them grow so very much. It was probably zuchinni. My zuchinni plants are still producing zuchinnis. I've lost count on how many quarts I have frozen. If it was the zuchinni then they will probably grow that much this winter as well because we'll be eating it all winter. For now I just need to find John some jeans to wear to school.
• I put my pants on wrong side out this morning. Yep, that is possible. Zipping them up was rather difficult. That was the first clue to me that something was wrong. Not really a good sign for the week.

I'm always up for a chance to win something this pretty!

Check out my friend's blog. (The link will highlight if you run your mouse over it. Not sure why it's not in a different color!) She's going to have a drawing to give away some of her beautiful handmade cards.

You know you have a mosquito problem when...

• you wear bug spray to take the dog out.
• you feel like you need to explain to people that "no, I don't have the chicken pox or any other disease. I've simply been mosquito food lately."
• when you enter your house, you all gather around the door and on the count of three, the door is opened the slightest bit and all six of you make a mad dash inside slamming the door behind you hoping not to smash any one's feet, fingers or head. Then you stand inside gasping for breath in search of the mosquitoes that managed to escape inside while you were busy stampeding one another.
• Benedryl cream and gel become your best friend--you don't leave home without them. (Did you know you are only suppose to apply it 4 times a day? ooops...)
• You are so convinced the buzzing sound of the mosquito is going to wake you up in the middle of the night that you begin hearing mosquitoes that aren't there.
• You keep asking yourself "Does frost kill mosquitoes? If so, Bring. It. On!"

He may be bald sooner than I thought

I treated myself to the best pumpkin spice latte this morning. Ahh, just the memory of it makes my mouth water. That has nothing to do with this post...just thought I'd share.

Last night was the first night of AWANA at our church. They had done it years ago and decided to try it again. Evidently yesterday afternoon my husband came up with a brillant incentive plan to get kids to invite their friends. He offered to shave his head if we hit 100 kids this school year. Last night's attendance....61! Which is completely awesome for the first night. AND especially the older kids were excited about the possibility of Pastor Joe being bald. So we may be looking at a bald pastor who wears a lot of hats sometime in the next few months. The funniest part about it is our own children declared at breakfast this morning "Nope, we don't like the idea, Dad. We don't want you to shave your head." So evidently the Pastor's kids won't be inviting any friends to AWANA anytime soon.

Time to play catch up

A lot has happened in the last week. You'll excuse the bullet points as I try to catch up:



John had his first field trip on Friday. He went to the apple orchard. On Thursday he came out of school, very serious (he's always very serious when he comes out of school) and told me: "Mom, we have to wear jeans, a jacket and a smile tomorrow. We have to wear all three of those things." I think he repeated it to me about 5 times Thursday night and never cracked a smile. He had fun on Friday.

Ashley is sporting new hardware:

Sara is loving third grade. She has clicked with this teacher more than any of her other teachers. She's already surpassed her reading goal for this quarter. She and Ashley both started Girl Scouts for this fall. They are super excited for their first overnight camp in the middle of October.

Nathan, my cowboy. Last week Nathan went through about 5 outfit changes a day. He would go from Incredible Hulk, to Superman, to Batman, to a pirate, to a cowboy. Finally at the end of last week he settled completely into cowboy mode and I must say its my favorite look for him. I sometimes can't bear to tell him to change clothes when we go to the store because he looks so adorable in his cowboy costume. This picture really doesn't do it justice. I wish I could just put this stage of his life in a bottle and pull it out in several years. Because he has three older siblings I know how fast it goes and I intend to treasure every minute that it is here.