Sick of being sick!

So about three weeks ago, I started coming down with a little cough and a cold and Thomas had been coughing for a couple of days as well.  However, it didn't seem to slow us down much.  During the last two weeks we've

1) gone bowling
2) attended mass several times-the boys served on the altar
3) went to school
4) visited the library
5) set up and took down everything for the fun night
6) attended the fun night-I worked the snack bar and the kids played games-Grandma, Christin and James took the boys around to the games
7) went grocery shopping
8) went costume shopping
9) cleaned house, did laundry and dishes as usual
10) so far we've kept up with everything although Thomas did miss a half day of school and I felt pretty cruddy for a couple of days.
11) celebrated at Fun Night with a costume
12) celebrated Halloween with another costume
13) celebrated All Saint's Day with yet another costume

I just so tired of coughing and blowing my nose.  Really want this to end.

Learning to handle the Chipmunk

While I've been sick for the past few days, my wonderful husband has had his hands full with taking care of kiddos and keeping up with the dishes and house stuff.  He also took the three boys out shooting today.  They took the clay pigeon thrower, a box of clay pigeons and several guns with them to get in a little shooting practice.  Sorry but he doesn't take photos much so I don't have any.  All reports are that the littler boys enjoyed shooting the Chipmunk .22 rifle along with a 28 gauge shotgun.  Not sure what the 17 year old shot but everyone came back tired and happy.  I thoroughly enjoyed a few hours all to myself to watch tv and knit.  Hope I'm over this cold/cough/flu thing by tomorrow.

Blessing of the Pets 2013

 Once a year the students are allowed to bring their pets to school for the blessing of the pets.  This year we went for easy and opted to bring the box turtle.  However, there were lots of animals--cows, horses, chickens, bunnies, turtles, birds, and of course, lots and lots of dogs.

 Andrew carried around the turtle and was glad to show it off to other kids.

 However, Thomas was quite taken with this beautiful bearded dragon.

He even held it and posed for a photo for me.  I was surprised he wanted to hold it as he usually balks as holding creepy crawlies.  St. Francis, pray for us!

Learning to Cook

 Much of the conversation lately has revolved around food and lots of food.  We went to IHOP with Grandpa and Grandma the other day and the kiddos were quite impressed with the varieties of syrup on the table along with the fun pancakes available.  Since it was Sunday a.m. I decided to make a batch of pancakes for us and they went to town decorating and creating the toppings.  Thomas added syrup, home made apricot jam, banana slices, Flicks candy and a maraschino cherry to his.  He was so pleased with his "outrageous" pancakes and ate them in no time.

 Meanwhile, on another day, Andrew had been asking me to learn to cook so we started with scrambled eggs.  Easy enough.  He cracked all the eggs and whipped them together, put a little olive oil in the pan and scrambled them up with a little salt and pepper.

We're off to a good start so he'll make some variations on it next time.  We also talked about temperatures, washing hands, etc. to instill some basic cooking habits.  By the way, the eggs were delicious!

Morgan's Home!

Morgan came home for a quick visit this week-end and we all enjoyed seeing her.  We attended Mass together (well sort of).  Morgan sang in the choir and  James went up to sit with her.  Andrew and Thomas both served as altar servers so I sat in the pew by myself.  I really don't mind the chance for a little while to be alone while surrounded by people.  It's actually a nice chance for me to pray and think and listen to the homily without checking on the kiddos sitting next to me.  However, I do keep watch on them from the pew but there is nothing I can do if they make a mistake on the altar.  Just say my prayers and keep on going.  I pray for these children more than anything else.  I truly want the best for them and hope they will succeed in their chosen directions as they grow up.  Time certainly has passed by quickly but I'm glad for the chance to have them together again even if it is just for a day or week-end.

Another tooth has gone missing.  I knew when he left for school that it would probably come out that day and sure enough it did.  I warned his teacher of the possibility and wasn't at all surprised that he came home with a tooth in a baggie.  So he forgot to put it under his pillow that night.  Okay by me, as I wasn't prepared.  Next night he remembered but wanted to put it in a jar on his dresser to make it easier for the tooth fairy to find out.  She did find it after some searching and left a trail of gold glitter in the jar, on his bed a little and of course, on and under his pillow along with a set of window markers and a Lego minifig.  He was delighted with the glitter hunt as he checked the jar and only found glitter.  It took a while to look under the pillow but lo and behold there were the prizes.  The minifig turned out to be a scarecrow (you don't know for sure until you open it) which he liked.  Later I found out he was hoping for a beyblade but more on that another day.  I love this snaggle toothed smile and am expecting the other front tooth to go missing any day now-it's loose too.

Young Eagles

Yesterday the boys and I went out to the airport for a free flight with the Young Eagles program.

 Pilot Matt took Andrew up for his first flight in a Cessna 182.  Andrew was super excited and ready to go.

 The wait for flight was pretty quick.  We enjoyed the beautiful weather and watched several planes take off and land.  There were also a few helicopters at the airport too.

 Ready for take-off.

 Little brother ran to greet his big brother when he landed.

 Of course, one must be interviewed by the newspaper staff.  I'm wondering what comments will appear in the paper tomorrow.

 Thomas really didn't meet the age requirement but this kind pilot let him go on a short flight as he waited so patiently for his big brother and was really excited to go.

 This is the face of a happy little boy who just has to do everything big brother does.

Thanks so much to the Young Eagles program for making this available.  Maybe one or both of these boys will follow in your footsteps one day.