5 Miles

Last night the weather forecaster used the term “most beautiful day of the month”.  Knowing that both boys have the day off, Thursday is a great day for projects like pumpkin carving! I was thrilled with the idea of doing it outside! Thankfully I was feeling better, so this morning we took the pumpkins off the front porch and got to work carving them to make them “SCARY” (kids request).

Here the boys are drawing the faces they want on them. Alex got lots of help in his design (I drew it, he described what he wanted). Strangely, his design ended up looking a lot like Will’s!

Once we designed the faces, I cut the top off Will’s and got him to work with the inital scooping out. Then I started on Alex’s.   Then I remembered I wanted to take pictures, so I stopped and got a few of them working together on Alex’s pumpkin, getting the “goop” out.

“EWWW! IT’S SO GROSS!” 

“YUCK!”  Then Alex told me how he liked doing yucky things like this, it was fun.  

After I scraped out Will’s and moved on to Alex’s, I had the boys start to separate some of the seeds from the stringy stuff.  We’re going to roast the seeds tomorrow or Saturday.

Then we worked on carving the faces. I bought a kids pumpkin carving set last year and it was the Best Investment Ever! The scoop in it is perfect to scrape the sides, I was amazed how much better it worked then the spoons. It came with two carving tools that aren’t sharp but great for kids. So each boy got to work on their pumpkin. I’d help one while the other worked, and then switch. They each were happy they got to help, I didn’t feel like I did the whole thing, and no one got hurt!

Hey look! It’s me!  James was out working on leaves while we did this, so he took a picture of me scraping extra stuff off the edges and fine tuning the design a bit.

I discovered I didn’t have candles, so we’re going to get some tomorrow to put in them and then I’ll put up the pictures of their spooky glow.

The last week has been a bit rough & crazy. I managed to come down with Alex’s cold.  Thursday I took him to his doctor to make sure it was a cold, not the flu. She said in kids, the flu has had the high fever. In grown-ups, you may have a fever that comes and goes. So his cough that SOUNDS like H1N1 flu is just from a cold. I could feel myself starting to develop the cough, but was hoping I’d be able to fight it off. James had been feeling achy at the end of each day but was taking Ny-Quil at night and hoping he’d be able to fight it off.  But knowing how quickly these things come, and how horrid it is to be sick away from home, and not wanting to spread our germs, we chose to cancel all our weekend plans. We were planning on driving to St. Louis and visiting Heidi as well as James’ brother Teri and his family. They had a baby in May who we’ve not get to meet yet, and we wanted to be a part of his baby dedication.  We were sad we couldn’t go, but we chose wisely. 

Saturday I felt not-so-great, but well enough to do a small, early birthday celebration for my mom’s birthday. (We were having a hard time finding time to get together.)  We had a nice afternoon of playing games and talking and then went out to dinner. Then we had a small cake and it was time for them to go.  But I didn’t sleep well that night, felt worse and stayed home from church Sunday, and it seemed like I went down hill from there.  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were all bad days for me. Thankfully James was home Sunday and Monday. His parents came through and stayed an extra day to help take care of the kids on Tuesday (and they LOVED the extra time with Grandma Lo and Grandpa–much better then being stuck home all day with a sick momma!).  By Tuesday night I was beginning to feel more like myself and by now I still have the lingering cough but feel mostly better. I’m still trying to not over do it, but I feel like I’m on the other side of the evil cold. Boy, did it take a lot out of me! 

The changes part of the title refers to James’ new work schedule. He is done with all his training, and passed the tests required. He joined his Team this week. This means he now works 4, 10 hour days, from 3 pm-2 am. Needless to say, this is taking some getting used to! I don’t know if it’d be easier if I had been feeling better, but I keep getting throw off! We’ve had a routine in place for so long, I hadn’t realized what a creature of habit I’ve been! On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, he and the boys are all home for lunch, so that is what is now our family meal–I REALLY want to keep up eating a meal together. This is a good year for him to do an odd schedule like this, with the alternating days and flexibility we have.  Wednesday is the only day he works that he doesn’t see Will, he leaves for work before Will’s bus comes home.  Next year, with Will going to school full time, this wouldn’t work as well so we’ll probably look to change it in the next year, but for now this works out the best out of all the options that were available. But it’s an adjustment to get in the mentality of fixing an actual lunch (not just sandwiches) and get that ready for all of us to eat together. It’s an adjustment to not have him around in the evening helping me clean up or put the kids to bed! It’s an adjustment having him still asleep when I usually go in the room to get dressed & to make the bed (and it’s dark in the morning now…I’m going to have to actually plan ahead and get my clothes out then night before).  Like any change, it’s going to take some getting used to!  It is nice to know he’ll be home all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday though.

So, if you don’t mind, keep us in your prayers as we adjust. Also pray for me & the baby. The illness during my 3rd Trimester has made the itchy skin that flared up with my last two pregnancies flare up again pretty badly, and it’s earlier then I’d hoped to deal with it.  I still have 8 weeks, and am struggling with the idea that it’ll be like this the next 8 weeks. Pray that as I get better, the itching will ease for awhile.

Monday Alex had to stay home from preschool because he woke up with a fever. Thankfully it broke by mid-morning and he was quite chipper and had fun playing.  Today was another beautiful sunny day…we actually got ABOVE the normal temps.  I decided if Alex was still feeling better we’d go to the pumpkin patch. Alex still had his cough/runny nose, but no fever and was just as chipper so we went.

…We’ll eventually get looking at the camera down…

Can you tell the pumpkin farm is also a Christmas tree farm? Not ALL the pumpkins are placed here (as it looks), we actually saw a number of vines that were drying up in between the trees.

The boys still love watching the tractor as we rode in the wagon (I was telling Will this was the fourth year we’ve gone, the first time he was 2 and he only cared about the tractor.)

The last year and this year the kids have LOVED climbing up the hay bale pile and jumping down.  This year it got rather crazy, there were a number of school groups there so it got a bit crazy.  Despite that, we all had a good time.  We came home and planted 75 more bulbs (tulips, crocuses and grape hyathis).

After a week of rainy, cold weather, we were excited to see the sun on Saturday. James and the boys went out to work on gathering up leaves for our compost bin.  Before I ran to the store (there were 2 stores having GREAT Saturday only sales), I grabbed the camera to take some pictures.

James used the leaf blower, the kids had to go the old-fashioned route with the rakes. They found it funny to have the leaves blown on them.

Saturday also marked the LAST soccer game of the year. It was only 6 weeks…but that was just long enough! Will enjoyed it, I think the rest of us endured it. I’m glad we won’t be sitting out in the rain or cold as it gets colder (or will it finally be warmer now?).  It was a chilly time to sit there, but he had so much fun running around, he was warm. He did not score a goal this time, but lots of teammates did, so he was happy.

Quick aside about the mittens…those are a set James’ mom made. She makes all mittens with a string that threads through coat sleeves so they don’t get lost & stay with the coat. I LOVE that.  Last winter Will managed to get one of those brown ones caught in the car door and then pulled really hard on it to get it lose and broke the string. I was going to have her fix it, but kept forgetting to ask when she was here this summer. Last week we needed mittens he could wear with the uniform and I pulled those out, trimmed off the string and then he was set. Later James walked into the room and Alex and Will had decided to cut the strings off of two more pairs. I just shake my head (they got in big trouble for their “help”.)  Now I have to keep track of THREE pairs of mittens. The horrors! (Seriously, it’s a pain, we only have a tiny coat closet that is rather full and I hate digging through it trying to find a missing mitten!)

Saturday night the boys got hair cuts. You’ll see in the pictures of the pumpkin patch, Alex’s hair is now SHORT. People at church kept asking him “Where are your curls?” and “Where’s your hair?”  He told them “In the trash can.”  He’s happy with it, he prefers straight hair. I’m a bit sad, I love the curls but they were pretty ragged from our last attempt at cutting it and I thinking  just cutting them off and trying again is a good idea.

Sunday we hosted our small group for a hot dog roast/chili party. James built a big fire in our fire pit and we all hung out there, roasting hot dogs and putting chili on them. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The kids had a great time running around in the back yard, and the adults enjoyed talking around the fire.  I am sad I forgot to bring my camera out and get pictures of it. It was a cool, clear evening, almost perfect weather for the event (I think those with babies–the other three couples–wished it was a tad bit warmer for them. ).

Last week we had a very rainy, cold, gloomy week.  We’ve have temps below normal for the last 23 days and last week it was more like November, REALLY chilly and just yucky.  So last Thursday I pulled a favorite day brightener–making cupcakes!  We decided to ice them orange and decorate them like jack o’laterns.

Do you see the pumpkin face on the one on the right? The chocolate chips are the eyes and mouth and the red sparkles are the hair. the one on the left was Alex’s, which means it was just covered with decorations. 

Alex started calling the New Orleans Saints  “The Bananas”. If you look, the symbol on their helmet does kind of look like a banana. And they do wear yellow. So we were having fun cheering on the Bananas against the Jets last Sunday.

* * *

Alex was telling me how he likes to be silly.

“Do you like hearing people laugh or do you like having them looking at you?”

“I like to have people looking at me!”

So…we’re not raising a shy child.

This year was Alex’s turn to go to the apple orchard. Well…he’s gone the last 3 years but he just tagged along with Will’s preschool class. This year was HIS turn to go. He was quite excited. We went Wednesday morning, it was sunny but chilly. (It had rained the day before and the next two days so we were thankful for the nice weather!)

Riding the tractor–always a favorite part!

Mommy and Alex!

He listened quite well to the different ladies tell them about the orchard.

Watching the machine fill up the apple cider jugs.

He was sad we didn’t walk out to the corn maze. We didn’t because Mommy was tired, and didn’t want to walk WAY out there, and because I am a tiny bit freaked out by corn mazes. I told him next time.  We played on the playground equipment a bit and then left to run to the store. 

(If you want a fun trip down memory lane, here was our trip last year and in 2007  and 2006 , our first time! It’s kind of fun to see how the kids have changed and how I managed to get different pictures each time.)

I was cleaning out my Draft folder and found this old post of some questions I asked the kids last April. It was fun to ask them again to see how few changed!

Will–answered April 18, 2008

What are you good at doing? Sharing, playing football with my brother, building train tracks 
If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? A toy–a toy dump truck like my backhoe
What are you afraid of?  scary monsters and my shadow, but sometimes I’m not
Who are your friends? Preschool: Madi, Emma, and Garrett and at church: Davis and Lucus and Ethan 
What is important to you? Sharing
What is your favorite book? Trains
What is your favorite food? psaghetti and meatballs and cheese pizza
What is your favorite thing about school? playtime
What is your favorite thing to do? play at preschool
How do you show your family you love them? by hugging
What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter
Why? because Alex wants to be one too
What are you thankful for? my friends
Tell me something about God. Um….nope, I don’t know anything about God. Umm…he loves me and protects me (ok, so that got some prompting from Mommy)

Will–answered Oct. 6, 2009

What are you good at doing? playing basketball outside, playing Carcassone, doing the out of space puzzle at school, soccer 
If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it?  Put it in my piggy bank and  save it for later, maybe I could buy something! A few little cars.
What are you afraid of?  scary dreams
Who are your friends? Ethan & Issac (neighbors), Church: Ethan B.
What is important to you? Being fair
What is your favorite book? Train book I got at the school libarary.
What is your favorite food? cheese pizza and pepperoine pizza
What is your favorite thing about school? gym class, free time when I can do the outer space puzzle
What is your favorite thing to do? ‘nuggling you
How do you show your family you love them? by hugging
What do you want to be when you grow up? a NASCAR Driver
Why? I just want to
What are you thankful for? Mommy & Daddy, Alex
Tell me something about God. He loves us.

And to include younger brother, here are Alex’s answers  (asked April, 2008 when he was not quite 2 and a half, some are blank because I guess I didn’t think he’d understand them):

What are you good at doing? playing with piano bench.
If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? I wan money! Wan money! (So we changed the topic) 
What are you afraid of?  
Who are your friends?  No
What is important to you?  Mommy, Daddy, Will
What is your favorite book? Goodnight Moon (Mommy assumes)
What is your favorite food? hot dog and peanut butter and jelly
What is your favorite thing about school? 
What is your favorite thing to do? 
How do you show your family you love them?
What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter
Why?  ‘cause I do
What are you thankful for?  Cars and trucks
Tell me something about God. Nope

Alex, Answered Oct. 6, 2009

What are you good at doing? Playing, ‘nuggling You
If you had ten dollars, how would you spend it? By getting a few toys like a tractor, a car and a tow truck and a few, 3 cars
What are you afraid of?  Scary dreams and lions and bears
Who are your friends? Ethan & Isaac, Preschool: Andrew, Church:
Isaac S.
What is important to you? You (Mommy)
What is your favorite book? Bob the Builder & Clifford
What is your favorite food? Chili 
 What is your favorite thing about school? Recess
What is your favorite thing to do? Play here at home
How do you show your family you love them? by ‘nuggling them
What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter
Why? because that’s fun, When I’m 8 or 9 I’ll play baseball and tennis
What are you thankful for? toys
Tell me something about God. He loves us.

So, this is what we did for supper Saturday night.

The boys LOVED it.