Be Careful What You Ask

Denise interviewed 3 of her children, and their answers just cracked me up.  I asked her if I could borrow her questions, and this is what I got:
Marissa's answers~ 

1. What is something Mom always says to you?  Marissa quit

2. What makes Mom happy? giving her hugs

3. What makes Mom sad? when she can't scrapbook

4. How does Mom make you laugh? when she tickles me

5. What was Mom like as a child? she lived in the old days

6. When is Mom's birthday? June something, I think

7. How tall is Mom? 6'2"~"just a random guess"

8. What is Mom's favorite thing to do? blog  

9. What does Mom do when you're not around?  scrapbook, blog, read, clean house

10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "cooking ~ some mistakes may occur"

11. What is Mom really good at? reading

12. What is Mom not very good at? (snickers and giggles) "I've got several things in mind. Running...you run slow"

13. What does Mom do for a job? clean the house

14. What is Mom's favorite food? beef noodle casserole ("beef noodly stuff")

15. What makes you happy about Mom? when we cook together

16. If Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Minnie Mouse

17. What do you and Mom do together?  read, work puzzles

18. How are you and Mom alike? We like Extreme Home Makeover and the Waltons

19. How are you and Mom different? She likes to watch decorating shows

20. How do you know Mommy loves you? She tells me. 

Just for the record, I watch a decorating show maybe twice a month.  And, I'm tall, but not close to 6'2".  LOL. 

Daniella's answers~

1. What is something Mom always says to you?  Pick up your toys

2. What makes Mom happy?  when I'm happy with my sister

3. What makes Mom sad? being sick

4. How does Mom make you laugh? tell funny jokes

5. What was Mom like as a child? a baby

6. When is Mom's birthday? April?  I don't know.

7. How tall is Mom? 3 feet

8. What is Mom's favorite thing to do?  play games with us

9. What does Mom do when you're not around?  pick up our toys  (she wishes!)

10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for? being a star

11. What is Mom really good at? cooking

12. What is Mom not very good at? sewing

13. What does Mom do for a job? make us work                      (ROFL)

14. What is Mom's favorite food?  banana and peanut butter    

15. What makes you happy about Mom?  that you're the best mother in the whole world

16. If Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Mickey Mouse

17. What do you and Mom do together?  puzzles, schoolwork

18. How are you and Mom alike? women

19. How are you and Mom different? we don't have the same skin

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?   because she takes good care of us

Interview your kiddos if you dare!

Butterflies

We finished our butterfly lapbooks several weeks ago, and they had a great time working on them.  This one was different, because it's the first time I've just kind of made up our own.  I used information and some ideas from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html and www.homeschoolshare.com, and some I just totally made up.  In addition to the activities in the pictures, we also did a stained glass butterfly craft, which had mixed results, and a symmetrical butterfly craft.  Both were hits. 
Marissa's~





Daniella's~
LOL.  She's still adding little butterflies to the front of hers.  She's had a ball doing that. 
Okay, this picture also encompasses several other projects!  You'll see the canner that I wasn't actually using to can....we were using it to heat up the apples to to make applesauce that was canned in the waterbath canner.  There's also the electric cooler plugged in to get ready for our camping trip, a jigsaw puzzle on the table that Marissa and I were working on, and a crossword puzzle that Ashley was working.  We may be a little cluttered, but we're always learning!  : )










We're about to start on The 12 Days of Christmas lapbook that I was able to get for free for being a TOS subscriber.  Yes, I know the 12 days of Christmas are after Christmas, but I know me well enough to know that the days right after Christmas will not be spent doing a lapbook, besides the fact that we're going out of town on the 1st.  We also have one more trip out of town to see Briana in the Nutcracker, and between that, decorating, wrapping, baking.....I think I'd do well to start now! 

Letitia

Thanks for all of the encouragment and advice for Marissa.  We are cough free for several days now.  Now Ashley is sick.  : (  but no cough yet.  We do pass around little head colds in the winter, but it is very unusual for us to have such hard sicknesses.  James being sick was the first time in years that someone in our family has been on anitbiotics.  I hope it's not a sign of the winter to come! 

Fall Camping

First of all, I realized I never posted a picture of the girls at the fall festival. Indian princess and Colonial maiden~

Marissa is still coughing.  Last night was better.  She asked for Benadryl, which means she was really desperate, because she hates that stuff.  I hadn't thought of it, but it seemed to help, and she got a little more sleep.  Not tonight so far.  She's back out of bed, having coughed herself into a sweat. 
Well, despite the fact that I spent the whole day before we were supposed to leave canning 30 qts. of applesauce instead of packing,
and despite the fact that at 10:30 the night before we were supposed to leave, I realized the refrigerator was not cool (given away mostly by the smell of about $10 worth of spoiled raw chicken that I was planning to cook the next morning),
and despite the fact that instead of running some last minute errands the next morning while I packed, James had to wait on the repairman and for him to leave,
and despite the fact that James started getting sick the 2nd day we were there,
and despite the fact that we had a camper incident as we were leaving,
we had a really good time camping! 
We love fall camping at nearby state parks.  This was our first visit to this one, and we chose it  because it was close enough that Briana could come and camp with us, and still go in to her classes 2 nights.  I was so thankful that her weekend classes didn't meet that week.  Not only are the colors so beautiful in the fall, but it is usually pretty deserted in the campgrounds by the end of Oct.  There were only 2 other campers within sight of ours, and it was so quiet and peaceful. 

Being on the end of a small loop, and with few campers down there, the little girls, especially this one, had a blast riding part way around the loop, cutting through the woods and campsites.

She finds this cedar branch lying and the grounds and says, "Mama, can I take this home with me?"

Fun at the playground.  Daniella cracks me up.  Can you see her dangling in the background?  The child spends half her life dangling from something. 
This is what she was doing in the background.  She can fly across those things.

Trying to break a body part or 2?  They're sliding, not walking down.


 Even Dad got in on the fun.....

I think they've gotten a little too big to double swing~




We took an easy hike around the lake.  All of the fall colors around and reflecting in the lake were beautiful.








Enjoying snuggling around the campfire every night.
and eating smores : )


The Lord has His hand on us the day we left.  We don't know what happened or why, but as we were about to pull out of the campground, just a few feet before getting on the road, we hit a pretty good bump, and the trailer came unhitched from the camper.  It was a scary moment.  As soon as we got out of the car, I praised God that we were not on the interstate when it happened.  I don't even want to think what could have happened.  The park ranger helped us get it hooked back up, which was no easy task, because the tongue of the trailer was sitting on the ground.  We checked out late, and by the time all of that happened, and we went to my parents' house to pick up our dogs, we ended up spending the night there because it was getting late, and James was too miserable to drive.  We got home with no more incident with the camper, and still don't know how it didn't lock into place.  You can be sure he *made* sure it was locked that time. 

Coughing and Traveling

Hopefully not at the same time. 
Thank you for all of your encouragement.  James is much better, but not completely well yet.  He tires out easily, his ears are still stopped up, and he has a little cough.  Marissa never threw up again after those 2 times, and her fever is gone, but she has a dry cough that is horrible.  She is completely miserable with it.  It started on Sat., I think, and it is rough.  She and I have not slept more than 5 hours the last 2 nights.  I have tried every home remedy and over the counter medicine we could find for her at night, and she still just coughs.  I looked at the symptoms for whooping cough this morning, and I don't think that's what she has.  It's not that hard of a cough.  Just nagging.  I'm sure it's post nasal, but it is persistant and won't be tamed. 
We have tried apple cider vinegar mixed with honey and ginger (YUCK! but she took it like a trooper), she has a humidifier running next to her bed, a spoonful of honey, breathing steam with peppermint oil (works like a charm as long as she's breathing it, but she coughs immediately upon coming up for air), Breathe Right strips, Dimetapp, Robatussin, Vick's cough Suppressent (just at night so she can sleep), and Vick's vapor rub.  I think that's everything we've done.  Oh, and the first night I tried rubbing an accupressure point.  If anyone has any other ideas I would LOVE to hear them.  She is worn out. 
On a lighter note, Ashley and Briana have started a new blog together called Family Vacation Reviews.  You can visit it HERE.  They are having fun working on it.  Right now they are featuring Winterfest.  Definitely check that out for the holidays.  Add them to your favorites, then check in often for new places to visit.  They will also be having some guest bloggers, I believe. 
Say a prayer for us to get some sleep around here, and for little Marissa. 

Letitia

All Things Yuck

I have been MIA for a while because we went camping.  I'll share about it soon, but am too tired tonight.  We were delayed a day getting home because James was too sick to pull the camper (pop-up) home, and I have never pulled it, and that road was not the time to try.  We got in about noon, and I had to race to get Marissa somewhere by 2:00~race, because I had to still have a shower, and it's a 20 min. drive.  Anyway, James is never sick, but he got sicker and sicker as the week went on.  By Sunday he was extremely miserable.  He went to the dr. Monday afternoon after we got in, and has.......a sinus infection, a throat infection, a double ear infection, and a double eye infection.  Whew.  From Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon his eyes got so swollen he could barely open them.  The dr. said his throat was so closed up that he could barely get air through or swallow.  And, one of his eardrums was on the verge of rupturing.  She said she was very surprised that we made it home.  She was surprised that the change in air pressure coming off of the mountains we were on did not cause it to burst.  He's on an antibiotic now, got a good long night sleep last night, and today was some better.  His throat was not as sore, and he didn't feel quite as rotten most of the day.  His eyes are a little better tonight, but he still has ear pain.  And, of course, you always feel worse as night comes on. 
So, in the meantime, on Sunday morning, Daniella got bumped in the mouth, and started screaming crying.  I looked in her mouth and one of her back teeth (still baby thankfully) has a huge black spot on it, and her gum is very swollen.  I knew it was probaby abscessed.  How can you be a good mom and let that happen!!??? LOL.   She complained a couple of weeks ago that her gum was hurting.  I looked at it, and it looked like she might be getting an ulcer.  She complained about it when she ate for several days, but then for about a week, at least, she said nothing.....until Sunday morning.  Ugh.  I called the dentist (during my mad rush to get a shower and get out the door), but they were closed, so she went in today.  By today her gums were horrendously swollen.  She's on 2 weeks of antibiotics, and then will have to have the tooth pulled.  (sigh)
Sooooo, in the meantime......(have you heard that somewhere before?)......Marissa went with us to the dentist today, then we ran a couple of errands.  We went to WalMart to have Daniella's perscription filled, but had to wait an hour.  I was so tired, I didn't not want to drive all the way home, then turn around and go all the way back, so we "window shopped" at WM.  About half way through, I could see Marissa going down.  She complained with a headache, and said it might be sinus since she was getting kind of dizzy.  I knew she was tired, too, plus none of us had had lunch, except they had a little applesauce, and it was 2:30.  I thought maybe she'd perk up once she ate.  We finally got the prescrip, and when we got to the car I gave her a banana, which she ate half of.  About a mile from home she started throwing up.......lots.  We got in and got her cleaned up, and she seemed fine, except for the headache and tiredness....oh, and the little detail of a 100.6 temp.  A little later she ate a piece of toast with fruit spread, one cookie, and drank some juice.  All was good with the stomach, and she held it down.  I was relieved and was thinking it was sinus drainage on an empty stomach that got to her earlier.  Or not.  At supper she drank a little coke that I got her to settle the stomach, and ate about 5 plain noodles.  They only stayed down about 5 min.  She's was up probably another hour with no more throwing up.  I'm praying that she'll sleep through the night, and also that we will fight off her having anything near as bad as James.  I've been pumping Vit. C, herbal drops for kids, and Collodial Silver into her.
So far, Ashley and I just have a stuffy sinusy headache, but not bad.  We're also, along with Daniella, taking lots of preventative, so I pray we can stay well.  Briana was also with us while we camped, so I hope she is remembering to take her vitamins.  I guess with Daniella on antibiotics anyway for her tooth infection, they might kill of any bacteria she might pick up from her Daddy.
Daniella had to skip ballet tonight, because I just did not have it in me to drive 30 min. to the studio.  James was originally supposed to take her, while I had a mom's night with 2 others, but I had to cancel that, too.   Contrary to how it may sound, I'm not complaining.  I would have felt horrible if I had been out eating and laughing while Marissa was here so sick.  There will be plenty of other times to chat and relax.  Poor Marissa was apologizing to me before she was even finished throwing up tonight, because it was all over the carpet.  As I was cleaning it, she said, "Being a mom is a lot of hard work, isn't it?"  So, I had the chance to tell her again that, yes, it's hard work, but I love it.  And, that even though I wouldn't choose to be cleaning that off the carpet, it was okay, and I didn't mind, because I love her and love being her mom. 
So, not all things are yuck. 
update Wed. morning~Marissa made it through the night without throwing up anymore, so I still don't think this is a stomach bug.  James felt queezy off and on in the early part of his.  However, she did wake up early with a 102.7 temp.