Corn Maze

Tis the season for pumpkins, apples, cider, delicious donuts, haunted houses and corn mazes! We went to a local corn maze the other afternoon when we had some sunshine and no social commitments. Nate and Tessa led us through the corn maze. Thanks to their sense of direction, that they must get from their mother, we didn't even have to open our map. After navigating the maze, the kids got to play on a giant straw mound with really big tunnels and lounge in a pit of corn kernels.

Readin' & Writin'

Kids are learnin'! Love these sentence and story pictures. Tessa even brought home something similar this past week. I have to admit that sometimes I'm a little worried what might be said or illustrated!

Nate
Translation: I am going to Cincinnati because went kayaking with my family. Not sure how Cincinnati got thrown in there. Been kayaking, but just on the local river here. But how cute and terrible is that phonetic spelling?! And, how cool is that illustration of the orange kayak on the minivan?! And, if you look closely he has drawn a mole and mole tunnel in the lawn. Seriously. Can you tell that Troy and I have been complaining and dealing with moles!

This is Tessa's fill in the blank. She's happy when her bother is her friend. Awwh.

Now this is weird and hilarious. Tessa is sad when you don't like her pet unicorn. What?! Exactly what we said. And, apparently she doesn't really know how to depict a sad face...unless she thinks all people with a mustache are sad.

Nate
Translation: This is me at the zoo with my mom. That's mommy in the dress. I've graduated from a barrel chest and huge thighs! Yay! That is Nate in the blue pants and yellow shirt at the penguin exhibit. Please note the giraffe eating off of the tree on the right. The top blue thing with the person inside is a concession stand by the lion exhibit. Leave it to my son to include where we eat! The bottom left, small black animal by the tree is a monkey, of course. All of our favorites! Monkeys and penguins and giraffes and lions...and treats!

A little trip to the hospital...

No, this trip was not my usual route and reason to go to the hospital. This time it was in the middle of the night (not so out of the ordinary) but it was for MY BABY. Not being born. My first born that was sucking air and couldn't breathe! Relax. All is well here and it's not half as bad as it sounds. This is how it rolled out. We were coming off of the first week of school and a good, long weekend bender including a stop at the Fulton County Fair Demo Derby (what is it about us and fairs?!) in the rain until 11:30 at night and then Laura and Brian's wedding weekend in Columbus. Needless to say, there was lots and lots of fun things going on and intermingling with family and friends, lots of germs and pry not enough sleep.

The puking started on Saturday as mommy had the clear-bottle flu from the wedding reception and post-reception activities. What followed was not expected. Tessa started puking on Saturday night. Random barfing. From germs. But no other symptoms. She'd puke and rally and be playing like nothing was up. Luckily, that was short-lived. Nate started with the croup barking cough on Sunday night. Monday night, however, he was barking like crazy and having difficulty sleeping. He was crying and barking and asking me why he had a dog in his throat. When he started sucking air like he was breathing through a straw and his skin was retracting between his skinny little ribs and at his neck, that is when I got a little worried (fancy medical term is stridor). So, me, having a medical background and all knows that he needs cool air and drags him outside in the middle of the night. That wasn't working so I got a little extreme and tried to have him put his head in the freezer but he was having none of that. I decided that we couldn't wait this out until the pediatrician had office hours the next morning. He needed some steroids and he needed them sooner rather than later. So, I woke up Troy from his fake sleep because no one was really sleeping since Nate was crying and barking and couldn't breathe and told him I was going to take Nate to Urgent Care. Well, me being a medical professional I often profess how someone would have to be dying or a limb falling off to go to the hospital. Needless to say, Troy FREAKED OUT and assumed the worst...that Nate must be near death. I settled him down and explained that we needed to get some steroids and we couldn't wait until morning and we'd just be going to Urgent Care. Nate of course overhears "hospital" and he FREAKS OUT. Of course, now I have to wrestle a crying, barking, sucking-air child in to the van in the middle of the night. He tries to convince me that the trees outside were making him better and he didn't need to go.

Well, as luck would have it, urgent care was closed so we were forced to go to the hospital ER. I was dreading a long wait and mobs of crazy people detoxing or searching for their next vicodin prescription. Nate, in the mean time, had calmed down a little but was stilling barking, sucking air and only whining about who did this to him. Luckily our trip was over in record time! We walked in the door at the hospital, Nate still barking and sucking air but not really crying anymore. Let me tell you, you mention that you child is having a little difficulty breathing and wham-bam-thank-you-mam you've got service! Nate was whisked away in a wheelchair before I could even get my name out of my mouth for my visitor pass. The doctor asked him what was the matter and he told him that he had a dog in his throat and he couldn't breathe. Awwh. A breathing treatment, a mega-dose of steroids, and Spongebob juice box later we were headed home with less-inflamed lungs, stickers in hand and a really awesome medical bracelet on Nate's ankle. Nate kept that ankle bracelet on for two days until I convinced him to cut it off. After he was better, he thought it was pretty cool going the hospital and asked if we should get one of those "smoke machines" in case he gets sick again. So, we're not doing so well in the attendance category as we have already missed days for Laura's wedding and now this. Nevertheless, everyone's health seems to be improving around here and we are back on track. I know that it would be highly inappropriate to take pictures of my child while he is visiting the ER having a medical emergency. The next day I spent feeding Nate's steroid frenzy and didn't think to grab the camera. So, I have taken a picture of his medical bracelet for which I had to negotiate it's removal.

Back to School!

Yikes! The hustle and bustle of the beginning of the school year explains my delinquency here.







Nate started FIRST GRADE and thinks he's big man on campus this year. We had a few mishaps again this year with drop-off/pick-up changes in the school's transportation plan as the busing area was still under construction on the first day. Had this happened last year, Nate would have been a stress mess in a puddle of tears. But, not this year. He was so confident and just rolled with the punches...and, more importantly, managed to get where he needed to be! He's excited about his teacher and having some old friends in his classroom. He was most excited to tell us about how one of the high school kids (which is probably just a 5th grader but seems so much older to Nate) told him that he liked his Puma sneakers.

Tessa started DK this year! If you recall the birth of this blog was Nate's debut in DK. It's called Developmental Kindergarten which is just a fancy word for 4 year old preschool. Tessa's entrance to DK couldn't have been any more opposite than her brother's. Now, she has had the advantage of knowing some of the other kids as well as the teachers in her class. But, being a girl and a second child does make quite a bit of difference! Let me take you back momentarily and remind you how Nate cried his eyes out and plastered himself to the glass door tearing out the hearts of his parents as we pulled away each morning for nearly TWO WEEKS! And, even worse, when we would pick him up and ask him about his day he would tell us that he sat on the bench and didn't participate. His depression and lack of participation were confirmed by the teacher nearly every day. He eventually came around and flourished in the class having many friends and learning a lot. Tessa, on the other hand, wanted to walk in to her classroom alone on the first day. ALONE. She shooed Troy and I away back to the car! She marched right in that classroom, with us following much to her dismay, she ordered me to put her lunch in the proper location, showed off her new backpack to her teacher, waved a quick "Bye mom and dad" and flitted off to play with little friends. Not kidding. At pick up I asked her how her day went and she told me she had to help one of the new DK friends to stop crying because he was scared. She explained that she showed him some toys and that made him feel better. Seriously. She got a little reward card from the teacher for doing a good deed to one of her friends. I think our biggest challenge will be agreeing what she is going to wear on a daily basis. Here's to a great year!

Aspiring Carnie?

And then there are the repercussions of taking your children to the fair. It is highway robbery to attend any fair. They sucker you in with "kids are free" but they forget to remind you that an elephant ear costs $7 and a few measly games that no one ever wins will rape you of $50 in a flash. Well, my kids cannot walk down a midway without spotting the most desirable Spongebob and Smurf stuffed animals.

We took the kids to one of the local, not-as-good-as-HCF- fairs. Above is Nate shooting a pellet gun for a Spongebob. He almost took out the Carnie's eye. He managed to snag a "small" prize for playing. No Spongebob though.

Tessa actually, legitimately won this game...after about 3 tries...she left with Smurfette tucked lovingly under her arm. Prizes from fairs, especially stuffed ones, give me the heebies and I yet I let her sleep with it (after I inspected it for hypodermic needles and sprayed it with Febreeze!)

Shooting hoops for Smurfs and Angry Birds.

So, I get called to "come here" by Nate a few days later. And this is what I find...

My son. Playing fair. An aspiring Carnie. You had to bowl the stacked cups down. And, in true fair fashion, it was harder than it looks! It took me TWO tries because he insisted you had to knock all of them down.