Charlie turned 2!

...almost a month ago. So I'm a little behind on the blog. I also just realized that I wrote a few posts in January and failed to hit publish, so those of you who check this regularly can look forward to a few updates in the coming week.
Anyway, for Charlie's birthday, we got him a toddler sized drum set.

I was expecting this:

I was not expecting to walk into the living room to this (although I guess I should have):

Tough Decisions

Elena informed me of this dilemma she has been pondering for awhile (a bit prematurely, I might add):


"I can't decide where I want to go to college. I kind of want to go to Marshall so I will be close to you and Dad. But I would also like to go in the cities so I can go to the Mall of America whenever I want. This is a really tough decision..."

We hit a new milestone

The first snowman that Elena and her friend made without needing any help from Mom and Dad.

At least the thousands of locust tree pods littering our yard are good for something. If anyone needs hair for your snowman, you're free to pick some up at our place.

Overheard today in the back seat of the van

I had a hard time not laughing out loud during this conversation between Sam and his 5-year-old cousin while we were in the drive-thru getting lunch.


Jack: You know, I'm almost a vegetarian.


Sam: I am a vegetarian, but my parents make me eat meat....except ham. I like ham.


Jack: If I stop eating ham and hot dogs and chicken and fish, I will be a vegetarian.


Sam: I have to stop liking corn dogs and ham, but that's it. Then I will be a vegetarian.


Jack: So I just need to stop liking 4 things and you have to stop liking 2 things. Then we will be vegetarians. Oh! And brats, too. I love brats.


Sam: Oh yeah! But I mostly just like ham....I hope I stop liking that ham soon.....Actually, I think I've already stopped liking it.


Sam (about 30 seconds later as I hand him a ham and cheese sub): Thanks, Mom. I'm going to eat this whole thing!

All I want for Christmas is.....

He lost one tooth on Christmas Eve and the other on Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas from Sammy

We opened gifts this morning. My favorite was a book from Sam that he made in Kindergarten. Here are some of the pages:

He's right. "We're gonna be late!" is practically our family motto.
That and "Where are my shoes?!"

That is a picture of Sam with a red face from laughing so hard.

This picture is of Sam's cousin, Brooke and her boyfriend, Brendan

Way to dream big, kid.
When Elena read this, she said if she were president for a day, she would make Kinder Eggs legal. It's all about priorities.

Just for the record, I only burned the chicken ONE time and it was about 2 years ago. Apparently it made a big impression.

Ready to be done

Well, our home has had a visit from one very annoying virus. Or several viruses. Or a very persistent virus that keeps circulating...I'm not really sure. All I know is that we haven't gone a day without someone being sick for the last week, and every time we think we've past it, it seems to start again.


Here's what our past week looked like:
Sunday: Elena has a sore throat.
Monday: Elena stays home with a fever, which at one point hits 104.5 (we got it down pretty quickly, though)
Tuesday: Elena is feeling better, but we keep her home an extra day since her fever didn't break until late Monday night. Sam starts to get a sore throat.
That night Sam comes into our room at 11:00 and pukes... and continues to do so regularly until 5:00 a.m.
Wednesday: Sam stays home (obviously) with a fever and feeling much like Elena did on Monday. Charlie and Seth are also home with a fever and feeling crappy. Sam felt better by that evening, but unfortunately had to miss his first Christmas Concert. Elena feels great - does great at her concert.
Thursday: I stay home with Charlie who still has a bit of a fever in the morning, but improves dramatically by lunchtime. Around 1:00 Elena comes home from school with a bad cough and a fever of 101. Seth still doesn't feel great, but does his best to work through it.
Friday: Charlie starts puking around 3:00 am and continues to do so regularly until 9:00 am, but fever is gone and seems to be on the mend as the day progresses. Seth is also feeling much better and works all day while I stay home with the kids. Elena is still home (just in case), but feels much better....until about 7:00 that night, when her fever comes back once again.
Saturday: Seth wakes up with a stomach bug lasting from morning to night, accompanied by a headache and fatigue. The kids are all feeling better....until about 6:00 when Charlie starts a fever AGAIN. Ugh.
Sunday: Well that will be tomorrow - I'm not sure I want to know what it will bring.


The one thing we have most to be thankful for is that I managed not to get too sick with anything (and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it's not my turn next). I can't even imagine what state our house would be in if I had gotten sick on top of it all. I could barely keep up with washing any infected blankets, sheets, towels, pillows, and clothes along with sanitizing doorknobs, lightswitches, etc, and cleaning up any dishes used as quickly as I could in an effort to keep the germs from spreading - as well as tending to the invalids.


Taking 2 days off from work didn't help, considering it takes approximately 3 times more work to plan for a sub than it does to actually go in and teach.  And those 800 Christmas letters I need to address hasn't helped much either (I'm not exaggerating - Seth has a lot of clients). Luckily, Elena and Sam are finally getting old enough to help stuff and stamp envelopes so it's been kind of fun for us to do it together:)


We're also thankful this all hit before Christmas! We're very hopeful that we will all be healthy and able to fully enjoy our coming Christmas break.


So for those in the area, you may want to avoid our house until we've been better for a few days. And if you do stop by in the next month or so, don't be alarmed if it looks like a family of racoons invaded the house and ran around unnoticed for several days wreaking havoc in every nook and cranny possible. It might be awhile before we catch up on cleaning and get back to our normal and slightly less extreme state of chaos.

Update: Once we were done being sick and came out of our quarantine, we heard about the widespread influenza epidemic in our area. It appears that's what we had, which would explain why I was the only one who didn't get very sick: I was the only one who got the vaccine.  Although, I was sicker after getting the flu mist than Seth was from the actual flu (I passed out while teaching the morning after getting the mist and couldn't get off the couch for 3 days). Sometimes you just can't win.

6 years ago...

We welcomed this little guy into our lives. Sammy was born on the first Sunday of Advent, and today he celebrated his 6th birthday on the first day of Advent once again. 

  I've always sort of mentally grouped children as Little Kids (age 2-5), Big Kids (6-9), Pre-Teens (10-12) and Teens. And I remember being mind-blown at the thought of having a "Big Kid" when Elena hit 6 years old. Now I have 2 in that category, but I guess I've gotten used to the idea since Elena and Sam are so close in age. Now I guess the next big shock will come in 2 1/2 years when Elena hits 10. Whoa!!! This just dawned on my as I typed that last sentence. 2 1/2 years???? Hold on for a second while I hyperventilate and then calm myself down....

Ok. I'm better now that I've blocked out any unwelcome thoughts. Anway, to celebrate today Sam had his classmates over for the afternoon. They made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Xmas ornaments - man! that takes a long time to type. Couldn't they have come up with shorter name for that show? Elena put her Donatello ornament on their little tree upstairs and I was too lazy to go get it for the picture, but you get the idea.

Sam got a soccer ball and net from his cousin, Alex, as one of his gifts. Of course, they all wanted to go out and use it right away despite the fact that it was so cold they probably had trouble seeing one another through their gigantic breath clouds. They lasted an impressive half hour outside before coming in for hot cocoa.

 Too bad it couldn't have been like last year when it was warm enough to play football for 2 hours with no jackets. Apparently Sam considered it cold enough for a ski mask, though....

Happy Birthday, Sammy! Thanks for bringing so much joy into our lives. We love you very much.

Fake Injury Day

A couple of weeks ago they had Fake Injury Day at St. Ed's. Right after school, they had a class to go so Elena washed off as much of her make-up as she could. Sam lost the pencil, but wanted to keep the black eye and we didn't really have the time to wash it off anyway so off we went. 

About an hour into the class, one of the other moms approached me (not in a "Is-this-something-I'm-going-to-have-to-report-to-social-services?" way, but just plain old curious and a bit amused) and said, "I have to ask about what happened to Elena and Sam. I can just about imagine the fight they must have gotten into." It took me a second before I remembered that Sam still had his "black eye" and apparently we hadn't washed Elena's off well enough for the very well-lit classroom. 

When I told her it was just make-up, she burst out laughing and then told me I had better tell all the other moms because they were curious, too. We also had to explain to a few of the nuns whose convent is in the same building as the kids' class. 

Speaking of the nuns, one of the Sisters informed me last year how much Sam makes them laugh. Well he certainly has done his fair share of that the last two weeks. A week after explaining to them about his fake injuries, we were at the church again. I was talking with Father about something and didn't notice Sam hiding next to the door. Just as one of the nuns came through the door, he jumped out and scared her - I'm guessing that's not something they experience too often in the convent :) Luckily, it was one of the sisters who already knew Sam and she thought it was hilarious. Had it been one we hadn't met yet, she might have been a little thrown off.

Fart Elsa

The neighbor girl was over the other day and asked if I would play "Fart Elsa."

Me: Ummm...what?

Her:  Can you play Fart Elsa? You know....on the piano.

Me: I don't think that's a song.

Her: It's the song you always play.

Me: "Oh. You mean Fur Elise?"

Her: "Yeah. That."