When Mom is away...

I have often wondered what happens when I am gone for a couple of days. This past weekend I was gone, on a girl's get-away weekend. This video shows some of what happened. There was music and dancing. And yes, the music is classic Michael Jackson. They definitely seem to be having a good time.

AAAHHHHHHHH!

Okay, now that I have that off my chest!

Around our house, when it rains, it pours.

So last weekend, while we were being lazy, Emma got the flu. YUCK. In the middle of the night. DOUBLE YUCK! Even though Aaron and I were feeling like our stomachs were a little unsettled, thankfully no one else actually got sick.

UNTIL...

5:30 this morning. Stephen got sick. Fortunately with him, he can actually make it to the bathroom and there is less to clean up. Praise the Lord for little things.

Well, Aaron was going to get off work early to come get Stephen from me at work, so I took the other kids to daycare. While at daycare, dropping them off, Jackson says he is going to be sick. For him it was the other end. UGH! So I now had two kids to take with me to work until Aaron could get back from South Bend.

Well, on the way to the office, Stephen got sick again (in a bowl with a lid, thank goodness for that) and then Jackson had an accident in his pants, so we ended up heading home before my work day even had a chance to start.

To top off the past 24 hours, Emma fell off a chair and hit her ear on the corner of a piece of furniture and now has a pierced ear. It is not pretty. The corner of the furniture went through the cartilage of her upper ear and actually caused a scrape on her head behind her ear. The one good thing in all of this is that she is now letting me put "pretties" in her hair to keep it off of her ear. Progress! I guess sometimes you just take it as you can get it. :-)

All of this is happening about 24 hours before I am to leave for the weekend.

AAAHHHHHHH!

(Guess I wasn't done.)

Lazy Fall Weekends

We spent last weekend enjoying being lazy. As part of the fun, the kids painted pumpkins with Aunt Laura on Saturday. (Daddy and Uncle John watched football instead.)

Emma really had the artistic look as she studied her work.

The kids also enjoyed spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday. What would be work for most of us was fun for them--raking leaves. Even Emma got in on the fun, though she didn't seem to sure of what was happening.

(Not sure what happened, but now it's underlined. )Emma even helped a little.

I love pictures where no one is looking in the same direction.

Hooray! It's Fall!

Alex discovered the easy way to pick up leaves, the tractor,

however I think he may be taking it a little far.

What's the deal?

I got an e-mail from a department store this morning. It was advertising a new toy that has just been released, but was only available on-line at this time. (Elmo Live) This toy's cost is $59.99. WOWSER!!! And for a toy that you have to buy batteries for, that will probably drive you insane, and will either get broken or forgotten within a matter of weeks. So I decided to just take a look, for curiosities sake, and when I got to the webpage, there was a message that said, "This product is no longer available." Meaning=It's sold out! Within a matter of less than 4 hours from receiving the e-mail this product is sold out, I am guessing it didn't last nearly that long in the first place. This is a large department store chain, so I know that this isn't just for "little old" Warsaw, Indiana.

I have had and currently have children that LOVE Elmo, but I don't understand the obsession with these toys. Can anyone explain it?

Emma is 2!

Emma turned 2 last Friday and we celebrated her birthday on Saturday with lots of friends and family. It was fun to watch her actually understand the opening of presents and cards. Everything she opened she had to show Uncle Brian. We thought maybe it was the seat and not the person so we had Aaron and Brian switch spots when Emma wasn't looking. She turned around and got a frustrated look on her face until she once again located Uncle Brian. It was hilarious. She got a lot of "girl" gifts which is definetly new to our house, but we had a blast and she loved it. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Transitions

Well, this week has been full of changes for our family. I started back to work full-time and that has created some new dynamics in our home.

Emma is now in daycare during the day. Her first two days seemed to go quite smoothly, but when I dropped her off for the third day it was a different story. For all the parents out there, have you ever held your child without actually holding them, meaning that they have such a death grip on you that you can remove your hold on them completely and they will not fall? She screamed and did not want to be put down. I think it was probably harder on me than her, as I was the one who had to just walk away. AHHHH! That is torture to this mommy's heart.

Stephen goes to preschool in the morning and then daycare in the afternoon. He loves it. He is such a social little person that to continue to "hang out" with friends is great for him.

The BIG difference is that we get to be together as a family in the evenings. It is wonderful to have dinner together, read, watch TV, work on homework together. It makes the family so much more complete. We all get to share together about our days. I LOVE IT!!!!!