Little Miss Muffet

Yesterday we were all together talking in our front room. I had just finished trying on a new coat and was holding J. B-man was talking to me, then stopped mid sentence and said "There's a spider on you!" I could tell from the way he said it, and the size of his eyes that it was a big spider and not a little one. I did ask him to get it but quickly decided that he was no help. Luckily M was right there so I ran over to him and yelled for him to get the spider. I had no idea where it was, but it B-man had motioned to my hair!

Side note... I am terrified of things like bugs getting caught in my hair. Curly hair is like Velcro, and mine has been especially "fuzzy" lately. So I was having a minor panic attack that my worst nightmare of a bug being stuck in my hair was coming true...

M at first exclaimed that there was no spider, then he quickly changed his mind and exclaimed that there was a spider and it was quite big. We were all frantically looking for some tissue or something. Thankfully he found some tissue nearby fast and got it out of my hair! I saw it before he killed it (hanging from it's web) and it was a large fat spider. For several minutes afterwards I kept feeling like I had more spiders crawling on my scalp. Even typing this gets me all creepy crawly again. I hate spiders!

Honeycrisp

I bought a honeycrisp apple at the store last weekend. I had heard several people rave about them, so I thought I would try it out. I was horrified that the apple cost $1.50 when I paid for it!

I was pretty skeptical when we finally cut it up and ate it. I don't believe in paying anything near that for one piece of fruit. I must admit though, that it was a VERY delicious apple. M thinks it was well worth the money. (I would buy it again, but not at $2.50 a pound.) It was the perfect balance of sweet and tart, with a very crispy texture. I don't know if it is an east coast variety or not, but if you find it, you might want to try it. Although it might cost you an arm and a leg.

P.S. I just discovered it is the Minnesota state fruit. Who knew?

October 18, 2009

(This is from last week. I wrote it up and haven’t sent it out yet…)

This week has been a little rough. I’ve been sitting in bed the last three days…while R is doing everything. This isn’t too abnormal, during the day at least, but at least I can help during the time that I am home in the evening.

On Monday morning we went to breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast joints (Puccio New York) in town. Then, after loading ourselves with breakfast sandwiches and omelet’s we went looking at different armoire’s that we had been scouting out over the last few days. We saw some very expensive armoire’s that we passed by and then found one for the right price. With the help of our friends we were able to walk it around to the back door to squeeze it in the door. Thankfully we were able to spend some time with them, while the kids ran around the neighborhood, and then we had a great FHE. R taught us all about “tricky people” (think stranger danger) trying to help B-man realize the importance of being careful.

Tuesday
It started to rain Monday night and hasn’t let up since then. We really need the rain, but it’s hard when B-man is cooped up all day. R went to an activity tonight, meant to teach the young women about eating politely. Thankfully she was able to feed J right before leaving for the activity and then I put him to bed. Then, after getting John to bed I got B-man (who had a late nap due to being sick) to bed also.

Wednesday
B-man stayed home again today. His fever and coughing has been back and forth. It seems like we pick the wrong days to keep him home. But, who would know that a flu can be so fickle. I went over to watch a football game with some friends later that evening, and came home to late.

Thursday
R was able to get to the farm and back before she had to pick up B-man from the bus stop. Apparently she was the first person to show up, perhaps because of the constant rain, and pickup the food for herself and friends. With all of the rain, she didn’t even attempt to do the U-Pick…probably a good idea.

Over the last few days I noticed a growth on my leg (been there for months) get bigger. I’ve had our ward-dermatologist look at it over the last few months. He thought that it was a dermatofibroma and thought that it wouldn’t be a problem. I dropped in to see him on Thursday after I saw that it was bleeding a little, and he extricated it. I’m glad that it’s out, but instead of a growth I’ve got a large wound that stitched together.

Friday
I slept in today and stayed in bed with flu like systems while R did everything around me. While John was napping in the afternoon R went to a consignment sale, and unfortunately found nothing worth purchasing. Later in the afternoon my fever started to climb and I slept a lot more. R dropped B-man off at a birthday party and was able to go to the mall to exchange a few items. After she came home we watched The Office on Hulu and then I went to bed.

Saturday
Once again I slept in and had B-man and R take care of me. R took off to look at a Craigslist-dresser (not what we were looking for) in the morning and then later went to Reston to finalize the stroller transaction. I paid bills and did other lazy activities all afternoon. It’s good to get all those things done.

Sunday
R went to the meetings this morning, while I had my counselors go to the meetings for me. We flip-flopped church spots this week and took the boys to church while I stayed home and slept. R came home from her meeting and immediately came to bed. She stayed in bed sleeping all afternoon while I played with the boys and got dinner going.

October 25, 2009

October 25, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

I feel like the fog has slowly lifted and we are resuming life as we know it. I spent the first part of the week still feeling crummy. Functional enough to take care of the basics at home, but not much else. All day Monday M felt pretty good, but then in the late afternoon his fever came back which meant that he had to stay home again on Tuesday. The good news was that all day Tuesday he felt great, and so Tuesday afternoon he felt good enough to change out the door handles on the front door.

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet days for me. M had a much needed Presidency meeting on Wednesday and got a lot accomplished. Thursday night he had the Stake Priesthood meeting and came home very excited about the speaker.

Friday morning I watched two of the children of a friend. It was kind of fun to see what life is like with four kids. Most of the morning it went pretty well, but it was slightly crazy getting B-man from the bus stop. That afternoon we ran a few errands and then spent the rest of the day getting ready for a Halloween party. We had to do a little last minute scrambling because our sitter came down with the flu. (It has really been going around our area.) Luckily we took the sitter from someone else that had to cancel last minute due to sick children. We took J to the party and put him to bed in a pack and play, and B-man had a great time at home. The party was great! Costumes are not optional, and it is always exciting to see what people come up with. M and I went as gymnasts/ribbon dancers. The party went a lot later than we expected, but it was worth the late night.

Saturday was a very slow relaxing day. We all worked together to take out the garden and prepare the flower beds for the winter. The weather was warm and cloudy, a rarity these days, but it made for perfect gardening weather. That afternoon while I ran an errand M cut B-man’s hair, and then started cutting his own. I helped him finish up the cut. That night after the kids were in bed M went to watch the first half of the BYU football game.

I was excited today for several reasons. One was that I could go to church! And the other was that I could finally go to church in our new building. It was great to be able to be back in church, even if it was super noisy. After church we had enough time for dinner and some stories before the kids were in bed.

We love you all!

R, M, and B-man

The Garden's Gone

I took out the garden today. Actually I started to take it out, but M ended up doing most of the work. Rather sneaky of me, right? It felt a little weird ripping out tomato plants that still had developing fruit on them, but it had to be done. The first frost could come any day, and this was the only decent weather (when I would have help) for a while.

But on the bright side of things the dirt is tilled and ready to go for spring planting. Is it too early to start thinking about spring? That was all I could think about while ripping out the old plants. What I would plant in the garden next summer. I got some new bulbs too. I can't wait for more tulips in April! If I could we would skip over the winter months and get straight to spring again. I guess that's no surprise coming from a San Diego girl.

Withdrawals

This last week B-man watched a lot of television. He really had no choice, it was the easy way to keep him separated from germs, and to keep him entertained while both parents were sick. Normally he watches at most an hour a day, but some days he doesn't watch any. Sunday he literally watched it all day as M and I were both in a stupor from being sick. Now we are paying for it with some serious withdrawals.

All day yesterday (when he wasn't in school) he kept whining and asking to watch t.v. We kept saying no, and trying to entertain him with other methods. Nothing worked. He went to bed crying about it. He suddenly became obsessed with a "Rescue Heroes" show that I didn't even know existed. Apparently he is trying to learn the theme song to it... M and I even had our own FHE about what we were going to do, and how he could "earn" t.v. time.

Today I thought was going to be more of the same. It started out with an equal number of tantrums, but then magically in the early evening things started to calm down. The weather was nice enough so that we could go outside (not possible last week) and he remembered how to use his imagination. He still mentioned it a few times, but he wasn't in panic mode, and he didn't cry himself to sleep about it. What a relief! They don't call it the "wretched stone" for nothing!

October 11, 2009

October 11, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Here are the highlights from the week. Monday is a complete blur. I can’t remember anything that was noteworthy. J caught the cold that B-man and I had last week. Luckily it didn’t seem horribly bothersome to him.

Tuesday we had a fun afternoon. M knew he would be working extra later in the week and so he took off half a day. That afternoon after lunch we went to a “farm” in the area. It was way different than the farm we go to normally. This farm is only open for the fall season and it is really not a farm, but fun things to do at a farm. They had a multitude of long fun slides. B-man loved all the different slides, but he spent the majority of the time at the biggest slide. After a few runs we figured out which “lane” was the fastest and then he would only go down “number six.” The middle-aged ladies running the slide thought it was hilarious. Even M and I went down a few times, and it was much faster than the other lanes. We also loved the baby pigs and the corn maze. It was a very fun afternoon, and the weather could not have been better for the adventure. After we got home we had just enough time for a very fast dinner before I left for mutual. We had our first activity at the new church building our ward will attend. We were dusting and cleaning to make sure it would be ready for Sunday.

Wednesday was a quiet day. I haven’t been going anywhere unless really necessary so that I can get J into a routine of sorts. Thursday after B-man came home from school we went to the farm. We had a picnic and then played with some friends from our ward that just happened to be there at the same time. Then we picked our pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and went home. For a while B-man was more interested in the big dog that was with the farmer driving the hay ride. He told him about Scout our family dog that just died. It was a very B-man conversation to be having with a stranger. Eventually he came and actually picked a pumpkin, although he always made sure he knew where the dog was. (Not because he was afraid.)

Friday was picture day for B-man. I gave him three options for shirts and he picked my least favorite. Then he insisted on wearing shorts that didn’t match, but I decided it didn’t matter because you wouldn’t see them in the picture anyway. He has been going through a spiky hair stage, and I tried to convince him to do the “wave” hair, but he insisted on spiky. In the end I think we compromised enough so that it looked like we did care about pictures. About five minutes after getting home while I was working on lunch he was laying on the carpet by the sliding glass door saying he wasn’t hungry. Since that isn’t exactly his normal behavior I checked his forehead and discovered that he had a fever. He had also been coughing. I immediately put him in pajamas and made him lay around for the rest of the day. I’m pretty suspicious that is swine flu, I know of quite a few cases in the area… That night I went to a fondue girls’ night out. I made a chocolate fondue with bittersweet chocolate. It was delicious!

Saturday morning I got up before anyone else and headed out looking for deals at garage sales. I shopped until J needed to be fed. Then I came home and fed him and headed out again. M was very nice and not only took care of a sick B-man and J, but he also managed to completely reorganize our storage room to utilize the shelves that I had purchased that morning! It was a fun surprise to come home to. The rest of the day we spent at home trying to keep B-man away from J. If he was by himself for too long we would hear him call out “Mom, I’m lonely!” and then we would go and try to be by him more.

Today B-man’s fever has been gone, but we didn’t want to take him to church until it had been a full day with no fever. So M went to church without us. It was kind of a bummer to miss the first week in the new chapel. After church we had homemade pizza for dinner. Normally we do that on Friday but since B-man was sick we kept pushing it back, and he made me promise to do it on Sunday. It has been hard to keep B-man away from people today when he has been lying around for three days. He is ready to get out some of his energy now that he is feeling better. Tonight he was talking about Darth Vader and when I asked him what Vader says he exclaimed with a lot of vigor, “You don’t know the power of Jesus!” Well said, B-man well said.

 

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

October 4, 2009

October 4, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Time continues to march on by. My main activity of the week was fighting off a cough that came with my cold. It has been a long time since I’ve had to deal with such a gross cough. Now poor J has the cold. We did have a few noteworthy things this week. Monday night for FHE M gave B-man a blessing to start the new school year. We had been speaking to B-man about it for several weeks. It was a sweet experience for all of us.

Tuesday night we took both of the boys to a “Back to School” night that was solely for the kindergarten classes. It was great to hear from the teacher about what they do every day, and what will be going on the weeks before our first parent teacher conferences. B-man was so cute and quiet during the whole meeting.

Wednesday night I had book club. We discussed Catching Fire and had our largest turn-out ever. Book Club night is my favorite night of the month. The next day after B-man got home from school we went to the farm and met some friends there. The weather was beautiful, and we had a great time.

Benjamin showing off his “spiky” hair. Watch out it’s sharp…

Friday was a busier day. I got my haircut which meant a lot of coordinating with M to make sure that someone was home. I was so happy to be getting my haircut. Then as soon as I got home we started trying to get dinner on the table.

Saturday morning (as every morning) we were up and going early. We went looking for things at a community garage sale nearby but didn’t find anything too exciting. We came home to have lunch and get ready for Conference. We loved being able to sit and watch Conference all day! In between sessions B-man and M took turns playing with a new remote control car that we found at a garage sale. It is a very fast and maneuverable car. That night M went to the Priesthood session and then went to get food with members of the ward that wanted to go.

Today has been another great day watching Conference. We’ve had a great day of listening to our leaders, food, and friends. It makes not being closer to family bearable.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

Yard

I have been meaning to give a little yard update.  More for my parents than anyone else.  Here is what the backyard currently looks like.  The garden did great, but is starting to look pretty wild and scraggly.  The flowers on the shady side make me so happy.   I go out everyday on my deck and just stare down at my back yard.  If you look closely you can see the weed that was as tall as me when we got home from vacation.

The garden side…

 

The flower side…

The view from our basement door…

And remember the rose bush that I planted while M was out of town and I was pregnant?  It almost didn’t survive our attempts at watering and caring for it.  But I think it is going to pull through.  I wasn’t sure what color it was going to be because the picture was faded by the sun on the package.  But with a name like “Prom Night” I was pretty sure I couldn’t go wrong.

Speedy Revival

Remember Speedy? Well he has been replaced. B-man discovered that there were some caterpillars on the petunias in our front yard. Consequently we now have at least six caterpillars in a jar in our home. I can barely look in the jar, because all the squirming gives me the creeps. I hope they turn into butterflies (or moths?) soon because we are running out of flowers.