Just The 6 Of Us

Susan & I were up bright and early this morning. Today she is taking her ASVAB test for the Army! She studied for 2 weeks in preparation for it and now I am crossing my fingers that she passes. If she does she moves onto the next step and that happens next week! But for today I am  concentrating on sending her good test taking vibes. I know she can do it. I can’t wait until she gets homes, so I can find out how she did. We are so proud of her, words can not even express! My little girl is on her way to becoming an Army Solder. WOW, that’s all I can say is just WOW! 

Earlier in October Elias went with his Royal Ranger troop to the Monster Mile Nascar track, to do the Lions Walk for Sight. I love it when he does things like this with his Ranger group. I have an arrow pointing to him, because you can barely make him out. I agree with Michelle ( I snagged this photo from her).She thought that kneeling would have given us a better view of the Lighting McQueen race car & I think also the members. But the guys did an awesome job! It’s a great photo!

That is what I was saying (loudly) as I was walking into the kitchen to get an ice pack and some Benadryl.

My mommy quilt was hitting me hard on Saturday. We all have been cooped up in the house for days. Noah’s Flu has really consumed most of my time. Saturday was really nice and Noah was a little better, so I asked Adam if he wanted to go outside for a while. Of course he jumped on that and ran to get his shoes. We spent a lot of time walking the yard, collecting fall leaves, ohh and ahhing over the great big tree in our neighbors yard that is completely yellow. He was so proud of himself because he found this really bright red one and a yellow one that he said looked like a fork..haha!

As he was showing me the red one I felt something crawling in my hair. My first thought was a spider or some kind of flying ant. I swatted it away and just stood there and said to myself, “ok this is stinging, no this is really starting to hurt!” I ran my finger over the spot just behind my ear and realized I had pulled a bee stinger out! I ran into the house with Adam running behind me, he was saying, “I’m not done, I’m not done!” LOL! I am entering the kitchen, yelling out loud to myself, “Are you kidding me…a BEE, a freaking BEE! It’s Fall for crying out loud!”

I have not been stung in over 20+yrs and let me tell you something, at 38 it still hurts like a #$%&*!! Is it bad I am happy the little evil creature is dead? Bwahahahaha!

There are many, many times as a mother we are scared. Sometimes more than others, I know, I have had my fair share of those moments. With 4 children, I loose count of how many times, I have clutched my heart, because I thought I would die!

This week I had one of those scary moments. On Tuesday night Noah wasn’t feeling so well, he had a fever. I said Oh No here we go. I hate schools and all the germs that just sit there waiting to attack our innocent children. I let him stay home on Wednesday, made him rest, kept him hydrated, pretty much babied him He was feeling a little better. Until the sun went down! What is it with illness & fevers at night. It’s like this little demon that sleeps all day and then rears it ugly little head as soon as the stars come out!

His fever was high, so I medicated him again. An hour later, he just didn’t look right to me. Eyes puffy, bloodshot, he could barely even talk. I took his temp again and it was 105! All I could think about at that moment was get the fever down. Everything was sort of a blur as you go into commando Mom mode. Blankets off, clothes off, cold washcloths, ice water. Repeating the cool rags over and over again. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t go down. I am thinking he was going to have a febrile seizer at any moment. Just the look in his glassy dazed eyes, scared me to death!

Since Adam was still up, Susan was still out and Elias had not gotten back from Rangers, I had Dale take him straight to the ER. H1N1, Swine Flu is all I could think about. It broke my heart that I couldn’t go and waiting is not one of my strong suits.

It was confirmed it was the flu, they were able to get his fever down and he was sent home with TamiFlu. He is still suffering from 103-104 fevers as of last night. But was well most of the day. Today he looks so much better and is up and around!

Needless to say I am tired. I made sure I was up every 2 hours checking and rechecking him. Taking his temp while he slept, waking him to drink and sitting with him and just watching him.

Lysol is my best friend and my hands are a little sore from all the hand washing. But I am hoping with all of the cleaning and Lysol I have sprayed, that no of us will get this nasty flu. I don’t want to have to go through that panic/heart breaking experience again. But with my luck I doubt I will get off that easy!

Over the past week, I have been home not doing to much to write about. I planned out meals for the next 2 weeks. I found a great little site called HillBilly Housewife, for recipes. They are very easy and simple! Which I love!

I had my nephew Jaden here with us for 5 days last week. His Mom & Sister went to Niagra Falls for a Girl Scout trip. We made the best of it because of the rain we had. Rain, everyday from Thursday until Sunday morning! UGH! We did make it to the Craft fair at my friend Michelle’s Church. But had to sit in the car for 10 mins waiting for the rain to let up before we could attempt to get in.

So I scrapped most of the days away, my favorite hobby Not sure what this weekend has in store. I know Friday the boys want to go skating, we shall see.

That about sums up our weekend. Friday night was the homecoming football game at Susan’s old school. I dropped her off and headed off with my 3 boys to do some roller skating. No, I did not put skates on. I learned my lesson, oh about 12 years ago.

When Susan was about 6 I took her roller skating and skated myself…until my stopper got caught in a hole in the arcade room and I landed on my wrist. Which broke in 2 places! I sported a pink cast for about 6 weeks. I was not about to repeat that act of stupidity again

Adam does not skate, so he spent his time with his buddy Ayden. They were running around having a great time. Elias and Noah, got their skates on immediately starting wiping out..LOL! Elias almost took me out as well…listen for the “Owwww!” Those two remind me of newborn foals, trying to stay standing for the first time.

Noah tried his hand at bowling while on skates…brave boy!

And Elias was practicing for the limbo, which I don’t think he ever did. I just think he liked the fact he discovered a new trick.

Saturday we were up bright and early, so I could take them to get hair cuts. Super Cuts opened up down the road from us. I was thrilled, because I usually take them a half hour away to get their hair cut. But I was not happy about how much it was going to cost me. UGH! Although, they do have a card you can fill up and if you get 8 hair cuts, your 9th is free. Which is very nice, because I have 3 slots filled already! After hair cuts and Happy Meals, Dale took all 3 of them to the Game Stop. I had the whole house to myself for over 5 hours! I was in heaven! I watched a movie, The Ghost of Girlfriends Past, read some more of my book and used the bathroom in peace.

Sunday, Elias left really early to walk the Nascar track for The Walk for the Blind. Adam & I went to clean my Grandfather’s house. When we all got back, and after 2 loads of laundry, all 3 boys and I started carving their pumpkins! They really turned out great. My hands are sore and my fingernails are stained a yellowish orange, but  they were happy!

Elias is very excited for Thursday to come, because his cousin Jaden will be here for 5 days. While his Mom & Sister head to Niagra Falls with their Girl Scout troop. I have lots of things planned while he is here. So another busy weekend ahead for the Rose household. We are like energizer bunnies, we just keep going and going and……

I was browsing old photo folders on my computer this morning. And came across this adorable video of Adam (18 mths), dancing & laughing to Trace Adkins Honky Tonk Badonkadonk. My baby was just to cute!

I had lots of plans for this weekend, but yesterday morning Elias started his day with an 102 fever. Poor thing, I feel so bad for him because he gets the worst headaches when he gets fevers. He slept most of the day. Around dinner time he was doing better, he ate some pizza and watched part of Stuart Little.

We used to have a small TV in the kitchen for watching cartoons in the mornings while eating breakfast. When the digital switch happened I took the TV out and put it away. Just recently I realized we had a VCR and lots of VHS tapes. On a whim I hooked the VCR up to this old TV not thinking it would work. Because this TV was old. It has dials on it to turn the channels To my surprise the picture was perfect. I dug out some old tapes, Jurrasic Park, 101 Dalmations & Stuart Little. I surprised the boys one night at dinner and you would have thought I had put a movie theater in the kitchen. The boys were so happy. When Dale got home that night I met him at the door and said, “Your boys are loving this new technology! You know the new thing called a VCR!” He and I both busted out laughing, he and I just watched them watch the TV, faces lit up like a Christmas tree.

Today I had plans to take them to see Toy Story 1& 2 in 3D. Sadly since Elias is sick, we can’t go. Thank God I had the smarts not to tell them before hand or that would have been a huge ordeal. It is playing all week long, so hopefully after a couple days of rest for him, he will be back to his old self so we can make it before the showings end. Although, I wasn’t really happy that they charge you an extra $3.50 to see it in 3D. I mean seriously ticket prices are extremely over priced as it is. $10.00 for me and $7.00 per kid and that is without the extra for the 3D. I guess it would be worth it since, they have loved Toy Story forever. Including myself, I could sit and watch it over and over again. I am really excited for Toy Story 3 to come out next year sometime. Honestly I am not sure who is more excited me or the kids.

I did however get some major reading done I finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I closed the book and said out loud, OMG that was excellent! The new book is out and I must get my hands on it. Tomorrow, if Elias is better, I will be headed to the library to put a hold on it. That way I can make sure I can get it.

My sister calls me Friday to tell me she has Covet. The little bragster she is, just had to rub it in my face. LOL! I can not wait to hear what she has to say about it. It’s on my list of TBR (to be read). I just have to wait until she is done so I can borrow it

I didn’t have anything to read today, so I went into Susan’s room where she has tons of books. Most of her books are more toward the teenage genre, but I choose The Summoning. I started it this morning and it’s ok. It will be a filler for me until I get my hands on An Echo in the Bone!

I may do some scrapping today as well. Nothing like a lazy weekend, for reading and scrapping

And scaring seagulls Last weekend was fantastic.

Saturday on the way out of Wal-Mart we grabbed some marshmallows, hoping the rain would hold off so we could have a fire. I don’t have any pictures of my boys, but you should have seen them. Dale told them to go gather wood. While he got the barrel ready for the fire. The 3 of them set off to the front yard, pushing the wheelbarrow. Which was funny in itself. First Adam tried to maneuver through the grass, but to no avail. It kept tipping over and when Noah or Elias would try to help. He let out this high pitched scream to be heard clear to the ocean, and saying I can do it! But of course he could not. What branches and little sticks the did have would topple over with every push. He relented and let Noah do the pushing. He was then content, only because he gave up the wheelbarrow on his own, just to gather leaves and sticks.

The boys picked out their sticks and meticulously got them ready and had their marshmallows stuck on ready to go. We waited until dark, lit the fire and it was on! Sticky mouths, clothes, fingers & faces…it was everywhere. Dale and I sat on the trampoline just watching the kids dance around the fire and having such a good time. The rain did come and reluctantly we went inside. It was an early bed time for the kids, they were just so tired from all marshmallow/fire fun.

Sunday, we headed to our local playground. Which just happens to be right next to the river. A beautiful playground and we love going there. I brought my camera this time!

Look at my babies, aren’t they adorable?

We went to closer to the water to check out all the birds and ducks. Those poor birds didn’t know what was coming. The birds were so peaceful & relaxing.

Until….

….Susan & the boys spotted a bunch of birds on a section of grass. Then this happened!

You never heard such noise and laughter from the kids! Until the realized that they could get pooped on, so they ran and ducked for cover. LOL!

Susan was trying to show them how to skip stones across the water. Noah did fairly well, Elias and Adam not so much. But it was sure fun to watch

I just love hanging out with my kids! I wonder what this weekend will bring!