My Jack-O-Lantern - Vampire Mickey

The Dancing Queen

Pet Me

The Envelope System

Mismatch Day

Dan Needs to Come Home

A Negative of Fall

My Dying Flowers

The Pumpkin Patch

Caden had his field trip to the pumpkin patch on Friday. The forecast was rain - ALL DAY. Thankfully, the rain stayed away (most of the time). The kids had a ball playing in the straw bail maze and then we loaded up on the tractors and headed to the pumpkin patch. Farmer Paula did a great job talking with the kids about what they do on the farm and how they grow their crops before turning the kids loose to hunt the perfect pumpkin. We had about 4 minutes in the pumpkin patch before the sky opened up and we had to run back to the tractors. The timing was actually good for us because Caden is very indecisive about picking something when he has lots of choices. We grabbed 2 pumpkins and ran. The rain stopped as soon as we got back to the farmer's market. The kids had snacks and got to play a little more before heading home. It was a great field trip.

Caden and his best buddy, Ethan.

Boo!

Pros of Fall

Yummy Soups!

The Leaf Man

Allie brought home The Leaf Man by Lois Elhert a few weeks ago from her school library. We decided to start collecting leaves so we could make some of the things in the book. Tonight, we dug out the contact paper and dumped the bags of leaves in the middle of the table. We made squirrels, ducks, butterflies, mice and fish. It was a really fun craft project. My animals are taped to the sliding glass door, but the kids put them in their backpacks/buckets to take to school and share with their teachers.

Art Project

General Update

Well, it's Saturday which means I made it through the week. I don't like single parent mode. It's okay once I get used to it, but it seems hardly worth it for 2 weeks. I think a prime example of my attitude is the food I've been fixing my kids. I miss the yummy dinners with lots of veggies I was fixing when Dan was home. We are settling for peanut butter (not me) and chicken nuggets. Last night, I declared DIY for dinner. You should have seen the kids fixing their own dinners. It was fun and everyone got to eat what they wanted. Caden had no veggies, Jaelyn had carrots and Allie had a plate full of left over veggies to go along with their PB&Js, oatmeal and cereal.

Jaelyn is all better. By Tuesday afternoon, she was feeling good enough to argue and cause all kinds of problems. I called the school and they said she had to be fever free for 24 hours to come back. She hit that on Wednesday morning so I ignored what the doctor said and sent her to school. She came home a little drained, but otherwise has been doing fine.

Caden has been crying a lot for silly reasons. It's not normal. I keep checking him for a temperature, but so far, he's normal. Allie seems to be just fine.

Farm Fresh Tomato

Contrast

Lavendar - Still Blooming

It's the flu - Most Likely

Jaelyn's flu test came back negative, but based on all of the symptoms, the doctor is pretty sure she has the flu. She said the test didn't test for all strains of the flu. They did do a rapid strep just encase and it was negative as well. Her directions were to keep Jaelyn home till Thursday, give her tylenol for the fever, push fluids and try to keep her away from the other kids. Yeah right. At least we got our flu shots this year so this is a milder case than she was have gotten otherwise. Caden cried for no reason for 20 minutes on the way home from the doctor's office. I'm afraid he'll be the next to start running a fever.

In other news, Dan leaves bright and early (actually it'll still be dark) tomorrow morning for his 10 days of training in Pennsylvania. It's that always the way things happen?

Prayers for Nana

Dan's grandmother is have surgery today at 1:00 CST. They are doing a mastectomy and if everything goes well, she'll be able to go home tonight. Pray!

Off to the Doctor - Hopefully

Jaelyn's fever has hovered around 101.5 since Saturday morning. She took a nap on Friday and has slept 13 hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. She's been complaining of a headache and has laid around reading books. Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling on the couch with Jaelyn and 2 good books, but it's a little weird and very out of character. She's never read by herself for pleasure. I normally have to make her read for school. So, I'm watching the clock till I can call at 8:30 to try and snag one of the sick visits the doctor's office reserves. It's not always an easy thing to do! Wish me luck!

Ferns

Horses