Halloween 2009

Halloween festivities started early this year. On October 23, the kiddos went to the HES Fall Festival with Amberly and Jonathan. They had a lot of fun playing different games and getting prizes. The only thing they didn't like was the haunted house. Kari never wanted to go from the beginning and Noah backed out when he saw the bloody hand. Vicki was a trooper, waiting in line with Noah, Amberly and Jonathan, for them all to change their minds. Here are a few pictures.....

Playing Games





Decorating treat bags





Boo-tiful Butterflies


Mario meet Franken-baby


Kari, her teacher, Mrs. Page and her daughter, Sophie


As we were leaving, Noah found a toad on the sidewalk.....


Next, the school hosted a costume parade and classroom parties on October 30. Noah was sick, but his teacher sent home a gift bag and Kari brought him some extra treats. Unfortunately, there are no pictures since I was home with Noah.

Then at 1 PM on Halloween, LHC hosted a Harvest Party. The kiddos got to carve pumpkins, make caramel apples, eat yummy treats and make crafts, including peanut butter and bird seed pine cone bird feeders, scarecrow cups and construction paper strip pumpkins. Here are a few pictures from the party.....













Listening to a story





After dinner and putting some finishing touches on the pumpkins, Rick took Kari and Noah trick or treating. When they had gone a few blocks and dumped their candy bags twice, they were ready to come home. Here are some after shots....





The pumpkins.....



This post linked over at 5 Minutes for Mom....

No School Until Monday

Noah stayed home from school yesterday since he had a bit of a fever. It was above 100, but he had no other symptoms. Since Kari had the same thing a few weeks ago, I assumed he was getting a virus, too.

His fever spiked to 102.7 around 5 PM, but went down after a dose of Tylenol and a cool bath. He hadn't eaten much during the day, but ate dinner. He sounded a bit congested, but still no other symptoms besides the fever.

He woke up this morning, burning up and saying he had to go to the bathroom. As he walked to the bathroom he stopped to cough an awful seal sounding cough, almost like he couldn't catch his breath. When he got to the bathroom, he continued to cough and vomit up a lot of yellow mucus.

An appointment to the doctor confirmed croup and he was tested for the flu - regular and H1N1. Thankfully, the flu tests came back negative. The doctor gave him a prescription for a steroid and a note to return to school on Monday.

I just hope he feels well enough on Saturday to attend the fall party and go trick or treating. I feel bad for him since he will have to miss his costume parade and party tomorrow at school.

I am just very thankful that it is not anything more serious.

Not Me Monday Crazy Week/Weekend Edition

I did not burn my tongue in hot caramel after I told my kiddos to be careful.

I did not repeatedly scrape caramel off the plate the caramel apples were cooling on nor did I scrape the caramel off my DH's apple, eat the caramel and then throw the apple in the trash.

I did not laugh out loud while watching Monsters VS. Aliens with the kiddos. I did not find B.O.B. hilarious.

I did not cry while watching Brothers and Sisters on hulu.com. I did not check Facebook during the Kevin and Scotty parts because I am a bit uncomfortable with men kissing other men.

I have not let the 7 year old wear orange and black Halloween themed ponytail holders with all of her outfits even though they do not match because I have been dying for her to let me put ponytails in her hair for 3+ years!

I did not contemplate, even for a minute, encouraging my DH take a web design job to design and maintain a porn site with live feed of nude girls because he has been out of work for 5 months and we could really use the money.

I did not use the phrase "Satan's a punk!" more times this weekend than my signature phrase "Seriously??"

I did not indulge in a alcoholic beverage on Saturday to feel like a grown up to only have it make me feel like an elderly person who eats dinner at 4 PM and falls asleep before finishing the meal.

I did not eat chicken fried steak for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

I did not feed the 18 year old girl's breakfast to the dog on Saturday when she slept in instead of eating with the family.

I did not start keeping a journal for my NMM posts so I would not forget to post first thing in the morning, to forget to post until after lunchtime.

Check out MckMama's post since she is the original NMM poster. Also, you can check out his, her and her post even though they have not posted yet today.

Pass me the Paddle

While doing after dinner devotions last night, Rick asked the kiddos if they knew what fellowship was. Noah said, "Yes, it is when you are hanging out with your friends...in a ship". LOL Well, he was half right =)

Not Me Monday Rainy Days Edition

I did not let, much to Rick's chagrin, the 18 year old girl sleep in our bed when she couldn't sleep after watching a scary movie.

I did not contemplate hiding in the bathtub to scare the 18 year old girl after she watched a scary movie.

I did not skip aerobics on Monday due to my monthly visitor and on Thursday due to being tuckered out from lack of sleep (see first "I did not") and taking care of a sick 7 year old.

I did not tell the 7 year old that we'd just check her temperature to see if she needed to stay home from school Thursday to have it top out at 103!?!

I did not ignore the 5 year old when he told me climbed in bed with me, exclaiming, "It's 8 o'clock! Time to wake up!" and "It's 8:30! Time to wake up!" and "It's 9 o'clock! Time to wake up!" etc., so I could get more sleep to have the 7 year old wake us all up at 11 AM declaring, "I'm fever free!!"

I did not enjoy not having to go anywhere for the 4 days that it was cold and rainy.

I did not threaten to send the 5 year old out in the rain several times during the four days we were stuck inside since he waswell and not complying with my 'be quiet and just rest!' request.

What didn't YOU do??

Check out MckMama to find out how NMM got started and see if my friends remembered to post this week!

Rainy Saturday

Kari is finally fever free, but we are staying in today since it is still cold and rainy here.

And since we are tired of Disney and Nick Jr marathons we decided to make some caramel apples....




I only burned my tongue a little bit.

Sick and Tired

So, between Devin having to sleep in our bed because she watched a scary movie and Kari not feeling well, no one has been sleeping very much in the Hall household for the last week.

Devin ended up in our bed early Wednesday morning, not allowing Noah to sneakily climb in our bed, so he and I ended up sleeping on the couch. My neck is still not happy with me. Rick was awaken every 10 minutes or so by Devin saying, "Dad, roll over, please! Dad, you're snoring!" I went to bed at 9 PM Wednesday night.

Then Kari ended up in our bed early Thursday morning because she wasn't feeling well and Devin had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a movie because she didn't want to sleep upstairs. She just stayed up until she couldn't stay awake any longer. Noah was already in our bed when Kari climbed in so he started screeching about being squished and repeatedly poked Rick in the ribs. I ended up on the couch again, albeit alone this time, and Kari woke up a few hours later with a fever.

No other symptoms, just the fever. It has spiked and then decreased several times in the last 24 hours. The kiddos have off of school today and she was hoping to have a friend spend the night, but she may not even be able to do anything this weekend if her fever sticks around.

Noah is a bit congested, but no fever and I have some sinus gunk that showed up this morning, along with a 6:30 AM wake up call and a migraine.

Thankfully, it is rainy and cold, so the kiddos are not too upset to be stuck inside watching non-stop Disney.

I am going to start a bubble bath and slice one of the brownies Rick baked last night.

Maybe I will send Rick to Walgreen's with the disposable cameras from the kiddos' field trips to get some photo CDs made. We never did find my parents' camera and have not been able to replace it. Waiting for the leads Rick has out there for jobs to come to fruition.

I will be so thankful when he gets a job and is able to keep it for more than 6-8 months. I know God has a plan, but it is hard to see it sometimes. Especially, when I am overtired and dealing with sick kiddos.

Not Me Monday Field Trip Edition

I did not get my period the night before the field trip.

I did not have trouble getting out of bed the morning of the field trip and then overslept trying to get just a few extra minutes of sleep.

I did not refuse Rick's offer to get me coffee because I did not want to have to go to the bathroom while on the bus en route to the farm.

I did not have a panic attack when I couldn't find my shoes and I was already late for the mandatory movie I had to watch before being allowed to go on the field trip.

I did not want to punch the secretary at the school when she told me I had to get in the very long line of parents to get a visitor's sticker before I could walk Noah the last two feet to his classroom.

I did not say rather loudly in line waiting for my sticker "This day could not get any worse!". I did not also want to stomp my feet for emphasis.

I did not laugh out loud when I got my list of kiddos in my group and one of the boys was named Michael Scott. I did not then text Rick and tell him Michael Scott was in my group.

I did not do a last minute restroom run before getting on the bus.

I did not lose one of the boys in my group after only being off the bus for a few minutes. I did not only have three boys in my group.

I did not feel bad about texting Rick on the hayride, especially when I saw Noah's teacher talking on her cell phone.

I did not thank God when the boy that fell in the water and got mud all over him was not Noah.

I did not let the boys in my group pee in the corn field before getting on the bus because we did not have time to go to the bathroom and I was not risking letting 3 5 year olds that said they HAD TO GO get on the bus for 45 minutes without going to the restroom.

I did not have a great time on Noah's first field trip and bus ride...oh, wait, yes I DID!!

What didn't you do??

Visit MckMama's blog for the original NMM and check out some of my other friends, too!

Staying on Green

I can not believe that it is October already, but here it is, ushering in Fall and summoning Thanksgiving and Christmas before I am ready for them to be here.

The kiddos are in the second month of school and doing pretty well.

Cody seems to be doing alright in school, although he still seems to be have a hard time with math and English. He likes his math teacher enough to stay after school and stay on top of his grades, but he is not very fond of his English teacher. He would rather be failing a class than stay for help.

He is playing football for a community team and enjoyed a win this weekend. The team is currently 1-2. He was starting quarterback for the first two games, but played linebacker on Sunday. He really enjoyed playing linebacker and was glad his team won. I think he will be ready to play on the HS school next year, if he chooses to try out again.

Kari loves school. She was Student of the Month for September and has not moved from "green" since the first day of school. Being on green means listening to the teacher, doing schoolwork and being a good student and friend. She even made the newsletter for S of the M.

She is getting ready to sign up for Upward Cheerleading. She will be cheering with her best friend, Amberly. They will be cheering for Upward basketball teams and we tried to get Noah to agree to sign up, but he is not interesting in playing basketball. Kari is already practicing cheers she makes up on her own and can't wait to have pom pons.

Noah is doing well in Kindergarten and loves his teacher. Although, he gives me a hard time several mornings a week when it is time to get ready to go to school. Once he gets to the school, though, he goes into the classroom with nary a glance back at me or Rick. He folds Blankie up every day and puts him in his backpack, but doesn't take him out at all during the school day.

It is so neat to see him writing letters, spelling and reading sight words and doing simple math concepts. He loves writing the books we read in the evenings on his reading chart. He has also been on "green" every day but once in September. Seems he likes to talk as much as his father and is very chatty in school.

Devin is back in MD and starting a new job on Monday. Things didn't work out in CO, so she decided to come home. We are glad she is back and know that she is going to do great things here. She will be starting college in the spring and working with the teens at LHC in a few weeks. She is also very busy with local Christian bands and a few college aged Bible studies.

Josh is preparing for a few life changes that I will share soon, but want to make sure things are in place before I do.

As for all of the children, prayers for them and our family is always appreciated.

I wish I had some pictures to add to this post, but you may remember that I broke our camera last 4th of July. We were borrowing my parents' camera when it was available and borrowed it for the circus we attended on Labor Day. But, somehow it is now missing and has been since that evening. We have looked everywhere, except at the circus since it was a traveling tent circus and had already packed up and moved on when we realized it was missing. I was sure I brought it home, even remember deleting and editing pictures in the van on the way home, but it is no one in the house or the van or anywhere. So frustrating since we have not be able to replace it for my parents yet.

Anyway, on that note, I will go get the kiddos' their bedtime snack and get them into bed soon. Bedtimes are much easier now that school is in session - the kiddos are pretty tired out from all the education they are receiving.

Next update I will fill you in on what's going on with Rick and me. One of us is living one of their dreams and one of us is ending a chapter of their lives that was pretty hot.

Check back soon.....

Not Me Monday Satan's a Punk Edition

I did not start to cry when, as I was standing at the 40 Days for Life vigil, a young man rode by and gave me the finger.

I did not start freaking out when I saw Kari's broken bike outside the fence and the back gate open.

I did not then start really freaking out when I realized that her operable bike was gone from the front porch.

I did not curse a little when I realized that someone had taken/stolen not one but two of the bikes from our yard.

I did not continue to curse when the coffee machine I wanted to get coffee from at Royal Farms was out of order.

I did not exclaim "Satan's a Punk!" when I then realized that I didn't have enough change for the iced coffee at RF.

I did not then drive to 7-11 in hopes of getting some sort of coffee beverage to have to settle for an iced coffee.

I did not have all of the above happen before I was able to be on my way to a prayer meeting on Saturday morning.

I did not share all of this with the gals I was praying with, exclaiming once again that "Satan is Punk!".

I did not text D while I was driving to let her know that the bikes were found and returned.

I did not then exclaim, "Eat that, Satan!".

Yeah, so what did you not do?

Check out the original NMM poster, MckMama and some of my friends who have been bitten by the NMM bug.