Small Farmers

Every day when I drop Megan off at school,

Brendan cries because he want to go to school too.

Imagine my delight when I came across a little class for

kids age 2-5 at the ecological center called

"Small Farmers."

Today was Brendan's first day of "school."

He was so excited!!!

(Although any opportunity to wear his rubber Elmo boots

equals a fantastic day in his book.)

He kept stopping and yelling in his deep voice,

"Momma, take a picture of me!"

The first thing he did was flash a cheesy grin with the baby chicks!

Then we moved on to the chickens.

That is me feeding a chicken.

Not pictured: copious amounts of hand sanitizer; multiple applications :)

Brendan kept trying to get a chicken to eat out of his hands

but he wasn't quite gentle enough.

He was chasing them around yelling

"Here chicken!"

but they just ran away!

Then we went inside the chicken coop to gather eggs.

We saw some farm animals and pet a baby

sheep named Francisco.

Then we dug a little hole

and planted a potato!

Then we watered our potato.

We'll check on our potato at the

next class and eventually harvest

it in the fall. How cool is that?

Next on the agenda was filling our basket with

greens from the greenhouse.

Notice the empty basket :(

Brendan was so hungry he ate everything

before it could end up in the basket.

Arugula.

*chomp*

Spinach

*chomp*

Romaine Lettuce

*chomp*

Luckily other kids shared their greens

and we all made a salad.

We ate lunch together and Brendan

read a book on herb gardening.

And then Brendan fell asleep in the car on the way home.

We loved farm school!!!!!

During the next class we will learn how to milk a goat!

I am seriously in love with farm school.

(I think Brendan may have enjoyed it too :)

Now I Believe Her

I've been a terrible blogger lately.

In my defense, I've been a little busy lately.

Megan got sick in November and hasn't gotten better since.

It started out with what I thought was a mild cold.

Runny nose, slight cough, that's it.

Except, every night she complained her throat hurt.

Only at bedtime.

Every night.

And I didn't believe her.

A kid with a sore throat doesn't chow down bagels, pizza, carrots, etc.

Right?

Then all of a sudden bedtime came and her throat hurt.

I thought it was a bedtime stall tactic.

After a couple weeks of the mild cold just not going away,

I took her to the doctor, mostly to prove her throat DIDN'T HURT

justgotobedforcryingoutloud!!!!!!

I've been a mom for five years now.

I think I've done a pretty good job so far.

I wasn't prepared for what the doctor said next -

SEVERE TONSILLITIS.

One of the worst cases he's ever seen.

(And he's been a doctor for a hundred million years. Approximately.)

What?????

I told him I just couldn't believe it because she didn't act very sick.

She never even had a fever!

We left with a prescription for antibiotics for her

and a serious case of mommy guilt for me.

Then guess what?

Instead of getting better she just got worse.

After two courses of antibiotics, she STILL had tonsillitis.

We were off to see the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.

He scheduled the tonsillectomy for January 4.

Then, a couple days after Christmas Megan spiked a super high fever,

wouldn't eat or drink anything,

and got so lethargic I almost couldn't wake her up.

In a panic, I rushed her to the emergency room.

She ended up getting admitted to the

infectious disease unit at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

She needed an IV for severe dehydration.

They gave her morphine to control her pain.

They also gave her some steriods

to control the swelling in her tonsils.

While she was there,

everyone who came in the room had to wear a mask and gown.

Kinda scary for a little kid.

They really weren't sure why she was so sick and dehydrated.

They did all kinds of tests.

They took her for a CT scan.

They thought she might have a hidden abscess behind her tonsil.

Instead they found that she had a sinus infection, an ear infection in both ears,
AND severe tonsillitis (we already knew that.)

Then they swabbed up her nose and down her throat.

She kinda hated that.

Those tests showed she had mycoplasma pneumonia and adenovirus.

That's kinda a lot to have wrong with you at once.

The infected tonsils were essentially creating a germ factory.

Her tonsillectomy for January 4 got cancelled because they were worried she would end up on a ventilator if they operated.

Yikes!

She was sent home with a months worth of antibiotics.

One of them tasted so badly she threw up.

In my mouth. (I had it open, cheering for her.)

It got all over my face too.

First time in five years she's ever thrown up.

I now consider us even - I didn't believe her throat hurt, she threw up in my mouth.

Fair and square.

We got rescheduled for another tonsillectomy on February 8 . . . tomorrow.

She still complains of her throat hurting every day.

Only now I believe her.

A Tale of Two Turkeys

This year we spent Thanksgiving at the cabin in NY.

It took a serious amount of turkey to feed this clan . . .

It was really special to celebrate with the "old timers" - my great uncle Frank and my
grandfather. I would include my nana here too but I am certain she wouldn't appreciate being called an "old timer." I almost choked on my turkey during a certain conversation with my great uncle Frank. It kinda went like this . . .
Me: I didn't know you were sick.
Him: Yeah, I have cancer a foot up my dupa!
I hope you don't need me to translate what he meant by "dupa." Ahh, I guess you can say things when you are in your 90s that you just can't get away with saying any other time. I still laugh when I think of the awkward silence after he said that . . . . kinda like, did he just say what I think he said????

I love my family!


That news didn't seem to disturb anyone's appetites, however.

This was John's dessert plate.

My mom makes seriously good pie . . .

although I'm not sure good pie excuses the ridiculousness of this.

We spent the next couple couple days playing some cut throat games of Carcassonne
and enjoying each other's company.

We were also on pins and needles, hoping one of the kids wouldn't give away the real reason we all went up to the cabin . . .

to celebrate my grandfather's 85th birthday with a surprise party in Buffalo with all his nearest and dearest. Tune in soon for that tale.

I'll Want To Remember This Someday

Once the thrill of the election was over, my next step was being sworn in. My kids came to city hall and acted like they owned the place.

Brendan wasted no time at all climbing into the mayor's chair.

Megan settled for my chair!

Not shown:

Brendan throwing a tantrum THIS BIG while I took my oath of office. Seriously, people are still talking about it. Imagine John wrestling with a screaming Brendan, me so stressed I raised my left hand instead of my right, and Megan stepping in to hold the Bible because John's hands were FULL. Good times! That is what they get for scheduling my oath of office at bedtime.

Cutest moment of the night: Megan asking me if they were going to have crafts for the kids.

Hmmm, maybe something we should consider in the future!

And the winner is . . .

If I were the type to gloat, I would say that was the largest margin of victory in the entire county. Good thing I'm not.

To be continued . . .

Trick - or - Treat 2011

Our Halloween began as usual . . .

posing for portraits on the front porch.

Only one little monster didn't quite get the concept of trick-or-treat. Brendan was like, "Jackpot. Found the candy! I think I'm gonna fill up my treat bucket right here on the front porch while mom is distracted taking photos of Megan."

Sorry about the poor picture quality. No need to adjust your monitor. My flash was turned off. I apologize in advance for the headache these pictures may cause.

John's pumpkin masterpiece.

Megan, less than enthusiastic about posing for another picture before she even had one piece of candy.

Our traditional photo with our neighbor friends.

And now I need your help with something . . .

I just can't decide which Frankenstein is more scary.

This one.

Or this one?

You decide.

Happy Halloween 2011.