Fall Leaf Frolicking

This is the lone tree on our property in the back yard. We planted two dogwood trees in honor of our girls' births, but both of those died. My brown (or black) thumb and I had nothing to do with the death of those trees!

We certainly did enjoy the beautiful color on our tree this fall. But once the leaves fell, the girls had fun playing in the small amount of leaves we were able to pile up for them to run and jump in.

Lauren & Allison

Lauren

Allison

Lauren & Allison

Allison

Lauren

Falling leaves


Wonder what Allison is thinking?

Lauren

Trunk-or-Treating at church 10-28-09

Last night we went to our second Trunk-or-Treat at church. We didn't make it to the Fall Festival before church because Bill and I were just getting over a stomach virus. I didn't tell Lauren about the festival, just the trunk-or-treat part. She was happy enough to go to Bible class and then get to trunk-or-treat. Lauren wanted to be Snow White this year and Allison is Minnie Mouse, although if you ask her who she is, she always says Mickie Mouse first! We had all had a fun time!

Lauren and Mackenzie

Allison, Lauren & Mackenzie

Josiah, Allison, Mackenzie & Lauren

Ms. Cindy giving candy to Allison & Lauren

Great picture of our friend Ms. Cindy & Lauren

Allison getting a treat out of Ms. Wendy's spider

Love Allison's face as she gets a treat from Ms. Peggy

Sweet smile from Lauren

Such serious faces from Allison, Mackenzie & Lauren

Allison getting her favorite lollipops from Ms. Holly

Lauren getting her lollipop from Ms. Holly

We got so much candy from church that we don't even need to trick-or-treat on Saturday!! But I guess we will anyway!:)

Race for the Cure October 24, 2009

Five years ago my Mom, Dad, brother, Bill and I participated in the Race for the Cure. Mom had just been diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2004. I remember she called me after her doctor's appointment that day in August while I was at lunch. It was during our inservice days before school began and I can remember not being able to talk to her on the phone after she said the words, she had cancer. During the next couple of months, she had her surgery, went through chemo treatments and radiation treatments. During that same time frame I got pregnant, but had a miscarriage 11 weeks into the pregnancy.

What a difference five years makes! Mom has been cancer-free for five years now and doing well!! And Bill and I have two beautiful daughters that bless not only our lives every day but the lives of our families! God is good!

It was a chilly day for the race, but we had a great time participating in this wonderful event. Last time we walked the 5K course, but today we opted for the 1 mile walk because we didn't know how long the girls would make it. They both did great, with the help of the stroller and being carried by Pawpaw.

I am in awe at the number of women, both young and old wearing those pink shirts in the race. As you walk in the crowd of people it's a sobering thought reading the names of the people the race participants put on their shirts honoring the survivors they know or remembering those who lost their lives to breast cancer. I am so thankful that my Mom is one of the survivors and that my daughters (and family) and I were able to celebrate that today during the race.

The crowd lined up for the beginning of the race. Brother Bill is somewhere in there.

Lauren, Mom and Allison sporting their race numbers.

The girls trying to stay warm before the 1 mile walk started.

Ronald MacDonald had the honor of starting the 1 mile run. My girls don't even know who he is. Although they have never eaten at MacDonald's, they have had the soft serve ice cream cones from there. On our way home from the race I said something to the girls about seeing Ronald MacDonald at the beginning of the race and Lauren called him Mr. MacDonald and Allison called him Old MacDonald. Too cute!

Allison, Lauren and Mr. MacDonald

Dad, Allison, Mom, Lauren and I during the walk.

Bill, Lauren and I during the walk.

Allison snuggling with Pawpaw trying to keep warm.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a beautiful day to go to Maple Farms Pumpkin Patch with Lauren's preschool class today. I was especially happy that Cindy and Sam rode with us. Cade, another friend from Lauren's class this year as well as last year rode with us, too! It was a beautiful drive down to Blount County and we enjoyed watching the airplanes come in for landing as we passed the airport. Thanks to my great co-pilot Cindy, we found the farm without any problems. (The problem came when we tried to find our way home!:) I'll just say we enjoyed the scenery in rural Blount County!
The farm was absolutely beautiful and the hayride out to the pumpkin field was very nice. Unfortunately the pumpkin selection was not so good and I didn't get any good photos of the kids out in the field. We were too busy trying to find a pumpkin that wasn't rotten. The actual search for the perfect pumpkin was not a highlight of the trip but everything else about the day was lots of fun.
Here is Lauren with her friends Esther and Ariel. These girls are three peas in a pod!

Sam, Cade, Lauren and Allison in front of the beautiful sunflowers.

Allison, Lauren, Ariel and Esther (or is it Esther and Ariel). After two years of being together in preschool I still can't tell these girls apart. I asked Lauren if she could tell the two apart and she said yes. I asked her how she could tell them apart and she said, "I ask her, which one are you?" Guess I shouldn't feel bad about always having to ask, "Which one are you?"

Allison and Lauren posing in front of the corn.

I couldn't get Allison to look at the camera! I know that's so shocking......NOT!

Allison, Lauren and Cade on the pumpkins.

I must say that I like the Oakes Farm pumpkin patch a little better just because of all the other neat things to do there.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year just because of beautiful days like today.

Pickin'

At lunch time today Allison kept leaning over in her booster seat with her hands under the table. I noticed her doing that several times before I asked her what she was doing. She matter of factly told me she was "pickin' fuzzies" as she placed something very small and barely visible on the table. After watching her in action, I saw that she was cleaning the sock fuzzies from between her toes! She meticulously got in between each toe to make sure all the fuzzies were gone. :) I love that little girl.
I have never seen her clean between her toes. With the cold weather she's been wearing socks all day and even while she's been sleeping. Guess she had accumulated quite a bit in there.

What to do when you have the flu

Since we have been couped up in the house this past week with some virus, we had to come up with something to help help pass the time away during the day. The following two pictures are the girls enjoying Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie treats we made one day. They couldn't wait to let the chocolate set, so they were extremely messy!

Yummy chocolate

I think you can tell Allison is sick by her eyes.

One day both girls were sitting in the living room reading books. I love how they both enjoy reading. Allison loves to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear to you. Lauren has so many books memorized that she loves to read to you. The last time my parents were here visiting, my Dad was reading a book to Lauren and she corrected him lots of times on words he didn't read exactly right. If it is a book she listens to a lot, you better make sure you read it word for word or she will correct you.

Lauren and Allison reading

I love this sweet picture of Lauren reading

Love this one of Allison, too!

One good thing that came from the week was Allison slept in her twin bed for the first time. We've had the crib and the twin bed in her room for quite some time now, but she has not been interested in sleeping in the twin bed. A couple of times she would say she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed, but after reading her stories, Bible, and prayer, she changed her mind and wanted to sleep in the crib. I actually slept with her the first night she slept in her twin bed because her fever was so high. The next night she slept in the bed alone, but every time she woke up she cried out for us. Last night she actually slept all night without crying out until about 5:00 a.m. I think she rolled over and hit her head on the wall. I was able to go in there and hold her for just a second and she went right on back to sleep. She is in the habit of going through a ritual before she lets you get out of her room at night. She has to say good night, sweet dreams, and I love you several times. If you try to leave before she finishes saying those phrases a couple of times, she will cry until you come back and let her finish. You have to let her know when it's the last time!

Allison's first night in her twin bed

Lauren sleeping peacefully. She has a relatively new full size bed and we haven't bought bedding for her yet. The crib Allison is (or was) sleeping on converts to a full size bed and we plan to use that in Lauren's room. We have had the mattress and box springs on the floor in Lauren's room since we got it. She loves it that way. Hope she likes it when we actually get to put the bed together. I am ready to get the crib converted to Lauren's bed and get her bedding picked out. I'm also ready to get Allison's room fixed with just the twin bed. Hopefully that will happen soon. Getting rid of the crib will definitely be bitter sweet though!

This picture was taken today. It is Allison's first fever free day since Thursday! Hooray!


Hopefully Lauren will not come down with the fever. She's been around all of us and I don't know how she managed to escape it. It hit the rest of us pretty quickly, so hopefully the fact that she hasn't developed a fever yet means she will escape this one!

H1N1 Blah, blah. blah, blah, blah.......

Am I the only person who is completely over hearing about H1N1 Virus? I would like to know where the media is getting their information about the H1N1 virus. We have been battling a virus at our house this week. Bill came home from work Monday feeling fine and we went out to eat before going to Lauren's open House. By the time we got home and got the girls to bed Bill was coughing his poor head off and started feeling bad. He didn't work Tuesday and got an appointment to see the doctor (Physician's Assistant) that afternoon. I was shocked when he called from the exam room saying that they were testing him for the flu! His flu test came back negative, but the PA said his symptoms were the same as the flu, so he prescribed Tamiflu and also gave Bill a prescription for me (we see the same doctor). The invoice on Bill's doctor visit said in the diagnosis box, Influenza. Bill started taking the Tamiflu Tuesday and by Tuesday night I was achy, had a sore throat, and felt horrible. The prescription for me said to take the Tamiflu for preventative measures, so I thought I would start taking it just to be safe. After waking up Wednesday and not being able to get out of bed, I started taking the Tamiflu twice a day instead of the one time a day prescribed for prevention of the flu symptoms.
On Thursday Allison woke up with a fever so I called the pediatrician and made an appointment for her and Lauren to both be checked out. Allison's fever was 101.9. I explained that Bill had gone to the doctor and did not test positive for the flu, but was taking Tamiflu. Lauren didn't have a fever, so they didn't test her for the flu. They did test Allison for the flu. I asked the nurse if they would test her for both H1N1 and seasonal flu and she said there was only one test and it would not differentiate between the H1N1 or Seasonal flu, just if they had the flu. I thought that was strange considering how much you hear about H1N1 these days. She also said that they were treating all positive flu tests as H1N1!? I wish I had asked her why? Well, fortunately Allison tested negative for the flu. The Nurse Practitioner said it was just one of many different types of viruses and just treat the symptoms. She said she would prescribe Tamiflu and I could wait to get it filled if Allison's symptoms seemed to worsen. I told her that I would not feel comfortable giving her Tamiflu if her symptoms did worsen because how would I know if it indeed was the flu causing the symptoms to worsen, or just the other virus.
I have found myself really angry about how much we hear about the H1N1 virus and how it seems very deceptive. When I first started hearing about Swine flu, I thought, well it's just a different strand of the flu, no big deal, what's all the hype, but as I continue to hear it every single day, I find myself really mad because from my experience at the doctor's offices this week, they can't even tell if you have Season flu or H1N1. Why not just report about the flu rather than a Swine Flu pandemic??!!! If anyone out there has any more information about the testing for seasonal or H1N1 let me know.
This was a really long winded soap box that I felt I needed to speak on today.

Fortunately we are feeling better in our house. Lauren has continued to evade the worst of the symptoms of this virus. She hasn't had any fever, just coughing, sneezing, and runny nose. Bill felt better Wednesday and was able to take care of the girls while I was in bed for most of the day. He went back to work Thursday and seems to be feeling pretty good. Allison had the worst of the fever. Her temperature spiked Thursday evening and night. She slept in her big girl twin bed for the first time Thursday night, but I slept with her to keep an eye on her. Her fever finally broke around 1:30 a.m. but we had a very restless night. I put her in her crib to nap today because she was tired and still had a fever of 101 so I wanted her to nap well. But tonight her temperature had dropped to around 99 and she is sleeping in her big girl bed again. I told her Mommy would not be sleeping with her tonight because she was feeling better. We'll see how she does!

The past two days Lauren has been riding her bike down the road. I didn't get to go with her yesterday because I stayed in with Allison, but today we all went and I was amazed at how well Lauren was doing riding. She really has not ridden all that much so she still is not that good at steering and braking. But I was happy to see the progress she is making. The thing that scares me to death is that she really does not watch where she is going. Today some of her friends down the street were out riding. A couple of the girls were bigger and rode without training wheels. Lauren was so happy to follow them along. I can't believe my baby is getting so big.