Slytherin quiz 2

1. Are you a sock knitter?  yes. What are your foot measurements?9 inches length, 8 1/2 in width.
   
2. Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift?  No but I would LOVE to have one
   
3. Where/how to you keep you needles/hooks? Needle cases I made
   
4. Do you collect anything? No, unless you count fabric and yarn.
   
5. What is your favorite type of music? Country and oldies Are you MP3 ready? yes
   
6. Do you like sweets? YES What are your favorites? Mellowcreame pumpkins, anything withcarmel, and Jelly beans
   
7. What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children? One Dog, 3 kids
8. Do you have an online wish list (Amazon, Etsy, Loopy Ewe, etc.)? No
9. Favorite Harry Potter movie character? Professor Trewlaney

Way too cute!

Ok, so i needed a present for a little man who will soon be two and I had days to find one.  So hey, I'll knit one up.  Not my brightest idea I'll admit that.  At least I didn't choose a lace pattern!  Nevertheless, the whole lets just knit up a quick gift for someone idea is not always "Quick"  Ignoring the little voice in my head that says, "Just order something from Amazon."  I eagerly searched for a pattern for the little guy.  I stumbled upon this hat pattern from the Knitting Pattern Central website and just knew it was "The One."  I cast on that night as I was reading books with Emma, always the multitasker.   Before I knew it, I was flying through the pattern.  It was really quick and despite errors, contradictions and mistakes in the pattern it was finished.  This time it really was a Quick knit.  

I highly recommend this pattern to anyone who has a playful little toddler they know who loves dragons or dinosaurs.

Dead

Well, as sleep deprived as I was on monday.  I died anyway.  For those of you who have NO idea what I am talking about, a little summary.

(I am doing a Harry Potter swap on ravelry.  I competing in the first round of the dueling club.  The object was to finish a hat or sock faster than the person you are dueling against.  I stayed up late  on Sunday, finished the hat, and had it mailed by 8:15 am Monday.  And I lost by 1 1/2 hours.)  

The winner of the duel is decided based on the usps delivery confirmation stamp.  I should have known El Paso Post office would let me down, time is realative here. Not to mention they have already lost a package of mine!!!  The good news is I now have this really cute hat!  

Here is the link for anyone who would like to make their own!

Quidditch Quiz Answers

1. At the beginning of the book, Cornelius Fudge is talking to the Muggle Prime Minister. Which member of the Order of the Phoenix has recently been found dead?

c. Emmeline Vance

2. What animal does Bellatrix Lestrange kill when she and her sister, Narcissa, are going to see Professor Snape?

b. Fox

3. What time does Professor Dumbledore collect Harry from Privet Drive?
b. 11 p.m.

4. What did Professor Sluhorn transform into when he was trying to hide from Harry and Professor Dumbledore?
a. An armchair

5. What grade did Harry get for Herbology?
a. E – Exceeds Expectation


6. Herbert Chorley, the Prime Minister’s Junior Minster, has been entertaining the public by impersonating which animal?
b. A duck

7. What is Professor Sprout’s first name?
d. Pomona

8. What is Dumbledore’s idea of ‘a few words’?
d. nitwit, oddment, blubber and tweak

9. Who is Marcus Belby’s famous uncle?

b.Damocle

10. What is Snape’s mother’s name?

b. Eileen Prince

Narcissa

Snape

Bellatrix

Professor Sprout

Professor Dumbledore

No mass?

Yesterday, on the way home from school i asked each of the kids about their homework assignments.  I like to know what i am up against from the start (especially since John is out of town this week).  Mark had some math which is pretty typical,  Emma had a worksheet or two and to practice spelling.  Jack said he had to study for Science and he had to bring in an object that has no mass.  Mark laughed and almost spewed granola bar all over the van. Mark said, "Jack that's a trick.  Everything has mass."  It just so happens Mark had just taken a test over the exact same material just a week before. 

 The conversation continues..."What!"exclaims Jack.  "How do you know?"  

Mark explains,  "Mass is a quantity of matter that can be measured."

"What's Matter?"  Jack asks.

"Matter is a substance that has mass and takes up space."  Mark continues.

"How can the definition of mass be matter and the definition of matter be mass?  You can't define one with the other it doesn't make sense!"  Jack states confused. 

"What about air?"  Jack asks

Mark states, "What do you put in a balloon when you blow it up?  Air!  See Jack it takes up space."

The light bulb clicks on, "OH!  So when I asked Mr Ochoa, 'what if we cannot find anything to bring in?'  he responded 'your on the right track Jack' that's what he meant!"  

What a lesson in science we had!  I was a proud mama sitting there listening to my boys actually having a conversation, without fighting, yelling or hitting.  My babies are growing up.

Knittin'

So, the pie shawl got put in a temporary time-out for taking to long to get finished.  Then, I started 2 other projects over the weekend.  I was even able to finish them both!  Wow!  I felt so good about it I took the pie shawl out of time-0ut!   Here are some picks.  The first is a snake I made for a knitting swap.  

The second was a hat I knit in just one day! 

 (ok, one day and the early morning of the next day.)  

Just another day at the park

Saturday we spent the day at the park.  Mark had a soccer game at one so we took off early and made an afternoon out of it.  The park was on the East side about 1 hour from the house.    So we packed a lunch and a ton of snacks.  We arrived at the park in plenty of time.  Which gave the kids lots of time to climb trees, play at the playground and catch bugs.   They were in heaven.  Somehow, the tired and hungry kids that whined all the way to the park, were suddenly invigorated.  They could hardly sit still for lunch.  They climbed and played for over an hour.  You should have seen the teamwork.    Just to get in the tree, Jack would lift Emma and then Emma would pull Jack up.  Very Cute!  I even heard one parent say to his little boy, "Even that Girl could get up there!"  (I just want you to now i took offense to that but let the guy go  because Emma was so proud.) 

Mark's soccer game went well and the team came away with their first win. YEAH.   Mark seemed very happy and had some awesome throw-in's.  

Emma and Jack kept themselves busy with their Nintendos and lots of snacks.  Emma and I even did some arts and crafts.  Here is our chain of paper dolls.  If you look closely you can see Emma's Elvis doll.

School Pictures

Yesterday was picture day.  I hate picture day.  This means that in addition to the normal chaos that is the morning.  We have extra.  Extra clothing choices,  shoe choices,  picture package choices and of course hair choices.  Now the boys are supposed to be easy.  And thankfully, Jack was.  Mark however (sigh) should be, but isn't.  And Emma, never easy.  The kids came home on Tuesday all excited about picture day.  Most of the excitement is due to the fact that they get to dress out of uniform.  Now even that should be easy, but no.  There are rules at a private school for picture day.  No spaghetti strap dresses,  boys shirts must have collars, no jeans, must have khaki pants with a belt, nothing torn, dresses and skirts must be knee lenght or below, and the list goes on.  As i  said Jack was easy.  Pull a collared shirt out of a bin of clothing Mark outgrew, New Shirt, some pants and a belt.  TA-DA.  Mark however, had the audacity to GROW.  I knew he only had one pair of pants that fit, what I failed to realize was that he had run through the knee of these last Thursday.  So I stacked up 4 pairs of pants to have him try on the night before.  We didn't try then on until the next morning as we are getting ready for school.  They were all way to short.  I mean at least 2 inches to short.  I can not send a middle school child to school with floods.  Middle school is enough torture without standing out because you're wearing floods.  So i dig out the sewing basket, find a patch and iron a patch on the inside of the knee.  I then flip over the pants and apply fray-check to the ends of the tear and pray he doesn't get detention for ripped pants.  Emma (shakes head) were to begin.  Emma had at least 4 dress choices.  She had to wear a dress.  We had one all picked out on Tuesday, but NOOOO, lets try them all on Wednesday morning.  She finally settled on the dress, yes it was the same one we had picked out.  Now hair.   Emma wanted her hair in ringlets.  Why?  Who knows.  She has natural curly hair but never wants to wear it curly.  But today, curls.  We put rollers in her hair for 1 hour before bed and by the time we took them out while we were brushing our teeth. Way too tight.  Shirley temple tight.  We then have to wet it out, blow it dry and try to refine some of the curl we took out when we got it wet.  To wear a bow or to not wear a bow that was the question.  Ugh.  I was done at this point, so i was less than patient.  Decided on a bow. (what a relief)  Ran out the door and made it to school.  

When i picked them up at school, shirts were untucked and stained with who knows what, Jack had Oreo cookie crumbs on his face and Emma's hair, while still in ringlets was  stuck up everywhere, and pulled out of it's bow.  Glad I went through all that work.  Can't wait to see the pictures. (oh heavy sigh.)

The OSU room

Many of you know that mark is a HUGE, Ohio State Fan.  He is determined to go back to Columbus to  attend OSU when he graduates high school.  This weekend when we decided to paint is bedroom of course he wanted it Scarlet and Gray.  Well,  that was just not going to happen!  We came to a compromise and painted one wall gray and will add our scarlet accents.  Thanks to a good friend and Columbus resident we have many, many, many accents.  Fortunately, you can never have too much Ohio State decorations.   As I said before,  Saturday was dedicated to outside, which was good planning because Sunday was too windy to do anything outside.  Sunday we painted.  This meant we ALL painted.  Having lots of help can be a good think, it can also be very slow.   Everyone had a section of wall (low, middle and high).  All sections had to be divided evenly so it would be "FAIR" (sometimes i hate that word)  Everyone had to have mommy approved painting clothing. 

 Somehow simple projects, like painting a room, take on a life of their own and become GIGANTIC projects as the day goes on.  This was one of those.  Mark has an extensive collection of collectibles, (one might say clutter) and like his father and grandfather have a hard time parting with things.  I understand the sentimentality of objects as much as another,  why else would one save a babies lock of hair, but come on!  It took all morning just to remove the 32 sports posters, 4 shelves of trophies and assorted "collectibles".  Mark is also not the cleanest person, not even close.  So we had to straighten and pick up before we could even get to the shelves.  I need to be clearer when i say pick up your room.  I don't mean put it all on the top of your dresser or shove it in the closet. 

 Regardless, we ate lunch and started painting.  The Gray wall was first and went rather quickly.  Then it seemed to take subsequent walls longer and longer to complete.  By the end we were all covered in gray and tan paint.  But the room was painted and the boy is happy.  Within the next month we should have everything back to normal, including the dirty socks back on the floor.

Green Thumb and Brown Noser

WOW!  What a weekend!  I am exhausted.  This weekend we had a blast with the kids.  We worked outside and inside the house.  Projects are something the kids love to "help" with.  (Fortunately we were granted quite a bit of patience for this weekend.)  Saturday, we decided to do some planting.  Mark was all over this!  He loves nature, earth, anything having to do with saving the environment.  Needless to say he was SO hyper.  He is definitely a "doer."  Everyone helped Dad dig the hole for the new ash tree we put in the back yarn.  Now, if you have ever been out here to see us, you know that we live on a mountain made mostly of rock. ( Need i say more?)  So, it wasn't so much digging as chipping away the ground with a pick ax.  Very different than planting a tree in the Midwest!    John would pound away at the rocks then the kids would dive into the hole to see who could pull out the biggest rock.   So it was by no means a coincidence that mom bought a relatively small tree, so the hole did not need to be too big.    In about 5 years we may actually have shade.  Yeah!  Trees are few and far between here so shade is a precious thing.  

After the tree was in we moved to the front.  We had planted dry root rose bushes that i ordered from a nursery in Tipp City, Ohio.  I had used this particular variety in one of the houses in ohio and it had done fantastically.  But this is not Ohio, so all but 2 died.  Since we were already digging holes we decided to get new rose bushes to replace the pathetic looking  sticks poking out of the ground. 

 I got 2 lavender colored roses for Emma and 2 pink for me.  Thankfully, the holes had already been chipped away and rocks removed from the last planting so the kids were able to do the digging.

Then somehow I was coerced by Emma into hanging some of our fall decorations.  Talk about a project starter.  I baned  her from getting anything else out until the actual change of seasons on September 21.  We even planted pansies, which bloom here all winter.

We finished the planting and started cleaning up.  I went inside to start dinner.  I noticed Ginger had been outside by herself which is never a good thing.  I went over to the door to call her.  There she was sitting, being all cute, with a snout full of topsoil.  Ginger loves to eat topsoil.  My immediate thought was "OH, no the tree."  Oh, the tree was fine.  There was however a 4 inch hole where she had buried her nose into the ground and eaten about 2 cups of topsoil!!!

Slytherin quiz II

Potter Name: Thomasina Riddle

Rav ID:Himaintenknits

I am allergic to:some wools that are very fuzzy (make my nose very itchy)

Pets that I have:Dog-Ginger

My favorite yarn:Philosopher's Wool

My favorite flavor: vanilla, clove and rosewood

My favorite holiday: Christmas

I would like to receive a: (Sock kit, scarf kit or yarn dyeing kit) yarn dyeing kit

List your favorite brand of needles or hooks, including size and length: bamboo needles (DPs) or Addi turbo (Circular)

Is there a brand that you are dying to try?: NOPE

Do you have a birthday during this swap? no

slytherin quiz

Do you knit and/or crochet? Knit only crochet edging or decoration

 
How long have you been at your craft? five years

Do you spin?no

Are there any other crafts that you participate in? Lots I am a long arm quilter so I quilt, cross stitch, needlepoint, sew,  paint, draw and color with my kids (wait. is that a craft?)

What are your favorite yarns/fibers? I love a variety of fibers.  Soft cottons and blends of cotton.

What are your LEAST favorite yarns/fibers? Acrylic (pbltt!!)

Are there any types/brands of yarn that you are dying to work with but haven’t gotten a chance? I would love to try linen and/or hemp

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet? I like a variety of projects, ones i haven't tried before are my favorite because i love the anticipation of the final result!

What are you currently working on? Let's see works in progress? Hmm?  I have a lace shawl, that has been in time out for at least a year.  A pi shawl also lace, a pair of socks, a cardigan, and a toy elephant. (oh and of course a quilt or two)

Anything you plan to start this autumn? Lots!  I have several christmas projects for  family and friends (but i am not telling what they are!)

What is your favorite Finished Object? (Please, post a picture if you would like.) My favorite FO?  this jester hat i made for my nephew when he was little.  tooo cute!

Are their any knitting/crochet techniques that you would like to learn? I have tried a variety but I think i would like to learn more cast on techniques.

Half Pi

Here is the Pi shawl.  (crowd cheers...)

I feel like i have been working on it for all eternity.  Sometimes i cannot remember a time when i worked on anything else.  I an half way around the border.  Only half to go.  Half way there.  The goal is in site.  I just need to keep going.  And yet, the hallway i am running down seems to keep growing longer and longer and longer. (not unlike this post)  It is as if i am making more work for myself.  Look, to bind off this shawl I have to add 40 stitches for each bind off.  Hello!!  I have a friend who shall remain nameless (BUT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)  who knits lace all the time.  She makes it look sooooo easy.  "Hey lets just do this simple knit along" she says.  "It'll be fun" she says and it was for the first 100,000 stitches.  Watch me finish in record time, while you sit and struggle.  (Wicked laughter in the background)

I suppose logic would have it that the more you do it the better you get.   Not me, this is my second lace project and i can definitely say NO MORE.  So the question remains is Half a pi better than none at all?

Yeah Me

I finished my latest quilt.  (The crowd goes wild!!)  It is actually quilted, bound and beaded.  (Woo-Ho)  I know you are all impressed.  But, seriously the thing sat and taunted me for at least 2 months.  I didn't know what design to quilt on it, so i let it hang in my closet.  I finally decided to have it done for today's quilting meeting and i was super happy with the end result.

SEE....  

 

I quilted a falling leaf pattern down the center and twirls down the sides.  It reminded me of Autumn and so logically, leaves and wind followed.  And then the whole idea of motion of the leaves and the wind mixing.  

I decided next to bead it with tiny glass beads. Reminds me a little of the sight chill in the air that Autumn sometimes has.  OK, ok,  very artsy I know,  but it is truly the first quilt I have finished that felt like an art project!  It was very energizing!  Go me!

playtime

Yesterday, it seems, was a very hard day for the kids.  There must have been something in the air.  Everyone had a bad day.  Mark and Jack had disagreements with friends and were awful moods when they came home.  Both were frustrated, angry and just plain grouchy.  As kids can get, it seemed as if  the world was about to end!!  I had multiple hats on, math tutor, chef, and psychological counselor.  I couldn't wait for John to get home!  When he finally made it home I briefed him on the day and gave him his assignment.  John went off to spend time with Jack while I sat down with mark.  When all was settled down I went upstairs to see how John and Jack were fairing.  They were busy playing tickle torture so I left them alone.  After awhile John came limping into our room and said, "My leg has been cut off."  Which was odd because obviously it was still attached.  To which I responded, "how did that happen dear?"  The story I got goes as follows.  After a rousing game of tickle torture, "the boys' decided to play light sabers.  (Not unnecessarily they best choice in hindsight)  After a few minutes of battling they stopped to take a break.  Jack began banging his light saber on the ground repeatedly.  Then he exclaimed, "hey dad!  do you know what I call this?" as he continued to hit his light saber on the ground.  John says sarcastically, "NO, Jack.  What do you call it?"  To which Jack promptly stops,  replies "A Distraction!!!!" then swings and hits John in the shins with the slight saber. 

Football, Fall and Fabric

That's right folks it's College foot ball season!

This is Mark's favorite time of year.  This is how he will look for the next few months until the last game is played.  Ever loyal and faithful to the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The only reason he didn't have his jersey on is because he couldn't find it.  (oh don't worry he will wear it dirty.)  So, he watched game after game after game, until mom made him stop to do a book report.  Meany.  Then home from school and on to Monday Night Football.  The good thing for Mark, is that because most games start on eastern time, he can stay up and watch them.  Ah, the dreams of an adolescent boy.  

Mom however was busy doing projects.  Here is my valance I finished for the outside porch.  I am hoping to continue this trend of decorating outdoors to make it more like an additional living space.  As you  can see our grass is still green.   There are no changing of leaves to be found here in El Paso.   The mornings are a brisk 70 and i actually saw a woman today in a wool sweater.  Did I mention I was wearing shorts.  It is however a lovely time to sit out and enjoy the porch.  I miss the fall apple picking, raking the leaves into big piles for the kids to jump into, the blooming ragweed, (OK maybe not everything)  but it is sad to see, or to not see the change of seasons.

Change is occurring here at the house not only with redecorating.  Notice no teef.  Emma was super excited about loosing her tooth and cannot stop singing "All I want for Christmas is My two front teeth."  Although there were some tense moments when she realized the tooth had fallen out of the tooth pillow and was missing.  Never fear, mommy to the rescue, all is well and the tooth fairy made it, minus the Rudolf song.  

I have not picked up my knitting in FOREVER!    So it is a good thing knitting group is tomorrow.   Maybe I will actually finish one of the THREE projects I have on the needles.  (or maybe I'll start one.  I got the greatest yarn on sale at Tuesday Morning---cashmere---ooh-ahh.)  In any rate I finished my block of the month for the quilt guild meeting on Saturday and it brings us full circle to the OSU football.  Whatcha think?

Vocabulary and Sibling Rivalry ?

Mark entered Emma's bedroom at 9:10 on Sunday evening in a panic.  "We have a vocabulary test tomorrow!"  super.  Nothing like the last minute cram session to get you right off to sleep.  After getting Emma tucked away, Mark and I proceed to study his vocabulary.  Now, Mark, I have often been told has a large vocabulary, so this was really not a worry for me.    He shot of the vocabulary words left and right and after 20 minutes we not only had the vocab memorized we had sentences for each one memorized.  His teacher is now requiring, that they not only know the definition, they also be able to compose a sentence using the word.  Makes sense to me.  Off to bed goes Mark.  Anyone who has kids knows on the way to and from school in the car is prime study time.  Often spelling words are reviewed, vocabulary, as in today's case, is quizzed and speeches for science fair  projects are revised.  This morning was no different.  Mark and I first ran through the words in record time.  Then I had him give me the sentences.  For the word arid "El Paso has an arid climate."  ruffle.. "Emma has a ruffle on her dress." (ok, technically it's a pleat) stamina... "Emma and I have to have a lot of stamina to run a 5K race."  adverse..."I have an adverse reaction to vocabulary tests."  Now, I knew he was getting cocky because the sentences became increasingly creative.  mimic ...   "I often mimic my brother and sister."(so true)   At this point Jack and Emma perk up and say "Hey!"  Then they want to know what mimic means.   serene "Emma is rarely serene." (unfortunately also true) Jack asks what serene means and when we tell him,  Emma starts to pout.  Then she makes a grab for Mark.   constrain.... "Jack will have to constrain Emma from attacking me."  Now they are all giggling and Emma is taking swings at Mark.  Jack is cheering her on and Ginger is barking.  Remember I am driving the car! assailant...  "Emma was the assailant in the car on the way to school."  Just another day in the life, but a highly productive one.

Sunshine, lollypops and rainbows

As I said in my last post we went out of town for the Labor Day weekend.  John's parents were in town from Ohio and it is always fun to be able to share some of the southwest with them.  We spent the weekend in a little hotel in Silver City, NM. called the Palace Hotel.  It was an old historic building with cute rooms and antiques everywhere.  The kids were full of questions about "what was it like a long time ago?"   We did have a lot of rain on Saturday night which fortunately only hampered our plans slightly.  Our original plan was to explore the Gila National Forest, including the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  However, due to excessive rain the road to the Cliff Dwellings was closed. (bummer)  

Just the drive to the Forest was impressive, we saw lots and lots of trees which can be exciting when you live in the desert. (plus the drive gave mom some much needed knitting time! bonus) We were also witness to several small mule deer and LOTS of humming birds.  The kids loved to watch the humming birds.  Mark was so enamored by them, he talked Grammy and Papa into buying him a humming bird feeder for home.  (That's what Grandparents are for!)  Jack and Emma  were able to complete yet another Jr. Ranger program, receiving their 7 th badge of the year!  (national parks were in abundance on our vacation this summer).  

We did venture out on a small hike and were amazed to find tons of sunflowers!  I haven't seen sunflowers since we lived in Ohio!  The sunflowers lined the path and towered over us! It was as if  we were inches tall.  Not just sunflowers but lots and lots of wildflowers.  That alone made the trip worthwhile.  

Since we were unable to stay as long as we wanted in the Gila National Forest we had extra time on the drive home and stopped at the City of Rocks.  We have taken the kids here before and they love to climb and jump on all of the rocks.  Jack loves to play "what does that look like?"  with rock shapes. (Not unlike the game we play with clouds)  We found a face, a dinosaur egg cracked in half, a gargoyle and a Pokemon. (of course)

Here they are being smashed into a kidwich.  Despite our plans changing everyone had a great time!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

The West Texas and Southern New Mexico have had quite a bit of rain this past week.  As a result many critters have been out and about here in El Paso.  While in Silver City, New Mexico this past weekend we encountered several different types of bugs.   The kids had a blast discovering all of the new types of bugs and showing mom and Grammy.  Emma had a few moments of panic when told by the Ranger that the millipede we found was poisonous.  It however, was not and after much reassurance from Daddy,  we were able to calm her down.  When your new coloring book is used as a shovel to pick up a 6 inch long millipede you are bound to be a little squeamish.  Rest assured we did get a new coloring book, just to be sure.

Jack was awed and a little freaked out by these grasshoppers.  We were again, told falsely by the Ranger at City of Rocks State Park that these were locusts that had not developed wings.  They were very brightly colored, with blue or orange heads.  Most of them were between 3-4 inches long, and there were millions of them.  As we drove along the road with the windows rolled down you could hear them squish under the tires.  Piles of dead grasshoppers were being eaten by other grasshoppers, it was pretty disgusting.   I emailed the bug guy on Whatsthatbug.com and asked him to identify the bug as grasshopper or locust.  He assured us it was a plains lubber grasshopper, not a locust as we were told by the ranger.  See Marks fabulous picture at his website here.  It is a fascinating website if you need to find out what you have crawling around.  This picture and the others were all taken by Mark. 

This is a Hueco (pronounced Way-ko)  which form in rocky crevices all over the southwest.  The insects and some amphibians lay their eggs in the rock which survive the dry spells when the rains come the eggs develop.  We think these are tadpoles?  There are several very tiny toads in this park.  

Here is one on Mark's hand.

Jack and Emma also have become very fond of a large black ground beetle we see roaming EVERYWHERE (will post a picture asap).  They enjoy taunting the poor thing by trying to make it climb their sticks, or shoes or rocks.  They had many of the folks in Silver City in stitches watching them play with the bugs.  All in all it was a very buggy weekend and the kids LOVED it!!!

Ahchoo round 2

To catch everyone up,  Emma and Jack were sick.  (see Ahchoo)  Saturday the 23 Emma had croup and we spent saturday in the Dr's office. Yipee.  Both Jack and  Emma returned to school and then .....
(SNIFF, sniff, sniff...)  Surprising as this may sound Thursday morning Mark came down with a fever.  Just to make it fair, I took him to get a strep test (and a flu shot).  No strep!  YEAH!! However, he has a nasty cough and is allergic to most over the counter cough syrups. (yeah.) Mark was given a new cough medicine, which is unfortunately not working. (Cough, cough) Round the clock cold medicine and cough drops, as well as the occasional vitamin C and herbal tea (when I can coax him). His fever has subsided (thankfully) and we are improving ever so slowly.   Emma has been complaining of an ear ache since Saturday evening.  Since, we were out of town for the weekend, we have been treating it with decongestants and warm compresses.  No new, fevers so maybe it has cleared it's self up.  Time will tell.  Knock on wood, Jack is still well.  By the look in this picture I think Ginger is feeling a little ill...

John and I have been adamantly refusing to get sick.  Despite the scratchy throats and slight warmth we are feeling, we are NOT sick.  We are only empathizing with our children.  We don't have time to get sick.  period.