Wonderful Weekend

Princess Bride rides on Daddy's shoulders


The gang all decked out for Halloween



Luke models his toga


Spiderman Luke


Going for a swim


Maddie the dinosaur


Lily circles the drain

The kids got out of school 2 hours early Friday and we headed up to St. Louis. John is the Pit Crew leader for the Glendale marching band and they were competing in St. Louis on Saturday. Logan however would not be marching. The cross country coach and the band director got together and had to decide who needed him more. Cross country won out, much to Logan's delight, but that did not get John out of his duties. That was ok with me and the kids because it meant we got to hang out at a hotel all weekend and visit our friends the Mindens. We ordered in pizza Friday night and the Mindens came over to the hotel. That was where we got to meet the newest member of their family, Max. Stacy and Kevin and daughter Maddie just traveled to China in August to get Max who turned one in September. He is adorable. So tiny in body but bubbling with personality. He is very much a mamma's boy which is exciting for Stacy because that did not happen immediately with Maddie who took to Daddy much quicker. Max can already say some words in English and is quite the charmer. By the end of the evening he even let me tickle him and pick him up. Maddie joined the kids in the pool.
Saturday John had band duties from 11-3 so the kids and I hung out at the pool and just had fun, I even got them to take a nap to be well rested for Saturday night.
The Mindens stopped by at 5:30 and we followed them to a Chinese buffet. Everyone had plenty of food. Luke kept eating spicy shrimp, then sucked in large amounts of air saying how hot it was but going back for more.
We followed the Minden's to Grant's farm. Normally a large park with animals, this time of year it is decorated for Halloween Spooktacular. We took a chilly tram ride into the park. The kids got to feed goats bottles of warm milk. We walked around looking at all the decorations and finally made it to the square where they had a dj playing traditional scary music. I forgot to mention that our kids were all dressing up in costumes as well. Luke as Spiderman, Lily as a princess bride, Maddie was a dinosaur, and Max made an adorable Elmo. The kids were pretty worn out by the time it was over and so we said good-bye to the Mindens and headed back to the hotel. The kids had another round of swimming before leaving for Springfield the next morning. It was a great weekend.

All is well....

It has been a week of illness but now I think everyone is well at last. Luke is on antibiotics and while home with Luke on Wednesday I got a call from the school nurse that Lily was running a fever of 100.7 so I picked her up as well. That night her fever raged up to 104.7 and scared me. I was putting cold wash cloths on her head and she kept throwing them off. It was a long night but we got her into the doctor on Thursday and although they tested her for several things, they decided it was a virus of some sort and would just run it's course. Luckily her fever went down and she stayed home with Daddy on Thursday and returned to school on Friday. Now of course after managing to stay well the entire time, I have a sore throat. I am treating it with ziacam in the hopes that it will just fade away.
The kids brought home their kindergarten pictures Friday. It just amazes me how grown up they look but Lily still has the little Minnie mouse voice.
I think Lily and I will head down to Arkansas early in the morning to see my parents while my sister is visiting them. It will be a short visit but I don't get down there often enough with everything we have going.

Sick little boy

It was a quiet weekend and Sunday I took the kids to Sunday school as usual. Luke seemed fine. After lunch at McDonald's and play time in their play land we went home and took naps. Luke slept for two hours and woke up hot to the touch. I always worry when he has a fever since he did have a seizure last year with a fever. I gave him children's Tylenol and he was quiet and subdued, not his usual self at all. He did not eat any dinner but did drink Gatorade with electrolytes. I slept with him and we got up several times during the night. His fever continued. This morning we called the doctor at the moment they opened and of course the line was busy with other parents doing the same thing, making that Monday morning call of desperation hoping to get an appointment. We got an appointment for 10:30am. Although I thought he might have the flu, the doctor said there was crackling in his lower lungs indicating pneumonia. He has had this a couple of times since joining our family, always a loose cough and runny nose. We've been lying on the couch watching movies and just read a chapter in the Mouse and the Motorcycle. Now he is sleeping on the couch. Luke's personality does a complete 180 when he is sick, normally a laughing, energetic boy just ready to do something to aggravate his sister, when he is sick he is listless, sad, very clingy to Mommy. It makes my heart break to see him like this. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon to make him feel better. His fever is persistent and keeps returning after the fever reducer wears off.

Photos

Daddy is the leader of the band at the Moon Festival

Luke swings from the Monkey bars and makes it

Lanterns on parade!

Story time at the Moon Festival

Fuling Friends Jada and Lily at the Moon Festival

Lily gets a pony ride

Luke rides again at Campbell Farms

Luke's Scary Sucker!

The kids at Campbell Farm

Busy Weekend Recap

It turned out to be a very busy weekend. After the Saturday morning birthday party at Chuck E cheese there was the celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival at Chesterfield park. There were around 20-30 kids dressed in traditional Chinese attire. It was a pot luck and we brought Chinese dumplings. There was quite an assortment of food but Lily was much more interested in playing with friend Jada. Luke showed us that he has finally mastered the monkey bars all the way across! He was so proud he must have done it over 10 times to show us. The kids all gathered around to hear the story told about the woman in the moon and how she swallowed the pill of immortality too soon and ended up floating up to the moon. The kids all gathered their red lanterns and paraded around the park several times in the dark.
Sunday I woke up with my head spinning and the feeling that I had just gotten off the tea cups at Disney World. Don't know why but this hits me every once in awhile and it feels awful. I kind of laid around all morning. By afternoon I felt better so we all went to Campbell Farms about a 30 minute drive from here. Logan brought along his girlfriend Candace. The farm is a playground of activities, there is a 4 acre corn maze, a jumpy house, the train, a pony, a magic show, pumpkin painting and a ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkin,. It's not a cheap venture but the kids had a good time. Now they have had their baths and many stories and are finally asleep.

Play in a Day

School was out yesterday so the kids went to "Play in a Day" at the Springfield Little theatre. The kids spend the day pretending and singing and dancing so that when the parents picked them up at 5 the kids put on a show. They sang and danced to Zippity do da and then performed skits. Both of the kids seemed to enjoy the day but were pretty worn out.
This morning we were off to Chuck E Cheese to a birthday party for one of Luke's classmates. Lily came too since John was busy and they had a good time playing the games, eating pizza and running around. It is now my job to try and get them to lie down and take a nap. They both were playing well together but at some point Lily got mad and suddenly they were hitting and punching as only two siblings can do. Both ended up in tears and 5 minutes later Lily was fast asleep.
Tonight is the yearly Moon Festival, a Chinese tradition. I should have some photos to share tomorrow.