Fall, flu, and fun

Well, in the midst of sickness, we managed to get outside and rake up a few leaves. The kids had fun trying to help rake, but mostly jumping in and throwing the leaves.
Drake started running a fever Thursday morning and it continued Friday and climbed to 103* so we made a quick trip to the doctor's office. They swabbed him for flu, but it was negative so it's just a virus and has to run its course. Well, Saturday morning he was still running about 100* but by the afternoon he was feeling much better and hasn't run a fever since. All day Saturday, Hadley kept telling me she was cold. Just before bed I checked her temp and she had 100*. So, it starts again. It's now Wednesday and Hadley (I think) is finally getting over it. She continued to run 100*-102* up until last night. This morning when she first woke up it was still 100* but now is only about 99.4*, so we're moving in the right direction. After her nap will be the test, since it seems to spike everyday in the afternoon. So, needless to say, our plans for the week have been contained to mostly sitting on the couch. Hadley really only complained the whole time about being cold and wanted me either holding her or holding her hand while she was wrapped up in blankets. I haven't seen her sit so quietly for a long time. This morning she was back to pretending in the bathtub, so that's a good sign. She had Drake's dinosaurs and we had a long role play with the daddy, mommy and baby dinosaur. It went something like this:

H (baby dinosaur): Hi mommy dinosaur.
me (mommy dinosaur): Hi baby dinosaur
H: do you want some chicken, it's here on my tail.
me: yes, thank you (gobbling up the chicken on her tail)
H: Mommy dinosaur, do you want to go to a restaurant?
me: that would be great
H: okay, let's go (pretend walking on the side of the tub)
H: here's some apples, broccoli, chicken, they're on my tail.
me: (pretending to eat the food)
H: NO, not there, here!

Apparently, I was not pretending to eat the pretend food on the correct place on her tail. I like playing pretend and all, but man, she's bossy. I'm hoping that at least means she's getting back to her old self, with some additional snot explosion sneezes. We're supposed to be heading south tomorrow to visit my sister and family, so hopefully we really are on the mend. Can't wait to post pics of the kids all dressed up for Halloween!

Great Date

Have I mentioned lately how proud I am of Drake with school? He is doing so much better than I had anticipated. I think a lot of that has to do with having a great teacher who is very structured, which is just what he thrives on. She is also great at transitioning, another VERY important thing for him. It has made life at home so great as well. He has handled almost everything better since starting school. My little boy is growing up so much.
Tonight, he and I went on a date to Starbucks (thanks to a gift card!). He decided he wanted his own decaf caramel latte, a boy after my own heart. He and I had a very civilized evening sipping our lattes, reading his library book, going over his poetry from the week and talking about some of his favorite things at school. I also shared with him how proud I am of him for doing such a great job at school. I saw his dimples shine through many times throughout the date. Dates with her son, does a mother's heart good.

We've come a l o n g way, baby.

our little animals

This is what we came home to last night...

Gabe and I went over to some friends' house for dinner last night. (Which was amazingly delicious, by the way.) We each took part in bringing part of the meal which consisted of strawberry spinach salad with a raspberry poppyseed dressing, homemade rolls, green beans with sliced almonds, garlic mashed potatoes and steak topped with a yummy shiitake mushroom garlic sauce followed by dessert of chocolate pie and cheesecake. All of this accompanied with laughter, fun and friendship made for one great night.

Okay, back to the kids, Uncle Eric and Aunt Sarah came to watch the kids for us and took them to the YMCA family FREE night. They got to swim and get their faces painted. Hadley was our little kitty and Drake was a saber-toothed tiger. I know the kids loved being able to spend some time in the water since the frigid temperatures here no longer allow for any sort of outside swimming time.

So, I think everyone had a great night. We're so blessed with great family.

the Great pumpkin patch

Finally, a day where we were all together. That has been a rarity around here for several weeks now. So, we decided to head to The Great Pumpkin Patch and take in the beautiful fall colors. It was so nice to get away, just the four of us. We decided to break up the trip by heading over on Sunday evening and stayed with some friends so we only had about a 20 minute drive this morning. The kids had fun picking out a few small pumpkins and gourds to bring home and we all enjoyed the beautiful things to see. We snapped lots of pictures on this chilly morning and out of the hundred that we took we actually got a few with the kids looking and smiling. They're pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

Happy Birthday Grammy

We hope you're having a great day in Tennessee Grammy!

Toy Story Marathon

We decided to do something fun and maybe a little adventurous (with a 2 year old that is!). We picked up Drake from school and headed to the 3D, double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The movie started at 3:45 and we didn't get out of there until about 7:15! The kids did awesome though! We had packed a few treats to take in with us, including Toy Story fruit snacks, and then splurged on some popcorn and drinks which we were able to get free refills on at the intermission. Drake loved watching it with the 3D glasses on and sat incredibly well for 3+ hours! Hadley did so great for being only 2, although she wasn't so fond of the glasses. She switched seats a couple of times between my lap, her own seat and Gabe's lap, but only talked a few times when she was asking questions about the movie. ( I took my camera to the theatre, only to realize that the memory card was not in it, so you'll have to settle with a pic from when we got home with the Toy Story fruit snacks.)