My idea of Halloween

To me, Halloween is all about fantasy- not scary, gory, etc. This Halloween I wanted my boys to all match. I thought of the three musketeers. They didn't like that idea at all because "we don't want those kind of swords!" I guess "those kind of swords" are not cool at all. So instead they became three knights. This is the costume I came up with. I love sweatsuit costumes. They make for easy costumes that are also warm enough when we go out trick-0r-treating. My sewing teacher from Colorado would be proud. I came up with the idea on my own, used t-shirts for the pattern and even remember to include a yolk.
Emma decided early that she wanted to be a candy corn. I bought an orange shirt, went through an entire can of white spray paint to change her black witches hat to white and then still had to use acrylic paint to even make it look white, and made a yellow skirt. She looked like a colorful witch instead, but she was OK with that. I didn't get a picture of her the night of the Ward Halloween party, because my batteries in my camera went dead. Picture to follow soon!
For this year, we did our trunk or treat inside- which was a good thing, since it was raining outside. People signed up to decorate a room and hand out candy there. Only 11 people signed up to decorate, but more handed out candy at other places. We signed up for a room. Again, I don't believe in scary Halloweens and I had to run to work as soon as I could get away from the party, which meant I came as a nurse, which meant our room had to reflect that. So I came up with the Doctor Doolittle room. I had all kinds of stuffed animals bandaged up and a bunch of my nursing stuff out. Mr. Bones held the candy for me. We found him at JoAnne's for 60% off. We didn't win the best room prize at the end, but they made another category, because they said mine was the most creative and they just had to give us a prize! Everyone elses was either scary or fall time themed.
I was very late for work and work was crazy! I had to send out a child who had a bleed in his brain and I had to help intubate my violent drunk guy so we could stitch up his face! There was a 7 hour wait in the lobby, but we had a good time. I love the night crew that I work with!

A Pumpkining We Will Go

A day at the pumpkin patch always makes for some fun and some great fall pictures. We went along with Joseph's class, but really didn't stay with them, since they were traveling at breakneck speed trying to do everything before leaving. My friend Carma and her beautiful little girls came along and so did our little friend Z man. The kids loved the slide through the hill, the pumpkin picking and the tractors! It was a beautiful day!

Joseph's Soup

Joseph one day decided to come up with dinner. This is his soup recipe. He was very excited to have it and it really turned out pretty good. He took some to his teacher the next day as a present. I used this recipe. It was made for just one to two people, so I times it by 4. I did way too much chicken broth, though, because 4x still didn't look like enough. 8 cups would have been fine, though. I put in 12 and then I only used 3 1/2 cups of cheese and three cups of milk- mostly because that was all that would fit into my pot! It made it less creamy and more healthy anyway. I also didn't have a clove of garlic, so I just used garlic powder and dried onions. We put carrots in and regular corn instead of cream corn, so really it was Joseph's recipe. Why don't you try some of Joseph's soup today. It's yummy!

ABC DC

We made it another Adventure Sunday. We made it all the way to DC this time and found a place we hadn't seen yet- The Teddy Roosevelt Island. I was trying to capture the sparkeling on the Potomac. You can see the lights, but it's not the same as the diamond like sparkeling that was so amazing!
I loved President Roosevelt's quotes and the beauty and calm of the island. Here are some of the quotes I liked. Alike for the Nation as well as the individual, the one indispensable requirement is Character. A man's usefulness depends upon his living up to his ideals
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Be Practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.
Here are some more letters we found. X and our own silly version of X A C shrub Sam finds a Y
I am really enjoying these journeys. It was fun to come home and find out how Theodore and FDR were related and what each were famous for after the trip, too! Here is to great inspiration and learning!!

I've got THE VIRUS!

The other day, I had in my ER two candidates for Mensa. The one with the mask on, which by the way was not the patient, promptly told me that she was diagnosed on Wednesday with a viral infection. Her boyfriend obviously was suffering with the same thing (surprise, surprise), but since he had a history of asthma he was given a few prescriptions to take home and diagnosed with Sinusitis and Bronchitis. She looked right at him and said, "All you have is Sinusitis. I have got THE VIRUS!" He reminded her that he also had Bronchitis, but this just didn't seem to add up to equal her "VIRUS!" in her eyes. I really had to hold my tongue hard not to tell them that they both should definitely not have children until they got a brain between the two of them! "Dear, you do realize that means you have a cold, right?" Obviously, she didn't know and obviously they wanted to share, because this week I have THE VIRUS! It has knocked me down. I took Zicam, which made me severely nauseous and did a lot of resting! Today was the first day I felt like I could get up and get something done- so I went shopping! I usually don't enjoy shopping, but sometimes a body just has to get out. I got a package off to my sister, changed Emma's soccer ball for a size 5 (much cuter than the size 4 anyway!), and went to the library. I also bought myself a treat, since I am not weighing myself or exercising this week! It wasn't quite as good as I remembered!
The good thing about being forced to take it easy- I finished two books. I read Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief (It was Ok.), and Unexplained Mysteries of World War II. I really enjoyed this one. If you like history you'll enjoy the different stories. There is one where a man is trying to leave Germany, but is forced to land and make repairs to his airplane. While he is in Germany, a man bumps into him and tries to explain that the Gestapo is after him. The man hides him and then flies him out of Germany with him. Later he is fighting for the Polish and then the British against the Germans and is hit. He makes it back to land, but his head was hit so bad they don't think they can save him. Later he wakes to see the man he has saved. He was a Jewish brain surgeon and has saved his life. There is also a story about an advertisement that is put in the paper right before the Pearl Harbor attacks that really looks like a warning to potential spies about the impending attack.
Today against my cheaper side's nagging I went and bought Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol. I am on Chapter 6 already. Too bad THE VIRUS is almost gone and I have to go back to my normal busy life!

Double Knife Boy gets it in the End!

Joseph, from the time he could walk would grab knives out of the dishwasher and pretend to fight with them. He always had to be carrying two around. We called him Double Knife boy. Mom had to be extra vigilant to keep the steak knives away and only allow him butter knives.We were flirting with disaster to get this quick picture. Even so, women looked at me like I was crazy, allowing my child to walk around with butter knives. He has long since gotten over this and only fights with swords, now! But the other day he finally got it in the end! Literally!

Mom had opened up the dishwasher and pulled out the bottom drawer for the kids to put the dishes away. Joseph scooted a stool next to the dishwasher to get up and get a cup (instead of using one of the clean ones in the dishwasher.) Somehow he slipped and fell, impaling himself on two knives! During our entire ER stay and even later at home, Robert argued with me about how I shouldn't have pulled out the knives. He is a very by the book First Aid kind of guy and I apparently am the worst ER nurse known to man! Why is it that we never trust the ones we know the best? Anyway, after looking at the wound, I knew I had to bring him in and get about 3 stitches. That is indeed how many he got. The one knife was barely in his skin, but the other went an inch deep. They were afraid he may bleed too much internally so we had to check him several times that night.
Before I left I grabbed a whole bag of stuff and called Rob to tell him we were on our way up to base. He called about 20 minutes later wondering where I was. I had just left, because it takes a while to get together entertainment, treats, and fix ones hair in preparation for an ER visit. I am no dummy. I know what ER waits are like. Much to my amazement we were the only ones in the waiting room when we arrived and they got us right back and had him sewn up in no time. He enjoyed being able to play his gameboy on a school night, but didn't like the whole numbing process, too much. Loved the green Popsicle they gave him afterward, but not trying to walk. Tried to get out of school today, but Mom would have none of it. He made me promise to tell the teacher not to tell anyone he had stitches in his rear-end. Of all the places he could have been impaled, I am so thankful we were blessed with that spot! Anywhere else and it could have had some serious consequences! He really is quite the trooper!
And so ends the saga of Double Knife boy, who got it in the end! One regret- we didn't leave the knives in place long enough to get a proper picture! Hee hee!

It has begun!

Soccer season has started! This year Emma is the only one playing. We decided we definitely needed some more family time, so the boys were taken out of everything except piano lessons, much to Sam's consternation. Emma needs to continue to play if she is going to try out for a school team next year, though. She scored her first goal of the season and did some fancy footwork that even her Dad was impressed with! It was so nice to be done after that and then get to take a nap. After a nap we went biking as a family- Ok, the kids biked (Emma dragging the trailer with Max riding.) Mom and Dad ran the 6 miles. On the way back a fire truck came screaming down the street, scaring me. I watched it, but couldn't see if it turned into the school were we were headed or continued straight. Pretty soon Rob was saying, "you've increased the pace!" I wanted to make sure Joe hadn't gone out of control and gotten hit by a car. As we crested the hill we saw all the kids, safe and the firetruck in the school parking lot. The school alarm had gone off. I was so glad it wasn't our children!!