The September Update (LATE!)

September flew by and I never got a chance to blog about all of our adventures! It was a crazy busy month filled with lots of fun, friends and family. We had a little sickness scare and are still taking some meds. Bear with me as I recap September in 1 post. :)

Well we started September out going to a birthday party at a splashpad and spending Labor Day at the Killeen Water park. Ian loves it there. We were glad to spend one last day there before it closed for the season. We look forward to going again next year.

We spent many mornings meeting up with our friends Jennifier, Jordyn, and Ava at the park so that we could exercise and play before going to work or completing our daily tasks. The weather was still pretty warm so the earlier mornings were the best times. We really need to get back to that so that we continue to do healthy activities that include exercise outside.

On the 14th, we met our friends Katie, Tommy and Tiffany at the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor University campus in Waco, TX for some hands on learning fun. I can't rave enough about this place! Aaron and Ian both loved it! We have been to the Children's Museum in Austin, but I actually think the Mayborn is better for my kids. Aaron is able to run around without being cooped up in the stroller and there are things that are appropriate for him to do in most of the rooms. Ian and Tommy had so much fun! They race water boats, played recording studio, had tea, dressed up in clothes from countries around the world, played pioneer, looked at fish and other animals, and any number of other things that I can't even list. It really is a fantastic place and military families get in for dirt cheap prices! We will definitely be making more trips to Waco!

Here is a picture of Aaron playing in the tea room. LOL


We went to another birthday party on the 17th at the Main Food Court on Ft Hood for 2 of our friends. That was loads of fun and Ian and Aaron enjoyed pizza and cake and playing with their friends.

We hosted a playdate here on the 21st. It was an All About Animals Craft playdate. The kids really enjoyed it and it was really fun to have everyone over. The kids made animal finger puppets and bookmarks and the biggest hit was definitely the animal balloons. I think the adults were as amused as the kids at the balloons. One of them deflated and it looked like road kill. Of course the poor kids whose balloons didn't make it had a hard time with the outcome, but we had some extras to send home with them to make new ones!



The evening after the playdate, Aaron came down with croup. We felt horrible that we had exposed our friends to this nastiness. Aaron had a terrible night. He was struggling to breath. I watched him closely all night and got Ian up for school the next day and decided Aaron needed an emergency trip to the doctor after dropping Ian off. We got to the doctor's office and Aaron's pulse ox was only 84 which is extremely low. The doctor wanted to send us straight to the hospital for admission, but he knows me pretty well (since I work as a pharmacist) and also knows that my husband is deployed. He agreed to let me give Aaron an albuterol nebulizer treatment in his office. It didn't help immediately, but we were able to get his pulse ox up to 92 in office and were sent home with oral steroid treatments. We thank God for our wonderful doctor!

The 24th Grandma Paula came for a visit. We were excited to see her since we hadn't seen her since Christmas. Ian and Aaron warmed right back up to her and we had loads of fun while she was here. We made a trip to Waco on Friday. We spent the entire day there. First we went to the Mayborn Museum again since that seemed to be Ian's favorite thing that we mentioned we would do. It was just as much fun the 2nd time as it was the first.

We lunched at Wendy's and decided to head over to the Cameron Park Zoo for an afternoon of fun. It was great weather and the boys both enjoyed the outdoors and fresh air. We really liked the new orangutan exhibit, but Ian's favorites this time were the giraffes. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but it was worth it!

Saturday morning we slept in and in the evening my mom and I went to see The Producers at VLA. It was great! My friend Liz was one of the "old ladies" and she was awesome and hilarious! We really enjoyed the show and it was great to spend some time with my mom.
Sunday we went to church and then to Cheddar's for lunch. Cheddar's is one of those great places that I loved to eat at in college in Indianapolis, but it burned down my sophomore year. When I saw that we had one in Killeen, I was so happy! The chicken fingers are the best!
My mom had to leave on Monday and I was sad to see her go, but we will see her next month in Florida. She and my dad are flying down to meet us in Orlando.

The boys have continued to run low grade fevers and have goopy eyes and snotty noses so I decided to take them back out to see Dr Ricky. He says they are allergic to Texas! I guess the allergy symptoms are bigger here, too. Both boys are now on Zyrtec and Pataday eye drops and hopefully this will keep the worst of the symptoms away.

I have been working a lot lately and it's been exhausting. Flu shot clinics through the month of September have run into October and it doesn't appear that the flu/cough cold season is going to be mild this year. It seems like everyone is sick. I pray for my family's health since I am the sole caregiver right now and I can't afford to be super sick all the time.

Looking forward we have many plans for October. The boys are super excited about their Halloween costumes and we are all especially looking forward to Bill coming home for R&R around the 27th. My birthday is the 28th and we are most certain he will make it home for that. Then we will all be going to Florida to our timeshare and will be visiting Bill's family, too. Ian will celebrate his 4th birthday at Disney World. How fun is that!!

In the meantime, enjoy our Halloween preview and please keep stay well! Please wash your hands at every opportunity. That is the best way to ward off the germies!

Peter Pan:

Captain Hook:

(Ian decided he was going to be Captain Hook on Nov 1st last year! And "baby brother" is Peter Pan because he is so cute!)

Keeping Promises

As a mother I find that I am often posed with having to give ultimatums, demands, bribes, and anything else you can think of to elicit good behavior from my almost 4 year old. I find that it works for the most part, but that you have to be willing to keep your word no matter how you really feel about something. You might actually have to leave that playdate where you were enjoying the conversation or box up a meal at a restaurant and eat it at home because you told your child that you would leave it he did that "one more time." Yes, we've all been there. No this is not rocket science.

Well the flip side of this also holds true. If I promise a reward for doing something, I intend to keep my word. Empty promises really aren't any good and I want my child to know that I mean what I say no matter if it's a punishment or a reward. I also want my child to trust me. If Mommy says she is coming back, then mommy is definitely coming back. I find that military kids hold these words so very closely and I hope I never shatter a promise that my kid has held so dearly.

Well, a week ago Ian was promised the water park with the water slides. When we got there it was closed. We were all disappointed. I was bummed. Ian was bummed. He kept telling me he was sorry. Every day on the way to school he would see those all so close yet so far away water slides and remind me how sad we were. Well I wanted to remedy this. I wanted to be able keep my promise and to help rid us of the disappointment. We were able to do that on Sunday afternoon!

We went to the Lions Club Park Water Park. Boy did Ian have fun! It's a really cute facility and the kids area was nice. It was about 12 inches deep and equipped with 3 waterslides and some ropes to swing on. Ian was able to swim around without me having much fear for him. Now I did keep close watch, but I didn't have to be an arms length from him and could concentrate my major efforts on Aaron.

A Boy's Best Friend

Ian has been all about Wishbone lately. I actually loved Wishbone when he first debuted on PBS back when I was in college (or thereabouts). His show is excellent because it encourages the reading of classic literature and puts a modern twist on the story as a parallel storyline. (Reruns air on a lot of the local PBS channels. Check your local listing.) I pined for a Jack Russell Terrier of my own to teach tricks and my parents actually humored me and bought me my very first puppy that was all my own during my rotations for pharmacy school. Her name is Izzy and she's been my dog for the past 12 years. Izzy is getting up there in years and is not too fond of young kids. She looks like a puppy, but really is a geriatric. (If only I could look so good at such an old age. ha!) Ian and Aaron would both love to get ahold of her, but she will have nothing to do with it. But I digress...


My grandmother bought me this toy Wishbone as a gift several years ago. She knew that I would enjoy him even though I was too old for stuffed animals and he's quite a fun stuffed toy. He has several push buttons and he says sayings from the show if you push his ear, his tail, his back, his nose or his paw. I found him when I was cleaning out a few things in the garage the other day and his batteries still work. I brought him in and he's been Ian's constant companion ever since. My grandmother never got to meet my Ian. She passed in April of the year that Ian was born in November. I know my grandma would love my boys and would find a lot of joy knowing that something she purchased for me is being enjoyed this many years later by a great-grandchild of hers.

First Day of School 2009

Ian has been so excited to go to school. He had been missing school since we moved to Texas. When we moved here there were no spots left in the preschool classes at the schools that I would consider putting him in so he sat out for a semester. When I asked him if he was ready to go back to school, I got an emphatic YES!

We got up and did our morning routine. I had to prod Ian to eat his breakfast, but he managed to eat most of it. We got dressed and then took some photos to remember the first day of MDO-3.



He was super excited about his dinosaur "munch bag" and backpack.




Then, of course, we had to get Aaron in a couple of photos:





And then in the hallway before school started:






Ian went in like he was right at home. He did ask for a hug and a kiss, but then didn't look back once. He went right in to play with the 2 children that were already there.

Aaron and I were able to get so much done while Ian was gone. We did some grocery shopping. I managed to get the kitchen floors vacuumed and mopped. I also vacuumed the rest of the house and relaxed a bit before lunch.

We went back to pick Ian up at 2:30pm. The teacher said he had been very good. He was filthy and told me that he had fun. He learned that God created the world, colored some pictures, played on the playground, and played games. He seemed to like the pedal go round out on the playground and told me what the rules were: "No running. No splashing. No running." I assume the splashing was in the sink. :) He proudly brought his folder home. He was pretty wiped out and took a 2 hour nap!



Mr Dirty, Happy, Post School Face:


(and just for comparison, here is the boys pictures from last year's first day of school! I can't believe how much they both have grown.)

Last Day of "Summer!"

Well today was supposed to be the "last day of summer" for Ian and it's been a total "bummer." We were supposed to go to the new waterpark here in Killeen and we were under the impression it was open during the week until Labor Day, but we were misinformed. So an irritated mommy took home a very disappointed 3 year old who kept saying he was sorry. Poor little dude. Even the splash parks were closed until school let out.

Ian starts preschool tomorrow. He's excited. He was so sad when he couldn't go back to school when we PCS'd here over the holiday break. He missed school and the kids so much. We tried to make up for it in other ways, but it just wasn't the same. We went to meet the teacher last Thursday and he went right in and started playing with his new friends. There are 11 in his class. Ian is one of the older kids in his class so I told him he'll have to help be an example to the younger boys and girls.

Here's our "last day of summer bummer" photos. The boys are in their dry swim attire. I'll post another entry tomorrow after school. Until then... TOODLES!

New Camera!

So you have to look at pictures because I had to try it out!!
And even though my pictures may not be all that great, my subjects are pretty darn cute don't you think? :)











(I think they are plotting their escape!)

Alice in Wonderland, Jr

Ian and I purchased tickets to go see the Children's Theater production of Alice in Wonderland, Jr at the Vive Les Arts Center today. Ian and I were both incredibly excited and we were not disappointed!! The kids were all fantastic! We were pretty partial to the parts of the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and Lily of the Golden Afternoon Girls since they happened to be played by the daughters of a friend. They should all be proud of their performances! Ian sat on the edge of his seat mesmerized by the whole thing. I had to shake him out of a daze for intermission and a snack and when we went back for the 2nd Act he was instantly right back watching intensely. When the show ended and it was time to go, Ian said, "Mommy, play it again please!" So cute!

We went out to meet and greet the actors and got to really meet Knitter's girls: Guitargirl, Miss Kaboom and Miss Creativity! They are all 3 very wonderful young women and were so nice to Ian. He kept jumping up and down so giddy to actually meet the characters from the show. I snapped a several pictures from our day and hope you bear with me since I am going to post them all! (And I hope Knitter is okay with me posting the pics of her girls, but you have to see their beautiful faces in their costumes. Unfortunately, Miss Creativity snuck off before we got a chance to capture her picture.)

Here Ian and I are ready for the show! Look how excited he is!


Outside the theater:


And then waiting in the lobby with our tickets. Forgive the grainy pics from my iPhone.

Finally in his seat! Look at the anticipation!


And then after the show!
The Queen of Hearts (aka Guitargirl) and Ian



The Mad Hatter (aka Miss Kaboom) and Ian

Knitter and Ian


And then all of them minus Miss Creativity who I never caught on camera.



Bravo, Girls! We really enjoyed you and your fellow actors and hope to catch you in an upcoming show soon!