Looking for a Good Drink for New Year's Eve

This Ain't It

A created this recipe about 2 weeks ago (typed exactly as he wrote it).

Serves 5

5 packet dry powder hot chockolate

5 normal (hot) cups of milk

5 candy canes

5 packet pop rocks

5 pixie sticks

1. Mix 5 packets (dry hot choklate powder) with 5 cups of milk into 5 cups (1 packet per cup: 1 cup of milk per cup)

2. Dump one pixie stick powder into each cup. Do the same with pop rocks.

3. Add one unwrapped candy cane to each cup. Serve (carful may be hot!)

B didn't think to take photos of the creating and sampling process but apparently it's not as good as you might think.

I think we will stick with something more traditional for New Year's Eve

Apparently They Were Nice

Christmas Eve after church and dinner. On Christmas Eve we always open presents from the family so there were quite a few presents to open (especially from my parents- Thanks Mimi and Poppa) Here they are right before the opening began

Christmas morning- believe it or not this is about 9:00- they woke up around 8 and asked to watch TV while B put the cinnamon rolls in the oven. They actually wanted breakfast before presents (okay- there was some dissent about this but after a vote- breakfast it was)

Finally, they were ready to start tackling the pile of presents.

D got a "meow meow"- it purrs and meows and she is thrilled with it (and I figure it buys us some time before she starts asking for a real kitten)

X opening a game- I wasn't sure how excited he would be about it but they must have it at Latchkey because he was excited about having it at home too

I found the cutest baby dolls for the girls online (thanks to whoever posted the link in a forum I read) They are cute and hip- but not skanky like the Bratz dolls. But more important they are ethnically accurate and ADORABLE.

Checking out the gift cards that were in the bags of "coal" hanging on their stockings. I am pretty sure he is already doing the math to figure out how much he can buy with it

D gets her first gift cards. She was with me when I bought the gift cards and I picked a different card for each person. I got 3 really cute ones for each of the older kids and one for my cousin that had the Target dog on it. This is D really disappointed that she didn't get the doggy card. (This is probably a sign we spend way too much time at Target)

When I was a kid, we used to get to open our "big gift" from our parents on Christmas Eve. The theory was that it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle of all the Santa presents. We used to do that with the kids but now that there are four of them and we have presents from relatives that we open on Christmas Eve also, the "big" gifts were still getting lost in the shuffle. Plus opening it Christmas Eve eliminates some of the excitement and anticipation of the Christmas morning "did I get it??" So this year I wrapped the "big gift" for each of the boys (and one for each girl too) and hid them in my office. We opened all the presents and about the time A and X were trying to hide their disappointment that they didn't get the Nintendo DSi's that they had requested, B "found" a clue in A's stocking. It took the boys a second to figure out what was going on but next thing they knew they were on a scavenger hunt through the house following clues to find their presents. They loved it and I think a new tradition was born.

Reading the second clue

In the basement trying to figure out where they have to go next

Out in the garage finding one of the last clues

Getting ready to open his present

Happiness (and yes they did each get a DSi)

Santa is On His Way (but have we been naughty or nice?)

Some Santa photos while we wait for the big night

Of course, getting a group photo was too much to ask....

Tough Call- Disco or Hip Hop?

After playing all the different dances available for the the elves to do, it came down to a choice between Disco or Hip Hop.  I think I made the right choice.

Enjoy- and go elf-yourself too

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Photos Don't Begin to Show the Chaos

Of the annual Pajama Party.  We had 40 kids and about 30 adults over for the annual fun last weekend.  The kids raced through the house, decorated cookies and has a blast.  The party finally broke up about 5 hours after it started (which makes it a pretty good party in my book)  We had a great mix of old friends and some new friends.   I haven't even totally gotten everything put back where it belongs and the kids are planning for next year.

Belt Test Time

A tested and passed his junior blue belt test in Kung Fu and X passed his junior yellow belt. They both did great!!!

This is Much Better than Lighting Your Hair on Fire

K's birthday party. We had it at a local gym place. There were only a few kids there but it definitely was more fun than she had on her actual birthday.

It Only Comes Once a Year (thankfully)

The last day of school before winter break.  I need a break to recover from today- following an assembly with Santa (and presents), a visit from the high school band/choir (including 20 additional minutes of dancing at an impromptu concert the band did while waiting for their bus), an event with parents, books and cookies, and a tea party to celebrate the end of a successful Pennies for Peace campaign the little sugared up dears were on the bus home.  Which means if I can stay awake long enough it's time to finally update the blog- so here we go....

Home again

K was released on Thanksgiving night. She is doing much better although is still not totally 100% and is on 3 different kinds of medicine. They isolated it to a bacteria that actually causes many cases of bacterial meningitis so that is why they were being cautious and keeping her in isolation. By the time she was admitted she had the bacteria in her cheek and gum, her eyes, her ears and (most scary) in her blood. So it sounds like it could have been a lot more serious than it was. But barring a relapse, she is finishing up the last of the medications over the next day or so and then will have no adverse effects from this (other than her outrage that at home she doesn't get B's undivided attention or to do whatever she wants)

The Backstory

K had stayed home from school on Monday due to the birthday barf incident but according to B (who stayed home with her) she seemed mostly fine- not 100% but no fever, no vomiting, etc so we were planning to send her back to school on Tuesday.

(warning- this may be TMI for people with low gross tolerances) Tuesday morning I woke her up and she had thrown up in the night (but hadn't cried), her nose was oozing a lovely green snot and her eyes were crusted shut. She was to put it mildly a hot mess so I started cleaning her up thinking she had pink eye- but her eyes were fine once I got them opened. So then I put her in the tub to wash her hair (since she smelled less than pleasant) She clearly wasn't going to school so B was going to take her to walk in hours at the pediatrician, thinking she had an ear infection and sinus infection. He goes to the doc- I take the boys to school and go to work.

About an hour later B calls and says her face is swollen on one side and the docs think it is an infection related to the HiB virus (which can be deadly) and that she needs to be seen in the ER, although it is not an emergency at this point. They expected the ER to admit her after she got there. B takes D to school (she is with him too at this point) and then drives K to the ER of Really Good Children's Hospital. She is seen by lots of folks and they think that it is not HiB (which is good) but a localized infection in her gum resulting from a tooth that came through and got infected. At this point she has no fever so they send her home with meds (the photos from the last entry are actually from when they got home from the ER-sorry)

Around 3:00, B notices she is laying on the floor like a lump and he takes her temperature and it is 103. He calls the ER, they tell him to bring her in and by the time they get there her temp is off their thermometer-so around 105. At that point they decide to admit her for IV antibiotics.

Today they have narrowed it down to couple of strains of bacteria so they have switched to a more targeted antibiotic and are running more screens to isolate the specific bacteria so they can send her home with a tailored antibiotic program. At this point, her gum, cheek, eyes and ears were all infected and (on a possibly unrelated note at least one tube in her ear probably needs replaced) so it is probably good they admitted her. She is in isolation though- B isn't allowed to take her out of the room and everyone coming in has to wear masks and isolation gowns. However, it seems it is more to protect the other kids- the consensus it if you are healthy she poses no risk but they don't want to chance one of the other babies getting it.

I was there for a little bit this afternoon. She is still swollen but is interacting some. They came to replace the IV and do a blood draw and she made the IV team sweat- it took 4 of us to hold her for the blood draw so she still has some fight in her. Afterwards she took a brief nap while I held her. She woke up alert and ready to play some with the Elmo balloon I brought her. When I left she was throwing it in the air and following it around the room. So it seems she is on the mend.

Right now the thought is they will discharge her tomorrow night, but we won't be surprised if they keep her till Friday . It all depends on how she is doing tomorrow.

Hopefully B will email me the photos he took and I can get them posted (hint hint- I know you are reading this)

This Can't be Good

This is what KW's face looked like on Tuesday morning within an hour of getting up- when she woke up it was not anything like that.  After all the pediatricians in the practice consulted with each other (and it's never good when ever doc in the practice comes in to take a look) they recommended  trip to the ER.   I will post the whole story when I get home but she is been hospitalized for IV antibiotics for a bacterial infection so any good thoughts or prayers would be most welcome

A less than Happy Birthday

Sunday was K's second birthday and I think if she has any more like this one she will stop having birthdays long before she reaches 29 (again)

We were out of town for the weekend so I hadn't made her a cake (although we were at my mom and dad's and my mom made her a cake on Saturday) but I figured since she doesn't really like cake anyway I would make pudding with dinner because she LOVES pudding. We sit down to dinner and she doesn't really eat but seemed interested in the pudding. I put two candles in it and set it down in front of her. We all begin to sing Happy Birthday when she lets out the huge wail and throws her head forward-

Right onto the lit candles!

Luckily, we all jumped to grab her so she singed the front so other than being freaked out when we all jumped she was fine.

We got her briefly interested in presents but her brothers and sister were far more excited about her presents than she was.

After presents she was also very tired so we put her to bed early only to have D announce that "mimi (baby) barf" Poor K was throwing up everywhere.

It's hard to be two.

Happy Birthday sweet girl and on the day of your birth, we specifically remember your birthfamily and how thankful we are to them that you are in our lives.

I was going to call this post

"A whole bunch of stuff all at once so that I don't feel guilty I haven't had time to update the blog right after these events happened"

but instead I think I'll just call it

Fall Fun

X is searching for the perfect apple.

A gets a boost into the tree from B and tries to hide from the camera

I don't care if it is a big as my head- I can too eat this apple!

D takes a journey into the pumpkin field.

Yet another attempt at a group photo. B had to hold K since she wasn't in her "photo happy place" (in other words she was screaming bloody murder about something)

Scooping out the pumpkin guts

Love the expression on her face

The finished products on Beggar's night

And finally- the answer to that question asked since time began.

"So what'cha you gonna be for Halloween?"

Luke Skywalker (with the right color light saber this year- apparently I purchased the "bad guy" color last time- they should really make that clear on the packaging)

Making a return engagement for the second year in a row- a "meow meow" (should I be worried that the costume still might fit again next year too?)

My personal favorite costume of all time (that D wore 2 years ago)- the Elephant. (and I am saving it on the very very very small chance there will be another toddler here to wear it because yes it is THAT cute)

And once again the biggest debate about choosing a costume award goes to Buzz Lightyear who won a narrow victory over Bakugan. I was personally so glad he didn't chose Bakugan that I happily purchased the gloves and wings (both sold separately of course)

A halfway decent group photo (the threat of missing trick or treat is surprisingly motivating)

Candy here I come!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm getting the hang of this now

Yeah that's my candy.

Who needs dinner when you have a stash of candy

Waving goodbye to Mommy who actually had to give a midterm that night (sorry again to any of my students who might be reading this)