and tomorrow brings....

the suspicion that what D had was H1N1. (which probably means that is what X had as well) Although I guess finding out you might have it after you are done having it makes it no big deal. Everyone seems to be on the mend, we have been told no one is contagious and if we could get D back to a decent sleep schedule life would be back to our normal total chaos.

They May Look Like Cute Kids but

I think they are really walking Bio-Hazards.

Two weeks go K starting with the 24 hour fever thing that became a snotty cough thing, the a couple of days later X had a 3 day fever thing that knocked him out pretty good- he still has the hoarse cough thing going on. Then of course B got in on the act and had a fever for 2 days, then D had a two day fever, chronic cough thing. This week both K and D had fevers again by the time I picked them up at day care on Monday. They both stay home on Tuesday. On Wednesday send K back since she seems fine. Comes home after school with a nasty oozing ear infection so off to the urgent care and now she has a fever again. This morning D was off to the pediatrician to find out she has a "little pneumonia" but to bring her back in 3 days if her fever isn't gone. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings......

Happy 2002!!!

Although Ethiopian New Year was actually on September 11th, our local Ethiopian Community group held the celebration today. The Ethiopian calendar is actually 7 years behind the Gregorian calendar so it is now 2002 by the Ethiopian calendar. K actually has two birthdays- one listed in the Gregorian calendar and one in the Ethiopian calendar. So in a way, both A and K were born in the year 2000.

And in case you are wondering- total time the kids wore the white clothes before one of them got them dirty- just under 2 hours (which is a lot longer than I would have ever guessed)

Here are photos of the kids at the Enkutatash celebration.

Facepainting- D is her current favorite animal- a "meow meow" (this facepaint has alot to do with the shirts getting dirty)

Playing with balloons with our cousin Emily- can life get better than this??

Enjoying some yummy Ethiopian food (okay if you look at their plates some of them are enjoying it more than others) but they had a cabbage dish that A really likes- which he was happy about

A played his DS while the little kids found balloons to play with.

(contact me if you'd like the contact info for the photographer who took these photos)

Fishing in the Rain

They were not about to let a little rain stop them from fishing at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Of course, first you have to get some worms

Then off the to pond where the drizzle turned into actual rain (not that the kids cared at all)

They did catch a few fish.  The bigger miracle is that none of the kids (or adults) got hooked.  Casting is a skill best left to kids older than 5.

Talking about Race and Racism

I thought I had posted this a while ago but in going through my post list it is showing up as never being posted so here it is now (and I apologize if it was posted earlier) 

Talking about race and racism won't make your preschooler a racist.  In fact, it will make them much more likely to be open and accepting of difference.  Research has shown that children understand more about race then we adults ever imagined them understanding and they learn quickly what isn't "okay" to talk about.  Newsweek actually had a really great article about young children and race.  Well worth the time it takes to read it.  Several other websites also had good reactions

http://www.newsweek.com/id/214989/page/1 

http://resistracism.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/a-surprise-to-white-people/ 

http://harlowmonkey.typepad.com/

Get Ready to Wiggle

As many of you know each of my kids has some sort of special need and several of them have been (or currently are) involved with our local Easter Seals. (Fabulous agency by the way) Well someone there knows someone who does the PR for the Wiggles and they decided to have a

"meet and greet" before their show and our family was one of the ones chosen to meet the Wiggles. It was quite the experience. Unfortunately, due to timing, there wasn't alot of meeting or greeting that happened. We briefly (and I mean briefly) talked to the guys while posing for photos, and then off they went. I wish I had been able to get a photo of D's face when they came in though- it was priceless!!!! K was intrigued by the whole thing- until, that is, it was time to sit down for the photos.

And luckily, the meet and greet included tickets to the show at 3:30. I had purchased tickets months ago for the 6:30 show and K, about 6 weeks ago, found the box of tickets and was carrying them around with her. I thought I had found them all (not just Wiggles tickets, but several other tickets as well) I looked everywhere for our tickets, in order to give them away- but they were no where to be found. I am pretty sure where they are though... If only I had checked EVERY trash can in the house since K is also going through a "throw it in the trash" phase.

Enjoying the show