Hypochondriac who hates buttermilk!

My little Will has become quite the hypochondriac lately. Any time he bumps into anything, or falls down (which is a lot for a child with mild cerebral palsy), he assures us that he is hurt "weally weally" bad--and needs some sort of medical attention. Sometimes he demands medicine, and other times it is just a bandaid. We are trying really hard to toughen him up!

Funny thing........If he gets in trouble, or is uncomfortable in a situation, Will has 1 of 2 reactions:
#1: "My bug bite hurts, I need medicine!"
#2: "I can't like buttermilk!" -- He's never had it, but he assures me quite often he doesn't like it...........but he only talks about it when he's in trouble or in distress. Wierd, huh?

Quiet Weekend

Everyone is finally feeling well at the Thomas house. Thank goodness! We had a pretty low key weekend, where we did absolutely nothing! We stayed in our pajamas all weekend and just played. It was nice to just relax and hang out. I just finished ironing all the kids clothes for the week, and am gearing up for a busy week. The story of our lives!

Caroline is having a tea party.
The boys are obsessed with getting in these toy tubs. They empty all the toys out so they can take turns "living in their homes"

New meaning to the phrase "Jack in the box" :)

OH CROUP!

So I'm starting to feel better, and return to work on Tues. Monday night, out of the blue, Jack starts barking like a seal--and was having difficulty breathing. Tim stayed home and took him to the doctor today. Sure enough, croup! He got a high powered steroid, and is already on the road to recovery. The weird thing is, he did not act sick at all until he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breath. Scary, how fast the onset was! Believe me, I can't keep up with a two year old on steroids regularly, much less when I still don't feel great!! If it's not one thing, it's another.

Ugh!

It's a shame that my only rest and relaxation comes wrapped up in a "sick day". I am home from work today ill. I haven't felt well the past few days. I assumed it was a sinus infection, and would go away. Then I started with a tight chest, and the coughing.....and coughing, and coughing! I went to the doctor today, and indeed, have a sinus infection and bronchitis. He gave me an antibiotic shot in the behind (nice, huh?), oral antibiotics, and cough meds. Hopefully I'm on my way to recovery and back to work tomorrow. I can't miss tomorrow. We have a field trip to the farm at the fair.....substitute + field trip = disaster!!

I was lying on the couch when the kids got home from school. This is how I was greeted. How sweet is that?!

3 Little Ghosts!

Well, recently my children have become obsessed with scooby doo. This morning they were watching it, and of course there is always some kind of ghost or goblin on there. Caroline found a sheet and wanted to "be a ghost". So.........the boys shortly followed! Check out all their "ghostly" screaming in the video clip.

Growing Up Friends

I would like to think that my children are "growing up friends"........ They really are great playmates, and always have a buddy around. Here are some memories they have made together over the past few months.

And then there was Willie....

As cooler weather approaches, I did some fall shopping for the kids. I bought the boys a little sweatshirt jacket to wear in the mornings when it is cool out. Will is, of course, obsessed with his. This is how he looked when he went to school this morning, and this is how he still looks at 6:oopm. The director at school said he slept, ate, played, etc. in his jacket with his hood on. That's our Willie!!!!

Introducing......

Our new little doggies!

Deflated....

Could I please just vent for a minute??? Okay, tonight was open house at school. I was all prepared for a great night, and to give my students an opportunity to show their parents around the classroom and all of the things they have been learning. It was supposed to give me an opportunity to connect with my parents and create a "learning community". Well, you can probably see where I'm going with this........

2 parents showed up. No, that is NOT a typo. Only 2 out of 20. Can I tell you how deflated I am? I pour my heart and soul into my job and these children. I spend countless hours away from my own children trying to be the best teacher I can be. I guess that is why I kind of take it personally. I just have a hard time understanding.

The B-I-B-L-E

Will came home today singing a song he has been learning at school in Chapel. It is precious. I will translate for those of you who need some help. The song goes something like this:

The B-I-B-L-E. Because that's the book for me.
I stand up tall for the word of God....
The B-I-B-L-E. Bible!!!

CRANKY

This is just an idea of how my day went with Jackson today. He seems to be possessed. He is melting down over EVERYTHING. As the day wears on, I am much less patient with these outbursts. He has heard alot of, "Go to your room until you can stop crying!" I keep thinking that maybe he is getting sick........I don't want that to be the case, but I would like to blame his behavior on something! Today he is either crying, or in my lap. As I type I am holding him as he sucks his thumb and acts pitiful. Oh, the madness!!

Touching.......

Sometimes I think my kids at school teach me more than I teach them. I have told my school kids about my own children, and talk about them often in class. On Friday, a little girl came up to me and said, "Mrs. Thomas, I have a gift for your little girl." I kinda blew her off and said oh, how sweet, I'll get it later. I had long forgotten about it, and it was almost time to go home. She said, Mrs. Thomas, here's the present I was telling you about.

It was a worn and tattered envelope that was all taped up. She said that she had practiced writing all her letters on the envelope for Caroline to see. I peeked in before I took it home. I immediately got a lump in my throat. This little one had given Caroline one of her toys. By the looks of it, it was a well used and well liked toy. If your not familiar with my school, the majority of our children are poverty children, and this little girl is no exception. It really struck me that a child this young has such a giving heart.

Caroline loved it, and didn't seem to notice all the paint that had been scraped off due to much use. She wanted to know all about this little girl, and drew her a thank you picture. Just when I think that my job is too much for me to handle, a child touches my heart, and I remember why I teach.

Oh, to be 16 again! This weekend was my niece Mary's 16th birthday. They had a fabulous surprise party for her. Tami went all out. It was a Paris phantom opera theme. Very cute. We had a fun time, but as we watched all of the beautiful teenage girls dance and flirt, we realized that we would have to send Caroline away when she became a teen. Too much to deal with! Tami, I applaud you for being an awesome mom. You have raised a beautiful, articulate, smart young woman with great morals and values. Can you do that with Caroline too? She just might be a harder case than Mary!

I was thinking about all of the technology things that are a way of life for most teens today, that weren't around when I was 16.......which was only 14 years ago!

• Cell phones ( they were around, but big, bulky, and too expensive for teens!)
• Text messaging
• Facebook/Myspace (if it was around, we didn't know about it.)
• Pay at the pump
• Digital Cameras
• iPods
• High speed internet (remember dial up?)

Just imagine............What will be around when my boys turn 16.........which will be only 14 years from now!!

New Haircuts

What has gotten into me?? Three posts in one day!! Anyway, the boys got haircuts tonight. I bought a trimmer to cut the boys hair myself. Brave, huh? The reason being........Jack is terrified of haircuts, and has an absolute meltdown every time we go. Not worth it! I decided I'd try it myself. Not perfect, by any means, but it'll do......especially for my first time.

Car Washing

Tim got the bright idea today for he and the kids to wash the van. Sounds fun, right? Well, there were lots of tears and time outs. One water hose + three small children who don't like to share = disaster. But.....there were some happy moments that I caught.

Random

Here are just some random pictures from this weekend. We didn't do much of anything. We hung out in our pajamas a lot. Saturday Tim worked all day and night at the airport due to the evacuation, and all the extra activity out there. So Sunday, he tried to catch up on a night of missed sleep, while I tried my best to keep the kids quiet. Caroline went to Pooties all day Sunday. She got it in her head she was going over there, and wasn't taking no for an answer! She had a great time. Today we're just hanging out, getting ready for the week ahead. Ya know, laundry, ironing, grocery store, etc. William working hard on a block tower.
Hollering at the dogs--They don't get it when I tell them Abby and Cutter can't hear them!

Naked firefighter

Mr. Potato head, anyone?

Will watching sissy play dora on the computer in her room. They get very serious about working on the computer. Will gets very interactive and lets her know just what to click.

Jack has taken a special interest in "You Tube" videos on daddy's computer. Tim plays airplane videos for him and he loves it!!