Happy Birthday to you!

Our niece Kylie is 2 today! She is a Halloween Baby!

Flea Shots

Shots on the Spot was at church today giving flu shots. The nurse giving the shots goes to church with us. She is the camp nurse as well and the kids know her from there. So, I thought I would try to get them to get a flu shot. Brent and Becky scoffed, but I was successful! I took Tyler first and offered him $10 up front. He said it didn't even hurt. I took Emily next, but offered no cash reward, just a sucker. She did great, too. Not even a tear. She told everyone that she got her flea shot. I guess it worked, because she doesn't have the first flea.

Trunk and Treat

I think there were 2 million people at Trunk and Treat tonight. We gave out so much candy. The kids had the best time and are fully sugared up. I brushed their teeth for them tonight.

Tyler was Operation Overdrive Red Ranger and Emily was Operation Overdrive Pink Ranger. It was obscene how much candy we came home with!

Merry Day!

Kathy and I braved the pouring rain and took our 3 girls with us to Merry Marketplace yesterday. MM is a show where different stores from all over the south come a set up a booth type thing. Basically, they bring their stores to you, all under one roof. Since Anna and Abby don't do well in the double stroller together, we put Emily and Anna in it. Emily was thrilled that she got to be pushed around. Abby rode in the umbrella stroller. We were in and out of there in less than 2 hours and even got Christmas presents bought. The girls were wonderful. Abby had her first candy corn while we were there.

Most of the booths there are really high end and we could never afford anything from them, but it is fun to look. Kathy and I love to just laugh at what people will pay for stuff, especially children's clothing. I could make thousands at one of those things.

Tonight is Trunk and Treat at church. I'll post pictures later!

Overheard in the playroom...

I was gone tonight and Emily worked forever on some sort of letter/craft/collage for some of her friends. She loves to make stuff and take it to people or mail it to them. Brent said Tyler realized that she had used some of his stickers on her masterpiece. Apparently, he flipped out. Brent was trying to calm him down and Tyler said, "But, they were made in CHINA!" He thought they were some rare and exotic treasure from China. Brent had to break the news to him that everything is made in China.

Tyler's head looks great. I am afraid there might be some sort of pigment damage, though. He got upset today and started sobbing (hard day to be Tyler Patterson) and his spot, which is nearly invisible now, turned bright red. I guess it's like a mood ring.

Drug Awareness Week

This is Drug Awareness Week for Tyler's school. I knew he had no idea what they would be talking about, so I explained it in terms that would suffice for a first grader. The only drug he is aware of are "cigrettes." Anyway, they have dressed up all week. Monday was "Team Up Against Drugs" day and he wore his Vince Young jersey. Tuesday was school spirit day. He doesn't own a Macon Hall t-shirt, so I made stickers to put on a regular shirt. Apparently, that was not the cool thing to do. Today was, as Tyler says, "Mishmash Day." I think it was something like "Kids and Drugs Don't Mix", and they had to wear mismatched clothes. He was so proud of his outfit! He wore a plaid button down and a purple soccer jersey and two different shoes. Notice his adjustable waist tab sticking out of his jeans! Ha!

As you can see in the picture, his face is clearing up some. Still gross, though.

Oh, Fudge...

My grandmother had a really bad car accident this week. A car pulled out in front of her and she hit a wall and went into a ditch. It took the paramedics a long time to get her out, but she is OK. Banged up really bad, but no broken bones or anything. This could have been a really bad thing, but there are two HILARIOUS things about it. They are even funnier if you know of my grandmother and her off-the-wall antics.

First of all, rest assured that insurance is paying for the jeans that had to be cut off of her. I guarantee that she had on pantyhose under the jeans. And the best part...she had the accident on the way to the pharmacy. She was taking all the people at CVS fudge.

My little girl

It is very important to me that Emily stay a little girl as long as possible. Girls today are made to grow up way too fast for my liking. If I let her wear certain things at 4, what on earth is she going to ask to wear in 10 years??? We were at Hobby Lobby today and a lady told me that it was really refreshing to see a little girl dressed like a little girl. I was very proud of that. We paid for our stuff and got into the van. We were driving to meet Kathy and the girls for lunch and I looked in the rear view mirror. There was my little girl, in her Cindy Brady pig tales, singing with enough passion to get her on Star Search,

"I thought you were my fairytale
A dream when I'm not sleeping
A wish upon a star
That's coming true
But everybody else could tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth
When there was me and you"

She even had all the gestures right. I think I am going to have to sit on her to keep her little.

M.I.A.

I've never gone this long without an entry!!! It has been a crazy week. School has been insane...children everywhere have lost their minds. Brent's car died, which turned our entire Tuesday on its ear. We left the house together in one vehicle at 8:15 and came home all together in one vehicle at 5:30. Not our average day. My friend Julie is in town from Tulsa and we had a girls night last night. I left at 11:30, which is about 2 hours past my usual bedtime, the old lady that I am. I paid for it this morning, but it was so nice to see Julie that it was worth it. I picked Tyler up from school and the kids and I met Brent at the Bolton/Bartlett soccer game. Em and I skipped out early and now we are watching Strawberry Shortcake until the boys get home.

It is time for my blog to address Tyler's forehead. People are beginning to ask questions. 6 weeks ago, he developed a tiny bump on his forehead that looked like "poison idy," as he says. Over the next 3 weeks, it grew to about a dime size boil-looking thing. We treated it with hydrocortizone and anti-fungal stuff. When I took Emily to the Dr. with Strep, I had her look at Tyler's head. She had no idea what it was. She gave us some Elidel and told me to use it for 2 weeks. It has now grown to quarter-size and it getting darker and kind of crusty. I have another prescription to start tonight. Please pray that it works. I don't know what we'll do if it doesn't.

I love my Grizzlies!!!

Today was the first day of Grizzlies' practice and it was open to the public. We went downtown to the Forum to watch. We had so much fun. Dan and Ainsley were there. Emily had never been to the Forum besides Disney on Ice, and she thought it was awesome. She and Ainsley giggled lots and talked about if the Grizzlies were on ice and how they would fall on their booties. I got to see my favorite, Mike Miller, and then we went to Napoli's Pizza, my absolute favorite pizza place. We drove around downtown for a while and then came home. It was a great Saturday morning!

Tagged

Jennie tagged me with this thing...

1. Who is your man? Brent
2. How long have you been together? 13 1/2 years
3. How long dated? 3 years
4. How old is your man?32
5.Who eats more? Probably the same!
6. Who said "I love you" first? Brent
7. Who is taller? Brent
8. Who sings better? Brent
9. Who is smarter? Brent
10. Whose temper is worse? We are both pretty laid back, but I get annoyed more easily.
11. Who does the laundry? Usually me, but Brent and Tyler help.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Have you ever seen the "raymond" episode that neither one of them will take the suitcase upstairs? Garbage is our suitcase. We just wait until one of us cannot stand it anymore.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me
14. Who pays the bills? Brent
15. Who is better with the computer? Brent is, but I get better all the time.
16. Who mows the lawn? Brent
17. Who cooks dinner? I do.
18. Who drives when you are together? Brent
19. Who pays when you go out? Brent, unless he left his wallet on the counter.
20. Who is most stubborn? me
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Both equally. We don't do conflict.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, but in shorter spurts.
23. Who kissed who first? Brent
24. Who asked who out? Brent asked me.
25. Who proposed? Brent
26. Who is more sensitive? Me, but Brent has more sensitive skin...he he.
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? Same
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Brent, and he irons them himself!

Never a dull moment

Tyler went back to school today. He DID NOT want to go. I had to threaten that I WOULD take him to school in his pajamas if he didn't get dressed. Emily and I went and bought pumpkins and gourds and cornstalks for the porch.

My kids have a new favorite toy. It is a curtain rod...the white kind that has 2 pieces that slide together. Tyler found it last week and they have played non-stop with it. It has been a sword, a gun, a launcher (?), crutches, stilts, traffic control thingys, among other things. Emily made a train out of chairs and blankets today and I was the driver. I had to use the curtain rod as the "steerer."

Emily is eating lunch upstairs. I reminded her that she would be upstairs alone. She said that she wouldn't be alone, that she had Baby Maddie and Huckems with her. Those are 2 of her babies. I am going to sneak off while she is eating and catch a quick nap!

Spooky?

The kids and I got the Halloween stuff out of the attic today. They were very disappointed. My halloween decor generally is for the entire fall season. They were hoping for bloody skulls and the like. They are odd kids! I put a wicker cornicopia on the dining room table. Emily said that there was no point to putting it out if she couldn't blow in it. We did decorate a haunted gingerbread house, which they really enjoyed. I will take some pictures of it when we get back from ballet.

P.U.

I forgot this in my last post. We are so happy that today is garbage day!!! As much as we adore our precious niece Kylie, we were reminded of her for days after she left! We forgot how stinky diapers are. We moved our garbage can into our garage after our kids were potty-trained and just didn't think about it when Ky-Ky came to visit! The things you forget about when you don't have babies!

Happy Fall Break!

Emily, Tyler, and I are officially on Fall Break. Tyler gets off today and tomorrow, and the girls are off all week. I have to spend Thursday-Saturday at the TAEYC conference, though. I keep making all these plans for my week, but then have to remind myself that my week is cut short! I am feeling much better now, and I spent yesterday cleaning the downstairs. The kids cleaned upstairs, so all I have to do is vacuum today. That helps my week feel longer since I don't have to give up my Monday to clean!
The kids had a "camp-in" last night, which consisted of sleeping in sleeping bags in the playroom. Apparently, it was the greatest thing ever. I really think it was a ploy to get out of making beds today!!!

Her dream has come true!

It has been almost 11 months since Emily chopped her hair off. She has been asking me for a couple of weeks to braid her hair and I really didn't know if it was a length to be braided. We tried it this morning. She just can't stop looking in the mirror!

I Love John Rosemond

We are reading John Rosemond's book "Parenting By the Book" for our home group study. Tom and Kathy went to a seminar and really liked him and bought his latest book. I read it this week and it totally validated everything we do with our kids. Sometimes I really feel like people do not understand why we parent the way we do, so it was nice to have someone say that what we have done is the right way to do it. I think all people that have kids or teach kids or are even thinking about having kids should read this book.

1 Cousin with Strep Throat + 1 cousin snuggling in the bed = uh oh

Chad and Jennie and their girls came for a visit for a few days. Breanna had a fever when they got here on Friday and I had a sore throat. I ended up with strep, and Breanna had a double ear infection. Emily turned up with strep today. Emily is the 8th person in the Froggy Fours to have it!!! I am sure all 8 Pattersons will end up with something yucky!