Spring Break Day 1

Today was the first official day of Spring Break for Jordan and Jocelyn. I am trying to plan something for each day to keep kids from fighting and to have some quality family time. Today, we spent the morning at Marbles Kids Museum. There are some new exhibits since the last time we'd been so the kids had a great time. I didn't bring the camera since we have been there a million times but we also did a craft project when we got home. We made 3D foam animals. It was a lot of fun and the kids did really well at following directions. The animals came out so cute and they actually played with them for quite awhile. Pretty good value for $1 each kit. Jordan made the frog, Jocelyn made the lion, and Trevor made the monkey.

Farm Animal Days

Last week, NCSU held its annual Farm Animal Days. Unfortunately, Jordan and Jocelyn had school but I took Trevor and met a group of friends to see all the exhibits. Trevor loved seeing all of the animals, which included cows, turkeys, sheep, goats, horses, a bull, rabbits, pigs, and chickens. If the animals were close enough to the sides of the enclosures, we were encouraged to touch them. Trevor loves animals so he was more than happy to touch anything that he could reach. He was even able to hold chicks and a baby turkey. It was the sweetest thing ever. There were also tractors on display which seemed to be a favorite of most of the kids there. They also had a little roping station. Let's just say that being a cowboy doesn't appear to be a talent for Trevor. He had a hard time roping that metal steer, but with some extra help, he eventually got it!! At the end, we received some free ice cream and let's be honest, ice cream always makes everything a winner!!

Spring Has Sprung

On Shayne's last visit, we had absolutely perfect spring weather. It was a comfortable 75 degrees with a light breeze. We were loving it and we spent most of the day on Saturday outdoors. Our morning began with two soccer games(our kids both won their games!!) and continued at the park. Wake Forest happened to be having their town Easter egg hunt that afternoon so we took the kids to the park and kicked around their soccer balls while we waited for the hunt to begin. The actual event was a bit chaotic but what do you expect from a free community event? They started with the oldest kids first. Jordan and Jocelyn were able to go in the second age group and Trevor had to wait for the last age group. It seems to me that they may want to reverse the order next year because the little ones had a hard time waiting for everyone to finish. But overall, the kids had a fun time and the outside air and sun were amazing. I even managed to get a sunburn. Hopefully a bit of tan will remain but you never know with my skintone!! However, true to springtime fickleness, the rain did come on Sunday. But hey, we got a couple nice days anyway.

Score!!

I just had to take a moment to boast about Jordan scoring his first soccer goal ever!! I was so proud of him. It was in the first quarter and it was the first goal scored for our team, which went on to win 3-2. After the game, Jordan came running over to me with a huge smile and exclaimed, "I scored a goal. Now we get to go out for ice cream!!!" You see, I had promised Jordan and Jocelyn during the fall season, that if either of them scored a goal, I would treat them to ice cream. So true to my word, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home for "twistie" ice cream cones. I should note that Jocelyn scored a goal in her second game last fall but I made the ice cream promise after that. I just wish I would have had my camera today to capture the moment. Oh well, maybe next time!!

First Snow of 2010

We got our first big snowstorm of the winter. The snow started falling on Friday, January 29 at around 7:00 pm and kept falling all night. We awoke t a beautifully white world and cold temperatures. We made the kids wait until after lunch to go outside to play, hoping it would warm up a little. It was still cold and sleet was still falling but it wasn't too bad if you were running around and stayed dry. The kids had so much fun running around a throwing snowballs at each other. Trevor was barely able topick up any snow with his gloves on but he had a great time trying. All the kids thought it was neat to taste the snow and we did our best to warn them to stay away from tasting anything dirty.



On Saturday, we were pretty much stuck at home. The roads don't get cleared very much and there was a lot of ice since the temperatures were so cold. Sunday, the sun was out so some of the ice was melting and there was better traction on the streets. So we headed over to Shayne's sister's house for lunch and to celebrate my birhday. They have a perfect hill for sledding so we let the kids outside to have a great time. All three kids loved the experienc of sledding down the hill. Even Trevor, who is by far my most cautious child, could not get enough of the sledding. After they were all able to run off some excess energy, we went inside for a yummy lunch and for the best cake in the world. We had a cake from Coldstone. It was cake batter ice cream with brownies in it, layered with chocolate cake, covered in a chocolate ganache. It was the best cake I have ever tasted.

No Cashews For You!!

We found out the hard way that Jordan is very allergic to what we think is cashews. We were fortunate enough that it didn't seem to effect his breathing at all but it was still pretty scarey. That night we had cashew chicken for dinner. Jordan liked it so much that he had two good-sized servings. Within 15 minutes, he began complaining that his eyes were burning. I had him take off his glasses and he had a few hives on his eyelids so I immediately gave him some Benadryl. Trevor was also starting to itch so I sent Jordan downstairs to lay down on the coach while I gave Trevor some Benadryl. When I got back downstairs less than five minutes later, this is what I found.

I decided pretty quickly to take Jordan to Urgent Care (his breathing was fine but the swelling kept getting bigger.) They immediately took him back to a room and the doctor gave him some oral steroids. They watched him for about 30 minutes and the swelling kept getting bigger so he had to be taken to the ER by ambulance. Keep in mind that the picture above was taken well before the worst of the swelling occurred. At the ER, they gave him more Benadryl, more oral steroids and some Zantac. An hour later, he wasn't getting any better, so they administered an Epipen shot. The poor guy was so drugged that he doesn't even remember getting the shot. The swelling did finally start to reduce a little so they released him with a prescription for oral steroids and two Epipens. The epinephrine had him shaking so uncontrollably that he could barely walk out. Plus, his eyes were still really swollen so everyone in the waiting room was staring at him. I felt so bad. It took three days for the swelling to go away completely but he is finally better. He now has an appointmnet with an allergist in February where, hopefully we will find out if it was the cashews that caused this.

Too many pictures!!

I am so far behind in the picture department that this post will be all pictures and headings.

Here is a picture of the kids in front of the Mordecai mansion, which had been traditionally decorated for Christmas. It was an open house so that you could tour the house and see how they would have decorated in the 1800's.


This picture is from the same day. I just thought the kids looked cute in all their winter gear!! (They actually don't get to wear it all that often.)


My visiting teacher brought over Christmas cupcakes the week before Chistmas. She made them herself and they looked like they came from a bakery. So jealous!!


These are all pictures from a place called Lights on the Neusse. There is a farm about 30 minutes away that puts lights up all around their property. You get to take a hayride around while listening to Christmas music and see all the lights. It was truly beautiful and magical. Trevor's joy at seeing everything was contagious and we were all singing along to the music and pointing out the things we liked. After the ride, we stood around a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. There was also Santa but we had already payed him a visit this year so we didn't stop to see him.


Here are some pictures taken on Christmas Eve and Christmas. I have only one picture of Jocelyn from Christmas because she wasn't feeling well. In fact, that is the only present she opened that day. Just hours later, she was in an operating room for emergency surgery to remove a ruptured appendix. That is why ther are not too many pictures of the other kids either. We rushed through our morning traditions so that I coul check on Jocelyn, then realizing that she needed to go to the ER. What a fun Christmas!! But the boys still enjoyed their morning. Trevor was especially excited that Santa brought him a train and Jordan loved all of his gifts.


Here is the proof of Jocelyn's surgery. She is so lucky that appendectomy are performed laprascopically now so she just has three very small incisions. The biggest is in her belly button and hardly shows at all. Thank goodness that all went well and she had no post-surgical complications.


I had to take a picture of Jocelyn in one of the outfits she got for Christmas. Isn't she adorable?


Jocelyn seems to be the little artist in the family. One of her art projects at school was chosen to be displayed at a local bank. She was so proud and excited.