Archive for February, 2009

It has been very warm this week…the kids have played on the playground almost every day after school. We had a high of 76 on Thursday! Needless to say, we really enjoyed the warmness. And today? Today it is snowing. Big white flakes are coming out of the sky. It is the most snow we have seen this season, and it will likely be the last. But who knows?

The weather is probably the reason I have not felt well today. I woke up with a horrible headache that made me feel nauseous. After staying in bed most of the morning, I felt well enough to accompany Jay and the kids to Chik-fil-a for lunch, but I couldn't eat but a few bites of my delicious chicken sandwich. I went back to bed after lunch, and I was finally able to eat something several hours later. I feel a little strange now, but I think I'm mostly over whatever it was!

A quick funny story about Eliza: she was digging through the pantry, looking for something to eat, when I reminded her it was supper time. "What can we have for supper?" she asked. "I don't know," I said, thinking. Without missing a beat, Eliza replied, "We're having 'I don't know' for supper?"

Our weekend started off right with the appearance of the ice cream man Friday afternoon. I had let the kids play on the playground after school, and as we were getting out of the car at our house, we heard the music of the ice cream van. The kids ran to the end of the driveway, and I knew there was little choice but to buy the kids some popsicles. Even though it was only around 60 degrees outside. I snapped some pictures as they ate them:

Saturday we hopped in the car for a quick afternoon trip to Memphis. My family had gone there for the weekend to visit my extended family, and we wanted to get some visiting in, too, but we didn't want to be gone the whole weekend (plus I had to teach Sunday School). We got to see my grandparents as well as some aunts and cousins, and we also met Jill, Robbie, and Hannah for dinner. They drove over from Jackson, and it was good to see them! Hannah is talking so much now…she is so big! We had a birthday party at my Granny's for January and February birthdays, which included Gerald, my dad, Jay, Benjamin, and my mom. The kids were happy because they got to eat cake and ice cream! We got home late Saturday night, but it was a fun quick trip. We ended the weekend with supper at Applebee's tonight with our community group. I love spending time with family and friends!

I have not mentioned James' headaches in a while, and that is because they are much better! He has rarely complained about them in the last few weeks, and has not gone to the school nurse again, which is a huge praise! It must have been some kind of sinus infection like the doctor said. We are not sure if the nasal steroids are helping, but James is getting pretty good at squirting them up his nose. :) He does seem to be a little less congested, but that could have been caused by the sinus infection as well. Anyway, both James and Eliza are doing great!

James is doing wonderful in school. Although he still doesn't like getting up in the morning (the other day he said, "I HATE school!" when I tried to get him up), he breezes through his homework and his writing assignments are very amusing. Someday I'll get my scanner working again and post some of his work, but here's an example: In response to the question, "How would you try to catch your shadow?", James wrote: "I wuod pin it to the grad (ground) and tel mom." He even drew a picture of himself pinning a gray blob to the ground. It's pretty funny!

Eliza has also been doing well in school. She loves to do "homework" when James is doing his. I am going to have to get some more workbooks for her! She likes to write me notes, and she can write "MOM" on them, as well as her name. James couldn't do that at 3! But he was never that interested in writing or coloring, and he didn't have an older sibling to try to keep up with! Eliza has been falling a lot lately; I think her legs are growing so fast she can't keep up with them. She has so many bruises and scrapes. She is a pretty fast runner, but I always cringe when she's going top speed, because I know what often comes next.

Last week the kids had Valentine's Day parties, so we have been munching on lots of goodies. We have had a few warmer days this week, so I let the kids play on the playground after picking James up from school. We are ready for spring!

We made it back! Jay and I had a great time in San Diego, but it is good to be back home with our kids. I think they were glad to see us, too. :)

We got to go back to the zoo on Sunday…boy, was it crowded! I can't imagine what it's like in the summer! This time we got to see the pandas, including 18-month old cub Zhen Zhen. She was so cute!

Jay has more great pictures that he will eventually post to flickr. Monday was rainy, so we took the opportunity to relax in the hotel room before we had to go home on Tuesday. Our trip home went pretty smoothly, except for a few bumps coming in to land at Little Rock. The cloudy weather caused some turbulence that was probably the worst I've ever experienced (not that I've flown that much, but still.) Jay said it was some of the worst he's experienced, too. So there. I also got to see lightning light up the clouds we were flying through, and that was interesting.

San Diego is a pretty nice place, even if we did go at the wrong time of year. It only got up to 58 degrees and was very windy the whole time we were there, which made it too chilly to even walk barefoot on the beach. So far, all of my experiences with California have been in the month of February, which is apparently not the best time to visit. Oh, well, maybe someday I'll get to see it in all it's glory, but for now, I'm happy to be at home in Arkansas. Did I mention it's a beautiful 72 degrees outside here today?

Our Valentine/birthday getaway has been great so far! We made it to San Diego without any problems. Going through security was a breeze (the guard even said "Nice socks!" as I walked through the metal detector…they had Mickey and Minnie Mouse all over them); our flights were uneventful (the best kind); and our layover in Dallas wasn't too bad (although I was stuck watching Jay sleep for about an hour and a half…he had taken Benadryl earlier). We rented a car (a silver P.T. Cruiser!) and drove to our hotel, the Catamaran Resort and Spa. It is a very nice place, and we managed to get a suite on the 12th floor, complete with a couch and mini kitchen. Our room overlooks Mission Bay, and the ocean is about a 5-minute walk from the resort. We are really enjoying ourselves! Here is the view from our balcony:

San Diego is a pretty nice place, but it has been pretty chilly here the last few days. We went to the zoo yesterday, which is really amazing. I have a few pictures on my flickr, and Jay has many more on his flickr.

Today we took a walk along the beach near our hotel, then ate at a restaurant for lunch. I have been stuffing myself with good food…even better because I don't have to cook it! After lunch we drove to Torrey Pines State Park to hike a little around the bluffs. We stopped at one place, called the Gliderport, to watch the paragliders and get a view of the ocean. Peeking over the edge of the cliff to the beach far below, we got an unexpected peek…coed nude volleyball. Well, this is California, after all!

Jay has pictures from our adventures today, but it may take him a little while to get them all uploaded. I got this one from him, though, just so I would have something to show:

Happy Valentine's Day!

The last few days have been very wet. But before the rain moved in, we had a few nice, warm days to play. We had a great weekend enjoying the warmer weather. Saturday afternoon we went to a field near my parent's house and flew a kite. It was a very nice kite that Jay had borrowed from a co-worker, and the windy conditions made it a high-flying adventure! Jay, James, Eliza, and I all took turns holding the string, although it was almost too strong for Eliza! We finally decided to leave when the skies became crowded; there were lots of kite-fliers taking advantage of the strong winds.

Sunday was another beautiful day, and after trying to teach my Sunday School class about how Jesus healed people, and a worship service with great music (it was all about Heaven), we went over to my parent's house for lunch. After lunch we all headed over to Two Rivers Park for a leisurely stroll. I took my camera, and got some interesting pictures of the swamp and my family, like this one:

We forgot how long the path was, and ended up being late for community group. Also, the kids both fell asleep in the car on the way there. I guess we wore them out, but we had a good time!

James had his 100th day of school celebration on Monday, and he had to wear a shirt with 100 things on it. I found some sporty beads at Wal-Mart, strung them on string, and shaped it to make the numbers, then sewed them on the shirt. It turned out pretty cute, but unfortunately, it didn't make it through the day intact. The bottom of the "1" came loose, and 4 beads slid off, which was traumatic for James. I can't believe James has been in school for 100 days!

James' doctor appointment went well, and he lived up to the school nurse's diagnosis as "very talkative". He answered all the questions and passed all the neurological exercises that the doctor had him do, such as walking on his tip-toes and his heels. The doctor was most concerned about his ongoing congestion, as well as his inflamed nasal passages. He prescribed antibiotics for a possible sinus infection, as well as nasal steroids on a trial basis. Hopefully that will take care of his headaches, but if it doesn't, we have a few other ideas. It's a good start, anyway!

Well, the plans have been made…Jay and I are getting away! Jay had some frequent flier miles built up from all his traveling in 2007, and we wanted to use them before they expire. (It's hard to believe it's been a year since he last traveled for work!) We are going to fly to San Diego, California to celebrate Valentine's Day and Jay's birthday (the 15th), and just have a good time. (I am ready to be somewhere a little warmer!) The kids are staying with my parents, and we owe them big this time! They will have to get the kids to school on Friday and Tuesday, as well as church on Sunday! Hopefully the kids will not give them too much trouble….

James is still having headaches, and we are going to see the pediatrician today. We will probably take him to the eye doctor after that, to see if it's his vision that's giving him problems. Hopefully we will find something out!