What A Week

As of my last post everyone was healthy in this family. Monday night Becky began running a fever. She had a nasty cough and with her past history of asthma I was concerned that the fever may be indicating something serious. So Tuesday morning I hauled her to the doctor. Her chest was fine. BUT she had strep throat. EWWW. She wasn't really acting to sick but she had that LOOK about her, like she just wasn't herself. After a couple of doses of miracle medicine she was just fine. Wednesday she went to school and I worked all day. It was kind of a funky day because the only real thing accomplished in any classroom in the school was practice for the chorus/band concert that afternoon. I actually got paid to watch rehearsals and the actual concert. I worked Thursday too, and it was a more normal day. Thursday night I took the girls to the mall for some shopping for friends' presents. I felt fine when we left to go there, but by the time we got home I was wiped out and had a sore throat. Friday morning I was supposed to go in and help with Becky's class party. I got up and ready determined to go. BUT, the more I moved around, the worse I felt. Before I knew it I was wrapped in multiple blankets on the couch. I felt awful! Fortunately I got in to see the doctor early and started my miracle medicine by lunch time. I still felt pretty awful ALL day and dozed on and off for the entire afternoon. My wonderful husband worked from home so I could stay permanently stuck to my sick bed, aka the couch in the living room. By 9 p.m. I felt slightly more human and I slept okay. But even today it feels like I'm swallowing razor blades - my throat is still so, so sore! Ed decided he should also take a trip to the doctor because his throat was a bit sore and he was starting to feel achey. Sure enough STREP for him too! So three out of five of us with strep throat - FUN! I'm just hoping that Katie and Allison don't get it! Or if they do that it will be well before Christmas when we're travelling to Maine!
We got about 8 - 10 inches of snow yesterday and last night. It's very pretty. The girls have been out playing in it. We're supposed to get another storm tomorrow. I guess we're pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas! I do love the snow! Now we get to put our new SUV to the test and find out its real worthiness. It has to be better than the van. That thing couldn't make it up the hill to our house in the snow sometimes. I'll let you know.

Our Budding Photographer

We were sitting on the bleachers TRYING to watch Rebecca's first basketball game of the season. Allison had other plans. The plans included whining, whining, and more whining. My bag of tricks got left at home so I dug into the depths of my purse and retrieved the only thing that even remotely resembled a 'toy' - my digital camera. She's five, so I thought she could handle it. I must say that the camera kept her happy for the entire game! Below is a sampling of the action shots she captured during the game...

Becky is the one with white sleeves, behind the girl in red...

In this photo Becky is at the far right.

And here number 5 is Becky.

The game itself didn't keep Allison occupied entirely so she created her own fun - with the camera...

This is Wall-E made out of Fuse Beads. Allison wanted to take some shots of Wall-E and his participation in the game...

Here Wall-E is having a break on the bleachers.

Here he is on the court...

And finally, here he is on Allison boot.

Priceless...

Fuse Beads

Some of you may know what Fuse Beads are but the name isn't familiar. I was completely ignorant of their existence until last summer when our neighbor brought some over for the girls to try out. They were instantly hooked so we went and bought our own big bucket of them. I think any big craft store must sell them. I will say that a certain amount of fine motor skill capability is necessary to fully enjoy them though. Allison does them without any trouble and has for quite some time. Here's a picture of the Fuse Bead bucket we have along with the templates (star & square), parchment paper, and a finished star. We also have tweezer type things that you can buy separately to help in picking up the beads and placing them on the template. Once the design is finished simply cover the beads with parchment paper and iron with a warmish iron until the beads FUSE together. Let them cool, then peel off the parchment and VOILA! You can stick magnets on the back to create beautiful refrigerator ornaments or slip a string through one of the beads to create a Christmas tree ornament.

Here's a close up of the beads. They come in lots of different colors!

This is one of the templates that came with our bucket. Many templates come in separate smaller kits as well.

And here's one of Allison's creations sitting on the parchment paper which was also included in the kit.

Now, stay tuned because my next post is all about Allison's creation and his participation in an athletic activity...

Ice Storm 2008

So. Yesterday was another snow day for the girls. Second one in a row. It rained. Ed & I were going to spend the day in New York (kid free) and have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I was bummed. Then I got an idea. I called our babysitter (who of course was out of school too and hadn't had time to make any plans for the day!) and asked if she was available for the day. She was!! And she brought her sister, who is Katie's best friend, with her. Katie doesn't need a babysitter but I don't feel comfortable leaving the girls all home together so the sitter was here for Allison and Becky and Katie and her friend did their own thing. It worked out GREAT! Ed & I shopped and went out to lunch. We were gone for about six hours!! If we'd gone to NY we couldn't have been gone that long due to the hour drive there and back and the need to be home by the time the girls got off the bus.

Now, back to the rain we got. Our house sits at 1230 feet above sea level and we got nothing but rain. Heavy rain - all night Thursday into Friday morning. Roads were washed out, yards were flooded, water raged down the mountainsides into gullies and small streams. It was pretty remarkable. However, we kept hearing reports and seeing the evidence (cars caked in thick layers of ice) that just a little farther up in elevation got slammed with a MAJOR amount of ice. Today we went for a ride to check it out. Literally 100 feet higher up into the mountains we saw trees down, power lines down, icy roads, and lots of ice still covering EVERYTHING! The area we drove through is part of our school district and after seeing the havoc caused by the ice it's no wonder they called of school! Here's some pictures.

Pretty wild, huh? It was incredibly beautiful to see everything so thickly coated with ice. The sun glittered off of the ice covered landscaped creating a magical, sparkling wonderland. Unfortunately, it will be days (or longer) before many of those people get their power back on. Life is certainly easier with electricity.

We are getting ready to head out in the bitter cold to watch Becky's chorus group sing outside at our town's holiday festival. It should be a fun time with lots of festive music, festive lights, and free hot cocoa!

I need to do a post of my children's obsession with Fuse Beads. Fuse Beads are so fun! But I'll post about that soon! Stay Warm!!