Look the other way Maya...

If you're easily grossed out, you may want to stop reading this blog now.... :-)

Well 2 nights ago marks the second time this month I've been thrown up on by one of my kids. I only missed Braeden's "incident" because he did it in the middle of the night all over his bed. I guess there was some sort of stomach bug going around my house and I hope now that we've all had it, it is gone! Generally, with my kids, if they throw up once, they are done and they start to feel better. And I had no reason to think otherwise with Maya this time. Both Camden and Braeden threw up once with this bug and they were done. Maya, on the other hand was different. She got sick Sunday night, on me at the top of the stairs, and then most of the day on Monday. She wouldn't eat anything but saltine crackers for dinner on Monday, but then as bedtime approached she got a second wind of course. So, I put her in bed as normal, thinking it has passed, but gave her a towel and a big bowl just in case. Around 11 p.m. I hear her screaming at the top of her lungs - this isn't super uncommon for Maya, I think she has a light case of night terrors occasionally, but I always go and check on her - so I go upstairs to check on her and she's sitting in her bed with the big bowl next to her which she had gotten sick in. My poor sweet baby girl I thought, so in order to keep an eye on her, I decided to let her sleep with me (which doesn't usually work) but she was so exhausted that she pretty much went right to sleep. So that makes two kids in the bed for the night (Camden is another story). Camden saw me bring in the towel and another big bowl just in case Maya needed it and he knew what that meant! In the middle of the night Maya woke up screaming and I immediately sat up and reached for the bowl wondering if it's too late. Did I miss her getting sick? Why is she screaming? But no, she had not thrown up anywhere, so she must have been having a dream. In the middle of her screaming Camden wakes up in a fog and whispers "Maya, look the other way, don't look toward me"!! Camden knew if she was looking his way and she got sick, he would have been the target. So you see, he wasn't really all that concerned with Maya, just himself..... Can't say I blame him, because while I didn't say that, I was quick to grab the bucket so I didn't get thrown up on! Maya has made it all day without getting sick so I think she's on the road to recovery!

My sweet girl finally asleep...

Pumpkin Patch Sunday

Maya and Braeden had a pumpkin patch day at MDO on Friday. Camden was so jealous that I promised him we would go to a pumpkin patch on Sunday with all of us to make up for it. Little did Camden know that a pumpkin patch was literally where you go to pick out pumpkins, I think he thought it was more like a fall festival (we've been to pumpkin patches before but I guess when you're 6 you just don't think about it). When I figured this out, I played it up so much that Camden was really looking forward to it! So we get to the pumpkin patch today and Braeden throws the biggest fit about taking his blanket out there and I refuse to let him, so he decides he's not interested in picking out a pumpkin and clings to me for the first 10 minutes while Camden and Maya look for the perfect one. Little did I know that the best place for Braeden was my hip! When the kid finally got down and started looking for "his" pumpkin (I let each kid pick their own) he went around picking up pumpkins, inspecting them, and when they weren't satisfactory, he THREW them back into their place! I kept trying to get him to stop and he wasn't trying to be mean about it, but he's such a little brute about things that's just the way he is. Needless to say, they all picked out their own pumpkin to decorate for our yard. I'm sure it's just me, because I'm an accountant and don't have an artistic bone in me (hence the cop-out for decoratring the pumpkins below). But I was trying to give a "math" lesson at the pumpkin patch, but the obviously irritated, been out there too long, mom, was having nothing to do with it! When the kids put their pumpkins up on the table for the oh so kind lady to measure them and tell us how much we owe her, she tells us $5, $4 and $4. So I say to Camden, can you add that up and tell mommy how much to pay the nice lady? He's 6 years old people.... he gets to 5 + 4 is 9 + 4 is..... and the lady interrupts and says, that'll be $13 dollars ma'am. HELLO!!! I KNOW she can hear my child, right in front of her, trying to add and tell me what I owe her, but no, she just blurts it out. Not a big deal if there were a line of people behind me, waiting to pay, but no, not a soul in sight!! I politely sigh (is it possible to politely sigh) and pay and tell Camden he did a good job and he'll get it next time!

The kids with their pumpkin picks...

Look how strong I am Mommy...

My not so artistic side is obvious here, so I took the easy way out, sue me! Braeden chose the pirate (or as he calls it "arrrghhh"), Camden chose the vampire, and of course, Maya chose the princess...

She Missed Me Mommy and The Renaissance Festival

First of all, a follow up to the girl chasing Camden at Open House last week. I asked Camden if he talked to Taylor at school on Friday and he said "yeah, she told me she missed me when I came back to school from being sick". I spared you all the story of Camden waking up and throwing up on my bed and me last week... you're welcome. But because he was sick, he missed his very first day of school and I had to write my very first "absent from school note" as a parent. Well apparently, when he came back to school on Wednesday, Taylor told him that she missed him when he was absent. So sweet!!!!

On Saturday, we made trip to The Renaissance Festival. I had never been, so I had no clue what to expect. I must say, there are quite some characters at this Festival. Not that I'm judging, but let me say for those of you with kids, go early and leave at a decent time. There is a LOT of drinking and there really is no holds barred as far as dressing goes. Needless to say, we really did have a great time. We rode on an elephant, a carousel ride, face painting, saw a jousting match and rode on some out of the ordinary rides. The kids had a blast and it was well worth the trip!!

Ready to go...

Each kid had their turn at this bungee air flying thing...

You can't tell in this pic, but Camden was soooo excited at the beginning, but once the guy flung him in the air, Camden had a pure look of fear on his face.

Maya had fun, but didn't enjoy it until the end!

Braeden had absolutely NO fear and loved it the entire time!

Time for an ice cream break...

A family ride on the big swing...

A little face painting for Princess Maya... the boys got arm tattoos.

They each got to pick their own hat and I must say, Braeden is big pimpin in his...

Open House.... She's Crazy Mommy!!

Last night we went to Open House at Camden's school and he was so excited to show Maya and Braeden all of the fun things he gets to do in school. His teacher said he is doing really well and she hasn't had any problems with him yet...whew! I'd like to say he gets his great school attitude from me, but while I made really good grades, my conduct grades were not quite the same. Let's just say I probably talked too much and probably had an occasional smart remark to the teacher. :-) At least Camden is off to a great start and I'm so proud of him! He showed us the table he sits at, his daily journal, the computer lab, the art room, the library, the gym, and the music room. For some strange reason he didn't think he actually could sing in music class. I was so puzzled but I asked if he played instruments instead and he told me he didn't do that either. I said well then what do you do in there? He said that he copies the teacher. I said well are you copying her singing? It then clicks, "well we copy what the teacher sings so that must be singing". Braeden wanted to stay in the school so badly, let's just hope he has that same attitude when he starts Kindergarten! Maya was in awe of how many things Camden got to do in school and she is so excited that she will be going there next year! Everywhere we went, we would run into some kid from Camden's class and they would always say "hi Camden" to which Camden would shyly wave back. We kept running into two different girls and Camden would get a little embarrassed, it was so funny. We ran into one of the girls for maybe the third time in the library and Camden asks me "why is she everywhere we go Mommy" and I tell him that she's showing her Daddy all the fun places in the school just like he is with us. The other girl we ran into again in the hallway and she started trying to play with Camden. He was too embarrassed to play with her in front of us I think so he started running in a circle around me, Maya and Braeden. Of course, she chased him and was laughing hysterically while doing so. Camden kept running in circles and she keeps chasing him. I tell him to stop and just talk to her, to which he replies "she's CRAZY Mommy"!!! I'm really trying not to laugh, but it was just so cute. Her parents finally called her over and Camden let's out a sighing "bye Taylor". I think they're really friends in school but Camden was a little embarrassed with all of us there.

The cooties are all washed away now....

Catching up...

I'm not quite sure where the last month went since my last post but let me see if I can try to briefly catch up.

Maya and Braeden had their first day of Mother's Day Out at our church. YAY!!

How sweet...

Camden was the "King" of his class for the day!

We went to a surprise birthday party for my sister's father-in-law and captured some great pics of the kids!

Hurricane Ike hit and we headed to the northeast side of town to spend 4 days with 14 people and 8 dogs! That was quite an experience trying to keep 3 young kids entertained without power. I feel so very fortunate to have such a wonderful family. I met some neighbors I had only previously waved at in passing. I was absolutely amazed to see so many people come together through such a rough time. We were very fortunate to have such minimal damage to our own home. My sister's in-laws were not as fortunate and had about 3 feet of water in their house. They are slowly getting their lives in order, but it will take quite a while for then and many to get back to normal.

Getting back to normal. A visit to the zoo... (so I'm guilty of being caught without my camera but my phone works too!)

Camden couldn't understand why this Giraffe had 3 "buddies"!!! (read previous blog for definition of "buddy")

I'm not scared mommy...

Camden celebrated his 6th birthday!! (I brought the real camera along for this, but realized the batteries were dead when I got there)

Arrrrgghh....