Nutcracker Color

Once Thanksgiving was ove, it was time to get into the Christmas mood.  The boys spent some time coloring in some wooden nutcrackers at the end of November.

 

 

 And they are now sitting for all to see in our kitchen. 

The Thanksgiving Bug

Let's see if we can get caught up to the present time, shall we??

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to my parents. 

We took the flu along with us, though we had no idea at the time.  That bug was sneaky and spread like wildfire!

Shelly's crew brought it over the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but they didn't know they had it when they came over.  Wednesday evening two of her family members were throwing up but they thought it was food poisoning so didn't really say anything about it to us. 

Thanksgiving Day, Aren took a short nap in the van on the way and didn't get a "real" nap.  He started getting cuddly and clingy late afternoon, right before dinner.  While he was laying on my shoulder I started wondering if I should put him down just for a quick half hour snooze to get him through until bedtime.  Then he picked his head up and stared at me.  He opened his mouth in an odd way and I was afraid he was choking on something he had been hiding in his mouth.  Just as I was getting ready to do a finger-sweep in his mouth he let loose. 

It sent my aunt running to another room to avoid seeing it - she's the part of the population that will get sick if she sees someone else get sick. 

By the time 30 minutes had passed he had thrown up 5 times, Aren and I had gone through three shirts and Biju had gone through two.  Thank you to my parents for loaning us clothes!!

Here we are pre-vomit.

And Aren wearing a shirt that had been left behind by some small member of the family.  Don't worry, that is actually water on his shirt that he had spilled.

Still, we didn't know it was the flu at that time.  I started looking through Mom's pantry/laundry room to see if Aren had found some bleach or other toxin.  His vomiting had come on so suddenly I was sure he had ingested something he shouldn't have. 

He wasn't too interested in dinner but everyone else enjoyed the feast. 

Closer to bedtime, though, Ajay started throwing up and I figured it had to be the flu.  And I was worried that since we caught the bug in the short two hours that we saw Shelly's girls on Wednesday that we would've passed the bug on to everyone in the family. 

It turns out we did give it to everyone.  By the time a week had gone by there were 20 members of our family had had some version of the flu.  Luckily, it took it's time going through the family.  I was so grateful that Biju was home while I was sick so he could care for the children. 

Poor Aren had it twice!!  How is that even possible? 

Here he is cuddling with Biju (don't tell him I posted a picture of him with bedhead) - about 2 minutes after this photo he got sick all over himself and Biju.  Luckily, it was only breast milk and water!

And once Alex fell asleep on the couch in the morning we knew he had it.  Poor kid - stitches and the flu at the same time.

We're hoping we've done our time with the flu for the season.  Crossing our fingers we're golden for the rest of winter! 

That time when Alex got stitches.

Yes, my friends, that time has come. 

And I have to tell you that I'm surprised it took this long for our overly exuberant middle child to crack some part of his body open to the point of needing sewn up. 

Remember a few posts back when I mentioned that the boys get a little wild and crazy when paired with their cousins.  And remember when I mentioned that the kids were all doing cannonballs off the half-wall onto a couch?  So picture a repeat, of sorts, of that day.

They started off playing calmly.....

And here's how the rest of the morning went:  I was upstairs cleaning up the kitchen while the children were downstairs playing.  All was going well until I realized the volume was growing.  I thought "I guess I should go downstairs and check on them and ask them to take it down a notch."  Right as I had that thought it got silent.  Silence is rarely a good sign with children, especially abrupt silence when there are 6 children present.  (My 3 boys, 2 of Shelly's girls and a neighbor boy.)

We live in a quad-level house so as I was going down one set of stairs the children were all coming up another set of stairs.  We met and I saw 6 faces staring up at me with horror in their eyes.  Well, Aren didn't exactly register horror.  He was just along with the group, going upstairs because that's what everyone else was doing.

I scanned the faces to try to surmise what might be the problem - it was hard to figure it out with everyone yelling.  I did pick up "He's BLEEDING!" so I scanned faces again to see which one had the blood.

Ever since Alex was a wee babe he has done this silent cry before launching into the real deal.  It takes awhile to catch his breath.  Even if he wants desperately to say something he is unable to do so.  So while everyone else was yelling, he was looking at me with his mouth gaped open trying to suck in air.  And, of course, he had a pretty deep gash across his forehead.

Ya know.... I like to think I'm the one who keeps their cool in those kind of situations.  When Ajay cracked his forehead open (same side, pretty much the same spot) when he was 17 months, I immediately snapped into efficient mode.  A couple of months back when Biju ended up with a piece of metal jamming through his knee/thigh, again, I kept my cool and announced to him he needed stitches despite his protests and firmly told him U-Haul would surely understand if our truck rental was an hour or so late.  (He needed 3 stitches, plus an antibiotic since the doctor figured the metal hadn't been sterilized before it poked through.  However, he got all this after finishing loading/unloading the U-Haul and returning it.)

But on this day I'm embarrassed to say I totally lost my cool.  I was not empathetic Mommy who wanted to comfort her hurt child.  I was ticked off Mommy who had asked the children over and over to not jump from the wall.  And instead of being a model of calm, cool and collection, I started yelling and announcing that he would have to get stitches and wondering quite loudly where the cousins were going to go because I didn't want to take EVERYone to the doctor's office but both of their parents were at work and pointing out that this is exactly why Mommy and Daddy tell you not to do certain things. 

Not a proud moment at all.

So I finally got myself together and made a few phone calls.

Me:  Hi.  I'm taking Alex to get stitches.  Just thought I'd let you know.
Biju: Uhh... Okay.
Me:  I'll tell you more later but I just thought you should know.  I'm calling Shelly now.  Bye
Biju:  Okay.  Bye.

I called Shelly, then the doctor's office, then Shelly again, then Biju beeped through to tell me he was on his way home, then spoke with Carrick, all the while trying to reassure the children that Alex would be okay and reassure Alex that stitches wouldn't hurt.   The pediatrician's office told me to go to their Immediate Care Center instead of waiting for Dr. S. to have a time slot open up.  Because we all know how immediate Immediate Care is, right? 

So while I was waiting for Biju to get home and Carrick to pick up the girls I asked the older children what exactly happened.  Turns out Alex was (surprise) doing a cannonball from the wall onto the couch and he (unintentionally) bounced from the couch onto the coffee table. 

See the dent?  That's where he landed.

And then I did what any good mother would do.  I took a picture of his head wound.  Skip past this if you're not into blood. 

So once Biju got home and saw that everything was going to, eventually, be okay he comforted Alex a bit more (good Daddy) and had him lay down on the kitchen table while I worked on getting the neighbor boy back home and the girls ready to go to their little sister's daycare. 

A good friend met us at the Immediate Care Center (luckily she lives less than 5 min. away from there) and took Ajay and Aren for awhile so I could focus on Alex.  When we got called in Alex was not showing how truly scared he was.  The kid was really worried about getting those stitches.

The nurse put a big blob of numbing gel on the wound and told us the doctor would be in in about 15-20 min. once the gel numbed the area.  We played some tic-tac-toe while we waited.  When the doctor came in he had a wonderful bedside manner.  He talked about his grandchildren pulling similar stunts.  He got a nurse to help hold Alex down just in case he started kicking and screaming.  He did not, in fact, and the nurse was excused.  Alex sat there as calmly and patiently as if he were getting his face painted at the fair.   5 stitches, thank you very much.

And later that day he was back to his old stunts.  Here he is straddling himself between two of our elevated dining table chairs.  With a Band-Age (as Alex calls them) covering his stitches.

The wound healed quite nicely - and I was even brave enough to snip the stitches 5 days later and remove them.  Make that - Alex was brave enough to let me. 

You can only see a white line now where the scar is.  I think we'll get some vitamin E capsules - isn't that supposed to help reduce scarring? 

Let's all hope our monkey has learned a valuable lesson.

Hanging out

 

Here is Aren reading a book in his rocking chair.   Reading a book is part of our before nap/before bedtime routine.  He signs "book" and "please" once we get into his room for night-night.  He says the words along with his signs - his "book" sounds like "put" but with a "b" and his "please" sounds like "bee."  He's really been into a couple of Elmo books we have.  He calls Elmo "HUT-doe"  Doesn't sound anything like Elmo to me but that makes it all that much cuter! 

Alex hasn't taken an afternoon nap in ages - unless you count the times he falls asleep while we're out running errands at 5pm.  Then we fight to keep him awake - "Alex!  Wake up! Alex!!  What's outside your window?"  On this day he just couldn't help himself and conked out on the couch.  (I see we still have a scarecrow that needs to be put away in our Fall box!) He's covered up with a big fleece Snuggie.  I got two for a dollar at a yard sale over the summer.  Woot Woot!

This is what Ajay made with his neon orange play dough.  A snowman complete with scarf, buttons and top-hat.  I love his attention to detail. 

We miss our friends who moved to Texas so when they were in town for a wedding I gave them some crocheted goodies.  Crocheted Beards for the boys, Ava cowls for the girls.  (The cowls even have matching buttons.)

I made a beard for Ronnie (their dad), too.  I'm hoping to get a photo of him wearing it (wink wink, Angie!).

Here is what Aren used to do until we blocked off the kitchen.  We didn't block it off because he was getting into this drawer...

 and the lazy susan...

...but because he had figured out how to climb up the chairs and onto the tall dining room table.

That's how we roll round these here parts.

Cousins

The day Ajay made up our lunch (for his Boy Scout assignment) we had Paige and Kyleigh over for the day.  It was the Monday school was out for Veteran's Day.  It got pretty hectic that morning.

My sister and I have discussed it.  Our children are normal children until they get with their cousins.  Then they act like they've all escaped from the zoo.  It is complete chaos when the cousins get together and we don't know why.  They don't get like this with their friends.

That morning the kids were having a fine time jumping from a wall onto a couch.

Can you see that bit of wall behind the couch?  It is to be used for decoration, not as a spring board for cannon balls.  But spring board it was.  I quickly put a stop to the jumping and Alex, Ajay, Kyleigh and Paige all got a bit of quiet time on the couches.

However, a couple of rascals felt they needed to be clowns and make everyone else laugh so I kept adding time.  At one point I asked "Who wants another minute??" and TWO children raised their hands.  I was pretty hot at this point so I asked "Okay, how much more time do you want?"  One child answered "one" minute, while another child put up 5 fingers.

That child got removed from the situation for the remainder of the quiet time.

Once their time was finally up I figured they all needed a more structured playtime.  Don't leave these children to their own devices if you ever have them all in the same room.  Please learn from my mistakes.

While Ajay painted the cardboard for his collection presentation the other kids worked on some paint projects also.  Well, not Aren.  I haven't gotten brave enough to give Aren a brush and paint.  I'm sure he'd love it but I'm not ready to wash paint off of our popcorn ceilings yet.  As it is he sucks the ink out of our markers.  Ick.

 

They then all went outside to play in the fresh air.  Yes, please go work off that excess energy outside.  While they were outside I made up a quick batch of no-cook play dough.  I divided it into equal balls.  I may or may not have gotten a little anal about it and used my scales.  Each ball weighed exactly 5 ounces.  This way, no one could argue that someone else got more play dough.

When they were done playing outside I had them sit at the table and pick their favorite food coloring gel.  Even our neighbor, Makayla, (who happens to be in Ajay's class at school) got permission to come in and join the fun.  And I hope no parents were too angry with me when I sent them home with a colored play dough ball and hands to match. 

Paige and Makayla loved the vivid pink.  Kyleigh got lavender, Ajay got orange, Alex chose red.

The girls came over the day before Thanksgiving, too.  But that is a post for another day.  (Just keep in mind what this day started out like.) 

Making a meal

Ajay had a Boy Scout assignment a few weeks back - he was to plan a meal and help make it.  It was to include all of the food groups.  I can't say the meal he planned was all that healthy but it was something that he was able to make mostly on his own and all the kids loved it. 

His menu:
Beanie Weenies
Macaroni and Cheese
Carrot sticks with ranch dressing
(I can't remember the fruit - probably peach slices)

Cutting up the weenies

 

 

Aren was in a foul mood that morning so he got to hang out with us on my back in the mei tai carrier.  This improved his mood and I was able to have my hands free to help Ajay.

When it was grub time Ajay even dished up the food and served everyone!

Another part of his scouting assignment was to present a collection of 10 or more items.  He chose his rock collection.  He painted a piece of cardboard, labeled each section and used some hot glue to attach the rocks.  (The three sections were: Rocks from New Mexico, Rocks from around town, Rocks that aren't really rocks but look like it.)

His collection includes petrified wood, some broken cement in the shape of a triangle, and what seems to be a piece of tile cut in the shape of a triangle.  A neighbor by the old house has a yard full of these.  He tries to grab up cool looking rocks from several places around town but I have to remind him (and Alex) that people have paid for those rocks for decoration and they wouldn't be too happy  to see them disappear. 

A House Blessing

( I don't know why this is posting so oddly.  I have tried to fix it but it just isn't working.) 

We had our house blessed a few weeks back.  It was nice to have a date as a goal to get everything settled.  That's not to say we're all done, by any means.  We still have a few boxes lined up along the edges of the garage and there are some blank walls asking politely for decoration.  All in due time.

Father D. came over from church to bless the house - outside and in.  We had family, friends and neighbors join us from all areas of our lives.

Mom helped - okay, did most of the work - to get snacks and drinks set up for everyone.  I made up the menu and printed out the recipes and she pretty much did the rest!  1We had Buffalo Chicken Dip w/ celery, Cheese and Crackers, Little Smokies, Girl Scout Cookies and a Pumpkin Pie/Fluff dip w/ ginger snaps.  Plus a warm spiced apple/cranberry drink.

It was a busy afternoon but a lot of fun.

 

 

 

The kids thought it would be fun to jump on the bed for some entertainment.  For the  most part the kids played outside.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  There were a LOT of kids and they all played quite well together.  One little boy did get a cut on his finger and needed a bandage but other than that all was well.  

Bachu and Sanju, Biju, Aren.  Biju and Bachu went to college together and are now working for the same company. 

 This little scene just melted my heart.  Tonya's little girl, Jazmine, giving smooches to Aren.  Let's all say it... awwww!  

And then Aren turned his head and kissed her back.  At that time I think one baby might have licked the other baby's mouth.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure of it.  

 

A game of checkers, anyone?

Alex has discovered the game of checkers.  He's totally diggin' it so if you're ever over for a visit, challenge him to a game and you'll become his best friend.

Mom and Dad came down a few weeks back and Alex roped Nana into a game.

Dad helped fix a couple of things around the house before our House Blessing. 

While Biju did some paint touch ups....

We had a minor mishap with one of the tub faucets so Dad came back a week or so later to repair it.  The second visit happened to fall on his birthday!

  He was only at our place for a little over 24 hours but Alex managed to squeeze two games of checkers out of him in between trips to Lowe's and fixing the tub faucet.

Oops, out of space

Well, it has been ages since I've updated this blog and I apologize. 

Biju likes to give me a hard time asking if people in Malaysia are tapping their fingers on their computer desks waiting for an update from me.  Perhaps not, but I do think some of you out there care.  Right?  So I came back today to give an update from the past month and - bam! - I'm out of space for photos. 

I can still post words but words only go so far.  Many times I take pictures with YOU in mind.  I sometimes go off in la-la land thinking of witty things to write about on this blog and which pictures to add in.  Granted, a lot of times I don't get those witty posts in here - typically what I end up writing is stuff like "this is what happened, wanna see a picture of it?" and that's that.  I'm much funnier in my own head.

I think if I upload pictures to my Photobucket account first and then copy and paste here, that might work.....

 (Kalinda, Janel, Natalie, Lisa, Erin, Tonya, Morgan.  Unable to attend this Girls Day: Elissa.)

Yes....that will work.

So here is another... And I'll get busy working between the two websites to bring you more updates.  Don't worry, Malaysia, the updates on coming soon!!

(Pictured: Joy with Micah, Angie, Michelle with Owen, Kalinda, Renetta.)

Boo to you!

We got Boo'd the other night.  Biju and I put the boys to bed then headed out to the garage to do some more sorting and what not.  We were trying to make room to actually, you know, park a vehicle in our garage. 

While we were in there we heard our doorbell.  We gave each other a look that said "Who in their right mind is ringing our doorbell at this time of night??" (And by "this time of night" I mean roughly around 8:30pm.)

I went to the door and flipped on the porch light then looked through the peep-hole.  I saw no one but that didn't mean much.  Many times I look through there and it is either a short person coming to ask if one of my short people can come out to play, or a tall person standing off to the side out of sight. 

I opened the door and saw, not a person, but a little trick-or-treat pumpkin filled with goodies. 

There was a paper inside that had a poem and a "We've been BOO-ed!" ghost.  The instructions said we were to cut off the half of the paper that had the ghost on it and tape the little phantom to our door so other phantom ghosts would know we'd been hit.  Then we were to go to this website and print off another poem/phantom and make up a treat basket for two of our neighbors. 

When the boys woke up in the morning they saw the goodie bag with treats.  Ajay started reading the poem, but not all of it, and came running to me and yelled "Mom!  The Goodie Ghost came!!" as if Santa or the Easter Bunny had been by.  I explained what had happened and that we were going to make up a treat basket to share with other neighbors. 

I went shopping that morning and made up these two baskets:

I chose two families in the area with children - one with 3, one with 6 - and gave Halloween pencils, glow bracelets, tootsie pops, stickers, a vanilla candle, the orange checked tea towel and the basket.

We decided the boys would be the fastest when it came to ringing the doorbell and running and they were more than willing to go.  What fun for them!  So as soon as it got dark but before they had to get ready for bed I sent the boys out with the baskets. 

Ajay came back panting and declared "Feel my heart!  I was so scared they would see me!"  Alex had hid around the corner after knocking on his neighbor's door.  Good thing, too, cuz that neighbor was quick to answer.  But then Alex didn't know when it was all clear to come back so I had to do a whisper yell "Alex!  Alex, come back!" and had to keep yelling louder and louder.  I'm quite certain Ajay's neighbor saw Alex running back across the street.  And I'm also certain that everyone on the street heard me yelling for Alex to come back. 

So it may not be a complete secret as to who left the goodie baskets but it was certainly fun.  And we're hoping to do it again next year!

Trick or Treat!

My boys got to go trick or treating with their cousins last night.  I didn't manage to get pics of the girls, unfortunately, but here are my crew:

Vampire Alex

Ajay, the Reading Robot

Aren, the lion who says "rrrrrr"