A White October

When I left home this morning, it was raining and sleeting, with a few snow flurries. I dropped Isaac off at preschool and then went to Michael's to pick up some craft supplies for Katherine's Halloween party. I shopped for about an hour or so and walked out into a blizzard. I mean heavy snow! The weather report hadn't predicted snow - only rain.

When I got to my car, there was a light on indicating low tire pressure in the rear passenger tire, but the tire looked fine so I decided to try to make it to Isaac's preschool before going to the tire shop. Scott was way off in Indianapolis, so he couldn't get Isaac for me. I drove through heavy snow and sleet, hoping not to slide off the road or have a blowout. It didn't help that, less than a mile from Isaac's school, the road had flooded and I had to detour another 4 miles out of the way. I finally made it to his school and we made it safely to the tire shop.

But when we left the tire shop the weather and road conditions were even worse. Traffic lights were out, and when we got home, we didn't have any electricity.

The electricity finally came back on and my fingers have thawed out, so I can now report our earliest snow since we've lived here. The updated weather report, given after the fact, said that we got 3 inches. Three inches of snow, three days before Halloween. Trick... or treat?

Fun Fall

We are complete again! Dylan is back from spending the weekend at a camp in New York. It's just not the same without everyone here, and I especially did not enjoy being so disconnected from her. I spent all day Saturday thinking about her and repeating, "No news is good news." Which proved to be true. She had a great time despite it raining on them for most of the trip.

I wanted to get some fall pictures of the kids because the trees have been beautiful. But the weekends have been so full that I actually couldn't get us all together at once! So this is it for this year - a few pictures taken in our front yard last Sunday.

Our Sweet Girl

Katherine was upset when she came home from school yesterday. Another little girl in her class had brought 4 snow globes from home from her prized collection for "sharing" time. While getting her coat from her cubby, she knocked the box of snow globes to the floor and they all broke. That poor little girl was devastated and in tears.

Without a second thought, Katherine went up to her room, picked out one of her own snow globes, wrapped it up nicely, and took it to school with her today to try to help that other little girl feel better. She has such a caring heart for others. More than any other, this is the trait that I love and admire most about her.

That Time Again

It is 27 degrees outside right now! BRRRR!!!!

Guilty Pleasures and Insomnia

In the summer, it was sweetened condensed milk. I could open a can and eat it in one sitting. I never had the nerve to look and see how many calories or grams of fat I was consuming. Let's just not go there.

Now that fall is here, it's everything caramel. I can't get enough of it. As far as candy goes, I'm pretty much hooked on Werther's Originals. I just can't decide which I like best. The soft, chewy ones are truly my favorite. But I can eat about 20 of them at once. So I guess I should stick with the hard ones. They last longer, therefore I don't consume as many.

These are the things I ponder at 1:00 a.m. when I can't sleep.

A Bad Boy

As a mom, and as a former teacher, I know that look. So when I showed up to get Isaac yesterday at preschool, I recognized that look and I wanted to find a place to hide. The teacher saw me arrive and made her way to me with that look that says that she's got something to tell me...and it ain't good.

Seems that Mr. Isaac took it upon himself to sneak out of the classroom and get in some extra time at the playground. Seems that this is the first time in 15 years that a child has managed to do this in Mrs. Goodman's class. (Her words, not mine.)

Whaddya gonna do?

Boy Wonder

Life with Isaac... Never a dull moment. Right now, everything either goes fast and crashes (loud, slobbery sound effects included), becomes a weapon (I gonna git-chu!), or has super powers (the new favorite, Keeta-bowl-huck, AKA Incredible Hulk).

Yes, he has a vivid imagination. And he is stubborn. Both of which explain why I'm not concerned that he wears a potty on his head when he's being a robot. You see, it's a clean potty. Never been used. At least not in the manner in which it was intended.

Dylan

I had a big scare yesterday when Dylan had an asthma attack. After she was diagnosed with asthma last year, it's never been a big issue because she only had some exercise induced coughing. But that has all changed now.

The girls happened to be out of school yesterday when it happened. It started with a severe coughing fit. Then she couldn't take in air and her face got puffy and red. When her lips turned blue, it scared me to death!! I had a nebulizer here that she had never used. We used that and things went from bad to worse. She broke out in hives, and the doctor, who was on the phone, had me standing by with the epipen, which we've also never had to use. Thankfully, she responded to benadryl and I didn't have to use the epipen.

Talk about a nerve racking moment. I'm still shaking today.

Apples

We went to pick apples on Saturday and got a little carried away. We came home with over 20 pounds!

There's, um, apple kebabs, apple creole, apple gumbo, pan fried, deep fried...

Maybe not. But I've got to come up with something more than just baking a pie or two.

Trip to the Farm

I'm back from my unplanned break. No excuse - just busy with life and sick kids - one after another.

Today, Isaac had his very first field trip! His class went to a farm to see the animals and pick some pumpkins. It's the third largest dairy supplier in NJ, so there were lots of cows. (I guess you would call them Jersey cows. Ha! Ha!)