Two Dollars Well Spent

I found this exercise Elmo at a Consignment Sale for $2. Noel loves Elmo and that is actually one of his most clear words. I had even contemplated purchasing an Elmo live, but felt like he might be too young to get enough out of it. Anyhoo, I brought this home and when Elmo started to sing little Noel's face lit up like the real thing had moved in. That was pretty cute but the best thing was the sight of him holding Elmo's "hand" and dragging him down the hallway like a little playmate. Welcome to the family Elmo!

15 months old today

Mr. Big Stuff's personality is really starting to come through, and boy is he stubborn! His favorite activity of late is finding the donkey in his farm animal book and barking. No matter how many times we say donkey and make the donkey sound he will bark. It is almost as though we have an animal sound argument. He will not eat any vegetables and manages to find them even when they are camoflaged in other foods. Yep, another strong willed young man on my hands. Nevertheless, he is just an absolute joy, and we look forward the next milestones and misadventures.

Silent Saturday

Noel cleans the refrigerator.

He Shoots...

He Scores!!! Chase scored his first goal at the first soccer game of the Spring season. He actually scored 2 goals, but one was for the other team. He came within inches of scoring several times in the fall, but never quite made it.

I was ecstatic. Chris said he thought I was going to run out on to the field. I have to admit...I got chill bumps and teared up. I was so proud of him. When I tucked him in a few minutes ago I asked him if he could hear me cheering. He said yes, and then I asked him if he was embarrassed. He said not too much but he was trying not to smile and that made it harder. Good thing I wasn't trying that because it would have been totally impossible.

Minor Chaseism

Tonight Chase was inspecting the food I had set aside for the food drive going on at his school. He came to a muffin mix and pulled it out laughing a little condescendingly. "Mom, why did you put this in here? I don't really think poor people have ovens." Chris and I tried to convince him that in most cases they do, but I am not sure he believed us.

Woo Hoo!

We are feeling better! Thus the smiles in this picture.

And in Noel's case the food from dinner which he actually ate but also made it on his shirt.

Noelly has it too

Yes, he is just as pitiful as he looks.

Mystery Diagnosis

The patient: Chase, age 7
The symptoms: Back pain when active, paleness, cough when he first woke up, asking to take (and taking) a nap for the first time in his life
The diagnosis: Strep Throat????

Yes, over the weekend Chase would stop his wild banshee actions to complain that his back hurt. He would then stop that particulart action and do something else. I thought it was a little odd but decided to just keep an eye on it. Sunday afternoon after playing at the park with friends from church he asked to take a nap. This was a huge red flag. Literally, every nap that child has ever taken has been a battle of wills between he and whomever tried to impose it.

I told Chris I was going to take him to the doctor and the entire time my mind was thinking it was something bizarre or I was totally over-reacting. I was really leaning toward the latter and thought the doctor would think I was a nut case, but my gut told me he just wasn't quite right. I sent him on to school, however, and made an appointment for late that afternoon.

We proceeded to sit in the well waiting room because in my mind we were there for bizarre, unexplained back pain, and I didn't want to pick up some other ailment. Immediately after listening to Chase breathe, our trusty Pediatrician did a strep test. She explained to me that Strep has a certain smell and she caught a whiff right away. He was, of course, positive. I was shocked. He had not run a fever or complained of a sore throat. I had sent him to church, Sunday school, the park with friends, regular school, and sat him in the well waiting room. I felt like "Typhoid Mary" from the history books. Our family has single handedly spread strep across three counties.

So, accept my advance apology if your child has crossed our path. We aren't sure if the back pain was associated with the strep or just an odd coincidence, and I will continue to monitor that. The doctor did say she had strep a few weeks ago and her back really hurt. Now I am just watching and waiting for Noel to exhibit his own weird symptoms, but maybe he will mysteriously escape the germs the same way Chase mysteriously presented them.

Across the Frozen Tundra

Let me begin this post by saying I will never again pray for, wish for, or revel in snow without saying a hearty prayer for those trying to travel in it. We went to Augusta this weekend to celebrate our God daughter's fourth birthday.(As usual, I forgot my camera.) We had a great time though the weather was cold and rainy. We had heard a rumor of snow so we checked the weather before we left and saw there was a Winter Weather Advisory. There was no snow where we were nor, where we were headed, so on we went.
This picture from the Athens Banner Herald is a dream compared to the conditions we drove through, as our route home is on a very rural state highway.




The normal three hour trip home took us six hours and for the majority of it we were praying. I have never seen such snow fall in my very southern life. At one point, which on a normal day would have been an hour from home, I called my dad to put he, and his 4 wheel drive truck, on standby to come get the kids because I literally thought we might be stranded on the side of the road. I think he thought I was nuts because the first flake had not fallen in our town, and I thought he was messing with my head because it felt like we were driving in Alaska.


Alas, we finally began to drive into some rain/snow mix and were able to pull off at a gas station. Noel, who thankfully had slept pretty much the entire trip, got out and started pointing at the falling snow as if to say, are you guys seeing what I am seeing? He missed all the excitement. Chase was not so fortunate. When I had to break it to him that there was no snow at our house , he said that was fine with him, he had had enough snow for one day.