Matthew's school party

Lucky for me Matthew's party was the following day after Hunter's so I was able to go to both. The bad part was that because I'm the class mom for his class and I had put all the activities together, I didn't get much time to take pictures...

We had a great party though! We made bracelets, necklaces, color your own pins, decorate your goody bags, monster hands, decorated cookies...and that was just one part of the party. The other part we did games. We had a pumpkin toss, a game where they had to use a straw to suck up items to put into the witches brew, an eyeball relay race, a spider toss, and pictionary. We had a great time and all the kids were just so sweet and so happy, it made all the nights of lost sleep well worth it. Why I would lose sleep over a 2nd grade party is beyond me...I guess because I have so many other things going on too or maybe the stress of being the classroom mom...that's a whole new thing for me. But as anyone knows...I do love to plan parties! I think the party was a great success and I'm looking forward to planning the next one as well!

Hunter's Halloween Party at school

Hunter's class had a Halloween party and I just felt that it would be best if I went with all the allergy issues, not to mention I wanted to be there to join in all the fun. They had a wonderful party with lots of goodies, the teachers and parents did a great job! They started off with lunch, the kids all had pizza and I took Hunter a kid's meal from Burger King. It was so funny because all the boys sat at one table and all the girls at the other...and which table do you think Hunter sat at? Yep, my little ladie's man sat at the head of the girl's table of course...he's such a little flirt! After lunch they went to the room where they had cookie decorating (I had made Hunter a cookie that he could have and felt really bad because his cookie was so much bigger than all the others...oops, I guess being allergy different does have it's perks too right?). They made monster hands from candy corn and popcorn...of course I had to bring him his own because he can only have kettle corn. They decorated pumpkins, had face painting and played games...it was a great time! He never really seems to care about the allergies and being different and has never questioned it at all...if you tell him he can't have it he just goes on his way, he's never cried or thrown a fit...that's just really cool, he's a really cool kid! But it was so funny because I had told him I brought all his own stuff but at each activity he would yell across the room "mom, am I allergic?" Ha! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that for their 'costumes' they each got to decorate a hat of their choice for whatever they wanted to be...Hunter was a mailman, it was very cute.

Sliderz fun

We had a late birthday party for the boys...so late in fact that Hunter thought he was already turning 6. Oh well, better late than never I say, my life motto for sure! So we decided to do a combo party for them and we reserved the entire facility of Sliderz. Sliderz is a large warehouse type place that has all these inflatable slides and moon bounces inside, it is sooooo much fun! Hunter is afraid of heights so I'm forced (yeah right) to slide with him. I think I was a bigger kid there than all the kids combined. We had a great time and they had a lot of friends show up to help celebrate. After sliding, jumping and bouncing for an hour and a half they had worked up an appetite so they had pizza (hot dog for Hunter), chips, soda and then cupcakes. Matthew had picked out a Sponge Bob cupcake cake and Hunter got Spider Man. So Matthew is 8 now and Hunter is 5...where has the time gone?! They're growing up way too fast!

Carol's Retirement

Carol, Sean's mom for those of you who don't know...has worked for SAIC for 28 years now and she finally decided to retire. I can't tell you how many times I must have told her how jealous I was...oh if I could only win the lottery I'd join her. ha! I'm sure she'll be just as busy in retirement as she was working because she's been taking courses to become a certified property management specialist and plans to open her own business doing that. She did all that kind of work for SAIC when she was in the VA office so I know she'll be great at it. The smart thing though, she decided to take off from now until the end of the holidays...good for her! We wish her the very best for a happy and relaxing retirement! Here are a couple of pictures, one of her with Sean and Rick and the other of her with her husband Patrick.

Happy birthday to Nana

We had a full day of celebration for my mom's birthday. It started off with lunch with the girls (Mom, Uli, Mel, Carol, Janet, Sis, Linda and me) at Red Lobster. I wasn't so sure Sis was going to make it since she had a Halloween Party the night before, hence why we had to schedule lunch at 2PM. She made it though to our surprise, I'm not going to say she was feeling great, but she made it that's all that counts. We had a great lunch and then went home where the kids had 2 cakes waiting to celebrate. Matthew and Hunter had gone that morning to pick out a gift for mom, and to my surprise they wanted to get her a bike of all things. I would have never thought of it but sounded like a great idea since the weather here is so nice and there's bike paths all through our neighborhood. But they got her the beach cruiser kind with the cushy seat and big handlebars. So they were so excited to surprise her and as soon as we came in Kenzie starts giving hints as to what the gift is and then Keegan walks up and says "Nana, can I see your new bike now?" What a bummer! I couldn't believe he told the surprise and boy was Hunter mad about it....so at that point we went ahead and let her open her gifts and then we ate cake. I think she had a very good birthday, even if the surprise was a little bit blown...she still didn't know what kind or what color right? Ha!

The Nick Hotel

All the boys asked for as a birthday present was to go stay at the Nick Hotel...so that's what we did. We ended up taking Makenzie with us too...it was a great time! Hunter didn't want to go because he was so freaked out about the slime factor for some reason and kept asking all the way there if he was going to get slimed. That's all he worried about and kept asking about over and over again. They had an awesome water park there with slides, putt-putt, our room had 2 bedrooms (one king size bed and bunk beds) along with a living room, they had arts and crafts for the kids, shows and Hunter's favorite...characters. It was a great time but again a bit too hectic for me so if we have to wait another year to go back that'll be okay with me, I was exhausted by the time we got home...not a place to go and relax, that's for sure! I did get dragged out of the audience during one of the shows by the way, and Hunter blew a gasket! He cried so hard and Sean was holding him and he just kept crying saying "mom's going to get slimed". Fortunately for me I won the race against one of the dads but the kid on my team apparently just isn't as good at putting socks on with one hand so he got a pie in the face...sorry about his luck. I was so glad not to get pie or slimed, Hunter would have really had a complete meltdown then. Ha! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Angeliqua (from the Rugrats) chased Matthew all around the place because he wouldn't take a picture with her...she kept trying to sneak up and get one, but she's just not fast enough.

Matt's birthday brownie...yummy!

We went to Gators for dinner (one of our new favorite places for dinner) and to have a sort or mini-birthday celebration for Matthew. It was his birthday after all, but we had other activities planned and you'll see posts on those as well. Can I just pause for a moment though and tell you what a shocker it is to me though that Matthew's already 8....where does the time go? We must be having a lot of fun!

Sean's new car

Yeah right! Okay, so it doesn't hurt to dream right? But if I ever win the lottery then maybe, just maybe he might get one of those...until then, he'll just race around in the minivan pretending it's an awesome, red, shiny, fast, sports car! Boys will be boys though and always stop to check out the fancy cars...it must just be male instinct, I won't even pretend to understand it. ha!

Octoberfest!

We celebrated our German friends at Octoberfest in Avalon. They had rides, music, a beer garden and even a rootbeer garden for the kids. It was a fun time with friends, though I must admit a bit too crowded and hectic for me. I had a good time but was very excited when everyone decided to go to Gartors for dinner rather than sticking around all the crowds. Here are some pictures from the activities of the night.

What a group of characters

You just never know who you'll find running around Universal Studios. We have passes now so we seem to go quite often. Hunter just can't get enough of meeting the characters, that's by far his favorite part of any park. He likes the shows too....Matthew is all about the rides! Our favorite ride at Universal is the Jimmy Neutron ride, but of course I get sick so once is my limit...I typically hang out in Bikini Bottom with Sponge Bob and wait for the boys to ride again.

Hunter at school

Hunter got to be the candle lighter at school for chapel. I was so worried that he wouldn't do it, but he walked down the isle carrying it so proud, stood in front while everyone sang, lit the candle and then when they gave him the sign to go to his seat....he burst into tears and came running to me. You could see he was a little nervous but he did such a great job! Then when it was time for him to go back up to put the candle out, he went up trying so hard to fight back his tears and then he just started sobbing, but he did go up and do his job tears and all. I think he knew it was almost the end of chapel and he crys every single time they sing the good-bye song. So his teacher has asked that we not attend chapel anymore becuase it makes Hunter too sad when we leave and he has to go back to class. I've been kicked out of a lot of places but was devistated being kicked out of chapel. Ha! Here are some pictures from his big candle lighting day and my last chapel....I hope he adjusts so I can start going back, she thinks maybe by the Thanksgiving show I'll 'be allowed back'. Ha!

Our newest pet...introducing, Fish

The funniest thing happened, I was talking to my sister and our friend Linda because Keegan's fish had died and within the conversation I was bragging about not having any pets and Linda specifically says "not even a fish" and I said "no". I go home immediately after that conversation and Sean walked in about 15 minutes behind me (because he got a ride home from work with Rick) and as soon as he walks in the door he says "boys, I have a surprise for you"....yep, in came Fish! I couldn't even believe it...the very day I proudly said "we have no pets..." We do love him though, he's really cool even for a fish. He dances if you play music, I'm not even kidding and he jumps up and begs when he sees the food, almost like a dog....it's so odd!

We couldn't agree on a name for him because Hunter wanted to name him "Teacher", Matthew wanted to name him "Gill" and I wanted to name him "General" and so we just call him Fish.

Elmo came to town

I woke up one morning and was surfing the Internet and ran across the Sesame Street Live and saw they were in town...so I asked Hunter if he wanted to go and he very excitedly said yes. So we had to hurry since the show stared in about an hour and we hadn't even gotten tickets. So I called Sis to see if she and Keegan wanted to go and they did so off we went....well, we did have to wait about 10 minutes on her apparently she has a lot to learn about being sporadic. But of course when we got there the 'cheap seats' were all gone and all that was left was the very front and center. At that point we were committed because the car had already been parked and the kids were both very excited...it turned out great! We would have never paid that amount for the tickets unless we were forced into it like that and I'm glad we were, we literally had the best seats in the house so it was well worth it. The boys both danced around, ate cotton candy and had a great time dancing and getting to actually touch the characters as they came off stage. At the end of the show there were streamers flying everywhere and Hunter and Keegan raced around like mad men to pick them all up to take home. It was a very good show but hasn't changed a bit since we took the older kids about 6 years ago.

Girl's night

It's Bunco Baby...girl's night at my house...my turn to host the "Dice Diva's". Yeah, so we've gotten into this dice game now and what a blast! How could I have never done this before? We each bring an appetizer, $5, and drinks and hang out, chat and play bunco. We have prizes for the biggest loser, the dice diva (most number of bunco's) and the biggest winner...the rest of us just got to sport our bling.

tooth #4

Matthew is getting geared up for Halloween and put on his best Jack-O-Lantern face. Ha!

This makes tooth number 4 missing, and as you can tell he gets a huge kick out of putting his tongue in the empty space. He's such a goof!

YIKES!

We've discovered many creatures and critters as FL residents....I guess that's the price you pay for no snow. But we've seen snakes (even in our yard), lizards, grasshoppers the size of a small kitten, frogs, wild pigs that look like bears, and many other things I can't even describe....

But here is our "pet frog" as the boys call him that lives on our light post on the house. He's there a lot of times and as Matthew found out he can jump very far and is not afraid to land just shy of a person's head. ha! Just wanted to post this for your viewing pleasure...

Some of Hunter's birthday fun

Okay, so because Hunter's birthday didn't get celebrated on the real day, he actually got several celebrations to make up for it. I had made him a cake of his very own that he could actually eat and so we just took it to my sister's house where there's always a ton of kids so we could share it with all our friends. So it wasn't a party but there was sugar involved so it was good enough. ha!

Matt's 1st and we hope last hospital stay

So of all day's for Matthew to make his hospital debut it was on Hunter's birthday...so needless to say we missed his birthday really. Thankfully, Aunt Sissy and Grammy came to visit and stayed with Matthew long enough so we could take dinner to Hunter to celebrate...he's easy, Burger King it was! ha!
So we had gone to the doctor the morning of 9/6 because Matthew was still sick with a very high fever for 6 full days now, not getting better on the antibiotics and was just miserable. So we went in to the doctor and she suspected he had Kawasaki's Disease and sent him straight to the hospital. Not at all what I had expected, I was thinking we'd just get another antibiotic and be on our way. So I was, of course, a little freaked out but called Sean and he met us at home to pack and head out to Arnold Palmer. It was a short drive, only about 20 minutes and we were there. I can honestly say that the staff and the hospital itself was incredible! Not that I ever want to go back, but at least I know we have one of the very best children's hospitals available if we ever need it. So he was admitted and sent to his room where he immediately started asking for ice cream. This place was like a resort to him...other than the fact he had to have tests and iv's. But they brought him a Game Cube to his room, a Playstation, he had room service 24/7, his own TV with remote, the adjustable bed that he played with almost as much as the games, and the best of all....a help yourself fridge and freezer with all the jello, pudding and chocolate ice cream he wanted. I wasn't sure we'd get him to leave that place when they released him...
I was joking and told him that I hoped they didn't charge us per cup of ice cream or we'd have to take on additional jobs to pay that bill...I think he had to have eaten at least 10 cups! But remember...his doctor said "be sure to eat lots of ice cream in the hospital and get better." He takes everything to heart, especially when there's chocolate and/or ice cream involved...he's his mommy's boy for sure. ha! So here are some pictures of us snuggling in his bed that was quite cozy for the 2 of us...poor Sean got stuck on the fold out cot. Then we had to get a picture of him and "his girlfriend Ivy", he took her on his many trips to the freezer, and the last picture was on our way home...it was such a cool hospital, very secure and believe it or not, the entrance into the elevators was a huge castle and there were Disney characters all over the place...very cool!

Sean's birthday

We celebrated Sean's birthday at Boardwalk Bowl with friends and family. Unfortunately, the boys were too sick to make it to the party so rather than canceling mom stayed home with them so we could still go. We had a lot of fun, with some friendly competition....it was friendly anyway until Rick broke out the wrist guard then you knew it was getting serious. ha! We had a great time but it would have been much better if the boys could have been there with us. They did feel good enough to celebrate with cake, cup cakes and gifts when we got home though...nothing can keep them from sugar!

I'm back!

Okay, so I guess you've noticed that there hasn't been a post since right before Labor Day. Well, I'm going to start back from that point and move forward with many posts to update you on what we've been doing in that time span. It all started when we went to the Marriott for Labor Day weekend to visit with our friends (John, Liz, Lucas and Noah) that were here from VA and as we were at Downtown Disney having fun...Matthew got sick...very, very sick! We took him to the Urgent Care near Disney where he had a fever of 104! They diagnosed him with just a virus and didn't give him anything other than Tylenol and sent him home...this was on Saturday. So we dropped him at home with mom and went on back to the Marriott to hang out. Later that night Hunter ended up getting sick...very, very sick. I guess I should back up a little bit and tell you this is the very Marriott where all the kids were sick on the 4th of July with Strep Throat. So anyway, we took Hunter home at 2:30am throwing up and high fever, but we figured he probably just had the same virus so we didn't even take him to the doctor. Well on Monday, Matthew wasn't any better, as a matter of fact he was worse...so we took him back to Urgent Care. They discovered then that he had strep throat and though Hunter was acting 100% better, we took him in too so that they could test him and of course it came back positive. So they both had strep throat but at least they were on antibiotics. Some a few days later....still not better and Hunter had gotten worse again. But at this point the holiday and weekend were finally over so we could take them to see their own doctor...she's the best by the way! At that point each of them were put on yet another antibiotic. Matthew a couple of days later still wasn't any better so I took him back again to his doctor where he was diagnosed with Kawasaki's Disease and sent to Arnold Palmer Hospital and as we were walking out her words to him were "eat lots of ice cream at the hospital to get better." He heard those words and lived by them, the only directions I've ever seen him follow to an exact point! Ha! So anyway, after many doctors, prescriptions, specialists, and now bills....they are all better, back in school and we've all recovered and regrouped and that's where this blog comes back into action. (I'm knocking on wood the entire time I typed that last sentence because I don't want to blow it that we've managed to stay away from doctors almost a full 3 weeks now.) So anyway....I'm going to start from around Labor Day on my posts and just post and post and post until I'm up to date.
Until my next post (in about 30 seconds)....
Ang

Hunter had his first take home project this past weekend, it was bringing the class dolphin "Dolly" home. We had a very fun-filled weekend though I was really hoping for rain so I would be more inclined to stay inside and get some things done around my house....no such luck in the sunshine state though. Friday was sort of a lounge around day though after getting home from work because it was raining and so I started to unpack my scrapbook stuff. Matthew had gone over to my sister's house for pizza with mom, Sean had gone to his fantasy football draft night, so Hunter and I stayed home and unpacked scrapbook stuff but got too side-tracked looking at all the pictures. Saturday we had lunch with Carol, did some swimming, had friends over for cards that night and the boys had an indoor camp out. We had put up a tent to let them play and have a camp out sleepover, and made cupcakes for them to decorate...guess I really should have thought that through more before feeding 4 boys that much sugar. Ha! But they had a good time and we had fun playing cards, so it was all good. Sunday we did actually spend a little bit of time shopping for some new pictures for the house because there are some really big walls....of course by the time we got to the store neither of us could remember what color anything was so it wasn't really that productive of a shopping spree. Then we went to Don Pablo's to meet some of our friends for dinner (the Lopez and Chase families). We had a great time with them and the kids spent most of their time watching the people cook tortillas and throwing pennies in the fountain that didn't have a drop of water in it. The good thing with that is that once we ran out of pennies they just reached in and grabbed some back out and threw them all in again.

So anyway, here are some pictures from Hunter's weekend with Dolly Dolphin...he had her dressed up in his costumes and everything...he really loved that little dolphin and he was so excited that she picked him to go home with first!