Trip to the ER

On Saturday Zach woke up with a 104 degree fever and said that his head hurt.  He had that fever all day and at times his head hurt so bad he had tears running down his face.  Motrin, Tylenol and even putting him in the bathtub didn't bring his fever down much so at 7:00 I put a call into his pediatrician.  After going through all the symptoms with her she then asked me how he looked and I replied "pitiful" because that's what he looked like.  She advised me to take him to the ER as a precaution in case it was meningitis (he had the fever and head pain but no stiff neck).  So off Paul, Zach and I go to the hospital. 

It's amazing how just the mention of the word meningitis gets you out of sitting in the waiting room.  We no sooner checked in at the front desk when they were calling his name to go back to triage.  He got a dose of Tylenol there after they checked his vitals and then we went to one of the exam rooms.  Of course now that he was isolated from everyone else the wait began...

After getting a flu test done and being examined by the doctor it was determined that Zach did not have meningitis (or the flu) and that he probably just had a virus.  Of course by now he was starting to act a little more like himself and Paul and I joked that they gave him magic Tylenol.  My Tylenol at home didn't produce those results!  The doctor gave Zach a popsicle... 

 And he got a slushie to take with him when we were leaving.  He told us when we got home at midnight that the trip to the hospital was fun and that he wanted to do it again tomorrow!  We had to laugh at that since that was a very expensive popsicle and slushie he just had.

Another funny thing that happened while we were there was when the nurse was writing on the board and he wrote "Fix my fever."  Zach saw it and started giggling because he thought it said "Fix my feet."  Of course I had to take a picture of the board...

And that was our exciting trip to the emergency room on a Saturday night.  Hopefully that's our last trip there too.

Thanksgiving 2011

Zach's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving feast in school that Friday before Thanksgiving, their last day of school before break.  I didn't get to go to it because I had to work but I did go visit his class in the afternoon to help serve pumpkin and apple pie to everyone.  That night for dinner he dressed up in his pilgrim outfit that he had brought home.  I love his face in this picture!

Where I work at my preschool they also do a Thanksgiving feast and our class made butter.  I've always wanted to do that with my own kids and never did, until this year. Here are Zach, Megan and Kristin shaking their cream to turn it into butter...

A bowlful of heavy whipping cream after being shaken for about 10 to 15 minutes turned into this:

Thanksgiving Day
Being that it was an odd number year we went to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner.  (I was born in an odd number year, Paul was born in an even year...that's how we remember where we're going!)  Kristin had spent the night before so she could help with the cooking.   It sounded like she was a huge help too!  Here she is posing in front of the table she set.

Lauren volunteered to make the mashed potatoes.  Something she's never done before.  She forgot to add milk to it so it was rather thick but they still tasted good.

Papaw and Paul were in the living room watching a football game while the meal was being finished.

Megan was ready for some food! 

With the stove being on it got a little hot in the house so the kids and I went outside for a little while to cool off.  Zach would swing awhile and then run around the cul-de-sac chasing his sisters.

All I can say is that my kids are weird!

When we went inside Mamaw got a puzzle for Zach to do.  He was all excited to do it until he opened it up and saw it.  It was for his age but there was no way he was going to be able to do it.  It was hard for Mamaw and me, let alone a 5-year-old!  We didn't get much done before it was time to leave.  Once again another wonderful Thanksgiving.

Take your kids to work day.

Well actually it's Veteran's Day but to me it was take your kids to work day since they were off from school and I wasn't.  Lauren, Megan and Zach all came to work with me.  I wanted Kristin to come too but I couldn't talk her into it, maybe next time.  Of course I took a few pics of them helping/playing throughout the day.

Megan and Zach playing in housekeeping.

Lauren helping out at the decorate a turkey table. 

I really should have gotten a picture of her actually helping one of the kids!  Though my picture doesn't show it she did a great job with them.

I saw Zach in the housekeeping area with one of the little girls in my class.  The little girl kept wanting him to play dolls with her.  Finally he settled on being the doctor and giving the dolls a shot.  He quickly got out of there after that!

Megan hanging out with the girls.  She likes reading to them whenever she comes in and they like it too.

It was a cold and windy day so we didn't stay outside long but we did get to enjoy a little time on the playground.  Zach loved that part, he ran all over the place. 

Zach had a good time at his old preschool and Megan seemed to have a good time too.  I'm not so sure about Lauren though, I think she thought it was boring!  After school Zach visited with his past teachers and Lauren and Megan helped with cleaning up the room.  Megan was excited to vacuum, I wish she would do more of that at home!  The next chance they have to come in with me again will be in just a little over a week for our Thanksgiving feasts.  I wonder who (if any) will come in with me then.

Kristin's #1

They did it, they won the championships for their division!!!  The game started off all official by each team member getting announced:

Then the first game started which is the one Kristin played in.  Here's a few video clips from that first game:



Kristin's serving in this one.

This last video from the first game shows them winning it.  Yay!  One game down and only one to go to be champion.



Kristin didn't play in the second game but my video moments aren't over yet.  Here are the girls as they win the second game to make them champions.



One last video of the team being given the trophy. 

How exciting!  I knew the girls could do it and it was great that each and every girl had a part in it.  They were so happy afterwards and of course we had to get a team photo with the trophy.

 

 They didn't want to leave!  I have so many pictures of them.

 Yesterday the team got together one last time to celebrate their victory with a pizza party.  One last photo op with the trophy before it gets put in the display case at Holy Angels. 





The girls had a great time being together and it was hard for them all to leave.  They all exchanged phone numbers and then finally we left.  For being such a mismatch of girls at the beginning of the season they ended being a very bonded team at the end.  



Playoffs

What a season this has been!  Kristin's team only lost one game in their regular season and have worked their way up through playoffs to the championship game.  The first round was Thursday night but since they placed first they didn't have to play in that round.  Round 2 was Friday night and they won that game and game 3 was today which they also won.  That just leaves tomorrows championship game.  How exciting!  Here's a few videos from today's game.

This one is of Kristin in the middle front hitting the ball over and winning the point.

This one is of Kristin serving 3 times in a row.  She did more but I had to stop the video since it was getting too long.

As long as the team doesn't get too nervous tomorrow I'm sure they'll win.  Go Kristin!

Happy Halloween!

We turned our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns yesterday, always a fun event.  I cut the top off of Zach's pumpkin and he started scooping out the seeds while he waited for daddy to carve the face. 

Kristin was having a little too much fun with that knife!

Lauren was super fast.  She had the top cut off, all the guts scooped out and started doing her face before anyone else. 

Megan was drawing her face first before cutting.

The older they get the easier these jack-o-lanterns become!  The girls all do their pumpkins 100% by themselves and it's just Zach that needs help with a knife. 

Posing with their finished pumpkins:

The jack-o-lanterns from left to right:  Zach, Megan, Kristin and Lauren.

So that brings us to tonight, trick-or-treating.  Zach was originally going to be a race car driver like he was last year but switched to this dinosaur costume at the last minute. 

I'm glad he chose that since it was so cold tonight.  I'm sure all the padding in that costume kept him pretty warm. 
Megan was a rocker girl and Lauren was a native american. 

Not really sure what Kristin was, she just likes to wear that wig!

Everyone but Kristin went out trick-or-treating at some point during the night.  Kristin kept saying she was too old but I saw much older kids out.  I think she just wanted to stay in where it was warm and let her siblings do all the work.  All the candy goes in the communal candy bowl and she knows that.  Why do all the work when you can get the candy for free?  Smart girl. 

Here's just part of the candy they collected.  Zach was in heaven with all that candy in front of him!

We have enough candy to last us until Valentine's Day! 

Homecoming 2011

Lauren's highschool had their homecoming dance tonight.  She's had her dress for a couple of weeks and she's had her shoes since June but the one thing she didn't have was a date!  That's really funny too since she does have a boyfriend.  (Long story!)  She had fun anyways by having a friend come over and they got ready together.  Of course I took pictures...

Yeah I know, their dresses are short and tight.  It's hard to find dresses anymore that aren't and after searching every store we could think of and spending many hours dress shopping I finally conceded in letting Lauren wear this one.  Too bad the weather didn't cooperate, she had to have been quite cold since it's been raining/snowing all day.  :)

1st Place

Kristin's volleyball team placed first in their division (for the regular season) after winning tonight's game.  Way to go Kristin!  They were in first place leading up to tonight and to keep it that way they had to win tonight against the 2nd place team.  They won the first set but lost the second set which forced them to play a third set.  It was a little iffy at first but they managed to pull out a win to win the whole game.  Kristin played all of the 1st and 3rd sets and was subbed in halfway through the 2nd set so she got a lot of playing time.  The team posed again after the game for pictures:

Playoffs are this weekend and in order to be the champs they have to win 3 games.  It wouldn't surprise me if they do it too since they've played really well together this season.  I'm not interested in cramming 3 games in next weekend but I would like to see them make it to the end.  They sure deserve it.

Spirit Week

Zach's school had spirit week this week which is always a fun thing.  Monday was hat day and Zach wore his pirate hat from a couple years ago.  I forgot to take a picture of him that day but it was just a pirate hat, use your imagination!

Tuesday was pajama day and Zach picked out these spiderman pajamas to wear.

It was very weird putting him on the bus wearing pajamas!

Wednesday was crazy hair day and at first I was a little stumped.  With the girls they would wear lots of pony tails sticking out all over but you can't really do that with a boy.  So I just spiked his hair up with about half a bottle of gel and then sprayed his hair blue.  You can't see the blue in the picture but it's there.

After seeing that picture I realize he really needs a haircut!

Today was mismatch/backwards/inside out day.  Another tough one since he always wears plain colored (black, brown, blue) pants/jeans and most of his shirts go with any color.  I managed to put together brown pants with a green shirt that had a stripe going across it and then another shirt that was blue plaid.  We added black socks with his white sneakers and that was about all I could come up with. 

After he went to school I was thinking that I should have turned the blue shirt inside out but oh well, he didn't seem to into anyway.

Tomorrow they're just celebrating the birthday of who the school is named after so no weird clothes or anything.  Kindergarten is having a fall festival though and it happens to be in the afternoon so I'll get to go in and see him.  I'm not sure what they'll be doing but hopefully it's picture worthy.

Soccer

Lauren's soccer game was in Lancaster today at 4:30.  You do know what that means right?  Go early and hit the outlets!  We really only went about an hour earlier but Lauren did get 2 pairs of jeans for $30.  That was worth stopping for.  The field was just a third of a mile away from the outlets and we ended up getting there in plenty of time. 

They started off strong and pretty much dominated the first half.  Here's a few shots of her.

With just a few minutes to go in the first half and a score of 0-0 Lauren takes the ball up the side...

Crosses it to the center...

and one of her teammates kicks it into the goal to score!  Yay!  Lauren got an assist.  So the half finishes with Lauren's team winning 1-0.

The second half was like watching a whole other game.  The other team pretty much dominated but I really think it was because Lauren's team was tired since they only had 2 subs.  The opposing team had 7 subs so they always had a fresh set of girls to go out.  So not only did the opposing team dominate they also scored 2 goals to win the game.  It was very disappointing, they really should have won that.  After the game we stopped at Fudrucker's to grab some dinner before heading home.  This was my kind of away game, lots of shopping and food choices nearby!

Volleyball

Volleyball is almost done, Kristin's second to last game was yesterday so I took a few videos of the game to share.  This first video was taken at the beginning of the game after losing about 8 straight points from the other team's server.  Kristin got this one to give her team their first point and the serve.  From then on Kristin's team dominated.

So finally it's Kristin's serve and she gets point after point after point...

This is a continuation of the above video showing where she serves and wins the game for them.  She's been doing that a lot this season.

Kristin didn't play in the second game but they won that one too.  Only one more game to go in the regular season and then possibly playoffs.

After the game they let me take a team picture since Kristin missed picture night ( I had a meeting plus I didn't know it was picture night.)  I didn't ask to take it, the coaches wanted Kristin to have it which I thought was very nice.  So here's the team minus 2 girls that didn't make it to the game. 

 And one of Kristin once we got home.

I think I'm actually going to miss volleyball when it's over.  This is Kristin's last year for this league, after this I guess it's onto highschool volleyball.  That should be interesting!



Fall Festival

Last night was our elementary school's fall festival.  We've been going to this ever since Lauren was in kindergarten so this was our 12th year.  (Last year was the only time they've ever had a winter festival instead, same concept though.)  Two tips I've learned about this event:  1) go early, parking can be a nightmare! and 2) do all the games in the gym first before it gets too crowded.  The games include a mini golf game, a guess which key opens the treasure chest, knocking down cans with a tennis balls, throwing hula hoops over a big inflatable tiki statue and of course the rock wall:

They also had face painting but Zach wasn't interested, he was however interested in the big inflatable bouncy house/slide.  That was very popular with the kids but he did end up doing it twice, once with me and once with Lauren. 

The cake walk was in the library which is the one activity that all my kids like.   One of us always ends up winning one but I got a little worried as the night wore on and no one was bringing me a cake  (they always find me and give it to me so they don't have to carry it around!)  Finally here comes Kristin with this tiny peanut butter/chocolate cake. 

But hey, a cakes a cake and we can say that we've kept our cake winning streak alive for yet another year.  The other highlight of the night is the baskets that they raffle off.  Each class is responsible for putting a basket together, for instance, Zach's class did a "Family Game Night" basket.  I sent a Hi Ho Cherry O game in that I got last year by mistake (I didn't realize that we already had it and since I got it dirt cheap I didn't want to return it.)  It was headed to the Toys for Tots bin this Christmas but instead went to Zach's class basket.  Some of the other themes were:  Disney basket, Christmas basket, Pampering Mom basket, Sports basket, etc...  We have never, I repeat, never, won a basket in all the years we've been going (and I've put tons of tickets in too.)  I was so excited when Lauren's name was announced as one of the winners!  I had no idea which one she won until later but it was the one she said she least wanted to win, the "Italian Dinner" basket:

That basket was heavy!  Inside there was of course lots of boxes of pasta, 2 jars of pasta sauce, a huge jar of different types of olives, parmesan cheese, a colander, a restaurant.com gift certificate, potholders and a recipe book.  I had to throw away the spaghetti box that expired in 2007 but everything else was keepable.  Now Lauren can make us a couple spaghetti dinners.   She was not very excited about winning it but at least the Hunter family can now say we've won a basket.  I'd like to go on a streak of winning those instead of the cakes.  Maybe with Zach being at that school now it'll change our luck!