It has been hard getting to school on time this week. We had our first snowfall and the kids wanted to walk to school in it. That would be fine if I could just keep them from eating it all along the way. There wasn’t much snow either, just a nice little dusting to cover up the germs lurking beneath. I could hardly keep from gagging just watching them do it.

So given their fascination, I wasn’t surprised to open the freezer yesterday to find a ball of ice that Babe-o’s was saving. It was so small you couldn’t really call it a snowball. I threw it out when she wasn’t looking because I knew she was going to want to eat it.  And she was not very happy about it when she found out.

But I was surprised tonight when I opened the freezer to get their dinner going and the ENTIRE base of her snowman- sticks, leaves, dirt and all came tumbling out!

We recently let a stranger into our home at 6:30 am to take our blood, among other things, for our life insurance physicals.  We decided that we should probably look at our policies since the last time we did, we only had one child…and also in light of my friend T. losing her husband at 41 young years of age.

I volunteered to go first answering questions and then having all the routine tests done. The needle did not hurt one bit even though my husband was making a face at me like it should. Then the lady (she was not even a nurse) tells him the only reason I volunteered to go first was because I wanted to be the first one to get to drink coffee. I denied that but actually it was true.

Our fourth grader was the first one awake and he thought it was cool to see the vials of blood among other things on the kitchen table until he realized they were in his breakfast spot.

We had a great Thanksgiving at my brother’s house and he made two turkeys! One was the traditional roasted while the other he smoked on the grill.  Although sad to say, Babe-o’s only ate cranberries and a bun with butter.

The day after Thanksgiving the boys went to watch football while the girls went to the Cincinnati Art Museum. They have a mummy on display that Ham wanted to see and a jewelry exhibit for the moms.

We came to a balcony that overlooked the main foyer which has a beautiful Dale Chihuly glass chandelier.  As I was showing the girls and explaining how special this was and how I had met and interviewed him they started snickering. What was so funny? Right below the chandelier was a bust which had its backside to us and they pointed out the “two buns with the crack in the middle!”  So much for a little culture.

Nothing good will happen if you put some eggs on to boil and then go to the computer to work on your Christmas card. Well… I got our card done and it has shipped but I forgot about the eggs and an hour later the water had disappeared and the eggs were ready to explode. The smell was not good either.

Then, a day later I discovered that while that was going on, Babe-o’s was in my office upstairs keeping herself busy. I found this strange white powder all over my desk and the floor. Then I realized that she had gotten into the box of ashes from our dear dog Joe! She opened the box and the bag of ashes and was playing in it like sand. I just had to vacuum him up!  I haven’t had the heart to tell the rest of the family.

My fourth grader is required to read for 30 minutes every night. He doesn’t always go for this but I’m wondering if doing Mad Libs count? Afterall, it involves reading and a quick review of nouns, adjectives and adverbs.   I miss the days of reading to him and it sure helps me to stay awake since I’ve been known to fall asleep in his bunk bed.  He thinks these are especially funny if you use words like toilet, underwear or any sort of bodily function. 

I just picked up a pack of them for our Thanksgiving road-trip…fun for the whole family!  

Everyone is feeling better and is more talkative.  Yesterday Babe-o’s asked me if I could “catch a coconut falling from the sky.”  Hmmm. She asked an easier one later- “Does tomorrow come after this day?”  I don’t know what she is thinking about in that car-seat, but we have our best conversations in the car. 

My fourth grader has much harder questions which mostly involve math. Since when did “*” replace the “X” in multiplication problems? I tried to help him tonight with his homework but honestly, I could barely do the math. And when I try to explain it to him none of the terms are the same. They’ve changed “borrowing” to “trading” in subtraction among other things. Then he asked me if I could give him a baby brother so he could have someone other than his sisters to play with.  That one I could answer.  I told him to go ask his dad.

I had hoped to recap Halloween but got side tracked by a house full of sick people.  Just a quick observation and then on to the evidence. The school Halloween party was a big success and no one missed the goody bags. The kids had fun wrapping each other up like mummies with toilet paper.  We were blessed with a beautiful night for trick-or-treating but why is it the kids run from house to house like it is a fire drill?  They don’t even come out to the side-walk in between houses they just cut through the bushes.  By the end of the night they looked like they had been on a hay ride.  My husband and I could hardly keep up.

Now on to the evidence. When things are not going well in your house do you ever look outside to make sure life is still going on? First Ham went down on Sunday, then her brother (who I thought was faking at first) and then my poor husband who has not been sick in 12 years.  He never complains but I knew when he turned the heat up to 80 he must have the chills. I was so thankful that Babe-o’s was okay (until Thursday) and glad that God has a sense of humor and is keeping me healthy so I can take care of everyone.

I just wish I had stock-piled more than toilet paper (for the mummy game) and paper towels- although those came in handy when the vomiting started.  How are things in your house?

Why is it that if you are having 20 people over for dinner that will be the moment when your child has an accident? Poor, poor babe-o’s had a run-in with our coffee table and there was blood coming out of her nose and mouth and all over the rug. I of course  always fear the worst (her nose is broken and her teeth are knocked out) and think we should rush to the e.r. while thankfully my husband is more cautious and wants to wait and see. I eventually put her to bed and this morning realized we needed to take a trip to the doctor. 

And why does everyone stand in the kitchen at a party? There could be a perfectly nice room a few steps away and everyone will stay crammed in the kitchen.  Also, why do the people bringing an appetizer show up late while the dessert people are the first to arrive? Why?

How many emails does it take to plan a 4th grade halloween party? It sounds like the set-up to a good joke but it is no laughing matter. I must have traded 50 emails with my committee members until my internet connection went out and I finally invited people over for coffee at my house. It ended up being a blessing because we planned the whole thing in an hour. 

 Now I just have 50 emails waiting for me from the other classes to discuss the menu,  gather food labels, copy and distribute them to the parents for their snack approval.  Things were easier before all these food allergies and pre H1N1 when we all just bobbed for apples sharing our saliva.  No joke, this has been harder than any job I ever had in television and the pay is even worse.  Gotta go..the internet connection is getting sketchy again.

I was chatting with Babe-o’s about her friends on the ride home from preschool. I asked her who she played with that day. Of course she mentioned the usual suspects: Isabelle and Nicole. But when I asked her if she played with any boys in the class she said, “I play with none boys mom.” I wonder how long that will last.