Shorts

This is going to be a random collection of short posts, as there really hasn't been much happening around here this week.

I had hoped that last week would be the last of the sickies for awhile. Einey's fever broke and she did not end up with Hand Foot and Mouth. But then Meenie started in with something. She was cold (during the heat wave) huddled under blankets. Then hot. She had a headache and dizziness. Then vomiting. This occurred (with and without the vomit) for about five days. She's wake up fine, but by 4pm, she's be feeling ill. I took her to the doctors yesterday and the preliminary diagnosis is Lyme Disease (I pulled a tick off her the end of June). We are waiting on the blood tests results. She's already started the amoxicillian, so I'm hoping she feels better soon.

Whenever I pull a deer tick off of the girls, I draw a picture around it in bright color sharpie. This helps me to see where the spot is and watch for a rash (which she didn't get). And the kids like it as well.

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Husband goes back to work today, so it's going to be strange not having him around. He's been on vacation since July fourth. We've gotten quite a bit done, but didn't get to visit as many places as we wanted to. Still it was fun. The girls had fun, I relaxed. All was good. Three weeks until his next (and last for the year :( ) two week vacation.

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So far, I've accomplished making a few items for school. I've completed a dress and two skirts for Moe and a skirt for Meenie. Einey has her uniforms from last year still, so apart from a few odd pieces, I'm all set for her. I set out making the girls clothes because they like wearing skirts and dresses. However, many that I've found, just aren't long enough. So, I've fixed that.

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We are starting to get veggies and fruit from our garden. And it's been such a change from last year. Last year, the minute Moe say anything grow (tiny green tomatoes, bite size peppers) she picked them. This year, we've gotten three large red tomatoes, there are peppers growing quite big (and haven't been picked) and she's letting the fruits ripen. She's finally learned to wait. We didn't get as many raspberries this year as we did last year, but we got enough. The only thing Moe has been hogging is the blueberries. We've finally told her to leave some for everyone else.

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Husband and I had a kid free few hours the other night. We went shopping and not only did I get to look at stuff, I actually brought myself some stuff. And then we had some wicked good Mexican food. We'd had wanted to stop and try a certain restaurant for awhile but just never had time. It was excellent. Husband is already talking about the next time we go.

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I've started to plan our annual back to school bash. Not sure what activities I'm going to do this year. Last years school supply scavenger hunt was a hit, but we invited more friends (some kids for everyone to play with) this year. I'm open to ideas.

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A few days of our vacation found us traipsing around cemeteries. We were following some letterboxing clues and the kids didn't want to hike. They wanted to visit cemeteries. They LOVE doing this and always ask when we drive by cemeteries if we can stop and look around. One of the great things about living in New England is to old headstones you can find. The oldest we've found on our visits are from mid 1700's (I know, not old by most standards, but older than our nation as it is).

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I've posted one of our secret spaces over here today. Stop by and see where it is. If your looking for other secret spaces in New England, be sure to read some of the old posts and check back everyday until the end of the month. We're all posting our secret spaces in New England and there are prizes!

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And I'll leave you with the number one reason that you'll be safe swimming with us.

Moe: "Mommy, I have to pee. Really, really bad."
Me: Looks to dingy port a potty that I know she'll turn and run from the minute we walk to it "Just go in the water"
Moe: Horrified "Nooooooooooo. The water will turn all yellow. Eww. Yuck -eee"

In the end, we walked to the port a potty, which she turned and ran from. Only to walk back up 5 minutes later when she really, really had to go. Only for her to try and run from. Only I had to hold her over the pot.

The next swim day - she tried the same thing with Husband, almost the exact conversation. He tried to take her up there, she came running back down and headed straight for........................

................... the water snake slithering by. I jumped up, calling her name and grabbing her arm. All the while telling Meenie who was in the water on the other side of the snake to STAY WHERE SHE WAS. I wasn't trying to cause a panic, I just wanted the girls to stay away as it made it's way from one side of the lake to the other. But then one of the lifeguards came running. And Husband was trying to help it continue it's journey. I think the lifeguard was trying to show-off. He grabbed it and threw it on the sand and then started throwing stuff (cinder blocks) at it. Not cool. It would have been fine once it made it to the reeds on the other side. Einey looked up from her sand castle to say "It's just a snake".

Oh, and then I had to walk back up and hold her over the potty. I wish she'd just pee in the lake.