Turning 6!

Barbie & the Diamond Castle took over our lives this past weekend as Carmen celebrated her 6th birthday. It was a coming of age for her as she was able to take treats to school and had her very 1st ‘Friend’ party. On Thursday she started running a temp but she managed to muscle a little energy out to go to the store to pick out her treats—Barbie fruit snacks, a pack of gum and a sucker! Friday was her ‘real’ birthday and she woke up fine and all excited to go to school to celebrate. Well about 1:30 I get a call from school saying she’s running a fever and needs to be picked up. What a bummer—we felt horrible for her to get sick on her birthday! And she was miserable too…she came home and pretty much laid in bed or on the couch most of the night. We had big plans to attend a movie at school but we all skipped that and watched the Barbie movie at home and let her open gifts from family. One neat thing is is that when Triston came home from school he came running in the house trying to find her…he finds her in bed…she’s sleeping…he comes back and he is in tears! He is so upset that she is sick on her birthday and how is she going to have a good time and do all the stuff we had planned!! You see the two of them are true brother & sister! They fight ALL the time & act like they totally hate the other so it’s neat to see those moments where their true feelings come out about each other. On Saturday we were to go to Omaha to pick up a girlfriend of Carmen’s and bring her for the weekend. To make a long story short, she wasn’t running a fever in the morning when we left for Omaha but by the time we got back it was up to 103 and she was miserable all over again. There were also about 10 other kids at our house when we returned (Husker party being held without us there) so our house was quite chaotic to say the least. When her fever wouldn’t go away I began having the guilty mom feelings like I should have postponed her birthday weekend all together and what if she has something more serious and is getting all these other kids sick! So we made a hospital run and had the lab do a throat swab—which came back negative for Strep and it was just a viral infection. That was a stress off my shoulders! It seemed like once we left the hospital she was a different kid- running, jumping, playing! All was well…we had her friend party at the bowling alley the next day with her girlfriends, some cake, presents, face painting and little Barbie Bingo. My mom made her a beautiful Barbie cake which cost her under $5 where Hy-Vee wanted $44! My sister-in-law Natalie did some awesome face painting. What a talented family I have! So Carmen is finally 6 and the weekend is over…we were all exhausted!

Now the kicker to all of this is that on Tuesday I get a call from the Doctor’s office telling me NOW that Carmen’s swab tested positive for Strep Throat! It would have been nice to know that it was still a possibility. I talked to the nurse I work with and she said sometimes that happens as the initial test they do is just a quick test & then they let the culture grow for a few days and it comes out as a positive. So she is now on antibiotics and feeling normal and I had to go apologize to the mom’s of all the girls in hope that they don’t get it now! Geesh!!!

By the way…Happy Halloween!!

Memory Loss Meme

I've been tagged by Natalie for the Memory Loss Meme! Here's what you have to do. You need to open your sixth photo folder, and open the sixth photo, and you need to post it. And you need to hope that you remember what it is!!!! So here goes...

So this isn't the greatest picture but it brings back memories of a fun evening out with the girls! This is my friend Gina's bachelorette party. Larkin was only about 2 months old when we did this so my nights out were precious to me at the time. This picture is Gina (in the veil of course) and Trish determining the winner of he game we had just played - Pin the ____ on Gary (keeping it clean here). I'll post a few other pictures from my sixth folder - which is entitled 2007-Gina & Gary's Wedding...which by the way I just organized my pictures last week in preparation for the Scrapbook weekend (11 days and counting)! I had a great time being part of all the 'happenings' with their wedding and am so happy they found each other!!

I love this picture - Triston has cherished his little sister from the start! Gosh they both look so darn young in this picture!

Early Halloween

We had an exciting weekend traveling to our friends' house in Omaha for the 5th Annual Boo-sker's Bash...once again it was a great time had by all!! Dave & I went as Dog the Bounty Hunter and beautiful wife Beth (ha ha) - we pretty much totally despise the show but the costumes were a hit at the party!

Triston stole the show with his 'Chucky' outfit but the small kids at the party didn't think much of it at all--he looks totally freaky in the mask! Trick or Treating will be interesting this year. I got his mask on eBay for under 1/2 the price they wanted for it at Nobbies so I'm pretty happy about it. All in all it was great to have this party so early in October this year as now the stress of finding the perfect Halloween costumes for everyone is already done and we're ready for the rest of the month now!

Here are a few other costumes that I thought were great! People have such great ideas!

Nice Fall Weekend!

Dave has started his Monday night bowling league so as long as I can get all the kids to bed on time this might be my best time to post and have a little of my own time on the computer!!
I love fall! Spring always used to be my favorite season...that's the main reason why we chose to get married in the month of April I guess...but I realize now that Fall is my favorite--not sure why I've changed but I love the cool days, crisp nights and all the beautiful late blooming flowers. It was so beautiful out on Friday we just had to sit out back & enjoy it. I think the neighbors were all thinking the same thing as we invited a few over by yelling across the yard! One of the couples brought their three kids over so we had 3 boys & 3 girls ruling the house! The boys (not Triston of course) cleaned our kids' rooms because they couldn't believe how messy they were--why couldn't I be blessed with children like that? While the 3 girls had a tea party at the kitchen table with princess dresses on! True girls! All the while us adults solved the world's problems over a bonfire & some caramel marshmallows (these are to die for...Keri's farmer's market find) in the back yard. It was a nice evening.

Saturday we watched Triston play his 4th week of flag football. He was a little out of sorts for some reason so he wasn't enjoying himself or putting forth the effort as much as usual. It's really fun to watch him play (that is when the girls allow me to actually see what's going on). I sure get that proud mama feeling when he gets a touchdown, catches a pass, grabs a flag...pretty much any little thing! I can't wait until next year when he can play Midget FB - he's going to need to toughen up a little I think but he has a whole year to get ready for it. And speaking of FB...okay...never mind we won't talk about the Huskers! We'll see how the next game goes I guess!! But hey, how about Husker Volleyball - now they are great!!

Sunday we headed to Norfolk to Poppy's Pumpkin Patch and out to eat. The kids all had an awesome time! We opted to skip trying out Vala's (which is near Omaha) as I knew Poppy's is perfect for the younger kids. I thought maybe Triston would be a little old but he had great time too. Maybe in a year or two we'll go to Vala's because I hear from everyone that it is awesome and well worth a trip. Someone was having a birthday party in the little diner they have at Poppy's...now how fun would that be? The kids' favorite activities were: Triston- Feeding the Goats & Pony Rides (he now wants a goat as a pet); Carmen- Feeding the Goats & the Slides; and even though Larkin couldn't tell us we know that it would be the Train Ride & Feeding the Goats for her! All in all it was a nice 'fall' weekend...and as a bonus I did get some laundry and house cleaning done also!!

Popcorn Sales - Can You Help?

Triston is in Cub Scouts again this year...he is moving up and is working toward his Bear Cub merit badge this year! Yeah!! I am encouraging him to stick with it through this year yet as I think it teaches him some great life skills and the type of things we want him to learn about - things that we might never think of. It also encourages family activities - while we seem to be together a lot we are not actually doing things 'as a family'.
He is selling the yummy popcorn products again this year. The boys may not have the famous girl scout cookies under their belt but I'm learning that people love the popcorn just as much...and if you get the healthier kind--that's way better for you then a cookie anyway!! Proceeds from the sale go towards helping the boys with activities throughout the year and they can earn the priveledge to go to camps in the summer. With the wonders of technology you can now see what popcorn items are offered online at the following address: http://www.orderpopcorn.com/. Shop without a key and select NE and Omaha-Mid America as the council. They tack a lot of shipping on to the items so if you are interested in anything just let me know and Triston can order what you want and deliver it to you instead of doing it online.

Girl's Lunch

We had our girls lunch today at good ole' KFC. What is Girl's Lunch you ask? Well about 10 or so years ago a group of friends (I think we all played softball together) decided we should go out for lunch every month so we could keep in touch between seasons...well, we are still hanging on to that tradition! We’ve been through several babies, marriages, divorces, etc. There have been a few that have moved away or just dropped out of coming and we’ve added people as our lives have changed, but we have a core group of about 7 of us that are still attending after all these years. We have such fun when we all get together. It's the fastest 45 minutes of chowing down our food and getting in as much conversation as we can!! We also have at least two set parties a year--one in the summer where we all try to take an afternoon off and hang out at a pool or a lake somewhere in town and the other is going out in December for our Christmas Party, we exchange gifts going by numbers and can steal them from others if we want. Needless to say we have fun no matter what we do!! It is really something to cherish to have such a great group of girlfriends! I think in the hub bub of our lives that everyone needs to take time away from their family to keep sanity and to relax a little without someone always needing something from you! My girls are that out for me and I hope that I always have that!
It is a sad time though and you could totally tell that at lunch today, as one of my good friend's and part of this great group of girls is moving away to the metropolis of Omaha to live with her wonderful man, get married and live happily ever after!! And even though I know we vow to keep in touch and she’s not that far away, I also know how you loose touch with people so easily. We’ve had a lot of great times together over the years and I will miss her greatly! My picture here is from the going away party we had for Trish a few weeks ago--man we had fun!!