Second Mizell down

Monday night James woke up with a fever and bad headache. I knew it was only a matter of time! I took him and Olivia to the doctor yesterday and they tested him for flu and strep, just to be sure. They both came back negative but the doctor went ahead and prescribed the Tamiflu since he has been exposed and the flu tests are not always accurate. That is so curious to me but whatever. She also wrote            Olivia a script for some Tamiflu to keep her from getting it and told me to wait two weeks and then all of us need to go get the shot!! Yippee skippy.

James has not been as sick as Audrey was no vommiting, thank goodness, just a little upset stomach. But his head has hurt him pretty bad which just breaks my heart. He feels much better today so I will send him back to school tomorrow. Audrey came home from school yesterday extremely weepy and just overly tired so I decided to keep her home today as well. No need to push her. Olivia hasn't really shown any symptoms except for being overly emotional but you can't really base any thing on that, haha!! I must say it was SO NICE to not have to get up and get going this morning since it is FREEZING outside today.

It did get a little dicey around here about 9:30 this morning so I had to whip them into gear and do some homework and reading and a few chores that consisted of simply putting away a basket full of clean and folded clothes but you would of thought I asked them to climb Mt. Everest!!
While Audrey and I were doing her homework from yesterday, I set James up in the kitchen doing a Highlights puzzle book. He loves those things and I am glad that I got a subscription to it. He drew an amazing picture of a penguin. I am so glad that they got their drawing skills from their daddy and not me. I can't even draw a good stick person :)

Hoping things will get back to normal around here tomorrow and for the rest of the week!!

First Mizell Down...3 to go....maybe....I hope not....

Kicking myself today and every other day this past weekend. I have always gotten the kids flu shots in October, usually at the very beginning of the month. This year, for what ever reason, I kept putting it off. Oh yeah, probably because I have had my fill of screaming, thrashing children who act like getting a shot is as bad as getting your leg chopped off. Not judging them, I well remember the fear as a child, I'm just saying. (Jon is the only one who has had the shot so far.)

Friday afternoon Audrey's best little friend's mom called to say that she had just taken her daughter to the doctor and she tested positive for the flu. Did you hear a shriek from the southeastern part of the state around 4:30 pm Friday afternoon?

The next morning at church, Audrey laid her head in my lap the entire time. I knew it was coming, just a matter of hours because that's so uncharacteristic of my little Peach. We went home, ate lunch and she took a 2 hour nap. When she woke up from the nap she was running a fever and was coughing a little. Then she threw up all over the rug in the living room. I felt so bad; I was on the phone with the after hours clinic and she came in jumping up and down, waving her arms and I assumed it was her protesting going to the doctor so I shooed her away. When I got off and came out of the office she came running up to me and frantically says Mama I threw up!!!

She tested negative for the flu but the doctor said she really believed it was just to early for it to show up as negative and since she had been exposed to it and was running a high fever with cough and vomiting, she went ahead and gave her Tamiflu. She told me with in 24 hours she would be feeling better and even though I was skeptical because it didn't seem like she kept much of her first two doses down, by yesterday evening she was pretty much back to normal!! She slept in the playroom Saturday night in case she threw up any more and then made it back to her room for last night :)

We've always known that Audrey was a good mediator between Olivia and James but we really discovered this weekend just how much she means to both of them as individuals and as a part of the sibling unit!! Olivia just could not handle not being able to hug Audrey or kiss her or even be in the same room as her yesterday. And James had a few issues with Audrey getting more attention than him and having to go to church and school with out Audrey. And James and Olivia don't exactly play well together, they are just too much a like!!! But yesterday I think they bonded and by the evening they were out in the yard picking up pecans (say it pee-cans) together and having a good time with no arguing. Too bad Audrey can't be sick more often! Just joking around!!!!!

Observation

Tuesday was parent observation day for Audrey's dance class and I was excited to go so I could see just what she's been learning and doing this year. She has complained quite a few times that she doesn't want to go because it's hard and she can't keep up with the other girls. I've tried to encourage her and remind her that this year is harder because she's older and the last two years were much easier because they were the "baby" class :)

Getting to watch her was a trip. Audrey has always been our quirky kid. When she doesn't know what to do with her self she just kinds flops around and makes funny faces. Even though she knows all the moves and all the terms, she does have a hard time keeping up. But it's not because she can't do it. No, it's because she got her mama's genes in the twitchy department and the concentration department. I see that in her homework.  She may not look like me, but gosh after observing her in dance it's like watching a 6 year old Amanda take gymnastics and I've been thinking ever since we started homework it's like trying to keep a 6 year old Amanda in focus. Poor baby, is all I can say. I hope she grows out of it quicker than I did. Well, I don't twitch and flop any more but I do have a difficult time keeping my concentration.

If at the end of the year she doesn't want to take again, I am not gonna make her. She says she just wants to stay home. With me. Again, 6 year old Amanda. Bless her little heart! Even though she can't keep time very well, she truly enjoys herself while she is there. Always a smile and little laughs here and there with her friends. It was a fun day! I have lots more pics but these just showcase her quirky posture and funny faces for the day! Oh and the fact the she was THE ONLY ONE who forgot her ballet slippers that day. . . .

This picture cracks me up every time I see it. I snapped this at the very end

of class. These 3 were struggling. Jon because he got the job of wrestling Olivia the whole

time so I could take pictures and video. Olivia was struggling because

she wanted so desperatly to get down and dance her self. And James 

was just bored out of his mind!!!!

For crying out loud, Charlie Brown

Children bring so many questions to the table. And not just questions of their own that they literally ask but they bring a general sense of wonderment with them every where they go. Like a swirling cloud of dust that covers them. Kinda like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown.

I bought Peach two pairs of those fancy church socks on Sunday during our outing to the mall. I took them to her room and placed them neatly in her sock drawer. That was just 2 1/2 days ago. I went up there this morning to pull out all her shorts and replace them with pants(because she is bad about putting on shorts when it's 40 degrees outside because they are cute!). I decided to just go through her entire dresser and remove all items that she could not wear any more or that didn't belong as I have found the occasional barbie doll stuffed beneath her panties before! I didn't find that this time. No, instead I discovered that 1 mate to 1 of the pairs of brand new church socks is missing. Poof, disappeared. 

I also realized that the child has so many panties in her panty drawer that it boarders on insanity. How did that even happen? I haven't bought her any panties for probably two years. 

As usually happens with me I go in to do one tiny project and end up re-arranging an entire room. No exception today. I ended up going through her whole closet and all the bags of clothes that were in there not to mention all the ones that were hanging on the double rack. It looks soooo much better and now she is set for the winter months and I wont have to tell her she has to go back up and change. Thanks to some sweet friends Peach is going to be rockin her wardrobe this year and I didn't have to buy one thing which makes it so much sweeter. I did realize though that she child's pants, shirts, sweaters, jackets, and dresses now rivals her panty drawer :)

I moved on over to her brother's room to do the same and surprisingly he had very few pieces to pull out. I knew his clothes stash was considerably lower than Audrey's just because I have two friends that pass down clothes for her and none for James since since they only have girls but I did not think it was that much lower. Poor fellow. I need to go shopping for him so he can have 40 pairs of pants too :) I kid. But really I was thinking gee he needs pants. Fast forward to when I was heading down stairs and as I was shutting the linen closet door that is at the top of the stairs, I thought I saw the shadow of a laundry basket. I stuck my head in farther and sure enough, it was a laundry basket full of clothes. JB's clothes to be exact. You guessed it: That's where his other clothes were and Lord know how long they been there either. My kids are the worst stashers in the history of stashers. My mother tells me they get it honest but I'm just not sure I believe her. . . . 

And last for today is voices. Probably the greatest phenomenon in the world to me is how my kids will talk normal or less than normal in the car. They are always SO LOUD at home in the house and even outside. Like, they yell for EVERYTHING. From room to room, upstairs to down stairs. Fighting, not fighting. Does not matter; their voices are loud and shrill at most any given time. Except for when we get in the car and they are trying to ask you questions from the back seat. Then they decide to whisper or at least speak in a normal tone at a normal level. The one or two times a day that you actually need them to speak at an obnoxiously high voice level, they don't. They choose to speak normally. And then they get aggravated at you because you have to ask them speak louder please. I must add though that Miss Sassafrass keeps it consistent. She's just as loud and shrill in the car as she is at any other place and time. It's phenomenal.

The Weekend

We had a pretty laid back weekend over here that consisted of a lazy Saturday, church on Sunday as well as deer hunting and a trip to the mall. I think you can guess which ones went hunting and which ones went to the mall :) Jon got a doe and it was so great that James got to be with him. He liked everything about the experience except for the cleaning part. Jon said he sat in the truck for that!

Our Monday has been pretty laid back as well. Gearing up for another house showing though. Will be so glad for so many reasons when all this is behind us!! Today Olivia has wanted to play nothing but puppies so we have crawled around on the floor arfing like sad little puppies and pretending to take naps and then tickling the littlest puppy. Not much to blog about so hope you just enjoy the pictures!

Batman and Sofia

I needed some practice on a few specific things and much to my surprise when I suggested dressing up in what ever they wanted to and going outside to let me snap a few pics of them James and Olivia were all in!! Audrey, ehh, she declined. I've got to say that Batman, Sofia and their photographer had a great time until Batman thought it would be a cool idea to climb ON TOP of the van. We called it quits after that. Maybe I can bribe Audrey next week to get in front of the lens. Kids these days.

No Tricks for Our Treats

No pic of twins today. Since it's Halloween, they needed to wear a Halloween shirt and since we made the decision long ago to not "participate" in this "holiday" they had to go plain jane this morning. (If they had been dressing up today like last year instead of just the t-shirts, we would of let them do that. Please do not ask about the logic behind that....) I'm sure you can guess the reasons we decided not "celebrate" this "holiday" and since I too grew up with a daddy for a preacher or, a preacher for a daddy I guess that should say, it doesn't bother me that each year they are a little put out with us for making this call. I do remember how it felt to be the odd one out every October 31st ( and James and I had a nice heart to heart about it this a.m.) but I also know that it didn't scar me for life and I certainly don't have any pent up emotional problems towards my parents 30 years later :)

But and however, even though we didn't do the costumes and the trick or treating, my mom always made sure we got to partake in the candy overdose of this time of year. Candy corn and candy pumpkins were of course my fav cause it is the only time of year (usually) you can get them! So, Olivia and I went in search of afore mentioned items and a few other sweet treats. Stopped by Wally World 1st only to find that they had already removed the Halloween candy and put out the Christmas junk. SERIOUSLY??

We went on to Walgreens where we found what we were seeking and a few other of their favorites. So, no worries y'all!! Even though our kids wont be out trick or treating in cool costumes, they will have a nice sugar high this evening just in time for bedtime :)