Monday, September 26, 2011

How cats fill a home…

Cats fit in tents set up in the living room… even if the tent is small and filled with toys, pillows, blankets and a sleeping child.

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Cats fit in places you did not know you needed cats, like on top of doors.

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They always fit on snuggly blankets.

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They have some of their own spaces

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But generally prefer the space you are occupying

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Brian keeps telling us that he wants a queen bed at our next home, he is a tall kid, and I can see where he might need the extra room some nights.

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They also take over technology. Ninja helps Honor use the mouse.

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And Pixie had to ‘help’ me clean out my keyboard (actually, she just reeaallly really wanted the pipe cleaner and didn’t want to wait for me to be finished with it)

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Friday, September 23, 2011

Dressing up and Feeling down

I ordered this little dress, a casual summery thing, because it looked light and comfy, and I liked the cheery colors. As soon as it arrived and I unwrapped it, Honor ran off with it and was the first to wear it. She liked the colors, that she could spin around in it, and how it flowed when she played in it!

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Eventually I got it back. We dressed up last weekend to go to a little gathering at our neighbor’s house. Her new baby grandson was being blessed and we were invited, along with all of the ladies from her church and family, to attend.

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It was nice to be included for such a special event, and we were going to stay  for breakfast after the blessing, but during the service, Brian, who had been fine earlier, as well as the day/week prior(!), turned to me and said that his throat hurt. He had become fevery hot too. So we excused ourselves (it was a huge crowd, so I didn’t feel too bad about leaving) and took him home. Fortunately we had never come close to the baby! We’d been off in our own little corner of the crowded room.

His sore throat turned into a really bad bout of bronchitis and asthma :( Poor kiddo. We may have caught it and kicked it sooner, but at first the doctors thought it was viral (but not strep though) as there was no congestion the first two days. That kicked in the 2nd night, so we finally got him on antibiotics the 3rd day. He missed an entire week of school, including a much anticipated field trip on Thursday to the Dead Sea. Poor guy.

We also had to drag Brian around town to see specialists, as during a chest xray to rule out pneumonia, (he had a very nasty cough and asthma symptoms), it was discovered that his heart is not where we thought it was! After seeing a cardiologist to rule out problems – it was determined that he has what looks to be a simple dextroposition of the heart. We could relax and just treat the illness he was dealing with.

At least he enjoyed hanging out and playing video games all week. His dad gave him the 4th Elder Scrolls PC game to play, Oblivion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_IV:_Oblivion) and he’s loving it. He also did a ton of reading, so that part of his homework from the missed week of school is covered! He finished the novel Saucer, by Stephen Coonts, which was not a typical Coonts novel, it was more young adult than adult, and it read like a fast paced sci-fi action movie. Brian really enjoyed it.

He’s feeling better this weekend fortunately, although unfortunately, he now has to put the game away and get some homework done. He was feeling a bit better toward the end of the week and we went in and got some of his make-up school work so he won’t start next week too far behind. He was also feeling good enough Thursday to have his appetite back, and decided that because he’d missed out on his awesome field trip, he should get to decide dinner. He chose Chinese/Thai delivery, plus homemade brownies (cake brownies) and homemade vanilla ice cream. I thought that was an awesome choice! I didn’t have to cook dinner, nor did I have to cook dessert! Brian made the ice cream, and Honor made the brownies!!

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Unfortunately, today I’m the one who is sniffling and sneezing and feeling ill… bleargh… guess that’s what I get for hanging out with a sick kiddo all week. That’s ok though… he’s definitely worth it!!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Two Good Ways to Relax

One - Just chillin out, as Pumpkin demonstrates so well…

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and Two - cooking with the help of a sweet daughter. Honor loves to help.

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Our stove is on an obnoxious platform, 4-5”, which makes it higher than what I think safe for the kids to use (I burn myself, so I know they would), but it’s nice to have help with the food prep. Honor likes to make salads, and she is learning to help with bread dough too.

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We made a good sized batch of dough, and with half of it we made mini sausage rolls. With the rest, we made fetayer. We didn’t use any specific recipe… just a bunch of spinach, spices, a bit of feta cheese, all rolled up in dough and baked. It is the BEST way to get my kids to devour spinach. Sorry, no photos of the finished rolls… as often happens with my cooking projects, the ‘evidence’ gets eaten before I remember the camera…