Thanksgiving...

Last week, I stayed home from work 1/2 of Wed, and all of Thursday to take care of Delaney. She had a really high fever...104 at times. She had no other symptoms.

We were planning on going to Denton today so that we could enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow with my parents, sister, etc. I woke up to someone coughing this morning. Its Kaytlynn and its November, so that isn't that big of a deal. I give her some cough syrup and that was the end of that. Only it wasn't the end. At about 2 today, I feel her and she is burning up. I take her temp and it actually isn't that high...101. I still plan on going up there, thinking...it will go down. Ummm, it didn't. We are at 103 at 9:00 tonight and holding.

So, it doesn't look like we will be headed up there tomorrow either. Maybe we can get there by Friday. Poor baby is sleeping a lot and she doesn't want to eat anything but apples! Not that I am complaining about her wanting to eat apples, but wow...she has only eaten 4 apples and drank water today.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Thanksgiving! Id be more bummed than I actually am, but I get to go to Dallas for 2 weeks for Christmas...so I really can't complain!

Joyland Christmas Concert

Todd, Judy, Delaney, and Kaytlynn in the gym after the program...

Kaytlynn and Delaney up on stage during the program...

Kaytlynn during her movement part

Last night, the girls performed in their very first Christmas concert at church. It was called Joyland Christmas. It took place in an old toy store so the kids were dressed up as toys. Kaytlynn and Delaney were both Tinkerbell fairy dolls. Kaytlynn had a "movement part". She danced around with large ceramic plate that had an O on it....put the plates together and it spelled JOY! She thought that she was just too cute up there twirling with her plate. We were quite proud of her. Delaney sat nicely and sang her little heart out. Every once in a while, people would be swaying as they they were swinging, and I guess she just got caught up in the "spirit"of things and started twirling round and round. It was hilarious. Then towards the end, Delaney was sitting cris-cross on the floor like all the other children and her head started to nod. She finally was asleep up their sitting straight up and then you see her fall forward so hard that her head bounced twice on the stage. But even that didn't wake her up. Within about 5 minutes, she was out of her uncomfortable criss cross position and just sprawled out on the stage asleep. Todd and I laughed till our sides hurt.

We had cookies, cake and punch after service in the gym and it was fun talking with everyone afterwards!

Cooper Fricks...

I don't think I have blogged about Cooper on here. Cooper is the love of my little Delaney's life. She is my shy, quiet thinker, who really doesn't have a lot of time for friends. She is usually on her own and very happy to be so. Last year she started talking about playing with Cooper at church. We were quite happy to hear of her block building and story reading adventures with him. Then it became...can we go to church today to see Cooper (on a Tuesday or Thursday). We were really happy about this, because until then...church had not been her "thing".

She still has no idea about boyfriends or even love, and we try to have her tone her affection down...wondering what in the world she tells this poor child. Well, we found out today...Cooper feels the same way. His mother Leila is my friend. We go are in the same Sunday school class and we go to the occasional weekend scrapbook getaways together. Leila informed me that Delaney is the only reason he will go to choir on Sunday nights! Otherwise, he doesn't want to go.

Im editing this because tonight we had the Christmas program. Cooper was dressed up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. His costume had built in muscles and as Leila looked in on them, she said Delaney was pinching his muscles while oooing and ahhhing at their size! Wow do we have our hands full!

Little People and Weebles Rock!

This is just my opinion, but I believe that The Little People Toys and Weebles have to be some of the best toys EVER made. I started buying Little People when Kaytlynn was about 1 and soon found Weebles as well. She loved them. Delaney loved them. Actually they BOTH STILL LOVE THEM. They don't play with them in the house anymore, but we keep them in the garage in a large bin and they pull them out and set up a large town in the driveway. I mean...they are 61/2 and almost 5 and they are still playing with the same dang toys they were playing with 5 years ago. Its great imagination play. They act out books or favorite scenes from movies or just make up their own story line. We sometimes have 5 or 6 kids from the street sitting in our driveway playing with these toys.

So if you have a little one and don't know what to get them for the upcoming Christmas holiday...you might look into them on the web. In FACT...Little People actually have a terrific SINGING nativity set up...stable, animals, shepherds, wise men, and Jesus Mary and Joseph...Tres Cool!

Shake Shake Shake Senora

Okay...I think that Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers has now been surpassed. My girls love Harry Belafonte's Shake Shake Shake Senora. I told someone yesterday that if they only knew what a Las Vegas show girl was...they would know their life's true calling.

BUSY CHILDREN ARE HAPPY CHILDREN

Ive been meaning to share this with those with little kids that can do simple crafts. My sister and I recently just made a shared order with Oriental Trading Co. Most of their cute little crafts come in packs of 6 or 8 or 12. They are so darn cheap and cute, but who needs 12. BUT she has 3 kids and I have 2, so we split things and shared the cost. We are making foam teepee's and log cabins, along with pilgrim and Indian friends. We are making Thanksgiving trees. We are playing with glitter glue, making Christmas ornaments, necklaces and bracelets, etc. I can't tell you how much fun the girls are having will all of this stuff. We do an activity just about everyday and it is keeping them busy and happy. Also, if you have one that needs to work on fine motor skills, its a great way to do it.

So next time you see an oriental trading magazine, take a look and see if a friend wants in on it!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH

That is Kaytlynn's theme song this holiday season. She lost her first top tooth about a month ago and now her second top tooth is gone. She lost it 2 nights ago. It was dangling by a thread. She still wouldn't pull it, so when I told her I was going to, she flipped out! The last time I pulled her tooth, she bit down, just as I was getting ready to pull it. That made the jagged tooth go up into her sore gum and didn't feel that great, but when I convinced her to open it, it popped right out. No pain at all...in her words, not mine.

I thought that would make her calmer this time. NOPE! She started screaming and in the process, bumped her head into my shoulder and made the tooth turn sideways (Like I said, it was really dangling). This made her lose it. We got the whole thing on video tape. The funniest part is she goes from scream to laughter, the SECOND that I pull it! She loves how she looks (probably because we brag on her so much.) You will find her admiring her smile in the mirrors in the bathroom. It is quite adorable.

Penguin Day

This past Wednesday was Penguin Day at Kaytlynn's school. They have done a 2 week unit on penguins including each child doing a report and life size artwork on a specifically assigned penguin. Kaytlynn was given the King Penguin which happens to be 36 inches tall (who would have guessed). We pulled out the tape measure and marked where it's head should be and feet should be, opened a book to a good picture of a penguin and let her go. I made sure to draw the details of the special markings for her, but other than that, she was on her own and did such a good job. All the kids wore black and white for school. Kaytlynn got a sparkly penguin shirt and got to pass goody bags out to all her friends. I had Kaytlynn and Delaney decorate plain white lunch bags with penguin stickers and stamps and sparkly snowflakes. Then I placed a penguin ornament, a black velvet pencil, stickers, peppermints, penguin finger puppets, and a small wooden penguin to paint inside. Kaytlynn thought that she was just too smart.

I just can't say how much I love Kaytlynn's teacher this year. She is a good teacher and really tries to bring fun to each and every lesson that she does with the kids.

Trick or Treat

Yesterday was Halloween. For school I dressed up as Mary Poppins. The kids loved it...even though the ones that didn't "get it" thought I as a witch. Don't all witches wear a hat with daisies all over it?

I went to pick the girls up from Carmen and she said the girls had been asking her "when is mommy coming" all day long, because they were so excited about going to the fall festival at church.

We went home and got all dressed up. Kaytlynn was dressed as a movie star and Delaney was dressed as Alexa from Barbie and the Diamond Castle (although she could never remember Alexa's name, so when people asked who she was, she just smiled and looked up at me!) I put both their hair up in a bun. Todd came home and dressed up as a Hershey Kiss. The girls love the fact that we dress up and it makes the inconvenience and expense of it all worth it.

We got to the church at about 7:00. The girls played a few games for candy and then went to ride the "train" which is a small tractor that pulls little barrels behind it that the kids sit in. We went to the petting zoo to play with rabbits, chickens, goats, sheep, and a llama. We went to the bounce house, played a few more games and went home exhausted. The girls had a great time and were busting at the seams from all the sugar. I think they were most excited about the 2 liter of coke they both won at a ring toss.

We came home and let them walk to our next door neighbors, Felix and Barbara, to say Trick or Treat, and then went to bed. I think everyone was asleep by 9:30, which is a huge rarity around our house. It was a great family evening.