the circle of life

A week ago at about this exact time, I got a phone call from Kendall's school saying that she was in the nurse's office with a fever of over 102.  I went to pick her up and took her to the pediatrician, where we found out that she had pneumonia.  We picked up the prescription and went home to settle in for a few days of hanging out inside and getting better.  That first day was pretty crazy.  She had a fever of almost 103 and the ibuprofen was doing nothing to help bring it down.  When it was time for bed, she said she was freezing cold.  Patrick put one of his sweatshirts on top of her pajamas, and then we tucked her into bed with 6 blankets on top of her-- and she still said she was cold.  We told her that she'd warm up and to just try to relax and go to sleep.

About 30 minutes later, I was downstairs and heard Kendall calling to me.  I went up to her room and she said, completely calm, "Mom, I just puked."  I look in her bed, and somehow, she had managed to get it on every single blanket and sheet we had put in her bed, and all over the sweatshirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry you puked, sweetie," I said.  "Could you not make it to the bathroom in time?"

"No.  I just puked because I was SO hot!"

Of course she was!  She must have had every spare blanket in our house on top of her!  So I start cleaning her up and stripping the bed and trying to make light of the situation, I said, "It sure isn't much fun cleaning up puke!  When I was little, my mom cleaned up my puke, now I get to clean up your puke, and when you're a mom, you'll get to clean up your kids' puke!"

I'm pretty sure that's the first time Kendall's ever thought about that, and all she could say was, "Ewwwwwwww!"  Oh, honey-- just a very small glimpse into the life of a mom!

**Update:  She stayed out of school all last week, but went back yesterday and is doing great.  Unfortunately, all of the rest of us (including the baby) came down with colds of varying degrees that we're still working through.

the little handyman that could

A couple weeks ago, our garbage disposal broke.  I went to Home Depot and a friendly salesman helped me pick out a new one and assured me that they were "very easy to install."  After a phone call to my dad, I came away with the same reassurance from him-- simple, no-brainer.  Unfortunately, this advice was from two people who have lots of experience fixing things. . . something that my husband does not have.  I love Patrick, and he has many great qualities, but he will be the first to admit that when it comes to DIY projects, he feels a little inadequate.

So, the new disposal sat on the dining room table for a few days and I had to be vigilant about tossing all the food scraps into the trashcan (sorry, Dad-- no compost here), and then we left for vacation for 10 days.  A couple days after our trip, I was coming home from the gym with the girls around dinner time, and Patrick had not only beaten me home (something that rarely happens), but he had taken apart the sink and was well into this project!  An hour or so later and he was DONE!  I think both of us were a little in shock that it actually all worked out okay!  What a guy.  Thanks, honey-- you're the best!  Now do you want to install a new kitchen floor?

the parade post

Yeah, I know I said I'd post this yesterday, but you didn't really think I'd follow through with that, did you?

Like many of you, I grew up watching the Macy's parade every Thanksgiving morning.  Little did I know that someday I'd be lucky enough to not only be there in person to watch it, but to have VIP passes to get a front row view!  (Thanks again, Paul!)  My in-laws live just a few blocks from the parade route, so we all walked over at 8:00 and arrived about 40 minutes before it began.  Our spot was the half block right before the official start of the parade, which was cool because we were in the "staging area" and as the floats went by, we got to talk to the people on them without competing with all the screaming crowds that we would have had just a half a block up.  We got to see lots of the parade people getting ready while we waited for the 9:00 start time.

We saw lots of celebrities on the floats:

--Miley Cyrus-- thankfully my girls don't even know who Hannah Montana is!

--I gave a shout out to James Taylor

--the Sesame Street gang (including the favorites I grew up with like Luis, Maria, Olivia, and Gordon)

--some boy band (that thought they were WAY too cool) called Varsity Fan Club

--Ashanti

--Darius Rucker, AKA Hootie (minus his Blowfish)

--that chick from School of Rock

--Kristin Chenoweth (hiding behind all those Care Bears)

--and of course Santa!

The balloons are always a big highlight as well.  One of my favorite things was that all the balloon handlers had outfits that coordinated to the balloon they were wrangling-- something I'd never noticed when watching it on TV.  Kendall and Berkeley loved spotting the people who got stuck helping with a different balloon than the one they were dressed for!  Here are some of our favorite balloons:

--Smurf, Horton, and Buzz made their debuts

--Kermit was just HUGE!

--Abby Cadabby was cute.

--Even though I've never seen an episode of his show, SpongeBob's balloon was great!

--One of Shrek's ropes got caught on a tree.  The damage control team worked quickly and voila-- crisis averted!

You may have noticed that in the foreground of many of these pictures, there is a horse with a jester sitting on it.  There was another jester/clownish type guy sitting in a little vehicle attached to this horse, waiting patiently the entire parade for his cue to jump in.  We'd been joking with him the whole time about it and finally, we saw a bunch of clowns coming who were wearing his same outfit and he was so pumped to go!  Look at his big grin!

All in all, it was a great time.  The sun came out, so we weren't even cold, which made all the difference in the world!  The girls had a blast and really got into it.  My favorite line of the day from them?  When the Care Bear float came by, they were yelling out, "Hey, Care Bears!  We love your puzzle!"

I took a TON of pictures, so if you're interested in seeing more, click on the picture below and it will take you to the full album.  If you are already thoroughly bored by this incredibly long post, I'm deeply sorry, and whatever you do, do NOT click the picture below!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

turkeys, talking, traffic, and TOO much fun!

We are home from a fabulous week in New York City.  I really should be unpacking or making a grocery list since we have NO food in the house, but instead I am blogging so I don't forget some of the great moments we had on our first family vacation this year!  (Is it depressing that our first vacation as an entire family for 2008 didn't happen until the very end of November?)

We packed up our car and drove off on the Friday before the Thanksgiving weekend.  We stopped in Baltimore on Friday night and stayed with one of my great friends from college and her husband and two kids.  We got in pretty late that night so we all headed straight to bed, but we had a fun few hours on Saturday morning to catch up before we got back on the road around lunch time.  Thanks for having us, Kerry and Dave.  And we ARE expecting you to follow through with the plans to come to Charlotte in the spring!   Patrick is already polishing up his tennis racket!  Here are a couple pictures of us with Kerry and her children.  (Kerry, don't hate me for putting up pictures of you in your PJ's-- you still look beautiful!)

We arrived in NYC on Saturday night and stayed through the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Here are some highlights from the trip:

--Lots of family time

 

--Going to Central Park multiple times to play with friends, ride the carousel, climb the big rocks, and chase pigeons

--Watching the people ice skating at Rockefeller Center

--Going on a date with Patrick to see The Lion King on Broadway which we absolutely loved

--Lots of walking in Manhattan (which usually meant a nap for Berkeley)

--A prime view of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I'm going to do a whole post on this one tomorrow)

--Eating Thanksgiving dinner with a panoramic view of the city (the picture definitely doesn't do it justice)

--and having a sleepover with cousins!

 

Thank you to everyone we got to see in NYC for an amazing week.  We are especially grateful for Grandma Jan and Grandpa Paul for letting us crash in your amazing new apartment and for showing us such a great time that our girls were bawling as we pulled away from the curb!

The drive home was definitely the lowlight of the week.  There was a ridiculous amount of traffic caused by loads of holiday travelers, construction, and accidents from the rainy conditions.  We drove from NYC to Washington D.C. on Saturday and arrived much later than we planned.  A trip that should have taken 4 1/2 hours took us 8 1/2 hours!   Thankfully, we got to stay with some of our sweet friends from our newlywed days in Provo, so it was worth the trip!  We stayed over night at their new house and even got to hear them speak in church the next day before we got on the road again.  Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of our stop there.  I think we may need to get Emery her own Bumbo seat!

We finished our trip home yesterday, arriving back in Charlotte just before the clock struck 10:00 pm!  We had planned on getting home closer to 6:00 pm, but of course, the trip that should have taken 6 1/2 hours took us ELEVEN!  It was a crazy two days at the end of our vacation, but it's hard to complain too much after the wonderful week we had!

The SAD news of the day is that because Thanksgiving was so late this year, it is now December 1st and I don't have any Christmas decorations up yet!  I need to GET BUSY!