Boo at the Zoo

We weren't able to attend the Madsen's 4th Annual Donut party as Meghan was sick again (sinus infection). Joe got a couple free tickets to Boo at the Zoo from his one class, so Jase and daddy headed off to the zoo.

There was a man that had a pet opossum. It even gave him kisses - yuck!

Jase held a cockroach in his hand...


Jase loved the ice carving and spent a long time watching.



Here's our little dragon walking around the cemetary

I love this last picture: the red eye of the donkey really adds to the eeriness of Halloween at the Zoo!

Meghan's first hair cut

Meghan had her first hair cut last week. Her hair was looking a little shaggy along the back where the middle was shorter than the sides (by about 1.5 inches). So, now she looks so different, almost like a page-boy cut...

Brother and Sister

When Jase and Meghan get along, it makes life so simple and happy...

Coins and Beads

Jase loves money and specifically coins. He has 4 homemade banks (tithing, savings, and 2 for money to play with and to spend). Here he is wondering where most of his is:

When Jase plays with it and doesn't pick it up, I take it back and then he earns it again - cruel maybe, but Meghan like to eat money, so he has to learn to keep it in a safe place.

Meghan was introduced to bead necklaces (think mardi gras beads). She.LOVES.them. I think we have about 9 necklaces and she usually wears them all. Here she is in all here beauty:

Sick Kids

The past 6 weeks have been a struggle with keeping the kids breathing well. First it started out with Jase's fall allergies making it rough for him to breath normally (wheezing and shallow breathing = allergy induced asthma). He had this last year for 1 week too, and an oral steroid and the daily use of an inhaler made him fine. This year his inhaler didn't seem to be enough, so into the pediatrician's office we went. Since he struggles with using the inhaler, they/we opted for the breathing machine (aka nebulizer). It comes with a dinosaur mask and a mouth tube attachment). Jase freaks out with the mask (I think because he just had his tonsils out and they knocked him out with the gas mask), but he does amazingly well with the mouth tube (aka vacuum tube in our house as it looks like an attachment to a vacuum). After a week of this (and some oral steroids), he was all better.

One week later he got the wonderful cold that is going around. And he started coughing and breathing hard again (especially during the night and naptime). So we started the treatments again. They help him so much and he loves having the treatments at school because all the other kids surround him and watch and then they want their turn...if only medicine was always this fun...

About a week ago Meghan began developing cold symptoms in addition to her molars that are coming in. Between the snot and the drool this kids face is always wet... Friday evening her breathing wasn't the best and she was quite distressed and really wheezing, so I headed to Urgent Care with her. About 30 minutes later we were home with a prescription for breathing treatments and an oral steroid. She seems to be a little bit better, but she hates to have the mask on her face, partly because she can't suck her thumb... But the screaming really helps her get the meds into her system. The first time we did this, Jase was really worried that we were hurting Meghan and kept saying "Stop! You're hurting her." What a loving big brother (sometimes) - my hopes of having him "protect" and watch out for her when they get older might actually happen...

But when Joe gives her the treatment before bedtime, she almost always falls asleep during it...


I just realized that I don't have any pictures of Jase taking his medicine...

Pumpkin painting

Jase was finally able to paint his pumpkin (Meghan's too). We decided on small pumpkins this year (partly because we had one growing in our front flower bed - we didn't plant any seeds...). Then we got another one with our CSA share a couple weeks ago. We are also so busy this month that we couldn't fit in a visit to the pumpkin farm like last year. We did go to a really nice pumpkin farm place during our visit to MI, but we didn't have room for any pumpkins to come back home with us (sad, I know).



It looks like he is growing out of his smock that I made for him 2.5 years ago. I guess I need to make a bigger one for him and hand this one over to Meghan - now just where to find the time...

Swimming

This morning Jase and Meghan started swimming lessons! Jase was super excited all week knowing that Saturday morning he got to go swimming. We arrived early and the kids were anxiously awaiting their pool time...



Meghan got quite upset that she couldn't just go and get in.

Meghan and mommy in the parent child class.

Jase in the Pike class (held at the same time as Meghan's class).

Jase had a difficult time trying to keep his legs at the surface of the water and kick and splash. Whenever he tried, his legs would out to the side...

Meghan got chilly and when we got out, her lips, hands, and feet were purple - time to snuggle and get warmed up!