Happy Halloween

If I'd had the time to blog yesterday, I definitely would have titled it "Just One of Those Days... Again". I hope that gives some sort of indication of what Saturday was like compared to Friday.
Saturday October 30, 2010

Peanut woke up feeling better than he had on Friday. In fact, he was quite chatty and even a bit bouncy. Given how well he seemed to be acting, mom and dad decided to let Peanut go to the Awana Grand Prix derby to race the pine derby cars they've worked on over the last few weeks. As 2:30 PM rolled around, just as we were heading out the door to take the boys to the church where the derby was being held, Peanut seemed to sort of deflate.

Watching the cars head down the track.

Peanut's "Fancy Blue", his ribbon and trophy.



Little Bear's Car and ribbon



Despite complaining of exhaustion and thirst, Peanut was determined to race his car, "Fancy Blue". Little Bear and Peanut both raced their cars. Unfortunately, neither boy placed in their division. Ever the little cheerleader, even when sick, Peanut was at the sidelines congratulating each of the other winning participants with high fives. Little Bear, however, took the news of not winning personally and was quite heartbroken.

After the division winners were announced, the leaders announced the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners for the car design aspect of the race. Peanut won 2nd place in the car design competition!!! I wish he had felt well enough to enjoy his little moment of glory, but all he wanted was a Coke-Cola and sleep.

Can you tell that he was NOT a happy little boy? All he wanted was a Coke and his bed.





Design winners

 Poor kiddo, I'm pretty sure he was asleep before we even had him buckled up in the car.





After stopping by McDonald's to get the sleeping sweet pea a Coke, we took Peanut home and put him straight to bed. He had a mild fever and begged to sleep some more.

With Peanut sleeping, mom, Grandma A and I took Little Bear to the Boo Bash at the mall to go trick-or-treating.

The super-cool Jawa

The Jawa costume that mom and dad made for Little Bear looked AWESOME!!!! I mean seriously, he looked amazing! All through the mall, people would nudge each other, "Hey, look at that!" as they pointed to Little Bear's glowing-eyed costume. People (including the mall manager person) asked to take pictures of him and came up and told him what a cool, awesome, great costume he had. :-) In front of us during most the mall-wide trick-or-treating were three little girls who were terrified of Little Bear. They would stop and look at him, then quickly duck behind their parents with a fearful expression on their little faces. In fact, there were a number of little girls that were quite frightened of our Jawa. I hate to say it, but it was rather funny. Another funny moment was when we passed a family of Star Wars characters (Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and another character or two) on the other side of the mall. For a brief moment, there was like this cute little moment of silent interaction between these Star Wars crew. The mall was packed, Little Bear looked awesome and had a good time, but it just wasn't the same without Peanut with us. For me, the only consolation was in knowing that Peanut wanted to be home, snuggled in bed, asleep.

Poor Peanut, the weekend hasn't been good to him, and from 8 PM on, it only got worse. Around 8 PM, Peanut's temp was 102.9, and by 2 AM his temp was 103.1. He was delirious and just not at all himself. He would sit in my arms and try to smile at me, telling me, "I know your secret... I know you are a werewolf", or when I was telling him about seeing his beloved Darth Vader at the mall, "Darth Vader? Who's she?". Poor kiddo, he was so sick and uncomfortable.

Thankfully, his fever began to break around 3:30 AM and was actually back to a normal range by 5 AM. Thank Heavens!

Sunday October 31,2010

Judging by his behavior today, you would never guess how incredibly sick Peanut had been over night. He is still pale and puny looking, easily tired, but in much better shape than he was Friday or Saturday.  He is now his bouncy, bubbly, chatting, funny little self.

This afternoon, while still in his favorite footie pajamas (the one's he calls his "cozy jammies"), Peanut opened his birthday presents. It wasn't the party we had all planned, no grandparents, or decorations, Peanut didn't feel up to eating his cake and we even forgot to "Smash the Pinata", but oh, he still had fun! Peanut is possibly the most thankful child I have ever known. Each and every gift he opened, he wanted to know who it was from so that he could thank them. Every card was read and every gift was loved. He was given a 52-count box of over sized chalk, a 3D chalk set, Scooby-Doo Monsters Unleashed DVD, Flushed Away DVD (which he calls Flushed Down a Hole), Shark Tales DVD, a walking/barking puppy, a build-your-own-clock kit, a pumpkin pig piggy bank, a new fleece monkey blanket I'd made him with a small matching blanket for his favorite stuffed monkey (Coconut), the new Wii Party game, Headbanz game, Cuponk, and to top it off....

Wearing the glasses that came with his 3D chalk set. Too cute!

#1 item on his birthday list.

What could possibly be under the quilt?

 A new car! Seriously. Well, sort of. Actually, it is a shiny, well-cared-for-but-used convertible sports car... that looks like Lightening McQueen from Disney's Cars. Oh, he was so surprised! As he uncovered the car from beneath it's hiding spot under a quilt in the garage, he starting shouting, "Can it be? Can it really be?" (The car belonged to our neighbor who wanted to sell it. Knowing how much Peanut loved it, she offered to sell it to our family first. Money well spent.) Then, Peanut hopped into the driver's seat of the car, leaned his head against the steering wheel and said, "Thank you, guys! Thank you!".




This is joy!



The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing the new, much-wanted and much-loved Wii Party game, which is actually VERY fun!

Around 5PM, we got the boys dressed in their costumes and took them trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. This was the first time the boys have really been trick-or-treating from house to house. They had an absolute blast! Plus, they were the cutest Pirate and scariest Jawa I've ever seen! I am also pretty sure Peanut was the loudest trick-or-treater in our neighborhood, but you've got to give him credit for his enthusiasm!




Jawa... Pretty scary.



After trick-or-treating down our street, mom and I brought Peanut home to get him out of the cool air while dad took Little Bear around the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Peanut wanted to sit on the front porch and hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. As he gave a little handful of candy to a Buzz Lightyear toddler, he told the little boy that since Buzz was one of his favorite characters in one of his favorite movies, he was going to give him more candy. And he did. Little Buzz Lightyear received two or three extra handfuls of candy.

A little bit later, Peanut  decided that he could pretend to be a dead pirate and wait until the trick-or-treaters came up on the porch at which point he would jump up to scare them. Just take a look at his "Dead Pirate" pose below. Pretty darn funny!

Dead Pirate Pose



Handing candy out to a Lumber Jack and a Princess.




Cutest pirate I know!



This was during his "sales pitch" period. He would call out to trick-or-treaters on the street, promising
them double the candy if they came back again. Seriously, his facial expression here absolutely cracks me up!

Peanut is one to speak his mind. He has the most loving and sincere heart, but he has no problem letting you know just what he thinks or feels. Tonight, for example. Not long ago, we had bought Hershey's Carmel Apple Kisses and Pumpkin Spice Kisses (what was the Hershey company thinking?!? Ick!) Anyway, nobody here really liked them, so I mixed them in the bucket of Twix and Snickers and other Halloween goodies for Peanut to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. Stinker that he is, he saw the candy in the bucket and promptly proceeded to tell the next trick-or-treater that came to the door, "We are giving out the candy our family doesn't like!" Oh, child.


Our Halloween House



Looking through his loot. I'm pretty sure we will have still have Halloween candy come next Easter.

Just around the corner from our house, our neighbors had set up a haunted yard-type attraction. These people went all out. Their whole family dressed up. One was dressed up as a vampire in a hand-made coffin, one dressed up as a werewolf in a cage, another was the Grim Reaper on stilts, yet another was a zombie, and another was a creepy, hockey-mask-clad guy. They had skeletons in the front seat of their RV that was parked in their drive-way, skeletons emerging from various places in their yard, a bed set up on their driveway with a skeleton in it, strobe lights, fog machines, the whole nine yards. Even their adorable dogs were dressed up. These were people after my own heart... people who loved to go all out for a holiday. It was awesome.

After dinner, Peanut was finally able to blow the candles out on his birthday cake, the white cake with white whipped cream icing and red trim and the picture the Peanut had chosen to have placed on the front of his cake.




 

Happy Birthday Peanut!



Sweet Birthday boy!



Blowing out the candles.



 At bedtime, Peanut figured out (and decided to surprise me with his discovery) the bench at the foot of me bed combined with my throw blanket and pillows made for a perfect tent for Coconut the Monkey. He even made Coconut a little bed out of the new bitty blanket I made him, while Peanut snuggled with his new big blanket on my bed while watching Flushed Away.

Good-night, Coco.

Before I close, I just had to enclose a picture of Little Bear's super-creepy pumpkin. The teeth came from The Pumpkin Patch in Arthur and they seemed to take his pumpkin to a whole new level of creepy-cool.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Just One of Those Days

I wish I could say that today went as planned. I wish I could say that we had a lovely family dinner with grandparents, that Peanut had his family birthday party in honor of his upcoming 6th birthday. I wish I could say that Peanut got to eat the cake with his picture on it, that he and Little Bear got to play "Smash the Pinata". I wish I could say that the day went great, but I can't.

Hello, black cloud. I was wondering where you had been hiding.

Tonight went nothing as planned. Seriously, it has been one of those "If it can go wrong, then it will go wrong" sort of days.

Just to give you an idea...

3:00 AM - Peanut wakes up asking for a towel. Thinking he must have had an accident, I asked if he wet the bed. The unexpected answer. No, he felt like he was going to throw up.

3:30-is AM - Peanut did not throw up and went back to sleep.

8AM - Mom and I get up only to realize that the power is out. This sets us behind in getting ready for the day's activities.

10:30-ish AM - I wake Peanut up to see how he feels. He says he feels okay but wants to stay snuggled up in his favorite spot all morning. (His favorite spot? Snuggled up amid pillows and blankets and pillows on the old church pew at the end of my bed, the perfect place to play, watch TV or look out my front window.) He is not bubbly, chatty or bouncy. Not a normal little Peanut.

12 PM: Peanut is still not acting like his normal, bubbly little self and is complaining that his tummy hurts.

12:30 PM - Have you seen "The Exorcist"? I have not because I do not like those types of movies, but I have seen a few clips here and there. One clip that has always stayed in my mind was the projectile vomiting scene. Today, I guess in honor of it being Halloween weekend, Peanut involuntarily decided re-enact that scene. Seriously. Projectile vomiting ALL OVER my brand new bedroom carpet, my area rug, his bedding, the hallway and the bathroom. Not fun. Not anywhere near pleasant. But the most heartbreaking pathetic part? Peanut, standing half draped over the toilet crying, "Am I ever going to be okay?!?!? I didn't know it would end like this..." Poor baby boy, my sweet poor baby brother.

1:30 PM - A brief nap later, Peanut is sick again. And let's just say that his new Frankenstein trick-or-treat bucket will not be used for candy. Ever. This time he asked if he was dying. When I told him no, that he just had a tummy bug, he seemed slightly relieved. But, in full Peanut fashion, he interpreted this to mean something a bit different than what I meant. "You know, you're right," he told me. "When I got up to find you last night, I did see a bug flying around. He must have bit me on my tummy. Right?"

Seriously, child, even when you are sick, you bring an amazing perspective to my life.

For the remainder of the day, Peanut has slept.

No family dinner. No birthday cake or presents. No "Smash the Pinata". Just one very sick, very sad and disappointed little boy.

Nope. Today has not gone as planned. And as it nears midnight, I wish I could say that Peanut was feeling remarkably better. And for a few hours, he was feeling just a little bit better. Unfortunately, 2 Jell-O's, a Coke-Cola and half a Twinkie later, Peanut is sick again. So, keep him in your prayers. As disappointed as he is about missing this evening's activities, he will be even more so if he has to miss racing "Fancy Blue" in the derby car race tomorrow, his re-scheduled party tomorrow night and if he has to miss trick-or-treating over the next two nights.

Yep, it has been just one of those days. And let's just hope tomorrow isn't like today.

Just Checking In

     Just had to momentarily share my wonderful news, a moment I have eagerly awaited.... Over the course of the past couple of weeks, I have spent hours transferring my photos from their CD's onto my new external hard drive. Well, about 110 CD's later, I have finished!!!   Whew! What a relief. Now, I just have to pull the pictures from three cameras, load them to my computer and then to the external drive, plus load the 25-50ish CD's of documents onto my external. But I am so relieved to have the photo CD's complete. And I feel so blessed that I did not lose any pictures in the process.
     Hopefully (fingers crossed), I will update within the next day or so and post my October pictures. Because there are some really stinkin' cute ones I want to share. Plus, I want to get caught up on updating before Peanut has his sixth birthday and Halloween rolls around and there will undoubtedly be even more crazy-cute photos and moments to share.

UPDATE: Pictures Have Been Added :-)
Like always, just click on a picture to enlarge it.



Autumn Moon

We've had some lovely full/near full autumn moon-lit nights. Moonlight makes me happy.

Carving Pumpkins

Little Bear's pumpkin was the biggest of the bunch.

This is the first time he EVER scooped out the pumpkin guts from the inside of the pumpkin.
He said, "I know I gonna regret this but I'm going in!"

Breakfast Time

Daytrip to Arthur, IL and The Great Pumpkin Patch

It just isn't autumn without a trip to the patch.

These were the pumpkins he picked out, lol.

Peanut's wagon-load was a bit smaller

He could be in, through and out of the hay maze and back again before we had made it even 1/2 of the way through. I'm not sure if that is a testament to his speed and maze-navigating ability or our lack of  maze-navigating ability. In our defense, Little Bear was our leader the first time through.

Oh yeah... They are cute!



Pumpkins, scarecrows,  fallen leaves, corn fields, misty air... Pretty sure I love autumn best!



My mom and my dad... wait.... huh? When did mom start wearing dad's facial hair?

This photo board was made for him.

I feel like Cinderella.

I love my little scarecrow.

In the broom corn maze.

Scarecrows amid a sea of orange and gold.

Cinderella pumpkins are one of my favorite types of pumpkins.



I love being in Amish country, especially on a crisp, misty autumn afternoon.
Can I convert  just t to live somewhere as quaint and charming as this?



What would a pumpkin patch be without a wagonload of pumpkins?



They make any trip more fun!

  Halloween Decorations

Peanut and I got a bit "crafty" one evening and made this sign.

Nothing says "Halloween" better than a Jack O'Lantern.

Black lights, cobwebs and spiders, oh my!

Jack O'Lantern, strobe light and a crow

Halloween decorations

Decorations, close-up

 Football

Football buddies. Peanut told me that this picture
would be to remember all the good times he and Peanut had in football.
Such a cute kid! Two cute kids, actually :-)

Number Four

Little Bear in the only picture he would let me take of him.

Peanut said that he had never won a trophy before, and that he needed to put
this football on his shelf because it was his first trophy. He has true Pollyanna spirit!

Bench Buddies

Child of the Corn

He can eat a whole dozen ears all by himself in one setting. That's how much he loves corn on the cob.

Party at Extreme Sports


Peanut with the Birthday Girl

 






It's all fun in games... until you gets stuck







Fun in the Foam Pit





Little Bear could do some awesome moves from the spring board!



Bounce ball



Hang on tight!

Here comes Peanut down the slide!

On the balance beam

This is the way Peanut "eats" his cupcakes... The poor little bald things.

 Letters to a Friend


This month, Peanut was introduced to the grease board. He made quick use of its capabilities and wrote a letter to his "best friend" from church.




  Puppy Love

I love how Gretel (black) and Cally (red) lay in their bed, usually with Gret's paw draped over Cally.

 Illusions

For the Upwards Football closing ceremony, the church brought in
illusionist Ken H.. Dad was one of the volunteers brought on stage
to help with one of the tricks.

 Princess's Halloween Fashion Show






1920's Flapper

Gypsy



Fairy







Okay, so I guess that's if for the most memorable moments (so far) from October 2010.