Yesterday the kids went biking with Hubby. While they were whipping up and down the neighborhood streets, they came across a 5 ft. diamond backed rattle snake that was sunning on the pavement next to the long grass. With all of them on bikes, it must not have heard them and was startled. It rattled at the Sarge, but thankfully did not strike. Hubby said it was really big around too. Big enough to eat rabbits and smaller cats and dogs. Hubby brought the kids home and went back to see if it was still there…..it had slithered back into the grasses. Mommy is not loving the wild life, anymore!

First, spiders that are the size of your palm, now big scary snakes……Eeww!

We traveled to Texas with Hubby on a business trip and visited the Fort Worth Zoo. The favorites were the little monkeys and the rock climbing station.

The boys did their 1st dissection in Zoology class at co-op. Here’s the Gremlin with his shark.

We went to a wild cat sanctuary in Florida and the 10 month old “baby” bobcat took a liking to Sarge’s shampoo.

Went to family practice doctor, he felt a lump at the site that hurts and sent me to the general surgeon. (Insurance changes in January, so any surgery needs to happen before the change.)

General surgeon had a cancellation and called me on the way home from 1st doctor. I changed directions and went in. He felt the lump but considers that normal for 3 c-sections and 3 other surgeries. He definitely found the point where it hurt! Ouch. It’s either pulled or popped, but he can’t tell which without more tests. Thursday we go to get a CT-Scan using two different contrast dyes. That will show if anything popped.

We are praying it is only a surface or scar tissue tear that won’t need repair.

Today was a very good day…..nobody threw up!

Sunday: Gorgeous weather. Kids were biking and we worked in the garage and yard. The Gremlin complained of a headache about 2 hours after we came inside. Within 4 hours of being “fine”, the Gremlin’s temp was climbing and he felt awful. We took him to the new Pediatrician and he tested positive for the flu. They put him on Tamiflu.

He couldn’t keep down the 1st dose, but after keeping down his night-time dose, he got goofy and “wired”. He burst into song after being sick and proceeded to have a conversation with his reflection in the mirror. Apparently, he experiences some of the side effects from the meds. Nothing we can’t deal with though.

This blog has been neglected for several months because I’ve been working on our homeschool group’s web-site and getting ready to do a chat-forum launch for them. No time for hobbies these days! The launch is this week and will be followed up by several weeks of tweaking and fielding “Help Desk” type questions. I must admit that it’s been fun, I’ve learned a TON in the process, but realize that there is still so much I will never comprehend I need to learn. Hubby is amused that I have dipped my toes into his technical world……Momma can be taught!

The children left yesterday to spend some time with the grandparents traveling all over Michigan. They’ll be visiting cousins, eating fudge in Mackinac Island, driving out to the Tahquamenon Falls, ski-doing up at the lake, and swimming in 3 of the Great Lakes. It should be big fun and they are always exhausted after traveling with Hubby’s folks.

In the meantime, things are very quiet here. I’ve been working on the yard, a little cleaning, and LOTS of lesson planning for Co-op (and for our personal school year). I miss the kids and the craziness, but will try to be disciplined and get stuff done now, so that we can focus on family when they return.

Off to reboot the laundry and work on more lesson plans!

Halloween is huge in our subdivision. Whether you agree with concept or not, it’s best to pass out candy to avoid being targeted by the mass amounts of unsupervised “cherubs” that have been dropped off by their parents to canvass the neighborhood like little beggars. If you feed them….they will leave peaceably.

This year however, we passed out candy. We withheld comments when “too old” youth showed up begging for candy without a costume on. We didn’t call the cops or even complain when they milled around after the close of trick or treating blowing a whistle (so my daughter couldn’t sleep) and leaving candy wrappers in our yard. (While waiting for their negligent parents to pick them up.) We even scrounged up a handful of candy for a little girl that rang the doorbell after 10pm, even though the outside lights were OFF! (I let hubby handle that one, which he did with more pleasantness then I could muster, since the child just woke up all 3 of my kids.)

This morning I got up and headed out to clean all the trash and wrappers out of the yard…..only to find that one of the little darlings left us some artwork in white spray paint on the back of my truck! I. AM. SO. STINKIN’. MAD!!! The truck is just stuff and Hubby got the paint off after wasting several hours of our family time with nothing good to say about wayward youth and the parents that enable them……. It’s the fact that we fed the little brats and made a point to be neighborly and not cause a fuss over a stupid holiday, only to get vandalized! UGH!!! I need to move out to the country where children are too busy tending critters and garden plots to get into that kind of trouble! Grrr!

Another busy day. We’re going to have to catch up on school tomorrow! This morning we were up to make daddy’s breakfast, pack his lunch, and see him off to work. Then I threw in a load of laundry, wiped down the kitchen, started the kids on their devotions and morning chores, and whipped up a batch of brownies for the PE party today. While those were baking, I made a couple batches of Chex mix and threw together some things for a friend that is going through a lean period and waiting to find out if her husband will be employed much longer. (More cutbacks) The kids wandered in and promptly ditched their schoolbooks to help find things that would make their friends smile. Nothing major, just a way to let our friends know that we appreciate them.

By the time the brownies were out of the oven, we were packing up the truck and swapping out laundry loads. I threw what dishes I could into the dishwasher and left the kitchen in only a miniature disaster. We made the haul across town to arrive 2 minutes late at PE, only to be told that the church had forgotten to let us know that the gym was set up for their Harvest Party and we couldn’t use it.

Our fearless leader rerouted everyone to a nearby park to play and have our party. The kids ran wild and ate lots of goodies and finger foods while the mom’s visited and kissed skinned knees. The Imp has grown since we were there last and as she ran through a doorway at full tilt, she misjudged the height and smacked her forehead on the lintel. Now she has a nice little goose-egg that should be a lovely shade of purple by tomorrow. Sigh. After general singing and merriment, we headed out with rosy cheeked children. It was such a beautiful day to be at the park!

On the way home, we picked up a pizza, since we had another friend meeting us for lunch and pumpkin painting. The kids weren’t very hungry, but we had a couple minutes to straighten the kitchen and pile the clean laundry up so that I could swap out loads again. With the dryer humming warmly, we visited, ate lunch, and made these neat little pumpkin creations with paint, googley-eyes, and foam cut outs. The girls had a great time and the boys worked a bit on their reading work for the day. Painting completed, the kids all hooked up the game system and played a level of Little Big Planet together. (The Gremlin saved up all his “job” money for it… that’s a LOT of cat box cleanings… and has been chomping to play it.) The kids were playing well together, after such a busy morning, that the afternoon just FLEW by! When our friends headed off on their way, we were sad to see them go.

I straightened up the kitchen and living room and checked my e-mails. Then trotted out to the mailbox to get my books that were showing a status of “delivered”. Hubby came home and we ate leftover pizza and chicken enchiladas for dinner. Yum! Hubby spent the evening playing with the kids on their new game while I sat and looked over my new books with a cozy fire burning and our family all together. It’s been a good, but busy day. These are the kind of days that you fall into bed feeling exhausted and very blessed.