Mr. Sicky

It all started when T was swinging. He started crying. Screaming, crying, yelling. I thought he hit his head on the swing. Or maybe he was mad that he wasn't being pushed fast enough. I kept asking him, and he kept screaming. And then he started throwing up. All over me. All over himself. All over the swing. Yep, that's how our day started...and that's pretty much how it ended. Throwing up. Every 10 minutes. T has the stomach flu. Bummer.

He spent most of the day looking like this. Sitting on the couch. Watching movies (lots of them). It kind of looks like he has his hand in a bowl of popcorn. But he doesn't. That's a throw-up bowl. Which, ps, is a lot less fun than a bowl of popcorn!

Poor baby would curl up in a ball, and then reposition himself, and then start all over again. I hate it when he is sick...except for the cuddles. I love those--and his sicky time is pretty much the only time I get them.

As the evening passed he was getting sicker and sicker. He couldn't even keep a teaspoon of liquid down. Thank goodness our favorite Doctor (papa wigginton...jim's dad) was on call and told us exactly what he needed and how to help! (PS--that favorite doctor of ours is also Sacramento's Top Doctor for the last 10 years. congrats papa!) With his help (and awesome meds) T was finally able to get to sleep. I hope that was our only tummy bug of the season. And so does T!

the BIG game: a double date

The idea was that Jim and I were going to go on a date to the BIG game. You know, date? Like, just the two of us. Babysitter for the kids. Hold hands, kiss and act like newlyweds. It would have been awesome. But when no babysitter could be found (partly because a lot of people were out of town, partly because we're kinda still new here and don't have a lot of choices and partly because Evie was just a tad bit sick and it gave me anxiety just thinking about leaving him) we decided to make it a double date.

Yep, that's right. My date was James (although he mostly hung out with Ev). And Ev's date was T (although T and I were cheering buddies). It ended up being the funnest family night we've had in a long, long time. We went to the pre-game fanfest where T jumped in a bounce house, we watched the band dance around like crazy people and everyone and their dog commented on how cute Everett looked in his tree outfit.

We headed over to the game just about 30 minutes early, and ended up with FRONT ROW SEATS in the student section. It was incredible. In the pre-game show 5 members of the army ROTC jumped out of an airplane and glided into the stadium, the last one dressed in full Stanford uniform with game ball in hand. It was amazing and Talmage hasn't stopped talking about it since. Sure, it started raining and it was kind of cold (for California!) but that didn't stop us. We ended up staying until the end of the first half, when we were all drenched and T said, "Uh Daddy. Is cold. We tell Mommy is time to go home!" I begged him to let me see the halftime show, but away we went ;)

T and me before the game wearing our "football make-up" and making football faces

Jim and I watched the 2nd half from home after the kidlets went to bed--STANFORD WON! It was a great game. And while I always love alone time with James, there is almost nothing I'd rather do than make special memories with our little fam.

T and Ev, thanks for the double date. Let's do it again sometime!

Swingin'

These boys love to swing. Yes, I said BOYS. Both of them. Swing. At the park. Crazy. Everett had his first swinging experience yesterday and he.was.in.love. Maybe it's because he's pretty much spent half of his life at the swings already helping Mommy push his always-in-the-mood-to-swing-higher,higher,higher-brother, who ps has graduated to a big boy swing recently. Like whoa.

Like any crazy-obsessed, stalkerish, paparazzi-inspired mother, I took a million pictures of his first swinging experience. And although to you they probably all look the same, to me they couldn't look more different and I HAD to include a handfull of them (yes, sadly this is only a handful). Appease me, ok? My gosh that Evie is sweet. And ps again...that picture of Talmage is one of my favorite pictures of him ever and was taken by his Papa. So sweet.

So without further adieu--Evie swingin':

That face. Delicious.

Bless him for being so smiley.

Gabbing while he swings.

Super concerned, suprised, enticed by T-Man's craziness on the big boy swing.

I love when he has the I'm-going-to-eat-you face.

Everett, the swinging pro.

Next week is what?

It's been a busy week. Heck, it's been a busy month. We were at a friend's house for family home evening on Monday and she told me they'd be leaving this weekend for Thanksgiving. I seriously, 100%, did not understand why they were taking a Thanksgiving vaca three weeks before the actual holiday. Um...yeah, earth to Heather--Thanksgiving is next week. NEXT WEEK! My mom has told me that as a young mom she'd have nightmares that she would forget about Christmas and we'd wake up without presents. I TOTALLY get it now. Where in the heck does time go. I need to remind myself next year not to blink after Halloween, because that's pretty much all I feel like I did and now it's time for Thanksgiving. THANKSGIVING. Already. Not that I'm not ok with that. Our family has so, so, SO much to be grateful for. SO MUCH.

Anyway...this week in a few pictures.
Daddy and the boys reading "oh the places you go" on Sunday afternoon. That is SUCH a great book--and not just for children.

Big Game's tomorrow--and guess who got tickets. WOO-HOO! This week has been crazy on campus with band concerts and horns blaring (all night long ps). T has loved hearing the band and a few times we've followed the music and found the dancing tree!

I'll be honest. I was seriously bummed that daylight savings stole my late-afternoon sunshine. The boys and I were used to playing in our backyard/park until after 7...but now it is dark by 5. Bummer. But I guess there are good things about this autumn business. At least there are beautiful tree-lined streets in our neighborhood, with rich orange, red and yellow leaves falling to the ground. And there's always pumpkin bread/cookies/muffins/cupcakes/pancakes. Yum. Ok, fall's not too bad.

Everett still hates tummy-time. HATES. I am now trying to use the boppy and it's been fairly successful (meaning he will stay propped up on his stomach for at most 30 seconds without screaming crazy loud). I keep telling him that he'll never learn to crawl if he doesn't stay on his tummy. And he keeps telling me that he actually prefers to be carried around in my arms all day. Touche.

We're back to switching off for church. Everett was able to come to church with us for about 5 weeks, but with flu season in full force (and since he has yet to receive his RSV vaccine--long story) we have been laying low the last few weeks--and will be for a while. Last week I was able to go to church, and Talmage actually had/has a cold so Jim was home with both boys. When I came back, T was super excited to show me the art projects they had done. Jim said it kept Talmage entertained for no longer than a minute--but I still think it turned out pretty cute!

T is Thankful

I was telling T about Thanksgiving and we decided to make a list of the things we were grateful for. He spit out numbers 1-6 on the list after I simply asked him what he was thankful for. For #7 I asked his favorite food, #8 I asked his best friend (our neighbor), #9 I asked what his favorite thing to do was and #10 I asked his favorite show. This is priceless. T-Man, I'm thankful for YOU!

The Walking Box and a Dance Party

On a rainy day last week we decided to play with a big empty box. Who knew that it would be so much fun. We started by decorating it. He was so excited to write his name on it (Everett's name was on the other side). Then we pretented it was a spaceship. He sat in it and rocked back and forth. Daddy even stopped studying for a few minutes and gave him a ride through space! After that, he put it on his head and played a game he learned from his cousins Dillan and Jordan, the walking box. He puts it on his head, walks around and laughs hysterically when he runs into something! I'm sure glad we had a box handy...it provided us with at least an hour of rainy-day fun!

A neighbor girl, Cedar, came over to play with T and they had a dance party with songs from T's V Tech computer. It was adorable to see them rocking out together!

Ev is cute.

Really...need I say more?