My Baby Girl & My Fuzzy Girl

It's been a CRAZY week for us - an ugly sickness has hit our house again! This week we've had an ER visit, a Dr. visit & our cat Elizabeth had an emergency vet visit!

Anne Marie has the flu -- what type we're not 100%, because they won't do the test, however we've had a fever of 106* (and a few other things that make a mom's heart fall into her stomach) so, we rushed to the ER in a panic at 10pm the other night!!

The same day our cat Elizabeth had a vet appointment because she had been having seizures.

Things seem to slowly be getting better. We have both of them on med's and watching both of them VERY closely...hoping & praying (praying HARD) that everyone is on the mend & that Mike and I don't get it!!!!

I've got a few things to catch up on here, and I hope I can get to those this weekend --- but for now, please say a prayer this flu goes fast & that Anne Marie's temps stay down & that Elizabeth's seizures will stop! TOO much to deal with in one day!

Crafting at Home

Today we decided to do a little "crafting". I found these cute little wooden fall "masks" at our local craft store for under a $1, so I thought it might be something fun for the girls to do.

The girls love doing crafts - especially painting. I took off their shirts & put on aprons to make sure that we didn't ruin anyone's clothes.

Taaaaaaa Daaaaaaa!! All done & ready for Halloween!

Mattie & her mask

Anne Marie and her mask

Weekend Getaway

Mike and I decided that we would get away for a night this weekend for our anniversary. (It's coming up this week). We decided that we would take Anne Marie with us. Since she missed both of her August vacations (our China-family reunion & end of summer camping trip - boohoo!) we thought having her come along might be something fun for her as well as for us.

We booked a night at one our favorite hotels. This is the kind of place that you show up early. (way earlier than check in!) Because if your room isn't ready then you get them to hold your bags and head out to take part in all the fun things they have available. This weekend, we were able to check-in early...so off to our room we went to get ready for some fun. This weekend they had quite a few kid-friendly things going on, so we knew that we'd be on the go the whole time!

The 1st thing she does is run into the room & jump on her bed. She make sure that Ling (her baby) and Jack (her puppy) liked it & had room to rest while we were out!

We then checked out the balcony off of our room...and the great view. If it wasn't SO STINKING COLD this weekend, this would have been a GREAT addition to our room, but we could only enjoy this for short periods of time.

Then, it was off to the pool we went. This is a beautiful pool that is naturally fed & heated by natural spring waters. It's sooooooo relaxing!

Then, back to our room to get ready for afternoon tea. (One of Anne Marie's favorite things about this place....she just loves the tea!)

Anne Marie enjoying her tea (with lots of cream and sugar mind you), cream-cheese tea sandwiches & cinnamon scones w/ raspberry jam.

She even enjoys the rides in the elevator -- I'm sure that everyone gets a little put-off, but she always has to press the buttons for our floor...and we let her...such simple pleasures!

Then, it was off for kids crafting and a special fall-buffet dinner!

There was fall face-painting..she really didn't like any of the fall things other kids were getting (pumpkins, orange & black tigers, black-masked "hero's" , bats) she asked for a pink butterfly and a red and black ladybug..they were happy to do so!

Then, it was off to carve pumpkins. They let each child pick their own pumpkin and let the parents help carve them. They also had a duck pond (w/ prizes to win) and a GREAT buffet dinner w/ a huge table full of desserts to choose from. For the record out of about 20 different desserts (chocolate-white-chocolate cake, turtle cheese-cake, coconut pies, mini-tortes, ice-cream w/ fresh fruit topping w/ wet-walnuts and sooooo on) she chose the chocolate chip cookies! I'm sure they were good, but I was surprised!!

So proud of her pumpkin!

After crafting & dinner we headed to the theatre for the free kids movie - Madagascar-2! She loved it! And it's always fun to see it on the "big-screen".

Then, it was off to bed --- Whewwww what a day!

The next day was check-out day, but as I said, we make sure we make the most of our stay. After we get up for a wonderful breakfast, we pack up & ask for our bags to be held again. We spend the day at the pool, playing checkers, putting puzzles together, and playing around the grounds. We end up usually staying for the afternoon tea one more time before finally leaving for home. I always wish we could spend more time..but hopefully soon!

Playing around in the halls.

Trying to put the puzzle together.

Mike and Anne Marie playing checkers -- she's actually catching on & doing well!

These were some of my favorite pictures -- we went outside for a little "air" and she starting running around (she needed to get energy out after a quiet game of checkers) - she was running up and down the walk-way. She ran in and out of the columns -- she had a blast!

Fall Fun

Today was Columbus Day...that meant no pre-school...no Mattie..but Daddy had to work, so... it was Mommy & Anne Marie day!!! I decided to make a special day of it. The weather was cold & very "bla", so I decided that we would pull out all the fall decorations (including our cute little pumpkin acorns) and decorate the house. Then when Daddy got home we'd go get a mum and maybe let Anne Marie pick out a baby pumpkin from our local nursery. (We're going to the pumpkin patch next week, so we're still not ready for the "big" pumpkins yet.)

I started the day w/ special pumpkin shaped buck-wheat pancakes. I used our pumpkin cookie cutter (needless to say I ONLY made Anne Marie these pancakes, because it took FOREVER w/ only one cookie cutter...but she LOVED them!!)

After putting out all the fall decorations & acorn-jack-o-lanterns, I got out a special gift (that I got on clearance last year for $0.25 after Halloween) for Anne Marie - fun Halloween window clings. She was so excited, she wanted to put them on the door & front window. She couldn't wait until Daddy got home to see her new decorations!

Then, I let her get out her scarecrow "friends" she picked out last year and put them in the front of the house by the walk-way. She wanted me to take a picture of her with them. (So cute)

Then, Daddy got home.....so off to the garden center we went. I love going there in the fall. They have beautiful flowers, fun pumpkins - you know those "baby" ones and those fun shaped & fun colored ones. Just one year I want to buy one of the white ones & find a cool way to carve it so the color inside just peaks through...I'm just not that talented yet!

Anne Marie hanging out in the pile-o-pumpkins!

This year the garden center had a new fun "game". They used all the hay-bales they had and made a fun maze for the kids to run around in. Anne Marie had a BLAST! She played in it for about 1/2 hour! She was actually M-A-D when we had to leave. Not even the thought of picking out one of those fun baby pumpkins made her want to leave the maze.

Anne Marie and Daddy planting our new mums on the front porch.

Happy Fall!!!

A Visit From a Little *Bug*

This Saturday Anne Marie and I caught an "ugly-little-bug". Violent, but fast moving (thank goodness!). And we were very thankful that Mike did not catch it --- he was a good boy and took care of us all weekend!

On Sunday we told Anne Marie that we were going to have to miss Church and stay inside for the day to recover and to keep our germs to ourselves. She was not happy about that. I think she felt much better Saturday night, but I was still having a rough time, so I just wanted to lay around on Sunday. (And it didn't help that the weather was BEAUTIFUL on Sunday!!) She asked if she could go to Grandma & Grandpa's to play w/ their blocks. We told her maybe another day. Mike had gone out to get us Ginger-ale, mashed potatoes (it always makes me feel better...I swear!) And he came home w/ a little surprise for Anne Marie....

She's been having fun ever since!! I guess it made the whole "shut-in" day worth while!!

Anne Marie and her "train". Thanks Daddy for helping us feel better!!

Finally..... Our Acorn Craft

Remember when we picked acorns? Well, today we finally got together with some friends to make our acorn crafts. My friend Robin found this cute craft on a kids website. We collected enough acorns to use in our fall decorations around the house & kept a few out to make our "pumpkin-acorns". They were too cute & the kids had a GREAT time making them!

All you need is a handful of acorns w/ the tops OFF & some orange paint & Sharpe marker. Here is Anne Marie painting her acorns/pumpkins orange.

Our friend Mira getting into the act.

Our friends Elsie & Ben doing the same!

It was a little messy (and the moms had to "touch-up" after the kids were done) but it kept their attention for a LONG time !

An example of the "mess"....everyone had bright orange hands!

We let the acorns dry and the kids all went outside to play for a while, but when we came home they had finally dried, so we started to decorate our pumpkin faces......

Yes, folks, she actually drew this face herself...isn't it good?? It looks like a very scary / mad jack-o-lantern doesn't it? I"m sure it was by accident (or she's a genius artist!!)

I helped make some of the faces too -- this is our pumpkin line-up. We'll find someplace cute to put these around the house with our other fall decorations.

What a fun little project!!