This morning the girls got to carve the 2 tiny weiny pumpkins that they bought yesterday. I absolutely detest the smell and feel of pumpkins so Daddy has to do this job. This is the first time Lily has ever done the carving herself. She felt so big. Jacob helped Rosie but she still thought she was doing it and was very proud. She even took the magic marker and drew her own face.....when we weren't paying attention.
Lily hard at work Rosie too
Scooping the guts out....yuck
Lily and her knife More scooping Rosie scooping the scustin' (disgusting) stuff out. Concentrating Ouch! Rosie making a pie
Golly I just love pumpkin patches. We didn't have Halloween in the UK when I was growing up, it was starting to get big when I was in my late teens but still nothing compared to over here. I had some American friends who explained what they used to do, so a friend and I tried it, very unsuccessfully. We dressed up and went to our first house, knocked on the door and when the man answered we said, TRICK OR TREAT. He looked at us and told us to go home! We did, and giggled the whole way there!
Since Lily has been very under the weather we have not had a chance to take both girls to the pumpkin patch together so this evening I took them both. Rosie was very happy to have Big Lily with her at her school and even happier when we went nowhere near a classroom.
Lily preferred all the unusual shaped ones.
Rosie showing her superhuman strength
The pumpkins are sprouting
We bumped into our friends the "K's" and which was a lovely surprise Can we have these, please? Awwww
Apparently choosing the perfect pumpkin is arduous work and Lily nearly needed a respite
Happy girl Crazy child is trying to fly, it's her latest wish. I just love all the colours and shapes Is that the Pumkin Patch Fairy?
Both the girls picked a pumpkin and I think they set records for the tiniest ones ever. Once they are decorated I will post photos.
I find the carving of pumpkins to be utterly revolting so I save that honour for Daddy.
Today Rosie was having a Halloween party at school. She was quite excited about it and helped me to prepare the goody bags, chose the food she wanted to take and was very happy with her costume choice. Taking all of that into consideration you would think it would have been a banner day at school, no? And lets not forget Mummy and Daddy were invited to be at school all morning.
Here is cowgirl Rosie all ready to go to school. Notice the smiles cos this is the last time you will see them! Here she is at school with "friend" and not looking very happy.
And here she is with her teacher and she's bawling her little heart out. (such a party animal)
After a quick dance session and a Halloween story it was time to get the party started with a little parade and some trick or treating. Is that a slight smile I detect or is it a grimace? Nope, it's a tiny bit of a smile.
After the parade we all went to the Fellowship Hall for a dance party and some Halloween songs. Rosie cried the whole time. She really doesn't like noise and it was noisy. She doesn't like a lot of people and it was full of people. She kept asking to go home. It was heartbreaking. Thankfully Daddy showed up a few minutes later and once we got back to her classroom she saw him and that helped.
Class Photo Waiting for her food. All the kids were having a Happy Meal. Rosie has never had McD0nalds before.... This is what she thought of it. LOL Finally we told her it was time to go home.....see that smile!
I'm hoping the rest of the weekends festivities don't upset her this much!
Having a child who is as sensitive as Rosie is so hard. One the one hand you want to cry with them but on the other, you know you have to toughen them. It's like walking a tight rope. I hate to see her so uncomfortable but she was with me the whole time it's not as if I dropped her off and left. Sigh. It's looking like a double chocolate day in this house.
Should I begin this post by saying; "The best laid plans of mice and men" or should I begin by saying, "Say it isn't so?"
Today was Lily's much anticipated 5K. She raised a lot of money and couldn't wait to walk the walk. She has been talking the talk for weeks now and she was ready. At least she was ready when she hopped into bed last night. Her clothes were laid out ready, her water bottles chilling in the fridge, her new sneakers were at the front door with her socks placed neatly next to them, the sunscreen was in our bag, ditto the bug spray and her epi-pen, the cameras were charged and last but not least her picnic lunch was packed and ready to be grabbed at 7.50 this morning when we left the house to drive to Fort Lauderdale.
I set my alarm for 6.03 and came downstairs, moments later Lily followed me and in this odd, high pitched, raspy voice she told me she felt ill. She said her throat hurt, her head hurt and her legs were very wobbly. I probably stared at her for a few seconds with my mouth wide open. I touched her head and she was hot, really hot. Lily NEVER gets sick. The last time she had a fever we were in China, nearly 3 years ago. I gave her a huge cold drink and she sat on the couch looking so miserable and things just got worse when I said she couldn't do the walk. She begged and pleaded. I told her, no. I told her I would do it with Rosie in her name and she would have to stay home with Daddy. I dosed her with some M*trin, made her comfy and headed to the shower...rather late.
By the time I was out her fever was already down so I started to get dressed and get Rosie ready. At the last second I took her temp and she was at 98.8. Okay kiddo you can come but under one condition, you have to sit in Rosie's pushchair. I will push you both and when we are done it is straight back in the car and we are coming home. No face painting, no bouncehouse, no picnic and no playing. She agreed. All she cared about was doing the walk. A lot of people had sponsored her and she wanted to keep her end of the deal for Katie Starr.
We left the house late and arrived for the 9 am registration at 9.30 but we made it. The Katie Starr team was all kitted out in really awesome team shirts. Lori had done an amazing job of fundraising and the Katie Starr team was in the lead. I kept Lily in the shade sitting down and another Mum went and got her a smoothie, she had an apple and said she felt great. Her temp was back to normal ( I took the thermometre with me) and she was ready to go. After all the teams were introduced we had a quick pep rally, and a warm up. (warm up? Who are you kidding it was hot as all heck and we were sweating before we started LOL.) Lori came over to us and handed Lily a pin that she was given. It was for being an All Star. Lori's team raised $10,000 for The Foundation Fighting Blindness and as the team captain she was honoured with a pin. She told Lily that she deserved it for her fundraising it was very touching but then again that's Lori. Lily beamed.
I forced her to sit in the stroller because she was still very pale and looked ucky. I went as fast as I could, pushing a stroller with 80+lbs of weight in it. It was hot and sticky and I needed to get around as fast as possible then head back home. Both girls were drinking water so they were fine. After awhile Lily said she had to walk at least for awhile cos that was why people had sponsored her. One thing is for sure she is not a quitter. I let her get out and off she went. She didn't last long but she did it.
Once we got back to the start I grabbed her another cold drink and told both girls we would have our picnic in the car and we said our good byes. Neither of them questioned me and we walked slowly back to the car. I put the cooler between them both of them were asleep before they had a bite to eat. Lily doesn't sleep in the day, she might miss something!
When we got home Jacob and I carried them both into the house and plopped them on the couch. Lily didn't move all afternoon. She got up for awhile and played play-d*ugh, had some soup and a popsicle and then after her shower we watched a little television before she went back to sleep.
The walk was incredible. So many people, the Katie Starr team alone had 85 members! Again, that's the Weinstock way. So many people were all walking to raise money for research. Hopefully there won't be a walk next year because a cure for hereditary blindness will have been found but just in case we are signing up again.
Katie Starr and many others deserve this.
Team Captain, Lori with Katie Starr and the Mischief Man, Ethan. ( he felt a little forgotten today because eh kept hearing Lori and Katie Starrs names mentioned but not his.)
Sweet Katie Starr, you will see your future because you have an amazing family who will stop at nothing to ensure that happens.
(side note: Andie since you cannot see Y*u Tube from Afghanistan I posted the video through dr*pshots. Let me know if you can see it. If you can I will continue to do it this way until you get back home))
Rosie too
Lily and her knife
More scooping
Rosie scooping the scustin' (disgusting) stuff out.
Concentrating
Rosie making a pie
Rosie's finished Jack O Lantern
Lily's finished Jack O Lantern
We bumped into our friends the "K's" and which was a lovely surprise
Can we have these, please?
Awwww
Happy girl
Crazy child is trying to fly, it's her latest wish.
I just love all the colours and shapes
Is that the Pumkin Patch Fairy?
Here she is at school with "friend" and not looking very happy.
Waiting for her food. All the kids were having a Happy Meal. Rosie has never had McD0nalds before....
This is what she thought of it. LOL
Finally we told her it was time to go home.....see that smile!
