Let Down

My body let me down. Although I really shouldn't say that. I got through the majority of this month with my health, even a workout thrown in now and again.

I'm sick now. A cold or something nasty. It hasn't kept us from having a good time, though, for the most part. Mary came over for our Thanksgiving Dinner from Dierberg's. Yummy as ever. This morning, we headed to the farm where Sophia takes lessons so she could get in one extra, since she's been sick too.

It was chilly but worth it.

Now Christmas is up around here. I'm finally starting to feel in the Christmas spirit just a tiny bit. Erick and Sophia take such sweet care of me when I don't feel well. It makes me that much more grateful for them.

Maybe now that things will potentially resume some normalcy, I'll have a chance to blog more. I'm not even sure what I'd write about, but I'll give it some thought.

Hope everyone's holidays are off to a beautiful beginning.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I'm a little concerned that the light at the end of this tunnel might be a train. But I'm willing to take the risk just to get through.

Sophia has finally gotten healthy, knock on wood. In the three weeks before this one, she missed seven days of school, with a cough and occasional low grade fever that simply would not leave. Finally, in the last week, I took her back to the dr., where we were finally given the answer of walking pneumonia. Obviously not great news, but great to get antibiotics and an illness that will actually be helped by them...

That was going on while I'm still spending most hours of my day on the PTO Auction. Don't ask. Although, I'll probably tell you about it anyway.

And Erick is having his busiest time of the year so far - right now, often not getting home until it's pretty much time for Sophia to go to bed.

So, you can understand why we are all waiting anxiously for the end of this week. The first half of next week will be busy, but for me it will be tying up the loose ends. This weekend, after the penultimate event of this auction, we are so happy to welcome our friends from Seattle! They're just staying for one night, but it will be so great to have them, even if I'm largely in a cloud of angst and giddiness.

I had a minute. So I thought I'd let you in on the haps. Minute's over. Wish me luck.

My Halloween Post

I have a very busy week, and I doubt if I post again. Since I have yet to post anything from Halloween, I'm throwing this out there to tide you over till Crazy takes a holiday...

Halloween was a success in spite of the dreary fall day. Sophia is posing here with her friends the wicked queen and a Flying Wallenda. She is Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus.

As we prepare to Trick or Treat, she shows off the red highlights that complete her disguise.

Per usual, Erick and I got in on the action. Wouldn't want the spirits to recognize us, now would we?

There was some rain. Not as much here at the beginning, but the girls were prepared.

I love the Halloween walk around our neighborhood. Sophia had her joke prepared. We went this year with some friends who are not from St. Louis, or from the U.S., for that matter. They didn't know about the joke tradition. Only five houses in, though, and Sophia had taught jokes to her friends so they could enjoy the full experience.

It was a Happy Halloween. Plenty of candy, but Sophia isn't in it for the candy. She's in it for the later bedtime and the chance to make friends...

Peter Pan Magic

For weeks now, I have been giddy with excitement about going to see Peter Pan at Touhill. I've been more excited, in fact, than Sophia was.

I was right to be so excited. That's for sure. What I didn't know was that the company that put it on, Variety Children's Theatre, specializes in helping children with disabilities have life experiences that are often limited to children without disabilities. Being in a play, for example.

I was surprised, at first, when some of the Lost Boys and Indians were in wheelchairs. Some were disabled in other ways. It was easy to forget, though, that anyone on that stage was anywhere but Never Land. The show not only did not suffer because of their addition, it's not an exaggeration to say that it was made better. I'm glad that the first play I got to see by Variety was Peter Pan. What better way for me to be introduced to this idea than through a play written about kids who are abandoned and lost? Kids who go out of their way to care for one another and who have to learn what it would be like to grow up "normally"? It was beautiful. I cried even more than I typically do when watching Peter Pan, which is saying something.

Aside from the unique aspects of the production, it was really a great show. Sophia always loves attending the theatre. Her passion for performing gets renewed. We'll see where that leads her, but for now it sends her into a world of possibility. And I'm in favor of that.

Confession

Sophia was at home for two days this week. She had a low- to middle-grade fever for the first day into the evening. A virus of some sort. I kept her home the second day for two reasons. The first was to follow the rule. The "no fever for 24 hours" rule. Primarily, though, because she did this exact same thing last year around Halloween. I sent her back the day she felt better, and she ended up being sick for the following two days. So, I'm hoping that by giving her the extra day of rest, she'll actually be healthy this time...

Also, I love spending time with her. Which brings me to my confession. I miss her today. Two days of not getting the things done that I had planned to get done. No exercise, no friends, no time to myself. But we giggled and snuggled and talked. And I miss her today.

Today, I'll go get all my errands finished. I'll have a few minutes to myself. No one will have an invisible 5-foot leash on me.

And I'll be so happy when 3:30 rolls around.


*the picture was not from a sick day, but it's still representative of our state for the past two days

First Grade Field Trip

Today was Sophia's first field trip of first grade. To say that she was excited would be a gross understatement. The funny thing is that she was going to the zoo, which she goes to dozens of times every year. Riding the bus the five minutes that it takes to get there apparently kicks the zoo up about a bajillion notches.

Because there were so many parent volunteers, I had a group of three little girls. Easy peasy. That's not sarcastic. It really was. At least as easy as walking around the zoo all day ever is. Did I mention they were three chatty girls? As long as I nodded occasionally and looked like I was paying attention, they were happy as three cute little clams.

No matter how many times we go to the zoo, it never gets boring or old. But, apparently, you can have more to say about it. Chat-ty...

Look how excited she is to get on that bus. It beats walking, which is what she knows I'd make her do...

More Birthday Fun

This weekend, it was our turn to celebrate Grandmary's birthday!

Lots of playing with Sophia is what was most desired by both parties. Of course, we also needed to do something special. In this case, something special turned out to be Eckert's Farm. The weather was just starting to turn, and it made for some great pictures. The sky was so pretty.

We all had lots of fun celebrating Grandmary. Couldn't have "picked" a better way to do it. Get it? Picking apples. It's funny.