Tree Lighting

Every year the hospital has their tree lighting and the kids at the daycare get to come and sing songs. This Tuesday was the day for the tree-lighting. I took the afternoon off of work and headed over to the hospital. As I was walking up this is what I saw.

Yes, that is Ben riding in the front of the buggy (the one with no hair of course). The poor teachers had to push babies all the way from the daycare to the hospital (it is not that far, but try pushing 8 kids in a big buggy).

Since Jack is now one of the "big" kids, he got to ride on one of the buses to the hospital (all the way through the parking lot). We saw him as he was getting off the bus, and I think that was the highlight of his entire week. One of his teachers even told us the next day that she had never seen a kid so excited about a bus ride.

The kids were all there in the shirts that they had made at school. They all looked very cute. They sang three songs and helped countdown the lighting of the Chritmas tree. Lots of the hospital employees were on hand, as well as a few local news "celebrities". Gran, Gigi and even Sean came to see them perform. Jack did more performing than Ben. Ben ended up sitting with us. Overall it was very cute. I am sure it is just the first of many Christmas performances that we will be attending.

Jack - 2 years and Ben - 9 months

This is how we measure up after our check-ups on Tuesday:

Jack

Weight - 26lbs 8 oz - 31%

Height - 34 inches - 53%

Ben

Weight - 18lbs - 11%

Height - 28 inches - 35 %

Head - 45 cm - 41%

The doctor was a little worried about Ben's weight because he hasn't gained much, but the poor kid has been sick for the past two months with ear infections. He has just gotten better in the last two weeks (yeah, two weeks with no medicine!!). His appetite has definitely picked up.

Other than that, both boys were looking good. Jack had so much fun he even asked the doctor to examine him again...that kid is such a hypochondriac.

Jack's Birthday Party

We had Jack's birthday party on Sunday. We just invited family, not quite ready to have a bunch of little people over for a birthday party yet. It was fun. He got some neat toys and some John Deere boots to wear when he goes to feed the horses (aka: hehe's).

He did a great job of opening his presents, so I am sure Christmas will be really fun!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Well it has been two years since Jack Langston made his appearance on this planet. I cannot believe what a little man he has become. He is so smart, sweet and funny. It is a laugh a minute around our house. It is so hard to believe what he is capable of at just two. I am looking forward to what the next year will bring, but I miss my little baby boy!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey day has come and gone once again. Hard to believe that Christmas is only one month away. We had a very uneventful Thanksgiving. We went to Gran and Doda’s house for lunch on Thursday. Ben and Jon were both sick. Ben was running high temp, and Jon went to the doctor on Wednesday with a sinus infection and bronchitis. After lunch Jack and I went with everyone for a walk to Uncle Buck’s to see the horses. Jack had a wonderful time. He enjoyed tromping through the woods and seeing the “hehe’s”. While we went on our walk, Jon and Ben took about a 2 hour nap, they both needed it.

Once everyone was up and ready, we went to Mrs. Rubianne’s to get our Christmas tree. Jack was exhausted and fell asleep after about 2 minutes in the car. Ben was starting to head down hill fast so we kind of had to make it a quick trip. We did end up with a beautiful full and very FAT Christmas tree. By the time we got back to Gran’s house Ben was in a full fledged fever, however, it did not stop him from eating another big meal before we went home! By the time we got home his fever was at 102, and later during the night it was at 102.7. He was not feeling well at all.

Overall though we had a very good Thanksgiving. We are very thankful for many things including our family, friends, house, jobs, food on the table, clothes on our back and the laughs we have every day!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Well we had a very successful Halloween for Jack. Poor Ben on the other hand, not so much. Of course, last Saturday I had taken Ben to the doctor because he had been coughing for about two weeks and when he woke up, he looked like he had pink eye. The doctor won't see you for just a cough at his age, because there is not really anything that they can do...wonderful. Anyway, so we see the doctor and get some antibiotics for all the sinus junk that is going on (eyes draining, nose running and ears draining..GROSS!). We give him the meds and all seems to be doing better. Thursday morning we drop him off at school and he is fine. Gran was picking him up at 10:00 to take him with her to visit Aunt Laddice in Allendale. Before she even gets there Jon has a call that they think he has pink eye. My mom picks him up and they go for their visit. In the meantime that afternoon I call the doctor again to find out if we can give him the eye drops from the last round of pink eye. As I am driving from work to pick up Jon and the boys, Mom calls and says that she now thinks Ben is running a fever. We get everyone picked up and home we go. We get home at 6:00, and take Ben's temp...102.1...lovely. Still no call back from the doctor...Mommy not a happy camper. We give Ben medicine and go ahead with the eye drops because they look terrible. He goes to sleep at 6:15 and doesn't wake up until almost 2. Poor little guy felt terrible.

Friday comes along and we had the whole day planned...bad idea...had to change plans. Gigi kept Ben in the morning since it was the last day of the month and Jon and I both had to be at work. Jon and I both called the doctor on Friday morning first thing. Gran picked up Ben from Gigi's and took him to the doctor. He had complications from a sinus infection. Not good. Gran was nice enough to keep him for the rest of the afternoon. Poor little thing did not even want to be put down. It was very pitiful.

Anyway, I managed to get off work a little bit early so I picked up Jack from school and we went and bought a pumpkin. Gran was keeping Ben and he was asleep so we went outside and carved the pumpkin, better late than never. Jack loved it, he had pumpkin all over himself.

I got to break out the power tools for the Jack-O-Lantern. It was fun..

Later that night Gran, Doda and Gigi came over to have pizza and to see Jack go trick-or-treating since Ben was not up to the action. I think Ben was asleep by 7:00. Jack on the other hand was far from it. The first round of kids came by our house at about 6:30, I thought Jack was going to fly through the roof he was so excited. By the time I finally got him dressed we was raring to go. Personally I think he was a pretty cute skunk! We went around just to our most immediate neighbors, I don't think he was quite ready for the all out trick-or-treating. He was a big hit, and figured out the candy thing surprisingly fast.

The excitement was almost too much to control. Have you ever seen such joy?

Of course, once we made our rounds we had to check out our stash. He got very upset when we put the bag of candy on the kitchen counter, you would have thought the world was coming to an end. All weekend long he has been enjoying his "treats".

Ben finally started feeling better on Saturday afternoon. I could never find a time to get him in his costume for a "photo shoot" so we got a PJ picture tonight instead. He is doing better, but still not 100%.

Fall Fun

This month has been VERY busy. We have had lots of preparation for Halloween. Of course we had to take a family trip to the "pumpkin patch." We went to Harmon's here in Lexington and looked at the pumpkins, took pictures, took a turn on the swings and went to the "petting zoo." The petting zoo consists of lots of goats, chickens, rabbits and some other kind of bird that I could not tell you what on earth it was. My best guess would be a white peacock. Unfortunately the day that we went it was VERY windy, and Ben was starting with a cold so we did not stay very long. We were going to buy a pumpkin there but the line to pay for pumpkins was about 30 people long!! NO WAY! We still managed to get some cute pictures of the boys though, which is what I really wanted anyway.

Daycare had the Fall Festival on the 23rd. We took the boys because it is a BIG deal at school. Ben was still under the weather, but we bundled him up in his chicken suit and he managed through. Jack, the skunk, had a blast. They had games, a fire truck, ambulance, mounted police, hay ride, and a giant moon walk slide. The slide was the big hit of the night. We had to wait in line about 6 times for him to go down the slide. He was so small the teachers had to give him a boost and the teachers on top had to grab his hands and pull him up. It was kind of funny. I felt sorry for the teachers! Anyway, he thought it was the greatest thing, and that is all that matters. We had a wonderful time, and can't wait until next year when Ben can join the fun!