We have a Parakeet down!!

Oswald died last night. It was the most dramatic death I have ever witnessed--not that I have seen many deaths, but it was very movie-like. Susie and I were sitting in the living room, watching TV when all of the sudden, Oswald fell off his perch and started wheezing. It was awful sounding. We ran over to him and he was struggling to take these very painful sounding breaths. Then he raised his head up and took one long last breath and dropped his head to the floor. Susie picked him up and tried to open his beak and see what happening, but there was nothing obvious to see. It was so sad. We were very worried about the kids and what they would think when they woke up and saw that he was dead. We told both A and C separately and both had lots of questions about why it happened. They both wanted to know immediately if we could get another bird (obvious attachment disorder there!). I talk to a lady at work whose brother raises birds and she said parakeets are known for just dropping dead. Apparently they do not show signs of illness and just fall over and die. That is very disturbing. I feel awful for poor Ozzie!! We will miss him.

Disney World

We survived Disney World and have a great time. Our trip started out a little rough as a huge snow storm hit on the day we were to leave. We boarded our plane being told, "so far there is just a little snow on the runways and we can take off once they get the runway plowed." SEVEN hours later we were on our way. As miserable as that was, the kids were great. We did have the option of exiting the plane if we needed to, so that was nice. We were very thankful to be on the plane, as the terminal was jammed with the entire airport being closed. Anyway, we made it to Orlando, but unfortunately lost our first day of swimming and lounging :( Monday we headed to Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). This was fun, but mainly shows to watch and very few rides. The kids liked it for the most part, but kept asking, "when are we going to ride something!" I don't know that I will return here on our next trip. Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Magic Kingdom. This was just great. The boys loved it and we had a magical time!! (barf!, I know, but it is true!) I convinced (forced!) A to ride Splash Mountain. Though he didn't like the last plunge, he did like the rest of it and it is the one ride he brags to everyone about riding. We all loved Buzz Lightyears's spin ride and we rode it 3 times! On Thursday we went to Epcot. I love Epcot, but it isn't the most exciting for kids. I ended up leaving a little early that day with C and F as they were about spent on waiting in lines. F ended up going down for a nap at 4:00pm and never woke up the entire night. That boy was worn out!! Friday we went to Animal Kingdom. This has a great Safari ride which is so realistic. We left after lunch to get some good pool time in before leaving town! We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside resort, which is abosolutely gorgeous!! We loved the whole atmosphere. The rooms are nothing spectacular, but very nice. The only downfall was the long bus rides to all the parks. I think the next time we will plan to be at a monorail resort to decrease travel time from resort to park. Anyway, the whole trip was great and exhausting. We tried to take advantage of every minutes and the kids had a wonderful time. A was throughoughly depressed last night because he wanted to move to Florida!! We are already planning our next trip to Mickey!

Ozark boys

Well I think the boys would fit right in if we decide to move to the Ozarks anytime soon. On Monday night F was attempting to stand on A's back (who was lying on the floor) when he fell off and chipped off his front tooth. He also did some trauma to his upper lip, but that is healing up nicely. I took him to the dentist on Tuesday for his first cleaning. He did really well and made it through the whole cleaning, flouride treatment and x-ray without a peep. The dentist said his tooth will most likely turn dark in a few weeks to months. She give us three options. 1. Do nothing and let nature take it's course. 2. Come back in 3 weeks and she can file down the tooth to make it look a little nicer, but it will still change colors and look a little odd. or 3. Come back in 3 weeks or more and they can place a crown on it. This is definately the most invasive option, but would look the most normal. We are going to think it over the next month or so and see what we want to do. I want to wait until his lip swelling goes down so we can see how bad it really looks. Here you can kind of see it, though he is a bit reluctant to have me photograph it. The other picture is of C and F reading a book together (a rare moment of friendliness between the two). C had decided to dress in cowboy gear today.

Sleep overs and sickness

A had his first sleep over this weekend. He went to a friend's house for a sleep over/birthday party. We were very worried about this night and A kept changing his mind all week about whether or not he would stay all night. In the end, he decided to pack a bag as if he were going to stay and then decide when it was time for bed. We called the friend's house ~9:45 and they said all was going well. We didn't hear from them again. In the morning, I went to pick up A and he had a great time. One other boy was planning to stay, but he decided to go home around 11:00 and A wanted to stay. He says he never got scared and had a wonderful time. I am very happy it went well as I think Susie and I were more worried about the night than A was.

Today we planned to have a Super Bowl party for some friends, but A was up all night with ear pain. Then he got a fever early this morning and has been vomiting almost hourly for the rest of the day. Poor guy!! I hate seeing the kids sick because they look so helpless and pathetic. Hopefully it is just a stomach illness and he will be back to normal in the morning. Needlesstosay, we are no longer having the party tonight. I think our neighbors are now hosting and either Susie or I will go down there with C. So far C and F are just fine with no signs of illness. Hopefully it stays that way!

100 Days

A had his "100 days of School" party yesterday. Each of the kids had to create a shirt with 100 things on it. Since A is affectionately known as "band-aid" boy in our family, we thought it suited him to have 100 band-aids on his shirt. It really turned out well. Unfortunately there was one other child who had the same idea (but I'm sure A's was better!!). If you are counting, there are 50 band-aids on the front and 50 on the back. This week is Catholic School's Week at the boy's school so they have fun activities everyday. We are very thankful to have such an excellent Catholic school in our neighborhood!!

What do you want to be?

A new kids exhibit opened downtown and I took the boys there today. It is very cool and I want to know where these exhibits were when I was a kid? Anyway, it consisted of this little village of sorts that had a hospital, garage, school, space shuttle, news studio, barbar shop, rodeo, President's office, circus, race car, football field, restaurant and maybe a few more. It is all kids height and they can run around pretending to be the person who would work in that area. It is quite detailed and very cool. I will admit to a little pretending on my part too!! Here are some pictures...

2008

Happy New Year (and Christmas by the way.) We had a great New Year's Eve and Day. We headed out to my Uncle and Aunt's farm. The kids had a blast and were in great spirits all the way until Midnight. A was so excited about New Year's Eve you would've thought we were heading to Disney World. He started counting down the hours 3 days before the actual night. School is now back in session and we are very grateful. It is difficult keeping the boys entertained in this cold weather. I am already looking foward to Spring and lake house weather!! Here are some pictures. The first ones are of A in his Christmas program at school. C also had a program, but it lasted about 4 minutes and we didn't get photos.