Porch Playtime

The weather is so great this time of the year.  The kids love playing outside but we have to worry about bug bites.  Poor Luke is definitely sensitive to mosquitoes and it seems as though Katherine is, too, but not as bad.  So, we play on the porch quite a bit.

The kids are at a really fun age right now.  Luke is still trying his hardest to "play" with Katherine.  She is not that in to it.  She usually wants to do her own thing and does not want him bothering her.  She loves riding on the toys.  She and Luke make a "choo-choo" and ride around the porch.  They were both filthy when they got finished playing so it was straight to the bathtub!

Fun Day Wednesday!

The detail was amazing!

Of course Luke's favorite train was Thomas

So excited when Daddy surprised us!

We had a great outing today!  The Train exhibit at Cheekwood has been there since April but we have been waiting until fall to go.  Today has been on the calendar for over a month!  Luke was so excited...the first thing he said when he woke up this morning was "today is Cheekwood day!"  Mom took a day off of work to join us and Paula came, too.  We had a wonderful time.  It was cloudy but comfortable.  Luke was great and Katherine was, too.  We absolutely loved the trains!  The workmanship on the tracks and buildings was unbelievable.  There were several trains that ran and one was Thomas!  That made Luke's day.  He ran around and around "chasing" the trains.  He did not put up much of a fight when we decided to go walk around in the gardens.  He loved the waterfalls and ponds.  He also liked climbing all the stairs -- the adults not so much! 

We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed to Dalt's for lunch.  We were so excited when Paul joined us.  Luke and Katherine were so surprised!  Both kids did great at lunch.  The waitress spoiled them which was fun.  After lunch we all headed home for naps.  Paula stayed to help get Luke down.  I think they read twenty books!  I thought Katherine would go down easy but she was having nothing to do with it.  She played and played.  About the time she finally gave in Paula left.  Luke woke up shortly after that and was so upset that Nene was not there anymore.  He was crying and kept saying " I miss her".  I got him to lay back down on the playroom couch but he never really went back to sleep.  Katherine did sleep about two hours which was nice. 

We had an awesome day and should do more things like that!  The Scarecrow exhibit is coming to Cheekwood in October so we hope to get back to see them and visit the trains again.  I would highly recommend a visit!

Rushing To Do The Homework

Luke has a homework assignment each week.  It is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged.  And, for added incentive if Luke brings his homework in he gets to pick something out of the "treasure box".  He usually does not make a fuss about doing his homework and actually enjoys it.  It typically consists of the letter the class is focusing on this week.  Luke has to pick a word that starts with that letter, write the word and then find a picture of the word and paste it on the paper.  He is pretty independent with his writing, I just offer assistance every now and then.  His class has recently started writing their last name on all their assignments.  It is cute to see him write "Luke Troutt" on all his papers! Oh yea...he was doing his homework at 6:45 this morning before we were walking out the door!

Not Going to Win Mother Of The Year

So when I heard today's weather yesterday I know they said sunny and in the low 80's. Well, imagine my surprise when we got out at school this morning and it was cool and cloudy!  I had Katherine in a spaghetti strap top.  At least she had pants on.  Luke had on shorts and a polo and neither one had a jacket!  I walked in with another mom whose kids are Luke and Katherine's age.  They each had on pants, long sleeves and a jacket.  Both the kids teachers assured me they would not be going outside today since it was going to be rainy.  From now on I am going to try to re-check the weather in the mornings before we leave. For the record neither kid seemed to mind and the were perfectly fine when I picked them up this afternoon.

Old Toy -- New Fun

After church, Subway and attempting naps yet again we gave up and started housework.  We also had the Titans game on and were pleasantly surprised with the BIG win!  Luke loves to help us clean.  Usually on Sunday afternoons he and Paul gather all the garbage and take it to the road for it to be picked up Monday morning.  We did every stitch of dirty laundry which is always liberating until you see that little pile that has already accumulated by the end of the day!

We made a quick trip to Mom's to do a few simple repairs.  Luke was excited because he got to watch a Thomas movie. Both kids did nap in the car so I guess that counts for something.  During our cleaning Luke found a toy he got one Christmas.  He and Katherine had the grandest time watching the frog shoot up in the air!  I love when they re-discover toys!

Not A lot Saturday

Our day was very uneventful.  I worked this morning while Paul and the kids visited with Nene and Pop.  It has been almost three weeks since they have seen Luke - that is a record that we don't intend to break.  When we got home this afternoon we spent way too much time trying to get the kids to take a nap.  We finally gave up and just watched football. The kids did remarkably well considering the no nap thing.  After the UT game was over we headed out to get some supper.  We ended up at our old stomping ground and ate at Sante Fe Cantina.  That was definitely not my first choice but I could not come up with a better option.

When we left there we went to Paul's work to pick his car up.  It has been down there all week since he has a company truck now.  Luke was excited to see where Paul works but I did not want to hang around too long since it is not in the best neighborhood and it was well after dark!  It was an early bedtime for all when we got home!

Impromptu Girls Shopping

Paul texted me this afternoon and said he was going to be real late getting home tonight.  I had planned to make chili since it is so crisp and cool outside.  I called Mom to see if she would like to come join us.  Paul actually ended up being home earlier than expected so he was able to eat with us.  After supper Luke and Paul went upstairs to play trains and Mom and I decided to run up to Hendersonville to HomeGoods and Kirkland's.  We took Katherine with us.  She did great!  She would point to things on the shelf and grunt at them. We had so many things in our buggy!  We put (most) of it back.  She really does not seem to mind shopping. This could be a bad thing eventually.  Mom found her some cute rain boots that will be a great Christmas present.  You just never know what you are going to find when you aren't looking.  We had fun together. 

When we got home Luke was making "Luke movies".  This basically consists of Paul setting the video camera up and Luke running back and forth in front of it watching himself on the TV.  He was wired.  I asked Paul how long that had been going on and he said about thirty minutes.  Amazing what entertains them!  It was so funny when we got home Luke said "welcome to my house, so glad you are here!".  Sometimes I don't know where he comes up with this stuff!

The Mail

Luke gets so excited when he has something in the mail.  Today he got a new issue of High Five magazine.  Nonna gave the subscription to him for Christmas last year.  He loves it!  We had to read all the stores, play the games and read the monthly recipe as soon as we got upstairs this afternoon.  It really is neat to see his love of reading and learning.  The recipe is for pumpkin pancakes so I told him we could make them one Saturday soon.

I hit a consignment sale before I picked the kids up this afternoon.  I was mainly looking for Luke some things.  He wore a long sleeve shirt to school this week and the sleeves were about 2 inches too short!  I found a few things for him and a pair of shoes for $1 for Katherine.  She loves them, of course!  That girl and her accessories!

Where Is She?

Katherine is still quiet the adventurer.  Numerous times we will all be together in one room and we will look around for Katherine and she will not be there.  Most often she is in the kitchen playing with the stuff on the fridge or in the bathroom.  She loves to look in the tub!  She is also very much in to shoes as I have said before.  Tonight she had on one boot and one hot pink sock. She gets so mad if you take them off.  Quite funny if you ask me. 

The Verdict

So, Katherine did great last night and did not have a temp.  She did cough a little more than she has been but not enough that we had to go check on her.  As soon as I dropped Luke off at school ( I promised myself I would try not to ever take both kids to the doctor at the same time again) I called the doctor's office. It was our lucky day -- Dr. Patterson had an 8:30 appointment that canceled.  I told the nurse we would take it!  It was more like 9:15 before we actually saw Dr. P but Katherine did great.  She played in the exam room, climbed up on the shelf under the table, took everything out of my wallet and put it back in and otherwise entertained herself. 

I was happy to learn that Katherine's ears were still clear.  Her chest was a little "junky" but nothing to be concerned with.  Dr. P determined she had a "persistent virus" that was causing her temperature to spike.  She feels it is at the end of its course and said K can return to school tomorrow since she has been fever free.  I was relieved to find out that there was not anything wrong but it is still crazy to me how high her temperature got.  Oh well -- kids are so resilient.

We had a great day together.  She took a long nap this morning when we got home.  We then ate an early lunch and headed out to do errands.  She was the biggest ham in the grocery.  She was laughing, grinning, singing and dancing.  We had more people stop us to talk to her and make her grin.  It was the cutest thing.

We picked Luke up from school and I had promised him a special treat so we got a mini blizzard at Dairy Queen and shared it when we got home.  Paul transitioned to a new position at work.  He is now a Project Manager for the construction/rebuild company of ServPro.  One of the perks is he gets a company truck.  When he got home tonight he wanted to clean it so Luke was his helper.  Katherine and I went down long enough to visit. The kids love daddy's "new truck".  Katherine bounced up and down and pretended to drive.  We are hopeful that this new opportunity will work out.

Remembering 9/11

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since that unforgettable day that forever changed our country.  Paul and I watched quite a bit of the coverage even though I said I did not want to.  It is so sad.  Even the commercials that are tributes are sad.

Katherine ended up having a temperature in the middle of the night again so Mom came to keep her so Luke and Paul could meet me at church.  When we got home Katherine, again seemed to be fine.  Playing, eating and babbling.  We are not sure what is going on.  She is still coughing some and has a runny nose.  We played outside some tonight and she got some bug bites on her face - yuck!

The plan is for me to stay home with her tomorrow and get her in to see the doctor.  Hopefully, the end is in sight and we can all get back to normal!

Tunnel Fun

When I got home tonight Katherine was so happy!  She was laughing and playing.  Luke was happy to see me, too!  He wanted to tell me all about his trip to Tullahoma and what he did with Nonna and Nanny.  I was so glad that he got to spend the day in Tullahoma.  It made it a little easier on Paul to just have one kid all day.

Work went well for me, but I am tired.  Not getting much sleep does not help.  Katherine has not had a temp all day!  I have to be at work at 6:00 in the morning.  I am going to meet Paul and the kids at church in time to teach our Sunday School class.  Here is hoping to a non-eventful night!

A Scary Night

Katherine had a low grade temp when she got up this morning so Paula met me at work to take Katherine out to the farm for the day.  We were so glad that she and Bill were able to keep her today.  I am busy at work getting ready to start a new roomservice program and Paul is trying to tie up some loose ends at ServPro.  Paula said Katherine did great all day. She did not have a temp and played well and was not whiny.  When I got there to pick her up I checked her temp and it was 102.  I quickly gave her some Tylenol hoping to get it down.  We left to pick Luke up and she napped on the way home.  Paul was late leaving work so Mom brought supper to us.  Luke is spending the night with her and going to the Railroad Museum tomorrow.  I am working most of the day tomorrow and early Sunday.  Katherine napped while everyone was eating.  Luke and Mom left.

Katherine ate a great supper and seemed to be feeling ok.  When we went to check her temp at bedtime it was 104.7!  Paul and I did not believe so we checked it again.  I immediately called the doctor's office and the on-call service called me back.  We gave her Motrin as soon as we realized what her temp was.  In the few minutes it took for them to call me back she had fallen asleep in Paul's lap.  The nurse instructed us to wait an hour and re-check her temperature.  After that we were to give her a lukewarm bath.  The nurse said our goal for the night was to keep her temperature under 105.  If it got to 105 we needed to take her to the ER.  My stomach was doing flip-flops I was so nervous.  We even talked about going on to the ER anyway.  We decided to wait.  When we rechecked it after an hour is was 103.2 - much better.  We ran a bath for her and she loved it!  You never would have known she had a high temperature.  She splashed and played and did not want to get out.  We even took a video of her splashing around.

After her bath the temp was 102. It is amazing how quickly it can come down.  Paul put her to bed and we set our alarm for 2:00 am to check it again.  It was lower still at 2.  At 4:30 she woke up crying and I went to check on her.  She was sweaty and cool - her temp had broken!

This morning she has been fine.  She ate a great breakfast and has not had a temperature.  I have to work until tonight so she and Paul are going to Gallatin to hang out with Nene and Pop.  We are hopeful the temperature is gone.

Sibling Love -- and Doctor Visit

I got a call from Katherine's teacher around lunch saying she had a temp of 100.4 and that we needed to come and get her.  I was really tied up at work and so was Paul.  Luckily, Paula was able to go get her and take her home until Paul could get home.  He ended up taking her to the doctor just to get their opinion. Her temp was 100 there.  She checked out fine - clear chest, throat and ears.  They pricked her finger to check her white count and it was good so the doctor determined it was a virus.  We are going to play tomorrow by ear. Paula is available to keep her if she continues with a temp.

We had several things we needed at Sam's so we headed over there when Luke and I got home. Although there is absolutely nothing healthy to eat there we ate supper there.  I took Katherine some things to eat and she ate really well and acted normal.  We were glad about that!  Luke loves walking around Sam's about as much as Paul and I do.  He likes looking at the toys and all the different books.  It is amazing how much time we can spend in there! 

Big Girl Seat!

We had had a drastic weather change in Tennessee!  It went from 100 degrees over the weekend to highs in the mid-60's!  Everyone is going to be sick.  We knew it was coming but I was still ill prepared when it came to the kids' closets.  I was planning to work on a project today since I was off Monday, but the hospital census is down so I have had time to get everything done so I had an unplanned day off!  I took advantage and did lots of errands and got the kids' some new fall clothes.  Thanks to a Carter's gift card that Katherine got from cousins Thomas and Cynthia I was able to get her lots of things!  A note about Katherine's size -- 12 months are just a little small and 18 months drown her.  Guess I will be rolling up pant legs and sleeves for a while.  I found a few things at Gymboree with a coupon and their 12-18 months size seems to fit her perfect!

We have been talking about putting Katherine in a forward facing seat but just had not done it yet.  I had a Babies R Us coupon so I decided I would go get it today.  When I got there I was so excited to see the one we had decided on was $50 off!  I have never seen it on sale for that price!  Yay!  Luke helped Paul install it when he got home.  In the middle of Katherine modeling her new outfits we let her sit in it to see what she thinks -- it's a winner!!!

A Little Work on Labor Day

All of the repairs are done at Mom's house so we are back to working on the inside to get it spiffed up for listing.  Since we all had the day off, today was the perfect day to go over there.  Mom enticed us with a homemade breakfast. We were there before 8:00 and left around 4:00 - it was a full days work!  We had fun though.  Paul did a few things outside but the rain hampered that quite a bit.  He hung a new light fixture in the dining room and Mom and I worked on getting the other rooms staged and organize. It is looking great!

The kids had a blast!  Luke got to watch Thomas movies and listen to Nonna read him countless books.  Katherine occupied herself by watching us and playing with toys.  We headed home that afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting ready for the week ahead.

Laid Back Sunday

We enjoyed a very laid back day.  We went to church.  Katherine has had a little cough so we took her to worship with us.  She did great.  Mom took her after that so we could teach our Sunday School class.  We expected attendance to be way down and it was -- we had half what we normally do.  It was kind of a nice break.  After our weekly Subway stop we came home from naps.  We ended up just playing and doing chores around the house.  Luke helped me get out all of the pumpkins and fall decorations. He is such a great helper.  We had leftovers for supper and are looking forward to having one more day together tomorrow!

A Night With Friends

We had the Louws and MacLeans over for supper tonight.  The kids had a blast.  The MacLeans got here first and Cade and Connor just went right up to Luke and asked if he wanted to play!  Off they went upstairs.  When I check on them later they had built Luke an "awesome train track".  I was so impressed with how well the boys played with Luke. He loved all the attention!  When the Louw girls got here they added a little spice to the mix!  All in all the kids played well together.  Just got a little rambunctious at times but we knew they would.

We had ribs, chicken tenders, corn on the cob, salad, potato casserole and homemade ice cream.  The kids (and adults)  loved the ice cream.  We used sprinkles and toppings from Katherine's birthday so they all got a kick out of it.  All the kids were sportin' their ice cream mustaches and Christina had to join in.  When everyone left I realized we were all exhausted!  It was a long, but fun day!

The BIG Thomas!

Pretty much since we went to Thomas the Train last  year Luke has been asking when we were going to go back and ride on The BIG Thomas.  The day finally arrived!  We decided to leave Katherine with Nonna so we could have some one-on-one time with Luke.  I said numerous times during our outing that I was so glad we did not have her with us.  It was so hot and muggy and there were people everywhere!  Paul and I were hopeful that Luke would enjoy himself more this year than last.  He did!  He loved it!  He loved riding on the train and looking out at the scenery.  He loved the storytelling and getting a tattoo.  But, when you ask him what his favorite part was he says the toy store!  Of course, there is a gift shop there with all things Thomas.  Nonna gave Luke some money to get something for he and Katherine.  Well, Luke obviously forgot the Katherine part. He immediately picked out a train that neither Paul or I had ever heard of, but he was dead set on that train.  Her name is Belle and it turns out that he learned about her when Nene read him a book at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago.  She is going to be in the latest Thomas movie that comes out next week.

So, Luke was ecstatic to get her and did not put up too much fuss when we told him it was time to go.  My friends with older sons warn me that the love of trains is about to run its course.  Next, he will be on to Super Heroes and video games.  I am not in any hurry to get out of this train phase!  We have a lot of money invested in the trains, track, etc and I feel it helps with his creativity and imagination.  And, the stories all have good messages to them.  So, I will hold on to the trains as long as I can!

Katherine did great with Nonna!  She was a little unsure when we first left but settled in fairly quickly.  We went home because we needed to get ready to have friends over tonight!

Put Him To Work

Luke normally still runs when Paul or I start to vacuum.  He says it is loud!  Would have thought he would have been over this by now.  Katherine is still putting everything in her mouth so we vacuum all the time.  Luke decided he wanted to vacuum tonight.  He pretty much did the whole room which was nice!  He also likes to use the dustbuster and sweep.  I think he gets his love of cleaning from his daddy!

Super excited to be kicking off a 3-day weekend around here!  We have big plans for tomorrow!