Home Sweet Home

I sit at my computer right now listening to the rain falling outside, and I am so thankful to be in my house. Warm, protected from the weather, kids in the bed, and me ready for bed...reflecting on the last few weeks' events. Wow! Time sure passes quickly right before your face.

Halloween 2012 was a blur, but we sure had fun!

A stealth ninja, Pikachu(from Pokemon), and Rapunzel

A little trick-or-treating...

Mary Claire loves Ms. Andi Katherine!

After trick-or-treating, we were off to our church for the Fall Festival.
My kids were EVERYWHERE having fun, playing games, jumping in the bouncy houses...I have hardly any pictures due to the fact that I tried to stay "centrally located" and watch all three from my spot.

Soccer season has ended, and we had our awards ceremony yesterday. This was my K4-K5 team that I coached this year. Mark my words, it might be a LONG time before I coach my daughter again. To say it was difficult(and I've coached middle school girls before), is putting it nicely.:)

Jonah participated in the Twinkie eating contest. He almost won, too. I would have given him the award for the best expression while stuffing the Twinkie in his mouth and eating it!
(That is maybe the 2nd Twinkie he has eaten in his enitre life!)

John Owen's team won the "wrap the coach in toilet paper" contest!

Before Halloween, we gathered in Somerville to celebrate my grandmother's 92nd birthday!
This is all of the great grandchildren (minus 2 more boys) in birth order. Starting with Mary Shields (age 16), all the way down to Henry (age 2).

Silly picture time!

When you turn 92, you can blow your own birthday horn as loud as you want to!:)
Jenny surrounded by her great grandchildren as she celebrates her birthday.

Aunt Dinah brought pumpkins from their pumpkin patch and the little kids had fun decorating them!

Last week, I was preparing for Jan's birthday and a half marathon on Sunday when something I wasn't prepared for happened...

A trip to the doctor with Jonah, then he was admitted to the hospital, and kept there for two days.
Asthma is the culprit. We could not leave until his oxygen level came up and stayed up without the hepl of the oxygen machine. Breathing treatments around the clock, and little to no sleep for Jonah or Mommy.:)

Happy to see sister and vice versa.

After several rounds of checkers, someone was feeling better! And trying to hide from my camera...
We got to go home late on Saturday, Jan's birthday.
I had no cake, but I had managed to call and order a chocolate pie from a local restuarant which my mother willingly picked up for me. Thank goodness for take-out, too! On the way home from the hospital, I called and ordered two of Jan's favorite things from another local restuarant. Not exactly what we had planned, but thankful to all be home and healthy more than anything.
I rested much better that night  and got to run my half marathon the next morning! Surprisingly,  it was my best time for 13.1 miles!! Probably still running on adrenaline or something after being in the hospital for 48+ hours with a child "hopped up" on albuterol and steroids. And no, I didn't take any of his meds. :)

Glad to be home sweet home! 

Good iMOM Articles

The latest iMOM articles are really good, especially for you working moms like me!:)

Hope you enjoy them, too!
http://imom.com/mom-life/mom-management/work-the-4-myths-of-work-life-balance/

http://imom.com/mom-life/mom-management/home-4-strategies-for-two-career-family-sanity/


Nicole

Scenic City Part 2

(Continued from previous post)

Rock City had some amazing sights to see!

(Admittedly, taking this picture made me a little nervous.) I didn't walk out there. Did I mention I don't like heights?:)

 Jan demonstrating his Superdad powers!

 Wow! Like father, like son. :)

After Rock City, and a "cat nap" in the car for 3 of the 5 travelers, we climbed aboard the Incline Railway at Lookout Mountain. Very steep at the top!

 The view DOWN...gulp!

Somebody enjoyed the ride!

Next, we were off to the Children's Discovery Museum.

We actually went for about an hour the first day we were in Chattanooga, but they closed at 5:00, so we were forced to leave before we had experienced it ALL.

John Owen kept asking, "When are we going back to the museum?":)

This was probably his favorite place in Chattanooga.

Can't say that I blame him...It was pretty awesome!

(BEWARE: PICTURE OVERLOAD!

I just couldn't help myself, and neither could they for 4 hours!! That's right, 4 hours!)

 River Works Exhibit

Very cool...

Very wet!!

 You better believe this child of mine wanted to wear the plastic apron to keep her clothes from getting WET!

MEGA climbing apparatus

More climbing!

"Hamming it up" for the camera:)

Jan got in on the fun. Isn't he talented? He can talk on his cell phone and balance at the same time!

Up on the rooftop of the museum is a Simple Machines Exhibit. Lots of wheels, pulleys, inclined planes, etc.

Scenic City

That's where we just returned from...Chattanooga, TN! We had a great getaway for Fall Break 2012, and we made some special memories. TN Aquarium, Ruby Falls, Rock City, Incline Railway at Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga Children's Discovery Museum...Go, go, go! See, see, see!

Here's our trip in pictures and very few words.

Let's start at the Aquarium...

 "Look, Mom! It's Happy Feet!":)

 The Emperor Penguin can be the same size as me when it is is full grown! Wow. (I didn't realize that!)

A blessed and proud Momma snapped this picture. hehe

All 3 kiddos sitting nicely and listening to the diver in the tank as he talked about the different sea creatures surrounding him and then...

 Sand Tiger Shark!!

 Mary Claire needed a little security after the shark made his appearance.

And everybody says, "Awww!" :) Made this Momma smile...

 John Owen checkin' out the different species of jellies.

 And we were all amazed at the Japanese Snow Crab! (This was just a baby crab. Can you imagine a full grown crab? Whew...)

 Who's the happiest fish in the tank?

Umm...I think it's Jonah.

I bet he's imagining what it's really like...:)

On to Ruby Falls...

 The castle-like structure at the entrance. Kids got a kick out of it...

 Who's ready to explore an underground cave?

Mary Claire is!!!:)

 Ooh...They loved exploring the cave!

 But they REALLY thought the underground waterfall was cool!

(I did, too.)

 I tried my best to get a picture of Mary Claire's reaction when she saw the waterfall.

Priceless!

My 3 cave explorers!

Then, there was Rock City...

 A quick shot before entering this haven of rocks and nature!

 SQUEEZE through, boys!

 Jan wanted to buy one of these for our yard until he saw the price of the ones in the gift shop. Secretly, I was so happy they were too pricey...
I opted for a small ornament to go on our Christmas tree. You know, only visible for about a month or so.

The swinging bridge!

Good thing that it didn't swing too much. I am not good with heights, not good at all.

I began to get really nervous here.

 Apparently, Jan did, too. Notice the grip on the youngest one's hand now.

 This guy is too cute!:)

 Beautiful scenery!

Pretty cool!

To be continued...Scenic City Part 2