night time cough...

Madeline came down with a nasty cough Wednesday night. So Thanksgiving was spent her & I starting our Christmas decorations & eating pancakes for lunch. The boys went over for the family Thanksgiving Feast & brought us home lots of delicious left-overs. Last night Madeline was having a really hard time breathing/coughing; so first Rob took her outside to sit on the swing while I was getting the boys ready for bed. We were hopeful that the cold air might help her breathing...

That seemed to help for a little while; but once she crawled into bed she was just miserable. Rob took a blanket, the humidifier, two small stools & the two of them were in a vaporizing tent.

She thought is was silly so it took her mind off of feeling miserable; meanwhile Rob was sweating buckets while having a great 'facial steam'.
It really helped quite a bit. I made Madeline some tea & while Sam was watching all the action from the top bunk he wanted to try some tea. I gave him a sip. In hindsight I so wish I had the camera to catch his facial expression during his sip of tea. Needless to say, I think it will be awhile before he will participate in tea-drinking.

The vapo-tent seemed to do the trick; she was starting to get very sleepy again...

4.5 years and a guitar later...

Today Madeline was strumming along, a song she had written herself, it had brothers in it, cookies & I think a "time-out" or two. The hat came first, and then as if it occurred to her that her outfit couldn't possibly be complete...came the guitar.
A picture of Mom around 2 years...

Santa's House arrived at Franklin Park...the boys are ready.

Peeking through the door...
Noah needed a boost...& he liked what he saw. He & Sam are pretty sure that they saw packages inside. Sam even thought he saw one that said, "805 Franklin Place"!
It's good to be mom of the Ferguson trio.

miss madeline

Madeline is playing with her very pink make-up & has her hair in rollers this morning. She just HAD to have her hair up like mommy today...Noah discovers the pink lip-gloss as well.It's mine noah baker!"This will not be pretty Noah!"Mommy: Madeline you need to share please...Fine, here you go Noah!"I'll share alright..."Just teasing! All this pink has gone to her head I think.
I love make-up & hair Fridays!
Is it ready? Madeline really wanted her hair in rollers & lipstick/blush today. Really. REALLY.
I love make up!Silly!

jd & November...

What a fantastic month November has been. Jackson Dean was a delight & the nation will be taking a turn...with high hopes for the better. It was interesting on the 4th sitting with Jackson on my lap, his parents praying for the right while I was praying for the left. Regardless; JD was perfect. JD is cute. Jackson Dean is the amazing combination of Matthew & Stephanie. When I saw my cousin during the trip I told him how I couldn't wait for him to experience a niece or nephew...it's almost like having one of your own again. Except this time around you are much more well rested & can give him back when he cries. But the love...same. I had no idea that a brother having babies could be so awesome. Indeed it is.

Notice anything familiar? Everyone's favorite, "Have a nice day". Brings memories of Grandpa picking me up from High School with a cold coke waiting in the passenger seat; to be quickly poured into the "Have a nice day" glass when we got home. I'm sure to the eldest three it brings back far more memories & much further into history than this 30-something can remember.

Here is the note that Matthew left on the counter after the hilarious (only if you weren't Matthew) breaking and entering "event" ...who knew they would go to a block party after all these years & on a Sunday night?!

No doubt to be re-told at family functions for years to come...

Leaving JD & back to my own munchkins...a picture from the air. It's good to be back.

Meltdowns & 'you know you are your mother when'

With Sam's birthday a good 20 hours behind us the kids are all decked out in Halloween gear ready to go go go. Miss Madeline was a witch with pink (she keeps finding them as I hide them) too-small cowboy boots. Then when it came time for door-to-door trick-or-treating Madeline was Super Girl...and what a great Super Girl she was!Now it was time to get Noah dressed for trick-or-treating. Noah didn't want to get dressed, he didn't want to go, he didn't want Madeline looking at him, didn't want Bubba looking at him, didn't want me looking at him, & Daddy was "busted for 20 weeks!". This of course was before papa's house... This is after papas house & luckily lasted the duration of our evening!
Ahhhh, the glory of treats. I imagine this would be the point at which I may have thought to myself...I have lost all control of my children. Since Sam was sitting on TOP of the table in his underwear, Madeline was also on top of the table in her PJ's & Noah Baker keeps unwrapping and gobbling with one swift movement. It's only once a year and only for a few more years at that...so we decided to sit back & enjoy.

So now we've come to the plastic bag. This morning I was cleaning out the fridge. Making a grocery list, still uncertain if whether or not my trip to Arizona will actually take place with my current child-care-crisis. So making two lists, a Mommy will be here list & a fix-it-quick Mommy is out of town list. I take the red potatoes out of the bag & then look at the bag. I say to Rob & myself; I could probably re-use this one. As I'm rinsing it out & putting it on the faucet to dry I turn to Rob & say, "You realize that I just turned into our mother's right then, right?" "Yes". And we both smiled. It's a good bag; and I will use it.