Another case of sickies

You know it is bad when my kids have hot lunch TWO days in a row. 
I may not have mentioned it, but Sam was hit with the stomach bug on Saturday night.  We packed quickly on Sunday and headed for home.  By evening, he was feeling great and ate dinner.  I sent him to school on Monday and he seemed to be back to normal but I guess that wasn't the case.  When Scott and I got home from our shopping trip last night, he was feeling crummy again.  Uh-oh.  I went to bed early because I was exhausted and woke up in the middle of the night with a horrid stomach ache.  You can see where this is going right?!?!?!  Anyway, Sam woke up sick (yes, that kinda sick, if you get my drift) and he and I have taken up residence on the couch today. I am starting to feel better (hopefully for good) and he is looking a bit perkier.  We are going on 3 weeks of sickness around here and I am really getting tired of it.  Thank goodness, everyone stayed healthy for the majority of our trip to the mountains so I am counting those blessings, especially when a wave of nausea comes over me, or when I look around my house at the mess.  This too shall pass. This too shall pass, right?!?!?!? 

On the brighter side, I am enjoying some Christmas shopping from the convenience of my couch.  There is always  a brighter side.....

Jennifer

Homework or Home Work

My kids don't come home with a lot of homework.  Sam usually has to finish a sheet of math work and it takes him about three minutes.  If Alice has homework it is a story in her classroom reader or practice writing her spelling words.  In Kindergarten, Paige has weekly optional homework.  Some weeks we opt to and some weeks we opt to not.  One thing that I do to supplement their homework, or lack thereof, is to print off math worksheets.  Math Fact Cafe is a great site to practice math facts and play all sorts of games that strengthen math facts.  My kids really like it when I print off challenging math sheets.  These kids obviously got their math sense from Scott.  My dad would completely agree:) as he was the one who sat with me for endless hours working through math homework.  They got lots of good things from me (in my opinion, of course) but math skills, not a chance.  Luckily, they also all have a love of reading and THAT they got from me.  (I just thought that I should give a good example or you might think I meant sleeping, eating donuts, watching reality t.v., etc.)  Not that I would do any of those things..... ;)

Have a great Monday!  Scott and I are heading out to do some Christmas shopping.  We are swapping kids with Kent and Vic a couple nights this week so that we can each get a bit of shopping done. 

Jennifer

Snowshoeing

One thing that I love to do when we are in the mountains is to strap on snowshoes, grab my camera and head out on the trail.  Today the weather was gorgeous, sunny and cool.  I was also with my most favorite people in the whole world. That makes it even better.  Scott and I started snowshoeing before Sam was born and he went on his first snowshoe at 6 weeks old. Wow!  Look at us now!  We are really enjoying our time in Summit County.  We all had a great time and had a lot of laughs.

Have a great Saturday evening!

Jennifer

Skiing

We spent our Black Friday not shopping but skiing instead.  We packed up the kids and all their parts and headed out to A-Basin.  Once we got there, we rented skis, boots and helmets for all the kids.  At A-Basin you can buy a discounted ticket for beginners and stay in one small part at the bottom of the hill.  That was perfect for us today.  Sam and Alice picked up what they had already learned, quickly and Mason and Paige did really well for beginners.  Mason was cracking up all the way down the hill.  He wanted to go fast and did not like being held back.  We all skied for about 5 hours and now we are totally spent.  It was so fun for all of us to ski together even if it was on the beginner lift. It was awesome to see Sam and Alice become independent skiers.  Now we are watching a movie and relaxing on the couch. Have a great weekend!

 Eating lunch on the back of the truck

 Mason's first ski run, ever.  He did awesome!

Scott and Paige heading up on the chair lift to try out the bigger run.  Go Paigie!!

Thankful

We are thankful. 
So very thankful. 
A happy Thanksgiving to all!
Love, Jennifer, Scott, Sam, Alice, Paige and Mason

A Bad Case of the Sickies

Well, poor Paige, she got it again.  The dreaded stomach bug.  She came down with it on Friday night and is still fighting it.  Right now she is feeling better but she has no interest in food and pretty much the only thing she is keeping down is some Gator*de and water. She looks pretty pitiful.  Sam and Alice are feeling okay but Mason has a yucky cough and equally yucky nose.  It doesn't seem to have slowed him down except that he is having a hared time sleeping at night because the moment he lays down the cough worsens. Amazingly, I am feeling fine.  However, my hands are turning into sandpaper from all the washing and sanitizing :) Scott isn't feeling great but he did manage to make it to work.  Yesterday, he ran a race but came home feeling sick and stayed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.  I am hoping he kicks this faster than Paige. 
There now, aren't you glad you popped over to read up on the Wescott's?  Do you now feel like you might be coming down with something, anything, just from reading this horrible post?!?!?  Sorry for all the info but i felt like I needed to post something but this is all that is going on at our house. 
It is hard to believe we are quickly approaching the middle of November and the holiday season.  It seems like maybe I should start shopping for gifts.  I don't seem to have a lot of great ideas this year.  It feels like we have everything already. Do you feel that way as you ponder what to buy your kids? 
I hope you all out there are having a great start to the week and staying warm.  If you might live in a warm spot (you know who you are), think of me in my puffy and be thankful. 
Jennifer

30 Days of Giveaways!

No not here.  But if you go over to Ni Hao Y'all you can check out Stefanie's giveaway on her blog.  30 days of giveaways to be exact!!! Go check it out!!!  Good Luck!

Great Weekend

Can I just say.....IT IS NOVEMBER!!! The weather has been gorgeous and we have been enjoying it!!!

This weekend was jammed packed with good times.  Friday night we had takeout Chinese in honor of Mason's referral anniversary.  Saturday we headed out to Barr Trail for a short hike.  Everyone else in Colorado Springs seemed to have the same idea as us and the trail was busy. 

In the evening, the kids went to my parent's house for a sleepover and Scott and I headed out to a friend's house for dinner and a murder mystery party. We had a blast and really enjoyed the night out without kids. Love em, enjoy a break from them :)

Scott character was a chef and mine was obviously a french maid



Today we started out the day at church.  In the afternoon, Sam and Alice went to a birthday party.  While they were at the party, Scott and Paige went out on a daddy date.  They had ice-cream, painted pottery and went to an indoor fun center.  Mason and I stayed home.  I thought that it might be nice to get some things done around here without all the craziness but Mason had other ideas.  He threw a temper tantrum that lasted for about an hour and the only way I found to distract him was to put him in the bathtub and let him play.  He eventually calmed down.   Right after I pulled out all of my hair.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Now we hanging out on the couch watching the tube and getting ready for bed.  

Jennifer

Referral Day

It seems so amazing to me that two years ago we saw Mason's picture for the first time.  If you haven't heard the story you can read about it here.  I wrote all about it last year on our first anniversary of the referral.  Happy referral day to our sweet little guy Mason.  We love you so much and can't imagine our life without you in it!!!  You are such a blessing! 

Love, Momma, Daddy, Samuel, Alice and Paige

Wordless Wednesday~My Beautiful Ladybug

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010

Well, once again, Halloween was a success.  Of course, it did come with the last minute costume malfunctions, temper tantrums and overly excited children running around crazy headed.  Thankfully it ended with 4 happy kiddos and bags full of candy for mom and dad to eat after the kiddos go to bed  the occasional snack.  Enjoy the picture.