Snow in the fall?!?!

This is what we woke up to last Saturday, October 10th. Snow!! The kids were ecstatic! Of course, we had to don coats, hats, snow pants, boots and mittens and go outside to play in it. They had a great time throwing snow balls, making snow angels and just running around. They insisted on hot chocolate with marshmallows when they came in, and then went and took a nice long nap! I think they were a little confused, though. We haven't really done any "fall" activities (like go to the pumpkin patch or trick-or-treating) yet, and they were already starting to ask about Christmas. Mother Nature definitely has a sense of humor! She's making it difficult on people with small, curious kids.

We're still trying to avoid all the flu and other sickness that is going around. We had a bit of an H1N1 scare last week. Our daycare provider, Gina, called us on Thursday night to say her husband had been diagnosed with H1N1 that afternoon, and had been home in their house on Thursday all day when the kids had been there. She said he didn't have any contact with them (he had stayed in the basement), but I was concerned enough to not send them to her house on Friday. Will's colds make his asthma flare up terribly, I don't even want to know what the flu would do to him. As it turns out, Gina's kids also got the flu on Thursday night. So, they spent the day with Grandma Ellen, Carter and Camden. It's a week later and no flu, we think. Will has a touch of something, but only enough to make him cough. No fever or runny nose. Let's hope (knock on wood) that they still stay healthy. I think until it either goes away or they can get a shot for the H1N1, we won't be going to places like the indoor playground or museum (they seem to get sick from those places on a regular basis).

Things, other than the flu scare, have been pretty regular around here. The kids are still developing their funny personalities, and loving preschool. Grace's newest word is "whatever." Brian heard her say it to Will tonight. She told him to do something, he said "no" and she said "fine, whatever." I must confess, she gets that from me. I say that all the time, when I tell them something and they disagree. Maybe I should stop....... The boys are becoming very attached to their night-time things. Will to his green blanket, and Xander to his little blue teddy bear, that he has affectionately named "little teddy". Will carries that blanket all over the house, and will search it out right when we get home. He has it constantly. Sometimes, when he has to get his nebulizer medicine, I'll say "go get a book or a toy", he'll come back with his blanket. I'll say "did you get a toy" and he'll say "yes, I got my blanket." Xander is the same way about little teddy. He plays with him all day long, and little teddy stars in his bedtime story EVERY night! It was the first thing he took for show and tell at preschool.

We think we're winning the war on bad table manners and whining. The whining has decreased a lot, and the table manners are much improved. No major milk spilling and they've been pretty polite at the dinner table. Now we need to get them to ask for things nicely. "Daddy, I want more french fries!" or "more frenchy fry, more frenchy fry" (picture this in Grace's best baby voice) that's what we hear now. Either demands or baby talk. Even when we ignore it, they will repeat their demand or baby talk about 200 times and still never figure out they need to ask nicely. Sometimes we'll say "nice to know" and walk away, then they usually will ask nicely. Why can't they just do that the first time around? Our other challenge lately is that they won't talk to any adults at church or any other place. Every adult that talks to them, they just clam up and stare at them. Mrs. Thimijan at preschool said they wouldn't smile for their pictures. So, this is not a stage I'm enjoying. (As a matter of fact, they seemed a little proud after preschool when they told me they didn't smile. Will said "I didn't smile even after the lady said 'fuzzy pickles' to me." I don't know?!?!)

That's about all for now. We have a big weekend planned, lots of pictures to share next week. We're having Niebuhr family pictures taken professionally tomorrow and we're doing trunk or treat with the multiples club on Sunday. Stay tuned for previews of their Halloween costumes for this year. They each picked out their own this year, and they are very proud of them. Thanks for reading through the long post!