We've been hit......

Just got the call.............

Marissa is confirmed with Influenza A. Which, I believe, is the nice way of saying she has the SWINE FLU, H1N1, whatever they want to call it, but either way, she got it!

And she was vaccinated last Thursday!

Maybe that is why she doesn't seem like she has the flu. I thought she had strep or pneumonia.

1. getting the last of the motrin at Walmart

2. clorox wipes

3. soap

Brynn's 1st Fishing Experience

Brynn has wanted to fish for a while. We bought her a "fishin stick" in September when we thought we were going camping. We didn't go camping, so she didn't get to use it.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, Todd took her down the street to a lake and she had success!

It was kind of funny, because Braden was with her and didn't even get a bite!

She loved every minute of it and can't wait to do it again!

1. little pleasures

2. fishin sticks

3. having water close by~that we could walk to if we weren't too lazy!

Halloween

Kind of lame on our part, but this is the only picture we got of kids in costumes.

We had a trunk or treat this year, which was fun. The youth in our ward did games for the kids, there was donuts and juice and some candy!

I was in charge of the donuts and drinks and so Todd was in charge of the camera. This is what we got.

Not even on Halloween did I remember to take pictures.

For the Trunk or Treat, Braden was a Red Sox player(easy and he no longer likes dressing up, but since he was in charge of a game for the kids, he threw on his jersey!)

Brandon was going to be White Trash, it was a cute costume and he made it himself, but dad thought it might offend people. He took a white garbage bag and wrote Trash on crumpled up paper. As we are in the car, Todd asked him to change and so he went as a snowboarder.

Marissa was a fashion designer. Fake nails and all.

Brynn was a bat.

On the actual day of Halloween, the boys went to the homecoming game at the high school and we had some friends come to our area to trick or treat because they live in an area where houses are few and far between.

Marissa didn't want to dress up, but I told her she couldn't go out without a costume, so she put on a flannel shirt of Brandon's and a cowboy hat!

Brynn decided she wanted to be a bat princess. So she went out with her wings and a princess dress.

This is why I don't get too into Halloween. My kids only like the candy part of it. The rest they could do without!!

1. candy

2. fun activities

3. sunshine

Harlem Wizards

Last Friday evening, some of the teachers in the school district and board members and members of the town police force took on a game with the Harlem Wizards. They did this last year and we didn't go, but had heard it was a lot of fun. We decided to go and it was a ton of fun! They are like the Harlem Globetrotters. It was hilarious and fun was had by all!

Brynn got chosen to help play a half time game. As she was the youngest one picked, she got some special attention.
"Swoop" played a game with a bunch of kids and the last one to catch the ball won. He would throw it at them, and if they dropped it, the crowd would say "You've been tricked". The picture above is Brynn, after winning the game holding the spinning ball on her finger tips.

She was such a little ham. She loved every minute of it. They gave her a poster of the team and after the game all of them signed it, a Wizards t-shirt, and a necklace that lights up! What more could a girl want??

Unfortunately, as in most important cases, my camera batteries died, so I didn't get much in the way of good pictures, but the ones I did get will help preserve the memory!!!

A video of some of the tricks. Such a fun night we had! We will go again next year!!

1. fun family together nights

2. Brynn

3. good memories

FHE

I don't mind feeding the missionaries. In fact, if we have good Elders, it can be quite fun. The problem lies in the fact that Todd's schedule is not easy to predict.

So I decided that I would schedule them on a Monday night because he is always home.

This past Monday was our night to have them over and I got a hair brained idea.

I invited over 2 families that are currently investigating the church. FOR DINNER AND FHE!

That is so not normal for me. I have a hard time talking to people I don't know, let alone taking the chance that people who don't know me would want to come to my house for dinner.

I was worried that neither of them would show up, even though they both said yes at church. But come Monday, I had heard from them both and they came.

We had Cafe Rio Chicken for dinner, had a family home evening lesson~taught by Marissa, of course, she loves to do the lesson, it doesn't matter if we have guests or not. She taught about ways we can have a happy family, then we had dessert. Todd did let them know what FHE is, and they all participated and even sang the songs!

I was really nervous, but I talked to the missionaries later that night and it seemed that everyone had a good time.

Next on the list~Marissa is taking a friend to Activity Days tonite!

1. missionary work

2. being brave

3. friends

Deal on JetBlue

Today only~Flights leaving on Halloween after 12 noon are $31 one way.

I just checked it and it does exist. The fare coming back was around $119~$159, but it seemed a fairly good deal if you can leave on Halloween!

Here is the link:

http://jetblue.com/deals/halloween/

Happy Flying!!

1. good deals~not that we are going anywhere

2. investigators over for dinner

3. successful FHE

So much to update!

I have not documented so much that we have done. I seem to go through spurts. These pictures are not at all in order, but leaving a description will help me remember!

For Labor Day, we were going to do our usual Camp Joseph trip, but at the last minute had to change our plans, so we headed to Newport RI instead.

Brynn enjoying the carousel at the beach!
Brandon skim boarding

A beautiful sunset

Brynn was so proud of herself because she finally dared to swim without someone holding on to her!

She didn't love the sand at first, but after a while, she let the kids bury her legs!

Brynn ~always enjoying herself!

Braden went to EFY in NH this summer! I was looking through some of his pictures and this was one of my favorites! This is his roommate, Dan, I guess the boys did facials??!!

I guess he liked his bed!

A bunch of people from his group.

Again, not in good order, but Brynn decided one night she didn't like what I was making for dinner,

She was crying because everything fell out of the freezer as she was attempting to "get her own dinner". The above picture is her finished product. It made me laugh so hard that she would make her own dinner, that I had to let her eat it.

We did go to Camp Joseph in August, sadly, it rained THE WHOLE TIME.

I absolutely LOVED it.

Right before going home, Marissa is not feeling well. She and we had our first experience with poison ivy. Not pretty.

This is what the sky looked like the whole weekend.

Brandon after getting his haircut for school. He wasn't happy about it, but the next picture is what he looked like before.

Definitely needed a haircut.

For Brandon's 12th birthday we went to the Worcester Tornadoes baseball game. We had scheduled this on his birthday, but because of the wet start to summer we had, it got rained out. Then because we went to Utah for 3 weeks, we had to reschedule in August. Unfortunately some of his friends were out of town, but we still had a good time.

Brandon got to go out on the field during the 7th inning stretch and the ballpark sang

Happy Birthday to him.

Brandon with Twister

We also had some visitors, well we had lots of visitors, but these particular ones were NOT invited. I discovered this beehive while I was mowing the lawn. It was so big, I thought it was a toy of the kids. Upon further investigation, I discovered it was not a toy.

We didn't want to hire someone to take care of it, we had done that last summer and it wasn't cheap. We took matters into our own hands. First, I sprayed the whole hive with bee killer, didn't work, so Todd did some research on the Internet and someone said to put seam filling spray into it.

So I went out one evening(Todd is allergic to bees, so this task fell to me) and I fill the hole.

Thinking that would take care of it, I went out the next morning and the little suckers and made a new hole.

Then, Braden said we needed to get serious. The next night, all 3 of us went out. I with my not so trusty spray and Braden armed with a couple of big black garbage bags. I hurried to fill the new hole with the filler, then Braden wrapped the bags around the hive and Todd knocked it off the tree! It was kind of scary. Braden held tight to the bag and we hurried to tie off the top.

Not a very humane way to handle it, because we suffocated them, but we were running out of options. We let the bag sit for a couple of days, then threw it in the trash!

The video of Brandon on the field.

I know I have missed a bunch of stuff, but thought I would at least get started!

1. pictures

2. a fun way to document

3. not having to do a scrapbook!

New York, New York

Our anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and Todd surprised me with a trip to New York.

He arranged to have my mom come out to watch the kids and I never knew a thing.

We went this past weekend and it was so fun!!

We saw Phantom!!
Not a great picture, but the only one we have together.

Love this place. The Rockettes now only perform at Christmas time.

We stayed right in the center of Time Square, at the Westin Hotel!

Me in Rockefeller Plaza.

Sadly, I didn't take many pictures, but we had a great time.

For dinner Saturday night we went to a Brazilian restaurant that was really good, as we were sitting there, some of the people in the restaurant were taking out their cameras and making a bit of a raucous. Then a Mets ball player gets out of his SUV with his wife, son and BIG bodyguard. I don't know who it was, but it seems we were eating in a happening place!

Sadly, we were only able to stay one night, as Todd had a speaking assignment on Sunday. I could have stayed for a week or more and still not have my fill.

I love New York!!

I love Todd for taking me there!!

1. fun surprises

2. my husband

3. New York

A side note..........

I need to add a few things from the post from yesterday!

Todd saw the post and was a bit disgusted. He is a bit of a germaphobe and when he saw the picture of the strainer, was grossed out.

To clear up a few things........

1. The strainer was already brown in areas due to use, NOT recent use.

2. The sink in the picture HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY sterilized. You may use the bathroom and the sink without fear.

3. We had to do the checking because of the size and shape of the ring. The doctor was worried about it tearing her insides.

4. Brynn will not wear the ring again, but I have THOROUGHLY sterilized it too and will keep it in my cedar chest(for the future, you never know when it might come in handy)

5. I am enough of a neat freak to make sure that all is clean in Burt land, never fear, I am here!

Please feel free to use my bathroom if necessary, the toilet seat is even new(we replace them all when we move to a new house, then I know it is our stuff!!!

Sorry for the potty talk! I am done!

WE ARE VICTORIOUS!!!!!

It is very disgusting when this little treasure is your friend for a week!

We were SO happy when we could do this!!!

This is the story.......last Wednesday, I came home from being at the church and Todd started out with "Don't get upset, but....." I do not like that~~

Brynn had been lying in bed, with her fingers in her mouth~which I have asked her a million times to stop doing~and Todd heard her screaming. He ran upstairs to find out why. He was told, "I just SWALLOWED my CTR ring." After we called the doctor to find out what to do, we have been on constant STRAINING duty. Only one toilet in the house has been used for this lovely procedure, and it was not pretty.

Yesterday, I finally call the doctor again(Todd called Friday while I was at my race and he suggested giving her Miralax..which we have been doing). Still no ring.
Off to X-ray this morning. DEFINITELY a very visible CTR ring in her lower pelvic area. The tech said, "This is fun, should be out soon. Girls just like to hold on to things!!"

SO, I am thinking what I can give her to help this process along, Dunkin Donuts. We made a run. An hour later......

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all came out in the end!!!

It has been a long week of duty! Glad it is over!

1. insurance(we seem to have a lot of xrays here)

2. garbage can(to throw away the strainer)

3. CLOROX! It has been my friend

Brynn's First Day of Preschool

The day FINALLY came for Brynn!!!!

She was SO excited to go to school.

Fortunately, I didn't get the "When is it time to go to school" question all morning, but she did ask if she was going after lunch or before.

I am definitely glad that I had her put into the class of her teacher from last year, as there were no other girls in the afternoon but the one we knew about. There are only 3 girls in her class and right now there are 7 boys, so a few have been added, but still a 2 to 1 ratio.

I didn't like having to stop in the middle of my day to get her to school, but other than that, it wasn't bad. A little chaos with pickup schedules, but otherwise not a bad day!!

1. preschool

2. no tears~again!

3. having 2 hours of quiet!

After school report

The 3 older kids all had good reports after school. Everyone had homework, but we broke from homework tradition(which is homework as soon as they get home from school) and I copied a friend and took them to the West End Creamery for ice cream. A new tradition that we will definitely continue!!!

1. ice cream on a hot day

2. successful school day

3. new outfits

First Day of School

Most years I am not excited for school to start. This year I have had mixed emotions. The kids did a bit more bickering this summer and that gets old, but Braden is starting High School and that is scary. Nothing a mom can do, except home school, which there is no way on this planet I could do, so OFF TO SCHOOL they went.

Braden was first, he is a freshman in high school.
Brandon came next. He is in 7th grade.

Last, but not least for the day, Marissa is in her last year of elementary school~4th grade!

Hope they have a GREAT day!

1. school

2. no tears (from me or the kids)

3. quiet

The Decision

on preschool has been made!

I am going to buck up and do afternoon preschool.

It is not my first choice, but I feel it will be the best for Brynn(of my choices, that is)

I talked to her teacher from last year to ask for her suggestions and she didn't love the other program that I was looking at, I did research on a lot of options, and at this point, feel that leaving her at the school where she knows people is going to be the best for her.

I will have to adjust my schedule a bit, but, it has to be done!!

1. decision being made

2. only 7 kids, including Brynn in the afternoon class

3. good teachers

4 Kids

4 appointments

4 mouths

LOTS of teeth

NO CAVITIES!!!! EVER!!!!

1. no cavities

2. all the kids going to the dentist at the same time

3. INSURANCE