Cell phone clean out- October edition

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, so here we go...

Delaney had her first school pictures at daycare without Justus. Sorry for the glare, this is me taking a cell phone pic of the actual picture.  P.S.--the one on your right is her polite "stranger danger" face.  Quiet, pensive, fiddling with her hands.  I'm pretty certain that what is happening here is the unknown-to-her photographer jumping up and down trying to make her smile and she's not having it.  Chances are someone she knows was at least in the vicinity for the pic on the left.  This is why we are so grateful for Sarah and the quality of picture she can get.

 

 

Then, the poor child was sick for a whole week with a virus and pneumonia.  I could have taken this same picture at any point during that week.  She did little else.  Just broke my heart.

 

 

Candy Corn is my October obsession.  Not that I need one for each month, but I actually crave this stuff in October.  It's ridiculous.  And just for the record--no, I don't eat the Easter candy corn that comes out.  Fall candy corn is the only real deal.

 

 

Earlier in October, I had to say goodbye (from work only) to one of my favorite staff people ever.  And wouldn't you know I managed to get a picture of the cake, but not of the two of us?!?!  Missing my Tish, but I know she is L.O.V.I.N.G. her new opportunity and I couldn't be more excited for her.

 

This one was attacked by a tub of Eucerin skin cream last Tuesday, which resulted in this lovely black eye!  She doesn't seem too bothered by it.  In other news, she now knows the aTm (and the color maroon) as indication of "Aggie" and LOVES to point it out on shirts, cars, flags, etc.  That's my girl! 

We hit the pumpkin patch yesterday afternoon.  Can you tell how excited he is to be there?  Admittedly, it was a balmy 90 degrees and very sunny (hence the hand covering his eyes from the sun), so he just wanted to get his pumpkin and get the heck out.  Note that we are short one child here?  Yes, well, you will have to trust me that D was all dressed up for the occasion, as she was sound asleep in dad's truck by the time we got to the patch.  Not a total loss for her--Justus picked her a little pumpkin too.

So, yeah, we're those people--we don't carve pumpkins.  At least not yet.  Not until the kids are a bit older.  And can clean up the mess.  Justus found this Darth Vader pumpkin decorating kit at Target and was super excited about it, so we went with it.  He is so proud of it!!  That's what matters, right?

 

Not super exciting, I know, but stay tuned...big new things ahead!

The Soap Box

I'm not one to use my blog as an advice column because a) I generally think I'm in no position to give advice on most matters and b) it's not as entertaining, but today I want to take the opportunity to make a suggestion to other parents.  It's actually kind of a two-fer because they go hand in hand:

1).  Please DO NOT take your children to school when they have (or probably have) a contagious virus.

2)  Be considerate of those your [sick] kids are going to be around and think about whether you would want your kids around that if they were well.

We have had a rampant breakout of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease at our beloved daycare and I now understand that the facility's hands have been tied on what they were legally allowed to do as far as preventing kids from being there.  It doesn't excuse not even sending an advisory note home, but that's besides the point because it's all been handled now.  Nonetheless,  it is really upsetting to think that my little family risks getting it AGAIN when all the kids return to the daycare well on Monday because some parents chose to abide only by "minimum standards" and sent their contagious kids anyway because they didn't have fever.  9 out of 13 kids in her class have "confirmed" cases of this nasty mess.  Surely, it's only a matter of time for the others.  Wait it out like the rest of us and let them get completely well before you bring them back, please...for the health and safety of all the other kids in the center.  Otherwise they will just keep passing it around and it will never really go away.  All the cleaning in the world won't matter.

Yes, it is difficult to take a day (or week) off of work to stay home with sick kids.  Yes, it sucks to pay a babysitter on top of paying for daycare.  Yes, they seem to be acting fine.  IT DOESN'T MATTER.  If they are sick, please keep them home!!  I'm not talking just about HFM either.  You know if something is wrong with your kid.  Let it pass instead of spreading it.  We teach our kids to share, but it doesn't mean they have to share illnesses too!  Of course it's going to happen from time to time, but we can do our part to minimize it by being responsible parents and members of our daycare communities.  Next time, your kid may be the well one, and how would you feel if you knew there was a contagious kid in the same area as your kid all day long?  Please, just think about the risk. 

That is all.

Besides, does she look sad about having to stay home?  I think not.