Where did the month of November go?

I seriously cannot believe that it's only a week until Thanksgiving, and just over a month until Christmas! HOLY COW!!!!!

The boys are doing gymnastics at Tumbletime on Friday mornings until next spring. I like to have a guaranteed time each week for them to run all of their energy out since most days are too cold to want to go outside and do that! This is Zach's first time, and he loves his 'nastics'. This is Lucas' 3rd season with Tumbletime. He really likes Miss Shania, so he was disappointed that brother's class gets her, and he has a new teacher Miss Jenn. He is really doing awesome. He has some pretty rowdy girls in his class, that don't pay attention and do what they should. But he's been doing great with the listening thing, and his beam and bar skills are improving greatly. I ask him each time what his favorite thing was, and it's always the same answer...I liked all of it mom!

The daycare that the boys are going to just got a new program started and it's amazing how much they are learning. It's like preschool, only I don't have to pay extra for it! And it makes me feel better about not having Lucas in preschool yet. He misses the cutoff by 4 days, so he'll be almost 6 before he starts kindergarten, so Casey and I didn't feel it necessary to have him in preschool forever. But it's one of those, everybody else is doing it kind of things, so I feel guilty every now and again, and wonder if I'm cheating him out of something. But now that his 'playschool' has stepped up their daycare program (even if it is only 1 day each week that he goes), I'm loving it!

I'm in full swing with the Christmas card preparations! Those of you who know me well, know how much I look forward to this every year! I'm really excited that I'm on facebook because I've connected with several of Casey's cousins that all live back east, and so I've got new names on the list this year!!!! They are all such sweet people, and I'm glad that I've had the chance to get to know them a little better. We're going to try our best to make it to Illinois in July for the family reunion, and I can't wait to meet several that I haven't previously met...and for everyone to get to meet my boys. The last time we went was the summer that I was pregnant with Lucas...I can hardly wait!!!!!!

I took Zach to the doctor on Monday because his cough was getting worse instead of better...and I was desperate for something to STOP the cough after a sleepless Sunday night. The doc said that he not only had bronchitis and a left ear infection, but he also has reactive airway disease. So we got the pleasure of doing a breathing treatment with him for a couple of days. He thought it was great fun at first, but he's since decided that it isn't for him, and he 'don't want to' do it anymore! I hope that it's just related to the swine flu and bronchitis that he's had, and not something more long term, which doc said is a possibility!

We had a football party here on Saturday for the big rivalry game between the BJC broncos, and the Vandals. The Vandals starting QB, Enderle, was injured and thus didn't play. And the lousy 2nd string QB threw at least 4 interceptions (there may have been more, but the game sucked so I quit counting, and watching). And evidently the Vandals, after such a great winning streak coming into this game, forgot to bring their defense with them. Terrible game. But it was fun to have everyone over for pizza, beer and good times! I couldn't believe it though, nobody wanted a repeat of the Superbowl halftime Guitar Hero show!

Jessie and Lynn gave us our Christmas present today. They had the guys from Concrete Raisers of Idaho come over and fix the huge gaps in the driveway and sidewalk. It was interesting to see how they pump the concrete under the existing slab to raise it up. Quite time consuming, but oh so belisimo! Now we just need to get a downspout extender to hopefully prevent the same thing from happening again across the sidewalk.

Anyways, the kid is requesting a beverage for his movie while Zach is napping...and I hear the Christmas cards calling my name. Until next week!

NOT pregnant, thankfully!

So much happening around our house since I last posted! Zachary has recovered fully from his swine flu, other than the occasional lingering cough. The Tamiflu was obtained the 1st day of his symptoms, and it just kicked the swine flu's butt! Lucas, Casey and I managed to avoid it all together so far (knocking on wood as I type this), or else it was so mild that we didn't even realize we had it!

We took the boys to the pumpkin patch for their 1st pumpkin patch experience! They LOVED it! The patch had so many things to entertain them...a little kiddie corn maze, a corn box (much like a sand box, only filled with corn kernels), a bunch of troughs with water pumps to race ducks down the troughs, PIG races (neither Casey nor myself had seen those before either), a cow train (cars painted like cows, and pulled around the field by a tractor), a giant air pillow to bounce around on, a slide, horse rides, hay rides, pumpkin patch...you name it, it was there! The only drawback was the freaking wind...we froze our butts off that day!!!

Lucas was a boxer for Halloween this year, and Zachary was a dragon. They looked adorable, and both had a ball trick or treating. It only took a couple of houses for Zach to get the hang of it, then he'd run down the sidewalk saying, 'next door, trick or treat, mommy'. Too cute! They didn't do the usual trick or treat option at HP this year, because swine flu was rampant in the area at the time, so we just hit up a few of the neighbors houses. The 'grim reapers house' down the street was their favorite spooky house! And only one managed to scare Lucas (of course Zach wasn't the least bit afraid of it though)...it had a giant rock speaker that a man was talking on, with creepy music playing LOUDLY, and then when he answered the door he was a mime and didn't talk. Lucas told me that we wouldn't be going back to that house next year...however he has since changed his mind and told me that it's not that scary really! ; )

I have had a strange week. Friday morning I woke up feeling like I was pregnant, the test said negative, but it has been forever since I had a cycle. So at my normal annual visit with my OB/GYN on Monday I told him about these strange symptoms, and begged for him to assure me that even though I felt like it, I wasn't pregnant. And he did! He said that this is all likely from a retained corpus luteum, which has resulted in a small cyst on my right ovary. The corpus luteum normally goes away and stops producing progesterone once an egg passes thru the ovary unfertilized. However, whether this happened or not, the little boogger is confused and decided to hang around and keep producing progesterone (as if there was a fertilized egg present)...thus producing the wonderful symptoms of pregnancy (REALLY sore breasts and ALL day long nausea, that just gets worse as the evening approaches). So, to try and couteract all of this, I get the privilege (this is of course heavily laced with sarcasm) of taking high dose progesterone (400mg of Prometrium), which makes my boobs hurt even more, kicks my butt, and REALLY makes me want to hurl, for 10 days. This is all in the hopes that when I stop taking the progesterone the withdrawal will trick the little boogger into thinking I'm not pregnant, and thus reward me with a cycle. However, it MAY NOT work, and then it's back to the drawing board, and more than likely a bit of a waiting game. I can do it, so long as I don't continue to feel like this! And of course I'm beyond words THRILLED that it's not because I'm preggo! : )

This weekend is the big Vandals vs Broncos football game, and so of course we're having a football party here at the house. I soooooo LOVE to host parties...and this seemed as good as an excuse as any. The Vandals have been kicking some serious butt lately, and the Broncos, even though they are undefeated thus far, aren't playing all that great. So we're at least hopeful that the Broncos won't kill the Vandals as they have for many years now. GO VANDALS!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, I'll hopefully be back next week to keep this ball rolling.