Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for oh those kids!
Emma quote of the day
This afternoon we got out of the van and I put the hood of Emma’s jacket up. “Ohhh…,” she said, “I so ahbayawest!” I looked at her in disbelief.
“You’re what?” I said.
“I so ahbeyawest!” she repeated.
“You’re embarassed?” I asked.
“Yeah…like Gwovah,” she said.
I busted out laughing. She was referencing the end of The Monster at the End of this Book, her recent favorite bedtime story. She aboslutely loves that book…just like I did when I was little. She is such a little mini-me.
Our daredevil
Well, Emma did it again…we have another facial contusion to add to the list. Last night the kids were downstairs by themselves when we heard loud crying. I ran down and Emma was standing behind the couch crying hard. She ran over to me and I was thrilled that there wasn’t any blood. Shew. But there was a big red blotch near her eye and a scrape and bump on her forhead. I asked her, “Emma, did you fall off the back of the couch?”
“Yes,” she sobbed.
“Now do you understand why Mommy tells you not to climb on the couch?” I asked.
“Whyyyyyyy”, she cried harder. *Sigh* The little girl just doesn’t understand that her daredevil ways lead to injuries. Thankfully, this time, it just looked like she’d just have a shiner and a bump on the head. Yes, I said looked that way. That was last night. Today, however, when I picked them up at Danielle’s, she came running up to me with a big, fat, split lip. Danielle said, “Well, Emma took a little spill. She was trying to climb on the couch.” *Sigh*
I know it could be worse. She’s very lucky that she hasn’t hurt herself too seriously. Knock wood, because I don’t think the message is sinking in.
Ahhhh…
Today was seriously one of the laziest, most relaxing days we’ve had in a very long time, and I enjoyed it very much. Since we set the clocks back an hour last night, the kids were of course up super early, but we all laid around in bed watching cartoons for about 45 minutes before technically starting our day by getting up and ready for church.
After church, we came home and did very little the rest of the day. Both of the kids had a lot of fun working in their new Halloween coloring books from Aunt Theresa, and Ben worked especially hard on some sticker puzzles she gave him. Emma had a three-hour nap, which was desperately needed, and Daddy got a short nap in for himself, too. I enjoyed watching the Bears game without interruption for once. It was great, and they even looked good and won! We had a couple of battles over wanting more candy, but Ben didn’t beg for it too much, so I was happy with that.
It was one of those days where Dave and I look at each other, smile and say, “This is the good stuff, Honey.” The kids were in good moods and had fun playing with each other. The crying was at an all-time low, I think. Ok, sure, Emma did fall off the back of the couch downstairs, got a big lump on her head and cried really hard for a few minutes, but hey, no day is completely perfect, right? Overall, there wasn’t a ton of chaos in the house, and we all spent some really enjoyable time just chillin’ out together.
Halloween fun
The weather made us nervous all week, but luckily it pretty much cooperated in order for us to have a very fun Halloween night. It was a tad bit chilly, but thankfully the rain finally stopped.
We started the night with pizza, and Grandma & Grandpa Kerber joined us first. Then Aunt Theresa came, and finally Auntie M, Salina, and Bella rounded out our group. It didn’t take anyone long to finish eating…the anticipation of trick-or-treating was on the forefront of everyone’s mind. 
So after we ate we changed into our costumes (which luckily were big enough to leave room for a couple of extra layers underneath) and headed out. Ben the panther, Emma the lion and Bella as Magenta the dog made up our costumed group. 
Since Auntie M and Salina both came with us, the adults outnumbered the kids for once, which is never a bad thing!
We started down the street and the kids were into it right away. Emma had not napped this afternoon, so after only a couple of houses, she was getting droopy and was pretty far behind.
But Ben was very patient with both of the little girls. He would wait out on the sidewalk and I can’t remember him complaining once. After about 40 minutes of trick-or-treating both of the girls were ready to head in. Neither of them really knew what any of the candy was in the first place, and they were pooped from walking. Plus, Bella had other stops to make, so Auntie M and Salina were off.
Ben, however, was still ready to go. So Dave took him around one more block. Needless to say, his pumpkin was very heavy by the time they got home a half hour later. He was so excited about some of the things in there. It was too funny. By this time Grandma & Grandpa had gone home, but Aunt Theresa still had a bag of goodies for the kids. They both loved opening these, and we had to have just one more treat before bed.
Both kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. 
We ran into almost all of our neighborhood friends and saw some pretty cool Halloween houses. While Halloween is certainly not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that a smile came to my face on more than one occasion tonight. There’s not much more you can ask than that.
Oh wait, icing on the cake…the Illini football team beat Michigan tonight, too! Woo HOO!!
Welcome home, Mommy!
When I talked to Dave from Springfield last night, he told me that the kids would be very excited to see me today when I got home. But I had no idea how right he was!
When I walked in the door, I realized that the kids were downstairs with Dave. As I started down the steps, I heard Dave say, “I think someone may be home…” Then the screaming began. “MOMMY!” As I hit the basement floor, Ben threw himself at me for a huge hug, and Emma was soon to follow. They both came back for more hugs and kisses repeatedly in that first few minutes. That awesome reception surprised me. But even more of a surprise was how often the same scene has been repeated today. While I haven’t gotten any more screams out of the kids (not necessarily a bad thing) I have gotten LOTS of hugs and kisses and have been told over and over that they missed me so much.
I had a great time at the conference, and really enjoyed reconnecting several professional relationships. But nothing compared to today…coming home is always a treat, and this time it was even more so.
We just can’t wait!
Today when I picked Ben up from preschool, the first thing he said to me was, “Mommy, next time we come to preschool it’s our pumpkin party!” There was so much excitement in his voice, and he had one o f the biggest smiles I had ever seen. So I decided that we should try on our costumes tonight to make sure that everything was all set. As soon as I got the coats on each kid, they were crawling all over the floor roaring (that would be Emma the lion) and rawring (from Ben the panther) all over the place. It was hilarious.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween, it is definitely fun to anticipate something with the kids. While Ems is still not really sure what’s going to happen Saturday night, Ben remembers it well and is just so psyched for the big event. Let’s hope that Mother Nature cooperates with us so we can have all the fun we think we will!
Carve-o-rama
Tonight was pumpkin carving time! We had gotten a perfect carving pumpkin this afternoon, and after dinner we cleaned off the table and embarked in our adventure. It was decided by the kids that they wanted a happy face, so I drew the face on the pumpkin, and Dave cut the top off. 
As we expected, Ben wanted nothing to do with the “gross part” and Emma dove right in to scoop out the guts. 
So typical! It was cracking us up…she was totally into it. She said things like, “It’s digutsing” (which isn’t a typo…that’s phoentic Emma talk) with a huge grin on her face.
Since Ben was pretty much doing nothing during the entire “gutting” of the pumpkin, he decided he wanted to draw on his with a marker. He wanted very little help with this, and I was actually surprised at how awesome it turned out. 
Of course I had to use some serious persuasive skills to talk him out of drawing animals on it, and I also convinced him to put his name on the back so he wouldn’t write all over his pumpkin’s face. Once Emma saw him doing this, she wanted to do hers, too. I tried my best to help her draw a face, but of course she let me help with one eye before she yanked the marker away from my hand and said, “No, Mommy, I can do it myself!” Little Ms. Independent pretty much just drew some straight lines all over her pumpkin, but she was thrilled with it. In the meantime, Daddy was busy carving away on our big one.
Things definitely got a little hairy at times, and Mommy’s patience was tested big time, but overall, we had a great time, and the results were awesome.
Here we go…
Ben just threw up for the first time since he’s been a “big boy”. Dave and I were sitting downstairs watching TV when we heard him yelling for us. Dave quickly went upstairs and then shortly after I heard, “Honey, we need you up here!” Always a bad sign. I won’t go into details, but it wasn’t pretty. We both think that he threw up not because he has the flu, but because he’s so conjested that he gagged himself while coughing. He was also burning up with fever…it was up to 103.5°! That’s just so scary when you see a number like that on the thermometer.
Dave and I both felt so badly, but when he went to bed he was perfectly fine, so there was really no way we could predict this. He’s been stuffed up the last couple of days, but this fever just came from nowhere. Obviously, this means that Ben will be staying home tomorrow. Thankfully Grandma Kerber can come in and stay with him so that neither of us will have to take time off. I’m sure that he’ll get a lot of attention and cuddles from Grandma, too, which is always nice when you’re sick.
And so it begins…the cold and flu season is upon us, whether we’re ready for it or not. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one this year, but hopefully I’m just being pessimistic!
To Sycamore they go
Tomorrow Danielle is not babysitting, so the kids are off to Grandma Judy & Grandpa Scott’s for a long weekend. It’s been awhile since they’ve been up north, so I think that everyone involved is very excited. It’s been fun preparing for the trip this time, because Ben understands the days of the week more. So each day he’s asked, “What day are we going to Grandma Judy’s?” “Thursday,” I would say. Then we’d have to go through the days of the week song to figure out how many days away Thursday was. It was fun building the anticipation with him.
As always when the kids or we are away, I do feel a bit guilty for being so excited. But I do know that the kids will have so fun, and that Grandma & Grandpa absolutely love having them there, so why not enjoy my own little break, right?
Right? :s
Emma’s poor face
Poor Emma has had more facial injuries in the last year than many kids have in three times that long. Yesterday everyone at Danielle’s was walking down to the bus stop with Danielle’s daughter Anna. Of course, Emma was running at full speed when she tripped and fell face first onto the sidewalk. The result? Another knot & bruise on the forehead and a scraped up nose & upper lip.
She’s so tough, though…the official word from Ben was that she “cried hard, but not for very long!” That’s my girl.
