Sissy

I have a sister and I now love her very much, but when we were young, we fought, I mean we really fought. I wonder if opposite sex siblings don't fight as much? Madeline and Jack are still young, but I mean they love each other! Jack cannot come close to saying "Madeline," so he calls her sissy. The moment he wakes up in the morning he wants to know where she is. She usually wakes up around the same time he does (which is ALWAYS too early) but if she happens to grace us with a sleep in, he will wander the house aimlessly calling "Sissy, sissy, sissy?" He will usually start to become upset before barging into her room and crawling up into bed with her and giving her hugs. She may not want to wake up, but how can you not be happy to have hugs from you little brother?

Madeline usually likes to sit and relax and watch TV with her soy milk in the morning and although Jack is far to busy slowly destroying our house to be bothered with TV, he will watch TV if she is. Not really to watch the TV, just to sit beside her and cuddle her. If Madeline wakes up before Jack she will come into our room and ask if "the big guy" is awake (her name for him) and if she can go in and keep him company. She usually calls him "the big guy" or "buddy" and we laugh at her cute little names, although she is very serious about them. She is very patient with him. Lately, she feels that she is too old to have him invade her space when she is going to the bathroom, so she insists on doing her business alone. Jack insists on being with her at all times and usually walks in on her 2-3 times. Each time he pounds open the door she gently tells him, "Buddy, sissy is going to the bathroom and I need my privacy." She sounds very grown up and patient, hmmm, wonder where she got the patience from?

Jack's stomach flu returned with a real vengeance. He was up most of the night throwing up and had a very high fever. This morning when Heath was trying to put him down for his nap Madeline got everything that a sick little boy could need and put it all in his crib. His favorite monkey lovey, his favorite doggy book, and a nice big bowl for him to throw up in. She then gave him instructions on exactly how to use everything and then covered him with kisses! I am sure they will not always get along so wonderfully, but for now we are happy and thankful that they worship each other. Plus, I am sure this documention will come in handy when they are teenages and can't remember a time they liked each other!

Halloween, Finally!

It is so long overdue that I almost considered not posting the Halloween pictures, but then changed my mind. The kids have had the most awful stomach flu off and on for the past 12 days so this has meant that Heath and I switch who takes the day off or split it. It has also meant about 500000000 loads of laundry (really). If we never have to go through anything like this again it will be A-OKAY with me! Jack has lost 2 lbs which may not seem like a lot, but his cheeks are not yummy and chubby anymore. He just feels small in my arms. He had to have an IV last Monday, he was pretty good about the whole thing, surprisingly.

Anyway, so on to Halloween!! It was very fun this year. Madeline was Little Bo Peep and Jack was one of her sheep. Poor boy looked like a bit of a girl, but Madeline was very insistent that Jack be her sheep and this was the best sheep costume I could find. I have to admit that it didn't look quite so girly online, but when it arrived it was pretty bad. At least he is young and will not remember. We gave the costume to a friend for her little girl next year! He hated the hat, so we only have one costume of him with the hat on (with him screaming). Madeline was a very cute Little Bo Peep and after we convinced her that Jack didn't need a leash (we had to draw a line) everything went fine.

We had some friends over for a little party and it was fun. Although, I discovered that Martha Stewart is very talented. Geez, how does she pull all of that off and look so calm (I know, lots of help). My witch cupcakes that I made from scratch, didn't exactly look like witches. My homemade mac and cheese, not very flavorful or cheesy. My homemade pizza, very late and so everyone went off trick or treating and came back to cold pizza. Lesson learned!! Next year we are getting take out and store bought cupcakes. It will all look much better, taste better, and I will not have to kill myself in the kitchen.

I posted some pictures of Maddie, Jack and David (their cousin) and then some other random trick or treating ones. And one of Madeline and her best friend from school, Tamara. Heidi--Heath with the pumpkins is for you, there was one between his calves that you can't see and the employee had already taken one down by the time I took the picture. She felt sorry for him because I had to grab Jack out of a nearby fountain before I could take the picture, so he had to hold the pumpkins for a little longer than he wanted to!

Is it Halloween Yet?

We started getting excited for Halloween about the middle of October, so it was hard to wait until October 31st for Trick or Treating. The weekend before Halloween we went to a local pumpkin patch to pet farm animals, ride horses, and go in a jumpy. Everything that we assumed Jack was too little to do, he wasn't, and he really really wanted to do because his big sister (he calls her sissy) was doing it. He went in the jumpy and rode the horse (pony) without being scared at all and loved doing both. It is funny to compare because when Madeline was about 2 we put her on the pony and she screamed. I think it has something to do with wanting to do everything that your big sister does.

We didn't actually get any pumpkins there (strange, I know) but we had heard from friends that if you go to Armstrong's nursery it is $16 for as many pumpkins as you can carry, an Heath wanted to see how many he could carry. He was guessing about 10, he actually held 8 and it was fun to load him up!