Helicopter crash

A blanket fort in their room on Sunday when I was trying to get them occupied. But... Pilot Matthew and Coat-Pilot Jake (as Matthew calls it) were flying the helicopter through the a storm with lightening and thunder and we had to crash land and everybody screamed but don't worry because we landed safely on our wheels (?) and the plane (?) was all in one piece still. Whew. And you thought your Sunday was stressful!

Shepherds & animals

On Sunday, from 12:30-3:30, was the dress rehearsal for the Christmas play at church. First, they fed the kids... (this table is the animals and shepherds)

These two little angels are so precious

Jake doing his part to monitor the 'carolers'

Jenna is helping Matthew out

Whew - after two hours...

Ahhh, I spent two hours in the boys' room this morning trying to find a place for everything. It wasn't particularly messy ... just out of sorts. So I re-organized toys and tried to find a more efficient system.

A day in the life of ... Mamu

Matthew has been begging me for days to dig out his camera (a used Nikon CoolPix 775 I got for $30 on Ebay for his 5th birthday). He asked if he could take it to school for show and tell, and I reluctantly agreed.

Ok - so today, about 7:45am. Second breakfast, pb&j sandwich.

Extreme close-up (minus one booger)

Mama looks a little bulky in this shot... but, Jake peeking over mommy's shoulder
In the car on the way to school... his knee.

Rain on the window - thought this turned out so cool (nope, no editing - straight out of the camera like that)

Bus ride home

And they lived happily ever after... or not

We seem to have the parasitic issues under control here. I like the cat again and even let her out of the bathroom now. I flush her mouth out with bleach every hour, and have a toilet bowl cleaner stuck to her bottom. I haven't seen any dead ones yet (thankfully) but I am pretty sure this is what they look like - with little x's over their eyes and stuff.

And just when you think...

...your patience is gone and everyone under 4 ft tall should be in bed, you can't help but laugh as you spot this:

Kids are so weird. :p

Worms. Part 2.

This cat. I'm telling ya. My vet selection process was pretty scientific really. At 7:02 a.m., I pulled out the phone book and found the two vets who opened the earliest. One was a equine specialist who opened at 7:30a, and the other was a place called the Kitty Klinic. (Apparently, they have an awesome luxury resort for your cat, as well. Too cute!). I called at 7:15, 7:17 and 7:21 just in case they answered early. Finally at 7:32, a woman answered and I said, "Please, please - I have worms and I can't touch anything in my apartment without washing my hands 10 times. I can't eat because everything feels contaminated. Help me!" She told me the vet tech could apply some topical meds that would destroy all worm-like items inside my cat and the earliest appointment was 10:30a. She also said it was unnecessary to isolate that cat as we could not 'catch' her worms. I said it was more the 'worm infesting my house' thing that was getting to me, heh.

Matthew asked to go to school today, but Jake stayed home due to a snotty nose and overly tired disposition. We dropped Matthew off about 8:30a without a jacket, whoops. Jake and I went back home to get the jacket and Jacket and drove to the school to drop the jacket off. heh :) I had a vague idea where Lacey Blvd was but unfortunately, I tend to get lost before I find a new place. In my humble pursuit for the vet, Jacket began heaving at my feet - gross. I grabbed her, and she continued to throw up on my lap and arm. Nice. We found the quickest parking lot we could, and I shoved her into her carrier. Let me explain the glitch of this carrier. It has an opening that some day will be useful for her, but for now, is big enough she can squeeze through. But... I thought she might stay in it since she had already gotten sick.

When I smelled the cat poop, I cringed but thought eh, at least it's in the carrier, right? Wrong. All over Jake's artwork in the back - he was ticked. At this point, I am still lost and there is now a heaving sort of sound as I realize the cat is on Matthew's booster seat vomiting yet again. I will admit to not being fully patient and calm at this point.

In my aimless wandering, I see another vet clinic and we cut off a few cars crossing a lane to get into the parking lot. I pull Jacket out of the car and shove her into the immaculate carrier, and manage to get Jake out without him stepping in anything too disgusting. We head inside and get directions to the real vet (the one we went inside only treats healthy animals. Go figure.)

The rest is pretty boring but let me tell ya... it was a rough morning. My car is clean now but I am going to give the carpet another scrub tomorrow. The good news is we should be worm-free in 1-2 days, and I also bought a tube of Advantage that should hopefully kick off our last battle with Unwanted Things.

Jacket is cute, but she is way more work than I was ready to commit to.

Oh no. Tell me it isn't!

Just let me say, EW! So... I found a worm on my beloved cat and, anyone who knows me, knows my intense phobia of parasites. My first thought was how to dispose of her without the kids knowing but... I am too attached to her now. So, I have to be a man and take care of this the proper way. After tipping her upside down and shaking her a few times, I could still hear them taunting me inside her belly. Argh!

Apparently it is a common thing for kittens to have roundworms. I am just afraid of them popping out and dropping all over the floor or something. Ewww I say again. BLEH! I have no photos for this particular blog entry... but let me go find something clever.

Ok so... picture this, but without the guitar and hat. And not an earthworm either.

In fact, the irony is great because we just started reading How to Eat Fried Worms as a bedtime story.

I remember dissecting these darn things back in college in my zoology class. Granted, this one was like 3mm. Except when it did that freako stretch out to 2 ft thing. Ugh. But the ones in zoology were stiff, dead and about 6 inches long. Naaasty. I HATE parasites. I still can't eat pork to this day due to a slide I saw once in AP Bio in high school - this nasty little pink thing in the tissue of a pig. Bleh.

So... don't worry. Jacket still gets to live here but she is in locked in a ziploc bag until I can get her medicated.

Oh stop. I have at least three air holes in it.

:p

The Look

Such attitude!

Later he drew me a firetruck. All is mended. :)

I think I have a 'thing' for the UPS man now

Because he brought me my camera today! I must hand it to Nikon - they fixed my camera, fast! And the only cost to me was shipping it there. I was so eager to use it today but, it was rainy and dreary and I only had 20 minutes before I needed to get the boys so... I stopped by the pier. Nothing amazing but I love this little boat called "Sand Man." Isn't it cute?

Lazy Sunday

Our way awesome blanket fort. And Jake's warm welcome when I popped in with the camera. :)

A modeling cat, falling leaves and a rainbow

Today's entry is sort of a mish mash of different things. First we finally hung Matthew's wreath on the front door. He is SO proud of it. :)

Jacket is the most social, annoying cat on the planet. If your hand is on a computer mouse, her belly is stretched across it. If you go to the bathroom, she's in her potty box right next to you. And heaven forbid your head hit a pillow. Anyway, the boys and I were drawing tonight and she of course came over to offer her assistance. She is so funny. Since she was there, Matthew went ahead and drew her hah.