Please don't expect too much...

This is the list of things I need to blog about:
Tahoe's winter weather
Sam's 3rd birthday
Sam's bronchitis
Tahoe's winter weather
My adventures of driving and skidding in the snow due to Tahoe's winter weather
Ben's holiday program at preschool

Here's what I've done lately instead of blogging:
Take care of a sick kid - 5 days straight
Address and send out all my Christmas cards (that's at least good for you)
Catch up on laundry
Wrap Christmas gifts
Keep the peace...

And here's what I feel like doing instead of blogging:
Sitting down with something warm to drink
Taking a nap
Staying inside until our most recent storm passes
Calling every day this weekend a "Movie Day"
Apologizing profusely for being a lame, slacker, terrible blogger


And I hope you will forgive me for now since at least I am posting a few of our recent family photos...

Turkey Day Update

It's official - it's winter in Tahoe.  In the past few days we have had about 3 feet of snow fall at our elevation of 6300' with much more at higher elevations.  We also have extremely cold temperatures.  When we got up this morning just before 7:00 A.M it was all of 6 degrees outside.  And right now at almost 4:00 P.M. I think our high temperature has been 23 degrees.  And to top off all the snow and ice we still have a sick kid.

After first getting sick on Sunday night, Ben is still not feeling well.  He missed school on Monday and ended up getting some good rest throughout the day.  We were hopeful to stick with our original plan of loading up and leaving Tahoe on Tuesday morning to drive to Yreka to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  But within an hour of falling asleep at bedtime we heard Ben wake up and when we rushed to his room we found him, his bed, and the wall next to his bed dripping with vomit....so much for leaving town on Tuesday morning.  Ben's condition seemed to improve on Tuesday and he was even up for some time outside in the blustery snow.  He and Sam did a little sledding down the hill on our driveway and used their snow shovels to help dig out the neighbors' front steps.  Ben didn't last long before he was tired out but we still saw it as an improvement in his health.  Sam stayed outside for quite a while longer with Daddy before finally coming inside to have lunch and proclaiming that he was a baby polar bear.  We thought things were again looking up when we put Ben to bed on Tuesday night with food in his belly and no nausea.  Again our plans were to load up the car first thing in the morning (today, Wedesday) and head north.  Around 6:00 A.M. Ben woke up and seemed to be feeling better but within thirty minutes he was back to diarrhea and vomiting.  And again, our travel plans were postponed.

I called my grandparents to let them know that the situation wasn't looking good but with any luck at all we would make the 5+ hour drive on Turkey Day itself and stay through the weekend.  I let my grandmother know that I would fill her in more after we took Ben to the doctor this morning. 

After finding out that our regular doctor was closed today we opted to take Ben to the Urgent Care clinic here in town.  They were extremely understanding and very kind but we still had to wait over an hour to see the doctor.  He examined Ben and heard how the last few days had passed and determined that Ben has a case of the stomach flu.  He told us the most important thing to do is to replenish anything that is lost (ie. fluids and food) and to stick to the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast).  He also prescribed an anti-nausea medication to help too - it is actually the same drug given to chemotherapy patients.  Ben was happy to hear that the doctor also said popsicles would be good for him to have.  Before we left the office he had Ben give a urine sample for analysis and as soon as I saw the color of it I knew Ben was getting dehydrated - it was dark yellow :(    I wasn't prepared for what the doctor would say about it however.  He entered the room and said, "Yeah, he's pretty much starving."  What a way to make a mother feel like a failure!!!  Tears sprang to my eyes and the doctor immediately tried to comfort me.  My feelings were of pure helplessness as my little one sat curled on my lap.  And of course I still had to share the news with my parents and grandparents that the doctor advised us to cancel all our travel plans and just stay put at home until Ben was completely well again.

When I gave my grandmother a call I was hoping I wouldn't cry but I did.  I was just so sad.  Sad that Ben was sick.  Sad that our trip was cancelled.  And sad that we wouldn't get to see everyone.  Thanksgiving has always been a big gathering for my family and a chance to spend several days together catching up after months apart.  Brian had even taken off Tuesday through Sunday so we'd have plenty of time to travel and visit.  Of course my grandmother is kind, caring and wise and told me she understood my sadness at not being able to come but also understood the importance of getting Ben well.  She passed the phone on to my mom and again the tears flowed.  Talking to my dad wasn't much better.

After pulling myself together we all sat down to lunch and put together a shopping list for our own Thanksgiving dinner that I will be cooking for the four of us tomorrow.  The list included popsicles, the prescription, and Pedialyte for Ben.

Brian and the boys settled in to build with the Kinex and I set out to shop.  I recognized a few locals in our local Raley's but for the most part the crowded store and snowy parking lot were full of tourists drawn to Tahoe for the promise of a Thanksgiving ski holiday.  Though I was over on the 15 item limit for the quick check one of the cashiers recognized me and led me to it where she proceeded to get me out of the chaos as quickly as possible (thanks, Celia!).  When I got home the first thing I heard was, "Mom, may we have popsicles now?"  And of course I happily obliged.

It is now just after 4:00 on Wednesday, November 24th, and as of right now all is well.  The boys just finished strawberry fruit pops after Ben woke from a good nap.  We have all the needed groceries for a small feast tomorrow and we are praying for Ben's quick recovery. 

In spite of everything I am thankful.  I am thankful for the understanding and love I receive every day from family and friends.  I am thankful for Brian who holds me when I need held and gets me through the roughest patches.  I am thankful that even though we are still in town Brian is still taking off time from work.  And I am thankful for my two beautiful boys who bring so much joy into my life.  Despite the vomit, poop, and all other yucky situations I wouldn't trade them for the world.

So, from the Tahoe Browders to everyone out there, Happy Thanksgiving.

And here are a few photos from the past few days....snowy day activities.

Sam practicing his cutting.

So proud of his tiny pieces.

Preparing for a sled run down the hill.

Sam off at warp speed.

Having fun.

Ben feeling well enough to sled a bit.

He actually went so fast I couldn't even get a photo of his face!

Tired out after sledding.



"I've fallen and I can't get up!"



A baby polar bear in for the long haul.

Falter?

It's always nice to settle into routine and just go with the flow of life - school, work, play, etc.  But of course things are bound to be shaken up at some point and new challenges will be offered up.  So just let me say, things are changing in Tahoe.

This last week I was the unlucky one in the family and came down with a nasty head cold that was bad enough that I had to shut down the Meals By Maggie kitchen on Thursday.  Initially I thought I just had a bad case of allergies as both Ben and Sam seemed to be suffering from the sniffles with no true cold symptoms.  But for whatever reason, my symptoms turned to aches, coughs, congestion, sniffles and an incredible headache.  I was pretty much out of commission for a full two days and still have what a girlfriend and I who are both fans of the old television series Friends fondly call the "Sexy Phoebe Phlegm Voice." 

By Friday afternoon I was feeling better and was even able to be the Mystery Reader at Ben's preschool for "I" week.  I read a very funny book called I Wanna Iguana and even put on one of the boys' dress-up capes and appeared as the "Incredible I" at the preschool.  Ben was excited to have me there and it brought back fond memories of my own days reading aloud to students in my own classroom.  

The "Incredible I" - photo taken by Ben.

The weather was also changing from cold and cloudy to cold and snowy.  By Saturday morning we had several inches of snow at lake level with closer to a foot at higher elevations and still it kept falling.  We all went outside on Saturday morning to shovel out what the plow missed at 5:00 A.M. (yes, a little too early for a girl who is not a morning person).  The boys both have kid-sized snow shovels and after a couple of years of "helping" Ben is actually getting pretty good at effectively moving the snow.  Sam is just now at the point of being able to push and lift the snow but his attention span is still too short to do much more than just have fun.  And Brian was pretty enthusiastic using his new toy - an electric powered snow shovel.  You might call it the middle child in a family with a regular snow shovel and a snow blower.  One of the things the boys noticed was the thick layer of leaves under the powdery snow.  This prompted Ben's observation that it's still Fall because winter doesn't start until December but why was it snowing in the fall?  We explained that storms come through Tahoe in the fall as well and this was kind of the start of our winter.  Ben was not happy with our explanation because he knew that it really wasn't winter yet.  We compromised and said if it was Fall but felt like Winter then maybe we should call it something else - Falter. 

Leaves under the snow - it's Falter!

The snow continued to fall throughout Saturday and into Sunday when we woke up to at least another 18 inches.  Brian and Ben cleaned out the driveway some more then we all loaded up in the car to make the drive over Mt. Rose to Reno for a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's.  The drive was not an easy one but with Brian behind the wheel we all felt safe.  The boys had a great time before we headed back up the mountain leaving the sun shining behind us in Reno and straight on into blowing snow in the basin.  We arrived home and settled in for some quiet time before going to our church for a potluck party to celebrate 20 years in our current building.  Despite the weather, there was a pretty good turn-out for the party and we all enjoyed some good food and good company.  Ben didn't eat much at dinner and we took it to mean that he'd rather be playing than eating and didn't think too much of it but encouraged him to fill up his belly because his next meal would be breakfast.  We arrived home well after the kids' normal bedtime and began the process of getting them settled in when suddenly Ben burst into tears and said his tummy hurt.  We had noticed that he'd had gas pains earlier in the weekend and thought this was more of the same.  As we were asking him what we could do for him he suddenly spewed a fountain of vomit across his bed and himself.  We cleaned him up and calmed everyone down and soon he was asleep.  The night progressed well with no more sickness and Ben woke just shy of 5:00 this morning and told me he'd had an accident in his underwear.  Again the clean-up process began and again he settled back to sleep until after 9:00 A.M. when he awoke again with messy unders.

Now it's nearly 10:30 and we have a couple of feet of snow outside with more forecast over the next day and a half.  Ben is snuggled in on the couch feeling sad that he won't get to go to school today.  And I am wondering if we are actually going to make it out of town for Thanksgiving with my family in Yreka.  I guess at this point only time will tell.

Creative Juices

This last Saturday Brian was on complete Daddy Duty as I spent the day in my business kitchen making the food for a birthday party I was catering.  The boys and Daddy joined our local MOMS groups to take a tour of the firestation.  The boys had both been on a couple of tours through the station but it was the first for Daddy.  Apparently, they got to see and do many things including climbing in and out of trucks and spraying one of the hoses.  One fireman in particular stuck in the boys heads.  His name was Thomas and he dressed in his turn-outs complete with breathing apparatus.  Before he put all the gear on he made sure to tell the kids that he would look different with everything on so they shouldn't be frightened.  The fire department had also recently visited Ben's school so by the end of the tour Ben was more than knowledgeable about the do and don'ts of fire safety.  While I was busy in the kitchen making dozens of appetizers Brian was home making what the boys called "Air packs" so they could be firemen.  By the end of the day I had a very happy hostess at the birthday party and we had two firemen protecting our home.  And Sam was sure to tell me each time he started gearing up that he was going to look different just like Thomas.

Just last night I decided it would be New Recipe Night and tried a new pizza recipe I found in one of my magazines.  From pretty modest ingredients I made a mouth-watering, gourmet pizza.  The Roasted Butternut Squash-Red Onion-Radicchio Pizza was easy and amazing!!!

Notes and Nuggets

A few more nuggets....

As it's been much colder here lately the boys have been bundling up so the other day Sam was wearing a winter hat my mom had made for Ben a few years ago.  This particular hat looks like a crown which prompted this question from Sam, "Mom, what's a crown?"

My reply, "A crown is a kind of hat kings, queens, princes, and princesses wear to show that they are special people."

"Am I special?"

Of course you're special."

"But if I take my crown off I'm not special anymore."

"Oh honey, you are special every day!"

Ben, "Yeah, like on Christmas and your birthday."

Me, "You are both special all the time no matter what!"

And just this morning Sam asked for my help moving a toy truck loaded down with other little trucks.

Me, "Where do you want me to take this, Sam?"

Sam, "Um, to the cave."

Me, "Where's the cave?"

Sam, "It's the one with the echo," at which point he directed me to put the toys under one of our barstools.

Ben also thought it was time to write letters to Santa last night.  This was in fact the first time either boy has wanted to write a letter to Santa.  Their requests are actually rather modest. 

A project Ben brought home from school.

Ben's letter to Santa.

Sam's letter dictated to me.

Veterans' Day Venture

With today being a holiday to commemorate all of the amazing men and women who have served our country over the years I opted not to cook in the Meals By Maggie kitchen and instead join Tahoe's Connection for Families (TCF) on an outing to nearby Boomtown and their LOL Fun Zone.  I invited Steph and her kids and another friend, Katie, and her kids to join us. 
It was only about a forty-five minute drive from home to Verdi and Boomtown. 
The Fun Zone was filled with arcade games, a carousel, bouncy house, ferris wheel, miniature golf, and lots more.  Several TCF families made the drive over and with the large amount of kids came a great price on the unlimited fun....just $4 per kid!  Steph, Katie and I stuck together most of the time and all the kids - Jarrett (4), Ben (4), Julianna (3), Sam (almost 3), and Calvin (2) - had lots of fun together.  I think we rode the carousel at least five or six times and played games until our heads were spinning.  We didn't even make it to the miniature golf or the 3-D theater so we plan to meet up again when the winter weather prevents outdoor playdates.  So, here are some photos of the fun we had...

Ben and Sam enjoying the carousel.

Katie with her little one Calvin and Julianna.

Teamwork!

Team McDonald!

Team Browder!

Around and around we go!

A Wagon load of kids.

The only kind of motorcycle I'm okay with him riding!

Covered Wagon Ferris Wheel - it went way too fast to get a good photo!

Captain Sam.

Julianna

Katie and her boys.

Peek-a-boo!

The Darned Things They Say

Obviously I am still trying to make up for my lack-o-blogging of late so here's a peek into the conversations we hear on a daily basis...

Ben: "Knock knock."
Sam: "Who's there?"
Ben: "Pickle head."
Sam: "Pickle head who?"
Ben: "Pickle head, I love you!"

Daddy: "Sam, what are you building?  Is it the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?"
(Apparently there was a movie Brian saw in a science class as a kid that was about the bridge.  Wikipedia: The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. It received its nickname "Galloping Gertie" due to the vertical movement of the deck observed by construction workers during windy conditions.  Its main span collapsed into the Tacoma Narrows four months later on November 7, 1940, at 11:00 AM  due to a physical phenomenon known as aeroelastic flutter caused by a 42 mph wind. The bridge collapse had lasting effects on science and engineering. In many undergraduate physics texts the event is presented as an example of elementary forced resonance with the wind providing an external periodic frequency that matched the natural structural frequency (even though the real cause of the bridge's failure was aeroelastic flutter). Its failure also boosted research in the field of bridge aerodynamics/aeroelastics which have themselves influenced the designs of all the world's great long-span bridges built since 1940.)
Sam: "No, it's something else.  Wait and see!"
Sam was in fact building a bridge using a flexible ruler set across two of their kid-sized chairs.  He then drove his Matchbox cars and trucks back and forth across it and called it the "bouncy bridge."

Sam: "Mom, I just sneezed in my sleeve."
Mom: "Good, that's what you're supposed to do."
Sam: "Yeah, it went all the way outside."
Ben: "That must have been a big sneeze.  Maybe it was a rocketing sneeze!"

Looking out the window...
Ben: "Sam!  Sam!  Come here, look!  It's the garbage truck!  Look!  This is my favorite part - the dumping part.  Sam, watch!  Sam, do you see the semi-circle?"
Sam: "Yes!  There on the back of the truck!"
Ben: "Good job, Sam!"


A conversation I heard while they were playing:
Ben: "Sam, I don't need your help with this puzzle."
Sam: "But, I'm a good man."
Ben: "I know you're a good man but I want a little privacy."
Sam: "Okay, but I'll be back later."


And one I would only get having boys....
While drying Ben off after a bath...
Me: "Ben, stop wiggling so I can get you dry."
Ben: "But, I'm cold!:
Me: "Well, let me get you dry and you'll feel better.  Let's dry your junk."  (Junk was a term I picked up from one of my friends when she first told me about her husband's hesitation in getting a vasectomy.)
Ben: "Junk?  What's my junk?"
I pointed to his groin area.
Ben: "That's not junk!  That's my penis!  We get rid of junk and I need my penis so it's not junk!"
Me laughing: "You're right, Ben."


Ben's school has a theme each week and at this point they are working their way through the alphabet.  This week happens to be H week and today appropriately is Hat Day.  Ben is very concerned about doing his homework each day which usually means looking through my old magazines and finding pictures of things that start with the week's letter.  So yesterday when Sam was napping Ben was restless and wanted to do something.  I suggested getting his homework done for Wednesday.  His response, "Wednesday is hat day.  Can we make a hat?"

So here it is....

Costumes, Pumpkins, and Places to Be

October has come and gone and I keep telling my faithful readers (my mother-in-law and my sister and brother-in-law) that I haven't blogged because nothing has really been happening. Yet when I just looked back over the past month of photos and items written into my calendar I realize that the real reason I haven't blogged is because there has been too much going on.

I know it has been nearly a month since my last post so I will attempt to catch up on all that has happened since then...

The first week of October is a vacation for the Incline Schools and we kicked off our week on October 4th with a playdate with Ben's friend, Ashley.  They had a great morning playing together and at one point dressed up as "super heroes".

On October 20th we debuted our family theme costumes for Halloween 2010 at the TCF Harvest Party.  This year's theme: trains.  The boys were engineers, I was the conductor, and Brian was the train robber.

After the TCF party the boys thought they would try on Daddy's cowboy boots which were previously worn and owned by Brian's dad.  As you can see, the boys have big boots to fill.

Ben opted to go for the entire look wearing the cowboy boots and a cowboy hat given to Daddy last Christmas by Danny (the Chilean cowboy and cousin Megan's boyfriend).

On October 23rd, the entire family enjoyed the annual Incline Village Nursery School Pumpkin Patch.  I was the committee chair for the bakesale and Brian was there early to help with set up.  When the boys came to play they spent most of their time in the two bouncy houses.  I have no photos of the day as we were all too busy to stop and snap photos.  We all came home for lunch after a couple hours of fun, I put Sam down for a rest, left Brian to rest on the couch and Ben and I headed back to finish out the day volunteering and playing.  After more time in the bouncy houses Ben returned to the bake sale table where I was stationed and getting ready to wrap up.  I had just started counting the proceeds when he began to whine.  I told him I would be just a few more minutes and then experienced a fountain of vomit right onto the stack of one dollar bills I was counting.  Ben's face went from white to gray to green and the other moms nearby helped me clean things up and get him home.  One more round of vomiting in the middle of the night and then he was as good as new.

On Monday, October 25th, Brian opened the front door to head off to work and found a package waiting for us.  Again I failed to take photos but it was filled with the most creatively decorated cupcakes from one of our favorite sitters, Diana.  What a treat!!!

On Tuesday, October 26th, the boys joined me for a day of shopping in Carson City.  For my business I usually need to make at least one large shopping trip a month to have all the supplies for my weekly dinners.  We had a rather uneventful day and the boys had both been very well-behaved.  When we returned to town I decided to take all the work-related groceries to the kitchen.  Ben had fallen asleep in the car on the way back but Sam was wide awake.  He came into the building with me and helped me get things put away.  As we were going back to the car he told me he wanted to climb in by himself.  I opened the car door for him and as he picked up his speed to run toward the car he tripped and hit his face along the bottom trim below the door.  I thought he hit his forehead and immediately scooped him up.  He screamed in pain as I checked him for damages.  There was no blood but I did see a small abrasion on the right side of his nose.  The trauma of the event ruined any chances of a nap for the afternoon and as the evening approached you could see the bruises beginning to appear.  Here he is a couple of hours after the incident.

By the next day the bump was more obvious but a visit to the doctor's office concluded that his little nose wasn't broken.

On Wednesday, October 27th, Ben got to dress up in his Halloween costume and take part in his preschool's costume parade.  The class of 4 year-olds marched around the classroom and then sang several songs for the parents in attendance.  Brian was even able to sneak away from his office to catch the show.

On Friday, October 29th, people across the state of Nevada celebrated Nevada Day.  Nevada was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, so Nevada Day is October 31st each year.  The state has chosen to celebrate it on the last Friday of the month which means a long weekend near Halloween each year - good news for kids.  We did our part in celebrating by attending a birthday/playgroup/Halloween costume party for one of Sam's playmates.  The boys decided not to wear their costumes but instead opted to wear their Halloween shirts from Nan and Teddy.  We all had a great time and went home with goodie bags and more of Diana's amazing cupcakes.

We made a spur of the moment decison on Saturday, October 30th, to drive over to Reno to visit our county library's annual Friends of the Library book sale.  We all found some fun books and then headed home for a quiet afternoon.  We had decided to hold off on carving our Jack-o-Lantern until closer to Halloween so on the afternoon of the 30th we went to work.  Ben designed the face, Daddy scooped the guts, and I carved (the fish in the pumpkin's jaws was my addition to Ben's design).  Neither Ben nor Sam wanted to touch the pumpkin guts because they were too mushy.

On Sunday, October 31st, we attended church and then in the afternoon Ben and I attended a birthday party for his friend Anna.  Sam napped and Brian stayed home with him.  It was a costume party but after the week and a half of Halloween-themed events Ben's words to me when I asked him if he wanted to dress up were, "No thanks.  I'm kind of over it."  Regardless of not being in costume, he had a great time playing with his friends and we arrived home just in time for Sam to wake up.  We then opted to go and visit the neighbors and take their dog a treat.  We all ended up going to one of our favorite Italian restaurants for dinner. 

On Monday, November 1st, the boys and I made the short drive to Truckee to meet up with my two great friends Steph (and her kids) and Tabitha (and her boyfriend Ian) for a late breakfast.  Again, I took few photos but did manage to get one cute one of Ben, Sam and Julianna.  I don't see my friends very often so even a couple of hours in a bagel shop was pure heaven!

My business, Meals By Maggie, has been very busy lately.  Over the month of October I made Mexican Lasagna, BBQ Pork Sandwiches, and Golden-Potato Leek Soup.  And so far in November I have made Chicken Potpie.   I normally average between 20 and 30 servings that I sell each week but for some reason the potpie was a big hit and I ended up making over 50 servings!!!  When I returned home at the end of the day I was greeted by a lion and a whale....the boys had made masks with our amazing sitter Jaime.

Back in August Brian and I attended a benefit dinner and auction for our church.  One of the items we won in the silent auction was a treatment at a local spa.  So, on Saturday, November 6th, I was the lucky recipient of a massage and facial.  It really couldn't have been at a better time as I had knots across my back and shoulders from the busy day of cooking on Thursday.  Thanks, Brian!

And that leads us up to today, November 8th.  Ben is at preschool, Brian is at work, and I am here at home with Sam who is playing and narrating every move he makes.  Getting this post up was no small feat as I experienced multiple problems with uploading photos and dealing with a computer that doesn't seem to like me much lately.  Oh well, at least my readers will be appeased ;-)