I got a call a few nights ago asking me to donate some baked treats for the bake sale at Taylor's school today. Of course I said yes and was super excited about making something. But what to make? So, I hoped on one of my favorite recipe sites and looked over all their Halloween treat recipes. Finally deciding on these:

Milk chocolate spider clumps

Black Cat Cookies - not to happy with how they turned out...I read the recipe wrong and they were very cake like because I added 4oz too much butter and tried to correct it and oh what a mess! Needless to say they are very cake-like cookies. = )

I can't wait to see the other treats there!

THIS IS MY 99TH POST - I'll have to do something special for my 100th post.... Hmmm.

WHY AM I SO EXCITED TO GET $2.29 GAS!? COULD IT BE BECAUSE I PAID $4.29 FOR IT A MONTH AGO??

DO YOU THINK IT WAS ALL PART OF A PLAN? JACK PRICES UP SO HIGH THAT WHEN IT IS $2.29 YOUR EXCITED TO BUY IT?

Exxon Mobile reported record high PROFIT of almost $15 BILLION last QUARTER!!!

UGH -

A show that can only mean Halloween is near. Taylor and I watched it last night while I , I mean we, carved pumpkins. Since we (and by we of course I mean Taylor and Wade..... juuust kidding) completely destroyed our first attempt, I wanted to redeem myself.

and here's a sneak peak at part of Taylor's costume

Check out my new blog design by Blogger Boutique!

Taylor's class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch last week. He had a lot of fun and I truly enjoyed being able to go on a field trip with him. Wade stayed home with the boys so I would be able to focus on Taylor alone. The highlights from the trip had little to do with pumpkins, however, as they were almost out and pumpkins, unless being carved and gutted, they aren't very interesting to 5-6 year olds anyways! Instead of boring you and writing all about our trip, I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

It was FREEZING and very windy!

The hayride

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP - THE CORN BARREL.

(That's Taylor barrying his head in the corn!)

the hay maze

A sheep herding demonstration

On Friday, my dear friend Jenny and her mom Mrs. Laurette, invited us over for pumpkin carving and hotdogs. We had a lot of fun. This was the first year we made it to the carving. Last year we were invited and, if I remember correctly it was a rainy night again, and on the way to our car, I dropped the pumpkin and cracked it. This time, Wade broke the stem just before we got there, we were on so close to arriving without a pumpkin mishap. But then, after carving the pumpkin it took a tumble in the van and Wade, in anger, kicked the top as it fell out of the van and broke it. Because the design had some thin parts, it of course broke in the tumble. I took some toothpicks and worked a little magic. But I'm beginning to think we're not meant to travel with pumpkins. We have 2 more to carve (tonight I think). I can't wait! = )

As you may have guessed from the title, we've been eating banana's this week. A fruit that I thought they would LOVE! But, no, not so much. They're no longer gagging, so we've made progress. I think it's the texture of the slimy mashed up banana. They do much better when it's mixed with cereal. Brayden seems to enjoy them more than Carter and Tucker. Tucker has turned out to be our best spoon/table eater, which is especially ironic since he's the smallest and prior to now rarely finished a bottle. Carter refused to eat them the first 2 days, spitting and playing in them the entire time, eventually smearing them all over the brother he was sitting next to. Nice. The only flaw to this high chair table is how close the boys are next to each other. Their close proximity makes for some nice messes.

Here's our banana journey in pictures:

Yuck, no thanks. Rice cereal please.

Hmm. I don't know. I think sweet potatoes were better.

Sweet! I like it. ...I think.

I'm here for you brother.

OR

Keep your hands off my spoon brotha! ..you decide.

Mom, why?! Why must you feed us banana slime?

A few pictures of the boys at the table:

They play the whole time they're at the table and when I'm feeding one, the other is grabbing the food off the spoon. They're getting better, but occasionally we have some major meltdowns at the table when I'm not able to get the food to their tummies fast enough. These meltdowns usually result in the screamer being excused from the table and given their bottle early. It is certainly an ordeal to feed three babies at once, especially when they're still learning to eat, sit and hold their heads steady enough to eat from a spoon. They still have to go to a reclined swing or bouncy to take their bottle. It is such a mess! I have to change their clothes after each feeding and they go through 2 bibs during the course of a feeding; one for solids and another for the bottle.

Here's what Carter thought of the banana's. (look closely at his fingers)

TUCKER

This picture is an attempt to show the wildness of this child's hair.

Tucker is doing much better sitting up and holding his head steady. He's rolling over to his tummy constantly now which is helping to build his neck strength. Maybe since he's so good eating solids he'll catch up to his brothers soon!

Taylor just completed his first quarter of 'big boy' school. We still haven't seen his report card yet since we don't meet with the teacher to get it until next Wednesday, so I'm anxiously awaiting that. Today they celebrated all kindergartners with perfect attendance during this first quarter of school. Taylor and Madilyn both received certificates. Here's some pics:

It's RSV season. So, what does that mean? It means that there are lots of yucky 'cold' germs out there that will cause you and I to get a runny nose, maybe congestion, a little cough, etc. Symptoms that we normally wouldn't even think anything about; not a big deal and for most of us it's a winter certainty. However, this little cold to you and I could potentially send Carter, Brayden, and Tucker to the hospital with infected, inflamed and swollen lungs. They'll wheeze like they have asthma and cough like they have severe bronchitis or pneumonia. This is due to the premature, smaller than normal, airways the babies are breathing through.

These mom's have also written about RSV, the precautions they're taking, and what that means for friends and family. Click here, and here, and here to see what they have to say and what they're doing.

I'm asking friends and family to be very mindful of germs and wash up before touching the boys and don't come around with even the slightest cold. We love you, but not your germs.

Taylor, a normal healthy full term baby actually had RSV before he turned a year old. We were able to treat him at home with albuterol breathing treatments. We were lucky. He was in daycare and during his first year of life I think he got every single cold and flu bug there was, and now he's healthy and rarely gets sick.

Now for some good news. There is a shot, similar to the flu shot, but for RSV. It helps to protect babies fragile lungs from this virus that loves to settle into them. For more info on the Synagis shot, click here. When we went into the doctor for their 4 month check up we were told that the boys would most likely not qualify for the shots; they were too healthy, not in daycare, etc. However, they do have a school age big brother. Therefore, the doctor's office tried to get us approved for the shots, and DID! Good news, right? Well, the shots are $1,800 per 50ML. The boys need 150ML right now and will be taking the full 200ML before we're done. I'm no math genius, but let me do a little number crunching here. $1800/50ml x 4 for a full dose = $7,200 per shot x 3 babies = $21,600 each time we go to the doctor x 6 months of shots = $129,600 total. Okay, that's based on the full 200ML dose that they will be getting, so in all actually, it's really about $115,200 for us. Now, since we were approved, insurance will pay 80%. $115,200 x 20% (our share) = $23,040 over the next 6 months. I was so upset. We got the call, we were approved, we could take steps to help protect our boys, and I was going to have to tell them we could not afford it and we were going to have to take our chances with our boys' health. SO UPSET.

I called the doctor's office to cancel the appointment. When I told them why, they transferred me to their billing specialist who only handles the Synagis billings and she - ready for this - told me --- not to worry about it. I have to pay only my $15/visit/child co-pay (so $45/month). So, we'll be paying a total of $270 for the $100,000+ shots! The boys got their first shot this morning and they will get 5 more over the next 5 months. They told me that they want them to get a flu shot at their 6 month visit next month, so I guess they'll be getting that too... I don't know, I've always been leery of flu shots, but I guess I should do as the dr says.

Oh, their 5 month weights are:

Carter - 16lbs 11oz
Brayden - 17lbs 11oz
Tucker - 15lbs 13oz

I've taken a month off. I've been floating along aimlessly, procrastinating, and pondering three new goals.

With the holiday's approaching, I've decided to go easy on goals this last quarter of the year. I'm going to forget about the weight loss goals until January 2009, because I don't want to fail again, and I'm tired.. = ) [I can't believe 2009 is a quarter away!]

So here they are:

Drum roll please....

1. Make my bed, every day.
2. Stick to my handmade for the holidays pledge.
3. Begin/try freezer cooking.

It's the week of sweet potatoes at the Lloyd's and the boys are loving them and doing really well eating them. We were lucky again in that the potatoes were home-grown by one of Mom's friends, and therefore, fresh and yummy, and free! Go over to Our Green Journey to read about making baby food. I'll be posting soon. = ) We set up their highchair table this past weekend and let me tell you, it's so nice to have a place to feed them where I can sit in a chair and not worry about the mess they're making. Previous to setting this up, I was sitting Indian style in the floor and going between various contraptions they were sitting in that were covered with a sheet that I'd have to wash after each feeding. Lot's of work. Now, I just wipe it all away!

Carter

Grandaddy came to visit the boys

Carter's zonked out!

Carter trying to eat Tucker

Brayden just got out of the tub. They love their baths! They splash and make such a mess! I have got to find some of those bath tub seats like I used with Taylor, they've almost outgrown the sink!

Oh, and one more thing. Lego's are great. Really. No sarcasm here. Not from me.

T H E Y ' R E G R E A T.

THANKS MAMAW!!

Taylor said their is no such thing as too many lego's and he needs more to build more!