Ooops...

This is a post with no pics. Two oops incidents occured over the last two days that I would like to report on. First, I'll give the serious story. It's long.
Story #1:
I got a flu shot yesterday, then took the kids over to their pediatrician's office to get theirs.  We were greeted at the door by an unfamiliar medical person. I asked her if she was new, she explained that she is an "extern" getting her clinical hours with my pediatrician. Augi got the nasal spray. All was well with that. Em was supposed to get a shot. Because I work with children with Autism, I am concerned about mercury in vaccinations. Now, mercury was removed from most children's vaccines in 2001, but it is still in the flu shot. I asked the extern if the shot this year has mercury. She checked the box, and yup, it has Thimersol. I decided he needs to be vaccinated, so I told her to go ahead. She loaded up the syringe and came over to stick my baby boy. I was cringing as she walked near, I don't handle shots well. She stopped and said, "Oh, I need to get a band-aid." She set down the needle on her little work area and walked out of the room to find a bandaid. In walked a medical assistant who seemed to know what she was doing (still not our standard favorite nurses). I asked her about the Thimersol free vaccine that they had last year. She explained that they were out and would have more next week. I asked her if I could cancel the shot and come back in next week when they have the Thimersol free version. She said "Sure! In fact, I need to give a flu shot right now, so I will use this one that is already loaded." She picked it up and took a glance at the bottle it came from. Then, she said..."THIS ISN'T THE FLU SHOT. THIS IS THE MENINGOCOCCAL VACCINATION." That nit-wit extern almost stuck my baby boy with some other vaccine that is normally given to teens on their way to college. Freakin' idiot. So, we left without a shot of the wrong vaccine and without any added mercury. Oops.
Story #2
This one is funny. Yesterday was our little friend Annie's birthday. I used to work with her mom, she and Augi both go to the Baldwin home for wayward children, and they are in the same preschool class. Well, she didn't get a party this year because of timing and such. However, her mom brought a bunch of cupcakes for the preschool class to celebrate today. She handed the cupcakes to the teacher, let her know that yesterday was Annie's 5th birthday, and went on her way. Well, Annie was handed her birthday crown by the teacher and she promptly handed it off to Augi. Annie doesn't care about any stinkin' crown. So, another teacher was instructed to write the birthday girl's name on her crown. She came along, saw Augi with the crown, wrote "Happy Birthday Augi" on the crown and proceeded to lead the class in "Happy Birthday to Augi..." Then, at the end of class, they handed Augi a plate of extra cupcakes and told her to take them home. Okey-dokey. It all sounded good to her. So, poor sweet little Annie missed out on her birthday celebration--but Augi got a really cool crown and a plate of cupcakes. School is great!

Nooooooo

Em has a new favorite word! He always says this long "nooooooooo" and he uses it frequently!

Zoo Date

Augi has been eager to have a play date with Libs for ages. My kids have withdrawals whenever we have a long weekend away from the Baldwins. I had Monday off and we headed to the zoo. It was great fun.

There is nothing cuter than a baby elephant. Baby Giraffes are awfully cute too!

I asked the kids to pretend to be animals. Em was looking a little like an escaped mental patient.

So Much to Talk About

It has been a while. A lot has happened, I will try to catch up here.
First of all...big news flash...AUGI started preschool today!

She picked out her outfit about a week ago. Unfortunately, her new shoes gave her a blister. But otherwise, school was great. I was able to stay in the class until 10:30. She was shy and nervous until Anne arrived, one of her BFFs. Oh, and the other news flash...working mom guilt has set in, and I am the Room Mother! Woo-hoo. Could they pick a worse candidate? Me, organizing the rest of the parent volunteers? Ug. I am setting up a blog for the class. I have great plans. However, I am a type 4, so we'll see if I ever get anything in motion.

On the way to school this morning, Augi asked me if there will be any children with autism in her class. She soaks in everything she hears! I have to be careful with her!
The Baldwins helped to teach us a little geocaching over the holiday weekend using my GPS. I need to work out some kinks, but I am excited about the prospects!

I discovered the wonders of television as a babysitter...Em really hasn't seen much t.v. I found a Barney dvd in our collection and popped it in while I made dinner the other night. Barney is a great sitter! Notice Augi's wings. She wore them for two days straight and insisted that she will wear them every day for the rest of her life.

Playing in the park.

OK. This picture had me in tears tonight. I am tired, therefore easily amused. Augi organized a Fancy-Nancy night out last friday. The kids brought their dolls. I'm not sure what is going on with Tanner's doll on the far right.

And here are the kids...fancy shmancy.

Just a funny shot of the kids having a sleepover in Em's room. Can you figure out where I sleep when we do this? Yep. Right in that little crevice between them.

Aaaa. I had my Ikea fix recently. I love how sophisticated Em looks here.

My baby boy. He has been very very sick since the weekend. He stayed home for the last two days fighting some horrible tummy bug.

He was looking better tonight, so I am hopeful he will be better tomorrow. He fell asleep at 530, and Augi was passed out by 7:15. Chris and I are horribly sleep deprived from waking up with Em all night for the last two nights. It is time for me to do the dishes and hit the sack...G'night. P.S. For those of you interested, no word on the England job yet. We occasionally talk about what we will do if I get the offer. I am about to get my dream job (minus a pay raise!) with the district. It is going to be hard to leave if I get the offer. Either way, the future looks bright for us.

Time to Catch Up

I actually do not have time to catch up right now, but I am going to do it anyway! We have been having a lot of fun so I have been too exhausted to blog over the last few weeks. I am back to work at the district full-time-ish. My job has changed and I was resisting, but I have given in. I am going to suck it up and do what I am told. (For a minute, anyway.) I stomped my feet and threatened to quit. The reality is, I am a government employee and they don't care. Ok. Fine.
I have had my 3rd course of antibiotics in 2 months, and the last one was really screwy. I had a bad reaction to it and my left leg freaked out. That is all I am going to say about that, except that I am 90% recovered.

It is rough always having the paparazzi after you...

Last night we had a power-outage for about 2 hours. The kids were ready for bed, but we couldn't resist running outside to play in the rain and send little floating objects down the gutter. I love a summer rain storm! Em decided to get right in the stream of water.

Emmett is a little punk-rock.

The 5th annual (minus one year) Luau was a hit. Despite some evite difficulties, we estimate about 80 people attended this year. I feel badly about not letting everyone know with paper invites, but the evite was so much more simple for me. Any-hoo...the food was fabulous! Thanks everybody.

Tabi cooked up some Mudslides

We added a little fiesta into our luau with the always-fun pinata

Kids grabbin' their loot

Augi was a beautiful wahine.

She chose her own outfit--and it was perfect

Grandpa Albert flew in from San Diego just for the party! Woo-hoo! Grandma Valerie got the day off from the HD to attend

The boys

Thanks to our always reliable clean-up crew...Mindy single-handedly cleaned up the whole joint after everyone left.

This is the best picture of Jaid I have had in years. She ended up spending the night and Augi was in heaven to have her big cousin Jaid here. She was great--we would have her back any time.

Hey! Why aren't these two shooting photographs? I didn't say they could have the night off!

In other news...

My children love to paint. It is hard to get everything out and let Em experience it because I am so used to Augi. She is so independent with her art--I can let her paint, cut, glue, etc. completely on her own and I know there won't be any disasters. But, I know it is important for him too. So, I let him do it whenever I can.

Little cow-kids. Notice they don't put down their sippy-cups. And, Em is riding a moose instead of a horse. Oh well.

Finally, I am posting some pics from the county fair. I freakin' love the county fair. We even went TWICE this year! The first day we did pony rides and petting zoo. We went back a second time for rides.

Augi really enjoyed the little goats

Em doing his "hi little creature!" squat

Whew. That was the longest post in the history of blogging.