Our family has succombed to illness....

Both boys have been sick in the last few days. Given the strict fever guidelines set by the district to prevent the spread of flu and other illnesses, you have to wait until 24 hours or more after a fever of 100 or more is gone without the help of fever-reducers to go back to school. Since Connell had a temp of 101 this morning and it has not gone down, that puts him out of school today and tomorrow. Liam missed preschool yesterday with a similar fever. Each have a little tickly cough which is sporadic but never exhibited any other signs of illness (like runny nose or sore throat -- as far as we know). So Connell is very sad to be missing school and I am getting a little bored of staying home with boys who don't want to be sick and think that they can do anything they want. Let's just hope that Ray and I don't catch anything.

School starts...

So Connell started kindergarten yesterday morning although it was with a parent and they didn't get to ride the bus. Today was the first day on the bus and without a parent for the full 2 1/2 hours. We'll see how it goes...

Liam starts preschool this morning although it is a parent-child day as well. I have never gone with my kids on those days as I am always home with the other while Ray attends. With Connell at kindergarten, I am able to accompany Liam this year. He seems excited about preschool even though we thought he might buck the idea. Also will let you know...

Liam hits a few milestones...

We have two things to be excited about for Liam who is almost 3 yrs & 3 mos now.

First, it has been 5 full days now with no potty accidents - wet or poopy. Hopefully Liam can keep up the good work since preschool starts this week (with Mon the 14th being his first full morning on his own) and so he barely made it in under the wire! Since he finally made the "5 perfect days in a row", he got to have his super-duper Thomas and Percy carnival toy that I purchased on July 21st (and had been adorning the top of the entertainment center since). We brought it down, put it together and the boys have been enthralled with it ever since.

Secondly, he is now riding his big boy bike without training wheels! He is very proud of himself as you can see in the photo. So he and Connell have races up and down the street -- with the neighbors as well (in the photo Liam is way back in the back, but determined nonetheless). At least he doesn't have the cumbersome training wheels to hold his back (not to mention the screechy noise they made!) We have spent countless hours outside this summer since it was unseasonably cooler and less humid and so all the practice on their bikes and scooters really paid off (Connell began this season without his training wheels but he is still very happy for Liam already getting rid of his!)

Guess who went to Big Lots today?!?!

Yes, we three took a drive to St. Louis Park to the nearest Big Lots. I love shopping for non perishables there! They had lots of special clearanced items in addition to their normal deals. For instance, I got packs of fruit roll ups (10 per pk) for $.65 a pk. Can't beat that. Mostly the boys' stash of snack items (crackers, cookies, etc.) come from there. It looks like a lot of junk food all put together, but will be their snacks for a couple of months probably and will be shared with neighbor kids as well!

Is this injury worthy of making the blog?

I wasn't sure. Liam had a bout with the recliner this morning with the recliner winning. You can clearly see that he will have quite the black eye by tomorrow. And this was on top of a rash around his mouth that he has had lately. Quite a sight for sore eyes -- no pun intended!

Ready for winter...

For some reason this was the same time last year that I got the "crochet bug" and starting whipping up all types of sweaters, hooded sweatshirts, etc.


Here I am modeling one that I finished this morning (the striped one). It's very warm and you can't tell it from the picture, but has a wide collar that folded down. Turned out ok. I'll have to wear it on some chilly winter day...



Here is one that I made last year although I am not sure that I ever had it on the blog. It is a European circle coat design and I love how it looks with the slanted sides and circle design. It honestly is a big circle with the arm holes made in the appropriate spots.



And I love this dainty poncho/capelet that has little trapezoids all over it. I made it right at the end of my stint last year and so I never got to wear it.

Steele County Free Fair

We spent a few hours on Thursday and Saturday at the Steele County Free Fair which is literally a couple of blocks from my folks' house in Owatonna.

Unfortunately, Thursday was rainy and yet we did get in about 2 hours before it poured! The boys went on some rides (my mom gets them weekly wristbands) although this year Connell was very scared of the rides after a couple of years of loving them! He started questioning the safety of the rides this year and his overanalysis of the rides ruined any fun he might have on them. Oh, well. He did enjoy playing BINGO at the St. Mary's tent and so he went with my mom and Neysa in there to play that. The boys also liked a little whale that had a spot for coins -- if you got a coin in, then the whale spouted his water! My mom only had dollars and then ended up buying two rolls of pennies for a dollar which makes for a lot of coins!

The mascots (Steely and Stella which are two cows) greeted the boys and I snapped a picture. We also went through some of the animal barns again.

The boys had some French fries (the yummy ones with skins on them) and some ice cream. Liam accidentally was sitting on Connell's finger and so Connell pushed Liam over the back of the picnic bench and so we had some stares and two unhappy boys at one point! You might be able to sense the sadness in the photo with the fries.

We also had a few mini-doughnuts on the way home on Saturday. Ray loves the fair food, although the boys are I aren't as thrilled by it.

My dad is feeling really good again and so he spent lots of time at the fair with us as well. I was so impressed with how much he was walking after his recent hospital stay.