Halloween!

VIRTUAL AND ACTUAL PUMPKIN CARVING
My good friend Jordan, in California, emailed me this and I think y'all should try it :) We are carving our own pumpkins this weekend with The Boy. I think he's really going to dig the whole put-your-hands-inside-a-pumpkin-and-squish-the-innards thing. He does it to green beans every day, so why not a big ol' pumpkin?

TOUR OF HALLOWEEN
Later this afternoon M and I will begin our Tour of Halloween. He is dressing up as a lion (which he will also wear trick-or-treating later in the Tour) and is trekking to the Briarwood Mall here in Ann Arbor with me to hit up a bunch of local stores for candy. Also it's an excuse for me to turn Halloween into a Halloweekend, instead of a day :) then tomorrow, after Stake Conference in the morning, and after the nap, we're going to Wiard's cider mill to pick apples and go to the petting zoo, etc. On Monday I don't think there's anything going on, but on Tuesday (!) we will go trick-o-treating, again, in the very cute lion costume (hooray for Target!) on the actual Halloween. Also, I have purchased a witch hat and broom and am planning on wearing my black-and-orange striped toe socks while doing said activites with my tiny man dressed as a lion. I'm hoping I can convince him roar a lot in the next few days.

HALLOWEEN VIEWING
I have requested a copy of the film "The Witches" from the Ann Arbor library, and it should be here by tomorrow so that R and I can watch it. I think it's still too scary for M, although based off the children's book of the same name by Roald Dahl. Also, I have tried to get a copy of "Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn, another good scary/Halloweenish movie. And if I had not already seen it a few times, I would be getting my hands on a copy of "The Ring", which is the best scary movie I think I've seen. So if you're reading this, go rent The Ring and scare yourself silly. You'll thank yourself.

Cedar Point

So who would've thought that in Sandusky, Ohio, only 2 hours from where we live, there is an amusement park that has some of the fastest and tallest (and funnest!) rides in the world?? go figure. now the question has morphed into: Why didn't we know this sooner? Say, the previous 2 years we have lived only 2 hours away? Say, before I was pregnant and/or had a child who pretty much can only eat food and ride the merry-go-round at these parks? oh well :)

no, actually, even though it would've been more fruitful without a child in tow, we had a pretty great time this last weekend. R and I drove down with M (during naptime=bad idea) and met R's cousins there. B flew from UT to Washington DC to meet C, and then they drove to Sandusky. And S and J drove up from Nashville. Then we all rode the roller coasters, ate fast food, and then had to turn around and go back to our respective places. It was short but sweet :)

I mostly talked to C, who waited with me out of line with M for two and half hours while the rest of them waited for the Millenium Force. After they exited, C and I used the handy parent pass and went to front of the line to wait a few mintues for the FRONT of the ride. we're talkin' very front. as in pee you pants scared front. please note that i'm not a pansy. this ride goes faster than any other roller coaster I've been on in my life, kid you not. it's currently the 3rd highest coaster in the world, and probably one of the fastest. this is further scaryified by the fact that all that holds you in is a secure, but mere safety belt and lap bar. and you go up the first big "up" and it seems to never end! in other words, i highly recommend it!

Also, M went through his first "haunted" house at the park. there were squiggly mirrors and squishy floors and blow up pumpkins and spiders. he didn't cry once! well, except when it was over and he tried to run back in. he also saw a line of monsters dancing the Electric Slide, which besides being awesome to behold in the first place, was impressive because he reached out and touched the werewolf without too much trouble. this wasn't too surprising to me, but every one else was very impressed with his bravery. (i wasn't surprised because we've already ventured to the Halloween store before, and he was picking up big plastic, hairy spiders that gave ME the willies.)

hooray for Cedar Point! pictures to follow soon :)

Freaking out

well, last week i had a bit of a scare with The Boy. i figure i was lucky that R and I had been sick prior to this scary day, so that I at least had some frame of reference when the scariness began. M woke up Thursday morning pretty normally, although he'd been coughing and it sounded bad enough to take him into the doctor just to make sure. so i called and set up an appointment for after his nap at about 2pm. so before the nap I gave him some Tylenol to keep his mild fever down (it was about 100.3) when he woke up i took his temperature again and it was still around 100.

by the time we drove to the doctor and were seen it was about 20 minutes or so. when they took his temperature it was 105.3 and i just about died. the nurse even said something like "whoa, 105.3", which doesn't really help, you know? so (fortunately) i brought some tylenol and gave him more at that point, since he was due for another dose anyways. it turns out that the first dose i gave him was about half the size it was supposed to be. so all you Tylenol-dispensing mothers out there, please note what your child's weight is and make sure you constantly know how much medicine to give. otherwise your child may scare you to death and then proceed to cry uncontrollably in the doctor's office because of their misery :(

but don't worry, it all ended up just fine. the Tylenol kicked in and he cooled off. and then we went to the pharmacy and got Motrin and more Tylenol to get us through the remainder of the sickness. the only other part was that he had to go the hospital to get a chest x-ray (just in case), which he didn't like very much. but here we are, a few days later, taking nice long naps, eating lots of food, and playing outside with rocks again. not to mention, i've become a more seasoned mother and no longer fear (as much) The High Fever. thank goodness! the end.