Sick, sick, sick.....better!

Well, it wasn't just what Aidan ate!

Aidan continued to feel better last Sunday and Monday, but he stayed home from school on Monday as he still hadn't had anything substantial to eat, so he needed rest and some work on the menu. Monday night Esme came down with the 'flu, too. Poor little girl said at one point, "I hate to throw up." About twenty minutes after she started being sick, Jim did too. So I spent the first half of the night cleaning up, and then started feeling sick myself. Fortunately I never threw up, just had a high fever, felt weak and had the dizzies. Tuesday both kids stayed home from school - Aidan had a sore throat and Esme had been throwing up AND had a sore throat. I needed to take them to the doctor but couldn't!

Anyway, we were all improving by Wednesday (thank goodness that was a vacation day anyway) so I took the kids to the doctor, they had a positive strep culture, and they started antibiotics.

Thursday we had a lovely relaxing Thanksgiving with Jim's family at his mom's house. Friday Jim caught up on work and the kids and I caught up on chores around the house - eight- and five-year-olds really can handle some pretty big responsibilities. Aidan scrubbed the basement shower to a very high standard, vacuumed the whole house, and helped out with scrubbing the bare floors. Esme helped with the laundry and picked up and put away lots of toys and other things. Without their help, I never would have been able to catch up on housework in one day!

Saturday we spent with the McEowens in Indiana. We had a delicious lunch at the nursing home with the whole family and were still able to spend an hour with the cousins at Uncle Dave and Aunt Vonda's house. Grandma is doing okay and we treasure the time we had to spend with her.

Today Jim is getting ready to head to Chicago tonight, the kids are relaxing with their computers, and I am working on my Very Large Stack of paperwork of all sorts - household management, Christmas things, Juanita's website, genealogy (my own and others'), etc., etc. I just might be able to see my desk by Friday...maybe!

We all thank God for making us Americans and free, for making us a family, and for providing for all our needs. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Looooonnng Night

Last night was a very long night. Aidan, who had too many sweets, too much excitement, and stayed up too late last night, started throwing up about midnight and continued until about 6:45 this morning. I spent most of the night doing laundry, scrubbing carpet, and running full and empty trash bags up and down the stairs. Today Aidan is feeling a bit better - he has eaten two popsicles and drunk a lot of water, and has read for several hours. Now he is watching the Clone Wars DVD on the couch. The laundry continues.

Fortunately Esme and Jim got most of a night's sleep!

I just love cheese, really I do!

This morning Esme wondered aloud why "that place there is called 'Swiss Valley'". Jim told her he didn't know, since it is neither Swiss nor a valley, and then asked the children if they knew where Swiss cheese originally came from. Immediately Aidan answered "Wisconsin!" and at the same time Esme answered "Milk!"

So much for geography.

Jim's On A Project!!!

This year, Jim has spent:

• 13 weeks in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania with Bank of New York
• 1 week in New York City, New York with Bank of New York
• 1 week in San Francisco, California with Franklin-Templeton
• 1 week in New York City, New York on IBM business
• 2 days in Baltimore, Maryland on IBM business

He has been working from home the rest of the time on internal IBM projects, in addition to proposal work with MedStar, Centine Healthcare, Bank of New York, PNC Bank and probably a lot of others.

During the last two weeks, some vague threats regarding billable work were floating around, so we are very thankful that as of next week, Jim will be working on a billable project in Chicago with NaviStar, the parent company of such brands as International Harvester and International Diesel.

Thank the Lord that His timing is perfect.

Why We Love Marge's

Electric Torch

We just finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe earlier this week, and have begun reading Prince Caspian for our evening family reading time. The kids are loving these stories and are great about asking questions when there is a word or phrase they don't understand, and about figuring such things out with a few little clues.

Tonight I was reading about Edmund's "electric torch," when Jim interrupted to ask the kids if they knew what an electric torch was. They didn't, so I asked Esme "well, what is a torch?" and she said "you know, a stick with a fire on top," which was of course exactly right. So Jim said, "Right! So what do you think an electric torch might be?" And she said "well, it's got a plug!"

We tried to get them to figure it out in a lot of different ways, but they would never have guessed it is a flashlight. We laughed and laughed at Esme's try, though, she knew that if it's electric, it's got a plug!!!

New Photos

The kids looked so cute in their accidentally matching outfits this morning, I just had to take a picture!


Here's Aidan at the science open house at school, with his crystallization project.


Indy:


Mutt:

Marian:

In Honor of Our Nation's Veterans

This morning we had the pleasure of having Brigadier General James Hoerner speak at a joint presentation for our Sunday School class and our church's military support group. General Hoerner is a highly decorated veteran of World War II, who served stateside and in Europe, and was part of the D-Day invasion. He enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana and after the war attended the University of Michigan. He was among the first United States Army officers to learn of the location of the gold and treasure looted by the Nazis, stored in a salt mine in Merkers-Kieselbach, Germany. You can read more about the fascinating history of this event here: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1999/spring/nazi-gold-merkers-mine-treasure.html

Remember the service and sacrifices of the World War II veterans of our family:

Hubert D. McEowen, U. S. Army
Vivian L. (Wetzel) Hollopeter, U. S. Navy
Howard R. Wetzel, U. S. Army
Ralph M. Wetzel, U. S. Navy
Marshall B. Wetzel, U. S. Navy
John L. Wetzel, U. S. Navy
Frank E. Hollopeter, U. S. Army, killed in action at Luzon, Philippines
Richard H. Peckham, U. S. Army
Frederick Peckham, U. S. Army, U. S. Navy
William G. Peckham, U. S. Army
Robert Derington, U. S. Army
Oscar Peckham, U. S. Army

First Snow of the Season

It's snowing! I can't believe 8 November is the first snow of the season!

Hire Me!

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Halloween

Here are Mutt Williams (aka Aidan), Indiana Jones (aka Jim), and Marian Ravenwood (aka Esme), acting out a scene from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. This took place on 25 October, just before our trunk-or-treating outing. I took more pictures on Actual Halloween that are still on the camera...I'll get some posted soon.


Aidan at our church, getting ready to trunk-or-treat. (Table-or-treat? They moved it indoors.)


The whole gang.


Just one stage of Burn-It-All Saturday in Dad's woods.


Ah, the Very Hot Part.