Lysol, Hand Sanitizer, Clorox wipes, oh my

The Richter house has been hit hard by illness this school year. My dad says it seems like we are always sick, but I have to believe that is because he talks to us so much that he knows of every sniffle, cough or headache! Overall, we tend to be healthy. We went through a period of 8-9 months of ear infections right after Carlie started daycare many moons ago and then we just got the occasional cold, etc... However, this year is crazy!!!

It all started about 8 weeks ago, with Luke having a little cough and runny nose. I started his breathing treatments and he bounced back relatively quickly. Then, I caught an awful cold....it consisted of body aches, chills, headache and an absolutely terrible cough. That started 4.5 weeks ago....With a cough still lingering, it has now returned to a full blown uncontrollable cough! UGH.

When my original cold started, Carlie was also sick with a low grade fever, headache and just plain tired. After about 6 days she returned to normal. Then it was James' turn....he had the sinus thing with a cough!

This past Friday, Carlie was diagnosed with Strep (I will say it was going around her class) and today my little Luker was diagnosed with strep too! Craziness! We all have hand santizer close by, Carlie in her desk and backpack. There are just SO many kids sick this year. It is crazy....

My hope is that we are all cough, fever, sore throat, headache free by the time we see my parents for Thanksgiving! We will be so bummed if we aren't able to!!! GRRRR!!!

So.............. Besides gross sickness, nothing has been happening around here!! Luke will be on medicine tomorrow for 24 hours....the house is getting a good once over with clorox wipes, bedding changed, etc.....I have got to get rid of this garbage!

Anyway...enjoy the picture of my gorgeous daughter!!! I think this is just an awesome picture of her!!!

October!

October is a fun month for us....It is Luke's birthday and Halloween. Two of my favorite things.
This year for Luke's birthday, we headed Northwest to Alexandria to a resort/waterpark. Both of the kids LOVE the water and with the lack of summer and leap into winter, we thought it would be a fun get away for all of us, especially the kids.

Here is a picture of Luke and James going down one of the smaller slides. From the look on Luke's face, it is obvious that he loved the ride. After a few minutes, Luke was all about exploring in the water. He was in heaven. The day we arrived we spent a good 5 hours in the water. The following day, we spent at least 2. While neither wanted to leave, they did not complain too much.

This picture was taken right after the huge bucket of water dropped on their heads.

I love this picture....Carlie is all about adventure. She got up enough nerve to go down the three water slides by herself. Two without a raft, one with a raft. This is her coming down one of them for the first time. She thought it was cool that the slide took her outside before she landed in the water.

Luke sitting on one of the fountains. Silly boy!

We then headed home to celebrate his big third birthday! Among his many gifts was a Black and Decker tool set....safety glasses and all.

I know he is not one anymore but I think Thomas is the Number 1 engine....but Luke loves Thomas. He has not watched more than one of the cartoons, but loves trains... Can you tell he was excited?

Me and my baby snuggling......feels like yesterday he was born and I was a mess while he was in the hospital for days! Look how far he has come!

The birthday slice......

He even blew out the candle by himself for the first time! Awesome!

Then we move into Halloween! Here are a few pictures from our carving adventure tonight. Luke absolutely adored the pumpkins and could not wait to get his picture taken with them. Look closely.....can you tell Carlie is sick? Even when she is not feeling well and actually has strep throat, she is photogenic.......I am so jealous! :)

I am pretty excited about trick or treating. This is the first year I am able to walk well enough to go with James and the kids....We are hoping Carlie is better tomorrow after two doses of medicine so we can go for a little bit. Luke went to the downtown retailers today trick or treating and out of his brown lunch bag filled with candy, only 7 pieces were stuff he could eat! The rest is for us!!!! Can you say...willpower?

Happy October!!! It is almost over! Then we leap into the Holidays.........Whew, not sure I am ready for that!

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

There is nothing I could say that could sufficiently express my love for this little man, who blessed us with his presence 4 weeks early, under less than ideal circumstances exactly 3 years ago today!!!

We love you Luker!!!!

October

My little man is growing up. Soon he will be 3 years old. He has an unlimited vocabulary that is becoming easier to understand with every passing day. He is my joy! This picture is of Luke and his best buddy, Joe-Joe! All Luke wants to do is play with "joe-joe". Today, James and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was nearly 65 degrees today and with the weather being so cold lately, we jumped on the chance to get out and enjoy. The kids, of course, had fun. There is never a doubt that these two have fun in whatever they do. But isn't that how kids lives are suppose to be?

Last night, we loaded up three vehicles and headed to Pumpkin Night in the Park. This was the first year for us and boy am I glad we went and can't wait to go again next year. It is a local forest preserve and the paths are lined with pumpkins craved by the locals. It is just so cool. You walk around the path and they have pirate ships and roadkill cafe's and ghosts. The kids had so much fun. We even stopped for about 10 minutes to watch an Elvis Impersonator. My kids danced and just had so much fun with 4 other friends.

As you can see, Carlie dressed up like a baby. I have to admit she was pretty cute.

Luke was a puppy and I had a hard time getting a picture of him looking at the camera. So I had to take what I could get from him. He is definitely not the camera lover his sister is.

We have been so blessed this year. We are looking forward to Luke's birthday next week. We have a fun weekend planned that includes.....water.

2009 Fun Run

Well...here we have it...another Fun Run down in the books. Last year, CJ, Luke and James walked the 6 mile path and I made it about 1/4 of a mile because of my bad hip. However, this year, James had to work so it was up to me to participate.

The morning started in a rush as being the PTO co-chair, I was there a little early to help set up. This was after being up most of the night with a gallstone attack and getting about 2 hours of sleep. James did not wake me up, so Luke did about 7:30 and we were to be at the school by 8am. A giant cup of coffee and a Red Bull and I was ready to go....

It was cold, cloudy and rainy. Not ideal weather for a walking fundraiser. By 9:15am, when we left for CJ's basketball game, both her and Luke were frozen. However, we were able to take a break from the elements and Luke and I went to her BB game. I have to say my little munchkin is starting to get the hang of it. She did awesome! I then dropped Luke off with my fabulous sitter and Carlie and I headed back to the Fun Run, still raining and 50 degrees. UGH! However, we pressed on and walked about a mile. After our quality time together, Carlie and I headed back to the school to wait for the ultimate prize -- pouring "slime" all over her principal. While we waited, she had to run around with one of her best buddies, Nathan! Last year, these two were joined at the hip. We even had kissing episodes. This year, they are expanding their horizons but are still good pals.....thank goodness!

Then...the time came. Poor Mr. H!!! He is such a good sport. Freezing cold, wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt, he sat on a chair...Outside...and let 12 of his students pour cold slime all over him. The top fundraising girl and boy from each class got to slime him. Last year, it was Carlie and Nathan in Kindergarten...this year, it was Carlie and Nathan for 1st graders! Both myself and Nathan's parents thought that was pretty funny!

So there you have it!!! Thank you to everyone who helped support our school and helped Carlie achieve her ultimate goal of being the one to slime Mr. H.

Summer...Part Two!

This is a sunset out our front door....isn't it gorgeous!?Then there is Luke...he is finally getting on board with nearly being three...Here is putting the gint Elmo puzzle together. I was so proud of him!!!

Last week, my parents drove up here with my Grandpa. He actually played Wii bowling with Carlie. Here is the proof!! Just in case you did not believe me!

Also, we did spend a week in Illinois in August...While there, I took the kids on the train into Brookfield Zoo. It was so much fun and the kids loved the train ride.

Hope you all had a fabulous summer! I know we did, even though we did not have great beach/pool weather, it was fun nonetheless.

Who is the tooth fairy?

Carlie lost her second tooth on Friday (9/25) while at school. She was so excited that she pulled it out herself and could not wait for the tooth fairy to flutter into the house to bring her a gift.

Anyway...Saturday morning, Carlie woke up to a crisp TWO dollar bill under her pillow. When she excitedly came out to show us all what the tooth fairy had brought her, she told us that she did not sleep too well because she was tossing around all night waiting for the little fairy to show up.

She then proceeded to tell us that SHE DID see the tooth fairy. So we asked her what she looked like..... She said that the tooth fairy looks like Tinkerbell. Pretty blonde hair and she wore a green dress and had cute little wings. She also said that the tooth fairy had a little star shaped wand that touched her cheek like a little kiss.

So.. there you have it and SOME kids think it is their parents! HA!! Carlie would surely beg to differ! : )