Berry Picking

Wes refuses to eat berries.  Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...won't even try them.  I asked him what he had for snack the other day at school, and he said, "Chex and Blueberries."  I said, "Oh!  Did you eat blueberries?"  Wes:  "No, I had raisins.  I roll my blueberries on the table to Elliott."  Heh.  And sorry, Ms. Julie.

So, I didn't know how berry picking would go over.  Fortunately it was a big hit.  It seems that while eating strawberries is out of the question, traipsing around in mud and digging through wet and dirty plants to pick them was right up his alley.

We met a few friends out at the berry patch as well, and I'm excited to be able to do some of these outings during the week and make some new friends!

Rain, Rain Go Away

My first day at the "new job" started early - 5:50 a.m.  Someone thought we should go ahead and get up (hint:  it wasn't me).

The day was great.  We visited the library and the indoor playground at the mall, mainly because outside it looked like this:

A torrential downpour all day long.  Driving rain.  The kind of rain that makes you want to put your feet up and put on a Lifetime movie.

Thankfully, Wes had a long afternoon nap that allowed me to recharge as well.  (Rain makes kids cranky.  Getting up before 6 makes kids and adults cranky, too).

Luckily after his nap, the rain slowed down enough for us to put on rain boots and a rain coat and go stomp in some puddles:

We ran into our friends Sara and Megan (2 yrs) and they came over for some inside play.

The best part of the day was when daddy got home and we got to play on the porch, with the driving rain all around us:

Aaaahhhh...heaven.  But now, I'm going to bed.

~Kristina

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day(s)

We've had a rough week at the Magnuson house.
We enjoyed a fun dinner last Sunday night with the Mihalovich family, in town from Kansas City.

Monday night I woke up at midnight and got sick...and proceeded to get up and get sick every hour during the entire night. Neil came home from work early Tuesday feeling rotten. Our savior, Day (my dad), came to help with Wes (I couldn't raise my head off the pillow without getting sick). He returned from the playground Tuesday afternoon with bad news: Wes had throw up everywhere.

We got better one by one; it took Wes the longest to recover. As of 8:30 pm tonight, he hadn't throw up all day, the first time in a week that he made it through the day without vomiting at least once. We took him to the doctor yesterday, who took a good look and told us that the bug was just taking a while to get out of his system, which at least made us feel better.

And everyone at that fun dinner on Sunday night? Every single one got sick. This is one nasty bug and I hope it's gone for good!

I have lots of blogging to catch up on; Wes is making us laugh every day, even when he's feeling awful.

More to come soon, promise!

~Tina

December!

We're only halfway into December and it has been a blast already.  We have Christmas at home and visits to both Salisbury and Nashville to look forward to in the next few weeks.  I'll be home from work for almost two weeks!

We went and listened to the Clefhangers sing at the Old Well on the last day of classes (and played in the dirt)

We tried and tried to get Wes to sit still long enough to take a picture for the Christmas card (yes, I'm way behind).

Obviously, I failed, and went with an action shot:

We went to a Moravian Lovefeast last Sunday at Wes' preschool's church, which was interesting (try disciplining a two year old with a burning candle in your hand!), but he sure looked handsome.

Today was the Christmas Party at Wes' preschool.  The kids sang us Jingle Bells (Wes didn't sing, although he's been practicing constantly) and then made Reindeer Dust to sprinkle on our doorstep on Christmas Eve.  The children loved putting oats in the bowl and then sprinkling them with LOTS of glitter.

Tonight our good friends Sarah Jane and Hayes came to eat dinner.  They moved to Arkansas this summer so it was such a treat to have them here!  The boys played and had so much fun together, and SJ and I had a blast catching up.  We miss them so much!

Here are the boys eating dinner:

(love the hat, Wes!)

These boys have grown up together.  Here's a picture of one of their first play dates:

It's hard to believe they were that small!

Here's to December!  We can't wait for the rest of it.

Kristina

Aldersgate Preschool Dedication...and the saddest little face ever.

You just have to love this picture of Wes.

His preschool dedication was Sunday at Aldersgate Methodist, and the children of the preschool sang songs in front of the whole congregation.  This kind of stuff makes my heart palpitate, and I'm 30.  So I had no idea what to expect from a slightly shy two-year-old that's just like me.

We sat down at church and Wes was a little wiggly, but good.  I loved seeing him get excited to see his friends and wave.  The threes class sang first and did a great job.  They stepped aside and the twos class was called up.  I watched in shock as Wes climbed down from the pew and walked up to the front of the church all by himself (I was sure I would have to take him up there).  All the little boys went up and took their places at the church - they certainly had practiced.  When they started Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the boy beside Wes belted it out in a scream...and that's when Wes lost it.  His face turned all red, the lower lip puckered out, and he did his silent cry....the one that means, "Hey.  I'm really upset here."'

Thankfully, the lovely Ms Julie swept him right up in her arms and he made it through the rest of the song and the next one.  I met him at the back of the aisle when it was over, his face streaked with tears, and swept him up in a big hug.  I told him how proud I was of him, just for making it up to the front of the church.  And I really meant it.

-Kristina

Preschool Update

Another good week at school last week! We got our weekly email update from the teachers this weekend. Last week was the final week of their Farm unit, and they planted daffodil bulbs in the playground.

I loved this picture of my sweet Wes playing with some other kids. All the other ones I've seen have been of him off by himself, pushing something around (which he loves to do at home, too), so this one of him playing with other little ones made me smile:



He had to stay home from school yesterday because he still had a low grade fever hanging around from the weekend. When I got home from work yesterday, I noticed his eyes were puffy and he had hives on his hands and neck. So, off to the doctor's office we went! The place was a madhouse of screaming children, but we finally saw Dr. Lotz and she said she had seen six or seven kids with the same exact hives that day. She classified it as a virus (that's where the fever came from this weekend), listened to his lungs (they were great) and then sent us on our way with orders to take Benadryl all week. So, Wes will be back at school tomorrow!

Caroline's Birthday Party!

We had a lot of fun celebrating with Caroline Bowman yesterday for her 2nd birthday. Wes has been warming up to the pool little by little, but yesterday he was a complete water bug. He marched right in and needed no hand-holding time with mommy. I was so proud to see him dip his nose in the water and splash with the other kids. He even went down the water slide (with mommy and daddy) three times! During adult swim, all the kiddies would go to the Splash pad and run around - that's where I caught some of these pictures.











Maybe all the energy came from this cupcake he devoured before the pool!!

From Four to Ten!

(clockwise from top left: Sarah Jane (with Hayes), Kim (with Ben and Henry), Me (with Wes), and Holly (with Charlie...Carter was at home)
Before Wesley came along I had the greatest group of girlfriends...Holly lived across the street from us on Fortunes Ridge and I would walk across first thing in the morning, in my pajamas, for pancakes. We would sit on the couch on Sunday afternoons watching Lifetime movies and have dinners together with wine and lasagna.
Neil and I would go over to Kim and Ryan's house for dinner and games. The night usually ended with us in sweatpants (we usually had a pair at each other's houses), drinking wine and watching a movie until very, very late.
Sarah Jane would join us for early morning runs around Woodlake and we always rode to Junior League together (and sometimes skipped out early on the meeting...even sneaking out a few times).
Kids entered the picture soon after and those long leisurely days and nights were a distant memory.
Holly had Carter four years ago, then added Charlie two years later. I had Wes in August, Sarah Jane had Hayes two months later, and then Kim had twins, Ben and Henry, in May.
Holly and Tim moved to Raleigh and Kim and Ryan moved to DC. Thankfully, Sarah Jane is still here (and we see each other quite often) but she'll be moving away this summer, too. It's been WAY too long since we've gotten together, but we have kids that range from 4 to 9 months, and someone has been pregnant or birthing or had a newborn for the past two and a half years!
Kim and Ryan were in town for the weekend, so we all got together last night for dinner. It was fun to see old friends, and we had no problem picking up right where we left off. I will always remember the fun times we had, but I don't know if it can compare to the fun you have when you add six boys to our foursome!

Motherhood in a sentence.

My friend Kim had her twins last week at 32 weeks. Henry and Ben are doing fine - they will be in the hospital for a few weeks, but they are sharing a bed and doing better every day. I just got an email from Kim with an update - they have been at the hospital literally every waking moment to spend time with their babies.

In her email I thought she summed up motherhood in a sentence (well really two sentences, but one thought):

Today is their one week birthday and it has been the longest week of my life. Filled with fear, helplessness and overwhelming joy.

That's it, isnt't it?!

I am so proud of Kim and her boys! Please keep them in your thoughts as the boys grow stronger and hopefully go home soon!