ARRRGGGGHHHH!.... YE LILLY LIVERS!

Dan has gone pirate nuts! On any given day, you can find him wandering the house dressed like a pirate, using an empty playdo container for his peg leg and a plastic hook in place of one of his hands. It's pretty funny. It's just that age......the age of pirates. Ha! Next year for Dan's birthday, Beck will have to come out and do a pirate ship with me again. So, that's one flight and pirate ship for each of us, aye Beck? Although, o be fair, we didn't get all that much done on Ben's pirate ship while I was there. You finished the painting byyourself :-( So, here's to next year's pirate ship, and then we'll do one for Eli, too!

HALLOWEEN!

Brit was Bat girl and Dan was a skeleton. I went out with Brit and Dan, while Bill and Brad held down the fort, handing out candy (I think we had ONE group of trick-or-treaters). Actually they spent most of the evening playing X-Box Live. Meanwhile, Mike and a few of his 8th grade friends dressed up in goofy costumes and went out trick-or-treating by themselves. Each of the kids got a TON of candy! I have been trying to steal it and get rid of it so they don't eat so much. Mike is famous for being able to "hold his candy." At scout camp, when all the other scout campers have eaten themselves into oblivion with candy, and are puking up their guts, Mike proudly struts around noting that he doesn't feel the least bit queasy. What the heck is wrong with my children? Three years ago at Scout Camp, all the scouts came home telling tales of how Bill was able to ingest 56 "extra-large sized" Reese's peanut butter cups (the kind that come two to a large pack) in ONE sitting. I ask you,... is that something to be aspire to? Mike generally catches on to my candy disposal techniques very quickly, and he finds places to stash little pods of candy all over the house. Over the next couple of months, in moments of weakness and sugar craving, he'll pull little stashes out of the craziest spots. It's kind of a game with us :-)

Birthdays-R-Us!

The last week of October/first week of November is nuts around here! We have Dan's, Mike's, and Brit's birthdays within about a two week block, not to mention Halloween! We had a family birthday for Dan. He also got to celebrate his birthday at preschool. He loves his preschool class! We are so delighted that he made it in, after 4 months on the waiting list.


Mike had his birthday at our house and invited a truck load of his good friends (mostly guys, but a few brave girls, too). They played airsoft out in the woods, flashlight tag, played some Halo and Call of Duty, and watched "I Am Legend" (too intense for me). They had a great time! Mike is growing up quickly.... and has officially passed Bill (who is working on Pop-pops's famous body stretching exercises!) Mike is 5' 8&1/2" 170 pounds..... so, if anyone is interested in seeing Mike as a kid, now is the time for a visit. He's growing like a weed :-)

Brit and her cute bunch of girls were over earlier tonight for her birthday. We had a big treasure hunt, they made their own personal pizzas and and ate donuts, and then we watched "The Black Stallion." She has a good little group of friends :-) they had a lot of fun. Man, the girls are sooooo much louder and more rambunctious than the guys! Brad, the boys and I were all covering our ears the whole night.....as we listened to screaming and squealing and laughing, etc. It's a whole different deal with girls.

Homecoming 2009

Bill's first date was for Bainbridge High School's Homecoming. He had a really great time! I will try to scrounge up another picture with the actual "girls" that they all went with (ha!). It took him about three days to recover from the event-- he was totally wiped out. He was only up until about 1:00am, which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but he is still trying to shake this nasty post-viral crud, so he usually gets to bed really early and completely gone are the days of any physical activity (except for all the running around they tried to do at their Homecoming Shindig!) Bill's pediatrician said that sometimes these nasty virus's (like Mono, CMV, etc) just hang on and can take many months to recover from. Arghhhh! It's so frustrating for him. If he went down to do his old work-out routine from earlier in the summer, he'd probably have to be in bed for a week after that. ....Bill confided in me later that if he had to choose between going out on a big date like that again or playing "Call of Duty" with Mike on X-Box Live, that he would opt for the X-Box Live (ha!) I guess he hasn't quite arrived at the "dating scene" just yet! (ha!)

The Swiss Family Heps....

If you're planning to come and visit, you can bunk in style! The latest project in our neck of the woods is our funky treehouse, which is coming along nicely. Brad started it in 2003, and then turned the plans over to a friend to finish it last month. Brit and Dan are excited to play on it and camp up in the tall house at the top. Bill and Mike are excited to use it as a fortress for airsoft and paintball. When it's all finished, we'll stain it a nice walnut color so it will blend in a lot more with the woods.

First Day of School...

Brit began 4th grade at Blakely Elementary School. I can hardly believe it. She's the big gal on the totem pole this year, given that Blakely is K -4. She is loving having Mrs. Connelly, who Bill had for a 4th grade teacher, as well. A bit of trivia.... Brit's teacher, Mrs. Connelly also played Gidget in the movie "Gidget Goes to Rome." Brit is in class with some really good friends so she is loving her school days. She has really become a good little cook. She added quite a bit to that while at Grandma and Grandad's house, and has continued to cook up a storm while here. She has come up with her own peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe, which is more like a scone. It's pretty good, and really good with jam :-) Most of you will be delighted to know that Brit has moved beyond Rondo Alla Turca on the piano this summer (ha!) Hearing that song 45 times a day last May was starting to have a mind-altering effect, so we can all be glad for sheet music downloads on the internet. I'll put a video of her recent playing on the blog later next week. Meanwhile, she's found some pretty cool contemporary material to work with and has also mastered some other classics, too :-)

Mike is in the 8th grade this year. He's growing like a weed right now.....well, at least his feet are. Mike is about 5 foot 7 & 1/2" and he already wears a size 12&1/2 shoe! What the heck is up with that? We're hoping the feet slow down soon. I hear it's hard to find a size 14 shoe! He got a really great shake as far as teachers go this year, so he's excited about that, though he's already begun the countdown to June 15th. Ahhhhh, 8th grade..... hormones, pimples, braces.... I'll never forget when I was in the 8th grade going into the office to check the lost and found to check for a sweatshirt that I had lost and seeing about 30 retainers that kids had left laying around all piled up in a box. So typical! Mike had signed up for football this Fall and was slated to be on the senior team, which is the oldest and largest team outside of high school football, but there just weren't enough big guys to play this year. There were only 8 kids. There are about 46 kids on the varsity team, which is the team just under them, but the weight cut-off there is 140 for a guy Mike's age and Mike is 160, so no football for him this fall, but lots of time for friends and other fun :-)

Next is Bill. You'll notice there is no first day of school pic for him. No, instead there are aches, chills, high fevers, consant vomiting, congestion, a raging sore throat and HIVES! Normally I wouldn't think of strep with all these other symptoms besides just sore throat and fever, but he's got it and who knows what else. He was tested for Swine Flu and Mono, and a bunch of other stuff....but so far just strep. Poor guy. It has been a really bad case and he has been in bed seriously ill since Monday. So much for the first week of school. His throat was so sore and he was throwing up so much that Brad finally brought home a bunch of supplies from the office and turned his bedroom into a makeshift hospital, hanging an IV from a hanger on Bill's closet door. He put Bill on IV fluids, and some IV anti-nausea meds. That really helped him get re-hydrated quickly and stopped him from throwing up. He finally got a strep culture and the pediatrician started him on some big gun penicillin. But the excitement didn't end there,.... after starting on Pen, his lips swelled up so quickly that he looked like a gorilla (or Mick Jagger) and his nose and face started to swell too. Fortunately, I was able to get some benedryl in him fast, so he's still alive. Bill is having a lovely week.....

Dan is still on the waiting list for a really cool pre-school here on the island. He is sooooo ready and would love to go, but we don't know if he'll make it in. We'll see. If not, our back-up plan isn't all that great, so he may just not go to pre-school this year. He'll go for sure next year. He doesn't start Kindergarten for two more years anyway, so here is no rush. He is already missing Mike and Brit during the day though. Dan is loving Primary and loves singing time. I can tell because he practices for it all through Sacrament meeting sometimes. I am constantly telling him that he needs to stop singing in the middle of people's talks, etc. He loves to sing though. His favorite church song, as he says, is "How Firm a Dalmation." But you never know, with Dan, when he is going to break out into song with Twisted Sister, Aretha Franklin, the Raiders March or the MoTab. He's been subjected to so much already in his short little life :-) Watch out for your fourth kids guys :-)

Billie Jean...