Update!

Wow, it's been a long time since I blogged about anything! Audrey made my beautiful new blog, and everything, and I've been ignoring it. I need to finish posts about Emma's ballet performance, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, among other things, but I haven't organized the photos yet. I will just post a quick note about what's going on this very week.

Last Sunday after church, our van decided to die in the BJ's parking lot. We were just turning into a row of parking spaces when the van seemed to go spontaneously into neutral. Todd had to get out and push it into a parking spot - or, at least as close as we could get to one. Nothing we did made any difference - it would not go into 2nd, or 1st, or reverse. We tried turning it off and on several times. After many phone calls to see who might be available to rescue us, my Tonna came and took me home to get the Mountaineer, while Todd waited with the kids and the BJ's haul for the tow truck. Once they came and took the van, he walked over to Moe's Southwest Grill, where I met him for lunch. Come to find out, the transmission pump shaft failed. After a week at the Ford dealership and much discussion about whether we wanted a different car altogether, Ariel Mermaid (our 2003 Ford Winstar) is safely back in the driveway. Emma is relieved, because she was traumatized at the thought of getting a different car.

The girls had 3 days of a creative writing class this week, under the expert tutelage of Mrs. Carol Crane, who taught their previous class. They enjoyed it very much, and are excited to work on the A is for Animal book the class will be writing together. They have to decide which animals they want to use for their letters (Abbie has A and B; Emma has O, P and Q) and research them over the next week when the class doesn't meet. When they get back together, they're going to put together their book with rhymes for each animal, including illustrations. I think it will be a wonderful project.

Isaac has contracted some kind of nasty virus. We were at the doctor's office twice yesterday. He has had fevers, and sounds wheezy, and has generally been cranky and not at all like his sweet little self. At our first appointment, the doctor checked his blood oxygen level, and it was fine. He told me to watch for retractions, which would indicate he was having trouble breathing, and sent us home. Not too much later, I noticed said retractions, and when I called the office, the nurse told me to bring him right in. His blood oxygen level was still pretty good, but they gave him a nebulizer treatment, and sent us home with the nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol. The breathing treatments have really helped the wheezing, which makes me feel a whole lot better. He seems to be better today, with much less feverishness and slightly better spirits. He did throw up twice this morning, thanks to copious amounts of snot and a sensitive gag reflex, but overall, I think he's on the mend.

I am working on my very first sock knitted from the toe up. I am using the Widdershins pattern from Knitty, without the cables for at least the first sock. I may try the cables on the second one. I had a heckito of a time getting the first sock started, and after a snafu with the cables, I decided to just figure out the toe-up sock thing and not get fancy this time. I'm still looking for the perfect patterns for my Harry Potter sock yarn, my very favorite Christmas gift from Grammy and Papa! Many of the patterns I like are knit toe-up, and it is a good way to make sure you knit a sock that works with how much yarn you have. I have, however, found some top down patterns that I like as well, and given how much angst as this toe-up sock has caused, I may stick with top down. We will see.

That's about all the scintillating news from our house this week! Hope you're all doing well! I will try to get some new pictures up - I have some great ones of the Snort and noodles.