Trunk And Treat

New this year for the Adams Clan is dressing up and getting to do all the Halloween stuff. Halloween has never been our favorite holiday, for obvious reasons, but here at Emmanuel we had the opportunity to take the parts that we do like and fellowship with other members. We even got to carve pumpkins together as a family for the first time. The girls made a carriage, Daniel made a USA, Jacob made a cross and Nathan made a Jack -O - Lantern face.



Each year Emmanuel hosts Trunk and Treat on or near Halloween. It is a great night for kids and adults alike. It begins with a kid friendly potluck. No mystery dishes allowed. We had McDonald's chicken nuggets, pizza, mac and cheese, jello, cupcakes, cookies, and lots of other great stuff. Then we were each asked to bring a carved pumpkin and when we were done with dinner and a craft we took our pumpkins out to the front of the church, lined them up, lit them, sang "This Little Gospel Light of Mine" and pastor led a prayer.

From there the adults went and got the trunks ready and then the kids all came out and went trick or treating at our trunks in the parking lot instead of all over town. We had tons of fun!! There were lots of great costumes and trunks too.












Doug really got into it a few days before prepping the "boy trunk" ~ command central. My "girl trunk" ~ Pixie Hollow turned out pretty well too. As for costumes, this year we used what we had and the boys were all army guys and the girls were all fairies.

I think the kids really enjoyed their first Halloween. Hopefully we will have many more!!

H1N1

Yes, the Adams Clan has H1N1. It arrived on Sunday, maybe Saturday, and hit Nathan first. His fever got as high as 103.9. Grace was next to go late Sunday. Same deal, high fever and body aches. We took Nathan to the doctor Monday afternoon. She tested for strep and when that came back negative, she tested for influenza. It came back positive for Influenza A. She then sent the swabs off to be further tested for H1N1. We made the decision to keep all the kids home from school. We were glad we did. Jacob went on Tuesday, Doug started on Wednesday, and Daniel went today. He will go to the doctor tomorrow to confirm. Doug is without a high fever, but he has a nasty cough, body aches and other symptoms as well. He has made arrangements for church on Sunday and will be staying home with us. I have been tired, but have no other real symptoms and neither does Sarah. We will see how that changes over the next few days.

So what does a family of 7 do while they are all stuck indoors for over a week? Well... I have taken on the role of RN. This is my white board. As you can see I have been keeping regular track of fevers and medicines. It is very easy to forget who had what temp last and when you gave them medicine. It is much easier to let the white board do the remembering!! Each night I transfer this information to a note book, clear off the board and start again. So about every hour or so, I take temps, distribute meds and give fluids as necessary. The kids have gotten used to me coming up, pulling their ear and sticking the thermometer in!



The kids have been keeping busy in lots of ways. The first few days they watched a lot of TV and movies. They also played the Wii, pool, air hockey and anything else they could since they were home. Especially Daniel, Jacob and Sarah who weren't sick the first few days. Today we got creative. They had watched almost all the movies they wanted to, TV is for preschoolers or adults during the day and even the Wii was feeling a little old and it is tiring when you are sick.


So this morning Doug helped them get started building a "city" on the basement. Grace ran the General Store. Nate and Jake were mailmen and handy men. They ran "Handy Jacks." (Doug misspelled Jake and it stuck) Sarah was the official shopper. She loved buying stuff at Grace's store. Daniel was a police officer/EMT and then a zoo keeper. Doug and I ran the upstairs restaurant "Adams Bar and Grill" We used poker chips for currency and eventually Grace even made credit cards for everyone to use. She got into it the most. The rowing machine was the conveyor belt at the check out counter and she even had an aisle to shop down. The twins were in the process of building a zoo for Daniel. They had string and stuffed animals. They cleaned that part up before I could take pictures, but maybe I can get them tomorrow. I had planned on running the movie theater up stairs, but we didn't have time for that today.

They had fun at lunch, ordering and leaving their payment. We made them all take naps, but when they woke up play resumed. They played until about 5:30pm. Daniel's fever was going up and so was Jakes. Nate still isn't 100% yet either so they put on a GI Joe video (1st season of the original cartoon. You know Yo! Joe! GI Joe is there! Now you know, and knowing is half the battle) They love it!! I have even heard Sarah yell "Yo Joe!!"

Anyway, that is how we spent our sick day today. The kids had fun, they didn't fight half as much as usual and Doug and I were able to relax too. Doug's mom and sister even stopped by for a drive by drop off of supplies. We were running low on some things. We are now stocked and ready to go. We could be stuck here for another week and be set.

So we will see what tomorrow brings. Daniel will go to the doctor and maybe Doug too. I am hoping to get some homework for the kids to work on. I would love for them to not be too far behind when they finally return to school. I will try and post regularly and let you know how we are doing.

I hope you all stay healthy. Keep an eye out for influenza like symptoms and stay home if you have them. Check with your doctor about what to do. Some aren't treating it at all and will tell you to just stay home. Others will have you come in and test you to be sure. My kids are taking Relenza which is the new Tamiflu. This is supposed to lesson the symptoms and speed recovery. We will see how it works. The key is 24 hours fever free with out the help of Motrin or Tylenol. But even then, there may be lingering symptoms, like body aches, sore throats and respiratory issues. It has hit Southern Michigan pretty hard. Several schools in Hillsdale County have closed. Only time will tell how it will effect schools here in Lenawee. We will keep you posted.

Blessings All!!

A Long Over Due Post

Welcome to Fall and my return to blogging. I know it has been quite a while since you last heard from me, but I must say it has been a very busy summer. I had big plans for blogging about the vacation to St. Augustine and all our summer fun. Needless to say they never happened. I have bunches and bunches of pictures and they may end up on here in a few days.



Today I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Daniel who turned 6 today. My dad's blog inspired me to at least write here today and maybe put together a slide show of pictures from our summer. I have a blog to write about a bunny too, but that will come. And maybe one about pears...

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my sweet baby boy Daniel. He lost his first tooth this year. We took the family for ice cream and of course Daniel wanted to know if he lost the other loose one the next night if we would get ice cream again. No, Daniel that was just for the first lost tooth, not all lost teeth.

My baby turns TEN!!

I just don't FEEL old enough to have a 10 year old. (I'm often told I don't look old enough to have a ten year old either, but we won't go there.)

Grace officially turns ten tonight at 7pm. Ten years ago today we were living in St. Louis, getting ready to go on Vicarage to Seymour, IN. I remember driving from St. Louis to Seymour with a 6 week old in the car. It took much longer than expected because I had to stop to nurse every two hours or so. As a new mom I was conscious of where I nursed often nursing in the back our small Saturn rather than nurse in public. It was an interesting trip. Anyway I digress...

Grace arrived only a few days past her due date. She was born on a Wednesday and late the week before we had scheduled a induction for Friday, July 2, just in case. Well she must have realized just how hard that would be on her mom cause she made her appearance with a few days to spare. I think her actual due date was June 25, but that was 5 kids ago so the details are all a bit sketchy now. I love my Grace very much. She is a great helper, when she wants to be. She is doing very well in school, all A's and B's, and is very proud of that achievement. She has a new love of horses and small furry animals and would adopt either on in a heart beat. However, don't any one of you send her either. We have no room for a horse and the bunnies would get attacked by the dog I am afraid.
I have included a few of the pictures I could find on my computer of Grace. Although she is the child of which I have the most pictures, very few of them are digital. I don't have a scanner, so I couldn't do it that way either. ;-) I am sure that my dad probably has some in his archives so check his blog too.

On a side note, our vacation went much better than expected. I have a great blog to post soon all about it. Look for it next week. I am still gathering, organizing and resizing pictures from our week at St. Augustine.

Blessings All!!!

OPERATION: This will most likely end badly ~ is a GO!!!

OK, maybe that is a little glass half empty, but if you were leaving for a two day car ride with 5 kids under the age of ten would your glass be half full????

Now, don't get me wrong, I am very excited about this trip. My baby sister is finally getting married. We are going to a great vacation spot and we do need a vacation. St. Augustine is our final destination, but to get there we are going to drive.

I have everything but the kitchen sink ready to go. We have DVD players, MP3 players, books, coloring books, word search books, magnetic games, candy, toys and even books on CD. We should be good to go. Hopefully all that will last at least the first day!!

I don't have pictures yet, but when we come back I am sure to have loads. I will post when I can. Look for me on Facebook, we will have Internet while at the condo.

Yes, I said condo. Thanks to Mom and Dad we were able to rent a condo on the beach right next to where the wedding will take place. So we have access to all the amenities the condos afford. Which may come in handy since Doug says there is a chance of rain just about every day, but then again we are in Florida, doesn't it rain every day there??

We have plans for the beach and a little sight seeing too. There are lots of old Spanish missions and forts to look at. Even the legendary Fountain of Youth. It will be a fun trip. Now if only we didn't have to drive...