Santa's house

We went to visit Santa's house in Birmingham. Lots of fun! Santa even spoke German. : )

Captiva Island

Captiva Island

Captiva Island

Captiva Island

Captiva Island

New House

Seems we are the proud owners of two houses. We had a contract to sell our house and we bought one all on the same day. Too good to be true. Our house sale fell through due to a mortgage issue on the buyers behalf. The house we bought it in a neighborhood called Somerset North. Walking distance to the Somerset mall which will be nice for Starbucks coffee and dinners out not to mention shopping. We get the keys on December 15th so, more pics to come then.

Haloween

Kids all ready to go trick 0r treating.

Preschool Halloween Party

16 weeks

On Tuesday I will be 16 weeks pregnant. Thankfully the morning (or in my case evening sickness) has ended as well as the fatigue. I finally have energy to keep up with the kids again. I have been feeling little flutters this past. : ) I have still been having mild cramps and am very anxious for my doctor's appt this Thursday. I will feel much more at ease knowing baby is alright and growing as expected. We will also be able to find out the gender if baby cooperates. I'm still thinking boy! As far as the exercise goes my legs ache for a nice run or pilates workout. I will update more after my doctor's appt this Thursday.

24 hours after H1N1 vaccination

Knock on wood...nobody is having any side effects thus far! I am just hoping we can stay clear of the H1N1 virus until the kids get their second dose. Apparently, it is not completely effective until after the second vaccination. So far there are 200 schools closed in Michigan due to the virus. I have heard that the hospital here is swarming with people infected and that they have run out of beds. So scary!

Zoo Boo!

We went to the zoo this evening for the annual zoo boo. Police officer Ryan and Bumblebee Anya had a great time! It was a perfect night for it. The kids didn't even need jackets.

My cutie pie...

H1N1 Vaccination Clinic

Oakland county held an H1N1 flu shot clinic today which ran from 9:00-5:00. After 2 months of researching and discussing the issue with doctors Axel and I decided to vaccinate the family. I thought it would be best to go to the clinic first thing in the morning since we had a busy day with gymnastics, soccer, nap time, and appts to look at houses. We woke the kids up earlier, got them dressed, and I headed out the door at 8:15. Axel couldn't go with us because he had a dentist appt. I got to the clinic at about 8:45 and couldn't believe the lines. I expected it to be busy but by the time we parked and walked to the back of the line there were 1900 in front of us and the clinic had not even started. As we stood in line for the first 15 minutes I was unsure if I should stay and endure the weather which was cold, windy and rainy. Yes, quite wet! I called Axel and he advised me to just stay in line since we would for sure get a shot (they had 10,000 to administer). The kids and I waited. We waited. And waited. We got very wet and continued to wait. I got to know the two moms behind me quite well. I'm not sure what I would have done without them! They offered Ryan a small chair to sit in. They watched Anya while I took Ryan to the nearest bush to go pee. They watched Ryan while I took Anya all the way back to my car to go pee. They picked up umbrellas when they fell. We had three. One for each of us. They were there to talk to and make the wait go by so much faster! I feel very thankful as we all smiled through the cold wind and rain. The kids even played together. The total wait was about 2 1/2 hours and that was cut shorter because they called all pre-registered people to the front of the line after 2 hours. We got into the gymnasium and I was so relieved I almost cried. Anya insisted on getting her shot first. The nurses smiled at her and said she should be the poster child for vaccinations. She was so good. Ryan wanted me to go next. Then it was Ryan's turn. What an ordeal. I had to drag him to the chair, put him on my lap and hold him down. He screamed like no other child in that building and boy did his scream echo! He got off the chair and claimed he couldn't walk because the shot in his thigh hurt too much. Eventually, we made it back to the car and enjoyed a pleasant ride home with the heat on as high as it could go.
Little does Ryan know he will need a booster in a month. Hopefully, the doctor's offices will have them by then!

Invention

Ryan taking after his Opa and daddy. He has invented a 2 in 1 eating utensil. Funny thing is that we were all eating dinner and he jumped up from the table ran out of the room and came back with his invention.

Fire Station

Our local fire station had an open house over the weekend. Anya loved the Dalmatian and kept telling him that he was so funny! Ryan's favorite was spraying the fire hose (photos in the next post).