winner winner!!

Mordecai House, a house museum near our not-museum-house, hosted a Halloween party today. One of us came away a crowned winner. 

masks for Macon and Mama

costumes

Yes, Macon is wearing Jed's old Fireman Sam outfit, but that was his choice. I offered a variety of options that would have meant creating a whole new outfit, but he stuck with the tried-and-true.

Costume Contest, Round 1

Macon braved the line-up for the 5-and-under category. Here, he's being judged. 

The little train to Macon's right won.

 Round Two, the 6 to 10-year-old category

 

And who was the winner?!? 

#16, the helicopter pilot! 

You can't see it for the visor, but this kid is grinning from ear to ear! For his effort, he got a goodie bag with small toys and games and a t-shirt. 

Congratulations, Jed!! 

recovery

By Sunday afternoon, the boys were feeling a lot better. While Jed and Eric headed out for Y-Guides fishing, Macon and I headed to ice cream and a visit to Cascine Mill near Louisburg, NC. 

 

describing where he thinks the water would have gone after flowing over the waterwheel

describing the general workings of a grist mill

beaver gnawing along the creek

 rock throwing

And on Tuesday, I had a tough work assignment down in Surf City, NC. Poor me.

before illnesses got them down

On Thursday, Macon's class visited the farmer's market, which is an annual preschool outing.

Here, Macon and his best friends hug/tackle. 

But some older girls managed to organize them for ring-around-the-roses (or rosies?). 

Then it was time for the class photo, which didn't include me for the first time in Macon's history. 

"I am bored of pictures." 

And on Thursday evening, Jed had his last soccer game of the season. The first photo is falsely well-lit; the second is an accurate depiction. 

lysol, take me away!

Jed woke up with croup at 1 this morning. I thought we were going to end up in the ER, but Eric managed to get him calm with some front porch time and some steamy-bathroom time. Then, at 7, Macon woke up throwing up, which he announced by crying, "I left a trail of throw-up down the hall!"

By 9, Jed was feeling much better, but we got an appointment with his doctor in hopes of getting some medicine to help us avoid a repeat tonight. In the meantime, however, Macon's stomach bug had gotten a lot worse.

I'll spare you the details, but by time for Jed's appointment, Macon clearly needed help and the office said for us to bring them both. For the second time in just a few hours, I was feeling pretty certain we were going to end up at the hospital, but Macon's doctor saved the day. She gave him some medicine to stop the throwing up and we started him on tiny sips of Pedialite. After about 30 minutes, our listless, pale child was starting to stir and after about an hour of tiny sips at three-minute intervals, he was actively asking for more juice. A few more minutes later, he was sitting up on his own and after about a two-hour long stay in the exam room, he walked out under his own steam.

Both boys sat in front of the tv most of the day, but by late afternoon, they were playing in the front yard and Macon had managed to eat some crackers. By the time he went to bed, he'd eaten yogurt and a banana. I've washed about 6 tons of laundry, washed my hands no less than 10,000 times, and coated the house in Lysol several times over. Will it be enough? Only time will tell. Fingers crossed for a quiet night.

Sunday morning update: Jed has a mild cough and Macon is a bit pale, but both are up and running more-or-less at full speed, and the grown-ups are still standing . . . at least for now.

happy 100!

 Both my grandmothers would have turned 100 years old this year.

Grandma's birthday was back in January . . . 

. . . and Be's is today. 

marmie has visited!

 Marmie visited us this week so I could attend the Preservation North Carolina conference. I've been a camera slacker lately, and all I took was a red chair picture.

Oh, and also, I took a picture at dinner on Friday night: earlier in the day, Aunt Phyllis delivered a key component to Jed's Halloween costume and he hardly took it off. On the way back to the car, he received a couple of thumbs-ups and one, "what a cute Darth Vader," which that person's companion quickly corrected. 

Here are a couple of additional red chair pictures . . . 

2014

 2011

2008

pen and paper

Here's Jed's artistic recap of our Williamsburg trip. The small people along the bottom are the spectators sitting on the ground.

And here's Macon's drawing of "a Daddy rabbit in the forest in the rain at night." 

The rabbit is pink, the treetops are green while their trunks are pink and green, the rain is falling in blue lines, and the darkness of night is illustrated by grey scribbles across the top.

Also from Macon . . . 

Macon spelled with an A at the end that he converted to an N.