Medical Science Experiment

I recieved this in an e-mail from my dad, and I thought I would share.

Subject: Coughing
To stop nighttime coughing in a child, put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks.
Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.
Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like accupressure. Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened.
It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

So I took the challenge. Both of my kids have coughs, so last night was a perfect night to try. I lathered the bottoms of all 4 feet (2 kids, and 2 feet per kid) and put socks on Aaden and a footied pajamas on Rylan and waited. The rest of the evening I probably heard 2 or 3 coughs out of each child, and they both slept through the night. No coughing, and no snoring. Aaden is a major snorer and I didn't hear a peep out of him.
I give this treatment an A+. If you or your child gets a cough this is a wonderful way to get a good nights sleep, for everyone in the house.

Turkey Day was a success!

We are back home after a busy and wonderful week and exhausting week.
First we had a big Thanksgiving feast at the kid's school. All the kids sit at a HUGE long table and eat turkey and mac and cheese (mac and cheeseroni, as Aaden refers to it) and fruit and cheese and rolls. It was fun and wild. The kids were dressed up as indians. It was pretty cute!
The kids and I left last Tuesday for Austin. We hung out with Laila and Seth (my sister and her fiance) and planned for our Thanksgiving meal, the first one I have ever cooked! I have made a dish here and there, but this year we fixed the entire meal ourselves. My sister had done it several times before (that's what she gets for going to college so far from home...Florida and then Virginia) so it was no big thing to her, but I think that it is a big deal! We had cajun turkey (thanks to the fully cooked line from H-E-B) and honey spiral sliced ham and stuffing and green bean casserole and mac and cheese and cheesey mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and rolls and 2 pies. We had enough food for a small army and there were only 4 adults and 2 kids who barely eat. Aaron joined us on Thursday morning (he got up super early and drove the 6 hours to Austin and was there to wake us up that morning). He also took the kids to a park for a couple hours while we were cooking. It was a HUGE help. So, we were planning on eating at 2, but we ate about 3:30 so everyone was STARVING!!! We consumed more food than any human should ever eat in one sitting and then just vegged out the rest of the evening. Except for cleaning up, of course. Then Friday we stopped by my friend Jason's house to catch the BIG game (A&M and UT of course!). I stayed as long as the kids could stand it, then headed out to the lake with the kids. My parents came in that night, and we hung out with them for the rest of the very cold and wet weekend. We came back to Longview on Sunday and headed back to school this morning.
So, that was our Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday!

Halloween

Our Halloween was busy and fun and ...well, you'll see how it ended. It started off with taking the kids to school. (Which they still love by the way.) And I went off to my bible study. I then went home and got together little toothbrush treats for the kids at school. With all of the sugar that the kids are eating I thought that they may need a new toothbrush to clean all the sugar out of their teeth. (Plus Aaden and I have not had great dentist visits lately.)
I dropped off the toothbrushes and I went and got our booth ready for trunk or treat. We did a fishing theme so I borrowed the board and the fishing poles from fall fest and we let the kids fish for their candy. I think it was fun. So anyways, after that I brought the kids home from school and we hung out and got them dressed in their costumes. Some of our friends came over and got dressed here too.
Then we left the house and swung by wendy's for some chicken nuggets (a staple in our house) and headed off for trunk or treat. The kids went around gathering candy from all the small groups. I ate chili. We ran around and had a good time. We left about 8 and headed to our friend Missy's house to show off the kid's costumes. (Missy and Jeff and their 2 kids Jordan and Erin live behind us. We have all become great friends over the fence. It makes me think of Tim the Toolman Taylor and his neighbor Wilson. It's kinda like that.) Anyways we went over there and Missy and I were talking and Rylan was raiding her candy bowl and Aaden was complaining that he wanted to go home because his tummy hurt. (Too much candy?) We were getting up to leave because of Aaden's complaining and the vomiting began. He threw up on her living room carpet and over to the tile entry and out the door on her door mat. Missy is such a wonderful friend that she told me to just take him home and she would clean it all up (as she was telling me this she was putting on her surgical gloves, it was really kinda' funny) So we came home and I bathed the kids and got them ready for bed. Rylan went right down, but Aaden not so much. He continued to vomit throughout the night. I gave him some phenergon which conked him and and seemed to help his stomach some. So I pretty much stayed up all night with him and stayed home from work the next day to take care of him.
So that was our happy and not so happy halloween.

There are a couple pictures from Trunk or Treat at the bottom. Enjoy!

A few pictures

I FINALLY put the pictures up from the lake and the pumpkin patch in Marble Falls. Scroll all the way down to see them.
Enjoy!

School Pictures

We got the kid's school pictures back last Thursday. They are so cute. Just see for yourself. (Scroll all the way down.)
Also I posted a couple other pictures. One is of my silly son finger painting. He is quite a character. The other picture is just a picture of Rylan looking cute.
(In Rylan's pictures I am sure that you will notice the bows. I LOVE HUGE bows. I put them in her hair as much as possible, but unlike her mommy, she does not care for them. She pulls them out like 30 seconds after I put them in her hair. So in these pictures I had just put the bow in. I am going to keep trying, but I'm sure when she gets older she is going to tell me to get real!)

Ok, one more thing. Why don't I put the pictures on the posts you ask? Because we have slow internet + slow computer and it won't let me add pictures to my posts. So you will just have to scroll down if you want to see the pictures. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm doing my best. I keep trying every now and again and like 3 hours later I still can't get the pictures on the posts. Oh well. It sets our blog apart from the rest.

We have fall fest tonight. It is a GIANT fundraiser for ACA. It's like a carnival type thing with rides and games and a silent auction. We are trying to raise money to get sunshades to cover the play ground. (As of right now there is NO shade, and it gets really really really HOT!!!) The kids are getting dressed up in their costumes, which are going to be so so so cute. What are they going to be? You'll have to wait and see. I will post pictures next week. Trust me it will be worth the wait. It's really cute!
Have a great weekend!

What's going on in the Thomas House?

School is still going really well for all of us. I am having so much fun teaching! The kids are all so funny and entertaining. Aaden and Rylan are both loving their classes. They are both learning so much. I realize we didn't sing very much in our house when Aaden was little (ok, he's still little, but when he was really little) because he is learning so many new songs that maybe I should have taught him before he was 3. He does have Happy Birthday down (he sang it to my mom 3 times), and a song that he made up called Baby Jesus. I am really trying to work with him on The ABC's. He's doing great! Rylan is just talking talking talking. She is saying so many words, and whew watch out because she is BOSSY! (I wonder where she gets that from.) If she wants you to do something she will walk right up to you and grab your hand and take you wherever she wants you to go. She however has not been feeling well this week. She's been running a high fever and the doctor said she had a very sore throat (but you wouldn't know it by how much she is still eating). She has stayed home from school this whole week, but I hope she will be well and can return tomorrow, Thursday...the day I work. This past Monday was a holiday for ACA (our school) and the kids and I don't have school on Friday so we took the long weekend and went to visit my parents. We had a great time and we got to see Aunt Sissy and Uncle Seth! (My sister Laila and her fiance Seth now live in Austin and are getting married in February. Yay!) We went paddle boating, and kayaking, and fishing, and on the motor boat, and we went swimming at the island in the middle of Lake Buchanan. It was great. We had a really fun weekend. Sunday afternoon Meme and Poppy took the kids to a little farm outside of Marble Falls where they had a pumkin patch and a hay ride and a tractor and cool crafts and such. There are lots of pictures from that, but I just don't have them yet (Dad, hint hint.) I will post them as soon as I get them. They all had a great time! What did I do during that time? I stayed at their house by myself! It is a rare occasion when I am by myself...it was GREAT!!! We came back Monday, and jumped right back into life in Longview.
Aaron had a great weekend too. He stayed in Longview by himself and got to hang out and be a guy (a rare occasion for him). He hung out with his cousins and watched football. He hung out with his dad and did bow and arrow stuff. He went to see his grandmother, and got to visit with her. So, no worries, he had a great weekend even though the love of his life was not with him. :)


Now some sad news. Tuesday we found out that a long time family friend, Linda Judd, died over the weekend. Her death is sudden and very tragic. Please be praying for her family and close friends. I believe her services will be early next week in Austin. I am sorry to end on such a sad note, but it is really weighing on my mind and my heart, and I know they need all the thoughts and prayers they can get. So please pray for them!

Paris, Home, Paris, and back home

Guess where I spent much of this week! That's right...Paris! (Texas that is) Tuesday I had to go to the dentist to get one of my teeth worked on (which still looks beautiful by the way) and he (Dr. Clint my dentist) put a temporary filling in the back of my tooth. Well, temporary is definitely the key word because by the next day I had already knocked much of the filling out of my tooth. So I called him, and he said that I needed to come back if at all possible. Of course it was possible so I went and got Aaron (because we were temporarily down to one car due to a broken water pump in my Yukon), then we went to get the kids, and then back to Paris we went (it's a 2 hour drive by the way). It was good though because the second trip we got to see Rachel and Roselyn (Dr. Clint's wife and little girl, oh and Clint is Jaymie Phillip's brother, so that's how it's all tied together, and Aaron knew all these guys from summer camp when they were all in college). Even though Roselyn wasn't feeling well she was still so so so cute! She is 11 months old, and walking (and falling too) and has the prettiest red curly hair anyone has ever seen. She is cute as a doll!
Needless to say my tooth is fixed (I will actually smile big again), my car is fixed, and hopefully this week won't be as crazy as last week, but hey, that's up to God. We do have a full week, but if all goes as planned then we will have atleast a little down time, something none of us have had since school started.
School is still going well. I am loving it more and more each day. The kids are all so wonderful and bright. I think I may walk away with more from them than them from me. My 2 kids are doing great, well except for Aaden's fever. He actually seems to be feeling fine, but keeps running fever of 101 to 102. We started antibiotics last night, so hopefully we will have a full week of school ahead of us. (We did skip church this morning though just to be sure no one else gets sick.)Aaden has a fieldtrip on Tuesday to this awesome place called Pump It Up. It is this giant warehouse with huge blow up things in it that the kids can jump on and slide down and crawl through. It's a blast (in fact I've already booked Aaden's 4th birthday to be there...yes you have to do it that far in advance.) Rylan and Aaden both have school pictures on Wed. Yay! Me and my anal self already have the kid's clothes picked out. Ok, not just for that day, but for the whole week too. I know I'm wierd, I don't care though. It will be a GREAT week!

School has begun

We had a great first couple days of school. The kids did well, and seem to really be having a great time. Rylan really loves school, and Aaden has fun once he gets there. Aaden has had a couple of problems, but I am optimistic that he will settle down and start behaving himself better...REALLY SOON!!! I loved my first day of teaching! I had a blast, and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves too. We had music on Monday, and we are going to have Spanish tomorrow. I hope it goes as well as music.
Scroll down to check out a few new pictures.

He's HOME!!

This time it's for real. Aaron is actually and truly back in Longview! After being gone for a month it was wonderful to see him. We had a crazy busy day today, and there is still more to come. This morning I took Rylan to the doctor (an ear infection), then we went and picked up Aaron at the airport, then we all went and ate at IHOP, then we filled Rylan's ear infection medicine, then we all (big mistake on the all part) went to a funeral, now we are home for a little while, and then we are going to the open house at ACA. I will be working and Aaron will take the kids to meet the teachers and recieve any special instructions for the first day of school (which is Thursday). At some point in time we also plan to eat dinner. I guess we should do that here in a little while. Well that's all for now. I really just wanted to tell everyone that I am no longer a single mom...YAY!!! I have my husband back.

I spoke too soon...

Aaron did NOT come home on Sunday. They asked him to stay just one more week (we'll see if that really happens). He is now set to come home after Labor Day. It's ok though since the kids and I will be busy at Alpine getting ready for school to start. We have shopping to do, and a classroom to finish, plus we have to go swimming as much as possible the last week before school starts!

Finally!!!

Aaron is coming home. When you ask? Tomorrow (Sunday)!!! He is set to arrive in Longview at 10am. (We'll see if that really happens.) The kids and I will get up, get dressed, and go get DAD!! I haven't told the kids yet, but they will be super excited. I hate telling Aaden things that may not work out the way we plan. He's not quite old enough to understand, then he gets upset, and so on and so on. Needless to say I am really excited. He's been gone for three long weeks, and may possibly go back again. Hopefully he won't leave again until school starts. That way the kids and I will be busier, and it won't seem as long. On that note, I am really excited to get the school year going. I pretty much have my classroom ready. CPR and first aid training is on Thursday, and then the first day of school is the following Thursday. Yay! I think that it will be so fun.

Vacation

We are back!!! From where you ask, we went to Gulf Shores Alabama for the week. Aaron is still in Alaska, and some of our friends rented a condo there so we joined them! The kids and I drove to Gulf Shores this past Tuesday and we just drove home today (Friday). It was tons of fun! The kids had a blast! They loved swimming and playing in the sand. We also went to an alligator rescue park and saw the alligators. It was nice to have a really fun break right before school starts. What a great way to end the summer! Too bad Aaron missed out. I told him when he gets back we will have to have a family getaway, even if just for a couple of days. I still don't know when he is coming home, but I know he will be back in time for Nate and Steph's wedding on September 8th. Anyways, scroll down to see some pictures from our vacation. Enjoy!

Pictures

I added a few pictures. Scroll all the way down. I haven't quite figured this whole thing out, but hey, I got some pictures up. I hope you enjoy!
(I will try to post more pictures this coming weekend.)

Our New Blog

I have decided to start a blog (seems to be the trend) to help people near and far check in on our family and see pictures and such easily from their own home. I am hoping that this will help my dad see pictures of the kids more too! (He always wants me to e-mail him pictures. Love you Dad!!) So this is my attempt at setting up a blog.
Well, first of all I have some news about myself. I got a job. That's right. This stay at home mom will be working 2 days a week at a preschool and kindergarden at our church. I will be teaching Music and Spanish. (Yes, I know Spanish, atleast enough to teach it to young children.) I am really excited! This also means that the kids will be switching schools. The past 2 years Aaden has attended New Horizon Preschool, which is a Mother's Day Out, at Greggton Methodist. We are all going to be at Alpine Christian Academy. I think this is a really great opportunity for me, and a wonderful one for the kids. Alot of the kids in their classes will be the same kids we go to church with, and it is the same environment too! Plus, we will have a little bit of extra income every month that we haven't had since before I had Aaden.
That is all for now. I promise to get pictures downloaded soon! I've got to get them off the camera first!