We took William and Keisha to their four year wellness visit with the pediatrician on Thursday. From past experience, we knew that it would be a long adventure, so I picked the latest appointment slot available (3 p.m.).
Earlier in the day, I had my own doctor appointment. The appointment went okay, I guess you can [...]

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After a few days of struggling with the Shadowbox Drupal module, I came across the Lightbox2 module. The installation was simple and I had zero errors when I enabled the module. I think part of the problem with the Shadowbox came with needing the thirdparty software.

I got the idea from my dear friend Rantz when [...]

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We spent most of the weekend trying to help William and Keisha fight their colds. It appears that the cold has passed over me this round. Thank God because I usually get a cold from them each time they get it from daycare. Friday evening, the runny noses started… and I was happy that I had just purchased four boxes of Kleenax the previous Sunday. I bought the new tissue with the anti-virus beads in it. How in the hell companies come up with this stuff, I have no clue… but I bought it. I had two coupons, plus it was on sale at Target. I could not resist.

I went back and forth helping William and Keisha blow their noses to get all the gooey snot out. They took turns with their Ewws and Owwws. I kept the Vaseline handy (code name Grease in our household) handy to apply below their noses in order to prevent chaffing. After all of the FDA reports, I have to admit that I am a bit reluctant to immediately rely on over the counter cold medicines for the twins. I kept them pumped with fluids and continued their regular dose of multi-vitamins.

Not too bad right?

But then on Saturday evening, I grabbed William to give him a hug and he felt warm. Everytime William gets a fever, I get scared to death… hoping and praying that it does not get to 101. I went downstairs to grab the thermometer, took William’s temperature and it was 100.0. I asked JT to grab the Tylenol and he was on it. When JT went to Schnucks to pick up dinner, he also purchased fruit water. William loves water, but he occasionally gets tired of it. Gatorade is great too, but Keisha and William only tolerate so much of that too. I kind of have to balance out the variety of liquids for them. According the Keisha, her favorite juice is the Yellow Juice. That made me giggle.

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I decided to put all the linkage on a separate page. For now, all I have is the blogroll, but I will add more.

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Every morning, we ask William and Keisha if they slept well and if they had good dreams. Except on some rare occasions with nightmares, they always answer yes to the dreams question. The nightmares usually involve big scary bears and evil monkeys.

This morning:

JT: Did you have good dreams William?

William: Yes.

JT: What did you dream about?

William: Um… a bear.

I paused at this moment, because I thought it was a scary bear, but then I was calm after seeing William smile as he told us about the bear. It was not an evil bear.

Me: What color was the bear?

William: Blue… a blue bear.

I thought it was so innocent and sweet with how William described his dream with an adorable smile on his face.

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I wanted to post this last night after reading Baxter’s post but I fell asleep earlier than expected. Yesterday, Baxter promoted Bloggers Unite Day by asking for vistors to his site to raise money for breast cancer prevention through LookPink. This is an excellent post and I would like to thank Baxter for this thoughtful act.

December 17, 2007 was Bloggers Unite Day and the theme is Acts of Kindness.

I decided to write about how we contribute to my children’s school fundraisers by making purchases at Schnucks grocery stores using an eScript card.

Sometime last year, JT and I first heard of this fundraising program that required a card at Schnucks. Whenever we go to Schnucks, we present our card in the checkout aisle. A portion of our grocery expenses in a given month is donated to William and Keisha’s school. There is no cost to you involved, other than what you are already spending on groceries. We activated the card by calling the toll-free number on the back. I spoke to a representative and completed the call without any effort

The screen capture above describes what portion of your grocery spendings is donated to the school.

I do not always have extra money in the budget to make purchases on traditional school fundraisers such as the pizzas, candles, candy and other items. This is one reason why I support the eScript program so much. We already are making grocery purchases (we seem to be spending more and more these days as the twins get older), so we may as well get our eScript card swiped at the counter, with no additional cost to us, and in turn, donate to our children’s school.

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Do you ever feel like you are living an episode of the Twilight Zone?

Work was tolerable. I am still in training, so that is by default better than the normal daily duties. On the other hand, training itself was completely exhausting today. I struggled staying focus this afternoon. No word on if eating left over Red Lobster during lunch factored in on my ability to stay focused.

This evening was crazy. I feel like I was the only sane one of the bunch… meanwhile JT, William and Keisha were acting like very weird. More weird than normal.

After it was all said and done, I was able to find out the cause of what brought me into the Zone. Be that as it may, only time will tell if there is resolution.

In other news, I hear that the Administration (code for Bush) will let us off on Christmas Eve. Political move or not, I am thankful for this decision. Since I am in training, I do not have access to my work email, so I did not see the actual memorandum. I picked up the information from a reliable source though, so I feel pretty confident that this is true.

Local meteorologists predicted bad weather heading our way. Does not appear that enough will come tonight to be called off from work tomorrow. Ugh.

Last but not least, JT told me that one of his cousins and her boyfriend were in an accident today. A truck hit them. All I know is that she (cousin) is not hurt, but her boyfriend was seriously injured. I do not know if he is critical or stable condition. I also know that her baby was not in the car. Thank goodness for that. I do not know any other details. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

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Last week, William and Keisha went to the circus for the first time. They saw the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey - Circle of Dreams at Scottrade Center as a field trip with their class. I was so excited to hear Keisha talk about all of the clowns that fit into one car… she actually counted them out for me; and William identify all of the animals that he saw.

I just wish I could have shared that experience with them, but I had to go to work *sigh*. The joy of being a parent that works full-time.

Maybe next time kiddos… but I am happy that you had a grand adventure.

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My friend, Eaglehawk tagged me today with a touching post. Thank you for sharing Eaglehawk.

When asked, what are five things I want my children to know, I have to set back and think. Being a mother is the greatest gift that God has given me next to life itself. So I can not just give five things off the tip of my tongue.

What would I tell my dearest Keisha and William?

1. Love God and yourself first. If you do not, it is nearly impossible to truly love anyone else.

2. Family is important. Cherish your time together. Your twin bond is strong… be there for each other no matter what.

3. No secrets. We all mess up in life, but I want you to know that you can come to me about anything. I may be upset, but I promise to not judge you. I am there for you to listen, help, comfort and love. I love you unconditionally. Secrets are destructive.

4. Knowledge is power.

5. Get involved in group activities (and like Eaglehawk told his daughter, the political process). Make your voice be known to make positive changes in the world.

The meme challenge is… Those tagged will share 5 Things You Want Your Kids To Know “Before They Grow Up.” Those tagged will tag 5 people. Leave a link to your meme in the comments section of http://fireball.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/34540.html so everyone can keep track of what’s being posted.

So let the sharing of wisdom and tagging begin!you don’t have to have children yet to participate.

I am tagging:

1. Guppyman: http://his.guppystorm.com/

2. Perri: http://perrinelson.com/

3. Calvin: http://www.killacal.net/

4. Paula Neal Mooney: http://paulamooney.blogspot.com/

5. Jeff: http://www.writestateofmind.net/

I look forward to reading your posts.

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