SEPTEMBER COLDS!

We all have September colds. I know it's my fault. I brought all of the germs home from school. We are building up our immunity this year. Hopefully by this time next year, we will all be ready to defend ourselves from "Mom's school germs."
This week was pretty uneventful. The kids and I were super sick with the cold all week. Marty did a fantastic job taking care of all of us.  The one thing he doesn't do though, is hair. Though, I'm sure he could if he really wanted to.  I love trying fun new styles every morning on Payton's hair.   

I attempted this one morning, but forgot to take a pic until supper time...

It definitely looked adorable and way better first thing after I did it....

Bedtime happened early most nights as everyone was miserable and sick. 

The kids are big time into brushing their teeth together!

There is always a little naked time before bed..who doesn't love a little bare baby bum? LOL

 Ryder's favorite game before bed (sick or not) is to pretend he is a bull rider and that this white horse is a bull called Marshmellow.  Mom actually made this horse for Aimee when she was little. (Sure hope Aim doesn't mind that I gave her old horse a new home.)  Mom made a horse for each of us, for our Cabbage Patch Kids, ofcourse she did!  I couldn't find mine though. Yep, awesome MOM!!!!
Ryder plays with it in a very different way than we did back in the 80s.  He sits on it, nods his head with an "ok boys," waits for me to "open the gate" then he starts spinning around, jumping up and down, hollering and yelling about how he is "champion of the world!!  It is stinkin' awesome!!

Tubby time always follows bull riding and it's always together!

We may have been sick but when the sun shone, we tried to soak it up and ever since the freak snowstorm at the beginning of September, the weather has been freakishly warm!

 Marty has even found time to go out wake surfing during the week!

 Despite the sunshine, the "bull riding" the teethbrushing and tubbing there was actually very little sleep happening in our house for Marty, Payton and I because of Payton's cold. Ryder seems to cope a lot better with a stuffy nose now that he is older.  Payton was MISERABLE! Poor lil thing!! Marty actually spent one whole night in the chair with her sleeping on his chest. This is the first time since we had babies that he has spent a night in the chair....he is an awesome Dad!! He let me sleep since I was also super sick with the cold, and now that the three of us (me, Ryder and Payton) are almost over the cold, he has just caught it. :(  Dad's turn to sleep.

Not only did Marty spend a night in the chair with his little girl, but he spent Saturday with them, while I was at a horse event in the city that Mom had gotten me tickets to. We spent hours watching amazing horse trainers share their knowledge and horsemanship skills with us!! Thanks Mom for sharing this passion with me!!!

Then just as the weekend was winding down, this happened. :(

I'm not sure exactly how this happened but I do know that over the course of Sunday, both Marty and I on seperate occasions picked Payton up off the driveway after she took a tumble. Neither of us noticed this giant road rash until tub time when it didn't scrub off. She is one tough little monkey!!

Sunday night, out of the blue, Ryder wanted to make Marty a Thanksgiving Card. He came up with this by himself. We have talked a little about Thanksgiving, mostly in this context as a response to: When is it my birthday?  

First it's Thanksgiving where we eat turkey, apple pie and say what we are thankful for, then Halloween where we get to dress up then Christmas with Santa Clause, then your birthday.

With a bouncy house? 

So the making a card thing seemed random but adorable. I hooked him up with some paper and some markers and then I went to put Payton down for bed. I told Ryder I'd help him when I was done with Payton. When I returned to his room, he had made a card that, according to him said: "I love you Dad. Thank you for taking care of our trees."  And my heart melted. I knew he was referring to the way Marty had shook the snow off the trees in our yard every day during the storm and I had told Ryder that because of that none of our trees got broken like the millions of trees in our city that were destroyed because of the heavy snow!  The things this kid remembers amazes me!! He asked me if I would add something pretty to the card like a drawing of a car and a truck.  I explained to him that I am not very good at drawing. I am better at other things like horse back riding and reading stories, but that I would try my very best to draw for him.  After the car and truck he requested I add an airplane.  I drew what I thought could pass for a plane and asked if it was good enough. Very diplomatically, without hesitation Ryder replyed: Mom, that looks more like a sail boat. Let's just say it's a sail boat ok?  Ha ha ha!!! He spared my feelings. What a sweet kid!! I love him!!

Ok, It doesn't really look like a plane at all does it? See, I suck at drawing. LOL

Sleepless nights and runny noses aside, I love everything about my little cuties!! I am so happy I get to kiss their chubby cheeks goodnight every night...except tonight. Tonight I had to work until 7:30! I hate missing bedtime!!! So happy they have a great Daddy!! 

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and learn to draw airplanes!!!