H1N1

Well the kids and I have gotten our H1N1 Flu vaccinations. Our Tri-County Health Dept. put together a bunch of clinics around our area on different days (probably to keep the masses at bay). There was one last Sat. at one of the local High Schools. No one knew about it until the school district had their "computer" call all the families that have kids enrolled in the district. We weren't able to make that one, but when I got onto the districts web site they have a bunch of scheduled sites. Mon. there was one at one of the middle schools. Again wasn't able to make that one, so Tues. they had another one at one of the other middle schools that Dan has football practice at. I took the kids after football practice expecting a huge long line. I was pleasantly surprised, when we were able to walk right in. It helped that I had already printed and filled out all the consent forms. And for once it helped that I have asthma, so we got bumped to the front of the short little line there was anyway!

I had tried to prep the kids before hand about what to expect and that they would have the choice to snort the vaccine up their nose or have a shot. I told them that I was going to have to get the shot and I didn't have a choice regardless (the asthma thing). Tanner went first and was a little nervous about having something stuck up his nose, but he did fine. Next was Jayla. She CRACKS me up! She sat down and her eyes immediately welled up with tears. The lady asked her if she wanted to have the mist and to my surprise she said NO and that she would do the shot! The tech lady and I both were shocked. We both tried to talk her out of the shot and to do the mist. She just kept crying and said that she didn't want the mist and she would do the shot. Finally after a bunch of coaxing she snorted it up her nose and was totally fine. I still don't know why she wanted to do the shot. After watching the 2 before him Zach was brave and had the mist. The tech let him touch it so he knew there was nothing sharp being stuck up his nose. He did it with out a hitch. Jake was just being 3 and was throwing a tantrum about toys before we even walked into the clinic. So needless to say he was already crying. He got the mist, too. He didn't quite understand, so after he snorted he told the tech that he snuffed up a needle and thought it was funny. Whatever..... he's 3 and I don't understand his thought process. Then it was my turn. Again, I HAD to have the shot. All my kids were watching to see how brave I was going to be. I don't mind shots, that doesn't mean I like them, though. I didn't flinch when I was stuck. I took it like a real woman. But, as soon as she pulled out the needle the blood gushed down my arm. The kids gasped, and Tanner gets a little freaked out by blood. So all I heard was "AAHHH.... my mom is bleeding EVERYWHERE!" in a chorus of 4 freaked out kids. The tech told me I was her first bleeder that night ( surprising since we only got there 45 min before they closed and they had already been there for 3 hours). I wasn't so surprised. I always bleed. Of course now I can't hardly move my arm, and NO I didn't tense my arm during the process, I know better. It's bruised and a little swollen. Oh, well......... at least we won't turn into pigs now (-;

side note- Dan couldn't get one yet because of his surgery that's scheduled for Fri. So he will have to get it after. They have another clinic up this was on the 30th. The best part was that these vaccines were FREE!! YA!

A "Peeve"........

WARNING: very open hostility. Read at your own risk!

I have this nagging peeve about people who talk about needing "Me"** time. Anyone who knows me, knows this. I get tired of listening to whining wives saying that they don't want to "lose" themselves, through their roles THEY have chosen as being a wife and mother.

This blog is not big enough to hold my rants about this topic.

My answer to this is........ LOSE YOURSELF! I have found a much better "me" as wife and mother than I could have ever imagined!

** I am all for keeping up on certain interests and such (ie. mine being going to the gym or taking time in the day to read part of a good book), but not at the expense of my family. Do people really need girls nights every day or every other day for that matter! Yes, those people do exist.

Prematurity Awareness Month............ Giving our support.

( my camera didn't get changed from "action" mode so the picture is grainy)

Farmers Insurance is a big donor to March of Dimes. Every spring we do the March for March of Dimes. It is a BLAST and the whole family has fun. Well last night we were invited to THIS (click) event. Farmers "bought" 2 tables and we were invited to sit at one of them. We had such a great time sampling all the fares. Two of our favorites was the (1) Butternut Squash and Smoked Trout Bisque from Jax Fish House (2) The Halibut from McCormicks. I haven't been to either restaurant {of course Dan has :-) }, but I may have to make him take me now. There were SO many vendors/restaurants there. While the food sampling was going on they had silent auctions going on as well for a plethora of things. Trips, cooking lessons, football tickets, basketball tickets just to name a few. After all of that they had a live auction and a live donation. It's amazing how much money people have to spend at things like this. I guess its all for a good cause, but I was a little overwhelmed. During the live donations they started the first donation at $5000.00 . One guy immediately raised his auction number and said to times it by 4! $20,000.00 (yes I can do math.... sometimes)! What was interesting is that Dan knows this guy. This man is the Executive Vice President and Chief Distribution Officer for Jackson National Life Distributors LLC, Clifford James Jack . The company Dan left, to come work for Farmers. They said that every $5000.00 will fund one March of Dimes program in one Denver Area Hospital. Wow, that's 4 hospitals (again, my knack for math). I became more educated on the role that March of Dimes plays for premature babies, and the research they've funded to help these babies live and thrive. Deborah Takahara, from Denver channel 31, was the Host. She gave a story about how her 7 yr old son knows about breast cancer, but how we need to make the topic of premature babies just as "popular". I didn't know this, but November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Did you know this? Check out the stats at March of Dimes

What we've been up to........... (I have a new camera and have FINALLY uploaded pictures)


Jayla had a "Grandpa Lewis/ Granddaughters date" that he took all the granddaughters in the area (Jayla, Cora, Rachel) to Wicked. She had such a GREAT time! He took them out to a nice restaurant for dinner before the play. I had talked to her about the story line before hand so she wouldn't feel lost as she was watching. She said that some people at the theater told them all how beautiful they looked and how appropriately they were dressed for a "night on the town". She thoroughly enjoyed the production and having a night out with Grandpa! She didn't get home until almost midnight- it was even a school night. I had told her that I would call her school the next day, but circumstances made it so I didn't have to ......

Jayla all dressed up before her night out.

Which brings me to how I didn't have to call her in. We got a nice bit 'o snow the next day and they cancelled school. I'll be honest, I was shocked that they did. Our school district hardly ever cancels school! So needless to say the kids.... ok, and I.... were totally excited about no school. Dan went to a half day of work, and then came home to work the other half. After he felt he had sufficiently done enough, we took the kids to some little hills over by our house to sled. The kids loved it. Jake decided it was even more fun to fore go the sleds and just roll down the hill in the snow. We were there for quite a while, before Dan and I decided to call it a night. My kids LOVE the snow. It did make me excited for the winter. Maybe Dan and I can get up on the slopes and do a lot more snowboarding this year and even get the kids to enjoy it this year!

Dan pulling the little boys. I have more pics of sledding, but they are on my phone.

Our next event was approx. 3 days later..... Football. You gotta love Colorado with it's extremes in weather! All these pics are sunny and drier. Our season is now into the play-offs. We have only lost 1 game this season. In the last 3 seasons we have only lost 2 games. Yes, I am bragging. We won our game, so championship here we come!

Jayla scrunching her face because the sun was in her eyes.

My cheerleaders at half time. We are missing 1, but the little girl in the pic decided she would fill in. She is a daughter to some of our good friends. We have had a fun season. This is the last season I will be able to coach.


Tanner is #53. He isn't as small as he looks next to these other boys. The tall kid next to him is 5ft. 8in and about 190lbs. This team is made up of mostly 10 yr olds, and a few 11 yr olds. Tanner loves football!

Tanner is warming up.

Coaching staff. There is one more that isn't in this picture. Look at the hot stuff tucking in his shirt. I think I want to get to know him better ;-)

This was during the game against Lafayette.

All the parents and cheerleaders do "the bridge" after each game for the boys to run through. After all the boys run, the cheerleaders run through while all the parents cheer. The kids love it!

Then there was Halloween in the mix. My kids can't make up their minds of what they want to be until the very last minute. We went over to some friends house to go trick or treating, so the kids could go with some friends. They had such a great time.

Here's all of them after getting their "loot".

Jake was the Hulk, but didn't want to look at the camera.

Zach started out as the Blue Power Ranger, but when Tanner got to have a mustache, he wanted one too. He didn't want to wear his mask so that everyone could see his "make-up". He decided to wear a baseball hat instead (like Tanner) so then we started calling him a NASCAR driver.

Jayla wanted to be a cat..... AGAIN. She thought it would be funny to be a cat walking the dog.

Tanner came up with the idea to be a Black Market Assassin....... whatever that is. Once he told me what he wanted his make-up to be, we just started calling him a spy. Although, he could totally fit in with the CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) office, don't ya think Pratt Fam?!