>Man, we are really slacking on our new years resolution to post everyday! Will try to do better when the semester ends. Our excuse this time around is that I was in Chicago all week last week (with the girlies) for a work related meeting. The three big highlights of that trip were seeing my parents (who were also at the meeting) and michelle and gang, taking the girls on the navy pier ferris wheel (more on that later), and watching the snow blow sideways, upside down and round in circles from our 28th floor view of lake michigan. Oh and lets not forget Bee calling my mom “Bun.” I wont mention how the stroller broke in the train station and having to carry 3 backpacks, a computer case and frankie all at once! Im now in New Orleans for another meeting, and scott’s got both girls, both dogs, and both hermit crabs. Then when I get home he heads off to Boston! Yeesh. So that is us in a nutshell.

OK more on the ferris wheel. You could see navy pier from our hotel room, and I kept eyeing the water and the boats. On tuesday afternoon I decided to blow off the meeting and take the girls down to navy pier. To our surprise there is a ferris wheel there, and Bee was so excited to go on it. I thought what the heck, and bought a ticket (kids under 42 inches are free!), and the three of us went on the wheel. Well, come to find out there are no seat belts on the wheel, and the wind was blowing and our little cart kept rocking. Bee and Frankie were having such a blast, and I was a bit freaking out! Bee wanted to go on again the next day, but it was snowing sideways and I didnt think that was such a good idea! So I highly recommend the ferris wheel for all!!!

>Balla and Cho-cho are our two hermit crabs. We started with Balla, which we got for free complements of NSTA… but then we read that hermit crabs are social creatures and Bee thought Balla needed a daddy, so we went and got Cho-cho. We also got them a new terrarium, a heat lamp, and a fun climbing stick. these critters like warm humid places… not exactly michigan… im sure hoping their new digs keep them healthy and happy! We got the terrarium with the locking top because Frankie kept trying to take the crabbies out! these are phone pics so they arent so great, but you get the idea!

>its 28 degrees going up to 31 today…. but there is always a silver lining… brown recluse spiders cant survive in this climate!! Well Balla is doing better since we turned the portable heater onto her tank. We need to get a new tank with a heater as this climate may kill her. She needs temps between 72-80… Bee thinks she needs a daddy so we will probably get her a mate at the petstore, too. (Balla is our new hermit crab). We will try to report back later with pictures!

>sorry we’ve been MIA. Between crazy travel schedules and work kicking our butts…. its been hard to post. But here is an update: Saturday morning while I was in st. louis I noticed a painful small bump on my arm, just above the elbow, just like a bug bite. In fact I first thought, oh I got a mosquito bite! The bump itself is small, maybe half the size of dime, and it looks like it has a little puncture wound in the middle, and its a tad more elevated than a mosquito bit, and bit harder to the touch. It really hurts to touch it (that is how I noticed it!). It sort of itches around it, but not really. Monday I noticed that the bump is the same size, but its red around it (dime size), then its got a white (well skin colored) ring around that (so that would be nickle size), then another red ring around that, that is flat and wide (maybe a cm wide) – so all together we’re talking maybe half dollar size.
I called the docs and they told me to come in this morning . this morning my whole arm was really hurting and the red ring around the bite was bigger. Anyhow, when I went to the docs they told me they thought it was a brown recluse spider bite. So i have to take cephalexin for 10 days and put some steroid cream on it. I feel a little pukey today too, but that’s apparently a common reaction to a brown recluse bite.

Other than that, we’re all headed off to chicago this weekend for easter – hopefully it will warm up some. suppose to be 32 tomorrow and the day after! our poor flowers!

>I was standing in the kitchen last night making supper, and Frankie walks in the room to feed the dogs. She loves feeding the dogs. She picks up the container where we keep the food (and its empty, except some crumbs), and puts in on top of her head, and all the crumbs fall over her and the floor. So she looked up at me and said, Om My Gosh Mommy! I made a mess!! So, then she put down the food container since it was empty, went over to the cabinet where we keep cans, and pulled out a can of black beans and another of stewed tomatoes and plunked one in front of each dog. Poor doggies didnt know what to do. they got to eat biscuits and left over pasta for supper since we did not have any dog food left!

>thats how both the girls felt this morning. what a relief! After a week home with strep throat and bilateral ear infections, the girls are on the mend. But, hey being stuck home with science types as parents is not too bad. Bee made a movie about the life cycle of flowers using quick time and photos she took everyday of the flowers coming up in our yard. Its amazing how little kids can be excited about and learn to use technology! It was sort of cool that on saturday we had no flowers and now we do. and, now we have the proof.

BTW, those snow piles are no more!

>the flowers are coming up and the indigo girls have a new CD so its a good day!

>…. its party central here in sick bay. Happy Birthday Bee!! (poor bee has a fever of 102.5 all day and we just called all her friends parents to cancel her party for tomorrow) 🙁

here is our little Bee at O, 1, 2, 3 and now 4!!!

>are you wearing your green?

I woke up this morning thinking, wow 4 years ago my water broke with Bee!!! (That she wasnt born till the 19th is another story). It was 4 years ago bush gave his war speech. actually my water broke during bush’ speech. I am always reminded poignantly of this war on Bee’s birthday because they happened together. this was one of the first images of the war I saw as a new mother, and it still haunts me.

>Alice the camel has 5 bumps… Do you know that song? its going in my mind. I cut out of work early yesterday and took the kids to the zoo, since the weather was awesome. We saw such a friendly camel, that seemed to really like Bee and Franks. Bee sang her the Alice song, and frankie kept screaming “No humps!” I kept showing her the two humps on the camel.