Bats

Okay, I am trying to hurry because Blogger is stating they have a scheduled outage in less than 15 minutes and with our dial up connection I am not sure how long this will take to post.
We received an email from the superintendent of the schools yesterday. Apparently, Weston's teacher is the one who came in contact with the bat last Thursday.

Here's the email:

A bat found in the gymnasium of OUR Elementary on October 9th, 2008 has tested positive for rabies. The bat was found after it came in contact with the foot of a teacher. The bat was captured and turned over to the OUR County Animal Control Officer for identification and testing. The District also notified the OUR B-County Health Department.

The teacher who came in contact with the bat is receiving precautionary medical treatment to prevent infection from rabies. There is no indication that contact with any student occurred. School officials immediately employed wildlife removal experts to examine the school and work is in progress to prevent future entries by bats into the building. No evidence of other bats was found and school will resume as scheduled on Tuesday, October 14th.

We sent them all to school, I think all the parents did, but this was after the children told me more stories of spotting bats at the school in the last few years. My biggest question? Why is this the first we've heard about it at home?
Personally, I like bats, they usually leave us alone and are major pest eaters, but the rabies issue changes my opinion. Even our little town can have excitement once in awhile....
If we are going to have excitement, why can't it be something fun and positive....Rabies!

Tagged

I got tagged. So here's the game:Tag Rules: list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current goals, 3 current obsessions, and 3 random facts about yourself.


Joys

1: My Family
2: Nature/Outdoors(except bugs)
3: Fun Music or a Good Book


Fears

1: Someone harming my children.
2: The rabid bats at our kids school?(you'll have to see another post) :)
3: Debt


Current Goals

1: Prepare for 5k
2: Get the canning done for the season.
3: Become more organized, specifically at home.


Current Obsessions

1: Chocolate
2: Diet Soda(means more chocolate right?)
3: Trying to stay committed to preparing for a 5k next year. I do realize that 1 and 2 don't really help me realize #3.


Random Facts About Myself

1: I enjoy a fairly challenging sudoku problem.
2: I was at the top of my class in the last Chemistry class I took at college.
3: I'm a pretty low maintenance girl, when it comes to needing things. Probably a high maintenance girl when it comes to needing/wanting someone there for me emotionally.


I Tag Peggy

Illini Game

Today was the homecoming game for the Illini. We had tickets through the pediatric hematology/oncology department at Carle. With that part of the clinic closing this will be our last game for awhile. :( The game was early so we were up early for a breakfast tailgate. We still had a few minutes of "peek a boo" with Kaylyn after her bath. She was bright eyed and ready to go.















































Megan gearing up for cheering!




The girls with some of the U of I cheerleaders.



The anticipation for face painting was too much for Jensen and we couldn't get her to eat more than a few bites of breakfast.























The Sprague family was there too! Yay! We don't live far from each other and talk of getting together but get busy in our own lives and the getting together doesn't happen. Abby and Dani (above) were a great help with Kaylyn all day. (That baby is getting heavy!)

























Jensen and Morgan, painted and ready for the game.
























Above Weston, Below Morgan.

Even Kaylyn sported a little face paint. "Go Illini Go!"

Different Illini teams came to the 'Special Spectators Tent', including the girls softball team. They had bean bag tossing games at the tail gate. With all those competitive young adults there, competitiveness was bound to rub off on some of us. Here Morgan helps on one of the teams. Looks like she was having a great time.























It was a cool morning, but warmed quite a bit. Kaylyn changed from orange to pink but still had Illini on her shirt. I don't think you can see it in the photo, and she was oblivious, but we thought it was cute! Her 'I' for Illini didn't last long. She was enjoying some dehydrated apple in the photo below.



Abby holds a very tired Kaylyn.
























Above Weston, Jameson, and Papa. Below, The Sprague and Eliason children after the game. We lost 27-20 but still had a fun time.
After the game their family and ours went to Monicals for dinner. (Papa's treat for us, thanks Papa!) Kaylyn, as usual, was so great all day. She was out so quickly when we left the game, but after the half hour drive to Monicals she was up again and ready to go.
At first the kids were all a little subdued, but after they ate their energy was restored. The photo below was taken while waiting for the pizzas.

























Had to put this photo in. It took a looong time for our pizza to arrive. Patrick had a little Parmesan cheese during the wait.

It was a fun day.

Friday at Negangard's Pumpkin Patch

Today was a long day. The children were out of school for a teacher improvement day and we planned to do our yearly pumpkin patch trip. We did a little shopping and breakfast, then headed to the pumpkin patch.

Okay, so it's NOT a pumpkin... Some kind of gourd or squash and Jameson's choice for the year.

Babies are so easy to please. A dollar for a pumpkin and a free wagon ride! Kaylyn had a great time.

Megan takes choosing very seriously. They look pretty similar in the photo, but when you are there, they are all very unique!

Weston with a smile and a thumbs up for his Dad.

This photo of Jameson gave me an idea. Could mean $$$! Instead of Cabbage Patch Dolls, How about Pumpkin Patch Pals....Mmmm, maybe more like Pumpkin Patch Pests???? :)

Morgan with her pumpkin and a pose.

"Um....excuse me....I seem to be buried beneath some produce....a little help here??"

Jensen was a bundle of energy. We didn't get one photo of her in the 'patch'. Here she is in time out(does the look on her face give that away?).

We left the patch and stopped at a park for cider and donuts for lunch(a family tradition). We then took the boys straight to our friend Melissa's for overdue hair cuts, then we headed home. Thomas and West turned right around and went to a scout activity, all I know is they cooked out and rode go carts. Sounds like he had a lot of fun.

We made these caramel apples from scratch. They are wicked! The caramel has the taste of a Werthers Original and it was so easy to make. The only reason they are 'puddling' is because I was afraid they wouldn't have enough caramel and I dipped some twice. That was a mistake, the caramel was plenty thick with one dip. With dinner and the caramel apples done, we canned 7 more quarts of applesauce(I mentioned that in the previous post). It was a great day!

Applesauce Continued :)

It's plain by my title that this post is only for those who are truly bored! :) This(apples and canning) has been my life for the past few weeks. It's not that I have thought of little else. Actually, I do a really good job focusing on anything but canning, but, I finally made myself take the time to do the apples. Why is it that it is so easy to procrastinate?

Here I am picking apples, do I look like I am having fun? This is the day I went to go pick apples by myself and didn't last long. I was by myself, it was pretty chilly, and Kaylyn was in her car seat asleep. She woke up. I tried twice that day and was foiled twice, either by my laziness at wanting help with the job or by a little person who needed attention.

If you look hard you can see our dog Rose, who is great for some things, but picking apples is not on that list.

Our friends Becky and Cody Mitchell came out when the kids got out of school and helped pick. after an hour or so we had ten 5 gallon buckets filled with apples. It was great to get that done and even better to have help.

Our apples didn't magically turn red, the apples below were picked days earlier from different trees. The longer they sat, the guiltier I felt not getting them into jars. So, that's when I went back to the tree to pick even more apples(the whole scenario above)!... I'm a smart girl!

Here they are ready to be heated and sauced. I think that's the easiest part.

They are pretty! You know why? Because they are done! Yay!

This sauce is pink because of the color from the red skins. The applesauce we canned today is much more yellow/white. We had only a few red ones in the batch this time. This is the part that makes it all worth it. The only ingredient in this applesauce is apples. One thing we can eat that doesn't contain a bunch of additives.

Now, I only have to process 9-5 gallon buckets of Golden Delicious apples and one bucket of a red apple, not sure what variety. They are tart like Granny Smith. Maybe they want to become pies??

Here is Thomas helping to get the apples turned into sauce. He looks like he's having fun too!

Seriously, we are grateful for the abundance of apples this summer.

Applesauce

After much procrastination, we are finally getting some applesauce canned. Kaylyn is not appreciating the lack of attention she is receiving. Even Megan told me a few weeks ago, "You're canning? I don't like it when you can." I asked her why. She replied, "'Cause when you are canning, that's all you care about." Pretty sad eh? I am now holding Kaylyn while I type. She doesn't think a baby who has been neglected for a portion of the day should lay in her crib alone right now. Love her tons, but it makes for awkward typing! We have only put up 20 pints. Hoping to equal that and also do many quarts tomorrow too. We'll see. Tuesdays things get busy around here. I need to talk to Megan tomorrow. I was pretty focused on the apples tonight but she was asking me question like, "Mom, if we have another great depression, will children have to work like they did in the last great depression?" She is such a serious child and worries about things. I don't really know what they are discussing in school but we will have to talk to her tomorrow. The poor thing will have ulcers by age 11 if she can't learn to chill a little bit! Of course, maybe she is just worried because she detests work so much! :) OK, if you think of me tomorrow, imagine the aroma of autumn apples cooking. Mmmm. It is nice, until you think you can never look at another apple again.

Daddy is Kaylyn's Hero!

The last three posts have been about my morning 'jogs'. I am still doing them, "Yay me!".

Wednesdays have become a little crazy for us. Right after school until 5 Jameson has play practice(right here in town). From 6-8 Weston, Megan, and Morgan have football/cheer leading practice, about 8 miles west of us. Weston and Jameson have scouts, and young men's about 20 miles east of us. Jensen (5) and Kaylyn (10 months) get dragged along to either activity on any given Wednesday. We have allowed Weston to miss some scout meetings for a couple months to participate in football, something we never thought we would do. There are no boys Weston's age/grade in our ward(church). There may be new ones but haven't been any for a long time. We have been encouraged by his doctor to provide time for him to have social interaction with other boys his age. So, we made an exception. Thomas was just called as the 11 year old scout leader and football ends next week, so we are confident Weston will keep up on his scouts.
The past few weeks I have taken Jensen and Kaylyn with us when I take Jameson, and a few other car pool kids to the church. With all the rain we had after Ike, the mosquitoes have been pretty bad, at our last game I actually put bug spray on the baby. I put it on a wipe and just wiped her a little with it, still, UGH! Anyway, we again went to the church tonight, and I am glad we did because they would not have dealt with the 40 degree temps very well. With the gas prices I would have had a 'do I run the engine and turn the heater on while we watch the game or not?' war in my head.
Sitting in the foyer at church for an hour and a half was much more livable. Even with Jensen getting a little hyper. President Kingsley Allan played with her for about 20 minutes. He swung her around like a dance partner in "Dancing with the stars." I think that's what that show is called. She had the time of her life! I am going to have to call Jana (Kingsley's wife) tomorrow to see if he was able to get out of bed. I see a pinched nerve, or at the least a sore back in his future!
Kaylyn, our placid, calm, easygoing little girl has developed a major dislike. For the past month, if we put her in her car seat after dark, she will fuss, cry, and scream. She hates it. We usually don't use the word hate in our family. I guess it would still describe it to say she detests, abhors, or dislikes it to an extreme that has never been witnessed until now! Last week and this, our drive home was about 40 minutes more than usual because of dropping off other children. Kaylyn screamed the entire way both times. Tonight when I got home and walked into our bedroom with a baby who was still catching her breath from sobbing, she took one look at her dad, laughed, and lunged toward him from my arms. Even though he was several feet away. I am sure she was telling him all about the terrible ordeal her mother put her through. :) Poor thing! I hope she can outgrow this issue soon. It is only going to get darker earlier for the next few months and we are always needing to go for school events etc.
Thomas took her and she snuggled right in with him and fell fast asleep. I think he is her Hero!