The Beauchamp FamilyYes, we really are this geeky…

Jamie has been sick, home from school the past 4 days. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday because he said he had a sore throat when he swallows and his tummy was hurting. I thought there was a chance he had strep because those are the two tell-tale signs. It was negative (whew!) but he still didn’t eat hardly anything all week. On Wednesday night he was crying in his sleep because he had an earache. Back to the doctor yesterday and he has an ear infection. It’s been quite a week.

When the kids are sick, we let them sleep on the floor in our room or in bed with me (poor Tom takes the sofa). Last night, we moved the mattress from Jamie’s bed into our room on the floor and he sacked out there.

Cassie comes in dressed this morning while I’m brushing my hair. I had music playing (Single Ladies) so she and I were dancing around, being silly. Cassie announced it was a dance party morning. Jamie sat up on his bed and started bouncing up and down and said, “That means I’m the bouncer!!”

Heh. Yup, it’s Club Beauchamp apparently.

Oh, and the photo is Jamie reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman on my Kindle. Little thief

So, my kids are Webkinz freaks. Especially Cassie.If you don’t know what those are, count your blessings. They are basically stuffed animals. BUT they each come with a code. If you enter the code into their website, you can start an account and play with your animals online and add them to your account so you have a house with a bunch of Webkinz. I think Cassie has something like 19 of these things.

When you buy one of these overpriced stuffed animals, it comes with one year of service. So, by my math, that means my kid should have like nineteen years of Webkinz time, right?

Um. Not so much. It only gives you one year from the time you enter the code. So you have to buy (or enter a code) at least once per year. It’s not even the point that my kid won’t get at least one per year. She’s obsessed and when she’s not obsessed, she won’t buy them anymore or care about the online thing. It’s not the point, it’s kind of a rip off.

But that’s the rule and if you look under Account Expiration on the FAQ page, you will see it.

Just kind of lame. Having said that, they did help a friend out when they had a house fire earlier this year. I’m still annoyed though.

On February 11th, Cassie turned 7. Yeah, I know! She was JUST born, I’m pretty sure! She insisted on a Bakugan party with bakugan cakes (thank goodness for Tom, I was so in over my head!), her best girl friends, and a sleepover afterwards with pizza and snacks. So speaketh the princess, it shall be done

Tom rocked, the cakes turned out fabulous (although I kept making boob comments cuz I’m 12). He copies the designs from 2 of Cassie’s favorite bakugan ball things.

Here’s the party crew checking out the cakes

Cassie, of course, blew out the candles

She opened gifts

The all posed for a silly picture

I kinda got told to go away during the sleepover. Oops.

… and Daddy made pink heart-shaped waffles for breakfast the next morning. Yes, he is awesome.

What year would be complete without a Valentine’s Day party at school. I must admit that the room mom’s for Cassie’s class is way better than I’ll ever hope to be. They had these little laundry bag looking things strung up on a laundry line so the kids could hand out their treats easily. Very cute! Tom got to play favorite substitute and call out the Bingo stuff for Jamie’s class? I hid in a corner and took photos, looking at my watching, wondering when it would be over.

Jamie’s Class

Cassie’s Class (that’s one her BFFs)

So, my hip joint has been bugging me for a few days. I have a chiro appointment tomorrow, but I needed something today because Advil isn’t helping. Off to my regular doc who sends me for x-rays and says it’s bursitis. First of all – what the heck is that? And don’t only old people get it? If interested, it’s in Wikipedia.

Apparently not. She seems to think the donkey kick exercises I did on my own (okay, I overdid it, it’s my new way of dealing with stress and the allergy season that is right now) and then laying on that side for 10 hours (I passed out I was so tired one night) contributed to it.

Of course. *I* would get bursitis. I’m gonna walk around saying “Ethel, come help me over here, my bursitis is actin’ up” cuz, ya know, I can.

Who knows what the chiro will say. I need to visit her anyway. I’ve noticed my lower back is burning when I walk a lot, usually means I need a quick adjustment. And yeah, I cannot believe I actually like the chiropractor. Yes, I used to think they were full of bunk. Now, I think mine is the best thing since sliced bread.

Oh, and while I’m whining (cuz it’s all about me)… freaking Austin. My allergies are CRAZY. This is, by far, the worst year. I actually asked the doc again about it because I am going to go crazy with the itching and scratching and eyes bright red and swollen. I’ve even had to start carrying around an inhaler because I cannot breathe sometimes. The doc said that it’s the worst they’ve seen it too, the oak pollens are just horrible. I’m kind of glad because that means that mine isn’t getting worse, it’s just the season is bad.  She also told me that she was hearing that the oak should start coming down in 2 weeks. So I have 2 more weeks not to lose my mind. And she called in some new meds for me to take to get over this hump. I’m LOSING it. Seriously.

Earlier this year was Science Night at the school. Cassie did an optional project for the science fair. She did an experiment to see what would melt faster – an ice cube, an ice cube with sugar on it or an ice cube with salt on it. She was quite proud of herself! The kids also got to do some activities. The favorite was the static one. They put their hands on a ball, the volunteers turn it on and voila. Crazy hair! Check it out!

Here’s Cassie with her project. And yes, that dress is totally retro. In fact, I bought that dress for my sister when she was Cassie’s age (my sister is now 23).

And the crazy hair photos:

Here’s a photo of my sis and the kids, hanging at the aquarium in SC

And one of the cows at the arboretum. Heh. Just cuz.

We spent Christmas 2009 in South Carolina with my mom and sisters. I know I’m behind (always get backed up during tax time), but I thought I’d share some of the highlights from Christmas Day, actually just two because they’re funny. You can visit my flickr page if you want to see more.

Watching Tom try to make the Xbox 360 work on mom’s TV was HILARIOUS. We did bring all the right parts, but he couldn’t get it to turn on. I think he came close to just throwing the whole thing out the front door.

Even more funny was watching Marcy try to figure out how the heck to make Penbo (the peguin robot) do what Cassie wanted it to do. I think they are trying to make her give up her egg here.

Yes, I’m a bit behind. One of the many things I love about our neighborhood is that they hold pretty good community activities. Really fun and always a good time. If you live in Anderson Mill or around us, check out the Limited District website at www.amld.org.

Anyway, the holiday party is always a lot of fun, fishing, bean toss, etc for little prizes, there’s usually free food, face painting, crafts, sack races… and Santa goes around in a classic old firetruck throwing candy through the streets. Yes, I’m serious. It’s a lot of fun. We, of course, went, had a great time and came back with photos.

Fishin’ for prizes

Cassie and the girl next door are very serious about their crafts

I had to convince Jamie to do it, but he loved the sack race!

What party would be complete without face painting?

Tom was sitting with the kids while they finished up lunch and they asked about Passover and different religious things and asked what Easter was all about for those who went to church. (For us, it’s a chance to give our kids lots of candy via a rabbit).

Tom explained that the Christians believe that on Easter, Jesus rose from the dead and etc etc. He thought it was going pretty well until…

Jamie looked at him and said, “Dad, that’s nasty, so he’s like a zombie, right?”

LOL LOL. I swear, we didn’t say anything around him, but I always proclaim today to be Happy Zombie Day.

Awesome, as if the religious family members don’t already think we’re weird enough. And zombies are really big at school now. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.