September - yuck

September around here was, well, a lousy month. There were bits of good spattered through it, but for the most part it was sort of like junior high - something I wouldn't go through again if you paid me. My 4 year old laptop computer, which was carried between home and UT for 2 years on an Austin city bus, and has had a 2-5 year old playing Nickjr or Hotwheels.com on if for hours on end, has shockingly been having "issues", so my blog has been rather boring. I apologize. But here's my lousy month in review:

We went to Kansas City for Labor Day weekend. This was actually really fun - except Austin had the stomach flu the day before we left, but seemed better - 24 hour thing, right? Wrong! Derek got it after a we left World's of Fun, and Bryce started throwing up on the drive home. Misery. Then I, of course, got it the day Derek left for North Carolina. I'll never forget having to make Bryce's lunch all hunched over, then running to the bathroom to throw up, then having to finish lunch (after washing hands, of course). It was one of those "mom moments." Here are some pictures from our fun trip to KC:

Both my kids got sick again the next week, Austin with a "virus" and then days before I was supposed to leave for Spokane to help my mom, Bryce had a 103 fever, cough, headache etc. So, he got started on Tamiflu in case it was H1N1, which meant I got to take it too as a precaution.

On the 20th, I went to Spokane and got to be with my mom. That was fantastic. It was a little weird also, but I'm so glad I went. While I was there I canned pears for the first time. Actually it was the first time I've ever canned anything myself. While I found the experience marginally satisfactory, I thought it was an awful lot of work for something I can buy for 79 cents at the store. Here are the fruits of my efforts:

It seems like this month our house has started falling down around us. We were going to replace some bad boards on our deck, only to discover the support structure was rotting out, so instead we're getting a new deck. When the guy tore out the old one, we discovered a huge mound of ginormous carpenter ants. Also, the day we were "fixing" the deck, our garage door broke, then was fixed (by the same guy doing our deck) only the have something else break on it immediately. The deck guy will fix that next time he's here. And, we have this bay window that's rotting and needs replaced. I'm obsessed with this window and stare at it every time I pull into my driveway. The other day I noticed these funny round holes on the wood next to the windows and it's from a WOODPECKER pecking at my house. Where's a pellet gun when I need one!?!

Other than that, things are fine. I have been teaching a lot of classes at the gym lately, which is good since the time is fast approaching when I'm not going to be moving off the couch. Bryce is loving kindergarten, Austin is a funny little boy, and Derek switched from Healthy Choice to Banquet and has had more time at home ever since. So, September was bad, but life is still good.