Winters can be fun...i guess :)

As winter continues all I dream about is green grass, spring breeze and colorful flowers. I really do like seasons and I do love snow, ice skating, snow man building....but having it just cold without fun snow (or worse-raining) and the lakes slowly defrosting really makes winter sucky. If it is going to be frigid out it mind as well snow! Kids did get to play outside the other day when the weather warmed up to 45-50 two days in a row. We loved it. Went for a bike ride, played on scooters and of course stomped in the slushy melting snow. How awesome was it to be able just to wear my shell instead of both layers of my ski coat...no mittens, no scarf and no

hat. And now, 28* cloudy and chance of snow Saturday or Sunday....Kids cannot wait to sled. They never have been sledding and Devin has been talking about it for weeks. Last two snow storms have been a total bust in Shamong so hopefully we get some this weekend that will allow him to try it out.

 Devin is beyond excited to go to his first dance. I got him a new tie per his request and he told me that he will try to not step on my feet :) I just love him. His classmate asked him to dance with her so I will upload a picture of them if I get her Mommy's approval. She was in his kindergarten class as well and was sweet on him then as well. She's a good kid and I think it is harmless and cute. Devin is going to be serious trouble in years to come I can just feel it.

Riley has started to request things for her birthday. She wants sneaker roller skates meaning regular ones not the kind you strap your shoe in. That is her number one request and finally today she asked for something else. Golf clubs. Yup she said that she no longer wants her other ones "because they are short and for babies and we need to give them to Brock." I am not sure Deidre would still love me if I gave her son a 3 piece real metal golf club set...My only question is do I do lefty or righty. She plays lacrosse lefty and holds an ice hockey stick lefty. She has only ever used the righty clubs simply because that is what we had but I am thinking if she had leftys she would be more comfortable with them. The only other thing she asked for is a skate board which she is not getting because neither her nor Devin use the one skate board we already have.

reoccurances from July illness-wasn't tick borne!

Back in July I got really ill. On a Monday I felt weak and light headed and almost like I was going to passout after I dropped the kids off to camp. I thought I was dehydrated or suffering from heat exhaustion. Frank and I had taken some trees down the day prior and had been out in the 95* heat for the better part of the day. I ended up going to the ER that night because I felt just terrible. Now I am a pretty tough person and have never been to the hospital besides for labor....that said the ER DR was not very patient with me and really just blew me off. After my blood work came back he said I had a mild summer virus and that I needed to hydrate, take motrin for my 102.8 fever and sent me on my way. Frank had to stay the next day for the first time of me being a stay at home mom due to me being sick. I slept 23 out of 24 hours and could not kick the fever. Next day same thing but Frank went to work. I finally went back to ER (same hospital system, different location) and they immediately admitted me. Due to the fact my blood work was in the gutter and I still had a fever over 102 they were quite concerned. They did a spinal to rule out meningitis and tested out the wahzoo for tick borne illnesses and blood infections. I figured I would stay a night and they would give me some steriods etc. NOPE. The illness attacked my heart, giving me a VERY low heart rate, and chest pains which gave me the opportunity to have rapid response come in (they were super awesome.) I had an EKG, Echocardiogram and was the lucky recipiant of a 6 sensor heart rate monitor that attached to a little sachel I wore 24/7 for just under 4 days. The cardiologist was super nice and very professional while also being extremely thorough. I also had daily meetings with the head of infectious disease as well as hematology/oncology. Now they were originally treating me for a tickborne illness given it was the summer time and I live in the sticks...but all tests were negative. Infectious disease dr told me that there is a good chance that it could be a false negative so he kept me on the IV antibiotic concoction. That shit burns like a mother when being run. They had to dilute it big time and change my IV site daily. I then started to have collasped veins and the path department ended up having to use infant draws in my hands for my daily draw. Just awful. Since my blood levels were in the drain, I was in reverse isolation. Meaning everyone who came in...drs, nurses, visitors all had to be masked. I felt like bubble boy. I got discharged with them still dangerously low but there was nothing more the hospital could do for me and I was finally able to eat so they felt confortable to release me. From the spinal I had on the first night I got a spinal headache. WORST headache I have ever had in my entire life. I could not stand upright and that was very difficult to function with. Thank god for some super awesome friends and family that helped with the kids, cooking and such! Now fast forward a few months. My hair is falling out, my nails are brittle... Why? I go to the doctor. They run full blood work and I thought it was thyroid or hormonal....NOPE reoccurant issues from this illness. SO yes, my hair was falling out. In wads. Daily. My cycle was messed up. For months. The doctor said that its extremely common and I can see improvement around 6 months post "trauma." He was right. In early January my hair stopped falling out. My energy level was better and my cycle seems more normal. Oh heres the kicker it was NEVER a tick borne disease. It was some virus. all my repeat blood work was negative for any tick disease. Some crazy horrible virus that attacked my blood and heart while sending me to the hospital for almost a week. I wish that on noone. In hindsight. I should have listened to my body sooner. I do not know if it would have done any good, but it may have saved me a day in the hospital. I will however suggest Virtua Voorhees for all your hospital needs. They were AWESOME. the Nursing staff, all the doctors, all the specialists and even the triage was great. Since I was a bubble boy, I had my own room....but I think that is standard? You can order food any time of the day from a book of a menu and although it was bland, it was much tastier than my 8 plus hospital stays in Vegas with the babies. 5 stars to Virtua Voorhess. :)

Homemade pizza-going loco stuck in house

Last night eagles played and frank wanted pizza to go with his football watching. I went to the grocery store at 12 so it was too early to grab a pie from riv. I usually buy their dough and make our own mini pies from it but I decided to save my $4 and make my own. Last time I did this I did not have bread flour and it was a bit chewy. I have since picked up bread flour so we tried it out. Using bobby flays Pizza dough recipe we had a dough that was tasty and not too chewy. It wasn't as sweet as Riv's but def good and super easy to make. Recipe on link. 

http://m.foodnetwork.com/recipes/493982

I roll it out and kids spread sauce, add cheese and topping if choice. Devs is on left and was just about ready while Riley's was on right and needed a few more min (about 6-8 total) In the summer I do it on the grill w my stone. Love homemade pizza. It allows us all to customize and it's so easy. 

Devin had a buddy over for a playdate today so Riley did an alone craft. She received shrinky dinks from Santa and decided to break them out today. How awesome are shrinky dinks! They'll never get old. 

Who doesn't love a charm hair clip? She's such a peach and really loved sitting and choosing very methodically which ones to color. Big decisions here in the skinner house. 

Devin finally agreed to letting me cut his hair. He has always had short hair until this past spring he told me he wants to grow it out. I said sure bc I know I can always trim it. If it grew over his ears I trimmed it and he figured out how to whip his head to clear it from his eyes. He really does have great hair for a med/long hair cut but at his age it just was driving me nuts. When he gets older and wakes up and styles it I'm game but fit now I had to cut it. He can have a surfer cut again in a few years. I did have to bribe him. I offered $10 to put toward his savings for new Legos and he countered with $10 towards his savings and 30 min playing xbox 360. Solid counter so I agreed. 

Before 

After- he looks so much more handsome And older? 

Snow day! The next Betty Crocker

With the frigid temps outside (currently -3*f) we will remain inside all day. So far we have made pumpkin muffins and homemade chicken nuggets. The kids never turn down my homemade nuggets and since we have nowhere to go i have been in the kitchen all morning. 

Dev lost two teeth yesterday and the tooth fairy left him $5 and a lego starwars planet with an xwing ship that he put together this morning during breakfast. He only has one lego kit left to put together from Christmas from the 16 he received. He had a ball putting them all together. I'm sad to see the pile gone ;) 

Riley is healing well from her incident on New Year's Day. The glue really is working well and hopefully the scar will be minimal if visible at all. She is not in pain and her only restrictions were no swimming or gymnastics for a week. Being 2cm and straight it has been a pretty easy recovery. 

I planned on going out today for dog food but both local stores are closed so I made it from scratch. Needless to say they loved the concoction I made. 

Dinner is in the crock pot and Christmas decorations are coming down. Laundry is in and kids are wrestling and perfecting their love/hate relationship. Pretty much couldn't get any better then that. I'm sensing a fire tonight and uncorking a new bottle of wine. 

Christmas!!!!!!

Kids were very fun this Christmas. They really were so excited and very anxious for the holiday to come. Spending time with family and gift exchanges were a huge success! 

Devin made a huge list for Santa so that made it very easy for family and I to shop for him. His top few gift from Santa were a telescope, marble run. Hot wheels triple track twister and two very specific lego sets. None were hard to find and he really  loved opening them all. 

Riley on the other hand was a little harder. She asked for a Sophia amulet, back yard trampoline, Legos, razor scooter and despicable me fart blaster. We were not ready to do the back yard trampoline yet but the other four items were under the tree. Last minute she asked for roller skates "that are real ones, not the ones you put your "neaker" in." Well since she is only four and will only be using them in the driveway she's not getting $35-$50 roller skates every shoe size until she's a bit older! 

They had a ball and took turns and truly are fantastic kids. Riley ended up get the calico critters manor and a bunch of rooms bc Santa needed more gifts for her. She ended up loving it and wouldn't even let me help her set the rooms up. The details on those toys are amazing. F-ing tiny and truthfully difficult to maneuver with my adult hands-but cool nonetheless. 

They had gifts under the tree from aunt Dana and uncle Troy As well as my bf Maria and her hubs Massi which is always fun since they're surprises for them too! 

as for me- signed up for one tri next year and looking for one or two more. Thinking I want one each month of the summer. I'm out if shape and really looking forward to updating my iPod and hitting the pavement. Ok so I'll never look forward to running, but I really am looking forward to hopping on my bike again and getting back in the pool. Running blows. 

Foyer is almost done. Pics to follow when it's finished.....

Finally getting well....feeling like a crappy mom

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