The boys are fine,

The pipes are done,

It’s raining cats and dogs.

And I’m enjoying

Catching up with friends,

Instead of writing blogs.

Matthew loves to read Richard Scary’s “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.” It was one of my favorites, too, when I was a kid.

Looking for Gold Bug was one of the best parts. That and the pickle car. I was forever looking for a pickle car when we drove on the highway.

Someone should invent a pickle car.

What tastes good when your mouth is sore and blistery?

Ice cream!

Also jello, pudding, ice water, and apple slices with the peel taken off.

Matthew and David have become experts in foods-that-feel-good-in-a-blistery-mouth this week. And so has Mommy.

We spent most of last week camped at Nana and Grandpa’s during the day. We couldn’t stay in the house, since there was no water and the plumbers needed to work worrying about a busy-body 4-year-old (don’t we all?). And we couldn’t go very many places because the boys had the hand, foot, and mouth virus.

On Wednesday, we took advantage of the sunny weather and headed to the local park.

Matthew demonstrated how he climbs up the climbing wall.

And then he’d slide down the big slide.

David found his own circuit to run – he’d go up a ladder, across the bridge, up the stairs and down the slide.

When we got tired of running, we went to the pond to feed the geese.

Then we went to feed ourselves, at Chick-fil-A, naturally.

I came home on Tuesday evening and found this.

You might be tempted to focus on the complete disaster that is the family room (God knows I was) but it’s the nine holes in the ceiling I meant to capture.

Nine.

That’s in addition to the holes across the dining room wall, the one in the family room wall, the one in Matthew’s room, the one in David’s room, and the one in the tile of our bathroom.

I can see daylight through this one.

It goes from the family room into the master bath.

The plumber said that the pipes turned out to be “a bit more complicated” than he thought. I didn’t dare roll my eyes. He was the only guy who could fix it all.

The good news is, the pipes are done, the water works, and the holes are patched. The bad news is,  now most of the house looks like the family room picture above. Except with a 1/4 inch layer of dust on every single surface.

It may have been simpler just to move.

What do you do with two sick kids and no water? You take them to the Air and Space museum!

At least, that’s what I did last Friday when we needed to be out of the house. We had a good time. The boys mostly stayed in the stroller as we walked around looking at planes. Matthew had lots of good questions, most of which I could only sort of answer.

When we needed a snack break, we went to the McDonald’s where the boys could run off their energy and I could drink some coffee.

We got some toys planes at the gift shop and headed back out to see our favorite thing,

the space shuttle!

We also liked walking under the concord, looking at the funny acrobatics planes, and checking out the SR 71.

Not bad for a couple of sick kids and their sort of tired mother.

We enjoyed trick-or-treating on Saturday night. Our costumes did not go off as planned (story of our lives these days) but the boys had a lot of fun. David ran around the house with his pumpkin bucket chanting “trick-or-treat…candy!”

Here we are before heading out. David is dressed as “Super David” and Matthew is a pirate.

They were pretty excited and getting a family shot was nearly impossible.

At our first house, David tried to take the candy and eat it right then and there. He was Very Mad when I insisted he put it in his bucket. I finally opened a packet of M&Ms and gave him one at a time.

We trick-or-treated until it started to rain in earnest, then headed home. The boys watched a Halloween movie with Nana and Grandpa while Steven and I enjoyed a drink with our neighbors at the annual Halloween-night-social-on-the-pipe-stem.

Now I have a big basket of candy on top of the washer. Sadly, the boys only got one mini Baby Ruth bar, and no Butterfingers. What is wrong with people? Those are clearly some of the best candy bars around. I count on Halloween to get my fix. I guess I’ll have to make do with Milky Way bars this year.

Sometimes our days are good, sometimes our days are bad.

And sometimes our days are ridiculous.

The day before the plumbers started putting huge holes in the walls to reach our decrepit pipes, David came down with a fever. He has been miserable. We think, but we can’t confirm, that he has canker sores in his mouth. He complains loudly about eating and drinking, but is hungry and thirsty.

And then, because it just wasn’t interesting enough around here, Matthew got sick. Another lost day of school, not to mention the quandary of what to do with two feverish children when We Have No Water.

We went to the Air and Space museum for the morning. I’ll post pictures later, but I just don’t have the energy to download them right now. Sick children don’t sleep and neither does their mother.

Last Friday night, our mom’s group had their annual Trunk or Treat. We got there late, and then it rained, but the boys had a really good time.

That is actually the best picture I have. They were in constant motion, first to get treats, then to dodge the rain, then running around after dinner.

Matthew was dressed as a vampire. David was dressed as Super David. We have been enjoying the candy and the bouncy eye balls since. (Yes, really. Bouncy eye balls. Genius!)

Halloween, we are (almost) ready!

The boys went out to rake leaves on Sunday. Steven piled the leaves up neatly, then showed the kids how to jump into them,

and roll around,

and toss them in the air,

while yelling

“Faaaaaallllllllll!”