my current favorite child

Oh, Hunter boy. The forgotten middle child. Preslie has been in the spotlight, receiving tons of attention for being hospitalized and Mack is constantly getting the terrorizer award for ripping things out, dumping, tearing, banging, hitting, and thrashing. So of course my quiet, content little dude falls by the wayside of his parents' attention. But he really doesn't like to be in the spotlight. Which is why it surprised me that he let me get this video...

Just because he doesn't demand the center of attention, doesn't mean he doesn't throw out some great one liners... Like the other morning when I was getting him ready for school and he said,
"Mom, would you STOP combing my hair with that KNIFE?"

And the other week when he offered our evening family prayer that went from sweet to sarcastic so subtley that we were all cracking up by the end...

"And please help Mom and Dad to have fun watching a movie while me and Preslie are sleeping"

And he was just so cute getting ready for his school Halloween party this morning. I was able to go to his class and help out with some games while Dax stayed home with Mack and Preslie. It is fun to see my kids at school in their element.

I took Preslie over to her Halloween party in the afternoon. It was the first time she's been to school since getting pneumonia. She loved seeing her friends again and had so much fun. I am hoping to ease her back to school next week full-time. Her energy level is still fairly low and her eyes seem dark and sunken in still. I think being sick that long and hard took it out of her. Plus, 2 weeks in kid time means a lot of growing up that we missed out on. She went into her sickness as one kid and is emerging as a new version. It is weird and hard to explain but she just seems different. More grown-up or maybe just wiser for having gone through such a hard time. Or maybe full-blown Preslie is not quite here.

I don't know but she made one cute pop star.

After the boys and I took Preslie to her party, I had one more dreaded errand I HAD to run. the school sent a notice home last week saying Hunter still needed one Hepatitis A shot to be current on his immunizations. I pulled into the parking lot at the hospital clinic and Hunter knew what was going down. How I got him in the building and then the elevator, I don't know, but he would not step foot in the clinic. The nurse came out and that is when the war began. Hunter yelled, "NO! NO! I'm not getting a shot!" and I grabbed him and dragged him kicking and screaming through the door, past the check-in desks, through the next door, down the hall, around the corner and into the little check-up room. All the while his shoes flying off his feet, passing nurses and doctors looking on in embarrassment/amazement/wonder as Frankenstein's Bride carried/dragged a flailing skeleton with every ounce of effort she could muster. Lagging not too far behind was a la-dee-dah little toddler in a jack-o-lantern suit that was being encouraged by the sweet nurse, "Come on, sis!"

Can we say HELLO FREAK SHOW ???

We get in there, and Hunter is still complete hysterics screaming and kicking that he will NOT get a shot and I finally get him in a hold like a baby as tight as I can with one arm behind his neck and one under his knees and he's bargaining with all his might when the nurse comes in and says, "Guess what bud? You're done!"

We both look bewildered as she hands me a print out showing that he has received both Hep A shots and to show that to the school and be on our way.

It would have been SO NICE to have known that. Well now that I was completely mentally and physically exhausted and Mack had missed his nap (which we payed for many times over as the day wore on) we got in the car and went home.

Let's just say Hunter had one lucky day.