Those early days were stressful and scary, though – and I remember how nervous Mallory was on that first day. It warmed my heart tremendously to see two special little girls, who have since become Mallory’s very dear friends, approach her from each side and take her by the hand to show her around the classroom. Here’s a picture from that day…you can see how apprehensive Mallory was, poor bug.

I was thinking of my kids and that whole experience as I read Elena’s Big Move, the story of a young girl who moves from Puerto Rico to the United States, leaving behind her home, school, and her friends. Elena, the young girl in the story, learns that her family will be moving to Indiana for her father’s job. She prepares for the move by taking lots of photographs of all the places and people in Puerto Rico that are important to her and which hold special memories. She puts these photos in a scrapbook to take with her and share with her new friends in Indiana.

After reading this story, I thought to myself, this is genius. I really wish I would have come up with this idea when we were getting ready to move. Although it would have been tedious trying to carve out some time to run around taking pictures of “our” McDonald’s and Starbucks and park playground and school classroom, I would have done it. It might have really helped all of the kids adjust to life in our new ‘hood, if we’d had a few memories of our old one.

This book would be a great addition to your school’s library or to your own library at home – it deals with a common life changing situation in a neat way – plus, it’s full of fun Spanish words. Check it out!

This book was provided to my family by the publisher for review purposes. We are donating it to our school’s library so other kids can benefit from it, too!

Possibly Related

• September 27, 2009 — Defining Twilight – OMG, my mom is tricking me into LEARNING.
• September 16, 2009 — Eating Right Kids at Safeway
• September 3, 2009 — Goodbyn Lunchboxes – Awesome!
• August 22, 2008 — I’m giving away a Sony Digital Frame!
• June 8, 2008 — Munchkin Bath Toy Review

Halloween was SO MUCH FUN. We had blizzard weather here in Colorado last week, and the kids were home from school on Wednesday and Thursday. I spent all day Thursday making their KISS costumes, and I think they came out super cute!

Friday, the weather was gorgeous, and they went back to school, thank goodness – didn’t want to miss the Halloween party at school! The weather was so beautiful all weekend, the kids did lots of sledding, snowman building, and just outdoor playing – in shorts and snowboots. Got to love Colorado!!

Here’s one of Pablo out in the backyard, BAREFOOT in the snow. Little stinker! He learned how to climb that tree in the background too, and I had to get him down from it about five times.

Oh, and here’s one of Paul and me at a Halloween party…festive! Look, even the hoax balloon from the Heene’s made an appearance! Yay, Balloon Boy!

Fun, fun weekend, but mama is Halloween’d out! I took down all the Halloween decorations yesterday and I’m SO ready to settle back into our boring everyday routine! Bring on Christmas!!

Edit: Whoops! Just realized I didn’t post any pictures from the other Halloweenie stuff we did…lookie here:

From our neighborhood Halloween party:

Kayley really enjoying herself:

And K and T carving pumpkins:

(She was annoyed at the kids’ school party, because little kids kept telling her they liked her “costume” and her funky hair!)

Possibly Related

• September 25, 2009 — Fall Break!
• April 27, 2009 — But…it’s almost May?
• April 17, 2009 — And now I’m drinking my dinner.
• November 14, 2008 — It’s snowing!
• November 3, 2008 — Frankenberry and Count Chocula.

Plex!

I still have another couple of walls, and I think I’m going to do Toodee on one wall and DJ Lance on another. I’m also pretty certain the boombox is going to go somewhere. I’m still regretting painting Foofa gigantic when I did the rest of them smaller, but the kids all like her so much, she needed to be BIG. Anyway. It’s coming along and looking good, even if I did intend to have it all done a couple of weeks ago.

Want to see the rest? They’re on Flick right here.

Possibly Related

• October 5, 2009 — Here’s Foofa!
• October 2, 2009 — First character complete…it’s Muno!
• October 1, 2009 — Things to come!
• September 30, 2009 — Checkin’ in on Day 6 – BYE, TRAINING WHEELS!
• September 25, 2009 — Fall Break!

He was trying to make himself feel better – he started swinging again, really high – but crying the whole way. He kept hollering, “I need ice! I’m sorry, tooth! I’m sorry!” It was kind of heartbreaking and funny all at once. Poor kid!

The tooth fairy visited our house and brought a Lego set for Pablo. Just a little one, with a few people, a traffic signal, and several signs. It’s adorable, and exactly the sort of thing he LOVES. That tooth fairy, she just knows exactly what to bring! He was sad to leave it behind when it was time to go to school!

Possibly Related

• May 31, 2009 — Lost a tooth! Then REALLY lost it.
• October 2, 2009 — Bendawhat? Bendawho? Bendafan!
• August 2, 2009 — Sign of a Good Party: Finding People’s Teeth!
• May 29, 2009 — When will I ever do the right thing?
• May 28, 2009 — Fish oil, fish oil, eat it up, yum!

Based upon your description, it appears that the product may have been spoiled before you opened it. If the seal is broken before the container is opened, microorganisms in the air may cause the product to spoil…

I would say that’s the conclusion we’ve all arrived at. In addition to their letter, they sent me all of this:

Thank you for handling the problem appropriately, Campbells/Swanson – we’re good. I’m not mad at you! My kids eat grilled cheese with tomato soup every Sunday. We can’t quit you! I wasn’t even expecting such a generous cache of coupon savings, either. My only issue was with your staffer trying to explain away the problem in such a sneaky way.

My husband, though, thinks all of this is ridiculous. I told him the entire sordid tale, about blogging about the mold, the Campbells/Swanson person leaving me an anonymous comment, and about finally getting my coupons. And when I finished my story, he rolled his eyes and said, “Good sleuthing, Scooby.”

I think that’s my cue to step away from my consumer watchdog role.

Possibly Related

• October 16, 2009 — Update to the Campbells/Swanson Mold Thing.
• October 1, 2009 — What the…MOLD in unopened Swanson’s Chicken Broth??
• October 19, 2007 — Cold Sores are Pretty.
• April 13, 2006 — Boredom and Piss.

Besides Kayley, Nikki has been the sickest little one in the house. Her temperature hasn’t dipped below 100 since Monday. Right now, it’s just hovering around 100, but it has been up near 104 a few times. She’s been down for the count! Poor bug. The other kids have been a little sick – pretty up and down, really – but not too bad. And I’ve had a rough few days myself. Basically, the only one who dodged the bullet is Paul, since he gets to LEAVE every day!

I think we’re turning a corner, though. It’s beautiful outside, and the kids are feeling almost 100% like themselves again. I think we’re going to drink in some sunshine and fresh air while we rake leaves. I’m certain the exercise will do us all some good. Kayley disagrees with me on this, but I’m going to bully her into it. Girlchild is NOT a fan of the rake.

Get well, everyone! Come on, now! Halloween’s a coming! I’m not making four KISS costumes for nothin’!

Edit: Whoops, forgot to mention the whole reason I sat down to post. Pablo is NOT sick. I repeat, Pablo is NOT sick! My boy who always gets SO sick all the time, who is never far from the nebulizer when illness strikes – he didn’t get sick this time! The pediatrician gave us a prescription for Tamiflu, as a preventive measure – due to his reactive airway disease. I read about the crazy side effects (including, ack, hallucinations!) but ultimately decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. He’s taking the Tamiflu, and we haven’t seen ANY bad side effects so far – not even a tummy ache. He HAS been a little wired, though. Anyway – just wanted to share that, in case you’re wondering about giving Tamiflu to a child with autism, or to a child with reactive airway disease. He’s doing great.

Possibly Related

• April 9, 2009 — Don’t wanna catch my ammonia!
• April 1, 2009 — Reactive Airway Disease SUCKS!
• October 7, 2009 — Meh.
• April 10, 2009 — Shouldn’t I be losing my mind right about now?
• November 5, 2008 — Uh oh!

Everyone look at the container picture toward the bottom. There is a large slice in the container that was almost certainly caused by a stock boy slicing the shrink wrap off the entire case. This would cause oxygen to get into container which would then produce mold. This can happen to any carton variety broth.

Huh! Well, maybe that was the case. I decided to look at the original images and zoom in on the area she mentioned. And you know what? I think she’s right. I do see what may be a slice in the packaging. At first, I thought it was just a wrinkle, but it may in fact be a slice. I figured the packaging must have been compromised in some way. That makes perfect sense. Good sleuthing, there!

Then I got curious as to why this random person was so interested in what happened, and I took a closer look at their email. Superman@hotmail.com Really? Really? Your email address is superman@hotmail.com? Not superman23475? It seemed fishy. So I looked at the IP address. Aha! My mystery problem solving reader is someone affiliated with Campbells. And they didn’t get here by accident, either – they got here via a very specific Google search.

Uhhhh…why the game playing? Why is Campbells hiding behind a fake email address, leaving me a comment anonymously? Is THAT how they handle bad press? I never said Campbells/Swansons was at fault for anything – why all the blatant ass-covering? Why is it SO HARD for someone from Campbells/Swanson to just say, “Yeah, that was GROSS! It almost certainly happened after it left our warehouse, but we feel bad that your dinner was ruined, so here’s a coupon, because we’re cool like that.” Just, y’know, some ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. There’s no need to be underhanded and slimy about it. What the hell, man?

And I never got my coupons!

Possibly Related

• October 20, 2009 — Campbells/Swanson Makes Good!
• October 1, 2009 — What the…MOLD in unopened Swanson’s Chicken Broth??
• March 23, 2009 — I love my house! But…
• July 30, 2008 — Uh, call first, okay?
• October 19, 2007 — Cold Sores are Pretty.

I have a cold. Booo. I never get a cold, even when the rest of the family is sniffling and snuffling and chugging shots of Day-Quil. I have a strong and mighty immune system! Or, so I thought. I went to bed last night all stuffed up, and I woke up today with a big headache, and I just don’t feel like doing a damned thing. I know I’m going to regret being a slug in a few days, when we’re TRAPPED in the house, but for now, I just don’t even care. I just want to sit on the couch and watch Spongebob. Laundry be damned. Sunshine and fresh air, suck it. I’m going to wallow in my misery, since my kids are off track and I don’t have to be anywhere!

Possibly Related

• October 17, 2009 — The House of FLU!
• April 9, 2009 — Don’t wanna catch my ammonia!
• April 1, 2009 — Reactive Airway Disease SUCKS!
• November 5, 2008 — Uh oh!
• September 1, 2008 — Rabbit, Rabbit.

The trailer is after the jump, because it wonkies up my blog template:

I so enjoyed it! And the unagi rolls at Tokyo Joes weren’t bad, either.

Possibly Related

• September 10, 2006 — Shake and bake, baby!
• April 20, 2009 — I’m stalking you, Tokyo Joes!
• January 24, 2008 — Freedom! Well, not so much.
• January 18, 2008 — Date Night at The Improv!
• July 30, 2006 — Yay for boring days!

Possibly Related

• June 15, 2009 — Yay, global warming!
• June 30, 2009 — OMG! Eight days since I last blogged?
• April 20, 2009 — I’m stalking you, Tokyo Joes!
• April 17, 2009 — And now I’m drinking my dinner.
• April 12, 2009 — Terror at Chik-fil-A!