Sick little chick (or duck)

Really, I should have just known better.  Call it karma, Murphy's law or just dumb luck, but exactly one day after posting that I had never had a sick visit to the doctor for Ellie I received a call from day care saying that Ellie had a fever.  No Halloween party for Ellie at day care.  Fortunately it was a Friday and we are currently hoping that she is going to hold out without spiking another fever so she can go to school tomorrow.  And I suppose for the record I didn't actually go to the doctor for a sick visit (yet, since I am typing this I am positive I will be going tomorrow now).  For having a fever of up 104 she was quite a sport and it didn't hinder any of our plans for this weekend either.  And if having a fever makes her super cuddly and a little lethargic, well, things could be worse.

Saturday we went up to Austin, KY to visit the dairy farm that we buy our milk from at the Nashville Farmer's Market.  Real milk in glass bottles.  It is an investment, but one that we feel good about for sure.  JD Country Milk is a small family (well there are 9 kids who all still work on the farm) dairy farm that has done remarkably well since it inception about 4 or so years ago.  They have 30 cows that each produce about 50lbs of milk a day!  They actually have more demand than they can produce right now and buy some milk from a neighboring farm as well.  It was a beautiful day and up until we got home Ellie hadn't been running a fever.  They had a nice lunch for us as well and man was it good.  Cream of chicken and noodle soup, homemade bread and cornbread and so many tasty desserts it was insane.  I will say their chocolate chip cookies are the first ones to rival Beth Lee's.  Maybe I was just pregnant when I ate those, but I still hope every time I go to their house that she has made some.  (the recipe is actually from the NYTimes and requires 36 hrs of letting the batter rest.  I have made them and they are worth it).

On Sunday we did our regular family errands followed by a last minute ditch effort to find Mike a Halloween costume at Target.  We donned our outfits and headed over to our friends (and only friends here in Nashville) the Reynolds house to trick or treat in a neighborhood near theirs.  They have two daughters Emma and Sarah, who are 9 and 4 respectively.  Stu is in the Urology department at Vanderbilt as well, although we met via a recommendation through a friend and the Reynolds and the Drzewieckis had a double blind date.  (Turns out it is a lot harder to make friends when you are older, translated to married with kids).  Anyhow, we had a great time, it was a nice evening and Mom's old aerobics outfit made it's 3rd debut as my vinatge Jane Fonda Halloween costume and as always, was a hit.  Mike came through in clutch and was a nerd, and he really pulled it off well.  Ellie was a duckie, although since Pam bought her the costume and brought it down over her birthday I thought it was a little chickie.  It didn't even dawn on me that it was a duckie until I saw a woman in Whole Foods this morning and she mentioned that she had just seen a little duckie.  In fact, I had been trying to teach Ellie the Chicken Dance for weeks (without much success except she did enjoy watching me dance around like an idiot).  Anyways, she was a little duckie and was, of course, super cute.  She may not have said trick or treat, but she sure learned how to grab the candy out of the bowl quickly.

Full album of photos online at picasaweb.google.com/beth.drzewiecki

                                                               Cuddly Ellie

 
                                                            Some picturesque KY farmland

                                
                                                   Getting ready for some milking

                                                     The Medela of dairy farms

                                                   The bottling demonstration

                                          Ellie in her Halloween garb taking a break in her rocking char

                                               Happy Halloween!

                                                Ellie protesting being put on the ground

                                            She didn't actually like the hood but periodically left it up

                                                  Chickie, duck, who cares--she's cute!