In-State travel is doomed

Last summer we tried to travel as a family and I ended up with an ectopic pregnancy and had to fly home. This winter we drove to Anchorage and had to cut our trip short due to hand foot mouth disease rearing its ugly head 20 minutes from our destination.
This weekend we took the motorhome to Anchorage for a hockey tournament for Matt. Gwendolyn was just getting past the worst of her cold and Owen was just starting. I was chalking up Owens fever to the same thing Gwendolyn just had. Today it progressed worse and he looked so miserable. He had a rash on his cheeks and his arms were starting to show signs of rash. Doing what any mother of my generation does, I googled his symptoms. Scarlet fever and fifths disease were the two possibilities. We decided that it was enough to warrent a trip to an unknown location containing an unknown doctor.
He was a terror for the poor dr, crying if she even looked at him. She was able to see well enough into his mouth during a scream to see the misery he was in. Yep, strep throat was the verdict. She gave me the option of amoxacillian twice a day for 10 days or ONE shot in the leg. Heck yeah I will take the shot option. He didn't like my choice, but it was so much better than trying to force medicine into him. That normally results in him barfing up half of what I give him. 5 hours later and he is back to his normal self and the rash is almost gone. Amazing. I just hope he doesn't give it back to Gwendolyn. We should be good to go in the next couple days that we will be able to have fun during out weekend.
But I am starting to think there is a curse on our In-State travels.

She must be listening....

I brought Gwendolyn to a work function with me last night. I was present to parents and teens about the consequenses of minor consuming alcohol. I was co-presenting with a PTA mom who has a daughter with a DUI as a senior at that high school. Gwendolyn was listening as the other lady was giving her scare story. At one point in the lecture the lady used the word "stupid" and Gwendolyn turned to me and wispered "that lady said a bad word". I was just please that she realized it was not a nice word.
Though I am afraid I may have taught that very word to Owen this past week while driving him around. There were many stupid drivers and I felt the need to make the profound statement that they were stupid, even though they couldn't hear me. I felt a little better, till I remembered my son was sitting behind me. Oops, it has to be a little better than teaching Gwendolyn "dammit".

polite, lazy, and stubborn....

That sums up my boy!!
He will bless anyone who sneezes and even pulls off a "bless you" for himself, too cute.
But that child will NOT climb the stairs by himself. I will leave him down there for upwards of 20-30 minutes, crying his fool head off while I promise and threaten from the top. Will.Not.Move!! I normally go get him and then put his snotty face in time out in his room.
Does not change a thing!! This is where the stubborn title comes into play. If he does not want to do something, it aint happening.
Polite, Lazy, Stubborn, but darn cute!!

Seperation Anxiety at 4 years old??

I don't understand this new change that Gwendolyn is going through. She has always been this super outgoing, doesn't need mom, kind of girl. It started on Easter Sunday, she was happy to be going to Church, practically skipped up to the door of the church. The second we enter the doors she put her brakes on and wouldn't move and wouldn't look up, just kept saying she was scared. We were late and the Church was packed, so I didn't handle it well, I just dragged her crying self to a seat and scolded her odd behavior. She then didn't want to see her Grandma who was sitting with us and didn't want to go to the nursery where Owen was. Once we got her to the nursery, she sat by the door for the first half of Church before she would go play and join in. I tried talking with her about it later and all she would say is she was scared. Yesterday I went to drop them off at the daycare lady they go to one day a week. She has been fine going there for many months, once she got used to it. Yesterday, not so much. From the minute she woke up she insisted she didn't want to go the Cheryls, she wanted to go to Grandmas. I tried letting her know that wasn't an option, grandma had work to do. She was quiet on the way to Cheryls and started whining once we were there that she didn't want to stay. I tried letting her know she could call me at work anytime she wanted and that Daddy would be home from snowmachining that night and we would all play a game together. Still crying and clinging bad. Owen is off playing, amazingly enough. I don't know what to make of it and finally just leave her there like that. I call later and Cheryl said she was just fine minutes after I left. It hurt like hell leaving her there like that though. Again this morning with the pre-school drop off. Normally she runs in ahead of me and is gone, I have to hunt her down for a kiss good-bye. Nope, she wanted to be carried, she didn't want to go off and play even though two little girls (Callie and Bethany) each came up and asked her to go play with them. I held her and hugged her, thinking she just needed a minute of that. Never got better or out of her funk. Finally just handed her off to her teacher and left with her crying. This SUCKS and I want it to end. I talked with my cousin for a few minutes after drop-off and was able to peek in and see that she was fine, sitting a little off from the circle, but fine. I just wonder what sort of effect me bailing on her is having on her poor little mental state and motherly bond. I get the anxiety when there is a change and she is just starting a new routine, but we have been doing this same thing for over a year.