The Puddles

Ben is just so excited about being in scouts.  His enthusiasm is infectious.  His troop is new and needs a little help with communication, but there are a lot of boys and it is neat to see that.

You can tell from Ben’s smile that he loves being there.

Busy week. On Tuesday Ainsley’s troop went to visit the EMS station for a tour and on Thursday Madie’s troop went to the  Animal Shelter.  Ainsley took notes at the animal shelter.  After getting to see almost 900 animals, the notes were interesting.  Luckily it wasn’t a list of all of the animals that she wanted me to get her.  Madie kept asking for a cat.  Not going to happen. This one demon cat in the house is enough.

Our beloved tree finally died.  It has been sick for years.  We have had two different tree experts look at it and none could save the poor thing.  I love tree and don’t want to cut it down, but the prospect of the dead tree falling on our house was not an option.  So down it came.

It was awesome.  Chris had all of these big plans to work on the yard, but he ended up spending the entire time watching these guys work their magic.  When the kids came home from the school on the bus they spent the next hour watching the workers finish taking away our lovely tree.

I cried when it was gone.  I am not looking forward to summer in the garage.  That tree was the only thing providing shade for the garage.  It certainly makes the kitchen brighter every morning.  Really bright!

But all good things must come to an end.  We tried to take care of the tree but it needed to move on and be used for mulch somewhere else.

She’s our star.  Adorable.  She had her lines memorized after the first day she received her script.  She really wanted more lines, but she took pride in the few that she had and really worked on them.  She is dedicated to her craft!

Finally, no fever.  The girls woke up today with no fever.  Thank you, God.

I decided yesterday to take them in to the doctor.  I looked at their throats in the morning and decided that it didn’t look good.  Huge tonsils and nasty white stuff covering it all.  So we went it and an hour and a half later we left with a prescription for antibiotics and a diagnosis of strep throat (Ainsley had a sinus infection too.).  It was almost 3pm before we finally got home with filled prescriptions in hand.  Just in time to get Ben off the bus.

It has been a long three days.  I will be glad when it is over.  I still pray that Ben doesn’t get sick.  But we will deal with it if he does.

The girls will hopefully go back to school tomorrow.  They are happy.  They are just chillin’ today getting their energy back.  I’m ready to get them back into a routine.  And is wonderful to see them smile this morning and tell me that they are feeling much better.

It is Sunday morning and normally we would be sitting at church listening to a wonderful sermon on love.  Instead I am finally getting a break and drinking coffee at my computer with the office door closed.  It is nice.  Our world has been chaotic since Saturday morning.  First, Ainsley woke up with a fever.  By the evening, Madie was sick with a 103 fever.  Like dominoes.  Ben and I are desperately trying keep healthy.  Cross my fingers it will work.

Chris came home from the wedding last night exhausted.  I tell him my frustration of not getting anything done that afternoon and watching three Harry Potter movies in a row, and he responds with jealousy.  I guess I can see that.  It was nice to sit for several hours.  But I was sitting with Ainsley who insisted on being held while she struggled with a high fever (which meant she was constantly moving in my lap).  Any time I would get up she would yell for me to come back.   Then there was Madie who when she finally started running her fever wanted to be held too (a little hard to do for all of them at the same time).  And poor Ben just wanted to talk about the movie all during the movie.  Geez.  Poor kid just needed some attention too.

I closed my eyes during one of the movies and Ainsley was curled in my lap going through her sight word flash cards.  It was at that moment that she decided she needed my help.  So she would periodically pull open my eyelid and ask if this word was ____.  I would correct her or tell her that she is right, and she would let go of my eyelid.  After the tenth time, I told her to leave my eyelids alone.  It had been a long day.

Of course, it didn’t end at 10:00pm.  After I finally got everyone tucked in, I started cleaning the house.  And low and behold . . . Ainsley started screaming for me again.  Her fever had spiked and she had started throwing up mucus.  Lovely.  I tried to get her to crawl into our bed, but she kept writhing and screaming about her head (poor baby) and it was actually waking up Chris (poor baby).  I took her back to her bed and we both finally feel asleep around 4am.  Only to be awaken by Ben at 8 this morning.  “Mom.  There’s a phone call for you.” Thanks Ben. This is good and bad.  This is good because my son knows to get me up to answer the phone instead of doing it himself, but bad because it meant I had to finally get up.  Yuck.

So this morning started as a repeat of yesterday.  The girls’ fever has broken so they are feeling well enough to eat breakfast and change their clothes for the day.  So I am taking a moment to be by myself.  Yeah for me!  Hopefully this will last the rest of the day, but odds are not with me.  This will be short-lived and we will be back to the sick routine by the afternoon.

“Mommy, come cuddle with me!”declares Ainsley.

“Ok. Is everything ok?”

“No. I only feel better when you hold me in your arms!” says Ainsley as she she snuggles into my lap.

“Mommy!!  I need you!” yells Ainsley.

“Yes, Ainsley?”

“Mommy, I need some white blood cells.  Can you get me some?  My teacher at school says that I need them to fight my germies. Can you get them for me?”

We had a super busy week . . . again!  Madie had a major school project due. Two Girl Scout field trips for different troops. Meeting at work. Volunteering at school. Housework done (no. not really). Driving children from one place to another. And one rehearsal dinner with just Chris and I topped off our week.  Now I have to get to church to clean, get Madie to school to sing for the craft show, take care of A who woke up sick this morning with a fever and headache.  Only to come home at noon, so Chris can head off to perform a wedding at church this evening.

But then I get to come home and do my chores while dressed in my comfortable clothes.  I love Saturdays.  I have absolutely no where to go this afternoon and evening.  How cool is that. Time to recuperate from the week and plan for the week ahead.  I am grateful for this day.

“My breath is broken!” says Ainsley.

Ainsley tells me this at the birthday party last night.  She had been running so hard that she was worn out.