The Mono-Mutation and a Foundation of Ribs

Weird thing - Andrew got in his bed and went to sleep tonight. I think we all have some mutated-to-be-like mono virus. We are so sleepy! Lissy wants to sleep all day, Andrew and Noah have been napping, I can barely blink my eyes for tiredness . . . this is weird, people. My children are not nappers these days.

My kids have been extra tired for about a week, but it just hit me yesterday. Oh, my, did it. I was helping Josh with a science project, trying to make Asian Lettuce Wraps, and keep all the rest together . . . around 7:45 I was sitting on a stool exhaustedly watching the boys run around in their underwear with weapons. How would I ever finish the science, calm the children, put them to bed, and clean the kitchen by myself while in such a fog? I needed chocolate. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, the door opened . . . my Gary!! Holy crud, that was the earliest I'd seen him home by several hours. Not only that, he'd brought mint chocolate chip ice-cream sandwiches and a gallon of milk (we were out). Holy choir of angels, my life was saved. Best part was, it wasn't because I was whining on the phone to him. I was trying to do it all myself, and he just felt the urge to help. Love, love him. Wish I would have gone to bed early, but we talked and talked . . .

Spent the morning judging the science fair. All of the kids who gave oral presentations were adorable and knew what they were talking about, and so it made me sad not to send some of them on to district. I wanted to give them hugs and tell them what great kids they are to do it, but I guess my job was to write down scores . . . this is why I'm cut out for teaching little kids, I like situations when everybody can feel great. Anyway, it was fun to see the projects and to have a little get-away. 

Also, gotta get this paper off of my counter, but I have to record it for Sarah about it first. Found it in some church stuff from quite a while ago. It's a sketch of Lehi's dream, wherein I labeled the foundation of the great and spacious building as "Britney Spears and baby back ribs." Beware, people!

Take That Winter - It's an Update

The life-force sucking powers of winter are in full effect, but I'm gonna deal it a blow straight to the forehead by posting a few updates. From last week.

I had it all planned out, this update of mine, but now I forgot. I'm having brain issues. It seems to be going around here. Noah woke up with a fever yesterday and said he was "just so sick," then proceeded to lay on the couch for probably 5 hours in the middle of the day. Today he was a lot better, but Andrew did about the same thing. He fell asleep on the living room floor around noon. This from the kid who rarely falls asleep ever. Luckily for Andrew, Josh was home from school early to administer his ibuprofen when he got a fever. Josh was very proud to report, "I made sure he drank the whole thing. There was still some in there in the end, so I put it on my finger and had him lick it." I feel like I'm fighting something, or really, it could just be what's left over from the sinus infection that laid me out last week. Hooray for dad and mom and their emergency antibiotics! Josh's nose is all runny and Lissy is SAD, but no fevers for them.

Okay, the health run-down is out of the way, I should tell you that I live in a multi-sports-arena household. There is a Chargers (actually, chrjrs) football field in Josh and Noah's room, a soccer field in the toy room, and a Stallions basketball court in the hall . . . I thought that was it for our masking tape, but when I stepped out of the shower the other day I discovered a boxing ring in my room. Sweet. Except that Noah's face looks like he's spent time competing in it.

So . . . see what I mean? Started writing 3 days ago. Can't piece things together when I'm holding down the fort alone. But, the fort is still here, so we're in business. The kids earned their Saturday night movie, meaning the house is not completely trashed, and we even made banana bread together today with only half the kitchen covered in flour. I also made it to the gym for the first time in a few weeks, and the bank, and got bountiful baskets, and bought a necklace, and signed Josh up for baseball. Listing accomplishments is not the stuff a quality life is made of, true, but I felt good to do them, even if by the time we got to baseball signups Lissy looked like a small chicken because she'd eaten a sucker followed by a kleenex (small white pieces of fluff stuck all over her).

Andrew is doing awesome with going potty lately. It's all him. He's been intermittent since February (2012. A year ago. Oh, my.), but suddenly just always goes. So I let him pick out some new underwear he is VERY proud of. Poor kid sometimes has to take a bath when he goes #2 even in the toilet, but I can't deal with going gluten/dairy/gmo/hfcs/msg/&(*^^ free to see what helps until after the session when we have our Gary back. Right now I'm just pretty proud of Andrew, and think he's adorable. What other kid holds his sister's toes as he walks into the store with his mom so that she can be warm? ("I'll keep Lissy's toes warm, mommy.")

Almost forgot the popcorn! Ok, done. Anyway, Josh did a report on arctic foxes (assigned), and brought in an actual arctic fox hide (thank you disvision of wildlife resources!). The kids at school loved it, and it was cute to see that Josh actually learned quite a bit about the animal. One more fun thing - I helped with a portion of the stake relief society conference last week, and my home teacher watched my kids. So, they got to play wii, and I got to learn about serving the people around you. I really enjoyed it, because we usually do humanitarian projects, and while I really love those, sometimes it's so much harder to serve a neighbor than to send a quilt to Kazakhstan. Thinking about The Help and the poor starving children of Africa.

Love you guys. Tomorrow we will be eating and playing with the Tripps, then dropping in to meet Allison's new baby Penelope. Should be an awesome day. Josh wrote on the calendar that it's the Supperbull, too, so there's that. (Update to the update - it was a great day. Andrew fell asleep in sharing time, Penelope was indeed adorable, and the Tripps were fun even though I had a headache. That's pretty fun. Oh, yes, and to reiterate, Andrew totally fell asleep in sharing time.)

Oh, and it's been too long - never wrote that we got to visit the Stansbury Animal Hospital for a field trip for preschool last week. Too cute! Lissy and Andrew just wanted to be wherever the animals were, but Noah seemed to be studying up on his vet skills. Should not have forgotten my camera then.

And finally, we have had some friends that have been having a very, very hard winter for various reasons. We've tried to help them out, I hope enough. I feel so bad for what they have been through, but so blessed that we have been able to help a little. My husband-less time flies so much faster when I have someone to think about besides me.