Weekly Wind Downs {The Weeks We Gave to Influenza} Dec 4-17th

Sunday, December 4th - we got to do the Advent reading and candle lighting at church.  Then we came home, and while Evie napped the big kids babysat and Mike and I ran to do a bit of Christmas shopping.

The rest of the afternoon was for play-doh, an hour of outside time, and our own Advent.

Monday was a school day, and during morning time we talked about St. Nicholas.  Monday evening I encouraged the kids to put their shoes out for treats, as follows the tradition of St. Nicholas Day.

Alas, I wasn't around when they found their treats, as a virus hit me like a ton of bricks and I never got out of bed.  Thus went the next two weeks in our home.  

Soup, resting, coughing, spitting, upset stomachs, vitamins, hydration, more resting, more coughing...

On Friday we tried to celebrate Natalee's birthday.  Poor thing.  I also took an appointment to urgent care and was disappointed to learn that this virus could last for up to two weeks.  They gave me an inhaler for my lungs and I inquired about whether family members without symptoms could leave for activities and the doctor assured me they could.

So, Saturday, Mike took my spot as volunteer lane timer and Natalee got to go to her swim meet.

She beat her time in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle again and tried something new - the 50 yard breaststroke.  She disqualified for a stroke error but we're so proud of her for trying!

The rest of us stayed home and rested.

Being sick consumed our next week of December as well.  Such a disappointment.

We abused water with long bathtub soaks (glow stick baths) and warm showers.

We began week 3 of Advent.

On Tuesday I took Zayden in to the clinic to be checked.  While I tested positive for nothing on Friday, he did test positive for Influenza A.  His lungs were okay, so we went home to just be more patient.

The countdown calendar has been kind of a disappointment as so many of the activities we haven't felt like doing or been able to do - look at Christmas lights, make gingerbread houses, go to Jace's Lion King play, and others that were about co-op, story time at the Book Vault, etc.  

We've snuggled.  Watched too much TV.  Tried to get fresh air everyday.  Coughed.  And napped.  So much napping.  Granny Sara sent food up with Aunt Penny and it helped us get through the worst of the days.

The ones who could do independent subjects did so and the rest of us just got through the days.

On Thursday I turned 37.  It was another just getting by day.  Bless my sisters who sent pizza, bread sticks, and cinnamon sticks and tried to make the day special.  The sickness caught up to Mike early in the week so he tried but really he just needed to rest and had plenty of work to do from home.

Mike went back to work Friday and worked all weekend on a project.  Saturday the kids played so nicely and I wrapped some presents.  

We all laid down to nap in the afternoon and slept so hard none of us heard Papa Curtis stop by and drop off fries and frosties.  Zayden was even asleep right on the couch and said he didn't hear him.  We've needed all that sleep to recover.

Just like that, December is slipping by.  I'm devastated that we've missed so much, but trying to hold to all we've got and be thankful we all remained at home through our sickness.

Weekly Wind Down {Blown Power, Garden Veggies?, Too Much Eating Out, Backyard Owies} Aug 7-13

Mike had 10 hour days (plus with school starting on campus soon it's just unpredictable when we'll see him), so we worked on "surviving and thriving" this week.

We ate.  

We also wisely used our leftovers so that Mom was not in the kitchen constantly.

now she's a dill pickle lover...specifically Claussen hamburger slices

one of the few things that made it in our container garden...

Mike smoked a pork for several hours Saturday.

We played...

Xavier lowered a swing for her.  When we visited at Annette's I watched Ev swing and swing and wondered why she didn't do that at home.  Then I realized all our swings were too high for her.

We washed dirty feet constantly...

We worked, some of us harder than others...

We rested...

We healed backyard owies with sno cones, soap & water, band-aids, and with some pampering...

blisters!

clean everything well and a little toe polish to brighten the mood!

sno cone and a show while they dry and while mom tends to Zayden's face injury...

There were therapy appointments and we did read alouds.  The kids accumulated 40 hours outside and had many a grand adventure!

Lows:

Sunday early morning (1-3 a.m.) was restless with power blinks and a long outage.  Mike worked a full day Sunday to recover the campus after the power outage and we had to worship and do lunch without him.  

Monday we blew several fuses and had to have Brad the electrician come inspect our panel for safety.  We are thankful he deemed it safe.  He thinks the several power outages we faced Sunday morning were just hard on it.

Mike's long days are lonely for us and exhausting for him.  He has also been going in well before his time and staying after on many days to get things ready for students and staff.  August always makes us wish he were an hourly employee.  We are thankful for this stable job.  {College students, thank your IT staff.}

Highlights:

Friends invited us for lunch Sunday after church and we had a wonderful time visiting.  It helped our day without Mike go much faster, though we wished he could have joined us.  We are thankful.  (I was visiting and forgot to take a single picture.)

Mia was dismissed from speech therapy services!  Way to go, Mia!

We visited Aunt Annette at her house.  Marcia was there, too, and Ameliya got to help her plant succulents and Annette let her bring one home.  Then Natalee had a teen night for the co-op teens and had a wonderful time.  

I took the other children to the park and fed them Dominos.  A couple other families met us, so the younger crew got to see friends, too, and I got to visit with moms.  I got zero pictures of our visit with Annette or the park play.  Evalynn, who did not fall asleep on our hour drive home at 9 p.m. (after 3 hours at the park), even exclaimed, "MOM! you didn't take my picture with Nanette!"  She was not impressed with my lapse and told me "do better next time."  I cannot imagine where she's heard that.

Friday was intended to be Mike's day off since he worked 4 tens, and besides a couple of phone calls, he actually got the day.  We decided to get to the public pool before it closed for the season and made the best of the day even though it didn't feel quite balmy enough!  The younger 3 played until we called it a day. (We swam 1:00-5:20.)  Natalee and Xavier gave it a good couple of hours and then soaked in the sunshine and dried off.

It was not busy at all so there was no waiting for anything.  Mia found a friend from girls camp and that made her afternoon go quickly!  Zayden loved that the water basketball wasn't busy and he played for a long time at the hoop.  Evie got brave at the kiddie slide and finally decided she liked it!

I spent hours Wednesday sorting out a menu plan...that started Monday.  I had lapsed laying out anything for supper after the pool Friday when everyone would be starving.  We had Wendy's for supper.  When we eat out, especially twice in a row (pizza Thursday, Wendy's Friday, I have a hard time not beating myself up about the expense and the nutrition.  Mike told me to give it up - that it didn't appear anyone was lacking in any way!  

And there goes another week - the last week before school starts & we made the best of it!