What's Up, Chuck?

This time of year some kids have snow days.  We have perfect weather for kids to play in.  While some kids get to play in the snow, this is our time to really enjoy being outside.  We get to ride bikes, play on the swings and run around at night playing capture the flag.  With the weather unsure if it's summer or winter here in Arizona it's been in the 80's or in the 50's - with a little breeze even!  (Honestly, a breeze that doesn't involve a major dust storm (HABOOB) is unheard of! Sadly, along with this weather (that is really rather wonderful) more icky sicky germs are shared and... my little buddies got the bug.  Aaron started feeling yucky at the annual Blue and Gold Banquet.... He's a super picky eater.  When he told me he didn't feel good I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to eat the food, or he didn't like the food, or he ate some and it didn't set well in his tummy.  (just FYI - the food was delish!)

                                                                                                           Benjamin and Aaron look so darn cute in their little Bear uniforms!  I keep calling them costumes though... ha ha oops.  They're standing with our honorary scout, Glen Griffin.  He's 80 years old and spoke to us about how scouting has changed since he was a cub.  His uniform is pretty awesomely vintage - and it was super cool to have him there!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

  I should have known something bad was going to happen.  There were signs earlier in the day...Signs like this:

Yes, Mickey's head came off.  It was an omen of things to come...

And then this:

Sophie was sleeping with her eyes open and her tongue sticking out... Okay - I know it's not an omen like Mickey's head being torn off but she was just so cute I had to share.  I mean really, cuteness factor is off the charts here! 

And then it happened in the middle of the night.  IT HAPPENED.  Mom and Dad heard little buddy Aaron coughing and crying in his bed. Mom went up to check on him and he was feeling horrible.  Aaron got to watch some TV with the 'rents, guzzle down some Motrin and sleep on the couch with Momma bear.  Shortly after Pops went to bed, the barf fountain started flowing.  And flowing.  And it was everywhere.  On every blanket, all of the clothes, everywhere.  I'm feeling barfy just thinking about it.  Yuck.   Momma got the washing machine going, attempting to rid the house of THAT smell.  You know the one....

 It was a long night with little sleep and lots of sicky ickies.  Come to think of it - why did the barf start after Pop's went to bed??? It was almost like he flipped the "barf on" switch... hum... 

 Anyway... Benjamin was feeling sick and had been complaining about a sore throat so we kept both boys home from school... and any plans/appointments were cancelled. I spent the day washing anything that could possibly, maybe, perhaps have any microscopic element of barf on it.  I was fetching this and that for the boys and hanging out snuggling with them.  After the second day/night of the sickies - once we were sure it wasn't allergies or some 24 hour bug - it was time for the antibiotics. While we were waiting for the prescriptions to be filled I made some stake and potato's with salad for dinner.  What was I thinking???  I had two little guys with no appetite and in desperate need of nourishment.  I decided we would make a detour on our way to CVS and pick up some Jamba for dinner.

Ibuprofen and Jamba... the dinner of champions... or sickies..

But when we got to the pharmacy we still had to wait a bit for all of our medicines to be filled.  I guess you could say we had dinner at CVS...The kids were feeling horrible, but they were super patient.  Benjamin could hardly stand his sore throat and Aaron was just miserable.  Roo made good use of her time reading magazines.                                                 

There were also adventures getting their little arms stuck in the blood pressure machine - it made for great entertainment.  But I was seriously sleep deprived at this point and a bit slap happy... and full of Jamba.  And really, if CVS is going to have a machine that has buttons to push, lights to light up and something to stick arms or legs into (don't ask about the leg part...) and then label it "children need adult supervision" - well of course I'll just sit next to it while the kids are making use of the electronic toy.  It's way better than listening to them whine and complain about feeling sick.



 Once we were home we got the boys going on the antibiotics... and my little Roo was feeling somewhat neglected.  After all, the boys got to stay home from school and she had to go.  Of course we were having some big fun party without her (or so her imagination told her).  So I played cats cradle with her and I let her do my hair.  She does such a great job doing hair!!!  And most of the time it feels really good.  ;)

I always let her do whatever she wants with
 my hair.  Didn't she do a great job?!!? 

                                                         This is us playing Cat's cradle, and then a picture of how I feel about it... ha ha.

And then... then something really, really horrible happened.  It was so horrible that before I tell you I need to share another super cute picture of Sophie, she was sleeping on my lap hugging her angry bird toy.  

She is just precious.  

Okay.  Now I can share the horrible news.  Wait. Sit down first!!

Day 3 of the boys being sick.  It was a Friday - Roo felt left out because once again the boys had to stay home from school.  I let her stay home with us - at that point I really didn't care if she was staying home or going to school.  Not because it's not a big deal, but because sometime during the night I GOT SICK!  NOOOOOO!!!  SICK, like really sick.  And the sick made my MS go a bit nutty.  Being sick is the worst. Honestly I think I have enough health problems that I should be immune to anything else.  I guess it doesn't work that way.  Ha ha.  

Though I was able to jump right onto antibiotics, I felt like I had the plague.  The boys were starting to feel better but were still needing medications throughout the days and still needed some extra TLC and fetching/finding.  I did my very best to take care of them - and I only lost it to tears once or twice... but I was super happy to hear the boys laughing and playing again!!  And the best thing about it was being in my comfy Jammie's all weekend with my cute, snugly Sophie by my side.   She's usually laying in my lap or snuggled in next to me nice and tight.  She makes me so happy, that little fur ball of mine.  But alas, this isn't about my little lap dog - it's the tale that is most horrible to tell, the one where the kids get sick, the mom gets sick, the kids get well, the mom is still sick, the house is a disaster, the sink is overflowing with dishes, but all is good in the world because Sophie was here to love us all better.   

AND THEN... after I finally got the dishes washed.. I had just a little glimpse to share that describes how much liquid medicine was consumed in a couple of days...

 I'm so happy to say that we are all healthy now.  There's no more barf anywhere.  The kids go to school again.  The weather is great and the kids can play outside without fear of burning up in the summer sun.  Thank goodness!