five for friday: the flu

-Amos got the flu-

If you read last week's update, you already knew this, but Amos came down with the flu right before the weekend.  And not just stomach bug stuff.  Mouth swabbed, Influenza confirmed.  We started Tami-flu that day, but he was pretty bad.  He also happens to be my most dramatic sick-o.  We quarantined him down in the playroom and filled his time with lots of laying around and watching Disney movies on VHS.  I knew those would come in handy sometime.  

-Silas got the flu-

We thought we were doing a good job of keeping Amos isolated.  Eating at different times, and even sleeping in a different room, but the inevitable happened.  Silas had a fever.  Tami-flu to the rescue.  I don't know if we just caught it early enough, but he never seemed to get as bad as Amos or...

This was Sunday morning.  Not pictured is all the laughing and coughing that took place.

-Ivan got the flu-

Sunday night poor little Ivan started acting sick and spiked a fever.  We had a very rough night that even involved him in our bed.  He hated sleeping with us and eventually ended up sleeping for a little bit in his pack-n-play.  Not sure if I slept that night or not.  Monday was still pretty rough, but the Tami-flu must have started kicking in because he slept a lot better Monday night - thankfully.  I was definitely starting to get worn-down.

-Amos wakes up with one eye swollen?!?-

And wouldn't you guess that Amos walked down Monday morning with his eye looking like this.

What's that?  He was the one that was getting better.  He still seemed a lot better and had no fever, but what's with the eye.  After a visit to the doctor, again.  We found out that sometimes infections can set in around an eye.  That's what we guessed happened, and started him on some antibiotics.  It's no longer swollen and he seems pretty much back to himself. 

-Fever free-

As of Thursday, everybody is fever free.  We're all still a little worn-out and taking good naps, but I think we are through with the flu.

Friday rolled around and everyone still had their lingering cough, but being fever free for over 24 hours, we decided it was the perfect day for a picnic at the park.  It actually felt weird to get everyone in the car and go somewhere.  That shows how longs its been.

 This one has no fear.

 And then we took a walk around the trail.

I'm planning on venturing out on my own tonight to refresh a little.  Target here I come.  It has been a long week!  

five for friday: outside edition

-While Mom's Away-

Last weekend, the women of our church gathered to eat together and learn together.  It was such a good time with the Lord and other women.  While I was away, the boys went to play.  They continued our tradition of Family Movie night.  These two are forming their own special friendship.

And the next day they went on a hike/scavenger hunt.  Dad thinks up all the cool things.  Here they are posing by their small tree.  And by the large tree.

Pretty sure they can all throw rocks all day long.

 After his Sunday morning bath, this one was all kinds of handsome.  The boys said he looked silly.  I think he just looks BIG.  How?

-Cheddar's with Grammy and Gramps-

My parents came over Saturday evening and treated us to dinner.  We decided to hit up Cheddars - along with the rest of Joplin.  Luckily it was beautiful evening and we were able to pass the time away outside on their lawn.  He's going to let us know when it buzzes.

Where's Silas?

-"We're all working outside"-

With more beautiful weather on Sunday, we got busy on some outside yard work.  They took a break to eat some chocolate covered strawberry's I brought home for a book party.

We are making some headway on our "landscaping!"  Mostly lack of.  We've finally removed the horrendous rock and cinder block garden that adorned the front of our house.  Here the boys are tilling up the ground.  We plan on putting something in that requires almost no work and looks better than rocks.  Shouldn't be too hard.

Yes, we didn't rake our leaves back in the fall when everyone else did, but we still got to play in them.

And when you dig up the ground, you always find some worms!

This is Ivan's new face.  He goes back and forth between concern and disdain.  Those brows.

-The Bounce House-

Parents As Teachers held their annual Bounce House event.  I was very hesitant to go, because it can be CRAZY!  But we were ready to get out of the house.

-The FLU-

So we had fun at the Bounce House, but it may have been where we picked up the Flu.  If only we had known.  We've never had the flu before, but now I know why it's such a terror.  You're contagious a day before showing any symptoms, it hits you like a ton of bricks and can last for a week.  Nightmare!!!  Thanks to early detection, Amos is on Tami-flu and his brothers are quickly following.  Praying the grown-ups don't get it.  But I think we're going to have a pretty uneventful next week.  Don't come see us!

five for friday

-Get-away-

Let's back all the way up to last Friday.  Because it didn't work to get-away for a night around my birthday, we planned ahead to take another weekend and this was it.  We combined birthday, Valentines Day, Anniversary, and Baby-moon all into one.

Nana and Papa brought Teigan and Emma with them to watch and play with our boys.  They couldn't wait for them to arrive.  I had left that morning to take my glucose test and when I got back, Amos was waiting by the window and disappointed that it was just me arriving.

With an early start, we made it up to KC with time for lots of shopping (for me) and good eating (for Jason).  Trader Joes and IKEA were at the top of my list, but we also hit up a flea market, a book store and the mall.

We like to branch out while up in those BIG cities and eat something we can't get around these parts.  Aladdin's Cafe did not disappoint for a plate full of yummy Mediterranean food.  And with it's setting, we kinda felt like we were actually in the middle east.  Poor Jason had a bout with allergies the whole time.  This is what he looked like most of the weekend.

Morning 2 was spent sampling some extra fancy coffee at Oddly Correct.  Their menu doesn't look like a normal coffee menu, so I let Jason decide.  Luckily, he knew what to do.  Here we are sampling an Ethiopian coffee (one of my favorites) and a Colombian that has been honey-processed?? Not sure what that means, but there was some definite honey taste to it.  They had a really cool set-up, but the only seating was bar stools.  I had Jason look for the pregnant lady section, but we couldn't find it.

I sure was excited to be back here. 

With my research done, I was ready to shop.  Jason didn't quite know what he was getting into.  He said that half-way through he had to remind himself that "this is for Abigail."  Ha!  Happy Birthday to me.  I did let him eat afterwards, Nyssa.  Look at that smile on his face.

That was it for us, after a late lunch, we headed home.

-Ivan, the trouble maker-

Not really, I joke.  But, we did come home to a bit of a sick guy.  Low fever and eye-gunk.  Sunday he was pretty down for he count, but by Monday he seemed remarkably better.  The eye stuff was completely gone, and no more fever.  He still was having trouble sleeping at night, but even now that has improved.  However, it did remind me how much I hate interrupted sleep.  And that's soon to be my life for a while.  ONE-MORE-TIME.  There's my motto.

-IKEA-

Yes, I know I already talked about IKEA, but there is more to say.  First off, they double charged me a sink- a SINK!  And I didn't realize it until we were half-way home.  I was definitely not happy with them, but after chatting on the phone with Customer service, it seemed like it was going to be OK.  They are now back to good standing in my book and I was very pleased with their customer service.  

Secondly, we have a new school table.  Thanks to IKEA we will be switching stuff around a bit in the school/playroom.  The little kids table wasn't cutting it anymore for bigger projects.  And before too long, we'll have three guys up there and then four. The boys helped me put this together Monday morning because we couldn't wait for Dad.  Luckily, their stuff is pretty straight forward.  Amos was thrilled to see that the directions were "just like Legos."

And we're all pretty thrilled with room to grow.  More changed to come to this area.  I'm getting excited!!!

And then we spent some more time building with Dad.  Pictures coming soon.

-School Stuff-

The Runaway Son is our story this week.  This one has been pretty easy to connect to and a good reminder for both me and them.  It's all about grace!

Ivan's been visiting us more and more for school as he toys with dropping his morning nap.  I guess this is what it looks like to homeschool with three.  He's content along as he's got his part of the action. 

Just please don't choke on anything, son!

-Beautiful Weather-
It's kinda amazing that for the last several weeks, beautiful weather has been included in my top 5.  We've had a pretty mild winter and keep enjoying really nice days.  It's been so nice to break out and spend some time in the beautiful fresh air.

This guy apparently doesn't need my help anymore.

They buried something and now can't find it.  Hahahaha!

Just a little sunbathing.

He definitely thinks he's big stuff.