Sick Day/Snow Day

We've had some highs and lows this month!

Fun events include...

1- A quick night away..

I was able to take Lainey and Erik to a VA mountain resort for one night.  I'd planned to take Carson too, but he was sick, so he stayed behind.  We spent one day at an indoor water park.  Our friends were there too, so that added to the excitement.    The second day we went skiing.  Erik's been skiing three times and is really pretty good at it.  He confidently navigates the green hills and ski lifts on his own.   Lainey had never skied before and tends to be a bit more cautious.  I was able to get both of them into ski school for the day.  Lainey was able to move past the bunny hill, onto the green hills.  Pretty impressive.  I took her down the green hill once after "school" got out and she made it, but started and stopped on her way down.   Erik passed to level four of ski school - the blue hills.  Sad for him, we had to leave after only one day of skiing.   That boy LOVES all outdoor activities.

I managed to navigate a blue hill (and survive), plus I left feeling very confident on all the green hills and was more than able to help Lainey down/up as needed.  I've only been downhill skiing three times too, so I'm pretty proud of myself for mastering the greens.  :)

It was a very fun day, even if it was unseasonably cold at 16 degrees!  Brrr!!

2) A "blizzard"...

We were fortunate to be on the track of Blizzard Jonas.  We got around 18 inches of snow.  Areas just north of here got 30! It snowed from 2PM on Friday  until Midnight on Saturday.  Since then it's been warm and sunny (45 degrees today).  We've spent a lot of time sledding, digging forts, and well, shoveling.  I always love getting a big pile of snow out here, because it doesn't last long and causes a lot of excitement.

Less fun events include...

1) Sickness...

For the past three weeks, one of us has been sick.  I am going just slightly nutty.  I was sick first with a crummy head cold.  Right as that ended my kids started coughing and spiking fevers.   One of them has literally had a fever and/or "cough so hard you puke" for over two weeks.  It is getting OLD!  Lainey started this bug and is still coughing!  Carson was next.  He had a fever 9-10 days ago, coughed all week, then spiked a fever AGAIN!  So he is on antibiotics.  Kyle started coughing a week ago, had a fever 3-4 days ago, and now is back to just coughing.  Erik started coughing about 24 hours ago.  We'll see if he can avoid the febrile portion of this illness.  I'm hoping Carson is the only one with a secondary bacterial infection that develops!  And I'm praying I can avoid this bronchitis type illness.  Man, my body doesn't handle these chest colds well and it is hard to parent well with this type of crappy virus.   Time will tell I guess.

 (Meanwhile, Carson hasn't been to school since January 13th due to illness, snow days, and planned days off of school.  There is no school tomorrow - see next paragraph - so the soonest he will be back is the 27th!)

2) Freaking snow days!

I don't mind A snow day, but man having sick, febrile children PLUS all my other children hanging out for days on end is slightly annoying. 

I literally haven't seen Erik since Thursday.  Ha!  He leaves the house to go sledding with his buddies by 9 AM  and I have had to drag him back inside at 6 PM each night.  (I did feed him lunch one of those days - otherwise he's eaten at a friends house).   So, I love the snow days for his sake.

Lainey and Kyle really seem to dislike the snow for the most part though plus neither Kyle nor Carson have felt well.  So I've been stuck indoor with the three of them most of the past 4 days.  I am starting to get a teensy bit stir crazy! 

Today was sunny and beautiful.  45 degrees out and no school.  And guess what?!  No school tomorrow either!  And even better a tiny bit of snow and ice is forecast for both Wednesday and Thursday this week.  If that sticks in the forecast, I think there is a REAL possibility school will not resume until Friday, or heaven forbid next week. 

I skipped to work on Friday and believe me, I will be smiling on my way to work Wednesday.

3) Sleeplessness

With sickness, there is a lack of sleep (for me!).  I LOVE my kids and I love being a mom more than anything (even if the above paragraph leads you to believe otherwise!).  But I am tired because I've had one or two coughing boys in my bed the past three nights.  Oh well.  Good thing I learned to like coffee after Kyle was born!

I'll try to post some photos, but my iphoto is broken and I don't have a good back up system to upload from storage to the blog.   

We are doing well over here!  I love the snow and 45 degree days!  I'm hoping school resumes and sickness ends promptly! 

Lovely Visitors

We've had lots of visitors this fall.   Feifei came for a few days in late October.  My mom and Dad came for close to a week over Thanksgiving.  And Colin visited for 4 days last week!! 

We had a big gathering here for Thanksgiving which was fun.  Mom, Dad, Chris, Joanna, and Anna Capp, plus my new neighbors from Australia.  The weather was beautiful so the kids just ran around the house and neighborhood all day and played.  I really enjoyed the day.

Feifei, Mom, and Colin all watched the kiddos while I worked which was great!  Dad helped me with lots of projects around the house - very helpful.

Colin was a good sport - we had a very busy weekend when he was here.  So in addition to watching the kids Friday while I worked, he also took Erik and Carson to a library program, shopping for indoor soccer shoes, out to lunch, to a "wood chopping event" (he found this on his own), and then met me at a soccer game.  (I had the other two at a different out of town soccer game.) 

I've enjoyed the visitors and am thankful for all the support.

Soccer! (Written 11/14/2015)

Erik decided to play soccer again this fall.  He had not played a full season for almost 2 years (due to breaking his leg during spring of 2014 and playing baseball the following two seasons).  We were so blessed to have him make the RecPlus league and be placed on a team with wonderful coaches and teammates! This has been the best experience we've had in the world of sports.

They played their last game today.  It was the Kohls cup which is a national tournament.  The format is 4 vs 4 - no goalies - 20 minute games.  They played four games, winning three out of four.  A fun way to end the season!   It was a loooong day - we were at the soccer field for almost seven hours.

Lainey, Kyle, and Carson deserve spectator awards for all the soccer they have watched this fall.

We have 1 month off from soccer (hallelujah!) then futsal starts.   Erik's team will play together for winter and spring season as well.

Erik's coach, also coaches his daughters team.  Lainey will play on her team this winter as well.  Futsal should be much easier on me, as it's only once a week.

So we don't get bored - I signed the big three up for swimming lessons held at a college about 30 minutes from our house twice a week.  Good thing with that - all three have lessons at the same time and place.  I will enjoy the two weeks off from spots though!

I am SO thankful for all the hard work and effort on the part of our coaches this fall!  They have made such a difference in our lives this fall.