Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving 2010 at the Farm

I'm taking advantage of "mostly" Wordless Wednesday because I have 2 littles sleeping beside trash cans tonight. Perhaps I'll finally get around to sharing all my favorite pictures that never made it to the blog last year on Wednesdays.

Complete and Total Randomness

Busy, busy, busy, and a stomach bug.... that's how I'd describe our previous week. We are currently on kiddo # 3 with a stomach virus that has been hanging around here on and off since Saturday. It goes away and then comes back again. It's pretty yucky, but at least this time around Scott is home and if I succumb to it as well I won't be parenting all by my sickly self from a quilt on my driveway while the girls ride their bikes in circles around me!

We hung out with Amanda and Chris and their boys on Saturday along with some other friends of theirs from their church. It was fun, but that was where the virus first reared it's ugly head. After showing absolutely no signs of illness previous, Kate was suddenly sick there at the gathering. We headed immediately home with only one pit stop along the way.

On Sunday Kate and I stayed home from church while Scott and the others went ahead. Unfortunately Ella came home not feeling well and continued to be sick for the next 24+ hours.

When not ill and home with the sickies, we are enjoying spending time at the campground with our family and friends.... small groups of us, that is. Because we thought all was finally well, I took all the girls to the first children's program at the campground this morning. They made and planted flower pots and had a great time.

By the time we got home for lunch today, I could tell Maggie was not well. She and I have been on the couch all afternoon. She's pitiful.... and that leaves only Sarah. Who knows if she'll get it now, a few days from now, or never. Of course, we're all hoping for the latter.

Now as I read over this long list of people and places whom we've exposed to our sickly crew, I have to think that any sane person in my position would have simply kept the entire family quarantined until a couple of days after the last vomiting episode so as not to expose all their friends and family with the bug. Sorry if you happen to be among that crowd.... double sorry if any of you comes down with the bug!!

Meanwhile, Scott has finally found and purchased a new truck. We sold his before he left for Iraq and since he's been home he has been anxious to get some new wheels. Happy to have that done!

On a completely unrelated to anything note, our town is finally getting a Walmart... grand opening is tomorrow! Woohoo to no more driving 20 minutes to a yucky old one or 35 minutes to a newer one in another town when we need something from wally world.

Camp meeting continues all week, so provided we all get well we'll be spending the rest of our week and weekend there. I am so looking forward to it! It sure beats watching repeated episodes of Little Bear on Noggin between cleaning out the bucket.

Even still I wouldn't trade this job for any other in the world!

The Dreaded Bug

Those who keep up with us on Facebook know that our house has been victim of the stomach bug for the last few days. Yesterday afternoon I decided that we would forgo naps for a Cinderella viewing. I knew that Maggie would sleep anyway and was hopeful that everyone would go to bed extra early as a result.

My gamble paid off, but during the late afternoon hours things were a little hairy. We were all flailing around in the kitchen while I was trying to prepare dinner for the four grouchy silly sisters. The usual high noise level was completely over the top due to all the whining and lack of napping.... and I was by myself for the witching hours for a change. I paused for a brief moment in the midst of the chaos to collect myself and say a little prayer that I'd be able to carry on until 6:30 bedtime.

A very observant Ella noticed my brief delay and said, "Mom, are you thinking about calling 9-1-1?" I laughed and told her that 911 wouldn't help in our particular emergency situation.

We made it through dinner, such as it was, and then went straight for jammies and tooth brushes. After a couple of books and prayers, the little girls were in bed by 6:30. Ella went down 30 minutes later, and everyone was asleep by 7:15pm. After rushing around to clean up and make breakfast I was in bed asleep myself at the unprecedented hour of 9:30pm.

The girls slept for 13 hours straight, all ate breakfast this morning, and now no one has been sick in over 36 hours. So do you think we've kicked it??? I sure hope so!

The Pink Stuff

Ella has missed more days of preschool this month than she has attended. She only goes on Mondays and Wednesdays, they've had 2 Monday holidays, it's a short month, and she's been sick a bunch. I realized when she stayed home sick on Monday that if she wasn't better by Wednesday she would need to go to the doctor.

I really try my best to wait out illnesses at home instead of dragging the sick ones to the doctor's office where they will be exposed to an untold number of other germs.

Her sickness started with just not acting like herself parts of the day Thursday and Friday. Over the weekend she cried at night, but I didn't experience it myself until Sunday when I got back home. It was strange because during the day she would perk up and play with the other girls just fine, but at night she was crying off and on all night long saying she didn't feel good.... and she's typically a great sleeper so this was really not like her.

When I finally took her in despite her protests on Wednesday, we discovered that the reasons for her crying were 2 badly infected ears and a case of strep throat. Poor baby! No wonder she wasn't sleeping. After having strep myself a month or so ago, I can't help but wonder how she mustered the strength to play and act normal during the day time!?!

I am not certain, but I think this is the first time Ella's ever had an antibiotic. She almost made it to her 4th birthday... though I'm pretty sure there's no award for that. Now the biggest trouble is the fact that the drug is pink, and based on her behavior it's safe to say contains red dye number 40. Oh well! She's already feeling much better, and we only have 8 more days of the pink stuff to endure.

3 or 4 more days until Scott is home for R&R, and we can't wait!!!!