Party Time....

Today we finally had the St Patrick's Day Party that we had postponed from the last two weekends. Molly had a kidney stone attack, and Mick's had hives, and after that, a stomach virus went through the house. I am happy to say that all are well currently, and the party was a success. I've been praying for good weather for three weeks now, and even though it has rained every day all week, the sun came out around 11:30, just in time to dry things up for the party at 1:00. God is good! We invited local friends that we went to college with. My roommate just recently moved back to VA from HI with her husband and their five boys. It was awesome seeing them. I hope that now that so many of us live relatively close to one another, we will be able to get together more often. It is hugely satisfying to spend time with other families who share the same beliefs, and it is also gratifying to witness the friendships our kids have developed. We are so blessed to know so many good people, and to call them our friends!

Looks like a jungle, smells like a zoo (not for the faint of heart!)

So in my quest to get this house company ready for our party on Saturday, I am vigorously cleaning and putting stuff away between the extra laundry and cleaning out bowls of vomit, and mopping, (floors and mouths). Kiley is indeed sick today, and everyone who was at Lowes at 10:10 this morning knows it! Colleen is also sick, I picked her up at school, and Timmy is not feeling well, either.

Anyhow, there was this lingering odor that I could not identify. I smelled it first on the couch - which is headed for the curb. We got it from friends of ours a few years ago, who were giving it away, and it has seen better days. It has certainly smelled better. Shane slept there the night before last. I walked past his room and the smell hit me again like a ton of bricks. Let me just say here that his and Mick's room is my favorite. It is also the only room that is 100% completely done the way I want it. It is a jungle theme, and is darn cute, if I do say so myself. Not because I have any particular artistic ability, but I used Tatouage (google it!) on all the walls. It is also the only room in the house that stays clean most of the time. I went in there to investigate and found myself picking up every object, and opening every drawer, and sniffing it all in an effort to identify the odor. I stripped their beds and washed the sheets, although the smell was not there. I looked in Mick's pajama drawer, and it was empty but for pajamas. All of their clothes in the drawers smelled fine. All of the stuffed animals (and there are many) were also fine. There were a few items on the floor that needed to go into the laundry, and I found the offending item - it was a pair of Shane's boxers. To the eye, there was no reason for their foulness, but let me tell you, they made my eyes water, and I was almost the next person to throw up. But moms don't have time to get sick. The boy usually chooses not to wear underwear at all. Guess I just got lucky. Yuck.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

You would not know that this boy threw up 5 times in the wee hours this morning, nor that he has diarreah. You can surmise that he is likely breathing sweet little sick germs into his baby sister's ear.

Yesterday, all my kids went back to school. Between stomach viruses, colds, respiratory infections, and allergy symptoms among the kids, and Molly's battle with kidney stones, I have had at least one child, and more than that most days, home for the past 3 weeks or so. Or maybe it's been just a week and half to two weeks. At any rate, I've been doing a lot of laundry, a lot of disinfecting, and making many trips to and from dr's offices, the hospital, and schools. It feels like forever. So when they all got off to school yesterday, I kicked my routine back into gear, did several loads of laundry, cleaned up the house, ate a healthy breakfast (but totally blew dinner), worked out, and generally felt pretty good. Around 10:15 last night, Shane wandered into our room and I could tell he wasn't awake. He was mumbling incoherently and then proceeded to vomit all over our floor. Tim got him settled on the living room couch with a pillow, towels, a blanket, and a bowl in case he couldn't make it to the bathroom. I cleaned our bedroom floor with my new steam cleaner. We had to reschedule our St Patrick's day party last week because of the weather, and the sick kids. I am so hoping and praying that Shane's episode will be isolated, since my brother Mark is coming to visit at the end of the week, and the party is this Saturday! Mick has had hives every day since around Valentine's day, and he had an appt this morning to have allergy testing. I am fairly certain they will discover he's allergic to dust and will have to go live with another family.........

Anyhow, I slept on the recliner in the living room so that I could be near Shane, and while I was not sleeping, I was trying to figure out a way to get Mick to his appt when Shane would obviously not be going to school today. Can the six year old stay home and babysit the 2 year old while I take the 5 year old to his long awaited Dr appt? Probably not. I called and was able to reschedule the allergy testing for this Thursday. Hope everyone is well!

Love is...

Love is spending 2 hours on a Sunday scraping wallpaper which you never felt needed to come down in the first place, when you would rather be relaxing and watching TV.

I am loved!