The Rest of the Week

It's been quite the week.  Lennard's foot is still really bothering him.  He's taking 'good' meds to try to handle the pain and keep doing everything that needs to be done.  Of course, what he really needs is to get off his foot, but that just isn't happening (no matter how much I 'remind' him!).  He's had rugby practices, although he did cancel one night. 

The one night he was home, I ended up going out to go Visiting Teaching (even though I wasn't feeling good).  By the time I got home, I had a full blown stomach flu - chills, aching, upset stomach... not fun!  I was supposed to go to my Book Club that night too, but had to cancel.  What a rotten night!

Saturday, Lennard attended a rugby camp in Ft. MacLeod for most of the day and then, today, he had to work for a planned outage.  I did go to church with the kids (for RS/Sunday School), but headed out to Mountain View so that I could go to Sacrament meeting there and have help keeping the kids contained!  They loved being able to see grandma on the stand leading the music!  Emma even went and sat with her for about five minutes.  We had dinner with them after church and then headed home just as Lennard was getting home from work. 

I think we've both decided that we could have skipped April all together and been okay with it.  We've had enough of crazy sicknesses, precriptions, injuries, no sleep, etc to last a lifetime!  Glad we're almost in to another month.  Here's hoping it will go better!!!

A Day in the Life

The kids were so busy this morning (meaning they were in to EVERYTHING) that I needed to get out of the house and get a sanity break.  I loaded the kids up and headed out the the airport to visit my mom and dad.  Of course the kids loved being able to get out and run... and seeing grandma and grandpa might have been a big bonus too!  Ben climbed on every tractor available, played with the tape measure every time it was within reach and even took a turn standing in one of the airplanes!  Emma was grandma's little shadow.  Everywhere she went, Emma went.  It was cute to watch. 

Just as we were getting ready to head out, Lennard called and asked if we wanted to come see what he was doing at work.  We headed down and, of course, before we got there, Ben fell asleep!  Emma thoroughly enjoyed her one-on-one time with daddy!  She got to go in the bucket with him and even visit with 'Uncle Jared' (one of the guys in the dept).

Lennard had rugby practice this afternoon (as usual).  The kids and I went up to the soccer park (next to where they were practicing) and played on the playground until he was done. 

As we were waiting for him to finish up, I noticed that he was limping.  I asked him what he'd done now, and he said that a girl was trying to tackle him and got her chin slammed on the top of his foot.  She was fine, but his foot hurt really bad.  We headed to the high school so that we could go vote, got some dinner at home and then Lennard went to the ER to get his foot checked out.  Thankfully, he got right in without a long wait.  There was nothing broken in his foot, but the doctor figures that he has a soft tissue injury (the bone is bruised).  Not good!  Of course it's a week that he can't take work off and put his foot up to rest, so it should be interesting.

Another NEPHEW!

My beautiful sister, Mindy, gave birth to her fifth boy this morning!  I was excited to be able to go in to Lethbridge with my mom and dad to see him this afternoon.  We were able to visit for about an hour and get lots of time to enjoy him.  I love how soft and cuddly tiny babies are!  He doesn't have a name yet, but I will be excited to hear what they name him. 

Addendum:  They have named him Spencer William.  Such a good strong family name.  Love it!

Afternoon Fun

This afternoon, after we went and got groceries, the kids would not go back inside!  They both headed down the sidewalk and were determined that they needed to go to the park.  I quickly put the groceries in the house and ran to catch up!  It was so cute to watch them holding hands.  They love the park and spend most of their time on the swings.  Even though they are still coughing like crazy, at least they have a little more energy to play!

Bunch of Sickies

You can be thankful that I'm not including any pictures in this post... it has been quite the month so far for our little family.  Ben and Emma were both quite sick the first week of April and into the next.  Then we had about 4 good days where we actually thought life would get back to normal... and then the sickness hit us again and now both kids and I are on antibiotics for our ears and throats!  The kids have been coughing so bad that they wake themselves (and us) up, so no one is getting much sleep around here.  I'm just thankful for modern medicine and the hope that one day we will all be healthy again! 

The house looks like a tornado hit it, there's almost no clean laundry, but we've got in lots and lots and LOTS of snuggle time with the kids!

Funny Kids

I was in the shower this morning when I heard Ben come in to the bathroom and pull out the stepstool.  I knew he would be in to things in an instant, so I quickly finished my shower and opened the door.  There was Ben, with Lennard's electric razor, pretending to shave!  It was the cutest thing ever!  I quickly got dressed and ran to get the camera! 

This past week while the kids have been sick we have had a steady stream of medicine going into both kids... Emma loves taking Tylenol, but didn't like the medicine.  So, when I told her it was time for medicine, she looked at me and said, "I really don't like it!".  It was so matter-of-fact that it made me laugh.  Sorry, Emma... you still have to take your medicine even if you really don't like it!  What a funny girl.

I found Emma feeding Ben yesterday morning.  No, he shouldn't be on the table... but that's where I find him almost constantly!  At least they were sharing and happy with each other!  Lately, Emma's favorite thing to say when Ben gets in the same room is, "Don't touch me!"  It's amazing how at 19 months, Ben knows exactly what buttons to push to annoy his sister!

Easter Sunday

I was hoping that the kids would be well enough to go to church this morning, but Emma was so clingy and cranky, that I decided to stay home with both of them. Ben was doing much better, but ended up going down for a nap right at 9:00 (when church started) and sleeping until after 1:00! Emma just wanted to be held the entire time.

I wasn't sure whether or not we would make it to our family Easter dinner out at my parent's, but thankfully by the afternoon they were both doing better. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of the chaos at my parents, but needless to say it was a busy place! With 18 kids running around and parents trying to keep the peace, it was loud! Having said that, I'm glad I didn't miss it. I love being able to be close to my family and have my kids get to know their cousins like I did when I was growing up!

Easter

With both kids sick, we decided to stay home instead of going in to Lethbridge for the family Easter egg hunt that my sister-in-law (Nysha) was putting on.  I had counted on being there, so I hadn't bought a lot of extra stuff for Easter.  I ended up going out last night and scrounging around the stores to get the last little bit of Easter candy.  I made up a bunch of eggs and 'hid' them (in plain sight) around the living room so they could do a bit of a hunt. 

I think the best part of the whole morning was the baskets the kids got from Emma's birthparents!  They were more than a little excited to get them opened and see what was in them.  They got thoroughly spoiled!  (Thanks B & T!)

Emma started to lay out each item from the backet, until she noticed that there were eggs around the room and then she took a break to see how many she could find before Ben clued in!

Ben had Grandpa Nichols help him get his basket opened and promptly dumped the contents! 

I love the bunny ears that came in the basket!  Daddy helped her put them on and amazingly she wore them for quite a while!

They definitely had a lot of fun (even being sick).  This was the carnage after they'd found all the eggs and emptied the Easter baskets!  They've definitely got enough chocolate to last them a while!

The rest of the day we were able to relax and play with the kids.  We didn't get much accomplished, as both kids wanted to be held, but it was okay.  My father-in-law went in to Lethbridge after the Easter egg 'hunt' and bought us a lamb roast for dinner - yum!  It turned out so nice and tender! 

Shower Doors

 We really wanted to at least get one thing accomplished today... and we did!  Hooray!  We now have shower doors installed in our ensuite.  One step closer to having it done.  It was a royal pain to put in and took a lot longer than planned, but at least it is done now.  My parents happened to stop by as we were just running in to problems and they were able to help us get the top and bottom plates cut down to size.  Once that was done, the rest wasn't too hard, though we definitely had a lot of 'help' from Emma and Ben.  Emma was more in and out, but Ben wanted to be right in the middle of the action the entire time.  He loves tools and even though he was sick, he thoroughly enjoyed checking everything out.

Ben - managing the work!

 The 'almost' finished project!  We still have to tile around the shower, put in baseboard and moulding and install a medicine cabinet, but everything else is done.  At least we can use the toilet and sink for now.

Sick Kids

We have had quite the week with sick kids in our house.  Ben has not been himself for well over a week and we thought it was just another cold.  When he started running a fever on Monday we started thinking that it was something more than just the run of the mill common cold though.  I tried to get him in to the doctor on Tuesday, but they couldn't fit him in until Wednesday afternoon.  I was told then that he had strep throat.  We got him on antibiotics immediately.  Of course, by now Emma wasn't feeling well either so she got started on antibiotics too.  I had two very clingy, cranky kids that didn't want anyone except me to hold them... fun times.  Anyways, by Friday, Ben didn't have a fever any more, but he got a rash and was not doing well.  I finally took him in to the ER Friday afternoon and the doctor there said that his strep throat had moved on to 'scarlatina'.  To make sure that the rash wasn't from the antibiotic, we switched to a different medicine and were told to keep giving him Tylenol every 6 hours to help with the pain.  Poor little boy!  Emma is now getting the same treatment and we are really hoping that they get better soon!  The sleepless nights and cranky kids the past week and a half are starting to wear on us. 

Of course, through all this, we had my father-in-law come for a visit!  I feel sorry for the amount of time he spent listening to the kids scream/whine/cry instead of watching them laugh/giggle/play like they normally do.  Hopefully the next visit will go better!