We're Still Here

We're still here!  I'm not sure how time slips by so quickly or why I've had such a hard time making myself sit down at the computer...Here's a long catch-up post:

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a blur.  Lane has worked what seems like 100 night shifts in a row...it hasn't been quite that bad of course, but when he works nights things just seem off around here.  I think today was maybe the 8th Sunday in a row that he's been scheduled to work, so he hasn't been able to go to church with us in two months.  I miss having normal Saturday-Sunday "weekends".

Rhett started getting sick on Tuesday 2/19.  It seemed like just a cold (no fever) so he went to school all that week.  Then that Saturday he started running fever and continued to until the next Wednesday night.  It got up to 103.1 at one point, which is high for him.  One night I had him sleep with me, and he was having fever dreams, I guess.  He was saying weird things with his eyes wide open and laughing hysterically.  He didn't remember saying any of it the next morning--so strange!  When I picked Crosby up from school on Tuesday 2/26 he was crying and he said he didn't feel good.  He had fever.  I called the pediatrician's office first thing the next morning and got them an appointment.  They both tested positive for the flu.  R had had it too long for Tamiflu to help, but C got a prescription for it and started it immediately.  He felt better the next day--no more fever, back to running through the house doing karate kicks, etc.  So thankful his was mild.  Rhett didn't go back to school until Friday of last week.  I hated for him to miss so much school.  Even after he was fever-free, he was coughing and didn't have much of an appetite.  If he did try to eat much he'd cough and throw up--I felt so bad for him.  Then I got sick at some point.  I'm not sure if I had a mild case of the flu too, or just a cold.  Thankfully Alexee and Lane stayed well!  We're all fine now.  Rhett seems to have his energy and appetite back to 100%.  Enough about being sick!

house of germs:

Medicine, taking temp, doctor's note, etc.

We've played a lot of "firetruck" lately.  Crosby is the helicopter pilot that looks for the fires.  He likes for us to make check lists of things to repair on the helicopter--that's what Alexee is doing in this picture below.  

On 2/28 Alexee was invited to the February "Kids with Character" assembly because she and her friend Carrie received monthly character awards for "Cooperation"!  They had cookies and juice before getting to go up on stage to get their certificates.

Proud of you, Alexee!

A's class had a Dr. Seuss celebration last week, complete with green eggs and ham.  Her teacher sent me this link and asked if I'd make green eggs for the class like the ones in that post.  I'd never made deviled eggs before, but I was happy to try to help.  I'm glad I didn't have to eat them though...I'm afraid I'd be in the "I do not like green eggs and ham" group!  ha!  I hope they were okay--I didn't even taste them!  Alexee said she didn't like them, but said that a few kids did.  I'm really excited about her reading.  She can read these whole Dr. Seuss books to us now!

We're still going to gymnastics--carpooling with two of her friends:

She loves to draw and write stories.  This one was in her school journal:  "The mermaid is on a rock wishing to be in the human world."

There is one positive to Lane working nights.  He sometimes picks up Krispy Kreme donuts for us on his way home in the morning.  The kids love this!  Thanks for breakfast! :)

Alexee had her friend Chloe over one Saturday afternoon and they co-wrote and illustrated a book about fairies searching for lost jewels.  She read the finished product to me that night.  :)  She has quite an imagination.  We also painted Easter pictures that weekend.  Rhett and I painted chicks and Alexee and Crosby painted bunnies.

How cute is he in his plaid PJs, robe and his hair combed to the side!?  :)

This was in R's backpack recently--I think it was a Valentine writing assignment that they did in class.  So sweet.

At church last Sunday the kids learned about Jesus riding into town on a donkey...and there was a real donkey there for them to see during the story...so neat!  It just happened to be in the hallway as we were leaving so I got to see it too.

Rhett was recently chosen to be on the school Mathletes team, a group of 11 kids (3rd-5th grades) that competes in the school district's math competition.  We are really proud of him for being one of only two 3rd graders selected.  He was sick on round 1, but I took him to the competition anyway (I didn't know he had the flu at the time or I wouldn't have!!)  He didn't compete on the team that day because he felt so bad, but it was good for him to see how it worked because both of our school's teams advanced to round 2, which was last Tuesday.  He was excited to be able to participate that day, and both teams advanced to the finals/round 3!

Round 1

(poor guy--he looks so pale in this picture.)

Round 2

Feeling better this week!

Team meeting

The girl on the right is in his class.  He took this picture and e-mailed it to their teacher.

Team 1 with coaches

Both school teams after finding out they'd qualified for the finals!  Round 1 began with 40 teams from across the school district.  There are five teams competing in the finals.

Last Thursday I was excited to go out to dinner with friends to celebrate Emily's birthday.  (I felt guilty going without Lane because we've been wanting to try this new restaurant for a while now, but it just hasn't worked out).  The food was great, and it was a fun girls' night.  Happy Birthday, Emily!

On Friday I had a meeting at school.  Crosby went with me and was so good.  After the meeting we went shopping for his new soccer ball.  He's playing on a soccer team with a few little boys from our Bible study group, and season starts this week!  I think he'll have so much fun!  Hoping for good weather for the first game.

After school on Friday we met some friends at the park.  Everyone is so anxious for spring.  It was windy, but nice to get fresh air.  We picked up pizza for dinner that night and the kids had a "sleepover" in Rhett's room.  Crosby fell asleep while they were watching a Scooby-Doo movie.

The weather was beautiful on Saturday.  Rhett asked me to take them to the park downtown that has tunnels, rock climbing walls and rope ladders.  We'd been once before, and I remembered once I got there why we had not been back--a fun park for them, a scary one for me.  I told them we wouldn't be going back there without Lane to help me watch them.  Crosby and Alexee found the ice cream truck there and wanted to get ice cream, but Rhett had a Cold Stone Creamery gift card in the car so he waited for that stop on the way home.

As soon as we walked in the door Crosby grabbed his footballs and curled up on the couch and went to sleep!  He never does that, but he'd missed his nap and played so hard!  The time changed last night, so I went ahead and moved the clocks forward at 7 p.m. and everyone went to bed early!

We've got both boys' birthdays, spring break and Easter coming up now.  Never a dull moment!