Happy Monday!

Well, since poor Elijah threw up again Saturday night there was no church for him or me.  Dan teaches a class at church so he had to go.  So, my morning was spent chillin' with Elijah and vacuuming and getting laundry going.  The bright spot was my neighbor calling and heading over there for a bit.

She is doing a Thirty-One catalog party for me and he nurse friends at work are having a good time shopping so I took her some items to take into work with her to show.  And, my neighbor is so in love with the products.  It's funny.  So, while I was there she was showing me her newly painted bedroom and bathroom and while we were talking in the bathroom her cat fell into the toilet.  SO FUNNY!

Otherwise, a pretty uneventful day.  I am trying to learn how to sew, but it turns out Joann Fabrics is closed for now in our area.  They are moving their location, but the new location isn't open yet.  Thankfully Walmart has some sewing supplies, but I was hoping to be able to ask the employees at Joann some questions about sewing machines.  I need to get the one I got from my mom working properly.

I have quite the learning curve on sewing since I have NEVER EVER used a machine before.  I have to say I am pretty intimidated by them. 

Today is our first day of having Peyton, our neighbor's boy.  He is such a sweetheart.  His dad starts a new job today so he will be with us in the mornings.  He told me he "good lucked" his dad on the way over.  Once Peyton got her at 6 Elijah was out of bed too.  We are all going to be super tired at the end of today, and poor Madelyn has two fillings to get today.  It's going to be a loooooooong day.

This is the exciting life we lead these days.  Happy Monday!!

The Bug

This stomach bug refuses to leave.  I thought Elijah was better on Wednesday night.  Boy was I wrong.  I don't want to even count the times he has thrown up since then.  Let's just say I have the mounds of sheets and blankets to show it was a lot.

Then last night Madelyn says, "A few of my friends at school today said my eye looked red."  Pink eye.  Greeeeaaaaat ...

So, both kids home today.  The good news is I knew last night they would both be home so I could sleep in.  the bad news is I have been in the house for 3 days.  Three.  Whole.  Days.  That is not good for this extroverted girl who needs human interaction.  Praise the Lord for the phone and internet though.  Where would I be without my phone peeps and social networking peeps?

Yesterday I got Madelyn ready for school and planned to keep Elijah home.  We were walking out the door and Elijah threw up.  I finally took Madelyn in at 10:30 because I thought Elijah would be able to handle the fairly short car ride.  Poor guy threw up on the way home.  At least Madelyn was going to get a full day of school in.  Dan was in Lancaster at a conference so he wasn't local to help get Madelyn to school.

So, things have been fun around here.  Blech. 

My Bible Study is starting up again and we are studying Philippians.  So much of that book is about rejoicing in all things.  Ahem.  So, I have been put to the test this week.  It was good to be mindful of this message last night when Elijah was woken up from a sound sleep by puking.  Poor little guy. 

I went to bed praying and things were looking up this morning which was helpful.  Madelyn's eye looked better and Elijah hasn't thrown up all day even though he has felt like it most of the evening.  He is in better spirits too.

Wasn't this a fun post?  Puking, pink eye, and cabin fever pretty much sums up our lives around here today :)

My kids were super cute today wearing mine and Dan's clothes dressed as spies.  So funny.  They really do enjoy each other.

Hopefully tomorrow I can post about getting to leave the house.  I am pretty low on groceries at this point, and I have plans to get together with a friend tomorrow night.  She suggested it when she saw my e-mail about Elijah still being sick.  She has had a lot going on as well and we both agreed we needed a night out.  Yay!

Today

Elijah was home sick today.  He threw up in the car on the way home from school yesterday.  Poor little guy.  He was so sweet about it and felt so bad that he didn't know the barf bag that I brought for him was right next to him.  I had quite a mess to clean up and I'm not sure the smell will go away any time soon.  Blech.

So, today I got to hang out with my little guy.  He was snuggled up on the couch most of the morning watching movies. 

I didn't feel too well myself.  I'm not sure if it was all the vomit I have been dealing with, or the fact that lately I think it's okay to dine on mint m&ms and bbq potato chips.  Either way I was happy to chill with Elijah this morning.

Thankfully I did get to my responsibilities this afternoon though.  There was laundry to do and sheets to change.  I felt better once I got some things done.  The afternoon coffee was yummy too.

Elijah didn't throw up today, but Dan thinks he should still stay home another day because he is still a bit weak.  I agree.  He's a cute little guy and I like having him here. 

I just read an article that had an excerpt from Reagan's diary and I thought, "What a great idea!"  I love the calendar I have from when Madelyn was a baby where I just wrote a blurb each day on what she was doing so I thought maybe I would try it on here.

Madelyn and a couple classmates did a little play today where she was a bison.  She had to charge her classmates.  They all got a good laugh from it.  She also had to pretend to be a prairie dog and do a back flip.  So funny.

We were talking about family dynamics at dinner and some weird family traits so Madelyn asked what were our weird family traits.  I told her she would figure them out later as an adult when she starts complaining to her friends about us.  Then we started talking with weird voices to give her some ammo for now.

It was nice to have Elijah back at the table with us tonight.  We really missed him last night.  We didn't realize how much excitement he adds to our dinners.  It was me versus two introverts last night so you can imagine how that went.  Madelyn is so sweet though, and she's been extra sweet to Elijah.  Since she just had the stomach bug last week she knows just what to do.

Hopefully this will be it for the stomach bug and Dan and I won't get it.  (fingers crossed)

Life ...

these days ...

So much going on.  I'm not sure where to start because I'm not sure any of it is very exciting.  When I tried to write a post recently I got bored with myself and stopped.  Yeesh.  It's that time of year though.  The mundane sets in along with the cold cold weather that makes me not want to cross the street for the mail.  Everything seems to sloooowwww down so much.  It's strange, but I am finding joy in the mundane and trying to enjoy the slowness.

So, in an effort to not be boring, but still keep tabs on my life on this here blog, here are some short bits of life these days ...

Starting next week I will be helping a friend by getting his son onto the bus in the mornings.  He will get here at 6 a.m. and onto the bus at 8:20.  He is a sweet boy and good friends with Elijah and I will make a few bucks so it's all good.  Except the early morning part.  I am not a morning person, but I think over all that will be good too.  We need to get out of bed earlier in the mornings.  We are all better when we have a little extra time before school.

I am happy my cat is alive.

I am also happy my kids seem to have grown out of their asthma issues.  Praise the Lord, PRAISE the Lord!!!  And let's just praise Him again ... whew!

Madelyn just survived a stomach bug. 

I am so richly blessed by friendships.  I seriously don't know where I would be in life without my friends and telephones.  They are my life line so many days.

The other day I had no phone OR internet.  Oh my.  I survived though.  It turns out you have to pay your bills if you want to keep getting those services.  Huh. 

I am going to learn to sew.  My first project will be throw pillows for my couch.  I am so excited.  Eventually I want to make purses and bags and scarves and more pillows and lots of other fun things.

My children keep getting older and lately I have been shocked by the fact that those toddler years/home with my babies years are gone.  GONE.  I am SO out of that stage.  And for some reason it is hitting me more lately.  It's just weird to see these major stages in life go passing by. 

I wish we had the money to just fly out to AZ to see Shannon and her family. 

Elijah loves Calvin & Hobbes these days and is learning all kinds of new naughty things.  I would do away with the books, but I think it's a little too late and he finds them so funny.  Also, I think he has learned that you can't say "drop dead" at school.  Oy.

Madelyn is a part of a writer's club at her school now, and just had her first Girl Scouts meeting today.  They discussed planning an art exhibit at a local library so that was very exciting for Madelyn.  She can't wait to become an official girl scout and sell some cookies.  I can't wait to eat some cookies.

However, on that subject, I have eaten way too many cookies and chips and candy lately.  Blech.  You'd think I was TRYING to weigh 300 lbs by the end of winter, or that I am fattening up like a bear preparing for a long sleep.  I wish.

We got 3 - 4 inches of snow this weekend.  That is the perfect amount of snow.  It's enough to play in, but not enough to really mess things up, or to hang around too long getting dirty and ugly looking.

My Bible Study is starting this Wednesday and I have more people signed up for it than ever.  That is very exciting.  I think I am going to try to do some video conferencing or something to allow for far away people to join the discussion, but I have to work that out.

Okay, I think that's all for now.  I really need to wash some pans and get to bed.  More "excitement" to come soon ...

A Recap ...

Christmas break?  I don't think so.  We have had A LOT of company and fun things going on.  I am tired, but I know I will miss it all next week when we are back into the school routine and missing everyone.

We enjoyed a hymn sing at our church, Christmas Eve with our dear friends, Christmas with friends we now jokingly call family because of family members being from the same area as Dan, pretty much if you are from that area or know of it you are probably related ;)  Friends from NJ came to visit.  We went roller skating with our kids.  Hung out on Tuesday in a dark living room while Dan and Chris worked in the basement.  They had to turn the electric off so they could re-wire some things.  Elijah had a birthday party to go to.  We said good-bye to our friends from Jersey.  Dan and Chris continued to work on our basement until they got drywall up.  It's AMAZING!!!  The lights are re-positioned in better spots so it's brighter and just having white drywall up makes a HUGE difference.  LOVE IT already and it still has a lot of work to be done.

Josh and Susan came to visit!  YAY!!!  They have already been on the road for a week and have another week to spend with Vern & Lois.  Their poor kids (and probably them) are exhausted.  They head out today :(  We had a blast last night celebrating the New Year with them and Jess & Jon.  All the kids were great, and we were able to play a game and laugh a ton.  I think I will be laughing for days just thinking about things from last night which will be good because this week is going to be brutal trying to get back into routine and not staying up until 2 a.m.  Ugh.

So, overall it's been a fun week.  We also got to shop with the kids so they could spend their gift cards.  It seemed they were burning a hole in their pockets.  It's amazing how you can spend $250 in gift cards in just two short days right after Christmas.  Oh my.

Yay for a new year.  Yay for family and friends, and yay for health and love.  Happy New Year!!