The Eternal Sickness

This month has been a blur.  Where did November go?  All we've done is be sick.  We have all been sick at our house.  First Benjamin, then Kelly, then me, then Christian, and finally Isabella, with quite a bit of overlap amongst us.  It's been brutal.  Congestion, coughing, nausea, headache, sinus pressure, body aches. I'm not completely better yet, after 4 weeks of coughing, but I'm on the mend....I hope.  There was a week where I never slept more than 3 hours a night due to coughing fits.  I spent three nights in the van in the garage because I was keeping everyone awake with my loud, barking coughs.  Kelly sometimes coughed so hard we would all just stop and stare at him in shock and fear, half expecting blood to come spewing onto the floor, as he stood doubled over hacking.  So, we've been taking it easy, hanging out at home, and doing little this month other than falling asleep at random times when we just couldn't take it anymore. I found Bella in the basement like this one afternoon.  (Mumbo had been asleep too. It was adorable. Sadly, I woke him when I took the picture.)

I guess this month hasn't been a total loss - we did manage to dig a large tunnel.  Let me explain.  There's a park near our house with a large, long pile of dirt.  It's been there so long that grass and weeds have begun to grow on it.  We have no reason why it's there in the middle of  the park but it's the main attraction in this park for as  long as we've been going there.  Location for King of the Hill, secret spy fort, pirate's hideout - you name it, this hill has been it. This month Benjamin decided he would like to dig a tunnel through it, big enough that he could crawl through.  I handed him a small shovel that I had in the car for playing in sandboxes and went to push the other two on the swings, figuring he'd give up soon when he discovered how much work that would be.  Benjamin is no friend to work.  He'll shirk anything he can, so I really wasn't expecting him to stick with such a task.  He proved me dead wrong.  Four hours of digging later, he had a tunnel he could crawl through.  FOUR HOURS!  It was crazy. We'd all helped some in the process, but the majority of the work was his.   He really impressed me. 

He was the first to go through and then everyone else wanted to try it too.  The whole tunnel was just about as long as he is, so his feet would just disappear at one end as his head emerged at the other.  Everyone thought it was awesome and crawled through multiple times. 

 We had planned to return, but our wicked illness took its toll and we haven't yet.  Can't say I'm sad about that.  Never have I had so much work cleaning clothes - jackets, gloves, shoes, pants, etc.!! Dirt everywhere! And my car seats!  I won't be reminding them about the tunnel any time soon.

Benjamin just loves doing stuff like that - building forts, digging tunnels, even crafts and similar small things with his hands.  He just loves it.  Whereas I have trouble getting him to sit and practice his writing for more than 5 minutes; he'll work on a fort or project for hours without distraction.  If only everything in school could be so hands-on.

Halloween

What a fun busy last few weeks we've had!  Camping, a visit from my mom, the primary program, my birthday, and Halloween.  It's been a lot of fun.

As soon as soccer was over and we had a Saturday free, we went camping with some friends of ours.  I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited to go because originally it was going to be Kelly's trip with the kids to have some quality time with them while I got some quality time with  my book. I was going to read, sleep, and clean the house before my mom visited. The situation changed, though, and I ended up kind of being guilted into going.  In the end I'm glad I went.  My house ended up being a mess for my mom, but it was a lot of fun outdoors.

 Only downside - the dumb rain that didn't let up nearly the whole second day.  Jackets and a rain fly over the picnic table solved most of that, though.  The kids were great sports.  They had fun playing on the playground, at the beach, and around the campsite.  Not until they were all soaking wet did they start to grumble...and sing "This is the song that never ends..." Incessantly.  That's when we packed up and headed home.  Not a moment too soon.

The next day my mom came and we had a great time as she did my dishes every day and bought everyone new clothes and toys. :)  We also enjoyed time at Greenfield Village and various playgrounds and restaurants. 

 She and Benjamin also went alone to Best Buy to check out all the fun gadgets - the highlight of his week. Used to be that he'd ask my mom to take him to Toys R Us.  Now the "toy store" is Best Buy.  My little boy is growing up ;)

At the end of her visit, we had the primary program in church.  That's were all the kids 3-11 years old give talks and sing songs and basically take over all of the service in the chapel, or in Mormon terms, "sacrament meeting."  Since I'm primary president, I was in charge of writing and directing the entire thing.  That was stressful, but the kids were wonderful.  Benjamin and Bella had their parts memorized and had practiced so much at home that Christian even learned Bella's part.  They got up there without fear or trouble and it was wonderful.  There were several people in the audience crying so I know the spirit was strongly felt and I'm glad.  It makes the stress worth it.

Just cute photos of Christian reading to Mumbo and napping with Mumbo sometime this week.  How he loves that cat!

Finally it was Halloween.  I am so jealous of those who get adorable photos of their kids in costume.  I have neither a good camera nor any good skills and I completely forgot to take pictures of trick-or-treating until after it was over when we all looked like drowned, muddy rats from being out all evening in the rain.  So, that picture will not get posted, but here's a cute one of me and Bella before the church's Halloween party and one of the kids at church.  Christian was a train conductor for his preschool party and at church, but switched to being a mailman for trick-or-treating.  Benjamin was a Dragon Ninja but the head cloth bothered his face, so people kept asking "Are you a knight?"  After 3 or 4 times of being asked that, he got a sword and started saying "yes."  Bella was originally going to be a witch with me but at the last minute I found a gypsy costume that was just so Isabella that I couldn't pass it up.  Purple, sparkly, and with the fake midriff, it just screamed Bella.  Sure enough, she loved it so much that the witch costume was forgotten.  She was a happy tinkling gypsy for days.

I also had a great birthday.  Kelly bought me chocolate cheerios as my present.  What more could I ask for?  My visiting teacher brought me dinner so I wouldn't have to cook (my least favorite thing to do) on my birthday.  That was inspired.  I couldn't have been happier at that moment.  The kids made their beds so I wouldn't have to.  I felt very loved. :)

I also had a friend of mine watch Bella and Christian so I could help out at Benjamin's school halloween party.  I really wanted to see how he interacted in school with his friends.  It was pretty much what I expected - he doesn't really interact.  He's alone a lot.  That was sad to see, but not surprising.  He's been telling me that he's having a hard time making friends and that he's alone most of the time.  I didn't know what to tell him.  I saw the Indian kids hanging out in groups of Indian kids and the white kids hanging out with other white kids and then Benjamin not really with either group.  He likes school and we're very happy with the program and the academics, but I hope he manages to find someone he can connect with on a more personal level.

 Now it's on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I'm excited.  Once my birthday is over, I'm okay with all the Christmas garishness in the stores.  It's at that point that I start to enjoy it and get excited too.  This time of year is really so much fun.