Snow, Sickness, and Selfies

 

This week we got what will hopefully be our last snow storm of the season.  It was delightful, actually, because it wasn't too cold and it was great packing snow.  Peter was dying to get out in it and make a snowman.  This time he actually rolled and put on the head himself!  Then he promptly knocked it off and kicked the snowman to bits.  Boys.

 He also wanted to pour water all over to melt the snow and throw snowballs at me.  Really all the best fun of snow, minus sledding.  I really wish we lived by our sledding hill, but it was too far away to be worth the drive for so little snow.

He also wanted to take a walk to a nearby bridge to play "Billy Goats Gruff."  It's his favorite thing to do lately.  We take turns being the billy goats or being the troll and acting out the story.  There's nothing cuter than little Peter stomping over the bridge saying "Trip trap trip trap" like goats' hooves and then his little "No wait, I have another brother coming!  He's much bigger and tastier than I am!" When I, as the troll, allow him safe passage, he always says, "Thank you!" So adorable.

Anyway, on the way to the bridge, we found a drainage ditch with melting snow and flowing water which was absolutely fascinating.  He examined those pipes and studied the system for a long, long time on the way to, and on the way home from, the bridge.

This week was opening week of Greenfield Village, Henry Ford's historical village and my favorite place to spend the day.  When the snow melted, we ventured on over.  Peter was thrilled to ride the train again.  He's been talking about "when the village opens, we go ride the big black train" for months.  It was the first thing we had to do.

Then, of course, the carousel, to ride the frog and the rooster,

 

and the playground to drive the model T,

and the pottery shop to watch them make cookie jars

and, for me, the glassblower shop.  That's glass they're pulling like taffy!  They just kept stretching it longer and longer and longer.  You can see the previous sticks they've made lying on the floor in the right corner of the picture.  They lay all those rods next to each other, with other colored sticks of glass which they've twisted into fancy patterns and then melt them all together and then with a bunch of other steps, they make things like these beautiful bowls and Christmas ornaments.  Peter wasn't willing to stay for the whole thing, but these guys are wizards.  I love watching them.

Then the next day, life sort of fell apart.  My day was supposed to be so full that I couldn't fit all the obligations into the day's space on my calendar, but then the vomiting began.  First it was Peter.  He threw up over and over all night long, each time arriving at the side of my bed saying, "I vomit."  Bedding change after bedding change, all night long.  Funny thing was, I already had a doctor's appointment for him the next morning to figure out why his coughing won't stop.  So I prayed he wouldn't throw up in the doctor's office, but he never vomited again after that night. 

However, then Christian came home from school complaining of nausea and he began vomiting.  Then I got a text from Bella who was at an after school activity, "Can you come get me? I just threw up."  Pretty soon I had sickies everywhere.  Benjamin seemed to have escaped it since he'd been at a track meet all day (5th fastest high school hurdler in the city! yay!) but this morning he woke up and said he wasn't feeling well.  Then I heard, "Mom! Can you bring me a bucket?" followed by loud vomiting. 

Poor little Peter didn't know what to make of all his older siblings laying around with buckets and pained expressions.  Of course, no one wanted to sleep in their own beds.  Everyone wanted to spread their germs all over the couches and recliners.  Teenagers.  

Peter was so sweet.  He wanted so badly to help everyone and so he offered to bring waters and clean buckets, etc.  I tried to encourage service while discourage him getting in too much contact with infected items.  He happily sat and read his books out loud to everyone.  They were good sports and thanked him kindly, even though Christian was so miserably sick that his repeated request for me was, "Can you get the gun and shoot me so this can end?" 

Peter also had to play and entertain himself a lot while I spent countless hours washing laundry, water cups, buckets, and kitchen and bathroom surfaces.  Thus, I found about 50 pictures like these on my phone.  (I didn't even know he'd taken my phone!)

The weather was so gorgeous today but no one felt up to going anywhere, so I decided to clean the van.  Peter helped me wash the floor mats.  That was so cute to watch.  He washed himself more than the mat and audibly gasped as the cold water doused him, but he loved it.

I really hope everyone feels better by tomorrow.  Everyone went to bed having not vomited in several hours, but everyone still felt nauseas, achy, and exhausted.  I just pray that Kelly and I don't get whatever this mess is.

Easter

Despite unseasonably cold, rainy, and windy weather most of this week and weekend, our Easter festivities went off without a hitch.

Friday we had a church egg hunt which was Peter's very first egg hunt with others outside our family.  Dozens of toddlers running around looking for eggs weirded him out at first. "You pick it up!" he kept telling me as he stood over an egg.  I'm not sure if he was worried it would hurt or what.  When I picked up the first and showed him there was candy inside, he warmed up to the idea immediately and needed no more prompting to look for and pick up plenty more.

Friday evening we went to special Easter meeting with Elder Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the 12 apostles.  He taught powerfully of Christ and the atonement and resurrection and it was a wonderful evening and such a perfect way to spend Good Friday.  What a blessing to have one of Christ's apostles with us at Easter time.

Saturday we decorated eggs at home.  Bella enjoyed it the most, obviously.  Peter hung in as long as I'd expect a 2 year old would - 2 eggs.  Christian did a few but is such a left-brained perfectionist that when his eggs didn't turn out like the masterpieces he had in his mind, there was no joy in the activity anymore and he left.  So, Bella and I painted eggs for over an hour, she creating one stunning/adorable egg after another and I falling miserably short of my standards but still having a great time.  It's nice to be older and not so beholden to the standard of perfection.  I can just enjoy the journey so much more than I ever could as a kid.  I hope Christian can one day do the same.

Saturday Elder Anderson was doing training for all the stake presidencies and bishops and so Kelly was gone until the afternoon.  We waited on the egg hung until he was home.  He accompanied Peter around the yard helping him find all his color coded (blue) eggs and while I helped the older boys search for theirs.  Bella had gone to a friend's house for the afternoon.  I was surprised Benjamin wanted to participate in the hunt, but I guess he won't turn down candy.  I hid his eggs pretty carefully because I figured at 15, he'd be much better at finding them.  He wasn't.  Nothing has changed since that little 5 year old couldn't find a single egg and would whine in frustration after everyone else had found all theirs and he was still carrying an empty basket.  Luckily I take a picture of every egg I hide, so I went around the yard with him and helped him after a while.  He did, however, have no trouble finding the Easter baskets my mom had placed for everyone, and soon was proudly walking around with all the Easter baskets for himself.  He did eventually agree to give them to their rightful owners.

Christian wasn't much better at finding eggs without help and walked around with a look of frustration on this face nearly the entire time until I started giving him clues.  Everyone said they had fun at the end of it, though.

When all the eggs were found, we skedaddled back inside to escape the cold and open eggs.  Peter negotiated with Kelly to exchange an entire bunny for one little chocolate egg under the guise he would only smell the bunny and then give it back, but he ended up chomping into it and feeling pretty proud of his little deal.  Kelly learned a valuable lesson not to negotiate with 2 year olds.  They're con-artists.

Despite Christian's frustrations about how hard I'd hidden the eggs, he was perfectly happy to find all his favorite candy in his eggs.

In the end, I let Peter have a little chocolate and then threw the rest away when he went to bed that night.  He was perfectly happy just playing with the plastic egg shells today.  

Sunday we went to two different church's Easter services - the local mega church, Ward Presbyterian, and our own.  I love Ward's holiday services.  It's amazing what you can do with a staff of hundreds.  Then we invited our friend Thea, an elderly woman in our congregation, over for dinner and had a fun evening of dinner and games.  It was a perfect Easter weekend of both spiritual and secular.  I'm so thankful for my savior, Jesus Christ, and all he has done for me.  I know he lives.

Spring Walks and Games

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to take the kids on a walk in the woods on a regular basis to see how spring slowly appears - first the shoots, then buds on the trees, then flowers, then leaves, etc.  Peter did not want to go on a walk when I mentioned it at home but I drove him to the edge of the woods (0.2 miles from our house) and suggested we walk around.  Once he was in sight of the woods, he changed his mind.  Unfortunately any signs of spring were still hard to find.  Spring is really coming late this year.  We had a great walk anyway, though.  His favorite part was the bridge and the river (of course I forgot to take a picture there).  When it was time to go home, he was done and sat on the bench, refusing to go any farther.  So, the walk back became a piggy back ride.

Our piggy back ride was temporarily interrupted by the need to throw sticks and rocks into the flooded puddle.  Every time it made that fun "ka-sploosh" sound, he cheered and rushed to find something else to throw in.  So adorable.

Indoor soccer has ended and it's on to outdoor.  Given temperatures today (in the 30s with strong winds), I believe indoor would still have been a much better option.  However, Christian was a real trooper and never complained.  He played well and had a lot of fun.  I'm so glad he has a sport he likes.  His coach this season is a flake and has most of the parents really upset.  I'm really hoping he improves.  As they got on his case today for various large issues (such as canceling two of the three pre-game practices and not handing out uniforms until the kids were on the field for the first game!!) his response was, "What do you want, I'm just a volunteer!" I get that life happens and you're not getting paid to do this, but holding a practice per week is really the bare minimum.  If you can't even do that, please don't volunteer!  We can get someone else!  Hopefully things improve.  Just makes me really appreciate coaches like his indoor coach, Tito.  What a night and day difference.

Christian and Peter were playing in the basement prior to the game.  Christian had set up a mattress on it's side as a wall to shield behind as they shot nerf bullets at each other.  Peter decided to make things quick and simple.  Rather than use strategy or try to shoot around, he just ran up to it and jumped on top of the mattress, knocking Christian over and landing on top.  "Got 'em! Sheesh!" he called triumphantly.  Then he refused to get off!  So funny.

I've also enrolled Peter in a toddler gymnastics class.  It's a parent-tot format so I get to be in there with him.  He had a wonderful time during his first class and wanted so badly to stay longer that he cried when he realized time was up. His teacher was so sweet, though.  She came over to him and said, "Peter, what color are your shoes?  I bet your shoes are really cool.  Can I see them?  Can you show them to me?" thereby forcing him to leave the gym and go to the exit to retrieve his shoes.  His reaction was funny because you could see him thinking, "My shoes, seriously?  She wants to see my shoes?" and then his expression softened and he seemed to be thinking, "Ok, if she really wants to, I'll show her," and he ran to retrieve them.  Brilliant lady.

Spring Break

 Kelly decided to take the older three up north for spring break.  He planned to stay in a motel and motorcycle for several days.  I was excited to spend the time alone with Peter at home because that meant no cooking, early bedtimes, and lots of time in the evening to relax.  Then Benjamin decided he didn't want to go.  He wanted to stay home and play on his phone and laptop all week.  We made it clear that this trip was to be an escape from the screen and that he could choose not to go, but he would still have to be screen free at home.  We hoped that would convince him to go, but it didn't.  So, there went my spring break plans. Then Kelly decided that a motel up north wasn't quite what he wanted and at the very last minute he booked the same house we stayed in last year for spring break in West Virginia - the gorgeous farm house on dozens of acres high on the mountain!!  So now he was having the trip of the year and I was home with a surly, screen-deprived teenager.  I had made several commitments that I didn't want to cancel and it was really short notice to get everything together for us all to go, so spring break definitely looked bleak for me.

Kelly, Bella, and Christian had a blast.  

They even found a Dalton cemetery -nearly every headstone in the whole place was a Dalton!  How cool is that?

My spring break wasn't nearly so fun, but I must say that Benjamin handled his screen prohibition better than I thought he would.  The beauty of being prohibited from his screen was that he sought out time with friends for the first time all school year.  He went to track practice each day and then stayed after with friends. He went to their houses or everyone went walking in the woods around the school or down to local fast food places to eat together. It was really nice.  He has never done that because he'd always rather come home and sit in his room.  He had a lot of fun. Maybe he'll do it once in a while again after the phone comes back.

After everyone came back, Christian had his final indoor soccer game.  They lost, sadly, but this has been his favorite team to play on.  The coach, Tito, was a wonderful, kind man and Christian really liked him. I'm so thankful for good people like that who are wiling to give their time to kids and be a great example to them.  Aren't those uniforms just the worst?!  So ugly.  The team sponsor chose the colors and I just absolutely hate them.

This weekend it's all about General Conference - when we listen to talks by church leaders all weekend.  How do you make the talks more interesting?  Give the speakers horns and mustaches.  Bella's idea, of course.  So funny.  Give everyone in the family a different color mustache and we all place them on the screen.  Whenever your mustache lines up with someone in the choir or a speaker, you get a point. Love it.