J and C and Me

Best of intentions…funny how they can go wrong.

Jordan finally came down with the dreaded stomach bug that we all had gotten.  Like Celia, he was a real trooper through the whole thing.

When he finally got to feeling better the other evening, I sent him to shower and freshened up his room.  New sheets, a quick wipe down to kill any lingering germs, all that.

I wanted to get it done in a hurry, because you know after you’ve been SO sick, then you finally get in the shower…it feels great.  But you want to get right back in bed and go to sleep afterwards.  So i wanted to have everything done and ready for him by the time he got out of the shower.

After I got him all settled back in bed, I carried the laundry down and put it in the wash.  Our new machines are really amazing, and super quiet.  But all during the wash cycle I kept hearing something thumping around.  After about 20 minutes of thumping it occured to me that I did find the tv remote in Jordan’s bed…and his book….and took those things out….but I did NOT see or remove his DSi.

His brand new for Christmas DSi.  That was a gift from the grandparents.

I ran down there and looked in the window on the front of the washer, and sure enough, there was the DS.  Thumping and splashing around with the laundry.

The other thing about our new super fancy washing machine is that since it’s a front loader…once you start the cycle, the door locks.  You’re not getting anything in.  Or out.

I sat there and watched that super expensive and much treasured piece of technology swish around with the sheets and towels for 10 minutes before I could rescue it.

Once I managed to get it out….I spent half an hour using paper towels to wick water out of every crack and hole I could find in the thing.  Then (after much internet research) we placed it in a bag of rice in the hopes that would draw remaining moisture out of the system.

The only rice I had in the house (it was grocery shopping week) was from our well loved rice bags.  The ones that we heat over and over in the microwave.  The rice in them now resembled quinoa…but we figured it was really dry, which fit the bill.

After 4 days in the rice bag…there was still water behind one of the screens.  We decided it was pretty much a goner and it should be replaced.  Luckily, the grandparents stepped in and took him to Walmart to pick out a new one.

Now the DS is a science experiment.  I mean, it can’t get any MORE broken…so Chris is going to see if he can take it apart and fix it.  Step one is going to be immersing the thing in alcohol.  (Rubbing alcohol, not the drinking kind).  Then drying it again and seeing if that does anything.

If it’s possible for a little girl to be absolutely darling while sick…Celia was it.

We’ve been passing a tummy bug around the house.  Those always make me angry in the first place.  No matter how much you bleach your entire life down, now much you confine the sicko, how much you insist on everyone washing their hands……it still makes it way around.

Chris was down with it last weekend, and we had to cancel his birthday party.  I *thought* I had it….but I’d been thinking all week that I had something different…much more mild.

Then last night, Celia surprised us all (herself most of all) by getting sick.  She was such a trooper about it.  No tears or fits of fighting against it….and she carried the special ’snowflake bowl’ with her everywhere.  I mean, she would not lay that thing down.  She was very stressed out about the possibility of ‘getting anything’ even though we told her over and over that it happens….and that everything around here washes.  Needless to say, she didn’t have another miss for the rest of the night.  Even after she was well on the mend, she carried that bowl with her, just in case.

This is what happens to little girls that get up at 5am.

They pass out on the couch while everyone else is watching Wall-E.

For the past few years, I’ve been the head hair cutter and dog groomer around here.

For the most part, that doesn’t require much.  Chris asks for a trim every other month.  The kids whine and try to run when I decide they are looking TOO terribly shaggy and need a cut.  The dog endures my monthly sessions of moving all the fur from him to all over the back porch.

And every once in awhile, I sequester myself in the bathroom with some scissors and refuse to come out until I change my hair into something I like better than what it was before.

This time it’s a little different.  I got highlights this summer, for the first time ever.  Now I’m tired of them.  And feeling like I need some darker hair.

So I picked up some hair color at the store and forced Chris to help.

He doesn’t like doing new, unfamiliar things.  Especially permanent things.  On my head.  So this stresses him out.

He has to obsessively read the directions, fuss about exactly how to do it just right, and provide a running commentary the entire time about how he’s not sure he’s doing it right.

Sure, I could do it myself.  Millions of women do.  But my arms get tired being up there so long, and it’s just plain more fun this way.

About halfway through, while leaning over my head he says to me “Man, I’m breathing this stuff in and it’s making me high.  Plus I’ve had like…TWO beers.  Whoa.”

We’re total lightweights around here.

Anyway, I start laughing….and he says “stop moving around like that!  I don’t want to get any of this on your foreskin.”

I don’t even HAVE one of those.

Once babies start moving…you just can’t get them to sit still.

It starts to be a challenge to get photos of the cousins together now.

I have to carefully pose my kids….remind them to stay ready….we practiced with the dog some to get the shot framed right…

Then we try to plop the baby in the photo and catch it before he runs off!

Whoops, not quite!

Almost!

Run away baby!!

We did get a few cute ones. Not always what I had in mind, but cute none the less.

Then this set that I took while we were outside (of course! should have planned more shots that day…but we were just killing time trying to make it to nap and i figured he’d be fussy) that are shockingly good.

It’s a little cold outside.

Just a little.

Forecast for the week: snow, all week. Not expected to rise above 32.

Celia is not about to let that stop her from playing outside.

I’m in a crafting mood. It’s so much easier to do craft stuff when you are away from home.  No clothes to wash, no floors to clean, no meals to prepare, phones to answer……

Anyway, while visiting my mom, all I have to do here is go through her extensive fabric stash and create.  So I am!  I’ve got several little scarves set aside, and FINALLY set down to make the faux pillowcase dresses (since I’m not using real pillowcases…yet at least) that I’ve been wanting to do for Celia.

First one is complete!  Only took about an hour, and I’m very happy with it.  She seems to like it, just refuses to try it on for real.

We went to the Santa House in Westover again this year. The kids love this place.

Jordan had his first concert singing with the choir. He was really nervous when they first came out, but settled in quickly.

This was his first semester singing alto. He really struggled at first to find his notes…but I think he really enjoyed it.

He definitely did an awesome job….but wore himself out. We stopped for milkshakes as a treat after leaving the school, but by the time we got home, he was out!

Family Fun had a really great winter craft…making soaps that look like snowballs.

We decided to make these for Celia’s classmates as Christmas gifts.  We got some little play turtles for the middle, grated some Ivory, and set to work.

Bonus is that I just threw Celia and the bowl in the tub to play together for bathtime, no extra soap needed!