Illness. Let's NOT be Friends Anymore

Mia, Phillip, and Evelyn went to school Tuesday! Yay! They all came home with varying degrees of whatever is plaguing Everett and Josie. Amelia was determined to attend school on Wednesday because she missed so much when we COVID hit us. She woke up crying on Wednesday with a high fever and all the accoutrements of illness. Phillip and Evelyn also had terrible nights and woke up in no condition for school. All five kids stayed home Wednesday, it was a day filled with medicine dosing, beverage preparation, lots of soup, and couch lounging. Phillip felt so badly he was not interested in watching TV, he laid in a semi-coma for two days. Evelyn was even so sick she just laid there. Gosh, that was a hard day. I escaped for a moment to pick up my new glasses...hot momma! I chose a fun clear glittery pair, very different from my recent choices. 

Tuesday Phillip and Evelyn had their first sessions with Nina Dowdy, a LCSW, who recently opened her own practice. As mentioned several times it is very tough to find openings for counseling with all the strife in the world. Even though the kids were sick we kept our appointment with masks and distancing in place. I drove to the wrong address, turns out the reminder texts have her home address and not her office address. We were 25 minutes late due to slick snow and misinformation. Nina had us do both intake visits together to save time. I am very excited to get some help and direction for the kids. I feel great about Nina, the kids, and our family. 

Josie and Everett were on the mend after 4-5 days of intense sickness by Wednesday evening. Josie was bouncing around by the evening so I took her to lyrical dance. Sister Minor taught me some organ playing skills after dance. She showed me the best stops to pair together for which types of hymns. Maybe next time I won't pull off an unexpectedly loud and annoying rest hymn! Everett and Josie went to school on Thursday after sleeping in a bit longer and taking nasal decongestant and cough syrup. Josie was NOT happy about returning to school, mind you she's only gone 5 days out of 16 school days this month. I bribed her with a little toy from Walmart as I was headed for grocery shopping. Everett qualified to compete in the district jump roping competition in Jogger Step for boys. We got there a little late because Everett ran off to play with some friends. He later revealed he ran all the way to the park 1.5 miles away with two boys and a girl, then played at one of their homes on a PS4. This is not the first time he went to a friends home farther away than I expected and to play on a device. The two of us need to work better on communication! Everett got to the competition in time to warm up and compete with 5 other boys in jogger step. Some of those kids were on fire! One boy jumped 232 times in a minute (regular jump step). Everett's rope often caught on his shoes but he stuck with it and got 72 his first try and 71 his second. He went home feeling down because it was hard to gauge how well he competed. I had a RS activity so we left before placing awards were given. I enjoyed an hour with my fellow RS sisters playing get-to-know you games and eating sugar. 

Everett came home from school very excited he won 2nd place in the jump rope competition! Yay Everett! I caught the kids stupid cold. Everyone seems to think that coughing in my food and in my face is kosher. Disgusting little animals! I can't keep track of how many times I said "cover your mouth, throw away your used tissues, blow your nose, wash your hands, don't sneeze in my food" this week. 

Saturday I felt completely awful, with body chills and a head cold. I strangely did not have a fever but those body chills and aches were terrible. I was so cold my entire body was shivering for an hour under piles of blankets and numerous clothing layers until the Advil kicked in. Evelyn was a little stinker, she must be feeling better! Little spicy pizza had a tantrum when Justin announced it was Come to Jesus cleaning time. She was warned an hour prior of this event. Wears me out dealing with her tantrums. Justin helped set up and clean up for a funeral. I made funeral potatoes with extras for the event. The girls got to decorate cupcakes in honor of Oliver's 7th birthday. Amelia was feeling well enough for the Stake Dance at 9 pm. I was very happy she found a ride home, those 11:30 pick up times are tough. 

We all attended church today. Gracious...let's keep it this way for a little while. About 10 minutes into church Amelia whispered that her stomach was feeling really strange and she felt like fainting. Bummer, scratch the first sentence. I took her home. Today I'm grateful for disgusting baking soda that shortened a nasty cold by 4 days. The Primary kids and the Youth are singing Risen for Easter this year. The spirit was so strong as we listened and pondered the words of the song in Singing Time. 

Jared was deployed to the Ukrainian border this week on Wednesday. President Putin "peacefully" made an aggressive move into Ukraine last week. This week started out with Ukraine shooting out several Russian war planes and a helicopter. Peaceful? Not anymore. Jared is not in Ukraine but ready to assist when called. It's asinine to watch Putin making terrible decisions just to reclaim territory in the name of oil money. Biden's responses are equally asinine, America is in no position to spread more of our non-existent resources to fight Russia. A better idea would be to reopen the Pipeline and become self-sufficient. It's scary to watch Canada's Trudeau shut down the country over the truckers protesting, even went to far as to freeze bank accounts of common folks donating to the cause.