Weekend update

Our house has been half sick all weekend.  Daddy and the younger two have been stuck at home with fevers and flu symptoms.  Mommy and the older two are fine this weekend, and enjoyed a couple chances to get out.  First, on Saturday afternoon, we visited papaw at work and enjoyed playing in the gym:

Then, the boys decided to help papaw clean the gym too.  They took turns putting the bleachers back in.  It was nice to get out for a little bit, and the boys were able to run off some energy!

Today, we had Jacob's birthday party at the bowling alley.  They enjoyed bowling, cake, and the arcade.  Silas was a little tired and fell asleep on the drive home.  But, all in all, it was so nice to get out and enjoy the weekend outside of our germ-y home!  I've got lots of sanitizing to do this weekend before Nolan's birthday party next weekend! :O)

Avery bowling.

Silas' turn!

*** Sorry for the poor quality of today's photos.  I had to use my phone because I left my camera at home on accident.  :O(

By the way... Momma is still feeling good.  :O)  Everyone please pray that I have dodged the bullet!!!

Scratch that...

Remember when I said that Nolan was fine.  I was wrong.  His fever has arrived.  Does that make me the "winner?"

Thankfully, with a little tylenol, he doesn't seem to feel TOO bad so far! 

For a week now...

My kitchen counter has looked like this:

Avery ended his bout with the flu, rather quickly.  He had it from Friday night until sometime Sunday.  Silas started in with it on Tuesday and had it until just yesterday.  Chaille just started into it yesterday, although she woke today fever free, so we will see.  She's wheezing pretty hard, which scares me a little.  Steve has also had it for the last couple days.  He's fighting through it, though.  He's taking a class for work, and he has pushed on and gone every day (including today!) I'm hoping he will come home feeling better today!

Nolan and I are doing okay.  And I PRAY with all sincerity that we just aren't going to get it.  After a week of this bug in the house, I'm ready to bid it farewell!  And a week from today, Nolan will be celebrating his 3rd Birthday.  :O)

Chore charts

Avery and Silas were recently complaining that they didn't have any money to buy themselves anything new, "like DS games" they said.  Steve and I had been talking about getting them started on some chores, so we came up with a reward system.  They now have "chore charts" to earn some rewards.  The charts are dry erase, so as they grow, we can change their responsibilities.  Their numbers are magnetic, so they stick on as they earn them, and color coded, so that no one "steals" from another board. :O)  We're so tricky :O)  After 50 chores they earn the agreed upon reward (DS games this time.) This is what their chore charts look like:

Did you happen to notice that Silas has YET to get any rewards for not jumping on the furniture all day?  He just can't help himself! :O)  Nolan has a different board.  We are STILL having potty issues with Nolan.  So his primary focus is on becoming fully potty trained.  He does get other rewards too, but until we can quit having accidents, his list of other chores is short!



(And so that my mom doesn't freak out here and run and tell Dr. Farthing on us, our kids DO brush their teeth every day, typically twice.  They just don't always remember to reward themselves for it ;O)  Really, mom!)

Girls Night Out!

You might be expecting to see another post about me going on with some of my friends for dinner, etc.  But last night, Chaille and I had a girls night out, just the two of us!  During the day yesterday, Chaille wanted her boots and her coat on, and she stood by the back door crying.  I realized quickly that she had some serious cabin fever (and I related!)  She hadn't really been out to go anywhere for almost a week!  So, last night she and I made a trip to the grocery store.  We had fun on our "girls night," even if it was just a trip to the grocery store:

All buckled up and happy to be getting out of the house!

And my happy helper in the cart!

Wordless Wednesday: Dishwasher Edition :O)

Sleepless nights

Last night was another sleepless one at our house.  Ok, not completely sleepless, but definitely one of interrupted sleep.  In the past week or so, we've failed to sleep ALL night without interruption.   Most nights it has been a pretty quick up and back down once or twice, but last night Silas was up SEVERAL times with his cough.  It was keeping him from sleeping.  I finally moved him to the couch, but he still was pretty restless.   And then, after being up with Silas so much, I woke to the sound of Nolan falling out of bed.  I ran up to check on him, and he was fine, even though he was crying hysterically.  After a round of drinks for he and Chaille, I finally got them both back to sleep again too.  Unfortunately, Steve had stayed at the station last night in order to get some work done.  He has SO much going on right now, that he needs to put in the time!

I kept Silas home because of his cough, and am glad that I did.  He has developed a fever, which has stayed low grade today.  He was at a 99.1 before lunch.  We'll see what happens as the day turns into evening!

Avery, however, returned to school today and said that he did fine.  I'm so glad that he is feeling better!!

This morning, Chaille insisted on wearing her coat and her boots.  The funny thing is that I had peeled her out of her jammies, but had yet to dress her for the day so that was ALL she was wearing.  She was pretty cute in her self-chosen outfit! (please don't call CPS, I promise I didn't take her out in this outfit:)

What a cute pose though, huh???

I'm so glad that this boy is feeling better!

So far, so good for this one too.  Besides a dirty face and nose, he is doing great! Can't believe he'll be 3 in less than 2 weeks!!!

A pretty good smile for a boy with a bad cough and a slight fever :O)

I have a love/hate relationship with these stupid foam blocks.  The kids love them, and I love the fact that they are quiet and don't hurt the hardwood floors.  But, I hate the way the kids find it okay to throw them EVERYWHERE because they "don't hurt."  And they easily slide under, behind, between the couches, chairs, beds, etc.  I find them all over the house, long after they've been put away.  Oh, and I store them with the legos, so it is a given that when one comes out, so does the other.  So, today I have a floor covered in foam blocks, and a kitchen table covered in legos.  Good thing we have new "chore charts" to bribe the kids to pick them up on their own later.  But... the chore charts are a blog post that I'll make later.  You'll see them soon :O)

Still here :)

Hi!  We are still here!!!  Once again, I've let a week elapse since I've made time to blog.  I have no new pictures to share, although there were a couple times I wished that I had one handy! For instance, one evening this week Silas was about to head up to bed and he ran over to Steve and told him, "I'll love you forever, dad.  Even when you are up in Heaven, I will still love you!"  He was so sincerely sweet, I got all teary eyed and Steve held him tight for a LONG time. :O)

We had a great week last week, with only one negative... Avery was feeling poorly Friday night, and I took him Saturday to the urgent care place and found out that he has Influenza B.  They started him on Tamiflu, and we've alternated Tylenol and Motrin to keep him comfortable.  Yesterday he was fever free all day, however he had a horrible cough.  I kept him from school today, and have kept him off the fever reducers to make sure that he is truly fever free.  So far, so good.  I think he'll be able to go back to school tomorrow, barring any relapses!

The rest of us are fine.  We've been busy just doing our day to day stuff.  It is amazing how just keeping up in a household of 6 is enough to keep you busy!!  We are never looking for something to do around here!  We spent the weekend at home, because of Avery's illness, and I think that everyone enjoyed the family time.

I'll try to come back soon with some pictures.  I pray that you have a WONDERFUL week and that you and your family are happy and HEALTHY! :O)

Kid Zone and Momma's Birthday Dinner

I'm a little late getting these pictures posted.  They are actually from last Friday.  We met some friends at KidZone to play and then went to dinner with Grandpa Bobby and Grandma Darlene.  It was supposed to just be dinner out, but mom and dad insisted paying for my "birthday dinner."  We had a fun time, as you'll tell in the pictures below:

Nolan LOVED everything about the place.  He ran straight for this bounce house as soon as his shoes were off!

Avery FLEW down the slide!

Chaille was so happy, although she mostly watched the other kids have fun.  It didn't bother her.  She just loves to see her brothers smile!

Bayleigh and Avery enjoyed the velcro wall in their "sticky suits!"

Silas did too.  They looked like sumo wrestlers.

Avery and Bayleigh jumped together on it for a while until the lady working pointed out that only one person was allowed on it at a time.  Jen R. and I laughed forever because there was a big 'ol sign right there that stated that.  We were just too busy watching the kids to notice! LOL...

Silas trying to "stick" to the wall on his jump.

Nolan was playing whack-a-mole and Chaille was laughing at him!

Nolan and Si were driving intently (and the funny thing is that at that point they didn't even have any tokens to use!!)

Chaille really took right to Jen Jen.  Apparently she has "the touch" after working with children for so long now!

Chaille loved helping Bayleigh by handing her the balls while she played Skeeball.  It was adorable to watch.  She would tell Bay "he' ya go!"

Silas liked this basketball skeeball game.  He kept forgetting to get his tickets out of the machines too.  He was having so much fun playing!

Chaille helped Silas too.

We went to the mexican restaurant for supper.  It was crazy busy, but we were able to get 2 booths in the back, which was more quiet!  Steve and Silas duked it out with a little arm wrestling.  It was so funny to watch!

Avery played the "winner," but so far Daddy is the champion arm wrestler at our house :O) LOL

Chaille just LOVES her papaw!  She's so happy with him!

Cheese :O)  Such buddies, these three!

And when you've got everyone wrapped around your pinky finger, you can get away with stuff like this!  She's so spoiled!

Wordless Wednesday