Leap, Leap Day

Man, I thought leap day would be fun and I would think of something fun to do with the kids but rather it ended up being more like a Friday the 13th unlucky day that I would have rather leaped over! Steve woke up dizzy. I quickly put together that his it was the same side his ear infection was on which probably meant the fluid was finally draining causing some dizziness/vertigo so I looked up some up those maneuvers you can do turning your head laying at a decline to try and reset the crystals in your ears. The first time was rough and he tossed his cookies. The second time went better and then he slept for a little bit. He did it one more time before going to work downstairs. Andrew had to be to school early for the Aladdin assembly performances. Then I took Lila to school who just completed her TED talk the day before and was feeling good that was done but stressed about finishing up the rest of her homework before the end of term. Then I came home and helped Marcus decorate a yiphlapgashlfhs something from Dr Seuss I kept calling it a hipogrif from Harry Potter. I guess it was supposed to turned in on Wednesday but to be honest we had not looked at the homework folder yet for the week. 😕 So he hot glued some feathers in a rainbow pattern of course and some brown pipe cleaners on the antlers he was pretty happy with it. Then off to school he went.

Lila's dance schedule was even off that day. They changed the times because several teams that dance that night were at a competition so it through off everything after school. Ellie had to stay and run the Yearbook booth for the NUAMES open house because the advisor had COVID and was in quarantine. Steve managed to recover in time to go to pickleball and we both were playing on the top court, but I did not have a great night which was a bummer. Oh well, it is really a good excuse to get out and burn some calories. So there you have the day we would have rather skipped to be honest.

Here are a couple of highlights from the weekend before. I went in for Andrew's Fun Friday on February 23rd. I always get nervous coming up with an activity but I guess they have had a lot of kids behind on their work so I only had a few kids to do the activity with and they loved doing Origami. I took a little treat to share with the whole class too.

Ellie took Porter to the Layton High Sweetheart Dance on Saturday, February 24th. And she wanted a little heart shape in her hair.

Earlier that morning Lila had a AP Chinese Booster session that she was not happy I signed her up for but she logged on and was grateful she did it. They worked on their conversational skills and cultural presentation that is a part of the AP test. Steve also took Andrew to the Shoot 360 grand opening where he was able to try their equipment and sign up for a free hour training session. It's a pretty cool facility and we're considering a membership for him over the summer instead of doing camps.

Mama & Boys in Cabo

The boys got a trip to Cabo for Christmas. Originally when I was trying to plan a trip to Cabo I was working around the girls schedules which is crazy getting them to align. So I presented to them a date and they weren't thrilled about it so I just told them that was the only time we could go as a family, if they didn't want to go that weekend I would go with just the boys because they are more flexible and they said, yeah do that. So I booked tickets for the boys and I to go over President's Day weekend which turns out was a great weekend because Steve doesn't even get Monday off (although he did convince the girls to get up and go skiing for the morning) so we weren't missing out on much and there was not any basketball that weekend and Andrew would only miss one play rehearsal.

We left early Saturday, Feb 17th. Our flight was at 5:30am so we woke the boys up at 3:15 and headed out the door about 3:40. The boys were really good travelers. We got our bags checked in and through security pretty easily that morning. We had made some breakfast sandwiches we could eat while traveling so the boys ate a half of sandwich while we waited for our plane. Andrew had the Percy Jackson series on his kindle to read so he was reading and Marcus was playing on his Leapster. They let us board with the family boarding so we could get seats together, thank goodness (Southwest still has that open seating policy which is stressful as a family). Then Andrew slept for 30-45 minutes on the plane. He was still not feeling well and was a trooper to wear a mask since he was still coughing. He had coughed so much the night before that he coughed into a fit that caused him to throw up so I was nervous the whole travel time especially when he would cough but we made it (lots of prayers were said in my heart and mind).

 

We had a short layover in Phoenix where the boys ate another half of a breakfast sandwich. We arrived in Mexico and as we were going through customs I asked who was going to push the button that randomly flashes red or green to see if you get screened (Steve has pushed it the last two times and gotten red 😨😂). I saw Marcus was wearing his lucky green St Patrick's day shirt so we let him push it and we got a green and went straight out to our car ride. Marcus says he didn't fall asleep on the car ride but was "just resting his eyes", I'll let you decide from the pictures.

Once at Mimi and Grandpa's place, I found out my Mom was sick. She had emergency dental surgery on Valentine's Day and has not been feeling well since then. And my Dad was in an HOA meeting and I needed to run him his meds. Then the boys and I got settled.

They loved sitting out on the patio. Andrew would read his books and managed to finish 2 Percy Jacksons. He caught up with Lila so now they are sharing laughs and gasps while they read the 4th book together. Marcus started listening to Fablehaven and would sit on the patio or just walk around in the sand with his headphones on. It was cute.

Since Mimi wasn't feeling good and Andrew was still coughing we decided to order a delivery dinner. It came and it was yummy. Unfortunately, Andrew still wasn't eating much. I was happy I got him to eat some snacks on the patio. That night he coughed himself into a fit that lead to throwing up again. And once again in the morning. I noticed at night he had a few spots on his arms that were covered by the long sleeves he wore while we were traveling. Sunday morning he woke up and his arms and face were covered in a rash which made me wonder if he has been having a serum sickness reaction to the Amoxcillin the whole past week (it can cause a fever and he had that minor rash Monday evening). Anyway, I looked up dosages of Zyrtec because I hadn't brought any children's antihistamines with me (lots of cold and cough meds) and realized he could take a whole one of my Zyrtecs so I gave him that and we just had a chill day at the place, reading/listening, playing 10s with Mimi & Grandpa and zooming church. I decided after church to go to a pharmacy and get some children's Benadryl and some Prednisone. Dad wanted to walk the short distance to the pharmacy. While there he realized he had forgotten to take his meds so we bought a Gatorade and found a bench to sit on for a minute. I asked if he could walk back and he said yes. He did pretty well but by the time we got to the apartment he was leaning on me pretty heavily (like I was his walker) and at that point he realized he'd missed two doses of his meds. So I spent some time setting up his new watch we gave him for his birthday with alarms to remind him to take his meds.

First thing Monday morning I called the allergist to set up a telemed appointment. I wanted to get  his opinion and to see if Andrew should try amoxicillin again. Once the appointment was set I got the boys ready an we walked out to the beach on the ocean. The boys dug in the sand and Andrew read under the umbrella for a bit. That morning Grandpa Stan said he heard the waves crashing hard and when we walked out to the beach I could see how high they had crashed, it was really high. So I didn't want the boys walking out to the water without me. We did walk out and get our feet wet. Then they played more.

 

Marcus convinced us to go out to get our feet wet again. The tide kept going out on us but then I could see a big one coming and I said we should probably back up but they didn't want to until it was too late and we got really wet. At that point Marcus was done and kept begging to go back to the condo. Kids!

Eventually we wandered back. Had lunch and then I let the boys watch a movie while we waited for the telemed appointment. Here are some pictures you can see the rash on Andrew. The doctor wants him to try taking amoxicillin one more time. The cough makes him think that it could be another virus and the fact that he doesn't have joint pain with the serum sickness which is one of the main symptoms. So we will see. I'm hoping he doesn't have to take another antibiotic for a long time because A. we've had enough sickness and B. I don't want to risk a reaction like this again. He was such a trooper but he did say on Sunday when you are not feeling well you just want to be home. Monday though he had more energy the cough had calmed down and we were medicating for the rash so things seemed to be turning.

My parents got us tickets to do the pirate ship that night. It was dinner and a show, but just as we were leaving my Dad said he was not feeling well. I was really worried about him being on a boat when he was already a little sick. Andrew and he rested by a table for a bit while we waited for our boarding time. Then he decided he would just take a taxi home but he didn't have his phone or wallet so I gave him $40 and told him to call us when he got home. I was worried about him the whole time. Finally about 45 minutes later Steve sent me a text and said he was able to get a hold of Stan and he was back at the condo resting. Whew! The boys really enjoyed the pirate show. Dinner was a little tricky to eat on our laps but the bbq chicken and mashed potatoes were good.

There was sword fighting, dancing, fire, and treasure. The show was a lot of fun. Marcus could have gone up because they asked for February birthdays, he stood up excited then he got shy and sat down and snuggled into me. Andrew danced with the pirates for a bit and the two boys got to hold the rope that tripped the pirate.

Amazingly I think the cool air was good for Andrew's rash and his face was almost completely clear by the time we got back to the condo. The boys were excited to tell Grandpa all about it and then just as we were getting ready for bed we heard fireworks so we ran out to check it out.

 

My parents had an amazing whale watching experience on Dad's birthday with Venessa and her family. The boys wanted to go whale watching so they kindly took us out. We saw a Mama hump back whale jump out 2 times then we saw the baby. They sat and floated near the top with their side fins out of the water. We wondered if maybe they were nursing. Then the baby jumped several times in front of us. It was fun. It was a windy day so the water was rough which made it a little extra bumpy so we all just stayed seated except Marcus, who on occasion would act like he was surfing.

Once we got back. Mom and Dad wanted to take a nap so I took the boys to the pool and they had a blast.

Then we quickly showered so we could go out to dinner at Jo's Garden which is basically a restaurant in a tree house. Andrew braved ordering sushi with fish and loved it. Marcus and I shared a smoked pizza.

Wednesday, February 21st we were flying back but we had the later flight. So after breakfast I walked the boys down to the Turtle Sanctuary. Unfortunately there wasn't much there this time, but it was a fun walk on the beach.

Once we got back from that we spent some time packing up. My parents changed their tickets to fly back with us. So I spent some time packing up and getting things organized at their place like putting food in the freezer and throwing things away that would go bad before they got back. Taking out the garbage etc.Then we headed to the airport. Mimi was nice and bought the boys some Cabo cards so they sat there and played war while we waited for our plane.

 

It was a direct flight home with their own TVS in front of them so they traveled like champs and we got in early. Steve met us in short term parking to help us out with the bags and to keep us from going up and over and back down since we had to go through customs (the new airport is not as user friendly as it could be, oh well).

We took Mom and Dad to their hotel in Layton where they would stay the night. The next day Venessa took Dad shopping for a few things for their house and Dad saw these succulents at Home Depot and thought of Ellie so he bought them for her as a little gift. He brought them to our house and picked up his Tesla to drive home. Steve fixed the 12volt battery issue and we took it in to get re-certified for super charging so it was all set for him. Then we headed to the hotel to meet up with Mom. I realized how close we were to NUAMES so I called Ellie and told her to come give Grandpa and Mimi a hug for the cute plants before they left.

It was a good trip. Not as relaxing as I had hoped with the crazy illnesses but we still had fun and I'm glad we went. Who can complain about 75 degrees and the sun in February, not me! I was grateful my parents came home with us (just a few days earlier than originally planned) because my sweet Aunt Marsha had a heart attack on Sunday. They life flighted her to Twin Falls where they did surgery and put in 4 stents. Dad got to see her after the surgery and Mom and Dad went up the next day Monday, February 26th on her birthday to say Happy Birthday. She had another heart attack early morning Tuesday, February 27th and passed away. She will be missed but I'm sure she is having a sweet reunion with her mother Dorothy and her father Delbert. I'm grateful my parents were here to see her and give her their love. Tender mercies are wonderful!

Do You Love Me?

Tuesday, February 13th, Steve and I had tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof at Hale Center as our Valentine date. He had a meeting that was going long so I went to Cafe Sabor and picked up their Taco Tuesday special. Everyone thought it was great and I was glad I didn't have to cook for anyone on our date night. I knew the show would be long, especially for a week night but it was amazing! I didn't even feel like I was tired or ready to go. And I forget how many fun songs are in that show, "Match maker", "Tradition", "If I Were a Rich Man", "Do You Love Me?". So good!!

 

The kids woke up to our traditional strawberry heart shaped pancakes and waffles and a little present. This year they got reversible coloring books and a little gift Steve brought back from Singapore for them. Since it's late start Wednesday for Lila and Ellie doesn't have school on Wednesdays the kids filtered through breakfast at their own time.

 

Andrew had to make a box to collect his Valentine's in and we found this fun idea and he had a good time making it. He also got a lot of compliments on it at school.

 

I went in to help with both of the boys class parties on Valentine's day. It was a little crazy but so fun! I took in sun catchers for Marcus's class to do. The day before I panicked a little about taking paint into 2nd graders but they did great and their party was earlier in the day allowing time for the paint to dry (I did take my blow dryer and hit them all for a few minutes with it to speed the process along).

 

In Andrew's class I did the treat station. I took oreos and flavored milk and then we answered some Valentine Would You Rather questions. It was fun and I'm glad I picked something simple for that party because they did it after their last recess only leaving 6 minutes per station (which was half the time I had with the 2nd graders).

Then I came home and we had our traditional fondue and heart brownies for dessert (Marcus and Steve made brownies on Sunday but due to a measuring mishap the batch had to be doubled so we have lots of brownies 😂). I hope my family knows how much I love them and how grateful I am to each of them for the work they put in at school and their extra curricular activities. They truly are amazing and I feel blessed to share this journey with them. 💓

Year of the Dragon

I told the kids when I was doing all the deep cleaning that I was just preparing for the Chinese New Year. They have a tradition to do cleaning to sweep out the old and be ready for the new. The boys school always does a big celebration and they learn songs and the 2nd grader's get to participate in the Dragon dance which is Marcus's age so he was super excited about that. You can watch their songs/performances here: https://youtu.be/nApltT7Q61c?feature=shared 

We had talked about taking the boys to the celebration at the school Friday night but Steve was overwhelmed at work just getting back from his ski trip and to be honest I was a little worried about getting the boys sick again (ugh! Andrew got sick even avoiding this activity, this year is killing me slowly with illnesses, more to come on that later). So we watched their performances and a lion dance in Hong Kong as a family and did a few activities. 

Then Steve took the boys up to the gym to use Andrew's team practice space to shoot some hoops (the team cancelled practice due to the celebration at school). The boys had a good time.

Saturday morning I took Marcus to a friend's baptism so he could see one and be comfortable with the process before his. Marcus was disappointed he did not get scriptures and a scripture bag on his birthday. I told him I was planning to give it to him on his baptism day but he really wanted a set. So we stopped by the store to get Thatcher a little gift and let him pick out a scripture bag and order his scriptures. He was a little sad when the lady told us it would take 24-48 hours for the name engraving. I told her it would be fine and I'm hoping I can still wrap them up for him to open on his baptism day. Then we headed to the baptism. It was a really nice program and I am grateful I took Marcus to it.

Steve was busy at home working on the office and teaching Ellie how to change her oil.

 

I snuck in a quick 5K after the baptism and before taking Lila to precomp. I told her earlier in the week that this year's costume changes were pretty easy and I wanted her to do her own makeup and be prepared to do changes by herself. I printed out a paper with all of the changes and when I got back from my run she was getting ready. They had a long week working extra hours on their contemporary piece and they did really well. After the performances Lila was happy and realized how much she likes dance and is trying to think of creative ways to keep dancing. I tried to help her recognize that the hard work pays off. It isn't fun when you have to put in extra hours and your tired but look how good it all went. And I have to say she did amazing with the changing in between numbers by herself and enjoyed visiting with several moms. It was a nice evening, probably one of the least stressful precomps (for me at least, I think Lila was really nervous about the contemporary piece).

 

Steve took Andrew to his basketball game while we were at precomp. Andrew said he didn't sleep well the night before and he had low energy and a minor cough. Steve said he played hard but he came home and he was wasted and coughed himself into a fit until he threw up. So we left him home from church. Then Sunday night he started fevering so he stayed home from school. He masked up to go to rehearsal practice with me. I've been helping teach the music to the kids with a group of moms. It has been fun. That night he showed me a rash he had on his stomach so Steve and I ran him to urgent care because I was worried maybe we didn't clear the strep (he had just finished the antibiotic). The nurse saw the rash and said, "let's strep test him." Without even knowing his history so I wasn't completely out of my mind. Strep test came back negative and the doctor said it was probably just another virus and to wait it out. Each day he would perk up in the afternoon but every morning he would wake up feverish. So weird! I've been praying hard that he can clear it before we go to Mexico and that no one else gets it. I'm telling you this has been another hard winter for illnesses. I keep telling myself they are building their immune system. 🙏