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. 🙏