My sister's visit

My sister came to take care of me and the kids while I was recovering from my surgery.  She came anyway and distracted me from feeling terrible, even though my surgery was canceled because the hospitals are full.

One thing we did was go to Mimi's orchestra concert.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dnTmYuPvbdYcAlRrBjCWhrOW1x9I5hDZ/view

Hopefully that links works if you want to hear them play the Beatles song "ob la di ob la da"

Mimi is on the far right side of the stage. 

Kinda sick

While figuring how much medicine to give Yoda,
Me, "How much do you weigh?"
Yoda, "I don't know 36 or 67...?"

While Yoda was sick the electricity went out and all he wanted was lay still and watch tv.
Me, "Is there anything you need?"
Yoda, "uh... electricity?"

Cub Scout Day Camp

Yoda has been begging for Cub Scout Day Camp for YEARS!  This was his year.  So of course he got strep right in the middle of it.  

 Monday he started out strong, it was also the HOTTEST day of the week. 

 He was the popular kid with a cool battery-powered fan and a water mister.

But half-way through Tuesday he was fading.  No fever or sore throat, he just seemed overwhelmed by the heat.  

 But he stuck to it and tried to make it a great day.  

This is when I dragged him to the nurse's station.  After some A/C and lots of Gatorade, he was ready to go again!

 Wednesday he hung in there...

 With bursts of energy now and then. 

 Still no fever, loss of appetite, sore throat, nothing. 

 Then Thursday he spiked a fever and finally on Sunday his fever was so bad we took him to the urgent care.  After a day they called back and said he did, in fact, have strep.  Poor guy, though he only missed 1 and 1/2 of the days, and they were less exciting then the ones he attended.  Hopefully next year will be better!  

While feeling lousing and thinking of himself as a character in a video game he said to me in a weak voice, "...my life points..."

Sick

Right before Thanksgiving, Yoda was very sick. 

 While waiting, "I know why they call this the waiting room"

"This room is very small."

Doctor, "Let's check your ears to see if there's anything wrong in them... Whoa!  You can wiggle them!"

Just cause I know you want to see...here's a video! 

This was in the elevator on the way to the car.  I was cracking up at his new trick!

Mid-Winter Gibby Happenings...

 Yoda started basketball, he does fine for a Kindergartner,
but here he is with his hands in his pockets and a big yawn...

 Mimi put Cupcakes on her Christmas list, how cute is that?
We took care of that on a long cold winter day.  

 Finally some snow!  Not as much as the east coast, though we'll take it.
I just noticed that the camera totally caught Yoda in mid-jump!
 

 Lots of Playdough that Yoda got for Christmas.
 

 Valentine's Day fun. 

And of course more fevers then I want to think about. 

Uh Life...

This is me visiting my new little nephew.

Later I was walking out of the airport after my trip, Greg was not there to pick me up.  He called the cell phone to tell me that he was at the urgent care getting Mimi stitched up after her finger was slammed in the backdoor.  AH!

 (Mimi with her splint--"I can't do thumbs up, so I guess I have to do guns up")

Grabbed a cab * and went home to find Yoda at the neighbors.  As I went in for a big hug, I stopped -- "AHH! you have pink eye!"
Yoda, "I didn't know my eyes could be pink!"  


So I hustle him to the same urgent care that Mimi and Greg are leaving, hoping to find them there....  They are NOT there.  But Greg says he'll come back with our Health Savings Account debit card -- All this is happening while Greg is in between jobs and therefore without insurance.  Haven't I mentioned that?  Sorry... I'll explain all that later if you don't already know the details.   (According to me, health insurance we've had over the years hasn't really been all that beneficial, maybe the best part is the fact that there is a negotiated rate that is lower then the non-insured rate.  Maybe I  misunderstand the whole industry, I digress...)

The staff at urgent care giggle as they see Mimi and Greg show up with Yoda and me.  They know all about my trip away from home and laugh that I returned to things falling apart.

We get a prescription for Yoda and head home.  The house is in mid mom's-coming-home-let's-clean-up mode.  Greg had done a perfect job keeping the house running while I was gone, but it's now all falling apart. 

(here's Yoda and his pink-eyes, believe me, you don't want a close up.)  

Now Greg is feeling itchy eyes... life does keep you on your toes! 

* after waiting for a few seconds for the person in front of me in line at the taxi stand.  They were arguing about the price and threatening to call an Uber car or something.  I was 10 seconds away from telling everyone to get the heck out of my way so I could get home!  Finally the taxi stand guy motioned for me to take the cab, I threw my stuff in the open truck and hopped in the back seat. 

Sick

While resting, Yoda said, "We're almost a sicky family. 3 of us are sick-sick-ies"

I'm not sure why I post about being sick. 

Maybe it's to explain why there is such a short post this week?  Whatever, we've all had a turn at being sick, except Mimi, and now it my turn...

Of course...

it's Christmas Eve, so Yoda is sick!
Now Parker is taking his turn...

At least we have Avatar: The Last Airbender to keep our spirits up! 

A little get-away

Greg has been super busy with work and stuff, when things calmed down, I was determined to get out of town!  (bonus* Greg had a free car rental, so we took advantage of that!)  The kiddos had a 1/2 day of school, so we took off on Friday afternoon and drove to Erie, PA.  Our dear friends have lived there for almost as long as we have lived here, and yet, we have not visited... seemed like a good time to go.  And while we were at it, we drove the rest of the way to Niagara Falls!  Greg and I busted out our brand-new passports and took off :) 

We just had to do lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, it seemed too funny.  I haven't been there since the 80's and Greg in the 90's. 

Off to the falls....

We decided to park and walk across to the Canadian side. 

 On the border. 

 The only thing we did was go behind the falls.  It was pretty fun. 

 One reason we didn't take the boat is, it was COLD!  It even snowed a little while we were there!  But the other reason is, Parker started saying his stomach was hurting. 

Yoda, "I got an eye-patch"

We started walking back across the bridge, the photo above is just seconds before Parker lost his dinner all over the walkway.  Sorry Canada! 

They lit us the Falls a little early, we were so worried we would miss it.  It was so beautiful! We drove home that night.  So worth the trip! 

Yoda Asleep

He outgrew a formal nap almost a year ago, but lately he has fallen asleep at funny times and places.

This was just this past week...

He's also had strep 3 times in 4 months so we are off to the ENT, hopefully nothing is really wrong.
__________

Yoda's advice...

Mimi, "I feel a little car-sick."
(completely serious) Yoda, "Mimi, if you feel throw up in your throat, just choke it down."

Desserts

Yoda talking about jell-o "it's bouncy!"
__________

Yoda was excited to go to a friend's birthday party, but couldn't make it because he was pretty sick.  Then that night Greg took him to the er to get him a breathing treatment.  He was fine after that, but such bad timing! His friend sent him a cupcake though :)

While taking Yoda's temperature under his arm he asked:"why do I have this fer-nom-meter?"

__________

I kind-of pushed Parker to finish as much of his Webelos requirements as he could before school starts and is totally distracted.   

Here he is working on his handyman badge.