quarantined!

at this very moment, i *thought* i would be sitting with lauren in a large room with lots of other parents and grandparents.  i *thought* i would be watching as mikey and allie and the rest of their classmates stood on risers in front of us and sing their joyous easter songs.  i *thought* i would be simultaneously snapping pictures and trying to keep lauren from wandering off.  i *thought* i would later bring home my pictures and video footage and post them here, to relive a happy event in the kids' lives.

but all that was not to be.

instead, we're now quarantined.

this morning started off like any other, as i came out to find mikey in the living room playing his leapster.  he tends to be the earliest riser of all of us.  actually, lauren wakes up early too but hangs out in her crib until i'm ready to get her.  which isn't usually til much, much later.

so where was i?  oh yeah, this morning.  nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  i gave mikey some milk to drink and then went to get allie up.  i was in their room picking out their clothes to wear for the easter celebration at their school when from the living room a small voice called out, "mama, i threw up!"

i think this could very well be my least favorite thing my kids say to me.

i clean up mikey and the mess (on the couch, no less), then go back to the business of getting everyone ready.  it was a pretty small amount of you-know-what, and i was deciding that maybe it just came up as a result of a random cough he had.  otherwise, he seemed fine and didn't appear to be feeling sick at all.  i was pretty sure he'd be staying home just in case, but still had to get allie to school.

as we were getting ready to leave, mikey runs to the bathroom and gets sick again.  this time, a LOT sick.  poor kid.  but how thankful i was that he made it to the sink this time!

we dropped off allie at school, and let mikey's teacher know that he'd been sick that morning and so wouldn't be at school.  she was disappointed for mikey's sake (they were having a party in the class that day, followed by the special performance for the parents), and said he could join the class for the singing if he was feeling better.  because at that point, he was his usual cheerful self and was relishing the attention he was getting for being sick and for the opportunity to go back home with me.

we returned home and i started to make breakfast for the three of us.  mikey requested eggs and toast and really seemed like his normal self.  i was figuring in my head what time we should leave in order to get to school in time to find seats near the front.  i was also thinking that perhaps mikey would be able to join his class after all, too.

just as we were about to sit down to eat, the phone rings.  i see that it's the school.  uh-oh, i think.  it's never a good thing when they call...  or maybe i'd just forgotten to sign the tuition check i'd just dropped off that morning.  yeah, that must be it.

turns out, that wasn't it.  they were calling to tell me that allie was having some major gastrointestinal issues.  the good news was that she made it to the bathroom in time (thank you LORD, because she was wearing a white skirt of all things!).  the bad news was that she needed to go home.  they also advised me to stop by the market beforehand to pick up some medicine, pedialyte, and food to put her on the brat diet, and pronto.  so yeah, apparently it was bad.  her wonderful teachers took good care of her though and she seemed just fine by the time i got there.

so now, we are home having an impromptu sick day.

poor little baby.  changing her out of her white skirt was the first order of business once we got home.  but she still insisted on trading for another skirt.  she loves the flowers on it.  i love the camouflage capabilities of it.

recuperating with curious george.  note the tell-tale bucket behind him.  just in case.

i feel like this right about now.

well actually, i felt like that about when i was at the market with mikey and lauren in tow trying to figure out what i needed for allie.

but now, i'm good!  really!  God gave me the gentle reminder that in spite of all MY plans for this day, i am just exactly where He has planned for me to be right now.  and He's given me His grace to gently care for these two sick little ones and just enough energy to keep up with the extra messes of this day.  i can choose to be disappointed and upset over my botched plans, or i can rest in the knowledge that God has placed me just where He wants me- He knows my present circumstances and is faithfully walking through this day with me.  and so i am joyful, remembering all that He is for me and has done for me.  what little i can do for my children pales in comparison with what He has endured for me.

and that is exactly the easter message i needed to hear today, in exactly the way i needed to hear it.

at what age is one considered over the hill?

i hope i'm not there yet, though some days i feel like i already am.  : p  so, i had a birthday this past weekend.  unfortunately, phil was on call (which means he works a 24-hour shift in the hospital and doesn't come home til the next morning) on my actual birthday.  he had to work three weekends this month and so we both agreed that he should work this past weekend in order for the big bear trip to happen earlier in the month.

but!  thanks to a wonderful little thing called "parents' night out" (pno), we were able to have a dinner date the evening before.  once or twice a month, the church where our kids go to preschool provides three hours of babysitting on a friday evening so that the parents can go out on a date without kids.  it's one of the ways the church blesses the community and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.  phil and i have made use of this almost every month this school year and it's really gone a long way in encouraging us in our marriage.

so anyway, we dropped off the kiddos and were off!

phil had made a reservation for a table for two.  i just love when he makes reservations for a table for two.

here i am trying not to look too giddy over a night out but failing miserably.

perusing the menu.  the restaurant was almost empty when we first got there so we pretty much got to sit anywhere we wanted.  i happily chose a corner table next to the big windows.

like i said, the restaurant was pretty empty when we first got there.  see us in the big mirror?  but every table was filled by the time we left. 

mmm, crusty bread.  but i would've rather had butter to slather on it instead of this odd, chilled tomato dipping sauce thing.

we ordered two appetizers to share.  i ordered this lovely plate of risotto, blue crab, and crawfish cakes on top of an avocado salad served with a balsamic reduction.  it was delicious.  pretty much my favorite dish of the night.

phil got this french onion granitee (french onion soup with cheese on top).  and yes, i did pull the cheese off the sides and ate it.  actually, phil pulled it off for me and slipped it on my plate.  i just love toasty cheese.

phil ordered this citrus halibut only to remember that he doesn't like fruit in his main dish once the plate was served.  but i liked it!

i ordered the braised colorado lamb shoulder served with creamed white corn, white corn polenta, and mint fava bean pesto.  homey and delicious, but a bit too salty.

for dessert, we ordered the vanilla and chocolate brioche bread pudding.  we're not usually big fans of bread pudding, but these (especially the one in the back!) were sooo good.

so, phil and i, we like to linger over our date dinners, order lots of stuff to try and sit around talking as we eat.  it usually ends up taking most of the three hours of babysitting time we have and there's not much time left to do anything besides head back to pick up the kids.  but i don't need anything more after a lovely, hot meal that i can eat at my leisure without a million interruptions from my monkeys.  and so, i was quite content to consider this my birthday meal and was all set to spend the next day with the kiddos doing our usual routine at home.

i got to hang out with these two on my birthday.  and i seriously considered just leaving all of us in our pajamas for the day since, hey, it WAS my birthday after all.  but mikey (who wasn't feeling entirely well that day) thought it was too weird and wanted all of us to get dressed.  so we did.

hung out with this one, too.

it was a quiet day spent at home with my kids.  but still i loved it and considered myself very blessed.

but surprise!  the next morning, phil and the kids came into the room with breakfast in bed for me.  i hesitate to post this picture because i literally woke up only seconds before.  i think i was even in the middle of some bizarre dream and wasn't fully awake yet.  but my sweet hubby, who only got one hour of sleep while being on call the night before, still stopped by the market to buy stuff to put this together.

there was also a card from him.  he has quite the knack for picking out just the right card with just the right words inside.  i love that about him.

and inside the card...  there was also a gift certificate to my favorite camera store!  woo!  now, THAT was a complete surprise.

blowing out the candle.  with a little help from allie.

and last but not least, a dozen roses already in a vase on the kitchen table.

aww.  thanks honey for going above and beyond.  i thank the Lord for giving me you and still think you're the best.  :)

chain reaction.

we were all pretty wiped out after allie's party.  and what happens when the whole family is wiped out?  i'll tell you what happens.  it starts a chain reaction of events that goes something like this:

phil sleeps through his 6 am alarm and in his sleep stupor, wakes up to my alarm set for an hour later (we share one clock radio which is on his side of the bed), turns it off, and rushes off to work.  i blissfully stay sound asleep the whole time.  could be due to the earplugs i wear every night.  could also be due to the allergy medicine i took the night before because of the wicked allergy attack that struck following the windy day in the park.  in any case, i was out cold.

i finally snap awake an hour later, confused, unsure of what day it is, and with a sinking feeling in my stomach.  i blink a few more times and realize that it is after 8 am and i now have less than forty minutes to get myself and my three still-sleeping kiddos up and dressed, a lunch made for mikey, milk and something for their breakfast, shoes on and strapped into carseats in the car otherwise we'd be late for school.  thankfully, it's still preschool and tardies aren't a real reality for us yet.

okay, so we were a bit late.  make that a lot late.  but apparently, i still had time to take a couple pictures.  there's always time for pictures, right?  and okay, so i only got two out of three kids dressed.  and only one girl with hair done.  but they all got the breakfast of champions- also known as cereal in a baggie.  at least i can say i've got my ducks in a row!  : p

and lateness notwithstanding, there's always time for a picture with his baby sister.  :)

my girl. she's four now.

so last week, allie-girl turned four.  i still can't quite believe it.  i mean, she's still got those cubby, chubby, baby cheeks that i go in to kiss every night after she's asleep.  did i lose a year?  how can she be four already?

apparently, i'm still wrapping my brain around it.  it might take a while.

to celebrate her birthday, we threw an art party in the park for her.  i might have mentioned this a time or two, but the girl loooves to draw, and cut, and glue, and tape like nobody's business.  so i knew she'd love nothing more than to have a whole afternoon doing her favorite things with her favorite friends.  i just hope everyone else had a good time too since we kept it rather low-key and almost classroom-like, now that i think about it.

grandma and grandpa made the long drive down the evening before just to be there for her, too.  she loved that.  and she loved the giant birthday gift bag they brought for her to open.

all ready to dive in to the giant birthday bag!  happily, there were presents for all three kiddos in there.

she opened the card first.  and was thrilled to discover that tinkerbell music played every time she opened it.  and that singing card has quite the battery life too- it's been playing multiple times a day ever since she got it.  "think of all the joy you'll find, when you leave the world behind.  and bid your cares goodbye, you can fly, you can fly, you can fly!"  i believe that tune is now indelibly etched into my memory.

but it was very sweet of grandma to get it for her.  allie has an awesome grandma.  :)

mikey got right to work and built a fort for his army guys with allie's new blocks.  that's my dad's foot in the bottom right hand corner, pointing out for me that mikey also built six cannons to protect the fort.

after a quiet morning, it was time to get ready and head over to the park for the party.  thankfully, it didn't rain that day and the sun was out.  except that the wind picked up and left me with an allergy attack that lasted for two days afterward.  sheesh.

ok, so as i said before, it was kinda classroom-like with activity centers and stuff.  but it looked like the kiddos were having fun with it, right?

the kids started out in the "apron center" where they each decorated their apron however they wanted.  it was cool to see what the older kids came up with.

here's mikey with his bejeweled (though still manly- note all the blue and green gems he selected) butterfly.

here come the grandparents to save the day!  they kept lauren with them so that phil and i could tend to the party details.  definitely, a great thing.

in the 'sun-catcher center'...

ah, this girl.  i love how she gets totally focused on what she's doing.

i wonder where she gets that from?

must run in the family or something.

k carefully supervising as her mommy did the pouring in the 'sand art center'.

cool sand beaker!  this was just moments before he started shaking and shaking and shaking it.  just to see what would happen.  boys.

another cool sand beaker.  this little girl goes to the same preschool as allie and is one of her best friends.

there's something so relaxing about painting, no?

i liked j's roller-paint-the-wall approach.

allie's abstract work of art.

lauren and grandpa painting their masterpiece on the other side of the easel.  i was surprised- i don't think i've ever seen my dad draw anything before.  kinda cool.

ok, so on a whim, i picked up this pack of 12 christmas pinwheels on clearance for 2 bucks.  just figured a random extra activity could come in handy.  who knew that they'd be the hit of the party?  the kids rather enjoyed them.  might have had something to do with the wind that day and how they were whipping around pretty fast.  not that you can tell in this picture, as the camera caught it in mid-spin.

"Luez" liked 'em too.  (The foam letters weren't sticking very well...).

then it was time to eat!  mmm, hawaiian food...

allie picked out this ballerina barbie cake.  i picked out the cake flavor.  it was chocolate.

checking out her pinky-purple cake.  i think she liked it.

this picture makes me laugh.  the kids told allie to lick the icing off.  i love her little friend's moral support.

heh heh.  icing mustache.

hands down, this was lauren's favorite part of the day.

after the party, we headed home and allie opened her first few presents.  she loved the tutu.  she also loved the barbie.  and pretty much has been in little girl heaven ever since.

it seems that we've entered the barbie phase.  oh boy.

the next day, we got to bring special birthday treats to allie's class.  though i originally had special plans in mind to make a special treat, they were quickly replaced by the next best thing-- king's hawaiian cupcakes.  a little jacked up.  this mama was too pooped to care.

allie had a wonderful time celebrating with her class and came home with four birthday balloons and a birthday crown.  :)

and so, my girl is officially four and i'd say she had a wonderful time turning a year older.  whew.  one down, four to go!