Mama, My Tongue is Hot!

One more day of sick kids and cancellations.  This sickness isn't bad as far as sicknesses go.  Just a sore throat, fever and tiredness for me.  The kids seem to have the same symptoms minus the tiredness, they have replaced that one with stir-craziness!  Who can blame them, they've been cooped up in the house for almost a week now.  I think that Grace and I are at the end of our little bouts but Hope is at the beginning of hers.  Emma still seems healthy, although this morning she said, "Mama, I don't feel good.  I'm not sick, I just feel like there is yucky hot throw up in me, but I'm NOT sick."  She had breakfast right after that and hasn't complained since so I'm chalking that one up to hunger.  Hope, however, has been up and down, moaning and groaning.  She has told me how hot she is all day.  "Mama, I'm hot...Mama, my neck is hot....Mama, my head is hot."  It wasn't until she said, very dramatically, "Mama, my tongue is HOT," whilst holding her stuck out tongue in her fingers, that I figured out that she had been trying to get me to take her temperature.  I thought she was just feeling hot, I mean, we are in Arizona.  I took it, it was 102.2, she's right, her tongue is hot.  We can ring the bell for round two!  I'm praying that Kim and Emma don't get this one because another week of canceling all the classes and commitments doesn't sound so appealing to me.  I was wondering this morning why we couldn't all get sick at the same time instead of in a long string of sickness and then the Lord reminded me that He only gives us what we can handle.  He's right, I'm not so great at handling sick kids while I don't feel well!  I'm glad for the string.  Plus, it's over soon, right?

We are getting back on schedule though.  We've been doing school even if we haven't been going to any activities.  That's one bonus of home schooling.  It's been harder because not only has Gracie been sicko but she's teething.  She is breaking in an incredibly sharp molar.  I finally got a glimpse of it tonight after pulling a bloody toothbrush out of her mouth.  The points of the tooth are all out of the gum but the gum itself is swollen around them and still covers the center of the tooth, that is, where it isn't bleeding.  Poor baby!  No wonder she screams every time I set her down or whenever she tries to take a bite of food.  The child has been following me around crying, holding onto my pant leg if I can't pick her up, which I can't always pick her up.  She's the third child, so instead of taking the week off from life and holding her close and rocking her, the poor baby has to deal with spurts of being put down while Mommy helps her sisters or folds a load of laundry.  It makes me feel incredibly guilty but it's the best I can do and I know that God will fill in the gaps.

As far as today went, it was pretty good.  Emma came out in a muumuu that my mom brought her from Hawaii.  Her opening question was, "Does this make me look fat?"  She is five and so skinny and tall that even size four pants fall off of her waist while they don't come close to reaching her ankles.  "No, Emma, I don't think there is anything that could make you look fat."

For school we have added a "fun" book.  Overall, it's really beneath the level that Emma is at but she enjoys the activities and Hope and Grace can play along too so it's nice.  Today, for the letter B we made felt bees and counted down as they "flew" away.  All of the girls LOVED this and even Gracie was walking around saying, "Bu, Bu, Bu, BZZZZZZZZZ."

I waited a bit too long to make lunch today.  Have you ever done that?  You know you've done it when the kids start melting down and all of the sudden is seems as if it will be impossible to finish making lunch because you have to deal with little emergencies every five seconds.  Plus, you can't really walk because there is a toddler glued to your leg and if you step too fast she's going down.  Has that ever happened to you?  Please say yes.  Poor Grace was so hungry, even though I'd been trying to feed her all day.  That tooth is REALLY bothering her.  She walks around saying "Eat, eat, eat, eat."  Then takes one bite and screams like she's dying, throws her hands up in the air and pleads, "All dun, all dun!!!!"  This has happened continuously for the past three days.  At first I thought her throat hurt, now I know it's the tooth.  Partially because now she walks around with a pout and fingers in her mouth sadly chanting, "Teef, teef, teef."  I don't remember the other two having such harsh teething.  Gracie teethed worse early on too, so I guess I should have expected it.  I figured out that if I mash up her food she can tolerate a bit more but oooooo the mess it makes!  This picture was taken AFTER I'd already wiped her hands once.

Anyway, she forced my hand. Breakfast of yogurt and mashed banana plus lunch of watermelon and chicken broth with mashed crackers all in her hair, I had to give the child a bath.  I couldn't be too far away from E since it was school time, so Gracie was bathed in the sink today.  It was fun.

                                          Okay, this is totally a face that Hope makes.

 After lunch Gracie found the duck costume and BEGGED to be a duck.  I thought, great, I need to take pictures of Orange today for a photo challenge at You Capture so that will be perfect.  It wasn't perfect.  She really wanted to be that duck, until it was on her, then, she did not want to be the duck!

 Hope was happy to be the duck.  Gracie wasn't happy for Hope to be the duck.  Gracie still thought that she wanted to be the duck.  This went back and forth for a while.

 There were a few moments of peacefulness, ahhhhh....

 "Teef, teef, teef!"

 I decided that an orange hat might be a less controversial subject.

 To see the final picture that I entered, go to the post before this one.  

After I photographed Emma and Hope in the hat, Gracie wanted a turn.  She literally stood in line.  While E was posing G sidled up next to her and started saying, "Cheese."  I couldn't resist.

I love this adorable pose but am sad when I realize that it's not really a pose, it's just because her mouth hurts.

Anyway, we made it through the day and the night, even though Kim was gone for the fourth night in a row!  The girls and I had fun playing some "board games" that Emma designed.  It was very fun and really reminded me how creative E is.  One of the games was based on chutes and ladders but was a more spiritual version with decisions on whether or not to follow God.  I wish I had video taped her acting it out.  "You climb this ladder and God says, "Don't eat that apple."  Then the snake says, "You should eat the apple, eat, eat, eat, it's gooooood!"  Now you decide if you want to eat the apple or not.  If you eat it, you go down this slide but if you don't, you get to stay at the top with God."   She was a bit disappointed with me because I always chose the options that kept me close to God.  She wanted me to make the wrong choice every now and then.  I told her that in Chutes and Ladders there are no choices because you have to go where the die tells you to but in her game there are choices just like in real life and it's always best to choose what will keep you close to God.  Not that I always make the right choice in life but when it's obvious like in her game, anyway I wanted to set a good example, it's not good to make the wrong choice just for variety!  For the next game she brought out there weren't as many choices!

I know this is extremely long.  I'm sorry about that.  I think it's mostly because I'm here, in this house without my normal outlets of adult conversations.  That's probably also why I've been leaving insanely long comments on some of your blogs!  I'm hoping that once I get back to life and seeing friends again, that I won't feel the need to type soooo much!

Anyway, as a special reward to those of you who made it this far I'll leave you with something E said this afternoon...   I had opened all the windows in the house to air it out so the noise from the street was amplified.  Someone rode by on a rather loud motorcycle.  E asked, "What was THAT?!?"  I told her. She replied, "Whew, you mean it wasn't some guy mowing our lawn?  'Cuz that would be scary, just some crazy guy mowing our lawn for no reason."