That last blog post was about the last thing I did before I went DOWN-most of my family has been suffering with the flu since Christmas.  It's been a blast.

My brothers were coming home from a movie Christmast night and they started getting sick-my Dad was already sick, but seemed to get their symptoms as well.  My poor mother was taking care of all 3 of them; she thought it was a virus, but didn't pick up on their symptoms as being flu.  I felt something go deep down into my chest on the night of the 27th.  I had been sneezing for 2 days, but it went deep and I knew I was in trouble.  All 4 of us had fevers, chills, runny eyes, congestion, cough, and lots of aches and pain.  Terrible pain!  My Dad ended up on antibiotics for lung congestion, my one brother had to have sterroid shots and abx for bronchitis, today, pneumonia....  My poor Mom went down around New Years Eve and still feels horrible.  I started feeling better on the 2nd; it is now the 7th? (can't believe it)  I am still coughing, my face is still red and rough from tissues, I still have no energy most of the day...this is the worst.  Really.  We had a miserable Christmas break-didn't see my family since Christmas day, I spent 5 days in bed with chills, and guess what?  I HAD MY FLU SHOT.  I didn't make the connection that it was flu until I talked with my friend around New Year's Eve.  She and her family were supposed to fly back east right after Christmas to see her sister's new baby.  They ALL got sick and had to postpone their flight/trip.  That's when I started to see more than just my family.....now it's all over the news!  It was seriously terrible.

My husband escaped somehow.  And thank you God, my children stayed well.  I am still nervous that they will be going back to school tomorrow and get it.  I sure hope not.

I feel terrible that my kids had such a bum break.  I think it was on the first, I finally begged my husband to take them to the movies.  They enjoyed that, and kept telling me that they didn't mind not doing anything.  They kept saying they were enjoying relaxing, sleeping in, etc.  But I still felt bad.

This weekend they had their recital for Irish Dance.  My little one (10 1/2) is a champion, and this year performed with the champions.  It was fabulous really-my oldest still got to perform with them as well, since she is at that level in class, but she didn't get to do solos.  My mother was able to drag herself over there for the recital  as well.  They had 7 hours of dance that day-they are such troopers!

They next day since their performance was over, I wanted to take them to an outdoor ice skating rink.  Apparently so did everyone else that lives around here!  It was crazy!  Oldest hadn't gone in a while, and had a bit of a struggle with it (she was teeny small last time, even though it was just 2 years ago).  Lu picked it up fast and seemed to have no trouble with it-not too surprising.  She is very athletic.  Oldest fell one time really hard-thankfully I didn't see it.  I just saw a girl her age helping her up (very sweet, so thankful for that).  She was covered with snow and it hurt-her knee and hip are bruised. :(  After sitting with me for a while, she got the nerve to go back out...only to have an extremely large boy (adult man sized), run into her and knock her down.  We left soon after that!

My girls go back to school tomorrow!  It's going to be a long hard day for them.  Oldest has chamber orchestra so it's out the door at 6:45. :(  I should get to bed here myself so that I can deal.

Christmas Snow!

We were so very excited to have a white Christmas this year!  You'd think with us living in Colorado that we'd have a ton, but this year has been extremely dry.  I think that the entire state was excited that we had some snow on Christmas-the girls didn't go out and play until the day after, and then today the 27th it snowed off and on all day!  It didn't amount to much today, maybe an inch, but it's still snow and it's beautiful!

Happy Late Christmas!

This holiday season just flew-I can't even put my mind around it.  We had a lot going on at school, a lot going on at home (I hosted two cookie parties/sleepovers for each child), and illness on top of it.  But I think overall we had a really nice time.  There was lots that we didn't get to do, but hopefullly everyone is happy with what we had!

Off the top of my head, I know that we:

- Had a sleepover/Cookie decoration party for my oldest

-"    " for my youngest

- Attended a Gingerbread social at Lu's school

- Had a fabulous orchestra concert that the oldest played at,

- as well as the school of choice night for soon-to-be 6th graders like Lu, and an early morning concert at the coffee shop!

- planned the party for Lu's last elementary school Christmas party

- baked cookies for middle school teachers

- baked cookies for husband's work party

- looked at lights on Christmas Eve Eve :)

- had two girls with strep (one still on antibiotics)

I'm sure there is a lot more that I am missing, but all in all it has been very busy and at times stressful.

I haven't been feeling 100%-dry sinuses and headaches!  But I am looking forward to another great year in 2013.  Just hope I can remember to blog more often so that I can remember things!

Playing Catch Up

Trying to make the most of the time we have left in this month.  Luckily I did some decorating before I got sick!  But tonight, it is snowing.  We had to bring in all of the potted plants, the pumpkins....what a pain!  Unfortunately, it's not enough to amount to anything, you know like missing school!  So that means that tomorrow morning around 6:30, I will be out there cleaning off my car in the snow.  Pie has to be at school at 7 and we will need to leave a little early to be safe.  She also has an orchestra concert tomorrow night-it should still be snowing after that, so my Mom won't be able to drive and go with us. :(  Too early for this!  The good news is that I have seen the forecast for Halloween and it isn't bad - 62 is the high for the day so hopefully they won't freeze when they are out trick-or-treating.  This year my oldest (12) is going in our old neighborhood with a big group of friends, and at our insistence, a parent.  Our 10 year old is going in our current neighborhood with some friends and my husband.  Very weird that I will be staying home this year!  We spent about $20 on candy-we have a pretty big neighborhood and so many kids!  Hopefully we won't run out. 

I'm meeting with some friends tomorrow to figure out how we are going to plan the 5th grade Halloween party.  I hope that it will be fun with this being Lu's last year of elementary school. 

Also hoping that we get around to doing our pumpkins Sunday night.  Pie is going to a dance at jr high Friday night, Saturday they have 4 hours of dance, then off to be with family, and Sunday 2 hrs of dance, 2 hrs travel time.  It's just not enough time!

I don't even know what to do with myself!  Here my "favorite" month of the year, has been just AWFUL.  I've been sick off and on throughout, and now my girls are sick too.  I had my flu shot last Tuesday with my oldest, and both of us promptly fell ill the next day.  Most likely a coincidence since Lu was home sick from school the day before.  But how horrible-it's the 21st, the month is nearly over.....and I feel like I missed out. :(

I did get my girls' Halloween pic taken Friday, thanks to my precious Mom coming over to help.  We don't have the pictures in yet, but here's a preview.  Pie is Cleopatra and Lu is a bat, goth, ? not sure.  But she looks cool.

I got all reminisce-y, not really sad, but kind of amazed at how big my kids are and how fast they are growing up.  So I had to throw together this little Pic Monkey collage.

I really have enjoyed the beautiful fall colors this month, when I'm actually awake.  I did go in to have blood work done on Friday because in addition to being sick, I've also slept through October so I had my thyroid tested to see if it's screwing up again as well.  But this week, it's supposed to be in the 70s and pushing 80!  Only to come crashing at the end of the week with a chance of snow.  Oh, how you keep us on our toes Colorado!

I just want to feel better, have my kids get better and actually enjoy the last few days of this glorious month!

Welcome October!

was sick and it wasn't fun! It was one of those really awful sinus headachey colds or viruses. Not sure which. Snotty, coughy, but pretty much gone now, so yay! (Also involved naps daily for several days, but that's not a bad thing!)

So it is my favorite month of all. I love October! The leaves are turning bright yellow, the morning and evenings are crisp, the days are getting shorter--all good! My birthday and my anniversary are in this month, along with one of my favorite, if not my favorite holiday. <3 October (wait that doesn't work in non facebook, does it?)

My small one is taking off in a few days for a mountain getaway with her grade. When Pie did this 2 years ago, Lu had to sit through the parent night/side show with me. She has been ready since then! But now, her BFF went home sick today (probably with what I had, she had a headache), and Lu is really sad. I really hope that her buddy feels better in time-Lu would be devastated.

I picked up Pie today with a panicky weird look on her face. She broke a string on her violin! She has been playing for over a year, so I don't know if that's impressive or not that it has been this long. Her teacher said that she needed to replace all the strings because otherwise, they would sound weird, and my daughter said that 2 other strings were worn down. So $44! for strings! My daughter is very much like her engineer father, and wanted to restring it herself. She had watched her teacher do it and I figure if she's going to play the instrument, that is a skill she should have. So I let her. In my jeep while we were waiting for Lu to get out of school. SHE DID IT! There were a few scary moments, and when we got home she said she was shaking...but she was successful. We tuned it with the piano when we got home and all is well. She has chamber in the morning and a playing test, so hopefully all will continue to be well when she gets to school! :/ It was hard for me to let her do it, I kept thinking more $ if she breaks it, and I'll have to rent one until hers is fixed, but I'm glad I allowed her to do it. So proud!

We had a crazy non-weekend weekend. Thankfully we made it over to my parents' house Friday night because I knew it was going to be wild. Saturday morning we were downtown selling water and salsa (one of the girls in dance has parents who make salsa) at an irish festival. Sounds funny, I know. The girls had a blast-unfortunately in terms of fund raising it was a failure. I'm glad the girls were so into it. They were dancing in the street, getting lots of enthusiastic older irish folks to stand around and clap. Very sweet. They performed at 5 and my Mom was there with us to watch-they did fabulous. The second they were done the skies opened and it POURED. Sunday they were carpooled away with their local teammates as we do every Sunday to their team class. This time it was my turn to drive. I suspect I wasn't completely over my illness because I had a splitting headache and the carload of 4 girls were not very sensitive! Long day, we got home, ate dinner and it was time to get ready for the week. Next weekend is going to be WORSE. Our team had to fly the choreographer back in from England for a workshop next weekend. She starts Thursday evening, and since Lu won't be here Pie may or may not ride up with a friend. Friday both girls will be home, but Lu will be toast. They have the first evening workshop until 8 I think. Hour ride home, then back at the studio (hour ride again) by 9 the next morning. Double workshop for Pie, night time competition for Lu. Back home, back to the studio (hour drive one way again) for the last day of workshop, 9-2 I think. LONG EXHAUSTING WEEKEND. My poor children will need a day off after this. Our regional championship is coming up fast, third weekend in November. I will be very happy when we are done with this for a while at least.

The video is my girls dancing the weekend before last. Surprised you don't hear me snorting or coughing!

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick

It is WAY too early in the school year for this....but I am sick. :(  I'm pretty sure that my oldest had this the week before (although seemingly much milder!), but I could have picked it up from the elementary school the Friday before when I was there for a meeting.  It has not been fun!  In addition to snot and congestion, this little gem of a virus KICKS YOUR BUTT.  I spent a few days sleeping through the entire day, only to sleep all night (surprisingly!).  I have had aches off and on, as well as a low grade fever.  It's been a blast!  Today I felt stronger than I have since Thursday so I'm hoping it is on the mend.  !!!!!  Not fair to be spending some of the last few days of my 30 decade feeling like crap!