Sick Day

The kids stayed home from school today, sick.  They weren't super sick, as became obvious as the day progressed, but they had had fevers yesterday, and were lethargic enough to soften me up this morning.  They had a marvelous day, playing/fighting together.  Monday is the day I unbend enough to let them play on the computer, so they had a great time playing Spore.  Then they spent way longer than I can imagine playing "Lottery"-- Cheyenne would announce that the lottery was for "one billion kajillion dollars", and they would take turns guessing the number until they won.  Then they could all cheer and clap and become billion-kajillionaires.  I have no idea where the idea for this one came about, but it sure kept them entertained!

I had a brainwave (well, a thought, anyway-- the jury is still out on the braininess of the scheme) today about the kids' bookcases.  I spend an inordinate amount of time putting the books away, especially after Lincoln has a "nap" and removes 50-75 books in an afternoon.  And since I can't bring myself to stuff them back all willy-nilly, it takes a chunk of my day (or week, depending on how long I step over piles).  Lincoln's diaper-changing table has been in our room, so I decided to put that in Lincoln's room, and put the bookcases from both kids' rooms in my bedroom, under my eagle eye.

I moved them before putting the books away-- they're usually jammed full.  Hopefully it usually looks like this, clean floor all visible, and I'm not wading through Clifford books to get to bed.

Lincoln took the absence of the books pretty well this afternoon. It turns out, the fun of removing all the shirts from the drawers of his diaper-changing table runs a pretty close second to pulling books off the shelf.

This furniture-moving inspired my kids-- they all started sorting and organizing their things.  Mostly, trinkets were reshuffled among their boxes.  If one kid was feeling they didn't still need the Happy Meal Smurf, another sibling was glad to add it to their collection.  I think a few things were thrown out, though, so a step in the right direction!

Elliott found his money stash, and put it in a baggie and labeled it carefully: "Money!  Not for Robbers."  I guess I better keep my paws off it from now on.

He then carefully added it all up, and added the total to the label: 276¢.

Since Rilla's weekend sickness necessitated changing sheets, the girls were enjoying newly made beds.  Cheyenne hang up the quilt she made at Grandma Marilyn's last week on her wall.

Dollhouses are big right now.  So are blocks, the pretend cash register, and books.  Lots of books.

I had planned on doing a big grocery shopping Saturday when Evan was home, but the kids came down with their fevers Saturday morning, so I spent most of the day Saturday holding kids.  A nice way to spend the day, but it didn't do a whole lot to replenish the fridge.  Two days later, the situation was dire (i.e., I didn't have any eggs to cook for my breakfast tomorrow morning), so despite the fact the kids were home sick, I had to pack them all up for an errands run.  After hitting the post office, Kinney Drugs, and the library, we went to Wal-Mart.  I took a hardline approach the minute we stepped in the store.  I pushed the three smaller kids in one shopping cart (absolutely NO standing up, moving, breathing, wiggling!!  I MEAN it!!), and I had Cheyenne push a cart with the groceries in it.  Lincoln was completely unimpressed with confinement at first, but he settled down eventually.  I went from the lady at customer service sympathetically telling me horror stories about shopping with her toddler (I couldn't really hear the details over Lincoln's screams), to having an older lady stop me as I was checking out to tell me how well-behaved my kids were.  Thank-you muchly, old lady, I needed that!

Never, never, never, NEVER wait until 2/11 to buy your kids' Valentines.  The selection was slim.  Because Elliott's class is having a joint party with the class next door, he has to address Valentines for 40 kids, plus teachers.  And the teacher requested that they address them all themselves.  Help us.  I decided to spread out the pain, so I had him write his name on all the Valentines tonight, and we'll work on writing all the kids' names tomorrow night.

On the subject of class parties, I'm very divided about our school's policy of only allowing store bought food at school parties.  On the one hand, I kind of resent having to fork over good money for so-so food, when I could make something 10x better for half the price.  On the other hand, what a blessed relief to not have to outdo myself or live up to the amazing Pinterest Mommies.

Cheyenne just threw a new wrinkle into sleepwalking.  She did it for years when she was younger, but she hasn't had an episode in a long time.  She just came downstairs now, though, looking like she was sleepwalking, only she started talking-- total rubbish.  It will be interesting to see if she remembers it in the morning.  Sleepwalking is such a creepy phenomena.  I remember reading that the ancient Egyptians thought that the soul left the body while they slept, and if you ever saw a sleepwalking person, you could believe it.  The body is moving, but the brain is not there.

The snow on the back deck tonight.  We had freezing rain, then a warm day, so it melted into interesting shapes.

Well, I need to head to bed, so I can crawl into bed and immediately have the song "Jennie Jenkins" start bustling through my head.  It's this silly little song that is on the kid's tape "Wee Sing Fun and Folk", and we haven't listened to it forever.  For some reason, though, as I was rocking the kids Saturday, warm beneath their feverish little bodies, I realized I had been humming it for a really long time.  I googled the lyrics, and apparently the Grateful Dead sang it, too??  I guess I am way hipper than I give myself credit for.