Sick X 5= NO FUN AT ALL!

We are usually a pretty healthy family.   On Tuesday, Gavin was just not himself.  He slept a lot of the day and then ended the night with a fever.  Wednesday he had a major sore throat.  Thursday morning he threw up twice.  I was almost thinking it was strep and Tyler was about ready to call in the antibiotics.  But then I noticed a rash and then blisters on his mouth, hands, and bum.   Yep, he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.

Before I knew it Ellionna started getting crabby on Thursday evening and then the fever came....  She cried and hardly slept on Thursday night (which meant Mom hardly slept).  Then the poor thing got the sore throat as well and did not want to eat or suck her binkie at all on Friday evening.  By 3am I was so tired and worried that I summoned a priesthood blessing to be given to her from Tyler.  By God's grace, she was able to sleep the rest of the night and started eating again in the morning with no problems.  She got the rash but no blisters, and is on the mend.

I had also gotten a call from the school nurse on Friday after lunch telling me that Makenzie was not feeling well and had a fever.  So I just decided to bring home both of the kids. Saturday was horrible.... because 1) Tyler had commitments to be gone all day on Saturday and he felt obligated to follow through on.  2) 3 days of little sleep and 3 sick kids later, I started getting sick with a fever, aches, and sore throat 3) Gavin was feeling a lot better and was the monster busy boy like he normally is  4) Makenzie got the mild version of things and was claiming she wasn't sick anymore.  So she complained all day when I wouldn't let her go outside to play with friends. 5) Last, but not least, Jordan got his turn.  He had a raging fever all day and slept most it and is still feeling the effects today.

So Tyler's Sundays are usually pretty packed full of church meetings and obligations...  I told him to make plans to stay home with us.  We all just needed a day of rest... literally.  It was a good day.  We are all on the mend.  Feeling a whole lot better and slowly getting back to normal.  Since we've been quarantined for several days, I really wanted to get out (where there were no people around), since we still should have been quarantined.    We went to a nearby state park and went on an "adventure" as the kids called it.

The kids showing off their walking sticks....

 

They found us walking sticks too!

There were plenty of "cat tail" plants by the pond.  The kids called then "Wish Dogs" because they look like hot dogs, but when you break them open they have the fluffy white stuff like dandelion seeds.  My kids always blow the dandelion flowers and make a wish.  So that is how the cat tails got their name.  

Beautiful Fall Day!

We came across an area where the beavers work.  There were plenty of trees that looked like this.

Sisters!  Makenzie loves Ellionna so much.  I warned her that one of these days she is going to get just as frustrated with Ellionna as she does with her brothers when they get into her things!  Ha Ha! 

 So glad to have our happy-go-lucky-mellow-yellow baby back.  

All the kids slept on the way home and some very gracious and loving friends set us up with some dinner and a treat. 

So... Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease is very contagious. I never heard of it until we moved to the mid-west. 

Just living life....

So I don't have anything really exciting to say or share.  We have just been living life here and getting back in the groove of things with school.  Here is what I have captured during the past week. 

We took the kids swimming at the city pool last Saturday.  We went earlier in the summer but got rained out, so we got to come back for free.  The kids LOVED the small water slide.  Gavin was even able to go as long as he had an adult with him. 

 Jordan:
 

Makenzie:


 The sun was right in their eyes, so they weren't too happy about having a picture taken.
 
 
This Saturday we went up to Columbus for the day.  Tyler and I took turns to go to the temple.  While I was there, Tyler took all four kids to the children's museum... now he gets a pat on the back for that one!!!

 I then took them to a free Metro park by the museum.  This is a game they played where they have to hit the button as it lights up and makes noise.  Jordan really broke out in a sweat playing with it so much. 




 
They have a huge rock wall for all the climbers to go on.  I guess that is good enough when you don't have real mountains like Utah! They have smaller boulders for the kids too!

 

 Lots of other cool things to climb on....
 

And me and Ellionna just hung out and watched.  There was an outdoor volleyball court with sand that all the kids played in.  Gavin decided to use his head as a bulldozer.  Then the other two thought that was cool too, so they joined in.  But it really wasn't cool.... we had sand everywhere for the rest of the day.
 


Here is Lil' Miss... sporting her monkey bum.  






Loving her tummy time!



So this is Makenzie at about the same age....  You can tell they are sisters!

 

Enjoying some Daddy/Daughter time.

 

And Ellionna is now 4 months!  We started her on some cereal.  Makenzie is such a good little helper.