Week 13, Round 2

All I can say about this week is that March is going by too fast.  Maybe it is because we have spent a good chunk of the month under the weather, but it seems like Corinne's birthday and Easter are sneaking up on me.  Oh well, I sort of welcome the time to fly by so that before I know it Nathan will be home.  (Wishful thinking!)

After our awesome time at Disneyland on Wednesday, Lincoln was finally feeling back to normal with his ear infection on its way out.  Too bad Corinne woke up with a fever!  Sometimes I feel like I can't get a break.  We toughed it out at speech and I canceled swimming lessons for the day.  We spent the rest of the day trying to keep ourselves entertained at home.

I thought pink fingernails might cheer up the princess.

Then Lincoln and I prepped for the upcoming weekend storms and trimmed the palm trees and pruned the flower beds.   We managed to divide and transplant a few ferns while Corinne was napping, but she woke up in the middle of our mess.  She was not happy that we were so dirty and insisted that we come inside, take a shower, and snuggle on the couch.  We quickly wrapped it up and did just that.

 Lincoln sometimes watches Survivor with me, and he decided that our discarded palm branches would make the perfect shelter if they were draped over his picnic table.  Friday afternoon, he made me get him a tarp so it was waterproof, then drug in the cushions from the outdoor furniture and grabbed his sleeping bag.  He decided his was "100 times better" than the shelters on Survivor because his was actually comfortable.

Corinne was feeling better, so we ran to the store in between playing dress up. 

Zebra always seems to put a smile on her face--even when she isn't feeling her best.

Here is Lincoln, trying to steal the spotlight.

And he succeeds!

The bad weather hit Friday night, but Lincoln was scheduled to start his sports clinic on Saturday morning.  Apparently the clinic started last Saturday, but since I can't read my own calendar--I spaced it.  It was a bit chilly and drizzling, but having grown up in Indiana this is what we would call good soccer weather.  So I bundled up the kids and loaded them into the car ready to get soaked, but have fun.  Clearly Californias have a different vision of good soccer weather--only one other family showed up for practice.  I was more than a little irritated to not get a phone call or email and then find that the coach didn't show up to at least tell everyone to go home.  And it really was the perfect day to sleep in---bummer! 

We came home and peeled off a few layers, and then we got to work on our St. Patrick's Day dessert--mini pots of gold (pecan tasties).  Lincoln helped me break up the dough and form the balls into little cups.

Then he filled them with pecans.  We added the sugar and egg mixure, and let them bake and cool.

One can of edible gold spray paint and a pinch of yellow dusting sugar later we had mini pots of gold!

We changed into our green clothes then headed over to Jessica's for the festivities.

The kids had a great time.  This was one of those moments when one child makes an annoying noise and then it takes off like wildfire and quickly escalates into pure chaos. 

After failed attempts to get them to quiet it down a bit, I finally just told them to let it all out at once--but then they had to stop.  This is Corinne's crazy, screaming face.

Jacob and Lincoln got loud and spooky.  The craziness could have been the result of having so many kids the same age playing together after they have been cooped up all day in the rain, but it also might have been the Lucky Charms that they snacked on before dinner!

Later in the evening Gabe broke out Just Dance for everyone to enjoy.

The kids were hilarious, but I gave it a whirl and had a ton of fun too.  It kind of, sort of, makes me want to get Kinect for the Xbox.  We didn't make it home until around 11 pm that night.  Corinne fell asleep in the car, but Lincoln was still wide awake.

Lincoln slept until 0930 the next morning, so we skipped church (again).  We took Sunday to recover from our hard partying and tried to get some chores done around the house and do a little Hooked on Phonics.

It was still a bit chilly on Monday, so we ran to the mall to exchange a princess doll that I bought Corinne for her birthday.  We met Brittany and Ellie there, and the kids got to have some fun at the play place.  Then we came home and they helped me make egg salad for dinner.  Both Lincoln and Corinne stole bites from the bowl during the entire prep process, but when it was time to eat it for dinner, they each gave me the excuse "I don't like that stuff".  Hmmmm, you mean the stuff you have been snacking on constantly for the past 20 minutes.

Tuesday morning the kids slept in, but Corinne woke up grouchy and then started complaining about her ear.  I thought, awesome--now I have two kids fighting an ear infection!  And of course she waited until after sick call was over to tell me her ear hurt.  To top it off we still had speech and I was watching baby Hunter all morning.  Corinne screamed and cried for a good half hour while I switched the carseats and loaded the truck.  She perked up when Hunter showed up and I had hope that we might survive the morning.  Speech went fabulous and Corinne stopped complaining about her ear.  But because I had been down that road just last week with Lincoln, I knew it might get worse the next time she laid down to sleep.  Our doctor's office was able to squeeze us in because they had a 2 pm cancelation.  After speech I came hom and made lunch while the kids entertained Hunter.  Here is Lincoln showing Hunter his "pet anemone". 

Corinne was trying to get him to crawl.  At this point she wasn't even acting sick anymore and I thought about canceling our appointment, but I knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

Hunter did do a bit of a sea lion scoot for us. 

I think the kids wore Hunter out.  After we ate, I swaddled him up tight and bounced him to sleep and he was down for the count.  While he rested the kids played outside and I cleaned up.  After Jenn picked up Hunter we headed to the doctor.  My suspicions were correct--Corinne had an ear infection in the works, but it wasn't horrible at the moment.  I had my good friend Moxi on call at the pharmacy if she got any worse or started running a fever again.  While we were there I asked if I could go ahead and get her three year well baby visit done at the same time since we had an appointment in two days.  Of course, there wasn't time for that--why on earth would you want to kill two birds with one stone!  We were seeing way too much of Dr. Robbins lately, but alas, we would be back on Thursday.  As luck would have it, we didn't need the antibiotic.  Corinne was fine the rest of the day.

The weather was great on Wednesday, so we headed to the San Diego Safari Park (formerly Wild Animal Park) for a good workout in the sun.

The whole place is nothing but hills, so this time I dressed ready to sweat.  Lincoln's favorite area is the playground, so we headed there first.  They climbed and ran about and then enjoyed lunch.

Lincoln had a mini picnic in the cave.

Then we waited for Brittany to meet us with Ethan and Ellie before hopping on the tram.  Ava and Corinne cheesed it up for the camera.

And we finally got the boys in the picture too.

Lincoln was happy to see his buddy Ethan and even more happy to borrow his binoculars!

Ellie enjoyed the view and squeezing in some standing time with her mama.

After the tram ride the kids had another snack, then we got a little lost trying to find the best route to the tiger trail.  Time crept up on us and it was time for Jessica and I to head home if we were going to beat the traffic.  As we were loading up the car, we got a call from Nathan.  It's always great to hear from our other half.  Lincoln told him all about our busy day.  Then we started for home and Corinne quickly fell asleep in the car.  She slept for another hour and a half when we got home while Lincoln helped me clean up and prep for our busy Thursday.  Despite all of us being a bit under the weather, we had a great week and still managed to squeeze in time for fun.  Hopefully next week we will all be completely healthy and able to enjoy our visitors, Chris and Terri (yay!) and have a blast celebrating Corinne's 3rd birthday!

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Quote 1:  I overheard this one while the kids were playing.

Lincoln:  "Sissy, I'm sorry.  Your Zebra is sick.  He has been sneaking and eating paint."

Where does he come up with this stuff???

Quote 2:  Right after waking up from a nap, still a bit delirious--talking to Nathan.

Corinne:  "Dr. Robinhood gave me a Silvermist tattoo."

Me:  "You mean Dr. Robins?"

My kids love their doctor.

Quote 3:  Nathan called while Lincoln and I were working in the yard.  Lincoln had just discovered that our hole-digging frogs were back.

Lincoln:  "Dad, don't worry.  If those frogs come out I will poison them for you, or I will stick a nail right through them like a sword.  Then all that will be left is dead meat."

Nathan:  "I don't think we should try to kill them, maybe just try to get them out of our yard.  Maybe you should catch them, and throw them in the neighbors yard."

Oh my kids are gruesome!