Still alive

Oh my heck! I can't believe it's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post! I have let all 7 of my faithful readers down! (I'm assuming there are that many of you. I average 1-2 comments per post, so I'm being optimistic on the readership.)

Well, school started a week ago Wednesday and I've already been called twice to pick up a sick child. Nathan came home from school the first day and fell asleep on the couch. I was thinking, "Wow! First grade is really hard on the poor kid!" I eventually learned that he had a fever of almost 102 degrees. He was crying that night that he had a headache, but awoke the next day as if nothing had happened. Then Tuesday he comes home from school and says he has a headache. I gave him something for it then and Chad gave him something again before we went to bed. I notified the school and asked them to watch him for me. Sure enough, they called at 1:30. I took him to the doctor.

Actually, the guy was a P.A. I recognize that PA's go through a lot of classes and receive heavy training. I get kind of tired dealing with PA's that think they have to prove that they are competent and capable. I try to get in to the doctor when I can. It was not to be this day.

It was decided that Nathan had a sinus infection and was given a prescription for Augmentin. (The antibiotic was more $$ than the office copay...and now the Bishop knows of our newest financial strain since he's also our pharmacist!) I sent him back to school the next day, and they called again at 1:30 saying he was running a fever of 99.something. Could I come get him? No problem, except for that I had 3 sleeping kids (Leah was running her own fever) and they had also woken me up. Chad went to get him. He was fine again in the morning so we sent him on the bus. The school was probably so thrilled to see this sickly kid back again. But they didn't call for a third day...yahoo.

I think everything at the school is slowly settling into a comfortable rhythm. I got a bit concerned last Monday when Nathan brought home a handful of completed coloring pages (they keep coloring books in their desks for times when they are not busy with schoolwork) and informed me that he'd colored SIX of them that day. Nathan is not fast with crayons. Six pages for Nathan is like 10 for another kid. I sent a note about that and some activity/coloring books for him to use. Other than that wrinkle, things have been fairly smooth sailing.

Rebekah turned 3 on Saturday. She was very excited about her big day finally arriving. We celebrated by going to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and then came home for presents and cake and ice cream. We have a family tradition that you have to be sick on your b-day. Rebekah honored our tradition. She's been struggling with the fever that Leah (and maybe Nathan?) had earlier. Remember that Daniel was sick on his birthday...ok we all were...and we postponed his party. Leah has some attractive pictures from her 2nd b-day and if I were to check the facts from my journals, I could give you more instances.

I do have pictures, but my desktop is once again at the "Doctor" and not hooked up to my digital camera dock. I have been suffering digital scrapbooking withdrawals as well. (How is that computer coming, Kristy?)

We recently acquired another cat. My neighbor asked me if we wanted another one and then proceeded to tell me the sob-story of the cat who was hanging around her work and meowing like crazy. What could I say? Well, what I ended up saying was, "Sure. We'll put it out there and see if it sticks around." It stuck. It's a very friendly cat..to people. It got a shock when it eventually met the 5 other cats that already lay claim to the yard. I think that they are all getting along...more or less. It's an all-black male. He's still pretty young. Any one need a kitty? The kids wanted to name him Shadow but we already have an all-black kitty named Shadow so I suggested Midnight. Later that day, Leah came to me and wanted to know something about that new kitty named Nightmare. So Midnight became Nightmare.

We also adopted Cutie. That's the name the kids gave to the hamster that we got on Friday. We got her for free off of a Freecycle listing. (Check out http://www.freecycle.org/ if you don't know about it yet.) She came with 2 cages and a bit of food, so there was a good value there. The cages must be worth $15-20 each. Daniel learned that you shouldn't try to pick up a nervous hamster when you've just had your hand in her food. Her teeth are sharp. :) She lives in the boys' room and like to run on her wheel all night long (or so I've been told).

Chad has been working like a mad man on the pasture fence. He hired a guy to help him, but the guy was sadly out of shape and only lasted 6 days. I'm glad because he wasn't worth what we were paying him and we really couldn't afford it anyway. Since then, Chad's dad has been here helping as well as a friend who came Thursday night and today. They got some good work in this morning but nothing past 3...which is when wind, rain and hail started. It was below 50 this afternoon. Chad doesn't get to work on it tomorrow because he gets to visit Las Vegas. He'll get a 40+ degree jump in temps!

Our ward's Primary Program was a week ago Sunday. Our family was asked to sing "A Child's Prayer." We sang the 1st and 2nd verse, but thought it best not to torture the congregation with an attempt at singing the two verses at once. They don't know how thankful they are that we made that decision! My class had sharing time this past Sunday. Now the rest of the Sundays will seem so easy! Keep tuned in. I think Chad's calling is going to change. Unless the Stake just wants him to come in for a friendly chat. (Does that ever happen?) Luckily, the Bishopric is less than 2 months old. I think I can handle sharing him in any other way. :)

We had our long-time friends from Las Vegas, but now living in UT, stop by for a visit this afternoon. It was nice to visit with the Price family and see how much their 4 girls have grown. It showed how much our kids aren't growing! (Such shrimps we've got.) :) We let the sheep out to run while they were here and we suddenly had a field full of sheep, kids and one very excited dog. I hope we didn't give them our fever germ. (If we did, we're very sorry!)

I'll have pictures soon...when the computer returns. (I've got my fingers, toes, knees and eyes crossed about that!)