On the mend

I don't have any pictures to post this time; you probably would not want to see pictures of what we have been through anyways. It all started a week and a half ago when Cole got off the school bus on a Wednesday afternoon with a very pale face and a low grade fever.  The first thing that he said to me was, "I feel awful."  He then explained that multiple kids from his class had been to the nurse's office during the day and all of them had been sent home running a fever.  He said that he did not want to get sent home because he wanted to take the social studies test.  Ugh.   I appreciate that he worries about his grades, but there is a time that you just need to go home.  So, Cole ran a fever all the next day and the next day.  I just thought that it was virus because the fever was low and he had a cough, headache, runny nose, and sore throat to go along with it.  Over half of his class was out with the same symptoms.  We kept Cole in his room watching movies on the portable DVD player so that he would stay away from Alex and Anna Grace.  Finally, on Saturday evening, Alex and Anna Grace developed the same symptoms.  I was supposed to substitute in Anna Grace's Sunday School class the next morning, but we planned a trip to a walk-in doctor's office instead.  On Sunday morning, we found out that Cole and Alex had strep and Anna Grace had a sinus infection but was going to be treated for strep.  After forking out over $300, we got antibiotics and a steriod for the coughs for all 3 kids.

I stayed home from work on Monday to be sure that the antibiotics would kick in, but by mid-afternoon, Mike came home also running a fever.  The kids were still coughing like crazy and Mike's fever was high.  Mike went to the doctor's office 2 times over the next few days and was finally diagnosed with the flu.  The kids were well enough to go to school, but we did not want to have Anna Grace's nanny in the house taking care of Anna Grace with flu germs floating around.  Thankfully, they were able to go to Megan's apartment for the week, but it meant that I had to get Anna Grace ready each morning on top of getting myself and the boys ready for school.  This is a really busy time of the year for me at work because I have meetings and paperwork due on all of my special education students.  I always work extra hours during this time of year.  So, on top of doing all of the cooking, driving kids to nightly afterschool activities, homework, and housework, I was working either at home or in my classroom late into the night.  I slept on the sofa and tried to keep Mike comfortable in the bedroom so that he would not spred flu germs throughout the rest of the house. He would laugh at me from the bed as I would reach my arm into the room wiping down the door frame and knob with Clorox wipes. I Cloroxed the whole kitchen each evening because he had to go in there to get food during the day when I was at work. 

Finally, on Friday night, I was exhausted, but Mike seemed to be getting better.  I had been sleeping on the sofa for 5 days and ached all over.  I was having sinus problems from the pollen and had lost my voice several times during the week and was more than ready for everyone to get well.   I was looking forward to a hair appointment Saturday morning.  Mike thought he would be well enough to take all 3 kids to Alex's soccer practice and I was finally going to get some "Mommy-time."  That was when Anna Grace woke me up at midnight sitting her bed covered in vomit.  I stripped her pjs off her and put her on the potty because she was also having diarrhea.  All that I could think of while I was Cloroxing her bed and walls was that we had made it through strep, sinus infection, cough, laryngitis, and the flu and now we were starting in with a stomach virus.  I wanted to cry.  After I got her cleaned up and back into clean sheets, I moved my blankets and pillow into the extra bed in her room and prepared for a night of battling vomit.  Thankfully, she slept and was fine for rest of the night, but I woke up every time she moved thinking that she was going to be sick again. 

The next morning, I was heartbroken when I had to call and cancel my hair appointment.  All I could think of while I at least tried to shave my legs for the first time in a week was my disappointment over not getting to go to the salon. Then, I started to feel guilty.  I don't know how families function when they are dealing with a long-term illness.  That could have been us when we made the decision to adopt a child with a heart defect.  I was feeling disappointed over not going to get my hair done and exhausted from just a week and a half of illness, but a lot of people are dealing with a lot worse.  Just this week, one of the moms in my neighborhood lost her fight with a long-term illness and her precious children had to watch their mother lose all of her body functions.  We could be dealing with a lot worse and I should feel grateful that everyone is finally on the mend in our family.

Now, it is Sunday night and all of the sheets are freshly washed, bath mats have been laundered, and the house is scrubbed.  The week ahead will be incredibly busy with activities for the kids each night, but it will seem like a breeze compared to last week when I did not have Mike by my side to make decisions about the kids and deal with dinner.  I am truly grateful to have healthy kids and a wonderful husband back by my side to tackle the week ahead.

Daddy's Helper

I have not posted much about my sweet Alex lately, so I thought I would do a blogpost about how he always seems to be right by Mike's side whenever there is work to be done. 

He was so excited about the new garden that Mike was planning that he spent most of an entire Saturday helping set up these new boxes for the raised garden that we are planning (Thanks Uncle Jerry for these great boxes!!) 

Mike had a load of "fertilizer" delivered from a local dairy farm and Alex spent an evening outside with Mike filling the garden boxes shovel by shovel.  (Just wanted to apologize to the neighbors about the bad odor!!)  :-)

Another project that Mike has been working on is making pinwheels to use as decorations for Anna Grace's birthday party.  Her birthday is not until May, but if you know me, you know that I am a "planner!"  The weather was really yucky most of last weekend, so we decided to start working on the 2 dozen homemade pinwheels that will add a splash of color to the yard for the party. 

Of course, Alex was right by Mike's side as he painted, drilled holes, and started to assemble the pinwheels. 

Alex is a sweet, sometimes goofy, easy-going kind of kid that loves spending time with his family.   

Happy Chinese New Year...again

Last weekend we celebrated Chinese New Year with the Asian mentor students at the local university. We always look forward to this celebration because we get a chance to learn more about Chinese culture and visit with other families who have adopted from China.

The students did a great job of planning activities to get the kids involved this year. They had tables set up with different art activities for the kids to do. The kids made paper flowers...

origami (Cole's favorite)...

paper dragons, Chinese caligraphy... and they even got their faces painted.

The students always plan performances for us to watch, and this year was no different. They danced, sang, played different Asian musical instruments, and even performed skits complete with a dragon!

And since it was the Year of the Dragon, my mom and I made another dragon cake...only this one was bigger than the one my mom made for our family Chinese New Year celebration. The night ended with us lighting the candles to make the dragon "breathe fire" and all of the kids got to blow them out!   

Thank you so much to all of the students in the Asian mentoring program for making this an exciting night for our family!!

And the winner is....

If you read my previous post, you know that Cole was involved with two projects - a 4-H project and a science fair project. I will not go into the details about the disappointment with his science fair project, but I will say that we really feel that he was not judged accurately and fairly. He was not upset that he did not win the science fair, but he was heartbroken that the judge did not seem to complete the scoring rubric accurately. After the disappointment of the science fair, Cole was scheduled to spend a Saturday presenting his 4-H project on origami at the regional competition. He traveled on a bus (with Mike in the car following the bus) to the 4-H camp to enjoy time with other 4-H kids and complete their presentations.

(These are the kids presenting in the regional competetion from our county.  Cole is towards the right side in a black jacket).

I stayed home with Alex and Anna Grace while Mike and Cole spent the morning playing basketball and hanging out with kids from all over the northern half of our state.

In the afternoon, just before Cole was scheduled to present, Mike called me on the phone to tell me that Cole had changed into his khaki pants, sweater, and dress shoes and was ready to present but then he accidentally kicked one of his dress shoes into the lake and they had to retrieve it with a long stick! His good Sperry was soaking wet!! Thankfully, he had a pair of old Nikes with him to wear, but he definately was not dressed as nicely as he had planned. Mike called me laughing to tell me that Cole kept saying, "It is a good thing that Mommy didn't come. She would not be very happy with me!"

Cole did a great job with his presentation and it did not seem to matter that he was not wearing proper shoes.

He was so excited that he won first place in his category!

We are proud of him for taking the initiative to complete this project, practice it every night, and present it two different times. Public speaking is a life skill that will help him in his future, and he is excited that he won the county level and regional level competitions with his project. Several nights later after the competition, his 4-H leaders hosted a skate night for all of the 5th graders.

Cole is growing up so quickly, but he has mixed feelings about finishing his last few months of elementary school. Even though he is excited to start middle school in the fall, I think he is a little sad to see the end of his elementary school years. He has become involved in producing the morning video announcements for his school and is involved in the safety patrols. We have been talking a lot about how he can be involved in clubs and activities at the middle school, but he is a little sad that he will be leaving elementary school behind soon.

Origami and Generosity

So, what do origami and generosity have in common??? They are both the topics of Cole's recent projects. Cole's first project that he completed for the local 4-H was on folding paper ninja stars. He created a backboard and presented a demonstration to a panel of judges in a county competition and won first place! Now he is headed to the regional competition with is project where he will compete against kids from all over our region of the state.

Cole's other project that he recently completed was the science fair project for his school. This project was much more involved and time-consuming. We talked for a long time about what he wanted to do for his science fair project, and we finally decided that we wanted to do something that would benefit others. So, Cole tested the generosity of others by collecting food for the local food bank in 3 different income level neighborhoods.

His project involved a lot of research and hours and hours of knocking on doors asking people to donate food. In the end, his prediction that the middle income level would be the most generous was wrong. The lowest income level was the most friendly, appreciative, and generous to others! We don't know if Cole has won an award for his project yet, but it does not really matter.

Cole learned so much about giving to others, and he was able to see first-hand how some people who have far less than us with our fully stocked pantry will give until they have very little left to give. Cole will always remember the sweet old lady who only had 6 cans in her cabinet, but gave 3 of them away... and, the single mom who had 5 kids all line up in the grass with their arms full of food waiting for Cole as he pulled his red wagon down the street. He learned how to conduct an interview when he interviewed the director of the local food shelter, and he was so excited to deliver his cans that he collected.

He wrote page after page of observations, research, and calculations in his log book and typed a report that was over 20 pages long. I believe Cole will always remember the lessons that he learned about generosity and helping others.

The Year of the Dragon

Tonight we celebrated Chinese New Year with family and friends. Both sets of grandparents were able to come tonight along with Anna Grace's beloved babysitter, "Meggie" and her boyfriend. Mike and I planned our menu to include some traditional Chinese New Years dishes and some family favorites. We had homemade dumplings so symbolize reunion of family, spareribs, fried rice, Chinese noodles with chicken to symbolize long life, and Mongolian beef. We also had Asian pears and oranges to symbolize good fortune. Anna Grace was excited to wear one of her dresses that we bought her in China.

Alex and I spent the afternoon making the homemade dumplings. As we sat together folding the dumplings one by one, he talked to me about how much he enjoys cooking new foods and learning about new holidays. I was reminded of how much my dad loved to cook big Chinese meals with my mom on a Sunday afternoon when I was a kid. He loved to be creative in the kitchen and I know if he was still with us, he would have embraced his little Chinese granddaughter and all of the Chinese customs that we are trying to learn.

So, it was with great pride and love for my parents that I set the table with some of the dishware that my parents used for their big Chinese feasts when I was a child. I really love having the chance to embrace Anna Grace's heritage and intertwine it with our own family traditions.

One of the most exciting parts of the evening was the cake that my mom brought.

She and her friend, Maggie, spent the evening last night icing and decorating a dragon cake!

The scales of the dragon were made of m & m's and orange candies. Alex colored the head of the dragon and we attached spiral candles to the dragon's mouth so that it could have real flames!

We had a great time tonight celebrating the Year of the Dragon!

A quick update

Ok- so I know that I have been slacking off on my blogging lately. The kid's schedules have been so busy that by the time I get everything accomplished in the day that needs to get done, I am ready to crash. The only reason that I have a few minutes of quiet right now is because I am home from work with Anna Grace who has a cold. She is napping and the boys are at school- they will be home in less that 30 minutes so I better hurry with my blogging. They will be busy working on homework, eating an early supper, and getting ready for church before I know it. I am posting some pictures of the kids enjoying time with their Christmas presents. Cole has been on several rides with his new mountain bike. It has been a great activity for the boys and Mike to do together.

Alex has not had as many opportunities to use the kayak that he got for Christmas because of the cold weather.

He quickly found that his paddle tends to allow water to slide down into his lap while he is paddling around our cold little lake. After just a few minutes of paddling, his pants were soaked! I think he will wait for some warmer weather to fully enjoy time in his kayak!

Still, I got some great pictures of him out there paddling around the lake while Cole and Anna Grace watched from the shore.