Saturday 7

1. What a week. So much sickness and crying and medicine and cleaning. Lena woke up fever free on Sunday, but it came back by Tuesday morning. She missed school on Tuesday. She was supposed to have a field trip on Wednesday, but she woke up with a fever again, so she missed that too. She finally went to school on Thursday despite a hacking cough and snotty nose. Yesterday was the first time I felt like she was finally starting to act more like herself without being medicated to the gills. Unfortunately, Levi and I both ended up with colds this week. Thankfully, it didn't turn into the full blown flu like Lena had, but Levi is pretty miserable with his cold. His nose is a faucet and he coughs so much that he can't sleep. He hardly napped at all this week and has been up a lot in the night. Last night, he coughed so hard that he puked. I'm really hoping it's just because of the cough and not an added layer to this infernal sickness!!

2. Tuesday was Lena's 5th birthday. It was kind of a sad excuse for a birthday, but we did our best. Haha. I made her breakfast in bed and let her open a couple of small presents.

She fell asleep in the car on the way to bring Lucy to school. (It's a 5 minute drive.)

She slept most of the morning, but then perked up throughout the day. We originally had plans to go to Chuck E. Cheese with friends after school, but said friends didn't want our germs. But Lena still really wanted to go do something. So we settled on a trampoline park. Tuesday happened to be $10 ticket day so we got a decent deal (although it was still expensive for 4 of us!). We had to drive to Timbuktu, which I despise. But the kids had fun . . . for the most part. Jumping made Lena cough, which made her throat hurt. We ended up leaving almost an hour before our time was up because she was so miserable.

We met Justin for KFC (Lena's choice) on the way home, then ended the evening with presents.

3. Justin's birthday was on Wednesday. He brought home take-out Qdoba for dinner and I made boxed brownies. Haha. Somehow, turning 33 doesn't get celebrated as much as turning 5. Although, in fairness, we're going away this weekend to celebrate. Thanks to my wonderful parents (and sister, who is helping out), we're leaving the sickness behind and going to a nice quiet hotel with cable TV and a Bass Pro Shops just down the road. I have been counting down the hours . . .

4. The best part of going away this weekend, though, is that I get to quit my diet!! I lost 5 pounds in 3.5 weeks and I'm calling it "good enough" for this weekend at least. I'm going to drink Dr Pepper to my heart's content, we're going to go out for every meal, I'm going to eat french fries and chocolate and ranch dressing (not together) and gain all 5 of those pounds right back!

I'm not pregnant. Which is why I should not be giving up on my diet . . .

5. I read 3 books this week (Married Til Monday by Denise Hunter, Lady Jane Disappears by Joanna Davidson Politano, and The Painter's Daughter by Julie Klassen #affiliatelinks), bringing my total to 9 for the month. And I'll probably read a couple more this weekend during the drive, the hotel stay, and the 3 hours that Justin is shopping in Bass Pro Shops. If I can keep going at this rate, I'll reach my goal of 101 in no time flat!

6. I made a new pork chop recipe on Thursday. Am I the only one who cannot bake pork chops in the oven without them totally drying out? A few weeks ago I made a recipe for pork chops guaranteed to be moist and juicy. They literally turned black and we had to scrape charred bits off of them. And the one from this week had good flavor, but was so dry I could hardly swallow it! The good news is that the recipe also called for potatoes with the same seasoning and they were delicious. #littlevictories #carbs

7. Pictures

Father/son playtime

This was an awesome gift. I got her a scrapbooking kit, then printed off 80 pictures of her (and a few of our family) from the past year. She worked on it for hours at a time!

Treats for her family party last night. She insisted on making cupcakes and decorating them with marshmallows. Haha.

Farm-boy yesterday enjoying the warm weather. (I told him to say "cheese" and this is the face I got. Lol.)

A little help opening presents at her family party.