To the future Mrs. Ethan Granstrom

I made Ethan take a LONG soak in the tub and let the steam clear out his lungs and everything. I just knew it would help him feel better. Seriously he was in there for like 2 hours. He is so funny! Anyway, he got out and was so cold he asked if I would blow dry his hair. I started drying it and his hair felt funny. I was like, “did you even wash your hair”. He was like, “well I thought that maybe I shouldn’t wash since I am sick”. RIGHT! I drug his little head back over to the tub and took our shower head down and made him stand over the tub so I could wash it. You want to hear the disgusting part? The water was actually dirty in the bottom of the tub when I rinsed it out! Ewwwww! Does he ever wash his hair?! He is 10 years old, I should not have to watch him shower every time just to make sure he washes his hair! BOYS! Oh well, good story for the future Mrs. Ethan Granstrom.

Hunkering down for the weekend

Yay, it is Friday! Nothing better than the weekend! This week has flown by but I think it's because we didn't have school on Monday. That one extra day off just makes all the difference in the world. I think I am finally better. I still have a cough every now and then but for the most part, Bekah is back to being normal (whatever my normal is). Nicholas was unfortunate enough to catch this little "bug" from me and Lexi but so far everyone else has remained healthy (knock on wood). Nicholas is over his hump too and no longer seems to be running a fever so that is good.

It started raining last night and the forecast is calling for rain all weekend. I usually hate it when it rains on the weekend but this weekend I am sort of thankful for it. We have been so busy on the weekends ever since we got back from Christmas break. This weekend we have NO plans, no sleepovers, nothing! The rain will force us indoors but the cooler weather also warrants a fire in the fireplace tonight! Of course nothing goes better with a warm fire than a glass of wine! :-)

Even though I have to go grocery shopping this weekend I have found that my freezer is stuffed and I really don't have to "plan" any dinner this week. I have accumulated enough dinners that have yet to be made that I have a whole week of groceries already here. I just need to go and get the essentials and call it good. That in itself is relaxing.

So tonight the kids and I will watch a movie, eat pizza and put a fire in the fireplace. Tomorrow I will run to the store and then after that who knows. No plans and no need to be anywhere, I am looking forward to that!

Mama is sick!

What a stinky time of year to come down with an illness. Not only is Jason half way across the country but it's Valentines Day! I spent my Valentines morning at the Dr's office finding out that I have Tracheitis and Influenza. Let me just tell you all....I have not felt so miserable is YEARS! Poor little Lexi came with me to the Dr. and she has an upper respiratory infection. Yay! Happy Valentines Day to us! :-(
Jason is flying home tonight and the plan is for us to go out Saturday evening for our Valentines dinner. My fever has finally broken but I still have little to no energy! I'm just hoping that I am over the hump of feeling terrible and that I continue to feel better with each night of rest!
Stephanie has been a WONDERFUL help to me! I kept her home from school half the day yesterday just because there was no way I could muster up the strength to get me and 3 kids to the Dr. office when I felt like that! I took her in at 12:30 so that was good I guess. Last night Stephanie was helping get the kids dinner and making sure they all at least got fed when she looked at me and said, "mama, your job is a lot harder than I thought" Haha! I think my sickness was a teachable moment! Yes!
Now we are just praying that everyone stays healthy and that Jason does not catch anything while he is home this weekend!
Thanks for checking in on me and hopefully next time I report this whole illness thing will be gone!

The weekend

Ohhhh we had a GREAT weekend and Jason wasn't even home! I have been in such a dump lately. All depressed because my husband isn't around, sick of home schooling, never get to go out, feeling sorry for myself dumps! But this weekend I got refreshed and I'm ready to go again!
Savannah is full of History and as you can imagine a ton of historical places to go see and visit. Of course all these little sites charge an entrance fee and even though it is minimal with 4 kids in tow it is never top on my list as a way to spend money. Lucky for me Savannah has a free museum day every year. It is called Free Family Museum Day and it is just GREAT! All the museums in the area are open from 12-4 on that day and you can go visit for free! I decided that the kids and I should go out and take advantage of this free day so we did.
I had high hopes to get to 3 different places but because we got going late it just didn't happen. The first place we went was in downtown Savannah in the historic district. We went and toured the home of Isaiah Davenport that was originally built around 1820 and renovated in the past 15 years. The house is just BEAUTIFUL! The woodwork and ornate carvings in the house are just unbelievable! The wood flooring, the marble fireplaces and even the wall paper was just beautiful! The master bedroom has this blue wall paper that I just love and know has a name but I can't remember what it's called. (My friend Trish has it in her little girls room and I fell in love with that style years ago when I first saw it in that bedroom). The wall paper is the kind that has all these little scenes on it like a horse and carriage or a boy in a field, stuff like that. I just think it is pretty! Anyway, we also learned that the phrase, "sleep tight don't let the bug beds bite" comes from this time period when beds were made with pine needles or spanish moss. Both of these allowed for some bugs in the bed and therefore where we got the saying. Spanish Moss is just beautiful down here in the south but those of you who don't know, never touch the stuff. It is full of these little tiny bugs called red bugs that you can't see but will eat you alive if you ever get it on you. Of course they didn't know these things back then so you slept on Spanish moss and got bug bites. They did start boiling the moss and needles first to try and kill bugs but it never killed them all. Makes you feel lucky for that comfy bed you climb into every night, huh?
Next we went out to Tybee Island and climbed up to the top of a light house out there. I am so glad we did it, the view was amazing. But my 31 year old legs are talking to me today! 178 stairs up and 178 stairs down! I had to keep yelling at the kids to slow down! Ha-ha! I'll tell you what though, they all slept like baby's last night! I thought about taking them down to the beach just to walk a little bit but after that hike up the stairs....my legs were honestly a little shaky! I was ready to just drive home and go get some grub.
My favorite Mexican restaurant just opened up a new store about 15 minutes from our house so I decided to go there. It was so good and the service was great considering it was only their 2nd night open. So if you live in the area or are passing through, make sure you check out Jalapeños around here. I just ate the leftovers for lunch today! YUMMY!
Finally we ended our day at the First Baptist Church here in town. They had a group here since Wednesday called Team Impact. This is a group of body builders that go around the country doing these performances and witnessing about Christ! My boys loved it and even us girls thought it was pretty cool! They break base ball bats with their bare hands, explode cans of pop, rip the big thick phone books right in half, I mean it is amazing! In the 4 nights they were here in Rincon around 300 people came to accept Christ as their savior. Amazing!
After all of that we decided to head home and get into bed. I feel so refreshed and just so glad I got to get out of town for while! It was so very nice! And Jason is coming home this weekend and taking me out for Valentines. I think we are going to try this restaurant where they serve Indian type cuisine and have belly dancers. I think it will be fun! I started thinking I would love to learn how to belly dance! Years ago I took step aerobics and my instructor took belly dancing and would try to show us some moves in class. I always just stood there thinking, "my hips don't move that way"! I'm sure they still don't move that way but it would be fun to try and learn and it's supposed to be good exercise. I'll let you know if I find anything in the area...so far it doesn't look like anything if offered around here! :-(
Hope you all had a good weekend too and thanks for checking in on my blog! Have a GREAT week and a Happy Valentines day with your honey (if you have one) :-)

Everyone else is talking about laundry

What is it about laundry that makes it so hard to keep up with? I have two friends blogs that I check on a regular basis and both of them have posted about laundry in the past week. I started thinking about it and really, why do so many people struggle to keep up with laundry? I do the dishes every single day...sometimes twice. I can vacuum, dust, mop, clean the bathroom, try to keep the house picked up every week. I'm doing the same task over and over again yet when it comes to the laundry...the laundry seem to get the best of me...and so many other woman too!
My one friend, (I have to agree with Melissa here) has a GREAT laundry room. A laundry room that every woman would wish she had. Plenty of space and even the pretty walpaper to boot. Oooh , and a laundry shoot for the kids to put the dirty clothes right into once they take them off at the end of the day. Yet, even with this GREAT laundry room, my friend struggles with laundry too.
My other friend is trying to make an oath to stay on top of the laundry also. We all have 3 or more kids so maybe that is what makes it so hard. Every time you turn around there is another load of laundry to do. It is just never ending. Of course either is the cleaning or the dishes or any of the other chores. I sooo struggle with the laundry though. I could do laundry all day long. Take the clothes, throw them in the washer, put my wonderful smelling Lavendar scented Tide in the washer with the clothes and walk away. Next, throw the clothes into the drier, with the beautifully scented lavender drier sheets and again, walk away. So easy! I could "do" laundry all day long. Yet, for some reason, come the end of the day...the laundry room looks like the above photo and I still have laundry to "do".
It's a never ending cycle. I get into moods where I just swear I will stay on top of it and won't do another load until the first one is put away. But after a couple days of laundry I fall back into my lazy pattern or "doing" laundry" without getting it "done". I think I may need professional help! Any suggestions?