spring break and sick boys

It's the beginning of spring break for us.  And unfortunately two of my three boys are a bit under the weather. 

There is some kind of virus in my house.  Something flu-like with no fever but with a bad sore throat and cough.  Poor kiddos.  We had to cancel one playdate today and may have to cancel another tomorrow. 

On the upside, one boy is feeling quite well.  And hot chocolate does cure all, right? 

Here's to having more healthy boys tomorrow.

beauty and paper airplanes

We have some beautiful moments here in my home state.  This was a little of the sunset from the other night.

 This was our beautiful, sunny afternoon we had today. 

The boys are infatuated with paper airplanes now.  Daniel got a book on making paper airplanes for Christmas from a dear Aunt and Uncle.  What a blessing!  They all are perfecting their throwing skills.  And, our sunny, albeit very cold day after school gave them plenty of room to practice their loop de loops.

Even the puppy wanted to come out.

 We're still battling viruses in our house.  I could use a nice, mild day where I could open all the windows and blow those germs right out of here.

This train track is usually is in the basement, because it takes up so much room...but it is now in our foyer.  It's a little bit in the way when I needed to come to the front door this afternoon.  Oh well, anything to keep them occupied and happy when they aren't feeling so well.

Here's to a healthier day tomorrow...

in my kitchen

Today in my kitchen I have:

     ::  a boy who wasn't feeling well, who turned into a boy who was really not feeling well...sparing the details, he's the latest victim of the flu in our house

     ::  a lot of cooking happened - cookies, bread, soup - all making for a delicious dinner

     ::  Laurie Berkner serenading us as we had our lunch today

     ::  a lot of cleaning happened - I managed to clean my floors while Nickel napped, and promptly had to clean them again after his nap (I spared you that photo...right, I didn't even take one)

     ::  dishes done before dinner...the best!


I have a feeling tonight will be not very restful for at least two of us.  I'm heading to bed.  Wish us luck.

a good site, a bad site and some cookies

A beautiful site:

A not so beautiful site:

Somehow I overlooked a pen that was in Chris' pants and it exploded in our dryer.  I say "overlooked" but in actuality, I haven't been checking pants pockets...I guess I've gotten lazy.

I finished off Chris' bottle of Goof Off trying to remove the ink from the inside of the dryer drum.  It looked to be about 15 years old and it did a fair job at removing a lot of the ink...but not all.  I think I have to change my ways and start checking pants pockets again.

Another beautiful site:  oatmeal raisin cookies. 

I spent Nickel's naptime baking and speaking with a nice man from India about my Snapfish order.  I had ordered some home decor items and a they didn't quite turn out as I expected.  He was very helpful (even if it took 55 minutes) and I'm looking forward to hanging up some pictures of my cute boys.

A long phone call meant no time to make my soup that I was planning on making.  Nor did I have time to do my yoga class. 

My middle son is the one with the sickies now and I felt a little run down this morning.  I'm hoping I can fight it off with my ginger green tea and some immunity yoga...and a good night's sleep.

Until tomorrow...

waffles, snow, and one lazy saturday

I found a vegan waffle recipe that everyone eats, even my toughest critic (my family members will know which boy I'm talking about).  And I can throw them together really fast, along with a blueberry or raspberry sauce that I can no longer live without.  My oldest prefers the blueberry version and I the raspberry.  My youngest will eat both, and did so today.

 

I awoke this morning to beautiful snow flakes adding to our carpet of snow already on the ground.  It was a welcome site since we hadn't gotten much all week.  And what snow we had melted and become my least favorite part of winter...dirty brown snow. Another 4 inches fell last night and this morning.

My oldest is a little under the weather.  He must have caught the bug that I heard was making it's way through school.  It's a lazy Saturday.   Time to take advantage of that myself.

husband's return home and more snow

I have a pretty steadfast routine.  It says that we stay home on Thursday.  I have been baking a lot this week.  I normally bake a lot, but we seem to be really going through the baked goods.  I don't buy any premade bakery items.  I'm not a fan of the added ingredients they put in theirs plus I like to use healthier flour and sugar and of course make them vegan.

Today we made granola.  More specifically, Hempanola (did you remember I spoke of it yesterday?)  This is a delicious recipe which uses barley flakes as well as oats.  The sweetener is brown rice syrup which coats every grain and leave the granola crunchy and in chunks.  Just the way I like it!  I added slivered almonds and chopped apricots.  I haven't tried any yet.  I'm waiting to have some for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I had a helper with me in the kitchen today.  He was in charge of stirring and adding the vanilla.  He was very specific that he wanted to add the vanilla.  Cute boy.

He had a rough night last night.  It took him a bit to fall asleep, then woke up several times before I made it to bed myself.  I could tell that he was warm and wanted to give him some ibuprofen to make him more comfortable, but he refused the medicine.  I was shocked!  Was this my child?  Refusing purple-colored syrupy medicine?  Apparently so.  He just wanted me to "put him back in there" pointing to his crib.  Adorable.  So, we kept things low-key today.  My type of day.

Anyway, more baking.  Chris had a fire meeting tonight and wanted me to make cookies.  Chocolate chip anyone?  Delicious.  I had to sample one, I must admit.

It was a coloring day, a day good for rolling Silly Putty into hot dog shapes and slicing it for "eating".

We were anticipating some snow.  Watching for it out the window.  Nothing happened until late afternoon.  It was right about the time we were expecting Daddy to leave and fly home.  His flight was delayed a bit, but not too long.  He was able to be with the boys for a bit before heading out to his meeting, cookies in tow.

Lunch was delicious leftovers.  I have my egg-less sandwich mix in the fridge, so I made another delicious sandwich to eat with leftover Quinoa, Kale, and White Bean Stew.

Oh my it's good.  You need to try it.

Now, I'm just watching the snow come down outside.  We're so happy it's snowing again.  It's been an odd winter.  We have gotten snow, then it promptly melts in 50 degree weather.  I can't complain really, although my boys are complaining!  And, I certainly don't want winter to be sticking around in April!  I'd rather have my snow now, thank you.

As I was taking these pictures, I could hear the teenagers across the street as they were shoveling their driveway.  One of them said, "I just saw lightning!"  Funny...it was just my flash.


Last night was a late night.  I tend to stay up late when my husband is out of town.  So, I think I'll finish both my glass of wine and my episode of chopped.  Maybe one day I'll see them compete using all vegan ingredients.  Now, that would be something to watch!

Good night all.

This morning

It's been a long 3 weeks full of sickies that are in our house..still in our house.  I started off the year with a full week-long cold that took me down, wore me out, and made me not care if my kitchen floor was swept (I know, Kari, can you imagine!?).

The week after, Matthew came down with a fever and a strange virus in his eye that resembled pink eye.  He's had pink eye once before, as a toddler, and this time around it wasn't as goopy as the official pink eye.  But, his fever lasted forever!  And, he'd be fine during the day, then his fever would spike up to 102 or 103 in the afternoon and evening.  He missed an entire week of school.

Now, this week, Daniel has had the fever, sore throat, and not many sneezes or runny noses as Matthew and I had, but he did develop double ear infections.  How nice.  He missed this entire week of school.  He has a birthday party scheduled this evening (it's a sleepover, but I just can't let go and let him spend the night...he's only spent the night away from me once in his 8 1/2 years and Daddy was there with him, I also don't want to make a drive 5 miles down the road at midnight to come pick him up because he wants to come home.  So, we made a decision that he could go and stay until 8pm...if his fever was gone...which it is!!).  For the first time in 5 days, he actually played after dinner last night.  He didn't have a fever for the entire day yesterday!  No fever spike in the evening!!

And, now this is the scene this morning.  The kids had a scheduled day off of school, which is great.  It gives us all extra time to recover before returning to those busy school days.

You gotta love Lincoln Logs!  The creative juices are flowing (see Anakin's Star Fighter on the rooftop landing pad?) and they're working together nicely.  sigh

The baby seems to be holding his own.  He's had some goop in his eyes, but no redness and no signs to indicate the feeling I'm having in my eye.  He's a little more stuffy this morning, but hasn't had a fever...yet.

I am (dare I say?) feeling slightly better.  My throat feels less and less on fire beginning yesterday.  It's still very difficult to swallow and I see a nice bowl of soup in my future for lunch.  I ate oatmeal twice yesterday.  It's warm, soft, and filling.  But, I can only do that for so long.

Anyway, I'm mulling over a couple more personal posts to come in the future, one about me and another more generally about my family.  It should be interesting!

I must go find my glass of water, my throat is telling me I need it.  Have a fabulous Friday!