A "Bellum" on Germs

Sorry if you missed us yesterday.  We had a good one, but I didn't have the camera with me and wasn't much up for posting last night.  Grant and Noah went to the local ABC station with the Tiger Cubs in the morning for a tour, the Bean and I did Church, then the boys came home, we all did lunch, they went to Church and Kayla and I went in search of slippers for me (I'm so hard on slippers, this is my 3rd pair this winter...) then we were invited to a lovely organ concert (complete with brass quintet and choir!) at my friend Amber's Church.  The Bean and I enjoyed ourselves and made it home in time for dinner with the boys and everyone in bed with our fingers crossed for school.  Grant and I watched most of the Oscars and had just about fallen asleep when the dog started howling like crazy.

This should have been my first clue we were in for a long night.

We have yet to figure out what her deal was.  But three different times she went absolutely nutso before we finally put her in her crate for the night.  That seemed better when....

"MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The Bean was up and sick.  Numerous times.  For most of the rest of the night.  Thank goodness for Grant - I can cuddle and console and even hold hair back and rub backs, but I cannot clean up sick without getting sick myself.  So I ran the Bean back and forth while he started on the clean-up.  We were both up and down for most of the rest of the 'night' as she was in our bed since her room was icky and when he left for work we were just finding out school had NOT been cancelled (though at this point I was kind of hoping it would be...)  So onward and upward!

I tucked the Bean under my covers and got Noah up and ready for school.  He was delighted there was still school because he really really really wanted to take his trophy.  I don't think the kid has come down off of cloud nine yet.  In the meantime, he did notice the flag was up.  I told him we could go ahead and take a look as I was pretty sure Kayla was down for the count the rest of the day...

He got a note telling him to check the email.

We learned the following:

Dear Detectives,

Greetings from “The Heart of Dixie”!  That is not the official nickname of my state, but given its central location in the Southern part of the country and its key role for the Confederacy in the American Civil War it is still appropriate.  I live just outside of Mobile and an am architect by trade (that means I am a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings).  I moved to this state so I could study a certain type of design here known as Antebellum architecture.  “Ante” means “before” and “bellum” means “war” so this is the kind of design a lot of the large houses in my state had from just after the American Revolution until the beginning of the Civil War.  This type of architecture was especially popular for the large plantations in the state where they grew a good deal of the nation’s cotton before the War.

Anyway, I was recently out studying antebellum architecture at an old plantation house nearby, when I noticed a rather sneaky looking blonde lady hanging around.  I’m not sure what stood out about her, other than that she didn’t quite seem to belong there in her black suit with briefcase in hand and that I had heard a rumor that Miss Direction may be in the area this week.  Even down here in the South we’ve heard all about the great work the Gatchel Detectives are doing to try to nab Nita so I wanted to provide you with this information and the picture I took of the lady as soon as possible.  I hope it’s her and that you catch her soon, Detectives! 

Best of luck,

A Concerned Citizen

Hmmmm, where could she be?

There she is!

The amazing Mike hooks us up again!  Bravo!

We got Noah off to school, I put Kayla down to try to get some more sleep and started in on my attempt to disinfect the house.  I spent a long time in the Bean's room doing some additional organizing as well.  We've been talking about putting her in a full size bed and doing some additional shelving (and perhaps redecorating) in both kiddos rooms.  If I had to be stuck at home for the day I was at least going to be productive :)

Speaking off being stuck at home - thank you God for amazing friends!  I am a creature of habit.  It settles me.  So, usually, Monday is my grocery shopping day while the Bean is in school.  Well sick kiddo = no groceries.  And for the most part, I was good since it's crock pot Monday but I was a little concerned about being able to get out tomorrow.  So a quick text to my wonderful friend, Tess (who also usually does her shopping on Monday I know) and she said no problem to grabbing me eggs and some caffineated soda that I knew I was going to be needing later.  A few hours later not only did she show up with those things - but COFFEE from Tim Horton's (my fave!)!  And - white chocolate covered Reese's eggs.   Seriously.  ah-maz-ing.  Also, got to give special shout outs to Morgan for dropping off a heated mattress pad for me to borrow the rest of this chilly winter and to Amber for offering repeatedly to drive all the way over to my house (at 39 weeks pregnant with an 18 month old, mind you) this morning at just after 8am just to hang out with the sleeping Bean for 10 minutes while I took NJ to the bus so I didn't have to wake her up again.  I really do have cool people in my life.

So the majority of the rest of the day by Mikayla has been spent like this: 

(yes family of mine- those are my puppies.  Yes, I let Mikayla borrow them.  Can you believe it????)

Currently, the Bean seems to be doing MUCH better.  She's kept down Vernors, crackers and jello today, so as long as tonight goes fine I think all is well.  She hasn't run a fever or anything else, just been kind of 'blah.'  It's Monday which of course means its crazy around here getting NJ to class, fed and then back and ready for bed.  I did have some fun in the kitchen today in spite of everything else.

These are Orange Creamsicle Yogurt Bites  Grant likes them, Noah does not.  Both say the texture is a little weird.

Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing - tonight's dinner.  We all agreed - it looks really awful but tastes amazing.  I'm keeping this one.  Oh, and my notes, I used a package of regular stuffing from pepperidge farms.  Because of this, if I make it again, I will combine that with the sour cream and soup FIRST.  I checked it about four hours in and the stuffing was not cooking and I was worried it was going to be a big dry mess.  So I ended up stirring it all together (hence it looking awful) and it turned out wonderfully.

And we just needed dessert - so I made these Cake Mix Cookie Bars.  I used a box of blue velvet cake mix and didn't have any mini m&m's so sprinkles had to substitute :)

I'm really hoping we have a calm night.  I NEED a calm night.  There is a delayed start tomorrow so I'm banking on a little extra sleep.  And I'm hoping to get that grocery run in tomorrow :-p  So until then...