play ball! go fish! don't cry!

The kids and I were bored today.  It was rainy and cold outside; stuffy and dull inside.  The kids are already tired of all the toys I brought with us and all the toys we've borrowed from another family up here.  I sent Chris a text letting him know that we were all bored and that he should be prepared to entertain us when he got home.  He didn't disappoint.  We knew our day was about to get much more interesting when he came home after dinner holding a plastic baseball bat and ball and a bag full of other goodies.  Hooray! 

So we all put on sweatshirts and headed outside for a little baseball.  Scout and Flora caught on to hitting the ball fairly quickly and were actually pretty good at it -- I was surprised.  Timber was completely content to chase down all the hit balls and run them back to Chris.  I was just happy to be out of the house and not in charge of entertainment for a while.

Once the cold wind finally drove us back inside we pulled out the fishing game.  The kids were all quite amused at this one!  It's a classic!

And then it was on to a game of Go Fish.  It started out fine -- we explained the rules as best we could while trying to keep everyone's cards separate and out of Timber's grasp.  We had gone around the circle taking turns twice and it was Flora's turn again.  She asked Chris if he had a TWO, he said, "Go Fish!", and she burst into tears.  I think I've mentioned before that the drama runs strong in that one.  She cried pitifully in my lap for a moment and then ran off to cry in her bed.  Who knew Go Fish could be so traumatic?? 

We finished the game (Scout beat Chris and me) and then Chris entertained the boys while I had a talk with Flora.  She finally agreed to play another game of Go Fish with me.  We locked ourselves in the bedroom and had a lovely game of Go Fish.  She won, of course, and was excited to go tell the boys about her success.  And that was it.  She made her peace with Go Fish and was begging to play again by the end of the night. 

I'm afraid she's going to be just like me.  I think I turned out okay but I'm sure my parents can attest to the fact that new experiences, unfamiliar places or people, and any activity at which I was not proficient could bring me to tears.  I cried the first day of school until 5th grade!  Anyway, I think Flora started crying during Go Fish tonight because she didn't completely understand the game.  It's going to be a long fourteen years.....but at least her future in softball looks bright! 

just call me clyde

On Saturday, we packed up some clothes and the kids' bedtime stuff and drove to Brandon, SD to stay the night with another church planting couple.  We were going to attend their early church service Sunday morning and decided that it would be easier and more fun (and a nice change of pace) to stay with them instead of waking up early on Sunday and making the 45 minute drive to church. 

We arrived at the house, met the people we would be staying with, and started unloading our stuff from the van.  Scout carried his little pillow into their guestroom, looked around, and then asked, "Is this where we're going to live now?" 

Kinda funny, kinda sad.  It amused me that he thought we were going to live there and he was totally okay with that idea.  Kids are so resilient.  Obviously, they don't really understand why we are in South Dakota and telling them we'll be going home in "a few weeks" goes right over their heads.  All they know is that we live here now but we will be going back to our home someday.  And they're fine with that.  Sometimes they miss home but most days they just play and eat and sleep -- carrying out their little lives just like they would at home. 

Two more funny stories:

Flora was having some bathroom issues recently and called me to come into the bathroom.  This story is a little bit gross but I think we can all relate.  When I got in there she said in a confused voice, "Mommy, I thought I was just going pee-pee but then I coughed and poo-poos came out!"  Yeah, I know it's gross -- sorry about that -- but the way she described it really tickled me.

And Scout said something really random today.  He was hugging me and then he pulled back to look at me and said, "I love you, Mommy.  Sometimes I like to call you Clyde."  I asked him to repeat himself several times to make sure I was understanding him.  When I asked why he wanted to call me Clyde he just giggled.  It may always remain a mystery.... 

a tale of three sickies

I love how different all the kids are.  They've been sick again this week with some kind of fever virus.  It's a sudden, high fever that lasts about a day.  Timber was the first one to get sick.  He probably had the worst of it since he was dealing with the high fever plus some major teeth coming in, lots of snot because of the teeth, a cut on his lip that made it painful to eat, and even a random bloody nose!  He was understandably grumpy but easily distracted from his misery when Daddy started playing cars with him.

 

Flora caught the bug next.  We're in such tight quarters here that I knew it was only a matter of time before the other kids caught Timber's fever.  There's not exactly a great place to quarantine a sick kid here -- Flora and Scout's room doesn't have a door.  I guess I could put him/her on the top bunk and take away the ladder......haha, maybe next time.  So, Flora had a fever and you would have thought the world was coming to an end.  She was miserable, needy, and difficult to please.  I tried to take a picture of Flora sick on the couch today but she protested vehemently.  So much drama in that one!  She spent most of the day on the couch with her blanket and pillow.  Even now that her fever is gone she's still trying to milk her illness for all it's worth.  "Mommy," she says, "I think I'm still very sick because I have coughs."  I haven't heard a single cough out of her.  Then she said, "I don't think I can eat anything big yet.  Can you give me just one carrot."  So she ate one baby carrot for breakfast.  And then her pillow fell off the couch and she called for me to come get it for her.  She could have reached it herself but she's "sick."  And this is all today, the day AFTER she had her fever.  She wants to still be sick today so that she can pick what we watch on tv.  We watch a lot of tv on sick days.....we've watched a LOT of tv in South Dakota! 

But today is Scout's sick day.  Scout is very different when he's sick.  He prefers rolling around on the floor to lying on the couch or bed.  His reply when I ask him how he is feeling is always, "Fine" -- even though I just measured his temperature at 104 degrees and he's shivering like a puppy in a bathtub.  He prefers to be left alone when he's sick.

 

I always feel like I take better care of Flora when she's sick because I'm able to DO so much to make her feel better whereas Scout basically just needs me to give him medicine every once in a while.

I'm feeling good today because I know that we're almost through this round of sickness!  Timber is all better (except for those pesky teeth that are still trying to push through), Flora is mostly better (although she would say otherwise, I'm sure), and Scout's fever seems to be subsiding some (of course, he's been "fine" all along).  Looking forward to healthy days so we can get out of the house and find some more fun things to do in South Dakota!!!  And probably pick up more germs along the way...

 

south dakota so far....

Well, hello!  Yes, I still have children and, yes, they are still doing and saying cute and funny things.  I'm just not writing about them.  Bad, Mommy Blogger, bad!! 

So here we are in South Dakota.  I can honestly say I never expected to be living in South Dakota!!  As lovely as it is and as comfortable as we are, I'm still glad it's only a temporary move.  (If you have no idea why we're in South Dakota, read here.) 

We drove up on a Wednesday, stopped in Omaha on the way to visit the awesome zoo, and arrived in Chester, SD at around 5:30pm.  We met our fabulous hosts and they took us out for dinner at a restaurant overlooking beautiful Lake Madison.  Timber started the meal by throwing a screaming, crying fit over his drink which caused the whole quiet place to stare at us for a while.  I calmed him down and we had a pleasant dinner until Timber capped off the evening by gagging on some food and throwing up a little on his plate.  Check please! 

The next morning (Thursday) the kids and I drove the 35 minutes to the Sioux Falls Walmart to stock up on food.  We spent too much time and too much money in the store and just as I was unloading all of our groceries into the back of the van Scout tells me he needs to go poo-poo.  I told him to wait.  It's a risky little game but I was betting that it wasn't urgent.  I preferred to take my chances on him pooping his pants than take all three kids back into Walmart to use the restroom.  This story has a happy ending.  Scout made it through playing at the mall, playing at the park, eating lunch, and driving all the way back to our house before he remembered that he had to go. 

Unfortunately, lunch wasn't exactly a lovely experience.  We met one of the local pastors that Chris will be working with and his wife at the mall food court for lunch.  There was a fountain and our first mistake was sitting next to the fountain.  I thought Flora and Scout would enjoy looking at it while they ate -- and they did -- but Timber also enjoyed looking at it and felt like he needed to really experience the fountain with all his senses.  After throwing another screaming, crying fit over his drink he spent the remainder of lunch leaning as far into the fountain as I would allow.  He was pretty soaked when we left the mall.  I didn't think Flora and Scout needed too much supervision around the fountain since I was confident they wouldn't try to get in it.  My bad.  I looked over at one point and saw them both with their drinking straws IN the fountain.  Who knows if they actually drank fountain water.  I prefer not to think about it.  Not exactly the first impression I was hoping to make on our new friends....

Thursday afternoon was fairly peaceful and calm and I was able to finally get everything unpacked into our cute little basement apartment.  Friday I got to sleep in and take care of a lot of computer stuff on my morning off (yes, my Fridays off are still enforced even in South Dakota).  I was ready for a good day and a fun weekend......and then Flora threw up.  And then Scout threw up.  And then Timber threw up.  We had at least one child throwing up Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  So much for meeting new friends, visiting new parks, and attending a new church.  Some crazy severe weather came through several times during the weekend too.  When it rains hard we have to lower the window coverings on our screened-in porch -- basically converting our house to a dark cave.  The kids and I were like little moles living underground for a few days.  Haha, it wasn't really that bad.  It felt cozy and safe and warm -- but I think if it had lasted longer than three days I would have had some cabin fever symptoms!  The silver lining to this cloud of vomit is that Chris and I avoided the bug and all of the furniture and carpets in our apartment were spared.  The bad part is that I actually took Scout to the doctor Monday afternoon because he had been throwing up for 3 days.  She took some blood to make sure it wasn't bacterial and deemed him "very viral" and told me to keep him hydrated.  And, of course, he was fine by Monday night.  The best way to cure a child is to make a doctor appointment.  Not that the doctor does anything.....it's kind of like how the best way to make it rain is to wash your car. 
 
So, now it's Tuesday and everyone seems to be feeling fine as we approach the one-week-in-South-Dakota mark.  Flora is a little bit homesick (she drew a picture of home this morning) and they're all already bored with the toy/book/puzzle selection I brought.  But right now they're dancing and twirling each other so maybe being bored will inspire them to be even more creative in their play!  We ventured out to the yard today even though it was cold and very windy.  I definitely should have packed more long-sleeve shirts and pants....