Fever Forts

Here's Shule's fort- basically his blanket hung down
from the top bunk- but still nice and cozy.

Well, we had great plans for fall break but you know how it goes with "the best laid plans..." We were going to go to the zoo, the art museum, the park every day, and then camping with friends tonight and tomorrow night, then the pumpkin patch on Saturday.

Let me update first a little bit. The girls had little colds last week that resulted in canceled play dates, then Shazer got sick in the middle of the week resulting in school absences but everyone was feeling better when we headed down to Tucson last weekend to see Tammy, who was in town for Austin's cousin, Billy's, wedding (I was too busy having fun to remember to take pictures so I'll post some later when Tammy sends me some of hers).

We had a really good time with my sister. She totally spoiled the kids. Each kid got their favorite colored plastic trick-or-treating bucket full of Halloween candy, spider rings, spooky t-shirts, rubber spiders, skull cups, coloring books- these things were overflowing with Halloween goodies. She even set up an amazing treasure hunt for the older kids and then took us all to see Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs in 3D- her treat! It was a great movie and a lot of fun- Sally sat pretty well most of the time and Jon had stayed at my parents to nap with Sophie, so it was nice not to have to worry about keeping her happy. When the kids went to bed Friday night Tammy taught us big kids to play a fun card game called Doughnut, that's when my Dad informed us that he was feeling sick but continued to play until he and Tammy had sufficiently whooped Jon, Frankie, and me.

While Tammy and Austin were at the wedding, my kids continued to get spoiled by my mom who'd bought the Monsters vs. Aliens movie for them to watch. She also let Sally help bake cookies (which resulted in some super yummy butterscotch/cinnamon/oatmeal cookies in spite of Sally having dumped almost an entire bottle of cinnamon in the batter when my mom wasn't looking). My mom also brought out surprises for the girls: a new Sleeping Beauty dress and crown for Sally to play dress up in and two matching fancy dresses for both girls to wear for Christmas. The matching dresses were really more for me, even though the girls do enjoy dressing up ;)

On Saturday evening, before heading out of town, we went over to Anne & Wolfgang's for dinner and had a nice visit with them, Gill, and Linda. Anne gave the boys Einstein bobble heads that she had brought back from her Smithsonian summer internship, and she had a cool floor puzzle for Sally and Sophie.

By the time we got home late Saturday night, kids were completely exhausted and when we woke up Sunday morning we were all starting to feel sick. I had a bad ear ache and sinus pressure until Wednesday, but my throat is still hurting and I have some general achiness. Right now, Sally is feeling the worst of it with watery eyes, runny nose, and fever. Shazer cried last night when we told him we couldn't go camping and that he couldn't go with his friend on his own because we're all too sick. He tried to deny his sickness through boughts of coughing and sneezing, poor kid :( We're crossing our fingers that everyone will feel well enough to go to the pumpkin patch this Saturday night when Jon will be playing again with the cover band, Rock the Doghouse, at Schnepf Farms... but we're not holding our breath.

The kids are feeling pretty cooped up. Sally keeps asking to go to the park and every time someone opens the front door to take the trash out or get the mail, Sophie makes a break for it. I'm feeling really bad for them, and thanks to my mom's paranoid call about the H1N1 virus, I'm feeling a bit worried too. Here are some pictures of the "fever forts" the boys made for the girls to help them have a little fun while they're sick.

Shazer built his fort in the living room and it has been the more novel and therefore popular fort.

Poor thing.