A Bunch of Sickies

The kids and I were sick today and I think Lily went through at least 200 tissues. She is very good at wiping her nose, but she doesn't know how to blow it. Needless to say the garbage in Lily's room couldn't keep up.

I was very grateful that we all did as well as we did. I was up in the night with a sore throat and woke up very tired and sore and sick. I didn't know how I was going to make it through the day. But Ryan slept in until almost 9 (holy cow!!!) and when he napped he slept almost 3 hours so I was very blessed. I was so proud of myself for taking them to the store since that can be exhausting, but they did great and then I came home and prepped dinner. Lily had so much fun helping me with the lasagna. She spread the sauce, put the noodles down, and helped spread the cheese mixture. She insisted on wearing her apron and then insisted that I wear mine too. When she accidentally got some food on me, she said, "oh sorry, but it's okay because you're wearing your apron." Maybe she did that to prove a point to me that it's always best to wear an apron. She also said that daddy would be so surprised we would have dinner all done when he got home. When it was time for dinner she set the table and put all the food out. It was very, very sweet and she was just in a helping mood today. We had a great day together and she made me smile so much. 

I was so tired after making lasagna that I wanted to nap since Ryan was napping, but Lily wanted to play and I didn't want to say no (I did eventually nap though). We played princesses downstairs and it turned out it was Rapunzel's birthday so we had a surprise party for her. Luckily Rapunzel is the only princess who works during the day so the other princesses had the castle to themselves to get everything ready. When Lily saw an extra Rapunzel in the castle she threw her out and said, "Rapunzel is still at work." It's so fun being part of her imaginative play. While the three of us were painting today she started to sing, "oh no, I got water on me, what should I do?" I sang back, "here, let me give you a paper towel." "Oh, thank you for helping me solve my problem." It's fun being in a musical with her on occassion. 

 And here she is building a sandcastle. After she built a couple she got tired and asked me to build some. 

 Here she is upset because Ryan destroyed her imaginary sandcastle. 

Jeff got home and had a little more work to do. Both kids wanted to watch his work computer and just sat next to him watching him work. We didn't really leave the house today because it was so cold so I guess they were hard up for some entertainment. Before bed Lily saw Jeff's shoes on the floor and said, "Mr. Daddy, we don't put shoes on the floor. They need to go in the closet or else someone can trip on them, okay?" I couldn't have trained her any better. 

Jeff toured his some of his new buildings today, Thornton, Boulder, and Longmont, and had an exhausting day. He said when he went to Boulder there has hardly been any turnover since he left a year ago and people welcomed him like he had just been gone a week. His operations division manager used to be his administrator there and she likes him a lot so they have a good relationship. While the two of them were at Boulder they set the high for admissions that had and has never been reached since. That peak of patients is what got both of them their promotions so they have a good bond with each other. Unfortunately, Jeff's old area is doing well and he would have had a great bonus this month if he was still there. His new area is suffering quite a bit, but he doesn't have a huge portfolio so the hope is he can focus on these trouble buildings and help make good things happen. But there is also a lot of pressure to get them where they need to be. The bonuses are such a big deal for us since that goes to our savings so we are praying the areas can turn around and he can help make a positive impact. 

On Saturday we smelled some gas downstairs and were told to leave the house until it got checked out. Turns out nothing was wrong, but in the meantime we took the kids to McDonald's. They had a great time in the play area. Here Ryan is trying to climb up a section and it looks like he'll make it, but then his body always slids back down in defeat. 

 Jeff had to go inside the tunnels to help Ryan get up to where he could go down the slide, and believe me, this was no easy task for a full size grown-up.

 Lily loved the slide. 

 And so did Ryan. 

 And I think Jeff did too. 

Lily loves being independent and cutting her own food. 

 Yesterday was a gorgeous day and the kids stayed outside playing for quite awhile. Lily carried the balloon around and sang "Frozen" songs and both kids of course collected rocks.

 Lily and Ryan threw their balls down the little hill (much to Ryan's delight) and then Lily retrieved the balls and they started all over again. It is AWESOME having such a great helper. It meant we weren't chasing the balls over and over again.

 And then they just played together and were as happy as can be. 

 Pretty soon wrestling ensued. There were mostly no tears. 

Holding his hand to guide him down the hill since he's a little unsure. She went a bit fast for his comfort level though and pretty soon he just resorted to crawling up and down the hill. 

 And the sweetest thing of all was last night when Lily put all her friends and a ton of books in her tent. She and Ryan went in there and she read to him. When he repeated words after her she'd say, "good job, Ryan!" She was very patient with him and let him turn pages and enjoy the books. Jeff and I kept looking at each other because we couldn't believe what a great big sister she was being. It really was too sweet for words.