Well, there wasn't quite as much to do this week but throw in a couple of sick kids and a car that wasn't working (again) and it was hard to figure out when I was going to be able to go anywhere. The end result was that the week was rather hectic again. But I guess that's just life!
Last Saturday was pretty busy for all of us. Jared had three performances of the play (the final three performances). We went to see the play (Shrek, the Musical) on Friday evening and really enjoyed it, by the way. They did a really good job. I was impressed with the boy who played Lord Farquad because he had to do everything on his knees! (So he would look short; they had a clever costume that made the upper half of his legs look like his whole legs, and which concealed the bottom half of his legs.) Anyway, Jared was gone pretty much all day doing that.
In the morning I took Seth to a museum here in Frederick...it was the annual Museums by Candlelight event which they have on a Saturday in December every year. On this day, many of the museums in the county are open free of charge. Many of them have kid's crafts, special music, and / or refreshments too. I have made it a tradition to take the boys to see one or two museums every year. The older boys have seen most of them now so it's just me and Seth. Because we had a lot going on and time was short, I decided to just visit one place this year. I took him to see the Steiner House, which is a beautiful historic home in downtown Frederick. I took a load of pictures! This museum had gingerbread cookies, Seth got to make an ornament, and they also had a fun activity for the kids...they had to see how many nutcrackers they could find in each room and write it down. Seth really enjoyed that, and it kept him busy while I got to listen to the docents tell about each room. (He was a bit interested in what the docents had to say, also, but being able to look around for nutcrackers while they talked kept his mind busy so he didn't get bored.) When he was done, they checked his paper and because he did an excellent job, they let him pick out a candy cane.
So here are the pictures:
This first one was taken in the front parlor. Now several of the dining room:
Love the built ins, and all the little details all over the house like pictures, mirrors, beautiful old dishes, lamps, etc!
Seth counting nutcrackers. Can you see one?
The kitchen fireplace is huge!
Front entry; Seth is writing down more nutcrackers. The stairs are beautiful too:
A small upstairs bedroom:
Large upstairs bedroom:
Making an ornament:
Of course there's a great dollhouse too:
Upstairs secondary bedroom:
Another upstairs small bedroom (love the coat on the door!):
Steep old stairs:
Back downstairs, back parlor:
Front parlor:
Foyer again
And now, the summer kitchen out back:
And the side yard:
Front steps:
While we were gone to the museum, Frank was at home installing the new faucet in the half bath and hanging the pictures, so it's finally all done (except we still need to buy a new vent cover):
After visiting the museum, I took Seth to a birthday party. Saturday was also nice because I had the opportunity to do a lot of small acts of service. For one thing, my friend whose daughter was having the birthday party told me when I talked to her that morning that her washing machine had just broken and they didn't have many clean clothes. So when I dropped Seth off at the party, I picked up a load of laundry and took it back home with me and washed it. Then when I picked him up, I took the clean laundry back. It was an easy thing to do, but really helped them out a lot. Another family in our ward had a child in the hospital, so I took them dinner. Then that evening I took another mom in the ward and her children to visit her husband, who unfortunately is in jail right now. They don't have a car so they need someone to take them out there. (While they were visiting, I got some shopping done, and also walked around the mall to get some exercise.)
Also on Saturday we delivered the 12 Days of Christmas box. This year we had picked out a family in our ward; the parents separated earlier this year so things have been difficult for them. The problem was, the mom and her children live in a condo where you have to buzz in to get into the building. So that made it hard to do it anonymously. So we let another family in on our secret and asked them to give them the box, and let them know it was from someone else but they didn't want them to know who it was. Well, anyway, a few days before that the father was taken to jail. They knew that was probably going to happen eventually, but not exactly when. So of course that was very hard on the kids. When I found out he had gone to jail, I thought "well, maybe this will be good timing for them to get the box this week." I was very happy to hear the next day that I was right. The family who took them the box said they appreciated it so much and it made a huge difference in brightening the atmosphere in their home. The gift for the first day was a gingerbread train kit, and they said that they made it right away and had so much fun and it really cheered all of them up. It made us so happy to hear that! So sorry they had such a difficult week, but since it had to happen, we're glad the timing worked out the way it did, and we feel really grateful that we are in a position to help a little bit.
Ok, I promise I will not have that much to say about every day this week!
On Sunday we had tithing settlement after church and that evening the youth in our ward gave a Christmas musical fireside. Jared was the conductor for most of the songs, and it was very nice. I went to it but Frank did not because sometime in the afternoon Seth started complaining that his head and legs hurt, and he looked flushed and had that "I'm getting sick" look in his eyes. So Frank stayed home with Seth. We discovered that the only working thermometer in our house has gone missing (of course!)--we have several that don't work for some reason. So I wasn't sure if he had a fever or not but he looked feverish to me.
I kept him home from school on Monday and later in the day (after Jared got home from school) I went out and bought a new thermometer and sure enough...he had a temperature of 101.6. Meanwhile, Jared was not feeling very well either and by Tuesday morning he had a fever too. I kept Seth home through Wednesday when his fever finally went down, but the whole time he never acted all that sick...he was bouncing off the walls most of the time. Jared, on the other hand, was definitely miserable and had a fever up to about 102.4. I shouldn't say "had", because he's still sick actually. He's feeling a little better but he still has a fever, cough, congestion, and sore throat. Seth went back to school Thursday and Friday and seemed just fine, but then this morning he woke up early and complained of a headache and sore legs again. I took his temperature and it was back up to 101.6 again! So it kind of feels like they are never going to get better.
We carpool to Seminary with another family in our ward and their daughter, who is in the same theater crowd with Jared at school (she actually played Fiona in the play), was also sick this week. They took her to the doctor and confirmed that she has influenza type A. So it's likely that's what Jared has also. I was sorry she was sick, but since they both had to be sick, it was convenient that they both got sick at the same time! We didn't have to do the Seminary drive on Wednesday through Friday. Actually got to sleep in all the way until 7:00 some days!! It was also convenient to have Jared and Seth sick at the same time so that I could leave them home together while I did all the things I needed to do this week, and while I drove the carpool boys to school each morning.
I have had a slight sore throat and headache off and on all week (last week too) so I kept worrying that I was getting sick too but thankfully it has not turned into anything significant (keep your fingers crossed!) not only because being sick is unpleasant, but because I had so much to do. No time to be sick!!
At school Seth was personality of the week which means he filled out an information sheet about himself, took in a timeline with a photo of himself from each year of his life, and took in a bag of his favorite things to tell about. These activities were supposed to be spread throughout the week, but since he was sick they got squashed into the last two days of the week. He enjoyed it and thankfully it wasn't a lot of work to get those things ready (the timeline was already put together from previous years; I just had to add a photo for this year.)
Other things I did this week: we had the Elders over for dinner on Wednesday (the sick ones ate in another room so we wouldn't contaminate the Elders), I had a presidency meeting and book chat on Thursday, an RS visit on Friday, and today I did some sewing (needed clothing repairs) and went through several bags of clothing that someone in the ward donated to figure out who might be able to use them. (One of my counselors helped me.) Frank did maintenance for all his clients. My other project for the week was helping put together 18 baskets to give to single sisters / widows in our ward for Christmas. I had a lot of help with them this year (one of my counselors did most of the shopping and five of us got together to put them all together) so it wasn't nearly so stressful. I did end up with all of them at my house for a few days because I was picking up the last thing that needed to go in...loaves of bread. Then the YM president picked them up from our house so that the YM could deliver them. While they were here, they took up all the space on our kitchen table:
And a few had to go on the floor:
We put a few of the same things in as last year, but a couple of things were different.
It was a fun project and I enjoy doing it even though it's at a busy time of year!!
Last night Frank and I left the sick ones at home and went out on a date. First we went to dinner, then we did some shopping, then we went to a wedding reception, and then we went to pick up my car. I forgot to explain that early in the week my car started acting up again; same problem with the suspension. So I took it back in on Wednesday so they could try to figure out what was going on. Frank was at work but a friend met me at the mechanic's and gave me a ride home. They had to keep the car for a few days because sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but they finally figured out that they needed to replace one more part and now it is fine again. It complicated my life not having a car for a few days, but we worked it all out. Anyway, we had fun on our date. Today we did some more shopping (crazy idea...last Saturday before Christmas!) and now I sincerely hope we are all ready for Christmas, except for baking and wrapping.
Here's the tree:
This afternoon Frank took his drone outside to play with it for a while and he also took a few pictures:
And here is the tree again, this time when it's dark:
Here are the sick boys. This is pretty much how they have looked all week, sitting on the couch:
I think that's it, except to note that the US Postal Service has been giving me grief. I mailed two packages last Friday. One (to Ben's family) was supposed to be delivered on Monday and the other (to Scott) was supposed to be delivered yesterday. Well, Ben's package arrived on time but it got damaged, and one item inside was totally destroyed. (It was insured, but we've got to figure out how to make a claim.) Then Scott's package has still not been delivered (I've been tracking it). I was feeling quite concerned yesterday when there was no record of it even arriving anywhere in Utah. It left Greensboro, NC early in the morning on Monday, and that's the last information they had. I was starting to get nervous that it wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas (in Scott's mission you send packages only to the mission office and they only deliver them on P-days so it needed to get there by Monday) but thankfully this afternoon the package finally arrived in Utah. So I think it will get to him in time now. Whew!
We are excited that Tanner will be back home tomorrow!
That was our crazy week. We wish you all a happy, healthy Christmas!!
