Sick Break

Well, I think there's no better time to get sick than when you have an extra 6 people in your house.  That way someone else can hold a crying child or make dinner or run to the store for more meds or caffeinated drinks for the mommies.  And now there is a reason to have the TV on 24/7. 

We actually have 2 strains of bugs running through thehouse right now, thankfully it remained within the host family and not the guests.  So here I am, fighting off the yuckies.

In the first corner, weighing in at stomach flu, throwing up and diahrea:  Emily and Becca.
In the second corner, weighing in at painful ear infections: Jacob and Amanda. 

So far, Becca dropped out of the fight after 36 hours... and Jacob and Amanda entered the fight a day or so late, but definately not nearly as dedicated to the pain.  Emily seems to be the last one standing... I mean last one crying. 

Emily got a shot of Phenergan last night and seems to be doing better.  She was pretty dehydrated, but she is doing her best to drink all the pedialyte I keep giving her. 

Maybe tonight I'll get to sleep all the way through til morning, without anyone else waking up and crying or throwing up or crawling into my bed.  Maybe.

Spring Break Swim

What spring break is complete without swimming?  Even in Portland, where we have had rain 29 out of 31 days, we still want to swim!  And with the grandparents staying at a hotel with an indoor swimming pool, we were on our way to fun.

But sometimes "heated" pool, means not freezing pool.   As we overtook the pool (only 9 kids and 2 adults ended up swimming) and ran out the other guests... we were friendly and tried to introduce ourselves :)  But they left anyway.

Amanda didn't care... she was trying to collect all the flotation devices.  We had a great swim and then froze on the return trip home.  We had to walk through cold rain to get to the van, but warm hot chocolate was awaiting us at home.  

 

 

Because what is spring break without swimming?

Summer at Ceep's House

Remember lazy summer days with your cousins. No decisions to make... just figure out who you wanted to play with next.

That's what we've been doing this week...

- the creek - cold water, sunshine, mud, rocks and branches dams, fresh oranges, wet dogs.

- backyard - trampoline and sprinkler, slides and water hoses, mud puddles and more wet dogs.

- tv, wii, ds, ipods, facebook, email, media, media and more media

- naptime? The big kids want one and the little ones don't.

- legos, legos, legos, puppet show, legos and more legos (there are a lot of boys around here)

- just hanging out, talking about everything and nothing.

This is what "summer" is... being together.

Ethan's pink pigs...

Hey Ethan - I checked on your pigs :)

Since we will be seeing Ethan and his family at DisneyLand in about 5 weeks - I wanted to remind everyone what we were doing during their visit last year.


We worked on a song for Grandpa John Wilson's 90th birthday.
Edited, directed and musical accompaniment by Darren.

The big girls (Aunt Priscila, mom, Katy and Hannah) all went to the American Girl Store for Katy's 10th birthday.




Then Grand Poopa took all the cousins to Chuck E. Cheese for Katy's birthday.

That's 11 cousins - oldest to youngest ...


and 3 pregnant mommies.


There was a huge snow storm...it took Aunt Priscila and the boys HOURS to get home.
Sorry Ceep, we didn't know. It was warm and sunny again within a few days.

Darren and the kids made snowman John.


And some of the saddest basketball, ever. It's our 2nd day with the hoop, there's snow everywhere and the ball is flat. We've gotten much better.



One day at the park - we almost had to call 911. Katy got stuck in the baby swing and 2 pregnant mommies had a hard time getting her out. I didn't get that one on film,
but I did catch them running (and falling).





We celebrated a traditional pagan holiday with the DeHarts (that was 12 adults and 12 kids)

Here's a big secret ... One time, the mommies skipped church to get Starbucks. Maybe two times.
Here's the Daddies have a musical moment together...





We had lots of lazy days together, too.

Playing on the wii ...


hanging out in the cabinets...
watching cable tv...
buying stuff off Craigslist...Gabe and Emily practicing...

And the Mommies and Daddies were able to secure a sitter so we could have a play date, too.

Can't wait to see you guys next month!
Let's not forget our cameras :)