Washington DC and the Flu!

September 26th Jem and Rilla started fevers in the middle of the night. Jem's stayed at about 100.8 and Rilla's was a little lower. Rilla's lasted 2 1/2 days while Jem's lasted 4 days. They had a little cough and sore throat. Walter had a little sore throat for about one day and that was it. Shirley didn't get it until the 2nd of October. But because I was sure it was the H1N1 Flu (my neighbors girls were confirmed with it and I watched their brother before and after school during that time, and we were at there house several times, too) I started Shirley on his asthma medicine before he even started showing symptoms. I think that helped since his asthma didn't get as bad as it has in the past. It was also a stressful week since I was flying out the next Sunday, Oct. 4th, to go to Washington D.C. for six days. Gil was also flying out the same day for a military class in texas for seven days (Gil found out about his TDY a week and a half prior, but I already had my flight scheduled and paid for by a friend here who paid for my ticket so I could help watch her toddler while she was in her FRG classes in Washington D.C.) My Grandma and Uncle were already coming to visit us the following week, so they came early to watch our kids. Of course, having sick kids made me stressed and I felt bad about leaving. Luckily, it was just Shirley who was sick by the time we left. Luckily, his symptoms were mild, and he had no fever, but his asthma had kicked in a little.

Even if my kids hadn't been sick, it still would have been hard to leave. I have never been away from them except when I have been in the hospital having a baby. I was excited to go to Washington D.C. I went to help my friend but also to get to visit with my sister who was going to the same FRG conference. The flight there was quick. I read and almost finished a book. It was so nice not flying with kids. I love reading, so I enjoyed the time. I finished the book while waiting fo my sister's flight to arrive in Washington D.C. Then we went to the hotel and checked into her hotel. It was a very nice hotel. We were on the 11th floor. The first half of Monday the three of us were able to do sight seeing. The first place I wanted to go was the botanical gardens. They were beautiful. I really enjoyed them. Then we walked by some sights, like the capitol, and then had lunch at a street cafe. Then Christina, my sister, and AnnaLisa, my friend, went to FRG meetings and I headed back to the hotel with AnnaLisa's little boy for nap time.

Tuesday through Thursday we were able to do a little more sightseeing, I watched Annalissa's little boy while they were in meetings, and spent time together. It was fun taking the subway. We took a shuttle from the hotel to the subway and then the subway into Washington DC. I enjoyed eating out as well. One night we had chinese and another we went to a Thai resturaunt. That was my favorite out of all. I had a curry and it was so good. I had, however, caught what my kids had and had a little cough and was more tired than normal. Other than that, I really had a wonderful time. I even visited some of the Smithsonian museums.

I flew home Friday morning and was very excited to see my kids. I really missed them. I got home just in time, too, because my Grandma and Uncle started not feeling well Thursday night. They caught the flu, too. My husband got home Saturday and had the following week off. He took it off since we had family visiting. We had planned on doing a bunch of sightseeing, but didn't end up doing much because everyone was sick (we did go to Mammoth caves in Kentucky-that was fun). Jem and Shirley got sick again with another flu. Jem got pnemonia. We caught it early and took him to the ER when he started spiking a fever and complained that his chest hurt. Shirley just had the normal coughing and wheezing from his asthma he gets when he gets sick. Luckily, that week was fall break from school so Jem only missed one day from school the following Monday. I enjoyed having my Grandma and Uncle. When my Grandma was better I took her to a spa and she had a foot pedicure and body massage. She is 81 years old and had never had either. Her and I also went out to lunch at the Cracker Barrel before the spa. It was nice spending time with her.

Family Pictures!

We had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. I bought the cd so I have all of the pictures that were taken.

Rilla's 3rd Birthday!

Rilla turned three years old last month. She has been such a delight to our family. She has to put up with three brothers and does a very good job of it. She has always been a very good big sister to Shirley. She was almost never jealous of him (and she was only 13months old when he was born). She is very easy going, can play well with others as well as by herself. I love her personality. She loves learning. She can count to 12, knows most of her shapes and colors, and loves to sing. She carries a pretty good tune as well. I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter.

For her birthday we all went to the Jump Zone (my Grandma's treat). Then had cake and ice cream after dinner. She loved her birthday.

Here are a few pictures of her when she was younger:

Jem's Field trip!

Jem had his first field trip last week to a pumpkin farm. I was able to go with him and really enjoyed it. It was nice to spend time with him. I am amazed how much he has grown up in the last 6 months. We learned about the importance of bees in fertilizing pumpkins, went on a tractor ride, saw farm animals, and went through a corn maze. The kids also got to milk a fake cow and each pick out a pumpkin. The even had a nice play area for the kids to play after they ate lunch. It was also nice to have good weather. The whole week before it rained and was cold. But we had high 60 degree weather and lots of sunshine.

Decorating for Halloween!

Last weekend we bought Halloween decorations and decorated the front of our house. It was a lot of fun, especially doing it together as a family. We also had great weather to do it in. My favorite Halloween decoration is fake spiderwebs. I like how it looks on the window shutters.




Last week we also had fun raking up leaves and playing in them. I haven't done that since I was a little kid.