Kara Enters Double Digits and Stomach Bug

Kara turned 10 on February 12th! As tradition dictates, Thomas and I joined her for lunch at her school. We offered to bring her Chick-Fil-A or bring her class cupcakes. She chose the cupcakes and enjoyed handing them out to everyone. It is always fun to see our kids interact with their friends.

Her chosen dinner was French dip sandwiches and lil smokie sausages. Very random, but pretty easy to execute, so we were able to make it happen on her actual birthday, which fell on a Tuesday.  

Delicious :)

She and Luke both chose the night away option as their birthday gift from us this year. Kara convinced Luke to choose Kalahari so that we could go for two nights (each kid gets one night). Luke's big day is March 17, so we are hoping to find two nights sometime between now and then to make it happen. We have never been, but supposedly it is a bigger, better version of Great Wolf Lodge. However, it is 5-6 hours away, so not as easy to get to. And, we didn't realize how expensive it is. A weekend night can be $1000!!!! Weekdays are much more reasonable, however, we are having a hard time finding a two-night block when we can go. Jack and Anna have math club on Mondays and Kara has math club on Wednesdays. Jack and Kara especially don't want to miss the club, because they are hoping to be selected for math team and don't want anything to hurt their chances. Then, on Thursdays, we have LEAP, which I wrote about last time. That only runs until March 7, so maybe we will be able to find time after that. We are still waiting to hear on the potential move to Orlando, so that could impact plans as well. Even when we aren't busy, our calendar seems to fill quickly!

But, back to Kara. She is fun to bake for, because she cares more about taste than looks. This year, she wanted a cookies and cream cake. It came out really good and it even looked pretty. She had a few small gifts to open and I think she had a good birthday. At least I hope she did.

Also delicious!

On Wednesday, I picked Luke up from daycare and he commented that his stomach hurt. This is not super unusual. Although, normally, he says his stomach hurts before school with the hope we'll let him stay home and watch t.v. all day. But, around 5, he threw-up. And, then he continued throwing up for about 4 hours straight! We thought we were in for a long night, but by 9 he fell asleep and stayed asleep. He woke up the next day feeling mostly fine. I was sorry he had to miss his school's Valentine's Day party. But, we had a fun day. I stayed home from work and we played lots and lots of games: War, Yahtzee, Zingo, Snoopy's Surprise Slides, and some others I can't recall. We also watched Home Alone. It was a fun day. And, he was ready to return to school on Friday. When he did, we got a note sent home saying that the daycare director had never seen an illness like this one in her 11 years there. Apparently, lots of kids were out Thursday and many more got sent home during the day. There was a reminder of the sick policy, which we always adhere to and wished others would do the same. The note gave us a clue that whatever Luke had was very contagious. 

Fortunately, everyone else seemed fine on Thursday and Friday. Which was good, because J & A had a field trip that Anna had been looking forward to for years--the 5th grade water safety field trip. Jack was far less enthusiastic and wanted to stay home with Luke and me. But, I made him go and he ended up enjoying himself. Unfortunately, Friday night, Kara woke us because she was sick. Last night (Saturday night) Jack was sick. Anna hasn't fallen yet, but we expect it is coming soon. Luckily, it is a very quick bug. And, the timing (for once) has been pretty good. Only one day of work missed and none of the big kids have missed any school. Of course, that could change. But, fingers crossed that it misses Anna and ends with Jack!

Ford's Theater and Other News

In other news, we decided to put in for the Orlando positions. I just had to try! I don't know if it is the best decision or if anything will come from it, but I can't pass up the chance to be so close to my family. We should know next week.

We finally had decent weekend weather and an open government! I recently read a book by Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress and friend. Thomas had been saying he wanted to visit Ford's Theater for awhile and after reading her book, I was excited to see if there was any mention of Ms. Keckley (there was!). We left the house around 9 on Saturday and went to Ford's theater. We enjoyed our visit. Even though we have all been before, I find that it doesn't matter how many times we do something like that--I always learn something new. They have a small museum in the Theater's basement, which is where we went first. After the museum, we headed into the theater to hear the infamous story. The lecturer was the most enthusiastic one we've had and everyone appreciated his story-telling skills.

We then went across the street to the aftermath experience. The Petersen House (where President Lincoln was taken and then died) was closed. Our favorite part of the aftermath experience is the giant stack of books. It is 34 feet tall and represents the approximately 16,000 books that have been written about Lincoln.

The sun was bright and I couldn't get a good picture.

Nobody wanted to go home, so we decided to walk to the Mall area and visit the Museum of American History. Our first stop was lunch in the cafeteria. It was about 1:30 and while we had brought a good snack right before going into Ford's Theater around 10:30, everyone was more than ready to eat. We like to eat in the Smithsonian cafeterias. They are pricey, but since museum admission is free, we don't mind; it lets us feel like we are contributing.

Everyone choose a couple of things they wanted to see. We let Luke play in the little play area and in return he promised to be patient while we saw some other stuff. He started to get a little whiny, and I reminded him about our "deal" and it bought us a little bit more time. We have finally abandoned the stroller (although, we may still break it out for excessive trips). At almost 5, it is long overdue. I am pretty sure that we had kicked the older three out of strollers around their 3rd birthdays, but it is so much easier for us to keep him confined as we drag him places he doesn't really want to be. Overall, everyone was great! We left the museum around 4 and picked up some pizza on our way home. It was a beautiful day and I was so happy to get out of the house!

Crazy eye'd Luke and crazy eye'd Cookie Monster

In other other news, today was the first day of LEAP at the kid's school. I can't remember exactly what it stands for: Learning Enrichment ? Program? (I could be wrong.) But, it runs for 5 weeks on Thursdays. Parents volunteer to run a program on something they are interested in (or think kids might be interested in). Kara has participated every year. Last year she did bracelet making, the year before was Trash to Treasure. I can't remember the others. There are usually dance and cooking options. I've never volunteered before since I either had Luke or work. But, this year with our new flexible work schedule (love, love, LOVE), I am able to leave early on Thursdays and make up the time on another day. My chosen class: The Magical World of Harry Potter! I am doing it with another parent. We worked on the play sets together a few years ago and have stayed friends. We had a ton of activities planned for the first day, but it is only an hour and with 20 kids, we didn't accomplish nearly what we expected. However, all three of my kids said they had fun, so I am calling it a success. One week down and 4 to go! With Jack and Anna going to middle school next year, I am trying to squeeze in all the fun I can.

And, two random pictures. Anna's class had a crazy hair day. We put in 9 pony tails and 9 bows.

And, that's all for now :)