We live in a germ cesspool

Mike and I were supposed to go to the temple on Saturday but with Piper being sick with RSV we didn't feel comfortable leaving her cranky, sick self with a babysitter and so we decided to make it a family trip.  We had a picnic and then walked around the grounds.  

 Look, I'm a unicorn!  Pretty awesome that the steeple gave me a horn.

 Piper wanted to swim in the fountain.  She loves swimming

 Mike woke up at 3:40 AM on Sunday and left an hour later to catch his plane.  None of us but Will were feeling that well so we all skipped church.  We went to the cemetery and found Ashleigh Cox's grave and brought her a flower to put on her grave.  Then the boys did their normal thing of carrying around gigantic sticks and played at the memorial park with the cannon.  Piper and I were cold so we stayed in the car while they played and I started noticing drops of water falling on the windshield.  As you can see from the picture it was totally sunny outside and I was confused at first about where the water was coming from.  I eventually decided that it was from the tree above us and that the sun was thawing frost on the tree or something along those lines.  It was kind of like Heaven was crying though.

 Later that evening as we waited for dinner to cook we went on a quick walk around the block.  The boys love to pull her in the wagon.  I think she likes all the attention.  When she is in the stroller they walk or ride ahead of her but with the wagon they all want to be right by her.

 Monday Eli woke up crying because he wanted to go to school.  I asked him if he honestly felt well enough to go and he started crying harder because he knew he did not.  Piper felt so sad for him.  She gave him a hug and patted his back and then patted his head.  It was the sweetest thing.  Piper doesn't really hug anyone but me or Mike so it was really sweet.

It seems that Piper passed her germs on to him because he has been so stuffy and had a horrible hacking cough.  He also started complaining about his ear on Friday.  I was able to give him a rice sock and meds and keep him pretty happy.  Last night he woke up multiple times crying about his ear.  He snuggled in bed with me for quite some time.  We tried medicine, said a little prayer together, and tried the essential oils (why do I keep trying them?!).  Nothing seemed to help him.  This morning he was inconsolable.  I got an appointment for him with the doctor and he just sobbed the entire time.  Turns out he has a double ear infection.

Yesterday, before his ear pain really started making him miserable, I kept him home and he and Piper played together.  They painted,

 shared a snack and watched Clifford together,

 and then since we have been confined to our house for over a week with Piper's RSV, we were feeling antsy to be in the beautiful weather.  I drove to a deserted park where I knew no other kids would be for us to pass germs to, and we played outside for an hour.

 It was a beautiful day and we ended up shedding our hats and jackets.  (Look at that view!)

 After nap time Eli and Piper played together on the trampoline.

 All that fun was too much for Eli I guess, because now he is doing much worse.  No parks or playing really at all today.  Just a sad little sick boy.  :(

The doctor suggested I give Piper probiotics.  I've been giving them to the boys but haven't with Piper.  I started sprinkling it in her yogurt but she refuses to let me feed her.  I remembered when Will used to be like that and our solution was to give him a straw to suck his baby food out of the jar.  I though perhaps we could do the same for Piper and her yogurt.  Seemed to work great!  Funny girl.

Tonight is one of those nights that I dislike immensely.  I have to pick the kids up from school, get them to practice piano and finish homework, and clean their rooms.  Then I run the boys to piano and hurry to the church to drop off Will's car for the pinewood derby so it can be weighed.  Then I have to run back and get Will early from piano lessons so he can be at the church in time for the race. Then I run back to piano and pick up Isaac and then head back to the church for who knows how many hours until the pinewood derby is over.  Phew.  Busy night.  And in there at some point I have to feed the kids.  And I'm not sure that Diamond has been fed today.  And I still have to pick up Eli's medicine because when I went to get it from the pharmacy, it hadn't come through from the doctor yet.  I figured it would be worth taking a rocking, crying Eli home and coming back.  And also, Eli almost burnt the house down the other night when he put the rice sock in the microwave for three minutes.  The sock was burnt and smoking and nasty black sludge was coming out.  I went to bed with the worst headache and my throat and nose burning from the smoke.  I thought that most of the smell was gone after opening windows and turning on fans and putting out a bowl of vinegar.  Alas, when I went to bed last night I smelled smoke all over the sheets and my pillow case.  I was much too tired to do anything about it then but Mike will not be happy to come home to a smelly pillow and sheets (in fact, he will complain about it all night) so once all the kiddos are finally sleeping tonight I will go change the sheets.  (the closet still has a terrible smoky smell that will drive Mike crazy.  Oh well.  He missed the worst of it).

Anyway, busy few days.  I'm weary of sickness.