A bit of Fun and a bit of Sick

I should know since we got away most of the winter with fairly healthy kids (Sheldon is a whole other story) that they would all catch everything now. But its still not terrible. Seems all the kids have icky colds and coughs and noses that are very yucky.

Wednesday we had Muffins with mom and grandma at school. The boys really enjoyed that. Grandma went into work late and we all had muffins and read books in the library before school.

Probably the most fun was had last Friday. David and Nathan had crazy hair day at school. The twins felt the need to participate.

Sheldon didn’t have time for me to get to him before he left for work so after the kids left for school I went and tackled him. It took some convincing but I managed to do it. And then I got a couple other kids at school who really wanted it and I thought their parents would be okay with it. After that the twins were adamant about not going home so we went up to visit Grandpa for a few minutes and then we took our friends a newspaper article with a picture of their daughter in it. When we got there we all helped with dishes (3 toddlers, two adults doing the dishes ohhh fun) Then we went and played outside for a bit and had lunch before coming home. It was a lot of fun. Then as if that wasn’t enough fun for one day we got back and were down to nap when a friend dropped in on us and played for a while and stayed for pizza at dinner. All that time outside and mommy got a pretty good sunburn and Keziah got a small one.

I didn’t have enough time to wash their hair before going to the church talent show so excuse the hair but this was a very special experience despite the orange and green hair. Anyway at the talent show the boys had consented to singing a song as a group for our ward. Well all the other wards had large groups (10 or more kids) but David and Nathan were the sole McGill representatives. Seems no one else could make it. They were nervous so I consented to go up with them. David walked up first and stepped back from the microphone to the side. Nathan stepped right up to the mic, tipped it down towards his mouth and waited for our cue. Both boys sang beautifully. They sang all 4 verses of “The Family is of God”. David seemed a bit nervous though and stayed kinda towards the back and didn’t sing too loud. Nathan had zero fear though. He stayed right at that mic the whole time. He sang almost every word and loud and clear and on time and so stinking cute. We had half the ladies there crying by the time the song was over. David likes to tell everyone “We sang so good we made lots of ladies cry!”. I was so proud of them and impressed. They did AWESOME.

Sunday since all the boys sounded like a bunch of hacking hyenas with all the coughing they were doing Sheldon stayed home with the boys and just Keziah and I went to church. Here are some pics from Sunday morning (The boys were plenty happy and active we just didn’t think it would be nice to spread germs) Nathan tried to pull this into Monday. I dont doubt his tummy didnt feel well. He said his tummy didnt feel good so he needed to stay home from school. We kept telling him to lay down. But I would leave the room and he would be up and playing (not just light play rough play) with the twins. So finally I took him downstairs to his bed and told him if he was sick enogh to stay home from school than he needed to stay in bed and he could lay there and read books but that was it. 20 minutes later he came back upstairs, dressed for school and announced that his tummy didn't hurt any more and he could go to school now. So he was about a half hour late on Monday. Silly kid.
David, Keziah, Nathan ZephenMcCaul, David, Keziah, Nathan ZephenDavid, Nathan, and Keziah


Keziah is getting really good at army crawling. We have had to be super vigilant about keeping the floor clean. I swear I vacuum and sweep the front room and dining room 12 times a day. Seems with all these kids they are always tracking stuff all over the floor and if there is anything Keziah likes it is putting stuff in her mouth. Maybe even more than any of my other kids. Anyway she can make her way around the house pretty well now. She doesn’t move too fast but fast enough that she can be on one side of the room one minute and the other side the next minute.

Our trip to SLC .. Lots of pictures

I am beginning to see when we go on bigger trips I will have to post to here every few days. So many cool things to do and see and pictures to take. So this post will be A LOT of pictures… but that’s why you all read this anyway right?!?

First off… the sickies continued up until the day we left but that was it. We were all better by that night. Thank goodness.

At any rate we got into Utah and got to Sheldon’s Dr appt Friday morning. Dr gave him a new medicine and a new protocol for dealing with flare-ups. Hopefully it all goes well. I think we were both impressed with the dr. He wants to see Sheldon back in a year for another appt and another colonoscopy. From there we will determine the long-range plan for how often we need to do colonoscopies.

After the appt we ran like mad and did some shopping and then headed over to Travis and Tianna’s for Tiffany’s birthday party (the one for kids). Then we went and got pizza and hung out and visited after the party. Then we took the kids for a drive around Bountiful temple at night so they could see the temple all lit up. We finally went back to Richard and Carries (who were so graciously letting us stay at their place) and knocked out way past usual bedtime.
Sheldon and I got ready for bed and got Keziah to sleep and went down and found the twins like this.

Saturday morning we were planning on going to the temple again but it was super busy and we didn’t have nice clothes on so we opted to not walk around. Then we met Travis’ family and Trista, Shauna, Mom Alice and Dad Stan for lunch at the gateway. Unfortunately it was crazy as unbeknownst to us there was a parade for St Patrick’s day just getting over. Crazy parking and I had to borrow a dollar from David to pay for parking.
At any rate after we ate lunch we had cake. Here is a picture of Tiffany smiling in front of the amazing cake Mom Alice made. It’s a princess cake, every little girls dream right. Mom Alice was so busy making this masterpiece she forgot we needed to eat it and we didn’t have plates, or forks to eat it with or even a knife to cut it. We resorted to finger food and Dad Stan’s pocket knife. But it worked and was tastey.

Afterwards we went to the children’s museum at the Gateway and the kids had a blast. We did lose Trenten once, when he decided to ride the elevator on his own but recovered him. And eventually we did leave the place with the same number of kids we went in with.

Here is Nathan playing with a big ball machine.

And Trenten and Zephen and McCaul driving this kid size car.

David is sending a message across some lines.

Tianna, Trenton, Nathan, Sheldon, Zephen, David, and McCaul all sitting in a real live Helicopter at the children’s museum. David and Nathan were very impressed.

McCaul and Zephen on the swan in the little kids area

Zephen and Trenton riding the toddler teeter totter.

All the kiddos enjoying some cake for desert that night.

Zephen showing off his great throwing abilities.

Sunday after church and before we left to come home we did get to play around with some Dr Suess hats

A slow sick week

So I don't have alot to say this week. Seems I spent most of last week tending to sick kids and not taking alot of pictures. Assuming we can get everyone well enough we are planning to go into Utah this next weekend so hopefully we will have more to say next week.

Nathan was out first sick one coming home on Wednesday with a nasty bout of the stomach flu.

Next was McCaul, no stomach flu but some other evil illness that seemed to require a few days of 103 fever and just a plain miserable little boy. Zephen got it too but not nearly as bad. And yesterday just as the fog was beginning to lift off the twins it snuck in over Sheldon who proclaims it as an evil illness with fever, chills, dizziness, and just plain miserableness. And the poor guy cannot even call in sick to work. Not this week... he HAS to be there.

I felt not too well last week but never really got sick. Just spent most of the week in a tired fog. But it didn't get better when the twins were sick as they were needing help in the middle of the night as well. This is what the house becomes when mommy feels like that and she is busy holding sick kiddos on top of it.

David and Keziah have not been affected so that is good.

Some good stuff (I didn't get pictures of some of it) The kids got to dress up as a favorite book character for school on Friday. David went at Horton and Nathan as Scooby Doo I was goign to take pictures but McCaul was so ill I just never found the time to pull the camera out (sorry David and Nathan and everyone else) I might get some from school though and I will share those if so.

Keziah has learned a new LOVE of cheerios. The kid wont eat baby food but cheerios and chunks are pretty yummy.

She also is getting a bit closer every day to crawling. She actually scoots a bit now but not too far. Still mastering it. I am sure we will be in BIG trouble by the end of March. Maybe this week we will get a chance to do a bit more baby-proofing. She is also working on some teeth I will let you know when those come in. And surprise last night she went 9 hours between feedings. Its a miracle I am telling you. I am hoping I can continue this trend.

Loose teeth and dr visits

So here we are another week. The first exciting development was that Nathan lost his first tooth. He was rather upset that the process required bleeding of any sort. But was pleased that it also included the tooth fairy leaving a crisp dollar under his pillow.
He is also undergoing an experiment right now. He keeps complaining that his stomach is hurting and has had some other problems so we decided to take him off milk and see how things go. He isnt too pleased with it but is doing alright.
Here he is showing off his missing tooth!!
David and Nathan both got progress reports home from school. Both boys seem to be doing very well in school and are growing and learning all the time.
Sheldon's Aunt and Uncle came out. The kids really enjoy playing with Uncle Richard who sucked it up and gave them all horse rides despite bad knees and read books and joked with them.

Keziah is sitting really well now, for much longer stretches of time. Here falls are the kind that make you cringe as she fully face plants herself every time. She is also beginning to push with her feet and try to crawl. She doesn't have it yet but its obviously coming and she wants it. She had a doctor appointment today. Just a well baby check. No shots yet. We decided to wait til she is 9 months and the weather is nice and summery and the millions of nasty sicknesses going around have calmed down. She weighed in at 13lb8oz, which puts her at the 10% for weight and 25 inches (25% for length) I have taken to calling her peanut since she is still pretty little. Sheldon calls her "Parana shark" since she seems to attack anything within reach with her mouth. She loves to try and stuff pretty much anything in her mouth. Though her favorites are peoples fingers and paper. Ironically despite her insistence that everything go in her mouth she still thinks her foods need to be fairly flavorful. Nothing bland or mushy. She wants in full of flavor. Her approved list consists of carrots and bananas. Potatoes, oatmeal, rice, millet are all in that "what is this crap?" category. Apple sauce is tolerable as is pears and peaches but she prefers them in chunky form not sauce. Silly girl. I am assuming she will grow out of that trend

And finally the twins are doing alright. Though their heads seem to be magnets for hard or poky surfaces the last few days. Yesterday Zephen fell on the second of our front steps and his forehead squarely met the sidewalk. Then today we are at the drs office and while we are waiting Zephen is sliding on the cool rolly dr chair they love and wacks his head right into the desk. I think it left a bruise on his forehead just to the side and down from yesterdays injury. Appartenly McCaul was feeling left out, though because while the dr was there he tripped over Zephen and wacked the side of his head on that little step they have to get on the table. He was bleeding and the dr was talking stitches.. but then they got the blood cleaned up and realized it was more of a gash than a cut and so after cleaning him up really well and putting some ice on it he was freed. Sheesh.
Zephen's other injuries inclue 3 cut fingers (one really bad) from playing with broken glass (he knows better now and tells you that glass is owies). Funny story we were super glueing Zephen's finger as recommended by a nurse friend and McCaul feeling left out thought his tiny little scratch on his finger needed some glue. So I put a drop on it and we were blowingon the fingers to help them dry. Next thing I know McCaul is trying to blow on his finger only he is touching his lip. I quickly yank it away which is sticks and pulls away. Feeling that funny senstation he pinches his lips shut. Which I quickly pry apart certain he is about to glue his little lips closed. They stuck a little and then I grapped a cloth really fast to try and wash it off. He seemed fine and walked away but came back a few minutes later with a baby wipe which he was wiping his lips with cause the glue had dried and he didnt like it there.. So then I had to sit and peel off the dried glue from his lips before he went insane. Silly kid
Anyways, here is a picture of the twins playing this week.