love in the time of viral infections

a two week recap

scarlett was first in the viral infection death spiral. it started as soon as we got home from knoxville and lasted a week! she went to school on wednesday after missing monday and tuesday and then woke up the next morning on thursday with a rash covering her whole body.

 glamour shots rash, look closely:

i took her to the doctor and he said it was a highly contagious viral infection that she just had to ride out. hurray. herschel also had his 1 year appointment that day and he is a whopping 18.5 lbs and in the 3% on weight, 5% for length and 48% for head circumference. still a little guy.

on the single day that scarlett felt well enough, we made valentine's for all three kid's classes. it was forced homemadeness because everyone wanted specific ones that i could not deliver on because i waited until the week of to purchase. i'm trying to walk that fine line of accommodating wants and not sending my kids to school with valentines that embarrass them. unfortunately, the finished product of the homemade valentines was a little embarrassing. cutting a straight line with scissors is hard for me. 

henry ford is a genius and everyone seemed to enjoy the assembly line process. 

reagan made himself this valentine from me because he really wanted the bag of m&ms stapled to the back. reagan insisted that we staple candy to the back. i recall that being the really cool thing to do so i complied. plus, i think regular size m&ms are alright, but those mini m&ms really hit the spot!

unfortunately, scarlett was still sick on friday and had to miss her valentine party at school. unfortunately for me, i'm still room rep for her class and hardly any parents signed up on my classroom genius signup, in which i gave ample warning and instruction and donation options, so am reconfirming my stance that i am NEVER going to be a room rep again. i'll help, i won't orchestrate. i scrambled to pull together the remaining valentine party needs myself. go me. (please, no comments on what i should REALLY try to do to encourage parent participation, because i really don't want to hear it. i'm done.)

i had some big plans for our valentines as a family, but with a sick kid, it came down to a candy bouquet and pink waffles. thomas got everyone valentine cards. 

thomas and i did go out together on saturday night to celebrate our burning love for each other. we went to the gym(i rocked my sprints and deadlifts) and then we went out to dinner. we had previously discussed possibly showering at the gym and going to eat very casually in clean workout wear in consideration of time constraints because my massive mane takes forever to dry and style. we never confirmed our plans because we are busy people dealing with many interruptions. as we're packing our gym bags, i ask, "are you wearing sweats?" to which thomas replied, "yes". because that's what people wear to the gym. it wasn't until we were walking into the gym and thomas was carrying a man date outfit on a hanger that i realized that he and i had planned outfits for very different dates. i'm so embarrassed. he looked wonderful and i was wearing my favorite alabama sweatpants and an old sweatshirt. i did bring makeup but my hair broke the gym's blowdryer(not a first) and i had pretty wet hair, but good makeup because i've been practicing. i felt infinitely bad and people probably figured that thomas was taking some poor schmoe on a pity date. the pizza was good, the alfredo was not, and the rugby on the tv at the place we were eating was interesting. 

the next week started out uneventfully, we even had a break in all the cold weather and rain and i said, "darn the homework, trampoline full speed ahead!"

our tramp is well loved and in need of a new heavy duty safety net.

unfortunately, we were still incubating illness and the next day  athena blythe came down with the viral infection.

 and then hersch got wind of it!

so sick that she mostly just held this brownie.

 and by friday, reagan had gotten it too! 

saturday, we found an dauntless babysitter who braved our children for a few hours while thomas and i continued the house search. some good ones. some terrible ones. possibly the one or two, but still a bit of time to look and evaluate. 

this one was listed as "pristine condition".  if they meant, "like a museum documenting 80s houses" then, yes. 

scarlett and thomas went to the daddy daughter dance at her elementary school. 

 they ate dinner with some friends from church, then danced a bit, brought refills of medication for the sick kids to me, and then went to the dollar theater to see star wars: the force awakens. again. needless to say, scarlett had me do "rey" hair for church on sunday to mimic her cinematic idol's hairstyle.

 by sunday, everyone was still down and thomas and i traded off church attendance.  i went to sacrament meeting with scarlett and it was the best meeting i have been to since the last time the bulk of my children missed church! the topic was conversion and one of the speakers quoted a talk elder holland gave in 2001. it's pertaining to missionary work, but i was really struck by how it's about everything. everything is hard but the Savior has experienced it all and we often have to have our own taste of Gethsemane to measure our conversion. 

"i want some pistol light!"

the end