Togetherness Time

We have been spending a lot of togetherness time lately. The weekend that stretched into Martin Luther King Day was followed up by an ice day which canceled school. The following day, Wednesday, the nurse at the elementary school called me to let me know that Andrew was in the clinic with a fever of 103.3. I took him to the pediatrician who ran some tests and the seasonal flu test came back positive. She sent me off with prescriptions of Tamiflu for all of the children and instructions to keep Andrew home from school until Monday. Thursday Mylie started running a fever, then Friday Zack's fever began. I got sick somewhere late Thursday early Friday. Ben had a flu shot at work and was spared. I think that Maddie had it before Andrew, since she claimed to not feel well and slept much of the school holiday and the ice storm day.

We had stake conference this weekend, but since we still had a slew of sick kids, only Ben went.

Monday my three big kids went back to school, but I had to pick Andrew up at 12:30 for a dentist appointment. He does not enjoy the dentist. This visit involved a filling, sealants, and a tooth being extracted. Zack and Mylie were also with me at this appointment and it was a bit chaotic at moments.

Tuesday was a teacher work day, so the kids had school off again. Today is Wednesday and school has been cancelled due to the weather. We are supposed to get between 5 and ten inches of snow in the next several hours. There is an extremely high possibility that my kids won't be back to school until next Monday.

We have played many, many rounds of Old Maid, Uno, Set, and Sorry Revenge over the past few days. We have read stories, watched movies, played with blocks, built forts, and worked with Andrew on his pinewood derby car for scouts.

I have devised a new chore routine on Saturdays. I call it "100 jobs." Each child has to keep helping until they have finished 100 jobs. Of course, there are never really that many jobs, but it keeps everyone working until everything is done. The first person to 100 gets to go choose a movie at a nearby Redbox and pick out a treat. Yes, I bribe.

I hope my kids have happy memories of our togetherness time. I have had to try really hard not to immediately make them clean up their forts, but that is my immediate inclination when I enter a room full of blankets and pillows and moved furniture.

Brooke reminded me recently of a conversation she overheard my kids having while she and I were on the phone one day. Zack was doing something that was upsetting to Mylie. Mylie told him if he didn't stop she was going to "spank his face." How lady like of her to threaten violence...