The Plague of 2013

On Saturday night, Elena complained that her tummy hurt. At 3:30 am, I heard her crying and went in to check on her. She rolled over and puked on me.

Later that morning when Marcus woke up, we realized that he had thrown up in his bed, yet never made a peep. Great, I thought, now we have two sick kids. Karen and I took turns watching them and things were fairly uneventful until she called me in the mid-afternoon (I was outside). Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Hey.
Karen: I nee.....insiii...
Me: Huh?
Karen: Click.

I came in the house to see her bracing herself against the counter and clutching her stomach. Victim number three.

I took over child care while she purged. The kids were starting to feel better, so I was able to take them outside. Bath time rolled around, so I set up Marcus' bath in the utility room sink as usual. While I was undressing him, I noticed that my head hurt a little. I had him in the bathtub for about 30 seconds before I realized that I was going to throw up. I yanked him out of the tub and ran yelling for Karen, all the while leaving a watery trail behind us.

Karen met me in front of the spare bathroom and I half-threw Marcus to her and headed in. As I was throwing up, Sprout came into the bathroom and said, "Daddy, this my potty! This is not your potty! Go fo-up in YOUR potty!! Fo-up in your potty now!"

By Monday morning we were all doing a little bit better. I decided to make a gigantic pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. This task took over two hours to complete because I had to lay down and rest several times. Once it was complete, I had a small bowl and Sprout ate a few bites. Karen cleaned up the kitchen and put the soup in the fridge. Well, almost. She dropped the bowl and spilled the entire soup in the fridge. Neither one of us felt like cleaning it up, so we let the dogs do most of the heavy lifting.

Dinner Entertainment

My parents invited us to a dinner show a while back. My mom said that it was "Some guy who does outdoor cooking lessons and comedy." In Homedale... At the bowling alley... She offered to buy our tickets. "Free food?" I thought. We're in. We secured a babysitter and headed over last night.

The bowling alley was pretty much as I remembered it. Pat Mac gave his presentation and did an excellent job. Dinner was great, and we left with lots of great ideas. We bought a copy of his and Mike Faverman's book and I spent quite a bit of time today reading through it. When I read their suggestions for setting up camp, I realized that they 'get it.' See below.

These two gentlemen are stand-up comics with restaurant experience who found a niche in outdoor food shows. I have dozens of camp cookbooks, but I must say theirs is a must-buy for anyone who camps or wants to cook outside during the summer.  At $15 for 82 recipes, it's a great buy.

Healthy Snack

Karen often visits her students at odd hours, as they work both day and night shifts. The other day I took over child care after work while Karen visited students. Luis came by, so we went out to the shop to prepare a "healthy snack" for the kids in the fireplace prior to dinner.

 Everyone was having a great time and things were going well until Karen walked in to see this.

 And this.

 

 Needless to say, we were busted. Then Karen had two s'mores of her own.

Swimming

Elena loves to swim. Last week, she and Karen started taking swimming lessons together. She loves to play in the water, but really isn't into swimming on her own much yet. Prior to her lessons, I decided to take her to the pool to play around. I told her to get dressed for the pool and pack a bag of clothes. As you can see, she is dressed for the occasion and packed the essentials: warm fleece clothes, check. Skirt, check. Cat tail (from Halloween), check.

Our swimming trip had the desired effect: nap time!

Yesterday I watched the kids while Karen did her swimming and spinning (bike) workout at the YMCA. I walked into the exercise room to see her stripped down, holding her Cabbage Patch Doll in the exercise ball and "swimming" in the corner. She repeated the process again today.

Eight Months

Marcus is now 8 months old. Last week he survived an RSV infection and is doing much better now. He is a super-happy kid, and dealt with his illness better than most of us would have, including me.

He is REALLY close to crawling, but hasn't put is all together yet (thank God). He is a big eater and subscribes to the shovel method: when feeding him you must shovel it in as quickly as humanly possible to avoid protests. Here is an example of the shovel method: