Bug B Gone

We're better from "the" bug. It was actually pretty quick; less than 24 hrs. for each case...Rachael on the other hand is feeling great, but hasn't quite kicked one of the symptoms.. And life keeps going! Little Bret is on retreat with the SFA youth grp. this weekend. He's the only 8th grader..they're "grooming' him for leadership next year. He was really excited to go. Emily had her first basketball game this afternoon, and her team won. She's really psyched about that too. It's good to see them work on a team that's not just their siblings. Michael is all over the bleachers and adamant that he wants to run out to his sister and play ball. Sophie and Rachael are two peas in a pod. Constantly together. All week Sophie has been waiting for this morning for she and I to make oatmeal raisin cookies: ALONE. At the last minute, she invited Rachael to share in her time with mommy. Rachael was very gracious, and we had a nice time. Now the 2 of them are upstairs, pretending to be teen-agers dressing up to go to a dance. It's a fancier dance than I ever went to! lol. Big Bret ran 16 mi. this morning in his marathon training, so he's wiped out for the rest of the day. I am working on transforming Gramp's room into a guest room, that will transition into Michael's room eventually. So if you're planning on coming to visit, come on! You'll have your own real guest room! Spring is teasing us here in Memphis. We have a big flock of daffodils growing in the backyard, which of course is a surprise to us, as we haven't been in this house in spring yet. One nice day last week I worked all afternoon on cleaning up some of the leaves in the back around the firepit and the patio (this is no small task when you live under a huge canopy of trees), but it felt really good to do the work! Michael loved his first time outside under his own power, and he sampled many things, acorns, leaves, twigs, etc. Nothing good enough to swallow, thankfully. The girls build a hammock while I was working. I guess all my efforts must've made them tired out and they needed the hammock to rest. We also have started some movements in working on the house (remember, one bit at a time!) and the ceiling in the living room and kitchen have had all that nasty, old, smoke-stained popcorn scraped off. Next week they'll do some patching and sanding and painting. Wahoo. One step behind us! Okay, well, you're up to date. CYA