A dusting of snow!

Not exactly what we had hoped for but we woke up to white everywhere! They had predicted up to 7 inches which meant sledding and snowmen! Jamie even went and bought two new sleds (the other one got cracked from the kids "riding" down the staircase in it!) So the seven inches turned into two but hey no school, and the kids managed to have fun playing in it. I got a call from my mom this morning asking "do you know what your kids are doing?" I think that the polite way of saying "I can't believe you are letting your kids do this!" but yes, I knew they were in their bathing suits getting in and out of the hot tub and doing snow angels and running to the play structure for a swing in between. I wasn't about to ruin their fun...plus I was enjoying the quiet inside! After getting them dressed we did manage to make a few runs down the hill on the sled, but the grass and mud quickly made itself visible and the fun was over. I have to say snow days are way more fun when there is actually a lot of snow to play in!

Not your typical Valentines Day

Not that ours ever our "typical" but even for us this was out of the ordinary! We are used to kids Valentines parties at school, putting pepperoni on heart shaped pizza crusts and throw a basketball practice in there and that's our day. Not this year. Lily had been sick since Saturday night when she had a sleepover with Papa and Grandma. Grandma took good care of her on Sunday while we were in Salem for Ellie's volleyball tournament. She slept on the floor next to my bed Sunday night and while she usually likes me to run her tummy when she doesn't feel good she did not want me touching her. She yelled out in pain when I put my hand on her stomach or her back. I contemplated taking her to the ER but decided to try to get her to sleep and see how she was in the morning. It was a restless night and after getting Ellie off to school I came up to check on her. I tried to get her to drink some water, which she did but immediately started moaning that it hurt. I bundled her up and took her to the doctor to see what was going on. He did an quick exam and thought for sure it was her appendix and told us to go to Emanuel's Children's ER right away. Lily was scared, and I was upset because I felt so guilty for not taking her the night before. We got to the hospital, got checked in and they gave her an IV to get some fluids in her since she was so dehydrated, as well as some sugar since her blood sugar was low. The ER physician also suspected appendicitis and ordered an ultra sound to verify. We waited a LONG time to get into the ultra sound...and it was already 1:00 and neither Jamie or I had anything to eat the whole day and the chairs in those small ER rooms are not all that comfortable! Jamie finally found a cafe and brought us coffee to which we toasted happy valentines day! Finally they gave Lily some morphine to help with the pain of pressing on her stomach during the ultra sound and rolled her back into the US room. That also was a long process...and we were so nervous as we sat there trying to figure out what was on that screen. The tech left for a few minutes, then came back in and told us it was NOT her appendix. What?! Relieved as we were, we were also confused and worried what else it could be. The doctor came in and told us that it must just be a stomach virus and a lot of times when kids get that dehydrated there is a lymph node right next to the appendix that gets inflamed and can cause a lot of the same symptoms as appendicitis. Good news! We joked that it was a long expensive day for a stomach virus but so happy it was nothing more serious! We picked Ellie up, and headed home to let Lily relax. Jamie left for the pizza shack while the kids and I cuddled into bed. To top things off Jamie had a city league basketball game that night! Once the kids were asleep I turned on the Bachelor to end my not so romantic Valentines Day...at least I could watch someone else's scripted romantic getaways! Thank God Lily is okay...that in itself is a great Valentine's present! XOXO

Giddy Girls

Tonight was the night of the telethon for Children's Cancer Association with 105.1. Ellie, and her friends Rae and Marie were the only three kids amongst all the volunteers answering phones tonight. She sent out an email earlier in the week to friends and family explaining that she was trying to raise money for the CCA and asked if it would be okay if she called them. We went with a list of 18 people tonight and she raised over $600! All three girls combined raised over $2000 in one hour! When they were done making there calls they were giddy with excitement...they were so happy they had raised that much money. They wanted to see where Nelson and Terry talk on the radio so we wandered back and as we were watching through the window a guy came out and asked if we wanted to go in. The girls jumped at the chance and even got their picture taken. It was so good to see them get so excited about helping others...I hope that warm and fuzzy feeling sticks with them! For all of you that helped Ellie raise that money tonight THANK YOU!!!