Dear Mutti,

The boys have something they'd like to say:

Libby was napping at the time, but she still wants to send her birthday wishes:

Happy birthday! We love you so, so much. 

P.S. See you soon!

Love,
Scotty, Alison, Jamin, Travis, and Libby

Round two. And three.

A few days after Jamin's pinkeye cleared, Travis got it.

He felt extra cuddly and often shouted, "¡Ayúdame! ¡Ayúdame! Help!" when he wanted me to clean his eyes. His eye gunk was gone two days later...

...the same day Libby woke up with pinkeye.

 

Those big, bright eyes turned puffy and bloodshot. Heartbreaking.

Thankfully, she's almost all better now. I like to think they got all their spring sickness out before we head to California. Right?

Nanay

We love Nanay.

Jamin proudly displaying Nanay's name in blocks

We celebrated her birthday on Monday.

Charlotte baked a beautiful, scrumptious cake. She also brought over fun party decor and a stunning flower arrangement. I cooked some copycat Olive Garden recipes. Brock and Jamin pasted the walls with hand-colored hearts.

Jeannie, thank you for being such a great mother to Scotty, a fantastic grandmother to the kids, and the best mother-in-law I could imagine. We are lucky to have you.

California Dreamin'

In exactly two weeks, we leave the cold of Idaho for our spring break destination:

 Ah, Encinitas. The lovely San Diego beach town. My home. We look forward to spending time with my mom and stepdad.

We plan to go here:

And here:

But mostly here:

 This will be the kids' first trip to San Diego and to Disneyland. It will also be T&L's first visit to the beach. We anticipate a brutal drive, numerous meltdowns, and heaps of dirty laundry. We also anticipate squeals of joy, days filled with fun, and many wonderful memories. And the sun... oh, the sun.

We can't wait.

Today

Due to all the catch-up involved with getting better, I have fallen behind in posting. I thought about all I could write but had no idea where to start. Instead, I'll just focus on today.

Today...

Jamin has pinkeye. His classmates have passed the yucky bug around, and it's Jamin's turn now. He either got it at school last week or at a birthday party on Saturday. Either way, he's quarantined at home for 24 hours.

 His class just finished a unit about dinosaurs, so Jamin wanted to tell me all about it. I started recording mid conversation (you can hear him shouting at Travis at the end).

Speaking of Travis, he is being his usual self today: happy, playful, pesky, endearing, and mischievous. He has perfected the art of being a brother, for good and ill. Even the ill is terribly cute.

 (Don't mind the crazy hair. He had just rolled all over the couch.)

Miss Libby is also up to her normal tricks. She is sweet as can be. Despite her daintiness, she has become our little daredevil. And she loves-- I mean loves-- to tease us.

Scott has a training meeting today, then he'll sleep, spend some time with the family, study, and head back to work.

As for me, today consists of surviving on 3 broken hours of sleep (oh, the joys of a sick child) and letting the kids be as messy as they want. 

Today may not be glamorous, but I'm lucky to spend it with the people I love... even if they like to paint the walls with mustard.