Another One of Those Days...

Whew. What a day! And it happens to be Ted's birthday. Sigh. His 30th birthday, even. It's a good thing we went to The Melting Pot last Friday night for an early birthday date, because today isn't looking so great for a fabulous birthday celebration.

It began at 6:15 this morning when Charis threw up on the upstairs carpet. I guess I should have seen this coming. She had come downstairs about 10 minutes earlier saying her tummy hurt, and her face looked deathly pale. She decided after attempting to eat some Cheerios (thinking she was hungry, though I didn't figure she'd eat anything) that she wanted to go back to bed because she was tired. I was about to follow her upstairs with a dish but obviously was too late. So I cleaned the carpet instead. Yuck! Ted gave her a tiny bit of pepto to try to settle her stomach, since she was still crying that it hurt. I sure know that feeling!

She threw up again a little later (thankfully in the bowl this time), then had a diarrhea accident in her pants. Double yuck.

Arden was also up early, so I was trying to keep things quiet. I learned an important lesson at 7:00 this morning: Don't open the freezer door when the can of Super Structs is perched precariously on top of the fridge.

Meanwhile, Tobin was sleeping in until 9:00, which is VERY rare. I worried that he was going to be next, but aside from complaining about a tummy ache (which could just be for attention), nothing seems to be wrong with him. He's certainly had a normal appetite and a normal Tobin attitude!! He didn't nap, which isn't too surprising considering how late he slept in. (He's normally up by 7:00.)

Charis rested in her room instead of doing school time--I feel like we have done so little school lately! I went ahead and had the boys do their individual play time and took advantage of the time to clean the downstairs thoroughly. It seemed the house had completely fallen apart over the last few days, and the floors were driving me nuts. I totally dusted EVERYTHING, even the tops of the bookshelves! Cleaned the bathroom. De-cluttered each room. Swept. Mopped. Continued with the linen laundry. Yay! At least some good came of Charis' sick day! The downstairs is CLEAN!!!

Arden and Charis both napped, even though Tobin didn't. I should have thought to check in on Charis. I know what a sound sleeper she is, but it didn't even occur to me that she'd have an accident during a nap. I guess it just goes to show how out of it she was--she woke up with wet pants and a wet bed. Another load of laundry!

Sometime in the afternoon it occurred to me that TODAY was Ted's birthday. I knew this; I had wished him a happy birthday this morning. But I got totally caught up in kid and house stuff that I neglected to carry out any fun plans with the kids to get ready for Daddy's home coming. Fortunately, Tobin seemed agreeable to the idea of making Daddy a card, so he worked on that awhile during his non-nap.

After Charis' bed got stripped, she asked to lie down on my bed. I could tell she had a fever, so I gave her some children's ibuprofen. She was also complaining of a headache. Once the meds kicked in, though, she asked for crayons, scissors, glue, and paper so she could make a card for Daddy, too. She happily worked in my room and proudly brought down her creation for me to see--a princess card, surprise, surprise! Every birthday card she has made since her own princess party has had to have a princess on it! She has gotten quite good at drawing princesses now, and it's cute to see her rendition of the cartoon character that's on the stamp in my Pretty Princess stamp set. I'm sure Daddy will love his princess card from his little girl!

We whipped together a pineapple cake, which just came out of the oven. The recipe sounds delicious--I hope so, because this is the first time I've made it! There's a cream cheese frosting that goes on top, so we're going to do the frosting soon. Charis seems to be feeling much better, though I don't think she'll eat much this evening.

I had dinner set for 5:30 but discovered that the potatoes I was planning to use as part of our spread were growing green fuzzies. I called Ted to see if he could swing by the store and pick up some French bread or something to go with our honey-lemon chicken and artichokes. He hadn't even left the base yet! So...I turned off the steamer and decided that we're just going to have to enjoy dinner in whatever condition it is in when he arrives home. Thankfully the chicken is in the crock pot, and I'm hoping there's no real way to ruin it, though I'm a tad bit concerned because it was too big for the lid to fit on, so I had to cover it with foil. It's been dripping all day, and I keep mopping up juices and wondering if there's any left in the chicken itself. However, it does smell good, and I may just turn off the pot and see how it looks. That way if I need to salvage any more of our meal I can hopefully have time before Ted gets home!

So, with that, I'll close here and see what I can do to get a decent-looking dinner on the table by the time he arrives! It's a good thing I called the church to tell them I wouldn't make it to AWANA this evening!