December-January

It felt like we were crawling through January, but now that it is almost over I am not sure where it went. January has been the month of sickness in our house. Michael got a cold before Christmas and I thought he was getting over it but a couple of weeks ago he got worse. He seems to have picked up some kind of viral infection. He has had a round of antibiotics but they haven't seemed to help. The week before that I noticed that Parker had a huge bump on his neck (a swollen lymph node). I sent him to school the next day because he didn't have any other symptoms and seemed fine. It was the first day back from winter break so I admit I selfishly was excited to send him back to school. I was still a little worried about his neck so I took him in to the doctor after school. He tested positive for strep. He never got a sore throat or anything just that swollen lymph node. For the past week and a half Parker and Ethan have had Michael's viral infection. And now Dan has it too. It is beginning to feel like it will never end! I feel blessed to have missed out on it so far but I am getting cabin fever.

the swollen lymph node

Needless to say, we have been doing anything too exciting. We dog-sat for Dan's parents for a week. It was nice to have a little more space than what we are used to in our apartment. The boys also liked having a backyard, especially since it snowed while we were there.

I braved the Denver Nature and Science Museum with all 3 kids one day. I am sure some kids out there are sick because we went to the museum and spread our germs (sorry!) but we had to get out of the house and it was free for a day! The kids had a great time and I am glad that we went!

Parker the astronaut

Ethan flying the space shuttle

Michael collecting moon rocks

Meeting an astronaut on Mars

Shooting their rockets that they built. Parker's made it to the doors.

Proud of their rockets

Putting the organs back in a body

In other news, Dan retired his beloved ski boots this month. He loved those boots. They hold lots of good memories but they had to go. Well, I am not sure if we will ever get rid of them, but they have been replaced. While shopping for new ski boots we picked me up a pair of new skis with bindings for $75! It was a pretty successful shopping trip.

The beloved Dachstein boots