Birthday Week Recap

Between the stomach flu, Miles' 2nd birthday party, and the 1st anniversary of dad's death, I think our family has gone through every physical and mental emotion possible in the past week.

Start last weekend the stomach flu invaded our home.  By Wednesday morning, Miles was vomiting all over me and I had to call in a sub.  Mid-day Wednesday I was vomiting all over Miles.  Not really, I made it to the toilet, but it was a close call.  Wednesday evening Bradley was .  .  .  you get the picture. Without my mom, I think our kids would have gone into protective services on Thursday which was actually Miles' 2nd birthday.  We were so sick, it was all we could do to open an eyelid to make sure that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was still playing and that both children were accounted for.  Luckily my mom was able to take Carter to music class for a bit and to her house for a couple of hours.  Just when we though it couldn't get any worse I went to get some water from the sink to sanitize another vomit pile and I realized we had NO water.  Bradley fought off chills and nausea all day to help the pump people figure out why our pump was not working.  LOOOONNNG story short, he sunk a t-post into an upper line of conduit and caused an electrical problem.

By Friday we were all at work and I was only rollling at about 70%.  I told my students my troubles that morning and every mistake I made they replied, "It's okay Mrs. Isbell, 70%!"  I LOVE MY JOB!
Believe it or not, me we made it to the big party on Saturday.  I had advertised a HUGE bubble party and by golly I had to pull it off.  By the grace of Costco, my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister, and Andrew, we made it happen.  We hosted roughly 40-50 people on a beautiful sunny day in the back lawn.  Bradley manned the grill and I manned the bubbles.  The kids had a really great time and Miles seemed to enjoy having all of his friends over at his house.

After a nap and some clean-up we headed over to the 2nd birthday party of the weekend.  Bradley stayed behind to finish the clean-up and it's a good think he did because our burn pile spontaneously combusted into flames.  Ironically enough, my dad a few problems with out of control fires and I honestly think he might have had something to do with this.

Sunday morning came and all of us decided to start the morning with a hike.  None of us wanted to sit around on the anniversary of Dad's death feeling sorry for ourselves, so we decided to go on a hike behind the house to a cell-phone tower.  The hike was really beautiful and we could see the entire Scott Valley, as well as Mt. Shasta and the Marble Mountains.  However, as I was packing Carter part of the way and Bradley was packing Miles, we realized that there was no way in hell dad would ever have gone on the hike.  He would have insisted on just watching the boys at home while we all hiked.

In order to go full circle on this post, I will report that my sister left tonight after vomiting several times. Despite our three full bleach sanitization efforts on the house in the past week, she caught something.  We all tried to eat a nice meal, have a few shots of tequila, and call it a night, but poor Ness was a bit sick.

"My momma said, ' There'd be days like this' ".

Last but not least, here is Miles' 2nd b-day interview:

What is your name?

Miles

Fave Food?

Cereal and Mac and Cheese

Color?

Yellow

Who is your brother?

He goes to Nene's, Carter Bear

Friends?

Clara, Owen, Nene

TV?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Outside?

Soccer ball

Grow up?

Cowboy, shovel

Spring, Solar, Scary Bunnies, Sleep, and Sweet Moves

Spring is here and that means that the boys are playing outside!   As usual in the Isbell home, we have a new project.  Wait for it.  .  .  A sixty panel solar system, being installed by my handsome husband.  What does that mean for the boys?  About a 1/4 mile of muddy trench to disappear into and play in.  What does that mean for the mama?  Lots, and lots, and lots of Resolve (not the mental kind).  The trench is almost finished, but next comes the huge erector set piece and I can just envision the loss of screws in the upper field from the little helpers.

Since my last post, both the leprechauns and the Easter Bunny have visited the home.  The Leprechaun left green glittered pee in the toilet, and green foot prints on the seat.

The Easter Bunny left some less disgusting and more edible items.  However, he/she did not look at the weather forecast and all of the hidden eggs ended up with soggy candy and a loss of dye.

A couple of days prior to Easter I took the boys up to Ashland because the Easter Bunny was at Paddington Station, and there was also cookie decorating for the kids.  I left for the trip with only the expectation that Miles would destroy his polo with icing, and I therefore needed to make sure I had a backup for Easter Sunday.  As we made our way towards the Bunny, Miles spotted it from the back and he practically leapt from my arms and into a running gait straight towards the rabbit.  However, sheer joy turned to terror when the bunny waved at Miles.  I don't think Miles knew the Bunny was mobile, but he wouldn't even look at the stuffed creature again.  Carter took the obligatory picture, which I have yet to receive, and we headed to decorate cookies.  The cookie pictures speak for themselves, and yes the shirt was destroyed.

As we left Oregon and headed home, Carter informed me that he saw the person behind the Bunny costume, and he didn't think the Easter Bunny was real.  Double score point, on my "Mom of the Year" award tally.  I left with good intentions, and returned with two epic fails:  Miles hated the Bunny, and Carter at the tender age of 4, no longer believed.

Deciding to try to address the religious side of the holiday (what a concept), we attended church in Callahan.  The church is over 100 years old, and feels like an old schoolhouse inside, complete with a wood-burning stove.  We met our good friends and their twin boys there.  The children's time was great, I brought little bags of jelly-beans for the kids, but when it came time for the sermon, all Miles wanted to do was practice swimming on the floor, blazer and all.  On top of his normally loud demeanor, it was a bit of a disaster.  The good news is that the average age of the church goer there was 67, there was only one other "kid" who is in the 5th grade, and therefore they thought the boys were "so well-behaved" and "wonderful".   Wow, I got a workout, Miles pulled off the greatest scam, and then to top it all off they got to have ANOTHER EASTER EGG HUNT!

Church was followed by a wonderful meal at Bradley's mom's house.  She decorates to a tee, and makes all holidays so magical.  She even hand-appliqued the center pieces this year.  The boys had ANOTHER EGG HUNT, and we went home.  The even better news is that after three egg hunts, and numerous Easter gifts, we can now afford a good down payment on their first semester at college.

The boys had their good buddies Wyatt and Finn over for everyone's first "away from relatives" sleep-over.  What a blast!  Spiderman Mac and Cheese, movies, popcorn, and a huge air mattress made for a wonderful night.  Speaking of sleep, both Carter and Miles request nightly to sleep together.  Even though they each have their own bed and their own room, they seem so comforted by each other.  Despite the bickering and yelling, they really do love each other.

To cap off this spring issue: Carter convinced Grandma Cora that he has been taking Karate lessons.  Truth be told, his moves are pretty good, but he has no one to thank but Netflix and the constant streaming of PowerRanger movies.  I guess I should just be thankful none of the moves were used on the Easter Bunny or in church.