I need to get myself to bed. I woke up this morning with a bit of a headache and seem to be getting another one now. It was a fairly uneventful weekend, and I didn't really get much accomplished. I guess I sorted through Tylan and Ella's winter clothes, putting away the outgrown items and finding spring/summer clothes to add to the drawers.

Yesterday Accalia's ballet class performed at a local nursing home. Cory had to go to work, so the kids and I went without him. There were 3 or 4 other classes that also performed, and it was a nice little performance. Thankfully Cole and Ella were fairly content throughout, and Tylan started to get a little screechy only toward the end when she was getting tired and hungry.

So this weekend there was lots of Wii playing, some papier mache, some play with the neighbors, and an assortment of other things that aren't coming to mind right now.

Off to bed!

Happy Spring!!! It doesn't feel like spring at all here in Yankton since it's cool and cloudy and windy. Well, actually that probably is what spring is often like around here, so I take that back. It's supposed to be nice here this weekend, but I've heard rumors of snow or at least rain next week.

We don't have a lot going on this weekend. For the past couple months, Cory has basically had the same schedule delivering pizzas, so our weekends aren't very flexible for open for going out of town. Tomorrow afternoon Accalia's ballet class is performing their recital routine at one of the nursing home/assisted living places in town, so that's what we'll be doing for an hour or so. Beyond that, I think Cory and I are going to try to watch a movie tomorrow night after he's home from work.

This is so frustrating. Accalia and I were in the midst of reading the second book in the The 39 Clues series - One False Note - and now we can't find it anywhere. We've always just kept it in the living room near the couch, but it's no where to be found. Our library doesn't have it either, but I'll ask about getting it through interlibrary loan next time we stop in. I tried to do that online, but I kept getting error messages. Grr...

Right now Accalia and Cole are watching Fly Me To The Moon complete with 3D glasses. Picked that up at the library last night. We're also supposed to be getting Madagascar 2 from Netflix today (Accalia and Cole already saw this in the theater, though), so they're looking forward to a day of movies. Accalia and I also have our weekly Bones watching date since I taped the new episode last night.

On top of that, we have a free month trial of Gamefly, so we've been trying out a few different Wii games. Having a subscription to Gamefly would be wonderful, but right now it's not financially feasible. Accalia and Cory have been playing a lot of Super Mario Tennis, though, and Accalia just started the Carnival Mini Golf game last night. Before we even had the Wii, Cory picked up a bunch of games on clearance, including Gamecube games since we have the controllers to play through the Wii. She's started in on a Legend of Zelda game, and I've been reading to her from a walkthrough of the game I found online so she has an idea of what to do.

Meanwhile, Ella has decided it's so much fun to empty the contents of three kitchen drawers and play with all of those things on the kitchen floor. I really should use this as an opportunity to get rid of anything not being used because it's a bit of a pain to pick everything up.

We're seeing the neighbor girls (and a neighbor boy) more often now, too, which doesn't thrill me completely - at least with regard to the girls. I really do just feel bad for them that their lives are such that they often are so unhappy and not so nice to each other and sometimes Cole. I really want to have more patience when it comes to them because I know that coming over to our house is probably a highlight at times, but there are days when I feel as if I barely have enough to give to the four children that are my own. I think this summer will be better, though, because I will not be hugely pregnant and will be able to get around so much easier. I see many more park visits in our future.

Tylan, my sweet little baby, is now seven months old. There's no crawling or sitting up on her own for more than 2 seconds, but I'm quite content to wait. She's discovered joints - wrists, elbows, knees, knuckles, etc. - and is utterly fascinated by them. She'll grab on to her own wrist and just hold it and stare at it. I'd love to know what she's thinking. Tylan is also discovering how to play more and more games. I'll lift her up into the air and bring her back down, and if she wants to go up again she'll plop down quickly on my lap rather than standing up and bouncing. She also loves to watch me play peek-a-boo with certain lift the flap books we have and gets a huge smile on her face. She's also figuring out that she and I aren't one being, and if she's playing on the living room floor and I walk out of site, she often gets upset.

Ella is wedged in between me and the back of the chair I'm sitting on, so I think that means she wants to use the computer. Signing off for now...

This past week is one I hope to not repeat ever again. A combination of sick kids and crappy financial stuff does not a happy Amy make. I guess the good news is that all of the kids are in the end stages of their various illnesses, although that means they're also in that runny nose/coughing phase where they're starting to get energy back but are also cranky as all get out. Today I felt the past week of little/interrupted sleep and illness hit me. I'm getting through a cold of my own right now, but I am glad that I didn't get it until the kids were over the worst of their stuff. At least then I had more energy and patience to care for the sick ones.

Tomorrow's agenda includes paying bills, baking banana muffins, and going to the meeting for Accalia's ballet recital piece. Cory's going to make sure he's home for that so Cole and Ella can stay with him, and I won't have to try to pay attention at the meeting while keeping them quiet and content.

Just waiting for Tylan to fall back to sleep and then I'm going to bed...

Hello neglected blog! Sorry about the two week absence of posts for those of you still around.

I guess I should wrap up my whole injured foot story. Just a couple days after I went to the doctor, Tylan dropped a hard toy of hers right on my foot. Yeouch! I was limping around even more and ended up going to convenient care that Sunday afternoon. I had xrays there, and it turns out nothing is broken. Good news, I guess. And actually, my foot has been feeling much better lately, so I guess it's just been a long, slow mend.

My parents came for a night last weekend. Unfortunately it was cold and snowy, so it wasn't great weather for outdoor stuff. We still drove around the lake area to search for eagles and look at the large flocks of geese and ducks congregating on the open water. Then we went to the Dakota Territorial Museum. I remember going there years ago with possibly just Accalia around, and I wasn't sure that the kids would enjoy it. They did, though, and Accalia proclaimed that it felt like we had gone into the past.

The night before my parents came, Cole started to get sick. Now, about five days later, he's starting to get better. We thought it was just a cold before, but now we think he might have had a bit of the flu. There can't just be one sick child either, so now there are three more. Accalia seems to have more of a cold with a bad stuffy nose. Ella is down for the count with a bit of a fever. I'm really hoping it's not the flu for her. Tylan definitely isn't feeling good and has spent all day curled up in the sling nursing.

Last night I was really looking forward to sleeping since I've had too many days in a row of too little sleep. Of course it ended up being a short, disruptive night with three of the kids waking up crying because of an ache or pain or just having weird, scary fever dreams. I'm hoping tonight will be better, but I'm not going to press my luck.

My cousin Chris stayed with us Monday night. That was really nice since we hadn't seen each other for more than three years. It's too bad the kids weren't feeling better. I warned Chris off because of illness, but he said he's pretty resilient.

So that's a quick update while the kids are mostly calm and content.