the flu and other randoms

We've been hit with the flu this week. 1st Clare and Calvin and then Jo.  Clare was the most sick, missing 3 days of school. Jo laid around like a limp rag yesterday but was back on her feet today, only for about 5 minutes at a time...the rest of the time she used me as her chauffeur because she was too tired to move herself around! She is cute.  She also loved having me sleep in her room. I pulled an extra mattress into her room and slept on the floor next to her.  Calvin got sick but never really got knocked off his feet. We'll see what happens to the rest of us if/when we get it. Hopefully nobody gets to seriously sick.

Meanwhile, people at the hospital are dying of the flu. For some reason Dave thinks it is helpful to tell me about these people and "share the worries" (as if I don't have enough to worry about)!

Also, for those of you who know Dave very well you know that he has very strong feelings about weight and is not shy about mentioning if someone is over weight, has put on a few pounds, is fat, etc. etc. Basically, he is extremely un-politically correct when it comes to weight.  Anyway, in conversation about one of dave's patients he said, "have I told you how I feel about fat people?"    (sorry to offend anyone, but this is our family scrapbook and it needs to be included)

Birthday's are coming up: Calvin, Dave and Lexey.  After Jessica's surprise party Lexey said, "let's have a surprise party for me!" It was cute. We told her that if she plans it, it won't be a surprise. I was thinking maybe we should plan a party with her and then give her a surprise party about two weeks early so we can actually surprise her.  She is such a fun little girl!

This week I'm hosting a freezer meal workshop for Wildtree. It is nice to get lots of meals in the freezer so when I need a break from cooking I have something on hand to stick in the crockpot.

Wee sing starts tomorrow! I have a cute little group. Looking forward to a fun season!

Been doing lots of research about Houston. I have learned all I can on phone/internet so the next step is to go visit. The biggest concern is finding a school for Calvin. And the humidity. I am going to die.

I can't keep up with the paperwork for 3 kids. (Jo doesn't count yet since she's not in school).  I am always behind and losing things. I need to get more organized. I think I need to start with a file for each kid on the kitchen counter and stick everything in it so that when I go looking for something I know where to find it. Then sort/toss everything occasionally.

I like watching Downton Abbey on Sunday night. I like it best when Dave is working so he doesn't walk by and say how dumb it is! :)

I need to get back into my more strict exercise routine (with pushups, lunges and plank), I'm a little flabby and my jeans are a little tight. NOT good. (see above reference about dave being intolerant about fatness!! J/K. As much as he jokes about it, he is the last to notice when I am not as fit as I should be.)

Happy 30th Jessica!

Jessica's birthday was last week. She is wonderful. Pete planned a fun surprise party for her at a korean bbq/karaoke bar. He rented a private room and got some good food for us all. He dropped off Parker and Austin with Glen and Sheri for a special birthday date, blindfolded Jessica and then came to meet us all. It was fun seeing Jessica come in! She was indeed surprised!

The first song of the night was pete singing "You can take my breath away" to Jessica. It was so cute when the whole family joined in!

There were many great musical #'s throughout the evening.  A lot of people sang, but some preferred to just watch.  Towards the end of the night Jessica used her two birthday wishes to get the men to sing "hey Jude"

and the ladies to sing "every step you take you take"

Clare transformed from sweet Clare to microphone hog, crazy Clare! She sang a ton! It was hilarious. She tried to hijak nearly every song.

 Lexey sang Do, Re, Me, two times! Once with my help and once with Clare helping.

 Another chessy and wonderful love song "All of nothing"

 rock star Michelle. A little late but worth the wait!

 And her husband Robby. I didn't think to pull out the camera and take pics of everyone (probably because I was trying to chase
Clare off the microphone) but I should have! These two were especially funny.

Clare and Calvin sang Hot and Cold. It was quite a shock when in the first line the B word came up on the screen! oh boy.

Jessica and Pete are a darling couple! Jessica is very deserving of such a special night. We felt lucky to be a part of it!

cast came off!

Apparently my camera couldn't take a in focus picture but I wanted to add these none the less. After 4 weeks, Jo got her cast off. She actually grew to love it, especially after we let friends and family sign the cast! She knew where everyones names was and what they wrote. It was very sweet.

It is a very loud saw that takes the cast off. At first Jo watched but then she hid her face in my lap. She was pretty traumatized and I held her for a long while after it came off. Plus, I'm sure her arm felt weird. She was a good sport though.  She still used her left arm for everything for the first few days after the cast came off.  After a week with the cast off she is now using both hands/arms again.

DC and Charlottesville fun!

We had a lot of fun on our trip with other activities before and after the wedding events!  

Swimming in the hotel pool was super fun.  Clare had gotten a new swim suit for her b-day in preparation for the trip. She had totally outgrown her summer swim suits. She is so long and tall!

We had a great lunch one day by the hotel at a place called Silver Diner. Best milkshake ever!


We had a wonderful trip down to charlottesville to see Scott/Abbey's house and Duane's farm. The farm was amazing. 65 acres of beautiful with several barns, a gorgeous house...words fail me.

Clare had been up all night barfing but was mostly better (although needing lots of rest) when we drove down to Charlottesville. She was ready to collapse she was so tired but didn't want to miss anything so she stayed with us. Poor thing.

Scott and Fox! haha

My hat. Everyone was making fun of my hat...that is until Pete asked where I got it and I said I got it from Mom who might have used it to keep her head warm while going through chemo.  No more joking about the ugly hat!! It was so cold at night ugly or not I had to wear it!

Pete and Jessica were feeling great by now -- glad they could come down and see Charlottesville. Look how cute and petite Jessica and Abbey are....

We went back to the farm the next day and by then Clare was all better and able to enjoy the farm to the max! Plus we had more daylight hours to really enjoy everything outside.

Kari and Clare are sitting on the front porch of the "guest house" at the farm. It is a log cabin originally built by slaves but restored to modern living with a kitchen, hot/cool air and indoor plumbing.

Lance and Clare put on some boots and tromped around in the rain and mud. It was fun. I borrowed these hunter boots from inside the house. They were amazing. If I ever live someplace cold and wet I will have a pair of these! :)

Clare tried on my boots.

Falconeering (not sure if that is the correct term)  is a hobby that requires much patience.

 cute dog Falcon

"the pond"

 cute bird house

 bunnies (aka hawk food)

Scotts house was amazing.  Beautiful, big, open, clean, wonderful! So happy for Scott and Abbey!

Scott's backyard is woods. So pretty

Front door is pretty too. Basically everything is pretty in Charlottesville! It is a great place!

We went to see UVA campus while we were in town. Such a beautiful campus! It is always fun to see the college campus' when traveling!

It was such a great trip minus the barfing and minus the person who rear ended Scott/Denise/Clare/Lance coming home from the night before wedding dinner. We were stopped behind a bus and the car behind us didn't stop and slammed into us pretty hard. Her car was totally wrecked. Luckily Scott's SUV body was pretty much fine as were all 4 of us. I am not sure what frame damage there ended up being. After we were hit and assesed what was going on Lance said, "if I had the power to put people in hell, I would put that lady there."  where does he come up with this stuff?

It was such a special treat to be away with just clare. She is such a special girl. We had no stress of siblings, piano, cleaning house, cooking, chores or anything while we were away. So wonderful! Special thanks to Dave for watching the other 3 while we were gone!

reception

This is Fox, Scott's hawk. You might think it's weird to start a post about a wedding reception with a picture of a bird, but the bird was at the reception! :)  Let's back up a bit to when I first met the bird.  When Clare and I landed in DC I texted Scott to say "hi, we landed" -- he happened to be just passing by Dulles coming from Charlottesville to DC so he swung by and picked us up (which ended up being super great since it took Dad/Kari a super long time to get luggage and a rental car).  Anyway, the car was kinda full of wedding stuff in the back seat so I went to scoot some stuff over to make room for Clare and  Scott says "wait, don't tip that box, my bird is in there!"  haha! I thought it was hilarious to have a bird in the car, but then again I am not a country girl so I am not used to that kind of thing!

There was a very nice and brief ring ceremony in the upstairs of the Fairfax Town Hall building. The man officiating made a funny joke about Scott asking him to use no more than 1/10th of an hour. He gave a nice summary of what the sealing ordinence in the temple is and then added a little marriage advice. 

Then Fox flew the rings from the back of the room to the front, landing on Lance's arm. It was nice!

Then we all went downstairs for dinner.

Abbey's family did a really nice job with decorating and table setting.

I am pretty sure I took this picture to see the full room. It was a nice place.

His and hers cakes.

Cafe rio was catered. Great choice. Unfortunately I was so worried about being sick I didn't eat much of it....

How cute are they?

How cute are they?

Taking a break from dancing

AFter the father daughter dance, Abbey's brothers each danced with her, each taking a turn cutting in and dancing a portion of the song... and then her sister cut in at the end. It was very sweet.

Clare wanted to dance SOOOOO bad. All night she was begging Lance to dance with her. He spent most of the evening running and/or hiding from her but eventually gave in and danced a few dances. He'd dance nicely for about 20 seconds and then put his arm around her neck and throw her to the ground. She was relentless. Somehow I managed to get this one cute picture which might make one think they were well behaved and darling all evening....haha!

Later in the evening Lance tried the tactic of playing dead to avoid dancing with Clare. She pulled him off his chair and across the floor and he didn't flinch. I was very impressed.

So Clare danced the night away by herself. She had a wonderful time!

and then a few hours later she was barfing. So glad she made it through the day feeling well and enjoying herself.  Poor Pete and Jessica were sick the night before and day of the wedding so they missed all these fun festivities. Lexey who was home with Dave started barfing right as the reception started so I was not surprised at all when clare got sick.  Luckily nobody else got it on the trip. Jo got it a few days after I got home and luckily didn't throw up on her cast!