Another Quarantine Birthday

Since Andrew tested positive for Covid we were all in quarantine on Lily's bday.  So she got to share the joy of quarantine bdays like her spring siblings - we let her pick five things as queen for the day.  Her first and second pick was to eat almond rolls for breakfast while watching a movie.  No one complained about that (although we did have to take breaks when live class time overlapped with the movie).  

Her next pick was to open her presents in the morning since dad was working from home.  He had a break at 10 so she dove right in.

New swim suit and some supper warm leggings.

Adorable stuffies from Mack - Groot has been especially loved.

Her own scriptures! Beautiful homemade doll clothes from Grandma Dame, doll stuff from Kate, a kitty stuffy from Emily, craft pom poms from Andrew and a fairy doll from Libby.

Lily recieved cake inspiration by merging several internet ideas into this master piece.  I loved that it was so simple yet adorable.

These weird fake desserts were from Val - the kids loved messing around with them.

She also chose to have screen time to play games on her computer and she opened one present early - a game called Camel Up which is really fun for all of us to play becuase anyone can win.

This is her Valentine box for school - so cute right?  We got really good at tissue flowers.

Lily keeps us all laughing and smiling.  She may be 8 but we all still treat her like our baby - I guess she will always be the youngest and have all the extra love that goes with that.  Our house wouldn't be the same without her snuggles and smiles.

Appendectomy

Thursday morning, the 28th, Andrew texted me from school saying his stomach hurt.  We texted back and forth for over an hour- trying water, going potty, time, nurse, heating pad...I finally went and got him around 10:00.  He laid on the couch uncomfortable while I went about my day.  He hardly ate anything for lunch, and wouldn't even watch tv becasue it hurt so bad.  The pain got worse and worse.  By 6:00 pm he was in enough pain that it hurt to move at all.  He had hardly eatten a thing and he was shaking with chills.    I contacted the health joy app and while waiting for them to call me back I started looking up appendicitis. 

Quick care closes at 8 so we just decided to take him in.  Greg gave him a blessing and he had an uncomfortable ride to Quick Care.  We hobbled in.  Andrew unable to sit just laid on the floor.  The receptionist immediately called the nurse.  The doctor saw us quickly; a few questions and a light push on Andrew's appendix sealed the deal.  We were off to the Hospital.

He hated the drive and could barley walk in.  They got him a wheel chair.  At this point he was shaking in pain and really struggling.  He was admitted and started the ER process.  Urine sample, doc eval, IV, Covid test, blood samples, questions, pain meds, ultrasound... We were really grateful when the pain meds finally kicked in.  This first pic is before and the second is after.  He had totally shut down, no talking, blood shot eyes, shivering, moaning, and then suddenly he started asking questions, talking to all the nurses - such a relief.  Then the news came- needs the appendix out, can't do it at this hospital because he is a pediatric patient, gets to ride in an ambulance and positive Covid test!

Totally shocked by the Covid results.  No symptoms but it definitely threw a wrench in everything.  We got to the hospital around 8:00 and Andrew finally got in the ambulance a bit after 12:00 am.  I drove to Boise and met Andrew there.  They pumped him full of antibiotics and took him back for surgery around 1:00.  I waited and read my book, and waited and waited.  So tired but unable to sleep.  Finally at 3:00 the surgeon came and said all went well.  The appendix was gangrenous, which is the step before rupture, so he needed to stay 24 hours and take more anitbiotics.  30 minutes later they took me to him.  He was still pretty out of it, but even half asleep he told all the nurses thank you when they moved him around.  It took a while to get him settled in the Covid wing of the hospital, answer all the nurses questions and get myself ready to sleep.  It was 4:30 am and I was exhausted.  Annoying alarms got me out of bed several times before they woke us at 7:00 am for breakfast (why so early?!).  Andrew woke right up ready to face the day.  He contacted friends and I read while we waited for the doc.  Then his phone died and we borrowed an iPad.  We watched tv while we waited for the doc.  Then the nurse told us the doc would come soon but we should plan on staying another night so Greg brought us some supplies and I wished I was napping but we were still waiting for the doc.  Dinner ordered, phones charging, teeth brushed, when at 3:00 pm the doc finally came and told us we could go home- what a pleasant surprise!  We were home by 5:00. 

We joke that Andrew got a very expensive spray tan becuase his whole stomach looks orange.  I'm amazed that they just took his appendix out of his belly button hole but he is worried that it will kind of be a half outtie now.  I slept for 12 hours Friday night.  We are all quarantined at least till next Monday.  So far no major symptoms.  He had a bit of a runny nose and I had a headache, but my test from yesterday came in negative so we will hope no one really gets sick.  It was a very crazy adventure full of twists and turns but I'm so grateful he isn't in pain anymore and we caught it before it ruptured.  His name on Among Us now is 'No Appendix'.  He is proud to be in the 10% of people without an appendix.  

 

Ice Skating, Utah, Hair Fun

For MLK day we went ice skating with the Wilfords.  We missed Natali a lot - she usually takes Lily around but everyone else had to jump in and take turns with her.  I took care of everyone on the sides. When they got tired Mack drove the youngest kids and the boys to Wendy's for a snack while Abby, Val, Kate and Emmy made the rounds in peace.

For Christmas Mack got to spend a weekend in Utah with McClain before he left on his mission.  Natali took him down there and joined the boys for some of the fun.  They did indoor skydiving and surfing, drank sour alcohol-free shots, spend hours at the arcade, ate at Tucanos, decorated Natali's car and just had a blast together.  

While they were gone we cut Lily's hair (no more tears about brushing) and Emmy displayed a little style while I did the cutting.

Ski Day with Bob

Lily's Christmas present was a solo ski trip with mom but she wanted her buddy Emmy to come too.  Emily committed to ski anywhere Lily wanted.  We headed up Wednesday night and the girls skipped school Thursday to have a great ski day.

There weren't very many people skiing and the sunishine was beautiful- the snow was a bit icy but the girls had fun.

They started picking up snow clumps and naming them.  This was Dave and Steve.  We also had Tootherella and Valentine at some point - I had to convince them to leave them behind now and then but they spent a big part of the day skiing with snow clumps in their gloves.

We had fun hanging out together, eating skittles, watching Harry Potter at the condo, listening to audiobooks and laughing together.  We even made it home in time for Emmy to get to dance.

Covid Style Dance Production

 The girls were supposed to have a ballet production of Wizard of Oz this fall but Covid sort of wrecked that plan so Miss Heidi found a way to do a make shift production so the kids could display the dances they have been practicing.  Kate was a farmer, the wind (no pic - sorry), and a flower from Nutcracker (they did one song from Nutcracker to practice troupe dancing).

Lily was a munchkin.  Miss Heidi gave each of the girls a flower and Scott Salisbury gave her another bunch of flowers.

Here she is dancing and taking pics with friends.  When she was done we got to watch Emily - during the downtime she took some selfies and took out all her bobbie pins.  She definitely doesn't love tight buns.

Emily was a poppy - she has lots of buddies in her class but she and Lily are my favorite buddies.

Christmas Break

Christmas Break was wonderful - so nice to be all together again.  Gingerbread houses wouldn't be the same without Natali.  Sadly, I didn't get pics of everyone's houses this year. The first pic is of Kate's.  She made a model of her ballet studio complete with the bathroom. Mack made a soccer stadium with plenty of candy storage under the bleachers.  My favorite was Natali's Emerald City complete with Yellow Brick Road.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without decor and a star on the tree.

As a part of Christmas break Mack had his well child check up and had to get shots.  He had a pretty awful response.  His arm was red and swollen.  He had a fever and just laid around for a day or two and once all that passed he still didn't want to move his arm or have it touched for several days.  No fun.

But it was pretty fun when I used vinegar instead of almond to flavor the Christmas Wreaths- at least we had a good laugh and enough ingredients to make a second batch.

For one day of Light the World we made scones and mini banana bread for the Gables employees to say thanks for serving during this crazy time.  The kids made a nice poster and wrote some notes.  We even sang Christmas carols there later in the month when we went caroling.

I may have backed into the garage door...and it didn't get replaced until the end of March.  Greg was such a great sport to let me park in his garage spot for 3 months.  This picture was taken after a ton of effort from me (but mostly), Greg, Sean Walker, and Brother McKeeth.  It was quite a feat to get the door up enough to get the van out and then like this.  The nest day a garage guy came by and got it all put back together by himself in less than 30 minutes!

Christmas Eve morning Greg and I got up early and painted the toy room.  No more nasty brown.  

Somehow I don't have any pics of Christmas morning, but Lily made this awesome rainbow from her new air clay.  We went to Val's one afternoon to ice skate, but the kids had so much fun playing that we never got to the rink.  However, we did get this awesome artsy photo with Natali's phone.

We headed up to McCall for the second half of the break and found an amazing weather phenomenon.  The lake was frozen but there was no snow on top.  I had never seen that thick of ice with no snow on top -there were even people ice skating.  We had to check it out. 

 

On the ice there were such cool patterns.  This looks like a hole but it is totally frozen over.  

 

The snow crystals on the ice were so awesome.

We got to ski three times.  Once with cousins, once just us and once with Dad.  The snow and the skiing were great.  Lots of good times, skittles, and new adventures eatting lunch in the car.

 

 

 

 

Lily got this flippable squishamello stuffie for Christmas and she can usually be found wearing it like a hat.  It kept us laughing.  The condo was in the middle of a remodel, so Val and I did a lot of cleaning while there, but we still had a blast.  We love that place and I love skiing with these kiddos.