Saturday, November 30, 2013

A Scarlet Black Friday

There are several new posts up, just fyi.

My habit for several years now has been to go shopping with my mom on Black Friday. Sometimes standing in lines, freezing and waiting for the stores to open, and sometimes going later to still get the good sales but to miss the initial crowds. Good times. This year, Mom is just a bit too far away for a shopping date. Sadness.

To make up for it, I decided to take my family out for breakfast, since that was always one of my most favorite parts of going shopping with Mom.

We went to the Egg Harbor Cafe. Delicious.



Sadly, our festivities were slightly interrupted by this little one here.


The backstory: Megan was running a fever on Tuesday afternoon. Wouldn't eat, didn't leave the couch for several hours. Gave her some tylenol, put her bed, she was fine the next morning. We warned everyone coming over for Thanksgiving that there was potentionally something going around and left it to their discretion on whether or not to come. Everyone did, with the exception of the 11-day-old baby who stayed home with Grandma. Good call!

Megan was fine most of Wednesday, though she did take a nap in the late afternoon, which is highly unusual for her. In the middle of Thanksgiving, her fever popped back up to 101. We broke out the Tylenol, warned the parents, and continued on per usual as no one cared.

Come Friday morning, she was again acting fine. Once we got our food at the restaurant, though, I was really wondering if there was something more going on than just a random fever. She wouldn't eat yogurt and strawberries. Megan. Megan wouldn't eat yogurt and strawberries. Something's up. Additionally, she had some splotches on her face that were a bit worrisome, too. Lucky us, the pediatrician's office was open so we went in (the only appointment of the day).

Diagnosis: Scarlet Fever.

So, I always thought scarlet fever was something from way back in the days of Little Women and Little House on the Prarie where someone important caught it and went blind or died. Really bad. Turns out, scarlet fever is actually a form of strep throat that is accompanied by a rash. Most people died because the strep went untreated and grew into rheumatic fever, which is a lot worse. In our case, Megan gets antibiotics and she's fine. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

We went shopping long enough for Audrey to spend her money she's been working hard to save up for quite a while--she chose a whiteboard and markers--and Chris got new shoes.



Then we quarantined ourselves at home for the rest of the day.

Turns out that was a good plan, because by evening Audrey was throwing up repeatedly. Never before have I experienced--and appreciated so much--a child who is old enough to throw up in a bowl and not just all over everything wherever they happen to be sitting. So much easier to clean up!


Tomato soup for dinner, then we got them all to bed just to have Megan get us up at 11:00 because she had thrown up, then Ben got us up at 1:30 because he had thrown up. It was a fun night. *eye roll* Today, everyone is fine. Megan has been on antibiotics long enough now that she's no longer contagious, and no one has thrown up all day. Fingers crossed, we're in the clear.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Pleasant Chaos

Happy Thanksgiving! I hate being away from family on holidays, so I set out to make sure we had a grand adventure on our own. Figuring there were other poor college students out there without places to go for Thanksgiving dinner, we organized dinner at our house and invited several families and the missionaries.

In the end, we had 12 adults and 6 children. It was delightful.

One of my most favorite parts about the day was the fact that we had an absolutely AMAZING meal, and all I cooked was the Jell-O. Score.


Chris doesn't like turkey, so we did contribute a ham. I still maintain my un-cooking, though because Chris did the ham. I helped here and there. We started the night before with a brine.







We put it in the cooler because that was the only thing big enough to submerge the ham in, and we put it outside overnight because it was freezing. Low 20s.



In the morning, Chris added the rub and baked it in the oven, adding the glaze along the way. By the way, Chris has a beard.


It came out completely delicious. Talk about flavor.
 

And moving on to the actual dinner... Chris Carron made the turkey.








Post dinner activities included bug house.



And the Phillips-traditional puzzle. This puzzle turned out a lot harder than I expected, just because you really needed the picture to figure out where pieces went and there was only one copy to go around. Less useful.



The kids particularly enjoyed bonding with the elders. I hope they didn't mind...


Audrey played chess with Charlie Mower. Throwing that specific detail in for the sake of the Aberdeeners out there.


Pie!




When I say I only cooked Jell-O, I did also make these two pies and homemade Reeses.


I guess I haven't counted that ask cooking because for all of those, I just mixed stuff together and put it in the fridge. But man, it was something delicious.




All told, it was a wonderful day. I'm grateful that we had so many friends willing to come to our house, and we had a really good time. Yay!

Ending note: One point at which it became terribly obvious that this wasn't a Phillips or a Wampler party, however, was the amount of olives left over after every had gone home. Maybe not so much the amount, but more the fact that there were any left over. I'm pretty sure this has NEVER happened in all my memories of Thanksgiving.


P.S. Happy Birthday Michael!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

happy birthday to the AWESOMIST

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Craig!
 


What is something Grandpa Craig always says to you?
 AJ: You're nice.
M: About going to his house.
B: Pat a cake baker's man.



What makes Grandpa happy?
AJ: When I tickle him.
M: When I play with him.
B: Hey, I know that guy.



What makes Grandpa sad?
AJ: When I hit my little sister.
M: When I don't play with him.
B: His name is Grampa Cwaig.



How old is Grandpa?
AJ: 29 years old.
M: I just don't know.
B: Um....I'm two.
 


How tall is Grandpa?
AJ: 29 inches.
M: He's a grown up.
B: Grandpa Cwaig talks.



What was Grandpa like when he was little?
AJ: He was a baby with little tiny ears.
M: He was just little.



What is Grandpa's favorite thing to do?
AJ: Tickle me.
M: Play ring around the rosies with me.
B: Do pat a cake baker's man.
 


 What is Grandpa's favorite food?
AJ: Turkey.
M: Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
B: I like snack.
 


Where is Grandpa's favorite place to go?
AJ: With me to the store.
M: To the park.
B: To somebody's house.




What is your favorite thing about Grandpa?
AJ: I like that he plays with me.
M: To go swimming with him.
B: Just pictures.



What is Grandpa really good at?
AJ: Helping me.
M: Making dinner.
B: Really good at food.
 


What is Grandpa not very good at?
AJ: Giving me a bath.
M: He's not too good at taking a bath.
B: Where is Grandpa Cwaig's map?



If Grandpa becomes famous, what will it be for?
AJ: He'll be handsome and wearing church clothes in a parade.
M: Is this the ending one? I love him.
 


What does Grandpa do for his job?
AJ: He earns money to earn a house. He goes somewhere and does his job.
M: Go to work and pay money.
B: He's a Grandpa.



What do you and Grandpa do together?
AJ: We sit together at dinner sometimes.
M: Play ring around the rosies.
B: We do pat a cake. Grandpa Cwaig dooos pat a cake baker's man. Roll it and throw it up high and tickle Mommy so Mommy's don't cry.
 


How are you and Grandpa the same?
AJ: We like each other.
M: We do the same things.
B: I like to be tickled.
 


How are you and Grandpa different?
AJ: He has glasses, I don't.
M: Not doing the same things.
B: Just singing at church.



What makes you proud of Grandpa?
AJ: Because I like it when he plays with me.
M: When he plays with me.
 


What makes Grandpa proud of you?
AJ: By helping him if he drops something.
M: When us play hide and seek.
B: Grandpa Cwaig has church clothes.


How do you know Grandpa loves you?
AJ: By playing with me.
M: I give him hugs.
B: I like it when I get cake.



What do you want to tell Grandpa for his birthday?
AJ: Happy Birthday Grandpa! I wonder how old you are.
M: Happy Birthday. I can't give him his present because us all the way in Georgia. For pretend I would give him church clothes.
B: Happy Birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. We needs cake for Grandpa Cwaig.
 


Happy Birthday! We miss you!
(and happy anniversary tomorrow!)