Carpet, eggs, and candy

Nadia's purple carpet was installed this morning. I made the mistake of not telling the installer that we needed to leave at 10:45. When they had installed the family room carpet there were two men working together. There was only one today, and that naturally meant it took a little longer. I was thinking I might need to leave him here in the house by himself (which Paul didn't think was a good idea), but he finished close enough that I said I'd do the vacuuming and put most of the furniture back by myself if he'd just move the piano and dresser back into the room. I helped him carry some of his stuff downstairs, and we were able to leave just in the nick of time. As we walked in the man in charge of the event chided me for running behind a little. I didn't think our arrival would delay the start of the event. Anyhow it didn't even start until about 5 minutes after we arrived. I don't like to show up late, but I was trying to wait until the carpet was installed. Oliver got nine eggs from the 1-4 year old field, and none of them were prize eggs. Ian got the same number of eggs from the 5-8 field and

also didn't get any prize eggs. All their eggs had small pieces of candy inside like Hershey kisses or Tootsie Rolls. Nadia got about 13 eggs of which 3 were hardboiled and about 10 were plastic eggs with candy inside. One of hers was a prize egg. She got five large water blasters that will come in handy this summer at the pool (she's holding them in the photo with the Easter bunny). Nadia only had 1-2 bites of her hotdog, but the rest of us ate our free hotdogs and then went home to work on putting Nadia's room back in order. Nadia also took a nap. She still hasn't been feeling well today although she hasn't thrown up as often as she did yesterday. She ate normally on Thursday, ate nothing on Friday, and only had a few bites of food over the course of the day today.

The kids asked if there was any way we could go to three egg hunts today since we didn't go to any last Saturday, and I found that a town about 7 minutes from us was having one at 1:00. We had never been to that one before. They had mostly candy on the grass with only a very few plastic eggs which were all

prize eggs. Some of the candy on the grass were very big (ex. large chocolate bunnies). All three of my kids were in different age groups. None of them got any prize eggs, but they got a lot more candy at that one than they did at the first one. Then I drove back to our town and showed up at the playground where the 2:00 egg hunt was being held. We got there about 40 minutes early, but I figured the kids could enjoy the playground some since the temps were in the 70's. Oliver got eggs on the field for ages 4-6, and Nadia and Ian were on the same field for ages 7-9. Oliver had one prize egg which was for a chocolate bunny, and Ian had two prize eggs. One was for a $5 gift certificate to a local sub shop, and the other was for a box with four chocolate bunnies. So all in all Ian had two prize eggs, Nadia got one prize egg, and Oliver got one prize egg. The prizes given out run the full gamut from a box of crayons to a bicycle. At the third egg hunt they gave our four bicycles (four different sizes - one for each age group). The weather was gorgeous. Some years the kids have worn winter coats at an egg hunt, but partly that is because Easter moves around and sometimes is in March.

When we got home I went back to working on Nadia's room. We did a great job of purging today. I had the van trunk door open as I was carrying things out to put in the trunk to take to Goodwill. Oliver pushed the button to lower the garage door while the van trunk door was open. I thought for sure he had done serious damage to the van door, but amazingly it seems to be fine. It seemed like it was going to be a VERY expensive donation for me if it cost a large repair bill for the van. Whew. We only have one very small pile left to go through. Her room is a lot more organized now than it was a few days ago. Hopefully it will stay this way for at least a while. I will take a pic soon to show you her beautiful new carpet. I bought purple carpet one other time - in 2004 and that room was Nadia's bedroom for the first three months of her life. This time it was HER idea. Now of course the boys also want new carpet in their room. I don't think that will actually be happening in the near future, but maybe at some point we will. I think if we do another room it will be the master bedroom.

Our church usually has three services each Sunday morning - one in Spanish at 9:00, one in English at 9:00, and one in English at 10:45. On Easter weekend they add two more - one on Saturday night at 6:00 and a sunrise service at 6:30am on Sunday. The choir usually sings in two services, but we sing in three services for Easter - the Saturday evening one being our third. This year they are also having the 9:00 service in a second room as an overflow. Last year there were about 2,500 on Easter whereas typically we have an attendance between 1,500-1,700 each week. I really love the anthem we are singing. Typically when I really am moved by a song it brings me to tears, but tonight I was like my mom and got goosebumps at a couple of points in the anthem. This happened as we rehearsed it and during the service. It is very rare for me to get goosebumps from music, but that was the norm for my mom. She found it somewhat embarrassing, but I always thought goosebumps was better than tears as it's less noticeable. The older I get the more easily I shed tears from music. They are the good kind of tears but still sometimes I wish they would stop. Tonight I shed tears AND got goosebumps at various points in the service. He is RISEN! Here's to hoping that Nadia is feeling better tomorrow as we're planning to go to the Country Cupboard for dinner with Paul's parents after church. I've been cleaning and mowing and such since we got home yesterday, but aside from making a batch of brownies last night I haven't done any cooking. I will get back in gear with cooking on Monday. I'm so, so grateful that we serve a RISEN Saviour!!! This is my mom's first Easter in glory with her Savior.

Home sweet home

Our drive to Ohio last Friday, to Chicago last Saturday, and back to Ohio yesterday all went pretty smoothly. Today's drive was definitely the most difficult. First of all because Nadia's stomach bug had returned. She had been under the weather on Monday and to a lesser degree on Tuesday. She was fine on Wednesday and Thursday. Her appetite and energy had returned back to normal. So I wasn't expecting her to start throwing up during the night last night. The good news is that every time she threw up in Sam's house and Wendy's house, she made it to the toilet on time. Way to go, girl! I hope we didn't spread any germs at Sam's house. Their kids had off today because of Good Friday. We stayed at their house until about 10:30. It was supposed to take 4 hours and 15 minutes to go from their house to ours, but in reality we took about 6 hours due to a little bit of traffic and more stops than usual. The other three days we only made one stop per leg of our trip. Yesterday we were on the road for 6 hours with only one stop. We made a bunch of stops today because people kept asking for bathroom breaks and Nadia was still throwing up. We also made one brief stop (about 15 minutes total) at a bat factory for a brief tour. The factory was less than 1 mile off the interstate. Oliver cried some during the drive today which also didn't happen the other days. We were all VERY glad when we arrived home and could get out of the vehicle. I am hoping Nadia is feeling up to the Easter egg hunts tomorrow.

It turns out Dunkin Donuts (which are very plentiful here in PA) are not as plentiful in Ohio or Indiana. We did stop at one for lunch today. Ian and I were the only ones who got anything for lunch. Nadia didn't eat at all today. Even drinking water would cause her to throw up. Her fever also came back. I have no desire to take a long drive any time soon, but I am very thankful we went. We had a great trip! I am sure I'll have recovered from this trip long before we drive to Long Island in July. When I got home I cleaned out the guinea pig cage, swept and mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the family room carpet, emptied and loaded the dishwasher, went to the grocery store to pick up a few items, went threw the mail, and mowed the lawn. Paul was home when we got home as he was working on installing my birthday present (a new kitchen faucet!) and also fixing a leak in a pipe from a toilet which had lead to some water on the floor of the basement while we were gone. He gave the boys a bath while I was mowing the lawn.

I also called the bank to straighten something out. Before we put the kids to bed the boys helped Paul and I get most of Nadia's things out of her bedroom. This means that at the moment all the bedrooms are a mess. Last Friday the carpet installer called me as he thought he could install her carpet on April 8, but I told him we were in Ohio and the soonest he could install it was April 15. Hopefully we can purge some things and find better ways to organize things when we bring the things back into her room after the new purple carpet is installed. That's just one more reason I'm hoping she's feeling better tomorrow! I'm hoping it takes the installers less than 2 hours to install her carpet so that we don't have to leave them in our house while we're not here as Paul needs to go to work and the first egg hunt is at 11:00. Some years the weather has been cold during an egg hunt, but this weekend it's supposed to be gorgeous - as high as 80 on Sunday! Well we had a great trip, and now it feels wonderful to be back at home.

So long, Chicago!

Today we began our trip back home. We left Wendy's house around 10:30 CST and drove most of the way across Ohio. Including a 20 minute delay due to traffic and a 20 minute stop for lunch, gas, and a bathroom break, it took us a little over 5 hours to get here, which translated to 6 hours according to the clock since we lost an hour when we returned to EST time zone. The kids did not want to leave. They were begging me to have a little more time with their cousins or to return next week. Um no, I am not driving this far again that soon. As we were driving and Nadia kept asking me "how much longer?" I reminded her of her desire to return next week, and she then said that maybe once a year would be a better idea. We shall see. It was great to spend time with them, and also do some sightseeing in Chicago. Oliver asked me at one point if the "Fighi kids" (my other sister's last name is Towfighi) could also join us at Aunt Wendy's house. They love time spent with their cousins!

On Tuesday morning Drayton took his kids to the hospital to visit Wendy. When they got back we had lunch and then I took all seven kids to the science museum. With our ASTC membership they allowed six of us to get in free so we only had to pay for 2 kids. This museum is only one mile from their home, and I was able to find free parking not too far from the museum. Everyone enjoyed the museum. We were there for almost five hours, and the kids would have liked to have stayed longer! I was planning to visit Wendy at the hospital after eating dinner with Drayton and the kids, but it turned out that Wendy was discharged around 6:00pm. I brought her home from the hospital. She still had a fever and a headache, but they switched her from antibiotics via IV to oral antibiotics. Her pressure headache was still bothering her when we left this morning, but she woke up fever free today which hopefully means she is on the mend.

Rachel came down with the stomach bug that Nadia had on Monday, so she stayed home with Wendy on Wednesday while I took the other six kids to the Field Museum and Adler Planetarium. Our membership would have gotten us into both museums for free, but we would have had to pay to enter four of the exhibits that required an additional ticket at the Field Museum. However the Field Museum let all seven of us in for free (even the special exhibits) because Wendy's family has a membership there. We did three of the four special exhibits (skipped the one about Tattoos). Oliver was scared in the underground exhibit (it was sort of like the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids" where we seemed very small compared to various insects and other things that are actually very small in real life. The room for young children was closed; we didn't know it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but the kids still had a great time. We could have stayed longer, but instead we walked past the Shedd Aquarium to the Adler Planetarium. Similar to our experience at the Field Museum,

Wendy's family had a membership at another museum that meant all seven of us could get in free plus see as many planetarium shows as we wanted to see. With our ASTC membership we would have gotten in free but would have had to pay to see any shows. We picked two planetarium shows. Everyone stayed awake during the first one which touched on the Earth, our moon, Mars, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, and Saturn. The two four-year-olds fell asleep part way through the second planetarium show called "The 9th Planet." That show was one of the highlights of the trip for Ian. It focused on why Pluto is not considered to be a planet by many astronomers as well as why they believer there IS a ninth planet in our solar system even farther out than Pluto. Both shows were excellent reviews of things we had studied in Astronomy the past three months. The room for young kids was open at the planetarium, and we spent quite a bit of time there. Ian and Adam loved driving the remote control rovers.

This morning I enjoyed playing Taboo with Susie, Adam, Ian, and Nadia. I enjoy word games much more than Chutes and Ladders or Memory, which I played with Rachel and Grace at one point during our time there.

During the past six days the kids and I visited seven museums and one zoo, and we got into all of them for free. Nadia was truly disappointed when she found out we weren't going to any museums today, but they did have time to play with cousins this morning in Chicago and second cousins in Ohio this evening. They were able to burn off some energy running around with their dog in the backyard, which was very helpful after having been cooped up in a van for 6+ hours. I had originally intended to stop at a science museum in Indiana on our way home, but that was scratched when our plans changed. We *could* visit another museum in Cleveland tomorrow for free, but I think instead we'll take a free factory tour of a baseball bat factory in PA that we'll pass on our way home. I'm sure Paul will be glad to see us again, and the kids keep talking about how much they miss their guinea pigs. I am sure Paul will also be glad to be relieved of the duty of taking care of the guinea pigs. He learned that it is not fun cleaning their cage out. I've already known that since December. I am very thankful for this spring break vacation we have taken and for the gracious hospitality of Wendy, Drayton, Sam, and Heather.

Bears, butterflies, salamanders, and more!

Wendy had a bad headache starting on Sunday evening, and it was still really bad on Monday morning. Drayton had planned to work that day, but since Wendy wasn't feeling well he spent the day with our seven kids and myself instead. We left around 9:00 am and our first stop was the Lincoln Park Zoo. The petting farm animals  part of the zoo wasn't open because it's still the off-season. The zoo doesn't charge any admission. I think some of the highlights were the polar bear, tiger, and some of the primates. We ate a lunch Drayton had packed at the zoo. Unfortunately Nadia wasn't feeling well the entire day. We saw two giraffes; they are one of my favorite animals. Next we walked to the Nature Museum. We all got in free because of memberships we have elsewhere. At least some of the kids participated in two programs - one about salamanders and another involved the releasing of butterflies in their butterfly haven. Our last stop was the Chicago History Museum. Drayton had found a free parking spot when we arrived in the morning, but after driving around quite a bit and not finding anything, I opted to use a paid parking lot. If we hadn't gotten the parking ticket validated at the history museum it would have cost me $32, but since we got it validated I only paid $9. It was worth a brief stop. Drayton's family could get in free because of a membership they  have elsewhere, but it turns out because we showed up about 20 minutes before the museum closed that we all got in for free. We only explored a very small portion of the museum.

Drayton ordered a deep dish pizza from Giordano's on our way home. I do love Chicago deep dish pizza and try to have it once every time I come out here. It was delicious! While we were eating dinner Wendy called from the doctor's office to ask Drayton to take her to the ER. The doctor thought she needed a CT scan and lumbar puncture to make sure a strep A skin infection she had been diagnosed with last week on her ear hadn't turned into meningitis. Thankfully she got good results from those tests, but she was told she had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours to receive antibiotics by IV for the infection that wasn't responding to oral antibiotics. I put the seven kids to bed last night after we watched the movie "Ella Enchanted" while Drayton was at the ER with Wendy and her friend, Michele. Drayton took his kids to the hospital to visit her this morning, and then we plan to go to the Museum of Science and Industry this afternoon. We picked yesterday for our zoo outing because the weather was very warm. We brought umbrellas as there was a forecast of rain, but thankfully it rained only a small part of the time we were at the zoo. It didn't bother us if it rained while we were inside the two museums.

So all in all we are having a very nice time here in Chicago. The kids love spending time with their cousins. Four of us were playing a game of Apples to Apples this morning before Drayton took them to the hospital to see Wendy. I have played Barbies with Grace on a few occasions. Ian has been playing with Legos (no shock there!). They also enjoy playing outside together. Wendy had a gig on Sunday morning, and then she was under the weather since early Sunday evening  and will be in the hospital until we leave so that is one disappointment that I won't get much time with my sister. We all hope she's feeling better as soon as possible! Knowing that Oliver can finally handle a four hour drive means maybe we won't wait 15 years before we drive out here again. Our longest drive without a lengthy break will be on Thursday as it takes a little less than 6 hours without stops to get from Wendy's house to our cousin Sam's house (plus we will lose an hour as we change time zones).