Recovering

Whatever this virus was that got Anna, it really wiped her out!  The poor kid just couldn't get any rest; she was up with coughing fits several times a night for several nights.  She was so tired that she started falling asleep in the afternoons, something she hasn't done in years.  Thankfully, she's on the mend now, finally.  The fever lasted off and on until the weekend and she still has a nasty cough sometimes.

The rest of us seem to be okay, too.  Kate had a fever on Saturday afternoon and then overnight that night, but she was able to sleep a ridiculous amount, and woke up almost good as new (after having slept through church).  I've got a sore throat now, but nothing I can't handle with a little extra rest.

My mom was able to stop by and help us out a bit on her way through Madison.  She came along while I had an eye doctor's appointment on Friday morning, took the girls to a park for a little bit, and then came back for the start of Ethan's infant eye check.  Before that, she picked most of my beans for me, and then she and I snapped them all while the kids rested in the afternoon.  Saturday morning she was up bright and early weeding my garden!  My garden hasn't looked this tidy in months!  Moms are awesome :)  The whole time she was here, I kept telling the girls that when they're older, if they choose to have kids as well as a garden, and then need help weeding their garden, they can call me and I'll be there in a flash to help them out :)

By yesterday our family needed a chance to do something special, after dealing with the relative craziness of life since we got back from South Dakota.  So I took the kids on a field trip to Olbrich Gardens for the butterfly exhibit after Anna's summer school art class.  We had a great time.  The girls had lots of fun and I think Ethan enjoyed himself, too.

After dinner we did an ice cream trip to Culver's and ended up at a park to play around for awhile.  We really needed this time together.

Tonight Anna did a "show" for us out on the tower.  She never used to enjoy performing as much as she has recently.  It's hard to keep Kate focused and not giggling for these kinds of events, however.
 

Ethan makes some pretty funny faces these days.  We are really enjoying getting to know this little boy and seeing how he's going to fit into our sometimes crazy life.