Picnic, MRI in NYC, sick kiddos, and my crazy comedy moment!

Last weekend was the annual church picnic at a local state park. Since it is the church's 30th Anniversary, not only did we have the usual hot dogs and burgers, but also pulled pork and chicken sandwiches from Black Eyed Sallie's in Hartford. Yum! CLG has got that thing down to a science. Everyone is assigned a dish to bring based on your last name and they provide the meat. I'm not sure how many people were there this time, but I believe there were 1100 last year. They are able to get everyone through the food lines in about 15 minutes. It's awesome! Plus, there is always plenty of food!

 Buddy got a sword balloon and Red Three got a bunny ;)

 CLG uses the lake for water baptisms.

 Happy Buddy!

They had a crafts tent for the kids this year. Red Three made a bracelet and a car with duct tape (you can see it on the ground next to her). The girls also painted rocks. They always have tons of games for the kids and grown ups. They also do this fun activity I'd never seen before. They have a bunch of hay filled with candy...and let the kids go crazy. The smart thing is they let the little ones go first and incrementally go up by age. Red One was so happy, she got a lot of candy this year. Last year she hardly got any (cuz she's older, so one of the last to go in). Unfortunately, she set her bag down to help clean up and someone swiped it! I felt so bad for her! She was doing the right thing and then that happened! I'm sure it was an honest mistake...but she was pretty sad. Thankfully, the desserts were overflowing and I think they brought home at least 10 things! hahaha! The weather was perfect as well! About 70 and sunny...couldn't have been better!

 Over the weekend, Papa felt so bad that Red One was mowing (it's her job...she's way old enough!) that he brought his mower over too so he could help her. The kids got in BIG trouble this weekend for shirking their chores and watching their movie without doing what I told them to. Two days in a row!!! They've been banned from electronics for two weeks, reading anything other than their Bible for a week...I feel like I'm forgetting something else...but it was bad. We actually wound up having about an hour long Bible study going over obedience and what it says in God's Word...how God really feels about it. It was really good and seemed to sink in a bit more than just me being mad at them for not doing what I say. Anyways, I wouldn't let Dad mow at first...but finally I relented...he was basically squirming in his seat feeling sorry for Red One! It was so funny. Anyways, I looked out the window and not only were Red One and Papa mowing, but Buddy had his lawnmower out too. It was the cutest thing!

 Red Two was the only one who remembered to bring her camera to the picnic. When I was going through the pics to find some for my blog I ran across these. Haha, I can't believe she's taking selfies already! ugh...lol! Pretty fair pic though.

Rachel lets Buddy play games on her phone...but it was loud and annoying so she gave him a headset. Too cute!

Monday, Red Three was complaining about a stomachache...but there is no way you stay home from school with only a tummy ache. Not unless something else is going on. She even saw the nurse...who also sent her back to her classroom after a little bit. She didn't have a fever or anything else. But, then she spewed all over her classroom. Poor baby! So home she came! She spent the whole day watching TV and throwing up. (I figured she could have a day off from her punishment). Thank the Lord it was only a 24 hour bug...she was totally fine on Tuesday...from what I heard, bouncing off the walls :) Then Tuesday morning, Red One woke up pitiful with the worse head cold/sore throat/cough. I felt so bad leaving Rachel with a bunch of sick kids...she's a pro though. The only one who actually made it to school on Tuesday was Red Two.

Our trip to NYC on Tuesday was pretty uneventful. David switched over to working nights this week, so it was a bit hard waking up at 6:00 to go to New York when he hadn't gotten home from work until 3:00 in the morning. Yes, I did all the driving...lol...He was exhausted! He got nauseous in the MRI again...didn't actually vomit, but he had to stop and sit up for a bit. It happened during the contrast administration again, even though they hand pumped it instead of the profusion auto pump. Don't know why he's having such a hard time with it...our current theory is that since he's still having nausea even though he finished his chemo rounds, he's already on a hair trigger and it's just easier for him to feel sick. Anyways, other than that, the visit was fine. Thankfully the doctor thought he shouldn't do anymore chemo. I was already super convinced of that! Like David said, the doc was gonna have to sell him really hard to get him to do another round. Because he was definitely not tolerating it that well anymore, and he got a good dose in, Dr Omuro was perfectly fine with stopping. I was so relieved...even though I thought that was what he would say, I was still worried he'd want to go again. The doc does want David to keep getting weekly bloodwork for another month, keep taking the preventive antibiotics, and come back in two months for another MRI and appointment. I was hoping for longer in between, but it makes sense, especially since David isn't back to normal yet, and his counts are still out of whack. The doctor was a little concerned that his nausea wasn't improving. Normally by now, three weeks after stopping chemo, it would at least be improved. It's good that they're gonna keep monitoring all that. Hopefully after next visit it will start getting spaced out more. We did have a good Turkish lunch though! I had some sort of lamb patties and David got lamb stuffed cabbage...it was delicious!

 Gray!

So, I have a funny story for y'all. I was so exhausted from Tuesday's trip that I was planning for a lazy Wednesday...hopefully a nap or something. I get up at 6:00 to get the kids off to school and what do I see? Weird clay color streaks on my dining room floor. It took me a second...and then..."NO, no, no, no, no!!!" Yes, it was so. The dumb dog, for whatever reason, pooped on the floor. Also attacked my couch again! Not sure what the deal was that night! Anyways, I guess the kids didn't leave her outside long enough for her to do her doo...cuz she's normally fine at night.

OK, that's only the first half of the story. Remember how I told you about our cool new robot vacuum cleaner? It's nifty because you can schedule it to go off any time, any day. Ours is set to go off every night around 1 or so in the morning. It's not the fastest machine, and a bit loud, so it's much less annoying if it vacuums at night. Can you see where this is going? Yes, our trusty vacuum had scooped the poop right up and left skid marks all over the downstairs until it finally ran into the foam from the couch, got clogged up and stuck...beeping out help signals. It was one of those situations where you don't even know where to start or what to do. I was so mad...that dog was lucky to live! lol I wound up wiping up as much of the major doo-doo trails as I could, then mopping all the downstairs...the wood with vinegar/water (as it's an antibacterial and safe for wood) and the vinyl with ammonia. I was completely out of bleach and cleaning wipes, so I left the actual vacuum for later. Definitely not relaxing...then, I checked my email and saw a notice from the school that it was a half day. Thank goodness, because I had completely forgotten! Then, Red One is still feeling not so great, plus coughing up yuckies, so I needed to try to make an appointment for her. Red Three and Buddy were supposed to have a dentist appointment at 10:00...I had already cancelled 3's, since she had been sick, but I still needed to bring Buddy. After getting all the kids to school, I stopped at the store to get bleach and wipes...but then needed to head the next town over for his appt. He did an awesome job staying still. He loved his goody bag! I stopped by the local Goodwill to see if they had anything cool. I found a couple of sweet jackets and this gem!

 How apropos! You can see the guilt all over her!

 After getting home from that excursion, it was time to eat lunch, then pick up Red One...then pick up the other two from their school. Then I had managed to get 1 a doctor's appointment, so we headed back to Glastonbury (that's where their dentist and pediatrician are) for her appointment. She was losing her voice as well...but it just turned out to be a nasty head cold. Her lungs were perfectly clear, so that's good! When we got home, David was getting ready to go to work (remember, nights)...good thing he checked his email...he was back on days and didn't have to go in. Of course, his sleep cycle is all kinds of messed up though! At this point I was just so done...I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I think I got about an hour's nap in...which helped! Since Daddy was home, we had some nice family time. Of course, the no electronics thing interfered a bit...no movies or video games, which are some of his favorite things! We ended up playing dominoes and ordered some Jamaican food. The girls love games, so they had a blast.

Anyways, I finally cleaned out the vacuum after they went to bed...it was nicely fermented. hahahahaha! Kinda kidding. I broke out the gloves, bleach, wipes, Q-tips...even some toothpicks, and went to town on it. I was talking to my mom at the time, telling her what happened...she couldn't stop laughing! She and my dad hadn't even heard of robotic vacuums. I was so thankful that the roller part came apart very easily...It wasn't as bad as it could have been...I think I removed almost all traces...and definitely sanitized the whole thing! The dust bin and other removable parts I scrubbed and then soaked in bleach water overnight...and then let them dry in the sun today for extra antibacterial oomph. Oh my...one of those things that wouldn't be out of place in some crazy comedy movie...yes, this is my life! Poopy vacuum scrubber...can you put that on a resume? Needless to say, Wednesday was not an easy, relaxing day! rofl

 Red Two snapped 3 passed out on the chair...I feel ya!