Sorry I have been absent lately but it was spring break for the kids, the husband took some time off and the stomach flu tore through our house like a tornado in a trailer park. Each of these events warrants an entire blog of its own but I will try to condense them into one so as not to bore you.
First off, Spring Break. These words are both joy and torture to the ears. On one hand you have the lazy mornings, lack of alarm clocks, free spirited schedule and no torture sessions disguised as homework. On the other hand you have TWO WHOLE WEEKS OF FAMILY TOGETHERNESS. Don't get me wrong, I love and adore my family but like all good things a little moderation goes a long way. Who in their right mind decided that two weeks off of school in the middle of the semester was a good idea? For how much they push and remind me that my kids need to be at school and on time every day they are sure liberal with the vacation time during the year. We had three weeks off for Christmas and another week for Thanksgiving. Looking at the calendar, I don't think there is a single month that the kids don't have some kind of vacation/long weekend deal going. I can assure you, this was not the case when I was in school...walking both directions...in the snow...uphill both ways. Kids today are so spoiled.
Then in the middle of this wonderful vacation my husband takes a few days off for some family together time and a road trip. Now, with gas prices what they are these days you might think we are nuts for driving anywhere, but our daughter qualified to enter a huge invitational swim meet in the San Francisco area so off we went. To ease the pain at the pump we took our Mini Cooper. I love that car, but let's be honest, when the four of us show up for a 5 day swim meet with all our luggage, food, chairs and swim gear we look like rejects from Ringling Bros. Circus. The amazement on people's faces as we unfold ourselves from the interior of the Mini is hilarious. The fact that we are all still talking (minimally and through ground teeth) is nothing short of miraculous. But that little car gets almost 40 miles to the gallon so we suck it up and suck it in because we will continue to take that car everywhere we need to go.
Our spring break trip went off without a hitch until the very end. When I say very end, I truly mean the very end. After hitting Southern California traffic, therefore turning a 6 hour drive into an 8 hour drive, we finally pulled into our driveway. Oh the joy to be home! No one told me we brought a tornado with us because just as we pulled in and were putting the car into park, our daughter began to vomit. A lot. She was like Mt. Vesuvius of the gummy worm, twizler and twix world with a create your own pancakes on the side. Poor girl was done and it was a comedy of errors that we got her inside, cleaned up and in bed in between the continued upheavals of everything she had ingested the entire weekend.
She was the first soldier to go down, but not our last. No sooner was she feeling a bit more perky and our boy was heaving as well. Like all good illnesses it appeared to be getting worse with each new victim. The poor kid had it coming out both ends. This led to a new vocabulary word at our house, the Bart. Where you barf and shart all at the same time. Poor kid though everything coming out of his behind was going to be a fart but they almost always packed a little extra gift for him. Not to mention the huge pile of illness laundry for Mom to tend to. Then the husband got it and in true male fashion he toughed it out but was a bit of a crab apple to deal with. They say PMS is bad to deal with but I say a man with the flu is far moodier and unpredictable.
I knew it was only a matter of time and I would no longer be able to dodge the flu bullet. In true Mom fashion, I spent my last bit of energy cleaning up the house. I knew that once I was down for the count that the rest of them wouldn't do a thing to keep the house in even a semi-decent shape so I figured the cleanup wouldn't be as bad if the house started off in good shape. Oh how wrong I was! Of course, being the last one to get the flu made mine the longest to last and when I came out of the cloud I walked right into the remaining rubble that was once my home. I still don't know how they manage to make such a big mess in a relatively short amount of time, but manage they did and they managed very well.
So yesterday was the first day back for everyone and yes, that was me you saw in the middle of the street dancing a jig in celebration. I was so happy I threw myself a laundry, dishes and dusting party that I think will last all week. I know how to party like a rock star...a rock star Mom that is!
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