5 F's

Fun, Friends, Fun, Fastlanes and Football!

This past weekend we were very busy and had LOTS of fun!

Braden's birthday is in October and for the past 2 years, we have been on a family camping trip on the weekend of his big day. So, for the second year in a row, it was Spring before he got to have his birthday bash. I know I could've probably had it sooner, but this year we were in the process of moving, then it was the holidays, then we had bball every Saturday.... we finally got around to it before football starts!!

Rhett was invited to take his turn spending the night with MeMe and PaPa on Friday night. Since he had been sick, he was so excited! PaPa picked him up before he headed home from work and they got to ride on his new Rhino- which was the highlight of the weekend for Rhett!

Braden had 2 friends from his class and 2 of his best friends from BV come spend the nite. Our BV friends brought their kids up and joined us for the evening of food, fun and bowling at Fastlanes!
We ate dinner (Pizza, snacks and a very tall chocolate caramel cake that I made...yummm-o!) and then headed for the bowling.
I took LOTS of pictures, here are a few:





Gracie was letting the air blow in her face!


Braden can sure be silly when he's bowling!


Jenn, Tasha and Me


We came back to the house afterwards to hang out and eat some more cake! Here's Eldon feeding cake to Gracie. She ate most of his cake... :-)

The next morning, we made a big breakfast buffet. It was so yummy!

We moved the coffee table onto the tile in the entryway and put pillows down for them to sit on. This was really so they didn't make messes all over the carpet, but we told them it was like going to a fancy Japanese restaurant and having to sit on pillows on the floor! They thought it was very cool!


Where does the "football" come in? Well, Braden and Rhett have opted to skip baseball this spring and try football for the first time. We have been waiting until they could finally play football- our favorite sport- so we were totally ok with this decision. If they don't like it, we can always go back to baseball next year.
They got their equipment on Saturday afternoon and they have pretty much worn those shoulder pads around the clock since then. They are SO excited!



You can tell from this picture that I'm not having much luck getting rid of Gracie's diapers or her baba... although she is only having the baba at nap and bedtime now, so that's some progress, right!

DWTS:Krazy Kennett's Style

If our tv is on, it's probably on some form of reality tv. (or cartoons!)Dancing with the Stars is one of our favorites. I haven't watched it in a couple of seasons, because of the time conflict of Idol on Tuesday nights. American Idol is #1 fav of all in our house... But, this year, I have decided to try to watch both. (I sure wish I could get a DVR...) This past Monday night while Jason was at volleyball, me and the kids snuggled up in the living room to watch DWTS. Rhett was still sick, so I was holding him on my recliner and Gracie and Braden were playing. I just had to video tape a little of their dancing for you. Have a WONDERFUL weekend!!!

Catch Up

Long time, no see!

First of all, Rhett is feeling much better! Finally! It was a VERY L-O-N-G 8 days. I ended up taking him back to the dr on Saturday. 1 of his ears was getting infected but not too bad. So, she gave us an antibiotic for that. His sinuses were all inflamed and irratated and also, she thought the area around his lips that he's been licking, might be staff infection.

After not running a fever for over 24 hrs over the weekend, on Monday night, he started running fever again. I took him back to the dr for the 3rd time on Tuesday morning and both of his ears were very infected and his sinuses were awful. He had 3 bad nose bleeds from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning. So, this doctor (finally, we got to see one of OUR 2 doctors that we love the most!) gave him a different antibiotic and a decongestant. He started feeling better by the next day with this new medicine!!

He is back at school today after missing 6 days of school. I walked him to class and talked to his teacher. I think he's going to be fine. She's going to take good care of him!

I have lunch plans with a friend in BV today, but it's spitting sleet out there and the forecast is calling for rain/ice/snow mix today. Although it looks ok now, I'm just not sure if I should go or not... I'm still trying to decide. But, I sure would like to get out of the house and go do something fun for a change!!

On Sunday, we went to BV to do some work on the house. We cleaned up stray limbs in the yard and Jason put fresh new mulch in and around all the landscaping. It looks really nice. We've shown the house once and had another couple call on the house since then. Fingers are still crossed!!

While we were working, Bammaw came over to hang out and help with the kids. Braden stayed with one of his friends most of the day and he got to eat lunch at their house. (They were having mashed potatoes, which is his favorite!) Bammaw went and got lunch for Gracie and Rhett and they made a little picnic in the sunshine!


Jason snapped a picture of me taking a break in the back of the burban. He made me hold the rake to prove I worked! :-)
(I was SO tired! This was daylight savings time day... I hate "springing forward". I guess that's another topic for another day.)

The F-L-U is the p-i-t-s

The word F-L-U has become a curse word at my house. Icky. Yucky. Miserable. That's what Rhett feels like.

Here's his portrait of the day. 3rd full day of the flu. Going into our 4th night of it tonight.


He's still not feeling well. Of course, the dr said he would probably be quite sick for 7 days. Note to self, do not skip the flu shots next year!
I decided to skip 1 dose of motrin last night and see what happened and it was a very bad idea. Right at bedtime, and still 1 hr before he could have tylenol again, his fever went up to 104.1! He was moaning but couldn't form words and kicking his arms and legs. He was crying, but no sound was coming out because he still has no voice. And he was throwing up. So miserable. We used cool, wet rags to keep the fever from going up anymore, but it stayed above 103 for over an hour. I gave him his tylenol about 20 minutes early because I couldn't stand for him to suffer any longer. When it kicked in, he was a little more comfortable. His nose has been runny and stuffy at the same time. Don't you hate that feeling?! And last night he was just fussing and crying and saying how it was hard to breathe and it was scaring him. He couldn't breathe out his nose and it hurt his throat to breathe through his mouth. Poor baby. I set my alarm throughout the night to make sure that we didn't miss ANY doses of motrin or tylenol and by 3am, he was able to go to sleep for a 4 hr stretch before he needed meds again.

Gracie didn't want to go to sleep, but once she did, she slept all night. She slept on the couch bed with her daddy again. She will most likely be sleeping in her own bed tonight. She hasn't ran anymore fever and acts like she's feeling better today. Thank the Lord she hasn't come down with the flu! I thought for sure that's the direction we were heading when she started running that fever.

Jason was hoping to have better luck at work today and come home as soon as they finished that problem job. It's now almost 5pm and they're still at that same job. At this point, we're just hoping they can get it done so he doesn't have to work tomorrow.

We had plans for the evening, but they probably won't happen now. We were going to have dinner on the couch in front of the tv watching a movie. I already reserved a couple movies on redbox, so I'm hoping we can get them. We are due for a relaxing weekend to catch up on our rest. It's been quite a week. We'll see. I may be flying solo all weekend.

My parents offered to take Braden for the weekend to get him out of the germ infested house. Dad picked him up already. I am very thankful for that! Braden was very excited and it will make it easier on me this weekend too.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Another one bites the dust

That's right... last night as we were getting ready for bed, Miss Gracie started running a fever. Lovely. Since we were already feeling sleep deprived, we decided to divide and conquer the two sicklings. Jas slept on the couch bed with Gracie and Rhett slept with me in our bed. We actually had a pretty good night. Only up a few times.
Here's our sticky notes that helped us keep track of who got what dose of what medicine and when.

Jason's plan was to stay home with me today. We could help each other catch up on rest and take care of the kids. Great plan. Too bad it never happened! He left to take Braden to school and I haven't seen him since. He called a while ago to break the news that they've run into some bad luck at work and he's going to be late. I'm not surprised. Just disappointed. And I feel sorry for him because I know he's probably tired. I can hardly function at this point.

Here's what Rhett asked me to make him for breakfast this morning. He only ate a few bites, but at least he felt like eating something!


Here's what I had for breakfast:

My tummy's been a little squirrley all day. I did manage to eat some cereal for lunch. I rarely miss my morning Diet Coke though!

Gracie convinced me to let her bring in her bike. She's just been sitting on it all day. Doesn't feel much like playing, but she insists on sitting on it. She is so silly! And the lady bug costume has pretty much been her wardrobe for the past couple days.


Here's Rhett this morning. He was feeling pretty good this morning, but as the day has gone by he has gotten more puny.


Our living room looks like a war zone. Couch bed has been out all day so the kids could lay down and watch tv. There are towels everywhere to catch any surprise vomit attacks. Thankfully there have been none today (so far)!


I will leave you with this. My friend Lydia emailed this to me today. I hope it encourages you like it did me.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don't know why things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.

Although I'd probably rather have my teeth pulled out than fix dinner tonight, duty calls and I'm off to try to throw something together to fill those 3 little bellies. Whatever it is probably won't win me any mother of the year awards though. Cereal and macaroni and cheese would be a square meal, right?!

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday, Rhett went to school feeling great. He came home in the afternoon with a very raspy voice. He said he felt fine though. Then came the terrible diarreah accident. Then extreme shivering and blue lips when he was in the tub afterwards. That's always my clue to my brain that says, "Sick Kid! Here comes the fever!" I checked him for fever a few times in the next hour or so. No fever. Hmmm, that's weird. Then Christen, our beloved babysitter, came over to sit with Rhett and Gracie because we had to go to Braden's Biography Tea at school last night.
We were gone for 1 hour and by the time we got back, Christen was very concerned about Rhett. His fever was 103.6 and his voice was completely gone.
Poor baby. He was super duper sick.
This is what he looked like.


Here's what Gracie was up to while Rhettster was so sick: posing, as usual!


Here's Braden all dressed up for the Biography Tea. He got several compliments that he looked "just like Walt Disney!" He did a really great job.


I called the doctors office right at 8am and got Rhett a 9:50 appt and turns out, he's got the flu! Poor thing. Here's what he looked like at the doctor's office while we were waiting on the results of the flu test. He couldn't even hold his head up. His throat was so scratchy the nurse was nice enough to get him a popscicle and he loved it.


He's thrown up 7 times since he got up this morning. He's keeping count. I don't know that I've ever seen him so sick. I feel so bad for him. I've been praying for him alot and he's had many sweet friends and family checking on him and telling him that they're praying for him to feel better. We are so thankful for that!

My mom has been here today helping me with Gracie and Rhett and she did the dishes and has done several loads of laundry for me. What a huge blessing!!!

And Jason was up with Rhett most of the night last night. What an awesome husband and daddy he is! I guess the high fever contributed to the night terrors. He hasn't had many of them in quite a while, but last night, Jason said he was talking out of his head and whimpering and trying to get out of the bed most of the night.

Hopefully tonight will be a better night.

We are doing our best to keep things disenfected and keep the other kids away from Rhett. Please pray that we won't spread this awful bug around our whole family!!!

Braden got glasses

We've been noticing that Braden has been doing funny things with his eyes. Like blinking hard and often and squinting. So, I took him to the eye doctor on Thursday after school. Sure enough, his eyes are doing a "double focus" which is exactly what mine do. But lucky for him, his only does it up close instead of for everything. So, he only has to wear his glasses for reading, computer and video games. They came in over the weekend and we got to go pick them up yesterday. He was really excited. The first thing he did when he got home was get a book and start reading. He said, "Wow, everything seems so big and clear!" It was so sweet. I'm so glad we got them and he won't get eye strain anymore.
Here he is modeling his new glasses. Isn't he just so cute??


And Bubba and Sissy wanted their pictures taken this morning too! The boys had Hat Day at school today and were so excited. Mostly because they didn't have to brush their hair. Ha!