are we there yet?

Like the kid in the backseat who asks, "Are we there yet?" after 20 minutes of driving, that was me these past two weeks. Only, my question was, "Are we done yet?" Two weeks ago, Liam had pink eye and a double ear infection. Some eye drops and antibiotics put him on the road to recovery and all of us on the road to a full night sleep. But then Charlotte and I came down with strep throat, on top of a sinus infection and ear ache for me! We missed every opportunity to leave the house and be around people for almost two whole weeks! And getting out of the house is a big deal this time of year (even if I do REALLY love my house). There were a couple days where the best I could do as a mom was roll around on the floor in the general vicinity of my children and feed them muffins and popsicles (they were 100% fruit popsicles), in addition to antibiotics. These pictures were taken on one of the bleakest days. Thankfully, we are all doing much better now. The kids were perfectly healthy just to put back into childcare Sunday!



The stargazer lily was from Johanna & Emily-- they stopped by last Weds. night when I should have been at youth group. They also brought me fudge brownie Ben & Jerry's! Even at risk of getting strep throat, they stayed and visited with me for hours. Cathy & Elizabeth also surprised me that night with a visit-- two more of the girls I was once a youth leader to.

Aside from the brilliant pink and the very romantic name "stargazer", I am fond of this flower because it reminds me of when Charlotte was born. Ash surprised me with flowers then and he chose an arrangement of all stargazers. It was a beautiful gesture-- and funny, too. Funny because stargazers have a really strong smell. It's nice when there are just a couple flowers, but because Ash knew I liked the Martha Stewart look where there is minimal fuss in an arrangement-- just a tight arrangement of all one flower, he ordered a whole vase full of stargazers! The flowers were so beautiful and they bloomed for the longest time, but it wasn't long before I wanted to put the flowers in the garage! Anyways, here you get to enjoy the beautiful flower without the smell (I once heard a person either loves or hates the smell of stargazers... that was while I worked in a flower shop, so I've taken it to be flower truth).