3...2...1...

And we're back!  Well, I am at least.  I don't think that anyone else ever really went anywhere.  For the past month I've been plagued by a series of unfortunate events.  Allow me to explain.  Wait, there is no time.  Allow me to sum up.

After 3 weeks of on and off excruciating mouth pain, my mouth pain became tooth pain and I needed a root canal.  Problem: the nerve in the tooth was necrotic.  During all this I developed a sinus infection and was put on two rounds of antibiotics.  After all that was done I developed a bladder infection and was put on more antibiotics.  After kicking that I got the flu.  I was pretty certain I was going to die.  Just ask Troy.  Now I'm about 82% of the way to better.  I'm left with a sore throat, cough, and congestion.  My voice has all but left me.

A day with Dad

So today was a great day to be me.  My loving husband, who has been taking care of me without ceasing for the past 3 days got to go back to work.  I'm sure he was elated.  Seriously.  I'm pretty demanding as a sickie.  Not to mention melodramatic.  Not to mention that there were 3 kids in the house to take care of too.  Phew!  Just thinking about it gives me the cold shakes.  But it was a great day because we finally got to get out the house together!  No, seriously.  Being trapped in your bed, in a room, in your house without leaving for 3 days is enough to drive a well person crazy.  This former sickie needed to get out!  And here's where I thank God for our local Chick-Fil-A.

The people who own this franchise must have children.  They are constantly having family nights and cool things going on.  And I mean really cool things.  The other week they had a "Build a Bot" night where they were doing robotics.  A few weeks before that they were doing a dinosaur presentation.  Tonight was the Houston Zoomobile!

The Houston Zoo has a Zoomobile that you can rent for an event.  They bring transportable animals and skulls and furs for the kids to touch and learn about.  It was a great time.  The kids loved to listen to all the animal facts and they even got to touch a baby alligator.  Annie loved it because it was a baby.  And since it was such a nice spring day, they had the event outside (I'm sure it was more because of the whole live animal thing).  So we didn't even have to go inside the Chick-Fil-A!  Instead we hopped in the car and drove to our standby diner.  The 59 Diner.

We enjoyed our burgers and fries and cold lemonade.  I enjoyed the idea of not making/cleaning up dinner.  Everyone was happy.  And now for an earlyish bedtime.  I've got to not overdo it.  More blogging to catch up on later.

The Smell of Love

Ahh, Valentine's Day.  Can you smell it?  Smells like love.  Or maybe that smell is donuts...

This morning we left the house a little early in order to stop by the donut shop on the way to Isaac's school.  The kids loved the donut shop.  What kid wouldn't?  Chocolate milk, pink donuts with sprinkles, and donut holes.  That's what love is all about, right?

In keeping with our Valentine's Day traditions, we got the kids some books about love.  And here is where I will add that it's a little bit of a chore finding books that are about love and not about Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day.  But I managed.  Here's this year's picks:

For my Annie-cakes.

For Isaac.

For Orry.  And of course, it's a little bit about Valentine's Day, but it was just too cute to pass up!

Otherwise, it was quite the boring day.  Since I got my one and only wisdom tooth extracted (sounds so much better than yanked out) yesterday, I've been taking the prescribed pain medication today.  I've been a bit loopy and I've only wanted to sit on the couch and watch my kids play.  All day.  I did manage to stay awake and not just sleep all day.  That's what love is all about, right?  

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, filled with love and laughter.  Maybe a hug and a kiss, too.   Now I'll leave you with a great quote from Helen Keller:

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

(Psst!  Down here.  If you would like, leave your favorite quote about love in the comments.  I'll pick the one I like the most (or maybe one at random) and send that commenter something lovely.)

Pearly Whites

There's a parable in the Bible that goes like this:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

With that being said, I'd like to introduce you to "Pearl", our "new" van.

While having the newer van is nice, I won't say that it's anything like I imagine the kingdom of heaven to be.  Although, it is quite roomy...

It took us quite a while to finally get it.  We purchased it and took it back in 2 days later to get its inspection tags.  That's when they informed us that Pearl needed an oil change (which we knew) and new tires (which we also knew).  Then they informed us that they would do all this for us free of charge and we could take a rental for the weekend since they had to order the tires.  Needless to say, we've been pleased.

Here's another quote from the Bible:

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing.  Each has its twin; not one of the them is alone.

That being said, here's a video:

Lately and Recently

Lately we've been...

"Are you talking to me?"

• driving a rental car more than our "new" van.
• learning about the presidents of the USA.
• dealing with temper tantrums from hell.  
• watching some of the best movies of all time.
• listening to birds, day and night.
• reading The Story.
• drinking too much coffee.
• keeping up with our New Year's resolutions.

Recently we've...

• gone to the dollar theater to see Happy Feet 2.
• celebrated Troy's 34th birthday!
• added reactive airway disease to Isaac's list.
• scheduled a wisdom tooth extraction for my almost birthday.
• sorted all our LEGOs.
• started noticing new leaves growing on the trees. 

I hope you've all been busy in a good way.  More to come later!