Sick, Sick, Sick

Sickness pretty much consumed our entire week, and it is safe to say that I am done with it and ready for this sickness to move on!

I think I wrote last week that Aeva and Myles were sick; it has only gotten worse for them as the week has progressed. Rhaevyn started getting a  sore throat Monday which was not good because that was her day to audition for the singing class she wants to take for the winter quarter.
I had a sore throat for two days, but I think it has moved on for me. I'm hoping that it passes over Chris, Elsa, and Meg.

By Tuesday night Aeva was in so much pain from her throat that she was in tears and hyperventilating. I decided it was time to head to urgent care.She did not have strep, which is a good thing, but she did have a really bad ear infection. I was a bit concerned that she had lost some weight from not being able to really eat anything. She was given some antibiotics. After two days her sore throat was just about gone. I think her ear finally started becoming unplugged last night. Then on thanksgiving evening her eye was very swollen. I made a dash over to Walmart for Benadryl and thankfully didn't have to navigate the whole rat maze they had going on. They were pretty good about helping me get to the medicine aisle and to the self checkout since that was all I needed. With the help of cold compresses and the Benadryl her eye was back to normal yesterday. I think she is ready to be well again and head back to seminary and her classes at Clark. Rhaevyn was nice enough to go in early this past Tuesday to hand Aeva's schoolwork to her Japanese Professor.

Myles has had a cough that seems never ending, poor guy. We've had him breathing in steam, drinking the fluids, lathered up with Vick's vapor rub, lavender oil, Breathe essential oil, and sleeping propped up. He dreads nights and says he is going to die of exhaustion. He just wants to be able to sleep. I think he is finally seeing some improvement as he actually slept for a bit last night. At least last night he was able to get some rest.
 

It seems to be a bad season for most with the sickness going around.

The saga of Rhaevyn's winter quarter catastrophe just keeps going. She went to check to see if she'd moved up on the biology waiting list at all only to find out that she wasn't even on the waiting list. Apparently, I did not click the right button to put her on the waiting list when I registered for her the week before. I know she worried that if she waited to register  when she got home from her classes she wouldn't get into any of the classes she wanted/needed, but honestly I am  not sure she fared any better by me helping. Winter quarter will be interesting. All of the classes that she was hoping to take, because they would transfer to BYU, were completely full and only one had a waiting list. So, all the classes she will be taking don't transfer. She ended up just picking a random class for science just because it was still open and was online since she needed the credits for financial aid. In order to have enough credits she is now taking two singing classes. She will be taking a genetics class, two singing classes, and a US History class. I'm hoping in the end she'll be really happy about her classes and professors :)


After her ear training class on Monday, Rhaevyn had her audition. We said a lot of prayers that all would go well for her, despite her sore throat. She had to pick a song to sing acapella and have it memorized, then the instructor gave her something to sing, and she had to sing scales as well. I was thinking she was going to choose something pretty easy to sing, since it had to be acapella. When I picked her up at noon she had a smile on her face, so I figured that her audition had gone well. She said that she passed the audition, and the instructor actually gave her the codes to the female chorale class and the coed chorale class, which actually turned out to be a good thing. After learning that she needed two more credits for winter quarter, the instructor told her to absolutely sign up for both classes.  After she sang the song she had chosen the instructor commented that she had a very nice voice and was interested in the song she chose. He recognized that it was a hymn, but said it was not one he had heard before. The discussion led to him learning that she is Mormon, and he shared that he was raised a Mennonite. At this point I asked her what hymn she had chosen??? A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Goodness, I have a hard enough time singing that with accompaniment. I can't imagine singing it acapella. I was very happy for her and could tell she was really relieved that the audition was over, but oh so happy that it went well.

 Wednesday night we set up the tree, and the kids decorated it on Thanksgiving day.

 

 Our plans for everyone making something for Thanksgiving dinner didn't quite work out since three of the kids were sick. Elsa did get to make her apple pie, however, and she was beyond thrilled to be making it. 

 We had a game of trying to see if we could peel the skin off the apples in one long continuous cut. I told Elsa this is my favorite thing to do when I peel apples.

After we peeled, cored, and cut the apples, Elsa got the pie crust ready.

 Here is her apple pie before it went into the oven:

 and after it came out of the oven: 

 (Also pictured is Rhaevyn's Sugar Cream Pie.)
 Friday the kids played Apples to Apples and Jenga and while they ate pizza. Elsa and I played War and Old Maid. Notice Myles making great faces and photo-bombing :)

 

 This was my view while the kids played their games together.

 One of my three quilts is done at the quilters. She has such an amazing talent. She makes my quilts looks so beautiful!

We can hardly believe that by the end of the week we'll be into December. Then it's one more full week of fall quarter classes and finals week will be here. The kids are busily making things for each other for Christimas, and it is such a joy to watch what they come up with and how excited they are about it.
Here's to a wonderful week to all of you and hoping that everyone is back to being healthy in our house this week.

We have had a fun crafty week that is ending on a rather sad note.

Some of the fun things we've done this week:

Aeva decided to make her very own yeti. Rhaevyn helped her do some of the hand stitching, but Aeva did the rest all by herself. His name is Herbert, and he is so cute!

 Rhaevyn made this cute cat flax seed warmer.

 
The little kids and I made some paper crafts:
A thankful wreath, Christmas cards, and a turkey.
 

 

 

 For an upcoming young women activity we are going to watch Christmas movies and make some cute ornaments and cards. This was a great way to try some ideas out and have fun with the three younger kids.

  Meg had fun finger painting her Christmas card.

We made a rainbow in a jar while talking about molecules and density. This little activity was spell-bounding and fun!

On Friday Myles and Elsa were over at Sister Lee's house. Elsa had plans to make lemon bars with Sister Lee's daughter, Alayna (she babysat the girls when they were really little), and Myles worked on a Christmas present for Aeva. 

A friend from church came over and helped Chris mount the tv on the wall. Chris has been wanting to do this for months and is thrilled that it finally happened. There won't be any wires showing once our friend comes back to help finish up after Thanksgiving.

 Myles was having a bit of fun while putting dishes away.

Thursday was Young Women in Excellence. At the end we honored the two girls who will be graduating. Aeva leaned over and said "that's not me, I'm next year." I had to giggle and remind her that while she will only be 17 that she is in fact a senior, and yes she is graduating in June! It still hasn't sunk in that she is a senior. She was given flowers and her very own cake. Her former Miamaid teacher made her a very special cake. We will finally be eating that for dessert tonight.

 Myles was planning to enter a Lego contest, but then realized you have to be 13 :(

Myles has been wanting to have Zuppa Toscana soup, so last night he helped me make it. He was an excellent sidekick to have in the kitchen. He did a fantastic job helping to chop and cook. The soup was most delicious!

Yesterday Elsa and Rhaevyn shared a date with Chris. Elsa's date month was October, but life got a bit busy and Rhaevyn said she didn't mind sharing her date. They went to the Japanese store, where Rhaevyn treated herself to a fountain pen, and then to Ikea. Elsa bought herself a cute little husky
stuffed animal. His name is Richard, but she calls him Ricky for short.

Our hearts are heavy and our eyes are brimming with tears as a very wonderful lady from our church family will be taken off life support this evening and be going home to our Heavenly Father. We were told last Sunday that she had been hospitalized for pneumonia. She has been sedated and on a ventilator all week. Last night my dear friend, her daughter in law, notified me that she would most likely pass away today. There was not a dry eye in church today. Just a vivid reminder that you never know what each day will bring and life can be gone in an instant and when you least expect it. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel.

Aeva and Myles are sick with a fever, sore throat, and aches. Aeva had volunteered to give a talk in church today. The bishop assured her that she could give it on another Sunday which was sweet because she was quite upset that she had gotten sick and wouldn't be able to be at church to give her talk. Aeva seems to be on the mend, and I'm really hoping no one else gets sick. Chris is off this week, and we are all happy to spend more time with him.

The girls are registered for winter quarter. There registration times were during their classes on Wednesday. I volunteered to get online and register for them. That was really stressful!!! Aeva got her classes with no problem, but Rhaevyn's classes, even her back up classes, were all full. She got into one class, is on the waiting list for biology, and needs to try out for a music class. Then at 10:00 that night I realized that I registered them for the wrong history class. Instead of World Civilization they are now signed up for US History. Ugh!!!! Well, the good news is the professor is supposed to be  really good. I hope that turns out to be the case. I am hoping Rhaevyn gets into her biology class and her music class soon and that all goes well for the winter quarter for both of them. So far it is looking like they will be at school less, which seems like a big win for me :)

We are all excited for Thanksgiving this week and to put up the Christmas tree. Everyone has picked something to make for Thanksgiving dinner, so this should be really fun. Myles is making mashed potatoes, Elsa is making gravy (she also wants to make an apple pie), Rhaevyn is making her sugar cream pie and maybe the rolls, Chris is in charge of the stuffing, I'm in charge of the turkey and deviled eggs, and Meg and Aeva are teamed up to set the table.  

May you all have a very wonderful Thanksgiving holiday 💓

Bye Bye October -- Howdy November

 We had a really fun science lesson on the bones in the human hand, and afterwards we did an art project to go along with it. It was supposed to resemble what the human hand looks like in an x-ray.
 

 

It was hard to see the effect unless I took a black and white photo.

 Rhaevyn made Myles a "Jake the Dog". He turned out so cute.

 Meg and Chris had some daddy daughter time last week. He painted her fingernails and toenails.

 

 We've been doing some sewing over the last couple of days. I've had a really cute piece of fabric for over a year, and I have been trying to decide what I wanted to do with it. I finally decided I wanted to make pajama pants for Meg. I found a free online pattern with a tutorial. It was actually pretty easy to follow. I made a sample pair to start with. I think Meg could have kept the pants up without elastic. Even though I made a size 4, it seemed a bit snug.

I took the free online pattern and a summer pants pattern I had for size 6+ and put them together to make my own pattern. I am really happy with how they turned out. I bought a white shirt and put little monkeys on it with a red bow. The entire project was not without a few snafus, but all in all I would call it a success. I hope Meg loves her Christmas present. Best of all was the fact that I only invested $5 in this whole project.

I did my best to zig-zag around the edges so that the little monkeys would not come up after washing. It was pretty tricky since they are quite small. Although I had tried to make sure the back of the shirt remained clear of the needle, I somehow still managed to sew a small piece to the front. I got that taken care of, but it looked like there could be a potential hole. I then put a monkey on the back to take care of that.

 

Thursday night I taught my Miamaid class at church to make therapy bags. I had a bunch of flannel fabric laying around to use for the class activity. I bought some flax seed, and a sweet lady at church let me take all her essential oils for the girls to use. I got home and made one for Rhaevyn, one for Aeva, and two for one of the girls who was unable to come to the activity.

Saturday evening I made five more therapy bags. We have therapy bags of various scents: melon, peppermint, rose, lavender & lilies, and just plain lavender. Everyone has a bag!

Rhaevyn and Aeva have been making little pencil bags. I love the cute vintage Campbell's Soup fabric Aeva found (girls night at the craft store), and  I really love the color (and bunnies) of the fabric Rhaevyn picked out for hers.
 

 Myles spent Friday over at Sister Lee's house and made this monkey for Meg's Christmas present. He gave it blue button eyes because Meg has blue eyes, and he picked out a fabric flower to sew onto the head. He did the whole thing all by himself! I just helped him make the skirt.

 

Last night the girls, my dear friend (Jill), and I went to a craft store event. It was a big sale with fun games and things to make and take. Aeva won a $5 gift card while we were in line waiting to get in. I made a free card, and I found some wood Christmas ornaments/craft paper to Mod podge to them for a YW activity at church next month. It was a fun girls night out!

 Random pictures of Meg:

She wanted her hair up in a towel just like me the other morning. It didn't last long since it was pretty heavy on that little head of hers.

 Here she is in one of her many outfits of the day dancing and just being Meg :)

 This is a cute little fairy house that Aeva made. Myles made her the rug out of yarn for the little house.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and finals are fast approaching for the girls. Registration for winter quarter is this week. Fingers crossed that they get all the classes they want. The colder weather has definitely settled in. Myles is earning a dollar for every morning he has to go out and scrape the car windows on the mornings we take both girls to Clark. So far he has earned $3. He is using the money to get his sisters each a Christmas present.
Now that I think I've caught up on the news around here I'll call it a night.