Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: Finally Kicking the Cold Bugs!

This week started off slow, since Keira and Soren were STILL sick, but things got better as the week went on. I also had some fun cooking projects.

On Monday, we pretty much stayed in all day to rest up some more. Keira had gotten the green light to go to school this week, and was doing much better. Soren, on the other hand, was not doing the best. He was still running a fever, which meant that although due for a well visit on Tuesday, would not be well enough for his 15 month immunizations that are now quite overdue. I really debated cancelling the appointment today, but after speaking with the nurses, they assured me that I could cancel in the morning tomorrow and not be charged. We had been to the doctor so many times that we were really racking up the copays, and I didn't want any avoidable charges as well. Probably the highlight of the day for me was that I made homemade spaetzle, from scratch. Patrick had brought us a spaetzle maker, which looks a lot like a giant dull cheese grater. After a sketchy conversion of grams to cups, and the addition of some extra water to make up for the mass to volume conversion, I think it turned out quite nice. Once everything was in the oven, we did consult a couple "American" cookbooks and realized that we were probably OK with our dough's makeup, which was great because there was no turning back at that point. It tasted great, and both Keira and Soren enjoyed it as well.

On Tuesday, Keira was able to go back to school. After some deliberation, I decided to take Soren to his doctor's appoint. He was still running a fever, so I figured although he was not well enough for a well visit, he was sick enough for a sick visit. I am very glad I did take him, because it turned out that he had a whopper of an ear infection. Both ears were very infected, and much worse than the initial infection 3 weeks ago. I was so glad that I took him in, because this was very treatable. We also got him on an antibiotic that had him perked up before the end of the day.

Today was also groundhog day. Keira believed that the ground hog would not see his shadow today. She brought home a little paper groundhog named Phil (of course) that popped in and out of a cup. Her teachers also made a silhouette of her from shadow. This is definitely a keeper.

We finished off the evening with a starlight storytime at the library. We hadn't been able to go the library in such a long time, we decided to get out of the house for something fun while Ryan was at scouts. Hopefully Soren didn't infect since he was likely still contagious, but he felt so much better.

On Wednesday, we had a pretty slow, low key morning. Since everyone was feeling a lot better, we went to the gym (finally) so I could work out during the day. We skipped the library, since we got up slowly (and late). We also hit Costco before heading back home to relax. I also learned that 8pm on Wednesday is the best time to go shopping at Meijer. It was totally empty. The only downside is that the meat counter and deli are not open anymore.

On Thursday, with Keira back at school, I was able to hang out with Soren at home. When I went to pick up Keira, we got invited to go out to lunch with one of her classmates. I couldn't say no, since we really didn't have anything else going on this afternoon, and we hadn't done anything with anyone in such a long time due to being sick. Keira and Angie were so excited that they got to go to lunch together, and enjoyed playing even more.

On Friday, we FINALLY had a presidency meeting after many weeks of sick children. Keira had a great time playing at Owen's house, but I think she enjoyed Avery's toys the best. We had it later in the morning, so I was able to get in a decent workout without being rushed first. We also hit up Target to get Valentine supplies for next week's party and some cream cheese for these really fun looking cookies that I made. They are probably not my favorite tasting cookies, but totally fun to make. They will also be fun to do for holidays or any event that has distinct colors. I made Ryan a UM football cookie with the yellow and blue dough as the other colors started to run low.

On Saturday, the forecastes snowstorm missed us. Ryan was able to have a great mountain bike ride at the Novi Tree Farm (Lakeshore Park). While Ryan rode, I ran at the gym. It was super cold, and it was nice that we could work out at the same time. Ironically, we didn't really do much else today. As we were running out of time to do anything before the kids needed to go to bed, we finally ventured out to Best Buy to do some browsing. Keira and Soren both love the rows and rows of cell phones to try, as well as the TVs. We didn't buy anything, but at least we got out of the house as a family.

On Sunday, we made it to church on time and managed to stay in the chapel for the entire Sacrament meeting. Here are a couple pictures of the kids at home all dressed up after church, followed by some of us all casual.

Afterward Soren took a nap, we went over to Kris and Linda's for some dinner and dessert. Keira and Soren also worked on Valentines for everyone before heading home.