Chick-fil-A, diarrhea, and other interesting happenings from the past week

The kids school was a polling place, so no school for them on Tuesday. (Horrible.) Luckily a new CFA opened in Hicksville, which is about 30 minutes away on Long Island. So we went out there that morning to get breakfast and play.

Right behind CFA is Ikea, and we had a dresser we bought for the kids' room that we never even opened. So I decided that despite it weighing 9 million pounds, I was going to return it. We played at CFA for at least an hour, had a chicken biscuit (Will is a huge fan!), and then went over to Ikea. As I was unloading the dresser from the car (I am the incredible Hulk), I heard over the loudspeakers that the store would be opening in 5 minutes. Except we went straight to the kids play area and it was already full somehow. Ugh.

So the kids had to wait in line with me while we returned the dresser and then I needed to look at a few things. We ended up sitting in every chair, lying on every bed, and coming out with a dish soap dispenser and 2 chocolate Advent calendars. The kind of Ikea trip Steve dreams about.

We hit up CFA (again! I'm not even embarrassed!) to grab lunch for everyone and then met Steve at home to eat. I'm so sad there is no CFA in Minnesota so I guess my two-a-days will have to do for now. Getting out to Hicksville is a real pain in the ass though so that won't be happening often.

clean but confused dinosaur

Apparently there was a beautiful sunset one evening.

We have had our landlord's realtor contact us multiple times about showing the apartment to potential renters. The first time, it was a lot of work. I really focused on decluttering and scrubbing areas that a stranger might notice, but that I have probably accepted as being disgusting forever. Naturally they didn't show. We have been given notice of five showings now, only to have one person actually show up. This past Thursday, we had someone (supposedly) coming over at noon, so Steve and I were cleaning before the kids were off to school. I was upstairs and heard a lot of groaning coming from downstairs. I went down to the kitchen to find Steve lying on the floor and Sam standing above him asking if he was ok. Apparently Steve somehow twisted his back while bent over and something popped and he hit the floor. He is still sore, but it's getting better every day. It's tough being 87. My back went out once in Korea while Steve was in the field and it's true that you really do not appreciate good back health until you don't have it anymore.

Sam "reading" a book to his class. He is such a ham!

Sam took this picture of Will and he got such a genuine smile out of him so easily! Will really adores Sam and Molly and wants to be all up in their business at all times.

They happened to be matching that day and Sam thought it was so cool and my heart just about exploded all over the floor at how cute they are.

I'm still trying to get Will hooked on television, Baby Einstein in particular. The big kids still love watching it, and the music and nature scenes and colors are very soothing so I don't care when they all want to watch it. Everyone settle down and teach your brother how amazing TV is.

Steve's parents came into town on Saturday (after another no-show potential renter) and I took zero pictures! But Sam grabbed my phone at some point and snapped one.

By this point, Steve's back was still out, and all the kids had diarrhea to some degree, so we were essentially homebound. Luckily, Steve's mom was up for playing 600 games of Chutes and Ladders and read the same book to Molly 87 times in a row, so the kids could care less that we didn't go anywhere. Molly woke up with a croupy cough Saturday night but was on the mend on Sunday. Will's diarrhea worsened, he's teething, had a fever, and his little bottom was completely on fire from the diarrhea, so he was obviously very pleasant. We took a walk down by the bay to distract him from his miserable situation and he seemed to enjoy that.

He was up every 2.5 hours last night, but I guess I can't blame him since he isn't feeling well. One day this kid is gonna run out of excuses and have no choice but to sleep through the night. And that day better come sooner rather than later.... I've only been waiting about 11 months.