Saturday, February 21, 2009

Nothing But High Class Stuff Around Here....


We've had a week and a half of sick bronchitisy like junk going on around here. Everyone has succumbed to the germs EXCEPT Katie. Amazing. Even the parents have been hobbling a bit. Kristin bounced back very quickly but poor Leni...she suffered. So much so that it got really, really sad. She's on the mend now...so I feel like I can relate this story and hopefully make it humorous without making fun of her:) You see...when Leni gets sick...she falls fast and hard and doesn't recover easily. It involves quite a bit of work both day and night. Anyway...with her asthma issues it compounds until we're all pretty loopy from lack of sleep and borderline hysteria. This time....fluid settled in her ears and the poor child became almost completely deaf. About 95% without any hearing. Yep...the only way she could understand you was to turn her facing you....get really close to her and SHOUTATTHETOPPFYOURLUNGS! So...after a couple days off school and seeing the others were fine... I felt like we had to continue. Picture me SHOUTING "Little House on the Prairie" at extreme decibels and doing the same with place value, telling time and the life cycle of raccoons. Yelling scripture is fun too...especially when you're not sure if they are getting it.(Pause for a moment and try it...now try it for 5 days:)) We even attemped a trip to the library which was a mistake because when you can't call your children quietly and a leash isn't an option...it doesn't really work. She couldn't ride her bike or play outside like the others (we live in a kid infested neighborhood:)) because she couldn't hear cars. By the end of the week I was shouting at everyone because I couldn't remember which girl I was talking to...so instead of lowering the volume for the 'hearers'...everyone just got the same vocal treatment from me. Loud,LOUouder, LOUDEST from the mom...no matter who you were. Then all 3 girls started yelling at each other as normal communication. Public apology to Julie who had to be the recepient of all this. Yea...scary..... THEN the tank to our well (we live in unincorporated county on a lake...so all the houses have wells) well.. (ha..ha..) the tank sprang a series of pinhole leaks and we had a geyser in our backyard. All the water had to be shut down until we could make repairs which I'm sure you know don't come quickly. So ....there we were. No water...sick everyone...and having to SHOUT for DAYS at poor 7 year old. The TV had to be at the highest volume as well if we wanted her distracted and doing anything else. So, whats all this have to do with the picture? Well...Kristin snuck off and did what every child who has a sleep-deprived mama, a sick-can't-hear sister and no water in her house. She made mud soup out of the bird bath... JUST so she could get her clothes filthy muddy knowing her mom couldn't do the wash until we had water again. Heh. Messy, but cute. (Sorry about the poor quality phone pic!)

AND....to top it off...my 3 year old Kitchen-Aid refrigerator overheated (!!!!) and we had ice cream soup. The girls loved that!

The good news is......Leni can now hear. It took over a week...but we've had success.Whoo-hoo! This is a huge answer to prayer!! The well is repaired and laundry has resumed. Katie is still well...and others are on the mend. The mommy is sleeping once again...and another chapter in the tale of little princesses comes to a close. Kristin will be sending her recipe for mud-bark-grass-with-petite-garden-tomatos to the Food Network. Look for her new show soon:)...and if you dare come for a visit...I'll yell at you too!!:)

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