the end of January

seriously, it's the end of January already. the old adage is true...the older we get the faster time moves. it is flying by at the speed of light x 100 million!!

so much has happened in January, i cant even keep up.

Asher had his 5th birthday. Esther told Rachel that Rachel was her best friend. (way sweet)

Levi started cutting molars.

Abigail has made huge advances in her reading. there is no stopping her.

Elizabeth went to Aquire the Fire this weekend all by herself (with a family friend's youth group).

we had the Honda put in the shop for 2 weeks to fix the heat panel.
Readen, our Cocker Spaniel, went into heat & we wont know until the end of February if the beagle next door got to her....i dont think he did...i never saw or heard a tie between them...and if they actually tie...you know it!
our White Leghorn, Napolean, started laying white eggs & Abigail's little black chicken, Cutie, started laying brown eggs (at least we think it's her).
we finally got to visit GA & SC. we went down last weekend. we left on Thursday afternoon - the 19th. then rode up to GA on Friday, spent the day, & came back to SC by 9PM. Clay's folks are doing good. They of course, are aging. His dad couldnt remember any of the kid's names. and he couldnt speak articulately. He is 76 & the stroke really messed him up. The Dr. told them that he had the stroke because he has an irregular heart beat. Mrs. Simmons is wearing herself out taking care of him.
We spent all day Saturday & Sunday with my family at my Daddy & Mama's house. everyone was there. all 3 of my sisters, Lisa, Renee, & Christi, Renee's husband, Brad & Christi's husband, Chris; Lisa's 2 girls, Olivia & Emily, and Christi's 2 boys, Cody & Lance. of course Memeer & Papa were there also! Olivia even brought over a friend - that is a boy. they are just hanging out for now. he was a cute, very nice young man. he even has a job!! i dont think we embarrassed her too much.
Asher was enthralled with my Dad's room & with my Dad. he would go back in my Dad's "office" and just sit & watch tv with him & talk with him. I love that. i'm so glad that he will have those memories of chilling with Papa. Levi pretty much was impressed with Papa too. On Monday morning when we went to leave, Levi just screamed when my Dad put him down. My Dad had to meet friends & had to go but Levi was not happy. He just kept reaching for him. i love that too! and my Dad like it too i think. Levi is a sweet baby. But he wasnt feeling that great that weekend. His teeth - molars - were coming in & he was a grump.
not only that but on the way home on Monday, Jan. 23 Elizabeth started throwing up about 1 1/2 hrs into the 8 hour ride. let me back up....Esther threw up on Saturday morning about 3 times. Levi threw up on Sunday morning 2 times within about a 5 minute time period. They both have been on probotics along with Asher & Abigail. I think that is why their vomiting issues were slight.
Too bad for Elizabeth she hadnt been on probotics for the 2 weeks prior to our trip. She vomited the whole way home about 1 time every hour. it was horrible. then when we got home she still vomited well into the night, up until about 11PM. i thought for sure everyone would be sick by the time we got home because of being locked in the van, but nope.....not everyone.
when we got home about 8PM, my sister Christi called me & started asking me about Elizabeth's symptoms because her son Cody was throwing up & sadly having diarrhea at the same time. She said that he said his stomach hurt & he was actually crying. We both thought it sounded like his appendix so she took him to the ER. He was so sick with this particular stomach flu, bug, virus....whatever it was....that he was admitted into the hospital and had to be kept until about 1PM the next day.
probably about 11PM that Monday night I started throwing up & i threw up well into the early morning hours of Tuesday. and Tuesday & Wednesday i was just wiped out. i didnt mention the case of bronchitis i had also. i am actually still dealing with the throat issues today.
then Tuesday afternoon, Rachel, who i had kept home from her co-op because 1. i needed her help & 2. i didnt know if she was going to be sick & didnt want her to spread it if she were going to be, started throwing up & she threw up well into Wednesday morning. I actually took her to the doctor today. She thought she had strep throat but the rapid strep test came back negative. She ended up with an ulcer in the back of her mouth on her throat. The dr. today said her throat looks infected but he didnt medicate her. he isnt her normal doctor. her normal doctor would have written her a prescription for an antibiotic, especially since she was presenting with a sore throat that looked infected & just in case the culture comes back positive for strep - which he said it wouldnt surprise him if it did. whatever. we are trying to keep her comfortable.
anyway, then Emily, Lisa's youngest daughter got sick. Christi got sick. My Dad & sister, Renee both got sick. so out of 19 of us all together, 10 of us got this nasty stomach virus - 5 from my family. i guess that's the law of probability when you have as many kids as i have.
anyway, thankfully this virus was fast moving....the actually symptoms lasted between 4 - 6 hours, maybe up to 8 hrs & then you were just left weak for a day or two. oh man, but the symptoms were horrible. i hate throwing up. it was sooooooo horrible. but i am so thankful that Abigail & Asher didnt get it. i dont know how we would have survived that.
so today i did get some laundry done (waiting on a load of whites to finish now so i can start a load of darks & finally go to bed. i mean hello, it's only 3:13AM). i also got all of our movies straight in their binders. (when i say straight i mean in alphabetical order in dvd binders. we dont keep the cases) I cleaned out the office because Clay has a guy coming tomorrow to finally move his gunsafe into the office. it was a good excuse to clean out & clean up. now i have to do the music cd's tomorrow (yep, make sure they are still in alphabetical order) & find a external floppy disc drive to download pictures off of floppies & get rid of the floppies. i have about 100 VHS i have to transfer to the computer harddrive also. i want to rip all of our 500 music cd's to the computer but i dont have one right now that would hold them all. plus the laptop i am working on now is almost on it's last leg. i have seen the blue screen of death about 3 times in the last week. thankfully i have backed up all the pictures & music to an external harddrive so i wont lose anything. i told Clay we needed to upgrade to a mack daddy desk top & get rid of the 2 we have. i want to move to an Apple product...i guess in the Mac field. and then i can dump this laptop & just restore it to factory settings & just use it for internet stuff or for him to do whatever he wants to or for trips, etc. laptops just dont hold up like desktops do.
but back to today...i was loading the dishwasher & i had a helper. so i will leave you with these pictures & go click through pinterest while i wait on my laundry to finish.
hope you had a great January & are looking forward to love filled February!!

you think he knows he's cute? ummmm, yep...no doubt!!! (rachel snapped these pictures)