Today was Phoebe’s birthday party with our families. It was a nice time for everyone. :) We were also surprised with a visit from Rob, Kira, Henry and Lilly who were in from Colorado for the weekend.

Friday night marked the opening of a production of “The Music Man” which Alex is a part of. She started this ride back in January with auditions and there has been some ups and downs (not unusual) along the way.

Despite not feeling well (illness are abound among the cast, including strep, a stomach virus among others), she did a fantastic job. While I had not planned on letting her stay home from school on Friday (like some others planned to do), she did end up staying home. She was running a low grade fever and had a horribly sore throat. Considering the level of exposure to strep, I did take her to get screened and fortunately it was negative. The current thought is that she got run down with all the rehearsals and school and staying up WAY too late WAY too often not getting quite enough rest combined with allergies ramping up (tis the season–well, one of them). By Saturday afternoon she was feeling much better which is good since there were two shows on Saturday!

Ray had been recruited to help out with the stage crew so he had been at rehearsal on Thursday to get all orientated. He worked the Saturday matinee show as well as today’s matinee. I hung out for the Saturday evening show as “green room monitor,” but really all I did was return a few hair pieces to their owners (after they fell out on the floor) and mend a few gloves.

Poor Phoebe isn’t really involved in this show. Don’t feel too badly for her however. She is in Cinderella and they are well under way for shows in June. Besides, she spent the Saturday matinee time at a pool party for a friend and today’s matinee time shopping (which she loves! unless its the grocery type)!

Ray, Phoebe and I attended the show on opening night. It was fantastic and the cast and crew really did a great job! The have one more weekend of shows then it will come to an end, which will made everyone (even now just thinking about it) very sad. I wish I had more photos (or, really, any) to share, but it was difficult to see any seeing as how the production’s photographer was one of the leads in the show.

Everything has been getting greener and greener lately! It’s so wonderful to see spring coming to life. Several of my Hastas are really cranking along…as are the strawberry and asparagus patches!

We’re still on the fringe of the season, however. Overnight lows have been bringing us frost/freeze warnings nearly every night this week. Phoebe got on the bus this morning and it was 35 degrees outside. It was 55 by 10:00 a.m. and it is supposed to be pushing 70 later today. Up and down. Up and down.

On another super note, Ray finally was able to get the corn stove fixed and running again. (The motor had died…and it had needed new something or others for a while (bushings? bearings?).) So, this morning, the downstairs was toasty warm and the stove was QUIET — something which it had not been for quite some time.

Yet another note… why, yes, I do love taking photos on my iPhone with the Hipstamatic App! Today’s photos are brought to us by the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film with no flash. The biggest reason (other than its a pretty cool app — just wish it were faster to use) is I always have my iPhone with me.

So, here I went and said we were on the upswing!

HA!

Little did I know that mere hours after writing that post, I would be the next to succumb to the nasties of a stomach virus. Sparing you the gross ugly details, for me, it lasted roughly 20 hours. After that, was the repercussions of having been through it.

Ray was having the joys of massive sinus drainage that was causing him to near vomit if he did stay on top of getting it out rather than down his throat. Oh boy.

Phoebe was perhaps the only one to feel great yesterday. I felt terrible that no one was well enough to take her to her dance classes yesterday morning, but, well, that’s the way the cookie crumbled this weekend.

Today was a different story, however. Phoebe awoke with a fever. Running right around 103.4…

Great… I ended up giving her too much Motrin (which is the actual dose she should get… just makes her hyper lately) so she didn’t rest as much as she should have. Although, the fever was done (not gone), and she was fairly rambunctious, she was not her sparkly self…

Both Ray and I did end up leaving the house today, which was a good thing. He took Alex to her band rehearsal. I went and picked her up then we got some food from Subway (note to self: Chinese place AND Quiznos here are both CLOSED on Sundays).

Shortly before bedtime, you guessed it, Phoebe’s fever shot back up to 103.6, only about thirteen hours after that ONE dose of Motrin this morning. She fell asleep quickly and early.

I hope this doesn’t last too long. Good thing the girls don’t have school tomorrow (professional development day…whatever).

Last night, while Phoebe had her little Daisy meeting, I drove out to my mom and dad’s last night to deliver a whole bunch of Girl Scout Cookies for them and the ladies at the beauty shop my mom works at. My original plan was to go in the morning, but having not only a sick teenager at home, but one that is vomiting kind of made it necessary to change plans. Night-time was the only time I was going to be able to do that…so… I did. And and a nice visit with my folks while I was there.

While I was gone, Ray picked Phoebe up from her meeting and tended to Alex (who had a relapse while I was gone).

Way back on Wednesday, since Alex seemed to still have her sinus infection, I had made her a doctor’s appointment for this afternoon. Fortunately, for me — well, for my vehicle– she has stopped with the vomiting (especially since I neglected to bring along a container AND my tissue box was apparently empty). Phoebe was also pretty happy to be leaving school really early since I couldn’t guarantee that we would return home before the bus got there. (Turns out, we were home well before, but it didn’t include a trip to the pharmacy either–this time!)

The verdict was that her sinus infection is gone, but she’s having allergies wreaking havoc on her now and her asthma, I’m sure, doesn’t help. More meds is what that means. I was extremely happy that they had a “sample” medication to give her since we don’t have prescription insurance coverage currently. I know I shouldn’t be, but it’s amazing how much medications costs. Crikey!

This evening, Alex is up and conscious and at this morning watching (kind of) cartoons with Phoebe. Ray, however, came home not feeling well. He thinks he has a cold. I hope he’s right and that’s all it is. As long as there isn’t vomit involved anyway.

Phoebe will tell you how she hates waiting and being patient. If you are lucky, you may not get that fact stated to you over and over and over in the octave of whine topped (bottomed?) with a stomping foot…or two. Waiting, is still, boring:

Phoebe did wait fairly well this particular time. You see, she was waiting for Ray – her WoW addicted father – to finish whatever computer work he was doing (or maybe he was playing Wow?) so that she could get logged in to play her WoW character. Yes, my husband is not only addicted to this game, he has created a 6.5 year old WoW addict! At least its something they can do together.

Ray used to play games like this with Alex when she was very young as well. Phoebe is at that great age where she can read and has all the coordination and focus and, yes, some patience in order for it to be an enjoyable thing for them to do together.

I, however, currently have zero interest in learning the password to log in. Thus, I cannot be coerced into allowing her to play for a short time (which it NEVER is with these games) while Ray is not here. *insert evil laugh* Perhaps you recall that South Park episode: Make Love, Not Warcraft? During which Kyle’s mother calls it a stupid game and such? Yeah, that would be me.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy they enjoy it. I’m thrilled its something that they do together (kind of together, since only one of them can play at a time…for now).