Ugh…

Well, this week started off promising enough.

After all, we finished up school last Friday, and the kids wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s to celebrate.  Of all the places.  I keep waiting for my almost-11-year-old, especially, to stop thinking that such a place is fun, but it hasn’t happened yet.  So, since we had nothing going on Monday and since everyone was else was still in school, I decided that was a good day to go.  All three kids had lots of fun, and I didn’t have as bad of a time as I usually do, so, all in all, it was a good time!

On Thursday night, I went out for a four-mile-run, the first two with Charlotte, and ended up running nine miles.  If you are a runner, you might understand this.  I was feeling great, the weather was perfect, and I needed this distance by the weekend.  Although I wasn’t carrying water or energy gummies or anything, really, except my phone, I decided to just keep running until I felt like stopping, which would hopefully be at nine miles!

Jeff called me when I was at seven-and-a-half miles to make sure that something bad hadn’t happened.  I told him my plan and asked if he could wait few minutes and then drive to Metamora to pick me up.  (Metamora is about six miles away from our village.  I didn’t think I could make it back.)  I hit the nine-mile mark just as it was getting too dark to be safe.  (I had also left the house in gray and black clothing and without my reflective vest.)  Jeff found me right after I quit running.

Mission accomplished…and I think that I probably had three or four more miles in me.  I wish that every run felt like that one!

On Friday, I finally had arranged Elijah’s promised fun day, something to which he had agreed in exchange for a party.  He could invite one friend over, and we could spend the day doing fun things that he wanted to do.  I had arranged to pick up his friend, who was riding to work with his dad, in Peoria at 8:45.

In between these arrangement and Friday, I had also agreed to watch a friend’s 13-year-old foster daughter for the day.  This young didn’t have school and could no longer go to daycare because of her age.  As she and I had always hit it off, I knew that she wouldn’t be any trouble for me.

But what this meant was that I got to experience what it was like to have five kids for a day.  And all I can say is that it made me very, very tired!

Our day started with bowling and mini golf and then continued to lunch at Steak’n’Shake.  The baby managed to fall down the steps to the bowling lanes, trip on the mini golf course and scrape his fingers, and my extra girl spilled an almost-full milkshake all over the place.  My own girl got frustrated that the day was all about Elijah and not her, and Elijah got frustrated that everyone kept kicking his golf ball.

Once we got home, the Nerf gun and water gun fights started, interspersed with Wii competitions.  We also squeezed in a trip to the park when the baby woke up from his nap.

By the time Jeff called to tell me he was coming home by about 3:30, I was so relieved that I could have cried.

But, then, the real fun started.  Jeff thought that Jeremy was looking a little peaked when it was time for him to eat and, within minutes, thick goop was pouring out of his eyes.  This all happed about 4:00, 30 minutes before my extra girl was to be picked up and 40 minutes before I was to take Elijah’s friend back into Peoria.  Furthermore, at 5:30, Elijah had a makeup baseball game, and I had to get to small group with food by 6:00.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!

So, I left a message at the doctor’s office (45 minutes before it closed) and discovered that Jeremy was now running a fever.  When the nurse called back, she told me to take him to the After-Hours Pediatric Clinic in Peoria for the 7:15 appointment she made me.

So…our friend came to pick up his foster daughter, and Charlotte, Jeremy, and I hopped in the car to take Elijah’s friend back to his dad.  While we were gone, Jeff put the food for small group in the oven and took Elijah to the baseball game.  When I got home, I got the food and headed over to small group, where I dropped Charlotte and ate a quick bite before heading into Jeremy’s appointment.

The doctor, who looked about 16, diagnosed Jeremy with a virus and wrote a prescription for eye drops, although she recommended that I not use them unless his eyes got worse over the weekend.  So, I headed back to small group, where Jeff and Elijah joined us when the game finished.

We spent Saturday working around the house and getting some shopping done when the weather got bad.  One of the things we bought was one of those new-fangled thermometers that you merely run across the forehead to get a temperature, after we had to use a rectal one to get poor Jeremy’s on Friday.

With that contraption came the clincher of the week.  Jeff was taking everyone’s temperature because it’s so cool and easy, and, when he took mine, we discovered that I was running a low-grade fever.  And, as of today, I still am!

Needless to say, Jeremy and I stayed home from church today.  I don’t really feel bad, other than being more tired than usual, but, even with ibuprofen, I am running between a 99 and 100.5 degree temperature.  And, even better, Charlotte is also running a low-grade fever.

What a great Memorial Day weekend this is turning out to be!  Jeremy has decided to share his virus with anyone who will take it.  The bright side is that Jeff is off work, and we really don’t have much planned this week.  I’m just really hoping that we are all recovered before Jeff takes off for Thailand again!

I hope that things are good where you are.  Enjoy your long weekend!