Wednesday my mom got called into work and when I text my sitter to say that the kids would be coming, the reply was "Me and the kids all have the flu". Thank goodness for kind people in the ward that will help me out. My kids got to go over to the Duffins' house and play that day. Also by Wednesday my sore throat had turned into a full blown cold. I was doing everything I could to combat it, oils, cold medication, fresh air, whatever. I didn't go to the gym because I knew I would pass out if I tried to overdo myself. So I just relaxed at home with the kids. We played a couple of rounds of Go Fish, which is a new favorite. I also think we played some candy land. That night I could not sleep at all. I think I slept about 2 hours total. So at about 5am I decided to head out to the TV and at least make use of my time. I caught up on the shows that had been recorded that week. But I also decided to not go to work. With the little sleep I got and with the hour drive, I didn't trust myself to be safe. And plus my cold was still hanging out. My kids were so excited to see me that morning. It is so fun to be able to surprise them but it was also hard because I was super tired. I was able to make arrangements with my Aunt Paula for her to take the kids for a little bit in the morning. I figured the kids would love to play with Jayden and Gabby. I tried to get some rest but it didn't work. I got Aspen to school and then Colt and I came home and watched TV. Well Colt watched TV and I tried to rest. That afternoon their dad came and picked them up to celebrate Colt's birthday. While they were gone, I was able to get a few things prepared for Colt's party the next day. The kids had a good time with their dad. They didn't put up much of a fight to go to bed.
I was still not feeling up to par so I took another sick day on Friday. I slept much better on Thursday night but not enough to catch up from Wednesday. Friday was Colten's birthday and I did everything I could to make it his day. I put up a banner in the front with Happy Birthday on it. He was excited to see it when he woke up. He said, "Is that for me?" Get used to it bud because birthdays are a big deal to me. Aspen had her field day that morning at school. And my little girl is not competitive whatsoever. She just participates and doesn't care if she is the last one. She just has fun and enjoys being with her friends. They did have a three legged race that she ended up doing with her friend Jacob. I was standing at the finish line and when the whistle blew, Aspen and Jacob just slowly walked towards the finish line. When I made a comment about them walking a man near me said "Well that is Jacob's girlfriend and he is happy. He has his arm around her and doesn't want to go to fast". His wife told him that I was Aspen's mom. I told him that I knew what he meant.
While at the field day, I got a call from my Grandpa Chris. He needed help getting Grandma to her hair appointment because he had an appointment with his heart doctor. So I asked him if the kids and I could come over earlier and go swimming. The kids were so excited to go swimming at Great Grandma and Grandpa's pool. I am so glad that my kids can use their life jackets and go swimming because I was not up for swimming. But the kids had the pool to themselves and they had fun.
We took Grandma to her hair appointment and then went to McDonald's for Colt's birthday lunch. The kids were able to play a little bit while the food was being prepared but as soon as we were done eating we had to go get Grandma. Grandpa had called while we were eating and said he was going to be a little bit longer. So we brought Grandma back to the house with us so I could get prepped for the party. After Grandma ate her lunch, I gave her my iPad to look at pictures on facebook. I would check on her to make sure she was still doing ok. Later on that night, I found out that she had tagged some people in pictures that didn't make sense and who knows what else. But she enjoyed the pictures. Greg and Sheila showed up while my mom and I were putting the finishing touches on the party stuff. So they were able to take the kids outside to play.
Then we headed out for the big birthday party. Every single kid that we had invited showed up. Colt had quite the support group there. The only sad thing was that Grandpa Chris couldn't be there, you'll see in the pictures that he wasn't there :) Just kidding, Grandma did a great job in his place. I think Colt had so much fun. The party started out with just playing at the park while people showed up. Plus I had to run back to the house and get Aspen's present for Colt and his hulk cape. Then we had the kids play tug o war. I learned that kids under 5 have no idea how to play tug o war. Good think that Greg was there to help out. He just grabbed the middle of the rope and said you kids on this side pull this way and you kids on this side pull that way. Then he mediated it, helping the rope go back and forth. Kayleeya did a good job at anchoring her side and pulling the other side closer. After tug o war, we did races. Colt had mentioned at Aspen's field day that he wanted to race so I told him that we could at his party. One of the dad's volunteered to be the "pole" and the kids had to run around him and then back to the starting line. I never knew how much kids loved to run. And Colt LOVED it. All he wanted to do was to race. So we came up with a couple of different ways to race. After races, we opened presents. Colt is so expressive. Each present is "O my gosh" and he gets so excited. He loved all of his presents. A few that stood out were the Wii games from Uncle Jay, the Star Wars Lego and Batman games. He looked at those for quite a while. The last present he got was Aspen's. He opened it and it was a Spiderman helmet. I asked him what he would need a helmet for? He said to ride a bike. So I told him to look around and maybe he would find a bike. He did and he was so excited. He was like "O my gosh, is that my bike?" He loved it. After presents we did the cupcakes. The wind was blowing slightly so we could get all 4 candles lite but he blew out a couple and then we sang Happy Birthday. All the kids loved the cupcakes before going to play at the park again. All in all, it was a great birthday party. Short and sweet and just long enough to do the things that we needed to.
After the party we headed for dinner at Del Taco. We had Grandpa and Sheila, Darcee's family and Grandma Chris there with us. Colt kept asking me if he could have a sleep over at Alijah and Jeramiah's house. I felt bad and had to tell him no because he was going with his dad that night. But we still had about two hours before he had to go with his dad so we would continue to play with them. After dinner we headed over to the park to go play on some bounce houses. There was a culinary festival and they had free bounce houses for kids to play on. They had so much fun and were so excited when I told them that they were free. Last week at the kite festival they weren't free so they couldn't just go on them all they wanted. But this time, they could go as much as they wanted until they were taken down. After that park, I took the kids over to the mall to go get a free pretzel for National Pretzel Day. Their dad met us at the mall. I asked Colt if he had fun on his birthday and he said "Yes". So I gave the kids a big hug and said "I love you and have fun with your day". Then I headed home to go to sleep.
Saturday would be my day to clean and to write my talk for Sunday. I ended up going to the gym and getting my car washed. I came home and worked on the inside of my car before it got too hot. Then I went with my parents to the temple. We got to do sealings. It was so good to go back to the sealing ordinance and be reminded of it. I then felt ready to go home and work on my talk. I got a pretty good start on it and then hit a wall so I called my mom in for help. After her help, I finished up my talk. Then I went out with my parents to dinner at Red Robin where we ran into a former neighbor in our waiter. He made sure that we were well taken care of. After dinner, we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and then back home.
I slept really good that night despite being nervous about my talk. I was nervous all through the beginning of sacrament meeting. But I got up and made it through without passing out. I got quite a few compliments about the talk so I guess it wasn't too bad. But I definitely don't want to do it again for a long while.
I did get to talk with the kids this morning and it seems like they are having a fun time with their dad. I can't wait to see them tonight and for Colt to finally be able to play with his presents.
