We have been battling the stomach flu this week. It started with Jacob on Sunday night. By Tuesday, Sam and I were down for the count; and I do mean down! It hit us both very hard. I can't remember being so sick. I've had the flu shot the past few years, but for some reason I just never got around to taking it this year. Sam ended up missing a day of exams. That was hard on him. Erin made it through exams without getting sick. Ri spent a good 2-3 hours laying against me because his stomach hurt so badly. He ended up with diarrhea, but never had any of the vomiting. I was very thankful for that. Mark and Elizabeth seems to have made it through without signs of much. I am so thankful!

Yesterday was a very special day around here. Daddy had a birthday. Ri and Elizabeth were so excited about it. When you get to be our age, birthdays' aren't such a big deal anymore.... but for a 4 and 5 year old... they are something to look forward to. So the little ones and I went to the store. They each picked out a helium balloon and a present for Daddy. I was smart and went to the dollar tree. I told them they could pick out any gift they wanted for him. Elizabeth saw puzzles and just knew Daddy would love a puzzle to put together (he actually does enjoy puzzles). So she proudly bought him a puzzle that had all the Disney characters on it (since he loves watching movies with them). Ri found a very cool tic tac toe game with tires and trophies used for the X and O's. He loved the tires and the trophies and really had little clue it was a tic tac toe game. He was convinced that Daddy would love it. Then they chose the best balloons they could. We bought Crete paper and balloons to blow up. We also bought cake mix and sprinkles to put on it as well as candles. They had great fun blowing the balloons up. We stuck packages of gum and candy in the balloons. They thougth that was the coolest idea. Sam and Jacob pitched in with the decorating. We baked the cake and instead of making a basic sheet cake, I made 2 round cakes and stacked them on top. The little ones thought that was so cool. I iced it and they went to town decorating. Then Sam put all the candles in (only 24... but they were amazed). Erin sat watch for Daddy to pull up and then she had everyone run and hide. As soon as he walked in; they jumped out and yell led surprise. Elizabeth and Ri thought that was great fun! Sam lit all the candles, we called Emily and all of us sang to him. Ri and Elizabeth insisted he open up his gifts right then. So... he had only been home 10 minutes and all the festivities were over! That GREATLY disappointed Jacob. He felt it was horrible. We all laughed. Jacob likes to make birthdays and holidays last AS LONG AS they possibly can. He wants the full 24 hours to be a celebration. He is sweet. At the end of the day, Ri was sad because he didn't have a cool cake for his birthday (and he really didn't... I just didn't have the energy to make a big production over his cake. I threw together some cupcakes. It was very sad. I had promised him then that I would make him a cool cake for Elizabeth's birthday. One for each of them. So last night I had to promise him again that I would make him a cool cake when I made Elizabeth her cake. That seemed to make him feel a little better). Oh the pressures of cake making! :(

Well, I need to go for now. Elizabeth wants me to snuggle with her. I need to remember to relish and cherish these moments.