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Not Quite Dead
The big news of this week was that I had a birthday amid all of the madness.
It was a fairly standard week, as weeks go. However, Carver's condition still hadn't improved much by Monday morning, so he stayed home from school, still feeling a bit feverish and having a headache. Avey had a musical presentation thing at school, so it was good that I was home to be with Carver so that Kira and Merritt could go and support her. Avey was not that concerned about having us there, but I'm glad Kira could go. Kira and Avey had appointments with the chiropractor, so she came home for a bit and then left to pick Avey up from school to go directly there. Unfortunately, I had a phone meeting scheduled at 2:30, so I had to do that while Hakan came home from school. Luckily, Hannah was home, and was kind enough to work on some projects and homework with him.
Tuesday was different in that the kids had an eLearning day, where they stay home and complete tasks on their iPads. I, of course, was in the city. Carver was feeling much better, thankfully, but we had another schedule issue where Kira and Hannah needed to be somewhere for a Relief Society thing, but I wouldn't be home until it had already started. Avey opted to babysit rather than go, and Hannah left her car for me at the train station, because it gets so dark so early, and the roads I ride my bike on are hardly safe in the daylight. I came home to relieve her, and the boys (mostly Hakan) put up a big fight when I tried to feed them and get them to bed before Kira and Hannah made it back.
I had to go into the city again on Wednesday for a faculty meeting, and then I had to catch an earlier train to get home at 4 because it was parent-teacher conferences. We had a tight schedule to make everything work: Carver had a Minecraft activity at the library at 4, so the plan was to drop him off on the way to our 4:15 appointment after picking me up from the station. Due to delays, Carver instead missed the first hour because we had to go directly to the school after getting me. We met with both Carver and Hakan's teachers, and both had wonderful things to say about them. They are doing very well academically, and get along with their classmates very well. Because we were already delayed, but trying to get Carver to his activity, we just dropped the boys and me off at the library while Kira went to Avey's school for the meetings. That gave her an extra 30 minutes, and gave the boys a chance to play instead of try to hold still. It was then home to very late dinner and bed.
Thursday was my birthday, but of course, just like every year (it seems), that was my long day on campus. It was a pretty good day, though. Hannah and Kira had me open a few presents early that were for my office, so I could take them with me. I went out to lunch at one of my favorite joints, and I had a little break in between everything.
We celebrated my birthday on Friday. Kira let me sleep in while she got the kids off to school. I then got up and ready, had some breakfast, did a couple of work things, and went to see Joker by myself. I enjoyed it a lot, and was again in awe of Joaquin Phoenix's acting ability. After it was over, I went to a hardware store to spend my birthday cash, and then I ran some errands at Walmart, tried out Popeye's new chicken sandwich that is making so much noise (it was very good), and then came home for presents and cake.
It was a very nice birthday, with thoughtful gifts and good food all around, but even better company. That night, we watched Dark Phoenix, which is another X-Men movie, on an upgraded blu-ray player my siblings gave me!
Avey went to a birthday party on Saturday, and had a really good time. I spent the day winterizing the mower, putting away Halloween decorations, and installing a larger light in our laundry room (what I bought at the hardware store). I ran into several obstacles with that, so that it took longer than needed, but it works and is so much brighter compared to the stupid one that was in there when we moved in. Avey got a flu shot, I took the younger boys and her to the dollar store and the library, and then Kira and I made my birthday meal, chicken Parmesan.
Kira has come down with what Carver had, it seems, though she's not had a fever. She's tired and has a runny nose and such. We're hoping it's done spreading.
Apollo has also been under the weather, as he's had some eye discharge and seems a little congested. He's in pretty good spirits, but we can tell he doesn't quite feel the same.
Merritt has a new routine after meals that seems noteworthy. He no longer washes his hands in the bathroom sink, but he drags a stool over to the kitchen sink, and then use about 1,000 gallons of water to wash himself off, trying both modes on the sprayer. Many times, he also insists on opening the window above the sink so that he can "look outside." It's a routine that demands a lot of supervision, so we hope that he grows out of it soon.
Kira has a client scheduled to come in on Monday! She got the call earlier in the week, and has been finishing preparations for her forms and office this week. She'll go in early tomorrow to make sure everything is how she wants it, and then we'll see how things go. We're excited to have that going on.
Otherwise, we can hardly wait for Thanksgiving break!