Family Weekend #1

This last weekend has taken a while to recover from (aka it's already Wednesday and I'm finally finding time to sit down and blog) and it was busy busy busy! Thursday I took Eloise and Michael in for follow-up visits for their pneumonia and ears. Eloise was doing great and just need to finish up her antibiotics and she'd be all better. Michael on the other hand had another ear infection. The problem was (and still might be) that the fluid behind his ears never drained and so it kept getting re-infected over and over again. I consulted with my doctor (saying there is no way in hell that I'm giving my kid another round of oral antibiotics because they suck and I'm tired of poop and a grumpy-not-eating kid) and we decided that since he had gained over 1 lb in 2 weeks since he's been off antibiotics, bumping him up to the 4th %, we would not go the oral route this time. So he got a shot. They are awful, but it was necessary. Three days after he got the shot, he slept six hours straight! First time in three months that he's slept longer than three hours in a night! The next night he slept eight! When we went in on Monday to check his ears again, the infection was almost all the way gone, but we opted for another shot to try and kick it completely since this ear has been infected for so long. Fingers crossed for a full recovery soon!

Grandma Sue and Papa rolled into town on Thursday night and Evelynn got to show them her awesome bike riding skills. She's getting pretty darn good. We've almost mastered starting by herself instead of having to be steadied/pushed by me so we're so close to perfection! It's so odd seeing my kid struggle and learn to master riding a bike because it brings back vivid memories of when I learned those same skills. Each progression she makes I also remember making. And apparently it's not just me. My dad was getting all nostalgic about learning to ride his own bike about 50 years ago (I can say that since he's almost 55 :) ). I guess it's just one of those milestones that you just never forget.

After the bike demonstration and finally getting excited kids down for bed, it was time to say goodbye to grandparents for the night, and start worrying about how on earth everything was supposed to get done for Jennifer's wedding (Doug's cousin). I had offered a few months ago to do her wedding flowers (the bridal bouquet, 5 small bridesmaids bouquets, 11 boutonnieres, and 5 corsages and a tossing bouquet), a feat which I knew was within my capabilities as long as the bride didn't want a wide assortment of flowers since I had access to Costco and Smith's flower supplies (which she didn't. She wanted mainly roses, so that was easy). A few years ago I had done something similar for my cousins Brittany's wedding, so I knew what to do and that I could do it. My poor brother-in-law offered to make the wedding cake, which actually turned into the wedding cake AND 500 cupcakes for the reception, a feat which was very much out of his capabilities. If you take 48 cupcakes (that's 4 muffin tins) and bake them for an average of 25 minutes it will take you approximately 4 hours to cook all the cupcakes, then add another hour to mixing and spooning and rotating etc, and then add another 2 hours to make and frost all the cupcakes... yeah. We were all enlisted until the conflict was or', and it was a long night followed by a frantic day. Friday we cleaned up my house (because we were staying at Grandma Jacobson's in Lehi for the weekend and people were coming to see the house while we were gone) cleaned out Kristen's dorm so she could move home for the summer, shopped for flowers and ingredients, and then baked and baked and baked, and made flowers, and baked some more. After a long night made longer by grumpy I'm-not-sleeping-in-my-own-bed-so-I'm-not-sleeping-well children, we were up and running to get to the temple in Draper, take pictures, come home, frost cupcakes, head out to the luncheon, head home to pack up cupcakes and drive to Salt Lake for the reception, setting up cupcakes, passing out flowers, and then waiting and waiting for the reception to be over so we could pack up and get the poor tired children home to bed. Oh, and the poor tired parents and grandparents too. Thank goodness church was at 1:00 the next day, or we all might have just not gone, even on Easter! You might think whew! Glad that's over with, but it wasn't just yet. Doug and I had been volunteered to make the Easter ham for the family dinner, which was fine because we make the best ham in the world anyway. Period. Don't believe me? Ask anyone who has had it. But in the end we ended up making the ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, roasted asparagus, and more cake (leftover wedding cake, but we still made more frosting for it). Say what? Yeah. But I almost wouldn't have had it any other way because Doug and I are the best cooks in the family. :) At least the family that lives in Utah. And it was an amazing dinner. Again, just ask anyone who had it. After all that, it was time to reload our car and head home, putting our kids to bed for the third night in a row after 10:00 pm. Poor things. It was a good thing they had 8 adults looking after them this weekend because even with that they were still neglected quite a bit. And through all of this I took no pictures of the process or the flowers or the wedding or anything. Please forgive me. I'll have to beg some off my in-laws.

What a weekend. Now do you understand why it's not so odd that it's now Wednesday and I'm just getting to it? On top of things, Eloise has pink eye, Michael has diarrhea, Evelynn is BORED (that's a huge problem for everyone, in case you didn't know), I need to do some yard work and house work and clean out the van by tomorrow so I can pick up MY parents and sister at the airport who are coming into town for my brother's graduation from UVU, get ready for the graduation party on Friday, and keep my house clean with three extra people here in case more showings get booked. Hurray....let the madness begin again. More updates next Wednesday, maybe.