I re-CAPTURE THE CASTLE! and other events of the past month

Halloween was only the beginning . . .

That night a family in our ward moved into our basement. We'd met them the week before at the ward fall festival and learned that they were supposed to close on their new home friday morning and be out of their current house that night. I, in good faith, offered "if you end up needing a place to stay, we have a basement . . ." Around 9PM they, their four boys (ages 11, 10, 8 & 8), and their two dogs moved in. What was originally suppose to be a couple of days lasted three weeks (let me remind you that this is one week longer than we had actually lived in the house ourselves). No, I'm not bitter . . . I need the blessings.

The next thursday I got a call from Justin's school saying he was burning up and fast asleep. So I picked him up and went straight to the doctor. After four years, 3 months, and 4 days of nothing more than the average cold and occasional fever, he was diagnosed with strep and administered his first ever antibiotic. The following weekend he spiked another fever and we set off again to see his pediatrician (it was low-grade but he was still on his antibiotic?!) This time - an ear infection and a different antibiotic. The following weekend, McKenzie got a turn with the throat swabbing. She tested negative for strep but didn't escape the ear infection and got her own bottle of pink syrup. We seemed to be in the clear until last night when a light rash appeared on her chest. This morning she was covered head to toe with the bright red chicken-pox-like outbreak. Our opinion: an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillin. We've doped her up on Benadryl and thrown out the antibiotic. If she's not better in the morning, we'll be back in the peds office for the forth week in a row.

This week was a true week of thanksgiving. I'm thankful for my family, for their typically good health and consistently good spirits. I'm thankful for the beautiful home we have and the means to care for it. I'm thankful for family and friends who are always available and willing to lend a helping hand. I'm thankful for the holiday season, for the looks of awe as we place baby Jesus in the nativity scene and the smiles and exclamations of joy as we plug in the 700 lights on the Christmas tree.

Happy holidays!!