Light At The End Of The Tunnel

In case you haven't noticed, I've been pretty much absent from this blog of mine lately.

Nothing incredibly great or terribly bad has been going on-life's just been kind of ho-hum. I'm not sure if I'm feeling really blah because I'm still grieving the loss of my Grandma Nancy, or if I'm just waiting for something new to happen.

This past week has been especially hard. On Thursday night, Ellie and Ethan came down with high fevers (101 and 102) and went to bed early. Then Friday morning we discovered they had croup.

I was SO disappointed! Not only because this meant a trip to the Dr. for some meds/steroid injections, but I also knew it meant spending the next several days cooped up at home, feeling tired, sick, and well, grumpy.

My disappointment increased when I realized it meant missing out on the event I was REALLY looking forward to---cousin night! I know the word cousin means many things to other people, but my cousins, my sisters and I are tight. We've always been more like siblings and grew up having "cousin nights" often. A few times at Grandma Nancy's house even.

This was the first cousin night we would have since losing Grandma, and we were determined to make it fun. We had planned a night of pumpkin carving, making pizza and just having a good time.

I mean, look at all the fun we missed!

But Ellie and Ethan had croup. Caleb was with the volleyball team. And after a long week already, I would be spending the next several days nursing my babies back to health.

Don't hear me wrong. I love my babies more than anything. And I've even found some joy in having to slow life down over the last few days. We've watched movies, snuggled, read books, colored and rested a lot. And we've gotten plenty of quality time with one another. :)

Now it's Tuesday. 6 days later and I still can't take Ellie and Ethan anywhere we can get others sick. The fevers are gone and I think we're on the mend, but I am going crazy-with a capitol C! SO ready to get back to the land of the living. :)

 

 I want to see my babes wear these great big smiles again:

 

 

And I'm ready to see them playing dress up, running around and playing outside.

 



Ellie cracks me up with her love for hats.

 

That being said, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. Caleb has fall break next week and we plan on spending some time at the beautiful family cabin in the mountains near us. Then we're taking the kids to a big fall festival on Halloween and hosting dinner for family at our house. We plan on having dinner with some friends next week too.

The beginning of fall break also marks the beginning of playoff time for Caleb's volleyball season! WOOHOO! I really do enjoy watching and being a part of Caleb's volleyball team, but I don't enjoy the many nights he's away at games or tournaments. The beginning of playoff time marks the end of Christine being a single parent for many fall nights. ;)

Then once volleyball is done, the holiday season will be staring me in the face!

Yes, the holidays this year will be very bittersweet as they will be the first we celebrate without Grandma, but I will still look forward to being with family, having Caleb off and eating delicious food.

 

 

Writing this post lifted my spirits already. I think we're over the worst.

Who's Who?

When I was younger (and thinner) I was often told that I looked like Jennifer Garner. I even have this vivid memory of walking into a car parts store and the man at the counter thought I looked so much like Jennifer Garner that he asked if he could call me Miss Garner while he helped me. Yeah, I thought it was weird too, but I humored him and played along.

 

 

I think I would look much more like her if I was 8 inches taller (I'm just shy of 5 feet tall) and lost about 10 pounds. ;) Man, I would love to have her body!

I haven't heard that I look like her in recent years, except for when we were both pregnant at the same time (her 2nd child, my first).

Due to the fact that my kids keep me busy and the fact we don't have cable anymore, I hardly ever keep up with celebrity news. I think I heard that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck had a third child this year, but that was the most I knew.

Last week I got this text from my sister Courtney, "So you know how some people think you look like Jennifer Garner? I think her son looks like Ethan" and she attached this picture:

The moment I saw the picture I saw the resemblance! It was a little creepy to me how much her son Samuel looks like my son Ethan. Especially at the same age.

 

I think Samuel Affleck was about 4 months in the picture above, so I went and found pictures of my Ethan at around 4 months old. I had a little too much fun cropping pictures and matching them up. I wanted to make a little game of it. I put the pictures of both my son and of Samuel Affleck in this collage. Do you see the resemblance? Who's who?