grandparents

the kids have enjoyed these weeks with my parents. my mother left this week, my dad came a bit after my mother and is staying a few more days.

it's been a while. can i be a drag here for second and return to the big topic for the last few months? in my life, and here. not that i've been around here much, but hey - it kind of feels like i haven't been much around in my life either. we've been too sick for me to really be "around" anything. yes. we continued our days with fever. one child after the other, taking turns. and once in a while i'd join them. yes, i know, another post of self pity. sorry.

then a couple of weeks back i went down really bad with a cold and fever. and just couldn't get over it. the last week my mom was here i slept most of the time. like really tired. got up to take kids to kindergarten, got back to sleep. up to work a bit, show my parents i was alive, then sleep again. pick kids, and have them running around, being entertained by my parents and pretend i was there, but i don't think i'd kid anyone as i would drape myself on the coach. when the children went to bed around 8pm i'd go straight to bed too.

D is not in the picture here, cause he's pretty much been out of the picture. especially the last couple of weeks. this is march and there's some sort of financial year ending on march 31. so he's been coming in at 3am for a few hours of sleep and then back to work. as you can imagine he loves his job this time of the year. almost as much as i do.

so finally i went to the doctor. and it turned out i had pneumonia. and then i'd go on my second round of antibiotics this winter.

but. it's getting warmer and the sun is shining. in fact all the way into my living room through clean windows (thanks mom).

not sure how i would have survived this last month if my parents hadn't been around.

good times

last weekend also had some hammock time and gardening. i'll hang on to that as we embrace a weekend of rain. my dad came this week, so now we have the luxury of two grandparents in da building.

weekend goodness listed

:: recovering from fever in the garden. i mean, if there has to be fever, what better way to recover?

:: fresh mojito greens in the garden. now, where's the havannah club?

:: little flower gifts. the boys know how to treat this girl.

:: monsters. as costumes, toys, stories. and on paper.

:: green salad, fresh from the garden. this wet winter made it possible for us to grow lettuce for the first time ever.

:: being outside. playing, eating, relaxing. how i missed you, warm days.

kids and costumes

we had purim last week. the kids dressed up, but this mom never got any photos of the tiger, ben10 or harry potter. blame it on the rain.

ok, it wasn't raining that day. it was beautiful and not too hot. we've had some purims with temperatures making the face paint disappear in sweat and costumes impossible to keep on. but this time it was perfect, besides the littlest one getting cold feet the morning of the purim dress-up party in the kindergarten and not feeling harry potter-ish at all. oh well, i didn't sit up half the night making it only to have him shake his pretty little face. like i did that one year where N wanted to be a pirate, so i made him a costume. it was awesome, despite being finished only in the early morning hours the night before. and then he didn't want to dress up.

i must admit i wasn't very adult about that.

anyway, harry p was a store bought robe. ben 10 we already had, but that was what the child wanted. and the tiger was an old costume too. i even tried to get him to change his mind on this, but he insisted to wear the 3 year old tiger costume that is way too small for him.

he looked weird, but he was happy.

the return

after a break i am back. and after a long wet and - for middle eastern standards - cold winter, spring is back.

my mom arrived almost a week ago, and she seem to have brought the good weather. this weekend we've spent most of our time outside. breakfast, lunch and just plain hanging in the garden.

believe it or not, we're still not completely over the sickness. this week the littlest has been sick. again. he's been so sick with fever on and off for the last two months, so this time we took him for a blood test. and everything was fine. so guess he's just been picking every little infection up he could this winter.

J is down today. he woke in the night with ear pain and seems to be a little hot too. but with the sun shining, and the option to rest with blankets outside, it's just much better.

hope you've been enjoying the weekend too. with or without spring in the air.