After this week, I've decided that my kids are big troopers and even semi-compassionate.  It's been spring break for them this last week (not for Sean he still worked every day).  We didn't have any major plans, but we were going to go to the park lots, go "bumming" (fun shopping), have playdates, etc.  The only plans we had set in stone was taking the kids to see the dentist that Monday (so they wouldn't miss school), and that's about it. 

Aspen however hadn't been feeling very well.  She had a high fever on Easter Sunday with zero appetite, better Monday but overdid at the park and had a 2 hour nap, and then lethargic with a bellyache on Tuesday.  Tuesday night Sean and I decided (even though it was yucky, freezing weather) to take the kids out for $1 scoop ice-cream cones at Baskin Robbins.  Somehow that was the remedy that Aspen needed and she was pretty much fine after that.  But she must have thought we were running a relay race and she slammed that flu baton into my hands quite swiftly.

Out of the blue on Wednesday morning the stomach flu had come to stay with me.  Luckily none of the other kids have gotten it.  Well, maybe Celeste had a mild version, it's hard to tell if her intermittent "stomachache" was for attention, or for getting out of chores, or actually legitimate.  Anyway, I was down and out, or in the bathroom, all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I haven't eaten a real meal since Tuesday.  My stomach's still not quite all the way right today (Saturday), but I feel better.  I haven't had a flu bug this harsh in years!  It completely wiped me out, and with 4 kids at home too.  I warned the kids that as long as I was sick, we couldn't do much.  I had quarantined us all! (except Sean of course)  I didn't even trust myself to drive.  None of them complained that they were bored or couldn't go anywhere, and Aspen was a big help.  They watched at least two movies a day, read a lot, played Wii, played board games, and generally survived on their own.

So now that the worst of it's behind me (I hope), I'm 8-10 pounds lighter, spring break's over, and my house is a wreck!  But my kids don't seem to mind.  Yea, Spring Break!

Maybe it was the bird flu after all?!?  Maybe I didn't wash my hands enough, lol! 
(see below)

Yesterday afternoon Aspen came rushing into me telling me that a bird flew right into our back glass sliding door.  She was a little distraught.  I asked if it had flown or hopped away or if it was dead.  She said it was stuck and couldn't get up.  That peaked my curiosity.  Sure enough, there was the bird a foot away from our sliding door.  It reminded me of an upside down turtle not able to get up.  Luckily the younger three kids didn't see any of this because they were glued to a movie.  I scooped up the bird with a dish towel to assess the damage, and oh was it damaged.  It's poor head was definitely smooshed.  I held it for a minute trying to comfort it, and figuring out what I should do with it.  After two minutes or so I realized it stopped breathing, right there in my hands.  I'd seen plenty of dead birds and other critters before, but none had ever died in my hands.  It definitely weirded me out a little.  I laid it to rest behind our back fence where an undeveloped desert area is.  Lunch for some other animal I guess.

Then this morning, I got woken up by three very concerned children frantically telling me that a bird just flew right into our sliding door!   These are the same kids I was so grateful hadn't witnessed yesterday's bird incident.  Now they saw it happen for themselves.  Wow, 2 days in a row!!  This time it was a sweet little morning dove.  It didn't look quite as banged up as yesterday's bird, but it still couldn't fly or even walk much.  It was definitely bright-eyed and scared to death of me.  Hopefully it might even survive.  I still took it out behind our fence though so the kids couldn't keep tormenting it and watching it suffer.  It's so windy today though.  I hope the little thing is o.k. 

I'm starting to wonder if our cloudy pond water that they keep drinking from is no good for them.  Or maybe they're eating old fermented fruit from last fall and getting drunk, our plant class professor up in Idaho used to say that it's a common occurrence this time of year.  Either way this is weird.  It's certainly not because our glass door is so startlingly clean it looks like only air.  There's fingerprints, muddy spots from Celeste who had a muddy hay-day a few days back, and now two large dirty spots where two birds have hit the glass.  Maybe it's the beginning of the Apocalypse like how that "Day After Tomorrow" movie starts with all of those birds acting crazy?   Or maybe it's bird flu coming to Reno!   Man, I'm going to wash my hands ten more times now.

Maybe real estate here in Reno is actually starting to pick up after all?!?

Yes, after a year of scrutinizing this area, studying the housing market, searching out the good schools in the area, and pouring over house possibilities online, Sean and I have started the official house hunt as of ten days ago.  In those last ten days, we were very serious about two different houses.  Both of these two houses went pending within hours of when we were going to submit an offer.  Both are short sales however, so there’s still a chance these other deals might fall through later.

The first house, my dream house, was only on the market for 3 days! (it really was a great house for a great price)  That's unheard of in this slow real estate economy right now!  A few days later Sean started really falling in love with a house right around the corner from where we're living now.  I liked it too, but this was Sean.  Sean NEVER falls in love with houses.  His attitude is always, "I'm happy with whatever you like dear."  This second house had been on the market for 180 days, yes SIX months!  Yet on the same day we were going to submit our offer, it goes pending.  What are the chances?!?  Somebody was very busy over Easter weekend.  Unfortunately it wasn’t us.

Now we have some important decisions to make.  Unfortunately there's not a lot left on the market that we like that's close by, in our price range, and big enough.  So should we broaden our search (even though that means a different school for the kids) and get right back up on the saddle again and start falling in love with a third house?  Or should we put in a back-up offer for one of these short sales hoping it falls through for someone else?  Or we might just lay low and just patiently wait until something else tempting comes on the market near by.

Lesson learned: if you’re desperate to sell, have us come get serious about your house. Someone else will snatch it up instead! Crazy.

We decided to go to an Easter Egg Hunt and potluck brunch that we were invited to by one of the other Joy School Mom's.  They have a huge, huge corner yard and hill that they hide a ton of plastic eggs on every year (why can't we find a house with a yard like that?).  It sounded like fun.  A few problems:  Sean set up an eye appointment for Saturday morning right at the same time, so only me and the kids were going.  Next I found out that the Mom whose house it was wouldn't even be in town for the egg hunt, and I didn't know her husband at all, but we went anyway.  Next, came phone calls that morning and other delays so we got there 15-20 minutes late.  Most all of the eggs were already found.  Each of our kids found a whoppin' 3 or 4 eggs.  Aspen was so helpful.  She'd tour Will around pointing out an egg or two for him when she found them.  We knew hardly anyone because none of the other joy school family's came.  Celeste knew two kids from school, but even most of the kids there went to a different elementary school than us.  We made the most of it though.  Brunch was good.  The kids started enjoying the vastness of the land.  And I started talking to strangers.  Great fun.  Next year if we go, we'll make sure we're on time though, lol!

All last week we were talking about creativity and imagination in Joy School.  We thought it would be fun to take the kids on a field trip to our local art museum to show them the variety of creative things they can make some day.  It was fun, but I didn't budget enough time for the whole experience.  Or maybe I did.  We had about an hour to spend there.  The kids (especially Will) was about done 30-40 minutes there.  The mom's on the other hand would have loved an extra hour or two to gaze, study, and ponder the exhibits.

The kids favorite part was the roof top which had a few large sculptures on it.  This was also one of the few places we were allowed to take pictures too.  The kids could touch and even go inside of these rooftop works of art.  There was Plexiglas around the edges of the roof for unbelievable views.  The height had a bit of a dizzying effect though.  The architecture of the museum building itself was astounding, just breathtaking.  Almost all of their exhibits rotate, so every few months we can go back and get a whole new experience.  There was a cowboy exhibit, an environmental/natural exhibit that completely embodied the feel of Nevada, and a tree exhibit--that one was cool.  There was Native American baskets, clothing, and pottery, and a few multi-media presentations that we didn't have time to watch.  Next time us moms will probably go without the kids though, lol.

I just found the cutest most creative snack idea for kids!  If you pour a little milk (about 1/4 cup each) in a few bowls or egg carton cups and add a different drop of food coloring in each, all of the sudden you have some great edible paint!  It was my week to have six five-year-olds at our house.  We were talking about imagination, creativity, and art in Joy School this week.  How fun for them to make their own masterpiece painting and then EAT IT!!  They thought I was crazy when I told them they were going to eat their very own work of art.  Here's how we did it:

Get your assorted edible milk paints.  Give each child a piece of bread.  Even whole wheat works as long as it isn't too dark of bread.  Then I gave each child a half of a straw to dip into the paint and drop/spread onto the bread.  We had some very colorful creations.  We even had a little spillage, but it didn't stain or anything.

Lastly, we toasted them up to firm them up.  Be careful not to let them get too too soggy with milk or even toasting them won't firm them up.  The kids loved it!  Even my older girls got into the fun snack idea in the afternoon when they got home.  Enjoy!