Spring Break Break

It seems the Nowell Four* have been blowing and going since Spring Break sprung last Friday.

We've had family fun night at the church, a chance for the kids to bond with things like ping-pong and foosball tables, Wii and XBox games, and, generally, the other kids in the church while Mom and Dad go bond with each other.

Then we helped clean-up Valley View park with a dozen or so other people who decided a gorgeous Saturday should be spent outside. In case you think "Your kids are SO GREAT that they would want to do a mission's project on their break", you are VERY, VERY WRONG. MommaJ drug them by their ears, kicking and screaming. But, the upside was that they were thankful and happy to have participated once it was all over.

We've been to the gym, roller-skated, had numerous AirSoft wars, driven to East Texas for lunch with Mike's side of the family and seen the new assisted living situation Mike's Granny is in.

All and all, a good time away from school.

Then Wednesday morning, 5am, hit. With throwing up and fever and headache for The Babe.

This was the day we had planned to take the train to the Dallas Aquarium and shell out way too much money to see a bunch of wet animals. But, it was in the budget and on the schedule, so we were going to march forward.

Instead, we spent Wednesday just piddling around the house. After I told the boys they couldn't watch another millisecond of TV just because their little brother had the privilege**, they rediscovered Monopoly. I managed to make breakfast and stack the dishwasher. Beyond that, the morning was just spent doing something that was slightly short of nothing.

Literally, at 2pm, I was still in my pj's. By 3p, I was in my clothing from the previous day because the headache that had been milling around in The Babe's skull became unbearable, so I had to get some meds. Stat.

Incidentally, am I the only Mom on planet Earth who simultaneously loves and loathes children's pain meds? I mean, at 4am, I am never more grateful for grape, chewable acetaminophen. But at 2pm, when pain meds give a child the sense they are CURED and release tons of pent-up energy, I am absolutely convinced that the people who concocted these drugs never, ever had kids in their family tree. In fact, they invented the stuff and died out in one generation.
Anyway, back to Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the older two boys had discovered that the rest of the neighborhood was, blissfully, back on the block, and were doing their usual running in-and-out of houses.

After I medicated sweet man, he asked me to get Daddy. Mike had promised to play a video game with the little guy over lunch but an unexpected, happy business call prompted Mike and I to have a very long, very detailed conversation over vegetables and protein smoothies.***

Now, Babe had previously said to me "I'm so tired I can't sleep." I knew that meant "I'm exhausted but I'll be darned if I'll take a nap because naps are for babies and I'm so old I think I may get hair under my arms at just about any moment now."

Right in the big, fat middle of that game, Mike realized "I'm playing alone." Babe went to Sleepyland for the next three hours.

Today is Thursday. The Babe woke up and asked if he could get out of bed this morning. He felt much better, thank you, and wanted to play Legos and watch TV.

It is now 10am and I finally managed to cobble together breakfast. The Babe's neck still feels a little warm, so I've canceled the previously scheduled gym date. I'm watching like a hawk to see if the biscuits and eggs come back out to play before I proceed to schedule anything.

Regardless, I think this has been a great break away from the regular routine for us, even if we didn't get to everything on our "Spring Break Bucket List".

We've had time to do things we love, time to do things we're called to do, and time to relax with people we adore.

I'm not sure I could have asked for much more.



*Mom and the boys. Daddy, sadly, has been working most of the time.

**I have fond memories of being sick in front of the TV for hours on end when I was little. I think there should be at least one upside to being sick. Hence, the tradition continues.

***There is absolutely nothing romantic about eating this together. It's more like trying to down gruel in an orphanage.