Great Weekend ... Cruddy Monday

We made the 3 hour trek to Russell on Saturday so the boys could make a long overdue visit to their Great-Grandma Galyardt. Thankfully Riley and Gage slept for about half the ride which helped things go smoothely. We were very fortunate that it turned out to be a lovely sunny day so the boys could get outside every once in a while and run off some of their seemingly boundless energy. I don't know if Great-Grandma (or any of us for that matter) could have handled it if it was still raining and we had to be cooped up inside. She has so many "pretties" that the boys just love to touch. Lamps with beaded fringes, collector's display plates, tall floor vases, numerous ceramic and glass knick-knacks ... yep, a whole lot of breakables that are just too irresistable for curious little fingers. Luckily, with the help of Grandma Soukup and Aunt Tracy, many near disasters were avoided. Corey was also very happy because he finally got to golf at the Russell Golf Course after all of these years of visiting.

After our visit to Great-Grandma's we headed to McPherson to stay the night at my parent's house. On our way we got a great surprise! My dad was supposed to be at a trap shoot all weekend that he had planned way in advance, but due to the weather and some unfortunate shooting percentages, he decided to come home Saturday evening. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Riley's face when he saw PopPop Soukup. Oh my, that was pure joy! We had tried to prepare him that PopPop wouldn't be around on this visit, so he was especially excited to see him open the door. He is sooo grandpa's little boy. I think that grandpa was just as excited, too = ) So, with all of this excitement, there was no way Riley and Gage were going to get to bed on time. They got spoiled and got to stay up late and they loved every minute of it! We had the usual morning routine where dad cooks up a huge breakfast fit for a king (and his little princes.) Afterwards the boys got to play outside with PopPop for a little while before he had to head off for the 2nd day of his shoot. Remember how extremely excited Riley was to see PopPop? Well, he was just as disappointed to see him leave. The tears were just streaming down his poor little face. But, he still had Grandma there to spoil him so he did find some comfort in that.

Next we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Huber's house for some more family fun and BBQ dinner. The boys loved getting to run around the farm, play in the rocks, and help pick fresh veggies from the garden. Gage was especially enamoured with the pinball machine in the garage. All of those flashing lights, crazy noises, and frantic flipper action kept his attention for a long while. When I'd had more than my fill and tried to divert his attention to something else, he just wailed his trademark "noooooooooooooooooooooo!" But, lunch was ready, so that fit was quickly over as our little redhead LOVES to eat = )

After that, we headed back to Lawrence as we were all beyond beat. I love visiting everyone and it always seems that we have to leave too early. However, it is always so nice to be home, too. After feeding the kids supper and unpacking we all just pretty much zoned out and went to bed early.

Unfortunately, Monday was not nearly as pleasant as the weekend. It started off fine enough, with the exception of my herniated disc really becoming painful. I went in for my epidural shot which is really not a fun experience. The shot itself hurts like the dickens, then the backache really intensifies. The last time I had this done I had to take the rest of the day off of work because sitting in my desk chair was unbearable. However, I had too much stuff to do so I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. Then I had one of those special kind of people come in to my office who is just not happy with anything. After listening to this lovely person go on and on telling me what a money grubbing wench I was because of the rate I quoted him (he had 6 different violations, a suspended license, and an accident in the last 3 years), I had had enough. I held it together while he was here, but once he was out of sight I just broke down in tears. I just don't understand how people think it is ok to talk to someone like that. I know I shouldn't let that kind of stuff get to me, but sometimes I just can't take it.

Anyhow, after dealing with this as best as I could and trying to grit my teeth through my back pain, I get a call from Gloria telling me that Gage is running a fever of 102 and is just cranky and not eating. Great. After some Tylenol he did better for a little bit, but was soon grumpy again and just wanted to be held. I made one of the kid's favorite goulash casserole dishes for supper and neither one took more than a bite or two. Then Riley started crying, and lo and behold, he had a fever, too! Uggh! Corey tried so hard to help me soothe the kids, but, of course, when little boys are sick they just want their momma. So much for resting my sore back! Since I didn't know if they had the flu or not, I decided to turn the living room floor into our sleeping area and covered it with blankets and towels in case there were any vomiting bouts or leaky diarrhea diapers (yep, been there, done that, now I know to be over-prepared!) Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with any of that yucky stuff. But, they alternated all night long which one would break a fever and cry and need cuddled and rocked back to sleep. They each had their last dose of Tylenol at midnight, then got up for snacks at 3:00 am. Yes, snacks! Riley requested crackers and Gage just said eeeeeaaaaat! I know they were hungry since neither of them ate supper and they slept throught their bedtime snack, so there I am stumbling around like a zombie getting together a little something for them to get in their tummies. From there they slept the rest of the way through to 6:30 and woke up fresh as daisies. What?! Don't get me wrong, I am so glad they are feeling better. But, honestly, I was sort of looking forward to staying home this morning and maybe getting a little rest with them. Oh well, c'est la vie. So, I'm packing them off to daycare and I'm heading to work. Let's hope Tuesday turns out to be a much better day for all of us!