Lonely snow fever

I don't remember much about last week--it's all a blur of stapling and unstapling as Deanne and I worked on reupholstering Grandma's old rocking chair. And as Bruce helped me recover the part we had to redo. We're getting close to done on that project--I hope.

Yesterday morning, Bruce left really early for Washington DC. I told myself if I could survive church and choir practice with the kids, the rest of the week would be easier. (I was wrong.) Church was hard but good, thanks to the help of some friends. We had less than half of our Christmastime choir attend our first practice after church. Hopefully a few more will come next week. At least the choir hosts made soup for everyone, and sent me home with some since Bruce is gone.

Today (I hope) was the hardedst part of Bruce's absence. Riley was up a few times in the night, and stayed up beginning about 5:45. By 6:30 he was cranky. By 8 he was a basketcase. He's a little sick, and seems to have a bit of a fever. The worst of it is that he doesn't even want me to hold and comfort him, which makes me feel helpless. He's just hysterically grumpy. A short nap and Tylenol helped, and he even came out to play in the snow for awhile. Mostly he was cheerful only if there was a movie on or if I was reading to him. Then he fell asleep in less than two minutes tonight. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.

Zeke and Sammy are trying to cope with very little attention, and Sammy has been very helpful (except for when he's been a stubborn 4-year-old). I'm trying to keep Zeke from getting Riley's bug. Oh, and we got about 10 inches of snow today (not stopping until 3 or 4). Sammy was so happy when we left Riley watching a movie to go outside and shovel. I wasn't happy as this was my first time shoveling a REAL snowfall without Bruce's help. (Not counting shoveling a path up our street last week so I could get the van back to our house.) I was getting tired and was not quite halfway through when our kind next-door neighbor saw me and brought out her snowblower and 11-year old son. The three of us finished very quickly. I was so grateful. Luckily I made bread this morning and so we gave them a loaf.

That left me with time and energy to play in the snow with Sammy and Riley while Zeke obliged by napping inside. We needed the boost and had a lot of fun together. We've got moutains of snow everywhere thanks to the plows and all the shoveling--and I was even sinking in almost up to my waist in places. The snowflakes were huge today and the sun was shining just right, so Sammy and I got a close up look at snowflakes--the detail is incredible and it was sweet to see his excitement over their miniature perfection.

After hot chocolate, Riley got cranky again but we managed until bedtime. We're praying he feels better tomorrow so we can play with Tracen and Tyler. Then Wednesday Sammy will have preschool and Bruce will be home at night. After a day of quarantine and being snow-bound with no outside contact, we are excited for a bit of social activity! Hooray for tomorrow! Hooray for good health! Hooray for early bedtimes!