"The Art of the Brick"

Recently I took the younger children to a local museum to see a Lego display. Here are some photos of the displays we saw:

Chicken Pox Round 2

The chicken pox have once again hit our home.

On Saturday, Jesi started running a fever and had a handful of pox. She felt really bad and spent the day in bed. Sunday morning she woke up with a lot more.

Mathias woke up Sunday morning totally covered. Overall he hasn't felt bad, but spent Sunday and Monday on the couch. Today he is full of energy and starting to scab over.

Josiah had 1 on Sunday, along with a slight fever, so he too had to stay home from church. By Monday night he had a whopping 40 and was feeling terrible! This morning he woke up with a lot as is evidenced by the pictures.

Cara did not show any signs of pox on Sunday, but we still kept her home from church. On Monday she joined the others on the couch. She had some energy, but today that is totally gone. Like Josiah, she is breaking out very slowly. As of this morning she still only has 7-10 pox. Tomorrow she will probably have more. We'll post some pictures once she breaks out....

Sara is healing up nicely from her illness. She did end up running a very high fever and when we took her to the Dr. we found out that she had a severe double ear infection. I guess this is a very common side effect from the chicken pox. So we are keeping an eye on the other children and their ears.

This is just a theory that Daniel and I came up with....those who snuggled and played very closely with Sara are the ones who broke out first and the worst. Josiah and Cara shared lollipops and played with Sara, but not as frequently or as closely. They are the ones who are taking a longer to break out.

Our current protocol is calamine, tea tree oil, and vitamin E mixed together and liberally applied. Those who itch really bad at night are given some Benedryl. That has helped all of us sleep a lot better. We also have been giving oatmeal and Epson salt baths. This has also helped a lot with the itching.

When this round of pox is over, every child in the family will have had them. We still have no idea where the original case that Sara had came from, but we are thankful for whomever gave them to us!

Virginia part 1

This post is coming to you from the lovely state of Virginia. Our family is here on a work trip/vacation. Daniel is attending a class for work, while the rest of the family is out seeing the sights.

We arrived in Virginia Sunday evening after leaving home around 4:45 am. 14 hours later and 5 stops, we arrived at our hotel. The ride was pretty uneventful and everyone traveled very well. We weren't sure how Sara was going to do, but she did wonderfully!

Monday morning we were supposed to drop Daniel at class and head into Washington DC via the Metro. We were a bit tired so we decided to go to the Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport. The hanger was full of planes from world War 1 & 2, Korea, and Vietnam, commercial and acrobatic planes, Ultralites, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. It was fun to walk around and see how planes have evolved through the wars.

Peashooter

Acrobatic plane

A Concord

Space shuttle Enterprise

We also had opportunity to go up in the Observation Tower and watch planes land and take off from Dulles Airport while listening to the Control Tower. Watching the planes on radar and listening to air traffic control gave us all a bit more respect for the hard job they have.

Observation tower

Dulles Airport

Can you see our van?

Tuesday morning we brought Daniel to class and drive to Vienna/Fairfax to catch the Metro. The lots were full, so we had to wait until 10 am to park. That is the time when reserved spots go public. These spots were snatched up so quickly! The Metro ride was fun, especially for those who don't remember riding it before. The Metro let us off right in front the American History Museum, where we spent the day. Here are some pictures of the exhibits we saw.

This exhibit really saddened me. The pill...is it really better than nature? or God?

Quilting Demonstration. She and I talked awhile about quilting projects.

Julia Child's kitchen

Mary Lincoln's inaugural gown

The future President Ryken

Thomas Jefferson's desk where he wrote the Declaration of Independence

Today (Wednesday), on advice from someone in Daniel's class, we drove down to Manassas and visited the sight of the two battles at Bull Run. It was really interesting as we watched a 45 minute movie and then took a tour of the battle grounds. The park ranger described the battles so thoroughly that you could almost picture it happening before your eyes.

Henry Hill Monument

"There stood Jackson like a stone wall"

The Stone Bridge over the Bull Run

Finally, here are some pictures of some very tired children and my handsome husband. Until part 2......