Emma is the sweetest little girl ever.  Since I've been so sick lately I've been taking naps occasionally.  The other morning I was fading out, on accident, on the couch.  Emma turned off all of the lights downstairs, turned on the bathroom fan (she knows I like white noise when I sleep), brought me a phone and blanket, and then she went upstairs to her room, closed the door, and played.  She certainly is a mother at heart.  Of course, I woke up to her singing Frozen songs at the top of her lungs an hour later in her room, but even that was still cute.

I've talked with some friends who have had clogged ears, and they all said it lasted a couple of months.  Joy.  At least the pain is starting to die down.  I guess I'll just have to get used to hearing out of one ear for a while.  But, I'm still going to see an ENT just to make sure there's nothing that can be done.

Errolyn auditioned for the Middle School orchestra yesterday.  She's still a beginner, but she's way better than the other 5th grade string players and doesn't want to be stuck with the other kids playing super easy music in the 6th grade orchestra.  The 5th grade strings teacher doesn't teach them anything, but plays on his computer and just tells them to practice something.  I volunteered one week to kind of show him how to teach and to help the kids (he's a choir teacher and knows nothing about violin).  Errolyn said the practice after I taught, the choir teacher had them open the book and all play together and was going over my instruction sheet I'd left on posture and technique.  She was excited that he was teaching them something.  But then the next 6 rehearsals he did nothing again.  So, she dropped out.  I normally don't let my kids quit things in the middle of the year once they've committed, but the teacher obviously is not committed to helping the students at all, so I let her drop out as long as she promised to have lessons with me instead.  She agreed and has improved a lot.  She'll find out what orchestra she'll make in a week or two.  The Orchestra Director said she's automatically good enough to make the Upper Intermediate Orchestra, but depending on how the other auditioners do, she may even make the Lower Advanced Orchestra.

Oh, and I think I need to ground Logan more often... just kidding.  But he's been grounded to his room this week and he's been reading his Scriptures, reading the Friend, he drew and colored a beautiful picture of the temple, and he's been singing Primary songs in his room all week.  I feel like he's grown spiritually more in this grounding than all year, lol.  He really is a good kid... other than the reason he's grounded for.  ;)

2 different antibiotics later and lots of medicine I shouldn't be taking while pregnant, and I still have an ear infection and can't hear out of my left ear.  This is getting annoying.  Mentally I'm ready to go, but my pain is making it difficult to get on with things.  My morning sickness is almost gone except for after dinnertime (yea!), but I can't kick this dumb ear infection and ear clogging.

Cameron played his String UIL concert yesterday and they got a Sweepstakes trophy for doing so well.  I was starting to feel better from my morning sickness and committed to play the violin at 2 weddings that are coming up and at the next Symphony concert... but that was before my ear infection, so hopefully I can hear by the wedding this Saturday and my Symphony rehearsal next week.

Logan starts baseball on Saturday and Errolyn will have another season of volleyball.  I won't be coaching volleyball this time, but after observing the other teams we played against last season, I requested Errolyn's new coach.  Her coach is really good and an actual volleyball player (not just a random parent) so I think Errolyn will learn a lot.  Now I just need to teach Emma to swim before the middle of May so she can join Swim Team.  She just has to be able to swim half way across the pool and they'll take her on the team... we'll see.  My other kids all joined at 4 yrs. old too, but they didn't have to know how to swim; the coaches taught them.  But, now the rules are different for joining.  Now that Emma already has to know how to swim a little... we'll see.  I think Emma would go crazy watching ALL of her siblings swimming everyday for 2 months while she sat on the sidelines, so hopefully she'll let me teach her so she can join the team.  The cold water won't help the situation, so hopefully it'll heat up a little.

We find out if the baby is a boy or a girl on April 24th... exciting! 

I can't remember having an ear infection in many, many years, but if this is what my kids feel like... I feel SO badly for them!  I try really hard to only take medicines that are Class A or B drugs, so no Sudaphed, nose sprays, or Advil while I'm pregnant... and consequently I feel like I'm dying.  I miss my medicine!  The good news is, I think my morning sickness is starting to subside- yea!  The bad news is, I have a horrible sinus infection and ear infection and the pain in my head could not be any worse... waiting for my afternoon doctor's appointment is taking all of my patience and prayers right now.

I got a blessing last night which said I would be able to sleep and that I needed to go to the doctor.  My ear either stopped hurting or I wasn't able to feel it enough to get some sleep (thank goodness)... but now it's back with a vengeance.  Glad I was at least able to get some sleep

Mike just got promoted... yea!  He is an IT Security Technical Director now and it came with a nice raise.  Proud of his hard work!  The next level up from him is an Executive... so he's doing well. 

So, our Spring Break routine was working hard in the mornings and then playing in the afternoons.  I was still feeling badly, but wanted the kids to go out and have fun.  Monday, I just took the kids up to the church gym and they played volleyball, tennis, Ghosts in the Graveyard, etc. while I laid on the church couch.  Tuesday, a friend of ours owns some undeveloped wooded property and they invited a bunch of families out.  They had a large tree house, camp fire, and lots of snacks and the kids had a blast running through the trees playing games with so many friends.  Wednesday was a bad day for me so I sent the kids on a nature scavenger hunt through the subdivision and park since I couldn't go out.  Thursday, I had a better day so Carol and I took the kids roller skating.  The kids had a blast skating, as usual, and Emma went skating for the first time and loved it!  Carol was a great Aunt and skated with Emma for over an hour to help her.  It all went good until Emma crashed, then Carol crashed and hit her head on the floor and may have a concussion.  I feel so badly for her! 

Friday, Janet's family came into town.  Carol bought crafts for the kids at Michaels and we hung out with Janet and David's family at Carol's for a while.  The kids had a fun time playing with their cousins.  On Saturday, we met Janet's family at Heidi's for a little bit and a ton of people were there: Grandma, Kathy, Carol, George, and David and Janet's family.  I hadn't had much opportunity to talk to Janet so I when she was pumping I went and talked for her for about 30 minutes which was nice.

Also, since I've been sick a lot, I've had a lot more downtime where I'm not doing anything productive.  So, we decided to get Netflix.  I've become addicted to the TV series "Once Upon a Time."  It's a little weird at times but I love how they incorporate the storybook characters and their past lives into modern times.

Errolyn created an "Amazing Race" for the family.  The first challenge: build a 1 foot tower with 50 popsicle sticks without tape, glue, or leaning it up against anything.  The boys are having fun with this one... it'll be fun to see what the next challenges are.

Errolyn just told me...

Searching for weird pre-written words in random folders on the computers that Errolyn has created and writing down the definition she's written

Wagon races with socks on the tile and using no hands (10 times back and forth)

Finding a hidden clue behind one of our 60 wall pictures in the house

And finding a coin from the year you were born

Emma and Mike are partners, Logan and Cameron are partners, I'm the judge, and Errolyn created it all.  Everyone seems to be enjoying it!