Ron's Birthday and Sick Kids!

The cake the kids made and decorated so carefully..but did not eat!
The happy family. Abby was screaming, Maddie was hiding and the boys were happy!
Sick Maddie fell asleep at the top of the stairs while heading to her room.
On the 23rd we celebrated Ron's birthday. I will use the term "celebrated" , but the celebration was far from a great time. The kids all had colds. We thought they were good enough to go out to a low key restaurant like Culver's. They had not been out of the house in days ,so they need some new scenery, right? We thought wrong! They did not eat a thing, they coughed and sneezed so much that I am sure it was not a coincidence that no one else in the restaurant choose a seat by us! They whined and made the dinner about as unpleasant as it could get. So, we left. We let the kids take their milkshakes thinking that the cold would feel good on their throats. Abby managed to spill her shake all over her, her car seat and the car. NICE! When we arrived home we discovered water in our entry way closet. Our first thought was the roof was leaking..it was a mess. We quickly discovered that the mess was from the kid's toilet that had overflowed and not only soaked the entry closet, but had gone all the way to the basement ! So as I cleaned Abby up, Ron cleaned the water mess. Oh and to add to it..Ron's car died the day before and it was towed away on his birthday. Only a battery, luckily , but still! We did have the cake( the kids were so sick they didn't eat it) and he liked his gift and the cards the kids made. As fun as the "celebration" was we also realized that the troubles of the day were minor. The true gift is the gift of life and a family to share it with...for those gifts, we are thankful everyday.