Hello, Mr. Stomach Flu!

We had a darn busy day yesterday...out of the house by 8:30 so I could drop off Henry at the kennel to be groomed and "evaluated". The evaluation part is due to the fact that I need to kennel him next week-end and the lady told me on the phone she will only kennel regular customers...dogs that she knows...so...$28 later, Henry has been deemed an accepted, "regular" grooming customer. After dropping him at the kennel, we hit Bank of America for some cash, then the YMCA to drop off William & Tinna's paperwork for school. Phew! All of that in under an hour. Back home to play, but only for about 45 minutes, then we were out the door and heading to one of the local malls to meet up with a lady from whom I was buying a double jogging stroller. I need this latest stroller to get Delaney to school. The twins are going to have a difficult time walking so far two times a day, I think, so I went ahead and bought this one. (It also needs to be said, this path to school is gravel/mud/grass/wooded so the Graco DuoGlider I already own will just not cut it) I paid $100 but it is in good shape and I can probably flog it later for a similar price. After the stroller, I headed over to see Mo's new rental house. We had tea and lunch there and Daniel and Kristi watched the kids. Then I went out to City Hall to register Henry and get his dog license. Oh, and I also needed a YARD SALE PERMIT!!! Can you imagine? They tax you for every single thing here in VA. There is actually a $5 fee that needs to be paid before you can hold a garage sale and you cannot have more than 2 sales in one year. Ridiculous. I thought about using the excuse "I didn't know about it because I just moved here", should any officials show up, but I advertised my sale on craigslist so, if the officials are smart around here, they will be scoping the listings and checking them out and I went ahead and paid for the permit to be safe. After City Hall, I went back to Mo's (lucky for me she lives just about 10 minutes from there) to pick up the kids. We chatted for about an hour and just as I was getting ready to leave I hear "BOOM!!!" in the sky and there's a HUGE thunderstorm coming our way. I stuck around until 4 when I absolutely had to leave to go get Henry. We picked him up and got back to our house a little after 5.

Thank heavens for crockpots. I made ratatouille for dinner and it was ready when we were.

Kids in bed at 8, I crashed around 10. I could barely finish my new "Star" magazine because I was so tired.

3:28 this morning, I hear William crying and calling for me. He said he was going to barf. I got the bucket for him. I rubbed his back and he seemed better and started to go back to sleep. I told him to keep the bucket in bed but he said no, he was better now. I believed him because he has always had reflux so I thought it was just his dinner still bugging him. Back to bed for me. About 15 minutes later, I hear him gagging and distinct barfing going on. GO FIGURE. The bucket was on the floor...and you know he has to be the one who sleeps in a loft bed! I was able to get in there quick enough that most of the barf went in the bucket and not too much on his duvet or pillowcase. Steve came in to help us and then Will said he felt better so we all went back to bed. The bucket stayed with him this time. I was almost back to sleep and I heard him gagging again, so, I went back in to help him and all of that. Once he was settled for the second time, I just gave up and went out to the couch. I generally get a good night's sleep on the couch...sometimes better than in my own bed. It didn't take long for me to sack out again and I was able to sleep through the coffee pot brewing and Steve getting up for work at 5. Tinna woke me at 7:30 saying she felt like she was going to barf. She ate a pop tart (yeah, I'm a great mom) and felt better...so hopefully her pains were hunger but I'm not counting on it.

With tomorrow being our yard sale, you can BET when this stomach virus will hit me.