Joshua's turn

Well, Rachel is better. She started feeling better Friday afternoon and was able to go to the Father/Daughter Banquet at church. Then on Saturday, Mark, Stephen, and Rachel went to the Regional Grand Prix in the morning and to watch a Griffen's game in the evening. (I won tickets to the game from our radio station.)
However, Joshua started with a fever Friday afternoon and has been sick ever since. He had most of the same symptoms that Rachel had except his fever was lasting over 3 days and getting higher each time the meds wore off. When it hit 104.2 Sunday afternoon, we called the dr.'s office. The nurse there recommended we take him to the ER to be checked out. The dr. ordered up some xrays and decided probably pneumonia but also gave him a steroid because the coughing sounded "croupy". By the time we got home and them Mark went and got the Rx of amoxicillian filled, no one made it to church last night.
Since starting the antibiotic and having the steroid, he seems to be improving. His fever is down and he managed to sleep through the night. I was awake at 5 a.m. checking on him because the last 2 nights we were up between 2-3 a.m. when his ibuprofen and cough meds wore off. I'm going to call our dr. office for follow up shortly.
The good news is that this hasn't affected my working at Meijer's because I ended up with this whole week off. I didn't plan it that way but it is nice of the timing. Besides Joshua being sick, I need to spend some time down at my Avon upline's house sorting through and bagging up $6,000 worth of Avon for a fundraiser that we have been doing together. Now I just have to get Joshua back to school so I can get to this work.
The reason for the time off at Meijer is because corporate is being a stinker and thinks that our bakery has been going over budget on wages. After 3 weeks of getting in trouble for overscheduling, my "team leader" decided to give them what they ask for and let them see what the bakery looks like after a week. As it is we haven't been able to keep up with everything. I couldn't believe how crazy Valentine's week was! This schedule is going to leave them completely without a cake decorator for at least 2 days. I'm going in to go shopping just to watch the cases go bare! The team leader also told everyone that they are to walk out the minute their shift is over and they have to take all their breaks and lunches. She isn't going to stay over either. I know corporate may think they know how things work but hopefully they will learn a little something from this. Our store is actually closest to corporate and we are having remodeling done so a lot of "big wigs" are in regularly. This should be interesting!
Well, Joshua is well enough to be bored with TV but not well enough to play much by himself. I better tend to him.

Still Sick

Rachel is still down sick. She has now officially missed this whole week of school. We took her to the doctor yesterday and the official diagnosis was influenza. So the "flu" has hit and is making her miserable. She had been fever free since late Tuesday but it is back today. The doctor said that it could last 7-10 days from the start but the cough could actually last 3 weeks.
This is a real bummer around here. Rachel was supposed to go with Mark to a Father/Daughter banquet at church tonight. We have already paid for the tickets and a corsage is ordered to be picked up this afternoon. Also, Rachel qualified for her car to race in the regional Awana Grand Prix tomorrow morning. I don't know now if she will make it to that or not. Hopefully, they will let someone else race her car even if she can't be there.
The good news is that I haven't had to keep dragging her all over to get things done that I need to do. Since she is old enough, we leaver her for short periods of time like when I have kids to pick up at school or this morning when I had to take Mark to work because the van wouldn't start when he was to come home last night. It gives her a better chance to rest.

New link

I'm putting a new link on the side panel of the blog. This will be to my personal AVON website. Everyone is welcome to visit it and place orders if you like. If you are in the GR area, I can personally deliver the order. If you are not in the area but would like to help my business, you can do that too. Just choose delivery and the order will be shipped directly to you. I think I saw that the shipping charge is just $3 but you'll have to check into that more. Let me know what you think of the new site.
Rachel is still home from school today. The nurse at the dr.'s office says that this is probably the virus that is hitting our area. Right now, there isn't much that they can do for it but it has been leading to strep in some kids and pneumonia in others. We have to give it a few days to see where it might go from here. Too soon in and we will just have to make another trip in a couple of days. She has to be improving by Friday because there is a Father/Daughter banquet at church Friday evening that she and Mark are attend!

Sick

Well, the kids have taken turns being sick over the weekend only Rachel waited till their 5 day weekend was almost over to get it. Stephen started it with a fever and headache on Wednesday. Thursday & Friday everyone was pretty much fine except for a few sniffles. Then on Saturday, Joshua ended up with a fever and sore throat. He missed a family outing to see a Griffin hockey game Saturday evening. I also kept him home Sunday morning. We did all go to church Sunday evening but then he had another low grade fever by the time we came home.
Rachel started complaining that she felt like there was congestion in her chest yesterday. She had a little coughing but not much till last night. She is really miserable today - sore throat, fever, headache, and coughing. I am waiting for a return call from the pediatrician's office to get her seen later today. The good thing is that she is now old enough to stay by herself so I was able to work at Meijer even though she was home. She just got a couple of vaccinations last week and I am almost wondering if these have led to her being sick. One of the side effects say that it, on rare occassions, can lead to pneumonia but we will have to wait and see what the doctor says.
Hope all of you are doing well. We are in the middle of a February Thaw. It has hit 40 - 2 day's in a row now! That is really amazing when you consider that we haven't even hit 30 in about 3 weeks at least!

Prix Results

Well, the Awana Grand Prix was Wednesday evening. Stephen & I had to stay home because he had a fever and didn't feel well but he had his sister race his car for him. Turns out that all 3 cars are going to the regional's next weekend. (The last post said that regional's is March 24, actually that is the Awana games. Grand Prix Regional's is Feb. 24.) Stephen finished with a third place in design in the 3rd & 4th grade boys. Rachel had third place in both design & speed for the 5th & 6th grade girls. Mark placed second place in both design & speed among the leaders. This is the first year that our church has divided it up in the different ages but that is how the Regional's do it so we now do too.
I will try to update more soon but Stephen is doing fine now. Still a few sniffles but no fever anymore. We are headed to see the Griffins play hockey tonight and have a lot to do before then.

Cars in Progress

Ok. I took some digital pictures of the grand prix cars that the family has been working on the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, I will be able to post them here. Rachel's wheels are on but not glued in place yet. The guys still have to finish weighting theirs and then put on the axles and wheels. We have followed most recommendations. Rachel's design is at the suggestion of Nate. It made one pass down the track during pit time last Wednesday and worked well but that was just one heat. We have also buffed the axles and have a tool for alignment and graphite to help with speed.
The races will be this Wednesday night. They had to delay them because of the blizzard last week. If they finish well enough at our church races this Wednesday, they will get to go to regionals on Sat. March 24. Rachel is really hoping to get a ribbon or trophy this year because this is her last year in AWANA. Next year, she joins the "youth group" (is that really possible?).
Well, it is late and there is no reason that there won't be church tomorrow so I better get to bed. Besides, I'm sore from going with Rachel to a Middle School bounce party last night but more about that later.

Cancelled again

Schools are closed again today. It seems that the crews have gotten most of the snow off the roads; however, that has left them down to the layer of ice. There were some major accidents this morning. I love some of the ways that people are finding to keep warm. I'm going to try posting a couple of pictures. If that doesn't work then check these out at this link: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6029303
Hey, I got one to work, I wonder if I can do a couple more. It worked! but not in my preference of order but I'm not good enough to try to change them around.
These are about my favorite but there is one more amazing one. There is a picture of someone's outdoor digital thermometer that reads -26 degrees. The picture was taken in Rockford at 7 a.m. on Monday. I think Phil was playing a cruel joke in PA last week.
Well, I have to figure out how to get some cake mixes from the store so I can get them baked for tomorrow evening. At least it will be nice having on the oven for a while.

Cancelled

Everything has been pretty much closed/cancelled all weekend. Yesterday was even a snow day from church. The cancellations started Friday evening and continue on through today at least. Saturday, banks, libraries, and even malls closed early. What was really amazing and as far as I know, completely unheard of was that they shut down the Grand Rapids city busses. But Meijers, stayed open the whole time and, being the only thing open, were very busy. Busses were up and running again yesterday but area churches were all pretty much closed including ours. Now there are over 400 area schools and businesses still closed today, including the kids'.
The sun is out and it really looks nice out side. Problem is that the air temp is -8 and wind chills are running -15 to -25. Even though snow plows have been working continously all weekend, the wind didn't settle down to stop the blowing and drifting till today. The temps are so cold that salt is useless to help with clearing the ice. Most of our roads are covered with packed snow and a layer of ice underneath. Even the interstates are only moving at about 25-30 mph. The closings of highways because of multicar accidents has been numerous, including on Saturday, a 10 mile stretch because of 2 different accidents--one involving around 25 cars and another involving 30. Fortunately, the accidents have not included much for injuries.
I did venture out for work on Saturday and Sunday, but other than that the family has pretty much hibernated for the weekend. Today, it is Mark's turn to venture out. With no heat in the van, Mark is even doing our errands on his lunch or on his way home from work. I'm not taking the kids in that van any where. I don't even know if the van would start right now. We haven't started it since Thursday.
I seriously considered calling in on Saturday but they were pretty desperate for workers. Then I made my team leader's day on Sunday. Since we were so far behind and since our church was closed, I offered to do an 8 hour shift instead of just the 4 I was scheduled. She jumped at it! The extra money will be nice too.
Since the schools were already closed for Monday, we let them stay up and watch all of the Super Bowl last night. Mark actually let the Super Bowl for them start at around noon with all of the football specials and pregame. I told them it was a good thing that I was at work or else it would not have started till at least 5 p.m. Stephen was cheering for the Bears so he was a bit disappointed by the game. The rest of the family was going for the Colts, however. I said that I had to go for the Colts since they were lead by Peyton MANNING. I know that there were Mannings on the Bears too but, somehow, I think we have a better chance of being related (distantly) to Peyton than the ones on the Bears.
Well, there is a lot to get done around here. And I have some children with lots of energy and no way to burn it off. (They did go out and shovel for a while yesterday but can't have them do that today with this windchill.) I think I need to find some productive ways to harness it. Somehow, I don't think they are going to appreciate the ways I can find to take care of energy.

Blizzard

Well, we aren't officially in a blizzard yet...we are just in a blizzard warning. Want to see the latest on our conditions, go to www.woodtv.com. We could be in an official blizzard by early afternoon or evening. Which is real nice since I'm supposed to go decorate cakes at Meijer this afternoon. For those who plan to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow in sunny Miami Florida, check out the sight and see how we are doing.
I don't have much time for an update right now but will try to get back on soon. If any of you hear unexplained laughing, I'm sure it is Dad rolling on the floor at his house looking at the pictures of our area.