My son, David, picked out the Dr. Seuss Book “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” from the library the other week. I had never read it before, but sure glad to read it when I did! It has been one of those weeks where I have had to remind myself that things could be worse, and that this too will soon pass. It all started with a sniffle!

Samuel came down with a cold. I think because of the past year and a half we forgot what it was like to have a cold in our house! Also, the first thing that pops in anyone’s head right now when anyone has so much as coughs is “is it the virus?!” I have to remind myself that kids still get kid germs. That’s just part of it. We have been going out and about, and while I try to make sure the kids still wear their masks, they sometimes don’t wear them consistently, especially Samuel who rips his off whenever he feels like it.

After several days of runny, sneezy, snotty noses, coughing and ear aches, I gave in and took Samuel to the doctor. I was told it was probably just a viral cold, and that the inflamed ears should go away in a few days. I left with the option to give him an antibiotic. I chose to wait a few days, and it turns out he is doing better.

Then, as it usually does in a family, Emma came down with the same cold! She also has a runny, sneezy, snotty nose, and cough. However, she has not complained with her ears. Emma is tough, and so it’s hard to tell whether she is feeling bad or not, at least until she is feeling REALLY bad. I thought Emma too was on the mends, but it turns out she started feeling bad again today. I think maybe she just tried to do too much too soon. She doesn’t want to miss out on anything. I had to make her stay home from swim class this evening, and she was not happy about it!

So far David, Andrew and I are still healthy. I pray it stays that way! This week has been particularly hard on me. I hate seeing the kids sick. I always feel so terrible, and helpless when they are. I hate feeling that way. Also, I have sleep deprivation which doesn’t help the frame of mind. Samuel keeps waking me up in the night, and this generally has nothing to do with a cold, even though he did wake me up in the night a few days ago because of his ears. He just wakes up, opens the door to our room, and stands there waiting for me to come to him. If I don’t he will start to cry. I pick him up and carry him to his bed, tuck him back in, and he goes right back to sleep. No fuss at all. (for that part I am thankful) I had a friend tell me about the sleep trainer clock she uses with her girl, and I also asked the doctor about Samuel’s sleep habits. The doctor said it’s not uncommon for kids to wake up like this, and that it just takes time and training for them to learn how to roll over and go back to sleep. He also suggested the trainer clock. So I bought one for Samuel. You can set it to light up in the morning when it is okay for them to come out of their room. I made it a big deal, and talked with him about not coming out of his room in the middle of the night and only coming out in the morning when he sees the clock flash green. We’ll see if it works tonight! Please pray that it does! This mom could use a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

Samuel is our cuddle child. He loves to crawl in bed or on the couch and cuddle with you. I was taking a nap this afternoon (trying to make up for lost sleep), and Samuel came to cuddle with me. Later this evening he asked to cuddle with Andrew too. 🥰

Our garden is growing and producing pretty good. Especially the cucumbers, not so sure yet how our tomatoes are going to turn out. Emma loves checking on the garden. She asks to do it every day! She loves to pick the cucumbers.

Fred and Ethel have been enjoying the summer! They love to go outside and hunt bugs and other critters. The other evening we were eating dinner on the deck. I came inside to get something and heard them scuffling around, running up the stairs, and growling. It was unusual because the usually don’t growl at each other in this manner. I walked over to where they were by the front door. I noticed something else unusual. There was a sound coming from underneath the shoe rack. Fred and Ethel were both circling around and trying to get to whatever was under the rack. Terrible thoughts entered my head, and I yelled for Andrew to come and see! I was too terrified to try to see what might be lurking under the shoe rack! Visions of vicious snakes running through my head! Andrew carefully looked under the rack to discover a small bunny rabbit! Exactly how it made it’s way into our house is unknown. There was once, earlier in the day, where the back door was left open by David, or maybe one of the cats carried it in without us noticing…. Andrew was able to pick the small rabbit up and take it outside where it ran off across the street into another yard. I hope the poor thing is okay!

I want to share what is the best and easiest cheese cake recipe I have ever tried! Ree Drummond’s easy no bake lemon cheesecake recipe was so light and airy, and the hint of fresh lemon was so good! I didn’t use a cheesecake pan. I used a store bought graham cracker pie crust, and I had a lot of extra filling. So I made mini cheesecakes in ramekins too! They were delicious and cute! A delicious summer dessert!!

Love,

PK

“That’s why I say, “Duckie! Don’t grumble! Don’t stew!

Some critters are much-much, oh, ever so much-much, so muchly much-much more unlucky than you!”