The Ups and Downs of life.....

When they all seem to happen in the same week....Life becomes a bit stressful.

I know blogettes, it has been a fairly long time since I last updated this blog....but once you read about my week you just might understand why.

Lets just start with last weekend.

My brother and his wife and their two precious kiddos came for a visit.

We had a blast!!  We visited the St Louis Zoo for the first time.

Then, on the 4th of July we went to the arch to watch the fireworks along with a few other hundred thousand people.....making the ride home quite the adventure.

On Sunday we just hung out here at the house and tried to recover from the madness of the previous two days. 

Monday, my brother and his family had to head home so we said our goodbyes.....

I tried to get the house back in order b/c the boys decided Chad and Stacy had to see a demonstration of every toy we have in our home.  I am sure they enjoyed every bit of the mass show-n-tell that went on here in Mi Casa....

That afternoon we took another adventure down to Children's hospital where we had Cody's ticker checked out.....He had a tiny hole in his heart that had to be followed by a cardiologist....We were so excited to find that this tiny hole called a PFO had corrected itself and is no longer present in his heart.  He was so happy to find out that there is no need for us to visit the cardiologist any more.  God is sooooo Good.

I am going to back things up a bit now....back to Sunday.....my SIL Stacy and I noticed Catie Beth had a few red bumps on her face and arms that we shrugged off as bug bites.  She was itching them but they really did look like mosquito bites.

Apparently, that is also what the Chicken Pox looks like when it starts out.   We would soon find out that Catie Beth has been exposing everyone she has come in contact with since Friday (including  her brothers and my niece and nephew) with that lovely childhood disease.  I knew she was extra cranky all weekend but I chalked it up to the horrible sleeping pattens that we had all been participating in.  The thought never crossed my mind that she might not be feeling well.  Great Mom......I know!!!!   (rolling eyes)

So this has pretty much been our precious girl for the last several days.  She wants to be held all day and night.  By being held I mean Standing up.....If you sit down this face is sure to follow.   

CRANKY is totally the understatement of the year.  She is miserable.  Her fever finally broke today but she is still very uncomfortable.  She has about 30 Chicken pox bumps on her body.  Mostly on her arms.  Do you see the two on her sweet face?

Monday evening I met up with a bloggy friend for the first time.  We had a play date at a park near our house.  Her name is Jaime, she is just as sweet as can be and has the sweetest little boy EVER!!!  Ummm Yes, Catie Beth exposed them to the Chicken Pox as well.  Can you say....embarassed?!?!  Nice way to meet a new friend...."Oh it is so wonderful to finally meet you face to face,  Here you go, please take some Chicken Pox home with you" 

I was supposed to attend a Simplyfun party with her the following evening but was unable to attend because we had a pressing matter that had to be addressed asap.  

I will have to be vague about that matter for the time being.  But we would really covet some prayers about our house in KS.  We are making some Big decisions blogettes....BIG!  The kind of decisions that make you lose sleep at night and wonder what God is up too.

That brings us to today....Steve has apparently come down with pink eye....He looks awful and feels just as bad.  Can someone please tell me how I can have two very contagious ailments circulating in my home at the same time?

So as the title goes lots of UPS and DOWNS!!!  I guess that is LIFE!!!  A crazy life....But its our life.....Oh no, I just sounded like John and Kate +8......We better hurry and Fireproof our marriage.

Gotta Go!!!!!!!!