I think we got it!

Last night it rained.  Poured!  I was worried because this morning we were taking a family picture. 
The kids woke up grumpy and uncooperative.   I had to offer a bribe breakfast... hot oatmeal with a scoop of ice cream.  That helped to get them moving.  I picked out clothes for the girls, and Alli put on sweatpants and a t-shirt (that I
did not pick)... Grandma helped convince her to change.  She put
together a cute ensemble.  I was worried that no one would smile.
We were blessed with great lighting and no rain, though the ground was quite soft.  Andy's sister Betsy is in town, and she is a very talented photographer.  She was kind enough to snap a few pictures of us this morning before Andy had to dash off to work... and before she left to drive back to New York.
We had to set up quickly, the kids were very interested in the swollen stream just a few feet away.  Everything was more interesting than getting pictures taken.  100 clicks of the camera later, and we were done.  It didn't take longer than 10 minutes.
And that was that.
Betsy left the files for me to play with...
 
Ta da!
I love Alli's toothless grin (5 teeth are missing!).  Ruby's legs are crossed in every picture.  Sweet June gave us her best.  All eyes are open.  Everyone is smiling.  This one is golden!

And now, I've got to make the Christmas card!

four little pumpkins sitting on a bench...

Um, I know this is late.  Embarrassingly late. 
But here are our Jack o' lanterns!

The Veteran's Day concert

Alli's performed in a school concert on Veteran's Day.  The show was great, but I barely saw Alli.  I had to lean way over on the kind Veteran seated next to me to get this picture. 

The weekend from...

Earlier this week, Andy was showing me some funny YouTube videos.  He
showed me one of this girl riding a roller coaster and throwing up (it
is one of the most viewed videos).  Normally I wouldn't laugh at such a
thing, but she was like a fountain and it just kept coming out.  (And I
was really tired.  Lots of things are extra funny if you are tired.)  We laughed and laughed at that. 

Bad karma.

Saturday night was horrible.  Andy had to go in to work all day Saturday.  I put the kids to bed after a long day of Halloween festivities. 
Alli and Ruby had just been tucked into their beds for the night, when suddenly I heard the sound that every parent fears...

BARF.

x2

Both girls threw up in their beds... all over their beds.  Poor things.
Usually I have an iron stomach and I can clean up disasters like that without any trouble.  But Halloween party vomit is especially heinous.  Neon-frosted cupcakes should be outlawed.
I was having great difficulty dealing with the mess, when Andy walked in the door!  Normally he is the one who gags over dirty diapers.  But there was some sort of miracle, and he took the soiled bedding outside and hosed it all off.  I didn't even hear him gag once.
I put clean sheets and blankets on the beds, and then they barfed again. On the beds.
By the third round, they were hitting the bucket/toilet... if you are a parent you know what a huge milestone it is when a kid can make it to the toilet!
We finally got the girls settled down with buckets next to their pillows.  We put June to bed.  I was feeling queasy, so we went to bed, but not for long.

I barfed like that girl on the roller coaster.  It just kept coming like a foul fountain.  Andy was in bed, but he could hear everything... and I could hear him.  And I heard a giggle.  Heave.  Laughter.  Double heave.  More laughter.  And I kept on heaving.  Finally an "Are you okay?" came from Andy.  Heave.

Andy felt bad for laughing.  I wasn't at all mad at him.  I know how it is.  The same night when Andy showed me the barf video, he also shared the double rainbow video.  And the double rainbow autotune video.  And then the sprinkler rainbow conspiracy video.  We laughed and laughed at that.  Then the next afternoon there was a rainbow.  Almost a double rainbow.  I called Andy; I was laughing so hard I was almost in tears.  We had another good laugh.  Back to the Nicoll barf night, sometimes you just have to laugh at life... and so Andy laughed.  I would have laughed too if I wasn't barfing so hard.

June got sick around 2am.  I spent the night on her floor.  I took her to the potty every time she started to heave.
There was continual puke through the night.  My empty stomach churned angrily.  I don't think I slept at all.
 
And Sunday (Halloween!) morning there was peace.  And much tiredness.  And mountains of nasty laundry.  We stayed home from church.  We watched movies all day.  The kids bounced back to nearly normal by afternoon.  I was still wiped out, and Andy started his sick.  Everyone took naps.

As you can see, June was well enough for some candy.  Andy and I weren't well enough to fight it.

Monday, I was better.  Not 100%, but much improved.  Andy stayed home from work.  I did laundry all day.  Seriously, ALL DAY.  The house is a mess.  But we are nearly well again.


PS- All of our Halloween celebrations were before Halloween, so our illness didn't keep us from any of it... trick-or-treating, school parties, church party, the Celebrity Ghost 5k (where I got my best time ever 23:17!)