Brrrr

We had our first dusting of snow recently, accompanied with below freezing temperatures for several days. It got down into negative numbers where my sister lives in Eugene just a couple hours south of us. For us, it remained in the teens and low twenties for about 5 days/nights straight. I worried a little bit about our chickens staying healthy during those cold days and nights, and spent a lot of time checking on them, cooking for them and breaking ice so they could drink water throughout the days. They survived, but not happily. It was really something of a record. We don't get long stretches of freezing temperatures. At all. The kids did not like it either, though we did attempt to go outside every now and again to see if we could play and get some fresh air. Once the wind would pick up, it was so cold it hurt. So, we spent most of those days indoors, sipping on hot tea, making holiday crafts and playing. 

Ezra Has The Flu

Ezra caught a bug last week and spent about 48 hours feeling miserably awful. Aside from feeling bad about him feeling bad, I really love how snugly and sweet he is when he's not feeling well. He would just cozy up on my lap at various times throughout the day and just want to be held. No complaints. When he was tired, he would just fall asleep on the floor. Night time was rough, he emptied his illness out of both ends several times throughout the night. His hair, my hair and several changes of bedding and clothes were covered in puke. It was exhausting for both of us. I rarely if ever take temperatures, but knew he was well within a 'healthy' sick range. I got fluids in him and he didn't feel extremely hot at any point. After a full night and day little sleep but lots of vomit and diarrhea, he took a bath (I showered off) and he was feeling a little bit better. Poor kid. Being sick is no fun. 

At one point in the middle of the night, while Ezra was awake puking, he had woke Esperanza up. She expressed little care about her sleep being interrupted, and instead commented "we're going to have a tired party tomorrow". My thoughts on that were - 'yes, dear, the last 5 1/2 years of my life has been one big tired party.'

A Spectacular And Memorable Afternoon At The Park

We spent a few wonderful hours at Goot Park recently. It's the end of Fall and getting cold. The trees had lost almost all of their colorful leaves. The sky was blue, the park was deserted and the birds were singing. The kids were bundled up and in a good mood. I brought lunch, snacks and my camera. It was a splendid day!

The kids played on the park equipment, they ran and ran and ran their little hearts out and Ezra had the time of his life striking poses with fierce expressions yelling "Hiyah!" as if he was practicing some form of martial arts (pretty sure he picked this up from watching the sword fighting scene in The Princess Bride the other day). Esperanza had fun running after birds in the field and climbing up and down the bleachers. At one point, the kids ran to each other and embraced with a long and heartfelt hug. Neither one of the kids had any kind of emotional or mental breakdown at any time while we were at the park! It was so wonderful! I love days like this, I love that I got so many great pictures and I love that I can document this to remember.