For the record books

Another Halloween for the record books.

Of note is the fact that Swanson Elementary was missing a large part of their student population on Friday. When I dropped the kids in their classrooms that morning, Casey only had 5 classmates. Out of 22. As in, 17 kids were home, sick. I stopped in at the school nurse before leaving the school and asked her if I should take Casey home with me, to limit her exposure to whatever nasty flu was going around. She pointed out that if Casey was not already sick from exposure, she might not get it this time. Or, she was already exposed and there was nothing to be done about it now.

(Transmission electron micrograph of noroviruses. From Wikipedia)

I decided that she was probably right, and reminded Casey to wash her hands a lot that day. Abby and I went home for a couple of hours. I had a lot of fun stuff that I was thinking of doing, but I just felt like I should get some housekeeping caught up. So, I scrubbed the bathroom, washed all the laundry, and sanitized the kitchen. Then, after a quick lunch, Abby and I were off to the kids' school for class parties.

After a fun day at school, we ran home, ate some "real" food, and went trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

(Brian had forgotten his ninja costume at school after the parade, so was now in a backup costume, his Trent the Pirate gear)

Grandma and Grandpa loaded us up with candy and spent time spoiling the kids further with attention and love. Here, the kids huddle around Grandma as she shows them photos of themselves taken moments before. I hope she has a good picture of the kids, because this is the only one I ended up getting of them all together that night!

After that, we stopped to say hello to some friends and then made our way to the big school carnival. In Alaska, were it is dark, cold, and snowy by Halloween, there are many opportunities to be indoors for the holiday. It's safer for kids, easier for parents, and you can actually see the costumes, rather than having them covered in snow clothes. Anyway, we spent an hour or so at the carnival, and finally went back to our own neighborhood.

Brian and I answered the door for Trick or Treaters, Chris took the girls to a couple neighbors' homes for knocking on doors. We finally settled down to watch The Great Pumpkin.

Our candy for handing out was gone, we shut off the porch light, the evening was winding down.

And then Casey said her tummy hurt.

Chris and I both looked at each other, and we knew, just knew, what it meant.

Turns out our little family was not immune from the Swanson sickness that was going around the school. Casey, sweet girl that she is, was sick all night.

All that laundry that I had just done? Much of it, undone.

The bathroom that was squeaky clean? Now needed some sanitizing.

The kitchen counters that were empty of clutter and sparkling? Now littered with cups of water and straws and plates with uneaten saltine crackers.

And Casey slept for two days straight, it seems like. She is feeling much better now, thank you very much, and I am glad to have her back. I miss my girl when she is feeling poorly.

So thankful for the family I have and the health we have and the blessings that are ours.

Now, on to the week ahead... Brian's 8th Birthday and Baptism. Kinda a big deal. More to come...