I'm back!

Okay, okay, I know...you thought my kids were going to be in high school before I posted my next post. Well, it turns out that we have caught just about every virus we could catch since my last post. In fact, even as I type, Chris is in the bed right now recovering from the same stomach virus that Avery and I had earlier this week. Chris was actually supposed to be on a plane headed for Las Vegas for a business trip this afternoon, but because of that virus, he opted to fly out early in the morning. I hope he is feeling better by then!

Anyway, we have had several "post worthy" stories since my last post, and yes, several of you have commented on my updates...or lack thereof. So, I decided to back up a little bit and share with you one of our funny stories.

At the end of January, Ashlynn and Aaron's school had their Winterfest, and of course, we all went. Last year, the kids played a game where they could win a goldfish, but sadly after waiting forty-five minutes in line, they both walked away empty handed. Well, this year, both of the kids were convinced they would bring home a goldfish. That was all they talked about before we got there for the evening. So, when we arrived at Winterfest, we immediately went to find the goldfish game. Fortunately, the line was very short, so after the first time of playing and coming out empty handed again, they both jumped back in line to try again. After three unsuccessful attempts, Aaron finally emerged a winner! He was SO incredibly excited! Ashlynn decided that it was okay that she didn't win a fish, so we decided to enjoy the rest of the night checking out the other booths. From there we went to the "Pink Ladies" who were first grade teachers who had a hair painting booth. Of course, Ashlynn wanted her teacher to color her hair, so she visited that booth. While the kids were standing in line for the goldfish and the hair, my dad took Avery to a booth where he could win suckers. He was thrilled to death and visited that booth several times!

Well, the night progressed and was going so well. Chris and I split up, because Ashlynn wanted a balloon animal and Aaron wanted to jump in the jumpy things. So, Chris took the boys, and I took Ashlynn. We ended up hooking back up right after we got the balloon animal, so that Ashlynn could jump, too. Here is where the story gets good! Now, Aaron had handed Chris his precious fish to hold while he jumped. Of course, I walked up and began taking a few pictures of the kids waiting in line when out of the corner of my eye, I see Chris move very quickly, and I hear, "Oh, no!" I turned to find Aaron's beloved fish flopping in a tablespoon of water on the gym floor. I can not even begin to tell you how mortifying an experience this was for all of us. We had several kindergarten and first graders aghast around us, a big mess on the gym floor with all of the water, and a dying fish in need of water and a container, too, for that matter. But, the worst part was poor Aaron. He just hung his head and cried. Chris disappeared somewhere and reemerged with a science beaker to put the fish in. I told Aaron that we would go back to the goldfish booth and "fix" his fish. We went on, and I was so proud of Aaron. He didn't want to wait in line, because he knew the fish would die, so he went on around and told the teacher what had happened. She sent him to another line to get a new bag for his fish. Avery and I waited patiently for about twenty minutes for Aaron to come back. He finally came out smiling ear to ear with a new bag. After he came out, he proudly held it up for me to see and said, "Oh, Mama, my silly fish is playing dead! He was just swimming around a minute ago." I said, "Oh, Aaron. I don't think he is playing." So, once again, he hung his head and cried. So, I sent him back to return the fish. Another fifteen minutes later, he returned with a brand new beautiful golden-colored goldfish, which he immediately named Goldie. Now in the meantime while Avery and I were waiting for Aaron, somehow we ended up with Ashlynn's pink poodle balloon. Well, right before Aaron came back out the second time, Avery popped her balloon. By now, I am really beginning to get frustrated, and Winterfest was quickly becoming no fun anymore. Anyway, after we got Goldie, we began to go back to the gym to reunite with everyone else. Well, Winterfest was supposed to be over by 8:30, and by now it is 8:20 or so. The only other thing that Aaron had wanted to do was get his face painted. I had promised him much earlier that we would do that, but because of our "incident" we hadn't done that, yet. Aaron remembered it and begged to go get his face painted. I was really doubtful that the face painting booth was even still going since it had gotten so late, but we hightailed it over to that booth. Would you believe that they were pulling up the tablecloths and throwing them away as we walked in the door? Fortunately, one of the kindergarten teachers stopped and quickly sketched a dinosaur on his face. The night was saved, and he was happy! Then, we hooked up to find everyone else, only to find Ashlynn crying that her balloon had gotten popped, and she couldn't spend the night with my parents. We ended up leaving the school with three crying children. Aaron didn't want Chris to carry the fish, so I was carrying Goldie. Then, Avery was crying because Chris had to carry him, and he wanted me. Such is the life with kids, I guess.

This actually would have been on a different post, but just to let you know, Goldie lived for about four weeks...until Chris cleaned his bowl and forgot to put the conditioning drops in his water. Chris is now banned from taking care of any water critters in our home.

Sorry this is so long, and I'll post again, soon!

Christi