We're not gonna take it!

We've been laid flat by sickness for weeks on end -- just one cold after another cycling through our family and making us all miserable in endlessly alternating waves. Even poor little Katelyn. :( I have scrubbed everything I can find, disinfected more times than I can count, washed bedding daily for weeks at a time, aired out the house daily no matter how cold it is outside, and kept up our vitamins and lots of veggies and fresh fruit...all apparently to no avail. It has been SO frustrating! My dad gave me some ideas for building up our immune systems better, and in the week since then it does seem like we have improved, so I'm encouraged by that. I would say that as a family, we are probably 85% healthy now (and if you'd been in our house often over the last two months, you would know what a good statistic that really is!). Unfortunately, Katelyn still has this endless runny nose and cough. She is super sweet about it during the day, but has quite a bit of trouble at night, between the congestion and the cough. Last night was...difficult.

So this morning I was curled up in the corner of the couch, reading with Ashley, and I was so tired I kept losing track of what we were reading and staring at the book for several seconds before I could recover it. It wasn't pretty. And I thought, you know what? We are all just so run down, and so tired of fighting sickness and being exhausted. We're snapping at each other for no reason, and we just aren't having fun together. I think we need a break!

I called on the authority of homeschooling moms everywhere and canceled the rest of the day, and took my girls out to have fun. :) We went to the mall, and the girls played in the play area for an hour while Katelyn watched them and shrieked excitedly and waved her arms in the air, and became a bundle of giddiness whenever one of her big sisters ran over to give her a kiss. Then we had lunch in the food court (at the recently added Subway -- yay!), at a super tall table because the girls like sitting on the barstools. And we finished our impromptu day off with an hour or so of shopping (for sneakers and Easter dresses -- not to be worn together!) and picture taking, as the girls decided to pose with all the mannequins they saw. :)

Tall table with tall chairs! Now with 100% more fun than the regular height ones!

Lunchtime at the mall, now with 100% more fun than lunchtime at home!

Ha! Goofballs.

Giant yellow doors -- apparently they were begging for a picture. ;)

Ooh la la!

I caught them in a natural moment, when they were discussing what they wanted to do for their next pose. I love these girlies!

Stop...in the name of love! Or something. ;)

Such a wonderfully fun day, all the more welcome because it started out rough. I'm so glad I get to spend my days with these hilarious little people, who help me make life fun even when we're sick and tired!