Quarantined.

Oliver is now on our wall of fame. He's 2ft 5in. Only a couple inches shorter than Cassie.

Last night we made an unplanned trip to the doctor's office, which happens to be 20 miles away. Josh called in to schedule an appointment for Laurel, since she wasn't feeling better after two days of staying home, and I don't want to send her to school and infect other kids. Other parents might do it, but I don't. Anyways, we needed to get a doctor's note to keep her out of school until she got better, and the doctor's office happened to have an opening at 730 last night. So at 720, out the door we went, and arrived at 740 (Big surprise since 20 miles is usually 20 minutes).

So we're still quarantined until this weekend (minus Oliver, who had it 2 weeks ago). It looks like the tidal wave is just about over though, after 2 weeks of the rounds at the Pung house. It didn't hit us the way it usually does, we are usually down for 2 to 3 days, and then it's over. Not two weeks. Oh well. We're through the worst of it.

Jinx

I cursed Laurel. She is really sick, perhaps worse than the rest of us. Or maybe it's because we are feeling so much better that she just looks 10 times worse.

Actually what gave me the tip was the fact that she wasn't her usually smiley self today and sat on the couch. Not good. She woke up tonight and looked absolutely awful.

Honest! I didn't wish she would get sick! I was just annoyed that all of us were sick and she was still bouncing around like she was Tigger or something. It's like when you're really grouchy (or haven't had your morning cup of coffee yet) and this amazingly happy person walks in the room. She was just that bubbly.

I have to admit though. I've raised some really happy kids.

Tall

I finally measured how tall the girls are.

Laurel is 3ft 7in
Adara is 3ft 5 1/2in
Cassie is 3ft 1in

I looked at Dar and Laurel today and realized, they are really close to the same height. I decided I better record it before they get any bigger.

I'm not good at these things.

I'm good at teaching them to be monkeys or how to hold a pencil right. I'm not good at memoriblia items or holidays.

Take what you can get.

You deserve it.

It always surprises me how I have this standard to uphold, and someone else will have a different standard, much higher than mine. I always thought that my standards were pretty hard to reach because they are usually set pretty high, but there are times when someone knocks me off my pedestal and revamps my way of thinking.

For example, if I start thinking it's time for us to build a deck onto our house, and someone else has already drawn up the plans and has built it two times the size I would have gone with.

I'm not sure whether to be pleased or annoyed. I'm pleased because someone took the time and effort to build something way better than I could have hoped for. But I'm annoyed because in my line of thought, bigger is not always better, and there probably is a reason I would of built my deck that size and shape to accommodate my family and our lifestyle. I would have left the whole backyard intact, whereas the other person took up half my yard with wooden posts and planks, that I'd liked to have left for the girls to play in. But then I toy with the idea that maybe for some fate like reason I was meant to let someone give me something that could be better, and they feel good each and every time they look at it saying, "I helped built that deck."

I'm not building a deck here people. Not yet anyways, maybe next summer.

I don't really struggle with accepting people's gifts, usually I'm in the process of accepting gifts and something always comes up that the people giving the gift either need it more than I do or someone else needs that same gift so I end up touching it for 2 seconds before I pass it on to someone else. Isn't that called re-gifting?

No, I think the point is that I think I deserve something and then I remind myself, no I really don't "deserve" anything. Why is it that we demand our rights and think, "Finally! I can use the break in my income taxes to buy something for me!" When we've just spent ourselves into debt a week ago saying the same exact thing for a bonus we received from our jobs. Don't get me wrong. I like to spend money on things I will never take into the afterlife with me. But I think our perspective is a little screwed up when we are buying prestige and class trying to impress someone with how much we can put ourselves farther into debt. Yes, the debt owed to buy back your life is very impressive!!!

My point is, although I get a certain thrill when we cut anything out of our budget that we don't need, what makes us think that we deserve anything we keep? Why do we deserve the jobs we work at? Sweat and blood right? Maybe you got lucky that the only resume out of the pile that got picked was yours. But who's to say you aren't going to lose your job tomorrow. Are you going to be pounding at the door yelling, "I was unfairly treated!" What makes you think you "deserved" that job?

I guess it all comes down to whos standards you really live by. I mean I may think that the deck I would build would be right for my family, but maybe the bigger deck is the better option and I don't know it yet. Maybe gifts I receive that I turn right around and give to someone else will be used for better things than I would have used them for. Maybe I'm just the middleman. Maybe that's why I don't think I deserve anything, because I know that things can change in a heartbeat, that anything I think I deserve, can be ripped right out beneath me. Either I'm blind and afraid to believe I deserve anything or maybe my standards are based on the fact I believe God will put me where He needs me to be and it will be right. That's not deserving anything, that's just being where I'm planted to be. Knowing that whatever I could possibly need, some other middleman will pass it to me.

I wasted too many years on pity parties over what I thought I deserved.

Cassie girl.

Thought this was cute.

She's really getting too big. I found a picture that I thought was Cassie but it turned out to be Laurel when she was 3. I didn't realize how much Cassie looks like Laurel until that moment.

Randomology

We have been mowed over this past week and a half.

Someone or several someones in our house have been sick for the last ten days, except Laurel, who has an immune system like steel, she finally got a little stuffy last night and still managed to wake up beautiful and sick-free. I should be so happy for her.

And we're still fighting. I have this theory that with all the time Josh and I have been getting up for whichever girl is sick for the past week and then some that we just aren't getting the needed rest we should be to be healthy again. And I didn't need a bachelors degree for that. Deduced it on my own. I'm some kind of Einstein.

It just stinks.

Cassie just walked in here, demanded juice, and called me Melame.

It was cute.

Runny nose and all.