Most pathetic miserable picture ever taken

Since the following post has listed several of the highlights during our visit to Prescott. This one has some of the lowest points ever... Am I brave for posting this sad sight? Just read with a sense of humor and compassion!

When we arrived at the house we discovered that mice have moved in. They were upstairs, downstairs, and even nested inside one of the cars! The water heater had stopped working because a lizard had crawled into the motor and died, causing it to shake badly enough that a part had to be replaced. The car died. As the kids became homesick for the parents, the whining and arguing increased exponentially.

Relief came upon us as all the family began to return to the house, but as soon as the Williams shared their horrifying tale of Jonah throwing up at security and twice on the airplane, the illness began to spread. Geoff came down with stomach flu Wednesday, my father Thursday morning, Katherine, my mother and I Thursday night. I counted Katherine throwing up 17x. I managed to hold on till 11pm when my mother and I began taking turns in the bathroom and my father took over caring for Katherine. It was so pathetically horrible and violent, we will never forget it. It took us all several days to recover, but mine rapidly evolved into a painful sore throat. Katherine proceeded to continue vomiting every day though her personality and energy returned.

I went to the doctor after we all returned home on Wednesday to discover that I have strep. As of tonight, we have determined that Genet, my mom, Bennett, Sarah, Paxton, and Katherine all have strep. How did Katherine react when it was time to give her the antibiotic? Even with the help of a friend, she managed to throw up over all of us and give herself a nosebleed... I petitioning tomorrow to get this girl some shots. I'm done with wrestling!

We had to cancel a very special Sarager family reunion because of it and made me mom really sad. We thank you, Mom, for all the effort you make getting us all together. We love you.

Fun Times at La Roca de Paz

The week before Thanksgiving, Mark and Genet dropped off their kids and took off to Hawaii. We got to all play together for a good week! I was so glad to have one-on-one time with each of them. These kids are amazing and fun and wonderful to be with.
We spent one day at Out of Africa to see the lions and tigers. We took a safari ride where all the kids got to feed a giraffe and Nana kissed a camel! Jack convinced us to stick around for the snake show and the entire time, Katherine BEGGED to be able to touch it, on the verge of tears. Of course, when it became our turn to get close, she wanted NOTHING to do with it. So what happened when our family got in position to take an exclusive picture with it?? The staff member places the head right on our lap. Katherine FREAKED. We had to sing Carebears to calm her down...
Nana had prepared a couple of really fun games that played later on that week when everyone was there. This one is moving M&Ms from cup to cup using only a straw.
We had a talent show and Jack impressed us with his memorization of the Table of Elements using a song as a mnemonic device. Mark sang along with him because it moves superfast! It was awesome! Lucas played a Christmas song on the piano which all the girls danced to. Bennett performed a joke. And the little ones... Well, you'll see if you watch the videos...
Most of the time, we played and wrestled, watched movies and played games. We saw "Tangled" at the movie theater in 3D, which was totally fun.
The boys were so good to play with Katherine. Here they are teaching her how to draw dragons, inspired after a group favorite "How To Train Your Dragon" watched several times this trip.

Happy birthday!

The actual birthday was somewhat of a nonevent this year. However, because we had to stay home for a couple of weeks, it was WONDERFUL to open a birthday present to add some excitement whenever the time lagged. THANK YOU to everyone who remembered her.
Katherine grew comfortable with our new quiet routine at home. She LOVED her movies and the books and the games. It came the point where I had to remind her that she was not sick and that she needed to get out and be active. So every day around 4pm, when there was not direct sunlight, we would go to the park and play. I've noticed a huge amount of growth during the this time involving her speech, her pretend play, her manners.
So when we got to Nana's the week before Thanksgiving, we made sure that we got to do cupcakes in Katherine's honor. Baking is one of her favorite things to do with Nana.
Bennett and Katherine became good buddies during this trip. They made up special games like Light Saber Pool and Caloonan Ball (jumping off the ladder of the bunk beds onto a pillow).
Everyone got to decorate three cupcakes. I think Sarah Jane is the only one who remembered to eat them all (if only, the frosting!)

I tried to find birthday footage that had the most entertainment value... and this is all I could come up with...

Thank you again! We love you!

Dog Bite!

I had to give myself a good month before I could post.

By now, most of you know that Katherine was bit by our neighbor's dog on Oct 28th.

Two days later, we noticed that an abrasion under her chin had become infected. Since she didn't have a fever, we leisurely went back to the hospital for the staff to look at it... It was a puncture wound an inch and a half deep. The surgeon was immediately called and Katherine had to go back into surgery to clean it thoroughly. The nurses tried 3x to stick an IV, but ultimately she had to get a shot to go into conscious sedation.... That was the worst part for me.

However, I think Katherine has become infamous on Facebook due to my ranting about her unrelenting non-conformance to taking her meds. I devoted 30+ hours to getting her to swallow her medicine. During those 10 days, I spat on, peed on, pooped on, thrown up on, kicked, hit, almost bit, as we cried together because she had to take her medicine twice a day. Geoff was a genius several times and I love him for his bright ideas.

We would like to thank everyone for helping our family get through this. So many people in our ward brought dinner, delivered care packages, offered their entire Disney DVD collections (some of which we need to still return!) Our families called consistently. I felt the most peace as people visited. They truly helped us feel like we were not alone. We could not have made it through without you.