Healing and Randomness

(This post could alternately be titled, "In Which I Dump a Bunch of Cell Phone Photos from Our Phones"...just sayin--you've been warned)

Just when I thought I was over the bug Brennan gave me last weekend, I ended up with the plain old flu on Wednesday this week. Chills, aches, fever, the whole nine yards. Yes, I had a flu shot. Yes, I got my flu shot while on antibiotics for strep throat. Yes, I was told there was a slight risk that I could end up with the flu as a result. And well, I did. It was awful. I missed Wednesday-Friday of school and didn't really feel normal again yesterday. I still don't have a huge appetite and a cough still plagues me, but I'm way better off than I was a few days ago.

The worst thing about being sick, was that instead of chaperoning a field trip with Cate's class on Friday (I had already taken off work to do this), I stayed home buried under the covers. Cate's class visited a local earth center. Eric took some pictures and gave me the play-by-play when they returned. They had a presentation first. Then they headed outside to learn about trees and birds in our area. Cate was apparently smitten with the nature guide and wanted to be right by his side as they walked around.
She acted like a bird. And Eric said this kids' field guide to birds was really cool. We might have to buy a copy to put in her stocking.
While they were on the field trip, my fever finally broke! I took it easy the rest of the day though. Cate had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday and I wanted to make sure I could go with her.

The birthday party Saturday afternoon was at a local working farm. Yup, a farm, right smack dab in the middle of the city. It was actually really cool. The birthday party had a farm theme that was excellently done by Cate's friend's mom. The kids made cow ears and cow bells upon arrival.Next, they took a tour of the gardens and the farm.
This was Cate in the "taste" garden. While growing season is over here in Ohio, during growing season, they grow a ton of produce. This mini-garden is full of things kids can taste. She loved hunting for eggs in the chicken coops. Unfortunately, she didn't find any. They had already been collected for the day. The miniature ponies were her favorites for the day. I swear, if I told Cate we were moving to a farm tomorrow, she'd have her bags packed in seconds. This girl loves to be outside, loves animals, loves nature. Girlfriend even picked up some goat poop with her bare hands (she didn't know what it was and yes, we thoroughly washed and sanitized afterwards).

Treats followed the tour and then it was time to go. Eric's sister and her boyfriend picked Cate up about an hour after we got home. Kristin's boyfriend's daughter is about 6 months younger than Cate. They went to Chuck E Cheese, dressed up in princesses dresses, and then had a sleepover. Eric and I used the Cate-free time to play Santa. Our local toy store is having their annual sale. Cate has talked about this and this since we got the Playmobil catalog a few months ago. I can't wait until she opens them Christmas morning. We went to church last night, headed out to dinner, and watched a movie before snuggling into bed to enjoy that extra hour of sleep. Thank you Kristin and Josh (and Emmy) for keeping Cate for the night.
And with that, I'll conclude my insanely long update. I'm feeling much better and am ready to take on the week. Our trimester ends in 8 school days. It's hard to believe I'm 1/3 of the way through the school year already!

~Melody :-)