Mardi Gras Decor

My neighbor inspired me to decorate this year :)  I love her "over the top" decor!  Sorry for the glare.  She dresses up the same mannequins for each holiday.  I can never wait to see what will be next.  And by the way, I always ring her bell and ask permission before taking pics.

My decorations are not quite as good, but it was fun to do it anyway.

In other news...Sadie has a serious stomach bug.  And when I say serious, I mean I had to pause for a good while this morning and think of a plan to clean up one of her "accidents". Have you ever been in that stage of shock where you want to call for back-up, but there is no one there? My plan involved throwing away some clothing and her jumperoo, bleaching the bathtub, and dry heaving multiple times.  Luckily, she is not vomiting.  I don't do well with vomit.  My mom never did either :)  Must be in our genes. Her shoes and shirt are still soaking in the sink. The MD has no recommendations.  The symptoms and smell ( sorry for too much information) suggest rotovirus, but it just needs to run it's course.  She was vaccinated for this, but this only decreases the length of symptoms and does not protect her completely.  I will miss Bible study tomorrow, but I would never subject another child to this.

Sadie's recent genetic testing came back negative and we have a follow-up appt with the geneticist next week.  We knew she didn't have those diseases, but it is always nice to have confirmation :)  She has done so well with speech and physical therapy the past two days, despite her illness :)

Ben is NEVER ill, which is such a blessing (knock on wood).  He made us a coupon book at school yesterday.

Coupon 1: "Back rub for ten minutes. Either parent. Only once." (Boo!!!!!!!!!!)

Coupon 2: "Taking care of the baby for an hour.  Can use two times."  This is interesting to me since Ben cannot pick Sadie up, refuses to change a diaper, does not feed her, etc.  I'm guessing he means making her laugh for an hour :)

Coupon 3: "Free dinner. Can use for a week." This must mean pulling out a lunchable or making us a sandwich, although we have recently let him use the microwave a few times. Now I'm scared.

Coupon 4:  "Vacuum all the windows. Can be used two times."  He means vacuum out all of the windows sills.  Can I get an AMEN?

Coupon 5: "Wash the dishes. Only use once."  Like his father, he doesn't love to load the dishwasher.

I plan on using them all!