What Day Is It Again?

So am I the only one who is still trying to figure out if January and part of February have already happened?

The past few weeks have been one long tunnel of sickness for the Hjelmstads, with lots of bleach and thankfully a few little breathers here and there. But it's definitely created a weird time warp for this gal. It's like Groundhog Month instead of Groundhog Day. I can't remember how many weeks it's been since the onset of the stomach bug that descended upon us (two now?) or how many days of school Marie has missed or days of work poor Peter has taken off nursing us back to health...or how many hours of Sprout the kids have watched or what appointments I've already canceled and rescheduled in the fog of it all. (When I was sick, I actually made Peter call and cancel Erik's dental appointment--that I'd already had to cancel and reschedule once--because I thought was the next day. Nope. Not happening till next week). Whew.

Anyway, as of yesterday we officially entered a new phase of snot and low fevers and coughing, which I can deal with much more sanely than other projectile bodily fluids. But my heart just aches for my poor kiddos, who are just as tired of feeling miserable as I am of watching them be miserable. And sweet Marie is so very sad to be missing yet another day of school today--though I'd much rather the sickness exposure and immunity developments happen during this year of preschool than next year in kindergarten when attendance actually counts. (I'm having to ignore the significance of that last thought, though, lest I have to steal that box of tissues from the kids).

The point is, I'm thankful we haven't been dealing with anything really serious, but we're all very tired of house arrest. And house arrest has forced me to face one of my weaknesses: effectively entertaining children for extended periods of time. I'm not a very natural or patient teacher, and even the fun activities that I do seem to come up or discover (thank you, Pinterest) only provide a few minutes of fun before the whining and tantrums take over again. I've tried to come up with a focus some days--one day was supposed to be all about caves, another about space and planets, and another about polar animals...none turned out too well. Even with the YouTube portion of the 'lesson.' It's been a continual reminder of why I have zero desire to homeschool!

But Daddy is swamped with work and more work and school, and we are facing another loooong weekend in the house, so I am asking for your ideas. I think part of my issue has been lack of planning, so I'm [planning on] planning a sort of themed pre-school lesson tonight with different structured activities for a 4, 3, and one-year-old (who has given up his morning nap). I'm hoping it can get me through the weekend. I'm thinking things that are related--but get us moving--like circle time and crafts and whatever else takes up a lot of time. And the more time I can spend preparing instead of researching, the better.  So, help please?  Any ideas for learning themes? Any good sites with [FREE] lesson plans or coordinating crafts and activities that flow from one activity to the next (especially if one isn't working out so well?) Any suggestions for timing for each portion of the day? I see us not leaving this house again all weekend so I'm desperate here, people...

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Okay, moving on from the whining pity party portion of this post to a little hodge-podge of positivity. We have gotten to do a lot of great things these past few weeks in between bouts of sickness (when I oh-so-naively thought we were all better and in the clear. Ha.) And the kids have been awesome troopers and have not stopped growing and learning one bit. Just don't ask me what day it all happened, because I really couldn't tell you. So, in what I think is chronological order, here's the positive:

My little 15-month-old chatterbox:

Some very silly stir-crazy kiddos:

Tubing with Gran:

Skiing Vail and watching Peter race: Each year DU hosts a competition called "Race and Case" where teams of MBA students are judged on presenting a case study one day and on racing the next. So of course as soon as Peter got wind of it, he put a team together (and got second in the men's racing, NBD). I've only gotten to see him race once before, so it was pretty awesome that I could be there. We spent the rest of the day skiing together on the mountain in some fabulous weather, and went to a fun awards dinner that night at the local luxury bowling alley, Bōl. It was a really fun day overall.

Family Day at the Avalanche game: Last weekend we brought the kids with us and celebrated Peter's [early] birthday while watching the Avs come from behind for a great win. (Just so you know, this Monday my wonderful husband gets to embrace the last year of his twenties so wish him well)! Marie and Erik were a little hesitant about the noise at first but got definitely got into it about halfway through. Ethan, on the other hand, loved every last second. He shouted "yaaaay!" and "go!" with gusto, danced to the music between every play, and clapped enthusiastically every time the crowd started cheering. He was also obsessed with the truck float that made its way around the rink between periods, shouting "cuck! cuck!" and wiggling with delight. Even I wore my Avs shirt and enjoyed cheering for the team, who will always be my favorite--except when they play my true favorite. Go Flyers!

The kids also got to spend some time with great-Grandma who was visiting from Wyoming this past week, but I was out of commission so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to document it.

Well that's all for now, folks. Hopefully I'll be back soon with more positivity; in the mean time we'll be ingesting copious amounts of Vitamin C and waiting patiently for your lesson plans that will save the day!