It is late on a Sunday night, and this is the first time in four days that I’ve had a moment to catch my breath and sit with my thoughts. It has been a long weekend – both literally and figuratively.

Mack left school early on Thursday with complaints of a cough and general ickiness. By Thursday night Evie started coughing and feeling yuck, too. When I woke up Friday morning, the kids were still sound asleep. I knew it would be wise to let them rest and skip school, so I had to quickly prepare for an unplanned day with four kids at home. I ran to the grocery store to buy some necessities: cookie ingredients, craft supplies, orange juice.

The kids woke up close to 9 am with low-grade fevers, so I knew my choice to let them rest was the right one. Thankfully, no one was barfing, and their symptoms didn’t confine them to the sofa for the day. Despite congestion and exhaustion, we were going to have a nice, quiet day at home. I was determined to make it so!

First up? I put the kids to work helping me finish our Christmas cards. They stamped and sealed all 150 of them!

Next, quiet time on the sofa for Christmas books. Even Ben got in on the fun!

Once Ben went down for a nap, we mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough with “A Very Special Christmas” playing in the background (it was my favorite Christmas album when I was their age!). No reason a few sniffles should get in the way of a holiday tradition!

When lunch time rolled around, the kids requested homemade crepes with Nutella and jam. Served with sliced apples and oranges, it was special lunch for my under-the-weather brood.

Lucky Ben wasn’t sick, but he still enjoyed the fancy lunch!

A trip to the doctor yesterday confirmed that Vivian has conjunctivitis (giving eye drops to a 2 year old totally, totally sucks) and Evie does NOT have pneumonia (thank goodness!). The kids are in bed now – we are all exhausted and we probably need a weekend after this weekend!