Last week

The week before last was The Week of No Sleep.  This past week was The Ten Plagues of Munich Week.  We had a strange assortment of ailments throughout the week: chronic sore throats, lower GI problems, high fevers, upper respiratory infections, lethargy, stomach virus, severe headaches, and the list goes on.  I have bronchitis yet again (the fourth time this winter) and Nina is still battling her ear infection.

The plagues were well-timed as the girls were out of school for the week.  Who knew Shrove Tuesday in a Roman Catholic state in which no one attends church was cause for a week off?  (Must be to recover from whatever is in the syringes on their donuts.)

So we stayed home most of the week and watched a lot of movies and PBS.  A friend has hooked us up with his DVR via the internet so we can watch live TV and record up to 2 shows at a time.  Of course the offerings at 2am EST aren't that great, but come evening our time, there are lots of good choices for early childhood programming.  We've rediscovered Charlie and Lola.

We've also done a bit of crafting.  We made a birthday gift for someone and have been busy making friendship bracelets and picture frames, designing outfits and Nina has even done a few self-portraits.  She's been a bit obsessed with trying to use Edison as an animated dress-up doll.  Here he is with her hat on:

I've been trying to keep myself motivated.  Once I sit down, I'm too exhausted to move.  So I've detoxed the house and have been deep cleaning everything.  The floors are getting a thorough scrubbing, one room at a time.  It feels as though my effort is somewhat wasted, seeing as how we're moving in just a few short months, and who is going to care what shade of light grey the tile grout is other than me - especially since it was black when we moved in?

I've been baking a bit, too.  This little experiment, surprisingly enough, didn't go awry!

The girls have enjoyed having multiple pajama days back-to-back.  And the fact that bath time hasn't been a rushed event due to lack of time before bed, but has been an opportunity (for me) to separate the girls and minimize the fighting, and lasts for up to 2 1/2 hours.  They like getting to spend as much or as little time on each project or activity as they choose.  Here's Grace working diligently on her friendship bracelet, that is yet unfinished despite working on it for days:

And for those who are considering Nancy Drew as a book choice for an almost 5 and 6 year old, I highly discourage them.  I'll need to wait a few years before reintroducing it.