Illness, Troy sorts silverware, Brooklyn contemplates puppy food, and Kate grows up some more

This past week, Kate and I were sick.

Yep, I said Kate and I - you know, the two people in this house that take care of sick people?

(Kate because she's good at it, me because I'm the mom and apparently it's my job)

It was so sad because we couldn't even take care of each other! We just spent 3 or 4 days (I lost count) in my bed, letting the little kids do whatever the heck they wanted while we slept helplessly.

But I learned a few very valuable lessons, including the following:

1 - It is possible to read all of Austenland in one day.
2 - It is possible to lose five pounds in three days, if you stop eating and drinking entirely and don't move at all.
3 - When small children learn that "Mommy is out of service," it does not excite compassion or an inclination to suddenly behave themselves and maybe clean the entire house, but rather it equates in their mind to an unlimited license to do anything they can come up with. Okay well, to be fair, Troy did unload the dishwasher.

4 - *MOST IMPORTANTLY* I had an amazing revelation, and it was that a house can only get SO messy. It isn't, as I previously thought, an ever-increasing exponential expansion of entropy. You only have so much stuff to displace, right? Eventually the house reaches terminal clutter (I believe it's connected to the physics principle of terminal velocity), and you no longer feel like you have to clean from that point, because it can't get worse! It will finally maintain equilibrium until you're feeling better and are ready to tackle the whole thing in one go.

 But holy cow, were we ever sick. That was probably the sickest I've ever seen Kate in her life. (She never, ever gets sick.) And as for me, it was maybe the sickest I've ever been either, at least without having a BABY to show for it at the end!

Anyway. Then we got better.

A little.

 And the girls and I finally went out last night for a little girls'-only date.

Our local high school performed Beauty and the Beast, so I took the girls, figuring they'd love it! They mostly did, but they were perplexed by all the extra songs (as was I - it was a little much, maybe)

Highlights:

After Gaston proposed to Belle, she rejected him, and pushed him over and then flounced off the stage (to music, of course). Kate didn't miss a beat but leaned over to me and added, "She forgot her book." You had to be there, but it was great comedic timing.

When a new scene opened, I don't even remember who or what, Brooklyn leaned over and whispered, "Why can we not eat puppy food?"

????
Sometimes (often) that girl leaves me speechless.

In line for the restroom at intermission, we met a girl who was telling us that her brother was playing Cogsworth, and he was the understudy who had learned the part in a week. It seems the previous Cogsworth had to bow out because he kept passing out in that giant suit!

And afterward, of course, the girls got to meet the princesses

(we are counting the "enchantress" who changed the prince into a beast in the first place)

Then tonight, Kate baked brownies for her first time, all from scratch! Brooklyn helped her, but they did it all without help! Well, I supervised, I mean - stopped her from adding 1 cup of vanilla or 1/3 cup of baking soda, for example, both of which she tried to do. (I remember that cup/teaspoon distinction being hard!) Anyway, she did a great job and they turned out to be delicious! This is all that's left:

And speaking of Kate, let's not forget that she lost ANOTHER tooth this weekend!

 This will be tooth #5, as she pointed out in her three-page note to the Tooth Fairy

(She even numbered the pages lest the Tooth Fairy get confused in her reading)

 Transcription:
[1] Dear Tooth-Fairy, This is my 5th tooth! I ramember when I lost my 1st tooth. I was happy!
[2] another letter. You no I'v rote the 6th note! Well now I know you shold go. ther are athor peopple [3] who have lost ther tooth. So Goodby. See you agien. Love Kate

I have not forgotten Travis this week, although he was left out of all of the above proceedings. He is enjoying a new rotation this week, and he still gets to stay local for now, but this weekend it seems we have infected him with our various illnesses, so we haven't seen much of him! Hopefully he will feel better soon!