I've said it a million times...

I could not make this stuff up.

Thursday morning I took the cats, (still not sure why I have cats after a lifelong love for dogs,) to "fix" them and then went to the Chi Omega Christmas craft show. We had a really fun day and then came home in time to pick up the kids from school. All went fine that afternoon and night and then Friday morning I went to help at Ty's Kindergarten PowWow. It was so fun to watch them sing their songs they'd practiced and I got to meet the other widow whose son is in Ty's class. Turns out we were in school together and I can tell we will be friends. So this is the normal, happy parts of the last few days.

After the PowWow the girls and I went to pick the cats up from the vet's office and once we got in the car I thought we were at the beginning of a smooth weekend. Charlie was talking to the cats telling them how sorry she was that they had to have surgery and that's when I smelled it. I asked the girls what the smell was but I knew it pretty quick. I checked for a visual and that didn't take long either. One of the cats had pooped in the carrier they were BOTH riding in. In the car. Windows up. On a ten minute drive home. Naturally I did what any person with a sense of smell would do and pulled over. I dumped the cats out of the carrier onto a towel that I magically had in my car and cleaned the carrier with...what else...baby wipes. Then it got really interesting. The cats have never been in the car without being trapped in their carrier. They've also never been under anesthesia. The combination of those means that for the ten minute ride they made about 25 running laps in the car. The girls thought it was hilarious and I think I would have too if I'd not been driving. One of the stops on their race track was under my pedals.

Halfway home Charlie said she was carsick from watching the cats run around so I rolled down her window. Peppa, (the cat,) almost made it out the window before I caught her back leg. Windows rolled up the rest of the way. Got it.

When we got home I parked in the garage and closed the door so I could just let everybody out at their own pace. This went better than expected. Everyone was happy to be back home and I got ready for our slumber party with Audrey. She's in Ty's class and he has the most innocent, pure, sincere love for her. The girls love her too and to help her parents who are good friends of ours I offered to keep Audrey while her parents went Christmas shopping. All three of my kids made fun plans for what they were going to do when Audrey was here and when I picked Ty and Audrey up from school all four of them were squealing. Fun was ours for the having. I painted their faces and fed them junk food. We watched Tom and Jerry and talked about what we wanted for Christmas.
We all had a slumber party in my room so they were all lined up in a row beside my bed. I got them to bed pretty early and settled in for my usual 10+ hours of sleep. At midnight the game changed.

I heard the dreaded noise and knew immediately it was Ty. I jumped up out of my bed, scooped him up, got him into the bathroom as far away from my room as it gets and started a five hour process of helping him through the vomiting virus. Once I got him settled in his room I sprayed everything in my house with Lysol and put a hefty dose around the (still sleeping) other kids. All I kept thinking was not only is our weekend looking rough but also Audrey's and probably her whole family's as well. Oh wait I forgot an important part.

My mom has the flu. She's been in bed for two days and can't get up without spiking a fever.

Okay so I made myself a bed in Ty's floor and alternated helping him, spraying Lysol, doing laundry, and checking on the girls for the next 5 hours. I called for back-up at 5:30 so at 6 Dad walked in riding a white horse to rescue the girls in the hope that they might be spared from the virus. Stay tuned on that front.

Ty and I have both slept on and off all day and I think he's on the mend. Apparently the cats recover from hysterectomies in 24 hours so they're taking turns knocking ornaments off the tree. Life is good.