I can't believe it's only a week til Christmas.  We have not done any decorating, baking or any of our usual seasonal activities.  The reason for this is that we have spent the last two weeks ripping up flooring in our lower level and painting all the rooms/hallways.  We have wood laminate flooring being installed today.  I can't describe how happy I was to see that carpet disappear forever!  Then, we ripped up linoleum tiles, which were under that.  We've been living on subloor and with our furniture all here and there and everywhere while we painted and painted.  Now, everything is painted that will be getting new floor.  I LOVE our new colors....so warm and beautiful.  The kitchen still needs to be painted.  Matt is almost done steaming the wallpaper off.....we'll start doing that today, depending on how well the kids do with the installer being here and staying out of the way. 

My hands are cracked, rough, bleeding in places and super dry from all the rough treatment and extra handwashing.  Not to mention sore muscles from reaching (painting) and ripping (flooring).  It will be so wonderful to have it all done though.  We're on the downside and I hope that by this weekend, I'll even have our tree decorated and be able to enjoy a little bit of the Christmas fun.  We have a bridal shower here next week, so I have to do a little bit of decorating!  I know it seems crazy that we'd do this now after dinner theater.  But this is the only month of 'free' time Matt will have for awhile.  It had to be now.

In other news, the stomach flu finally caught Johnny two weeks after the others had it.  Weird.  I'm pretty sure it's the same bug.  It came on fast Saturday evening, and he was violently ill ALL night long.  I was literally up all night.  Matt too for most of the night.  Matt was dutifully taking his turn and letting me go to bed around midnight.  But, I just couldn't sleep up there knowing (and hearing) my little boy retching and moaning downstairs.  It's a mom thing I guess.  And as practical and matter-of-fact dads are about such things (which is nice)....they aren't the same as mom I don't think.  I finally sent Matt to bed around 3:30, figuring that one of us should get some sleep, and it was silly for me to be upstairs trying when it obviously wasn't going to happen.  So Johnny and I waited it out.  I have honestly never seen a kid so sick.  I lost track of how many times....seemed like every half hour.  Then the diarrhea started too.  It was crazy.  I can't imagine how miserable he must have felt on top of not being able to sleep at all!  Around 5am, I began to be concerned that we would have a severely dehyrdrated little boy on our hands b/c he just wouldn't keep anything down or in.  But 5:45 was the end of it, and he was finally able to collapse and sleep.  'whew'.  He's such a trooper.  At 9:30 pm when it all started, he had just lost his supper in the bathroom....and he looks up at us and says, "Uh Oh, David is NOT gonna be happy about this!"    Yesterday, he slept almost all day and then all last night too.  He was OK when he was up, just weak and achy.  I anticipate that he will be back to normal when he gets up this morning.  Poor guy. 

Well, I need to sign off since we'll have an installer here soon, and still have a little touch up to do with paint.  The other day, while others were painting, the kids and I did school upstairs in their rooms.  It actually worked so well that I wondered if we should always have them do school there.  Having them separated, yet across the hall from each other made it alot less chaotic and confusing, but easy for me to supervise.  Leah puttered back and forth and there was no TV/video noise.  We might just make that a permanent change.  Hopefully, I'll have time to post again before Christmas.