Long Day

Today has been pretty long. As a preface, all of us have a cold, so we're all stuffy, sniffly, and a bit achy. As a second preface, the kids kept each other and us awake last night from about 3:30 to 5:30 or so, which doesn't look like much on the screen, but it was a whole lot of not-fun-ness while it was going on.

This morning Jeff's school had something called Research Day, where instead of having classes, there were presentations of students' research projects. Jeff wasn't presenting, so he didn't actually have to be there, but he wanted to see the presentation of one lady, who teaches one of his classes and is working on her doctorate. She was presenting her research on mice with Alzheimer's Disease. Jeff asked if I wanted to go to, and I thought it might be interesting, so we bundled up the kids (though not as much bundling as has been required lately, it wasn't too chilly) and went to the school. The presentation in question was a bit over my head, full of lots of technical language like AD3xTG/Bcl-2 OE mice and APP/CCP and stuff like that, but I had my hands full keeping the kids from being distracting, so I wouldn't have been able to pay close attention anyway. They were actually pretty good and quiet. Thomas kept hitting the desk with his palm and making a slapping noise, but Zaylee was occupied with a paper, and pen, and a water bottle, and neither child made too much noise. I was pleased/relieved at that.

After the presentation, there was a lunch. They had Blimpie's sandwiches available, so Jeff and I each grabbed one, and shared with Zaylee. After the lunch, we went ahead and left. We had seen what we had come to see, and it would have been asking too much to expect the kids to behave through another presentation. We went to Wal-Mart and got some shopping done (I realized as I got dressed this morning that I was completely out of deodorant, so a shopping trip today was a must).

When we got home, we were all tired. So I left Thomas sleeping in his car seat, put Zaylee in her bed, and Jeff and I laid down to take a nap. I was able to drift off, despite the fact that Zaylee kept talking to herself in her room, but Jeff's stuffy nose kept him awake. When Thomas started crying he went ahead and got up, and let Zaylee out of her room too. She simply didn't want a nap. So I was able to get a nap while he put on a movie for the kids and curled up on the couch. I don't know if he ever fell asleep or not.

After my nap, it was time to start cooking. We're going to Mom and Dad's house for Conference, and I always do a potato salad. I posted my "recipe"/formula on my food blog, along with some pictures that I think turned out really great. Jeff put some dinner together, we fed the kids and ate a little ourselves (not feeling well, none of us ate really well except Thomas), and finally it was bedtime.

We put the kids to bed and reveled in our freedom from children...for about five minutes. Then Thomas started crying. I went in, gave him his binky, went back out. He started crying again, and Zaylee kept staying awake, sitting up, talking cheerfully. This went on for a while, until I decided to take Thomas out and let Zaylee fall asleep, then put Thomas back down after a while. It worked - Zaylee fell asleep in her bed, Thomas fell asleep on my lap, and I was able to put him down without waking either one. Now if they'll both stay asleep for several hours, that would be great...

Once the kids were finally asleep, I was able to get started on a cake for tomorrow. It a yummy lemon-lime cake for which I will post the recipe probably tomorrow, after it's finished and I've had the chance to take some pictures. It's in the oven now and smells really good. I bet it smells more strongly than I can sense right now, with my nose so stuffy, but what I can smell is really nice. Once the cake is done, we'll probably head to bed so we can get some much-needed rest, and we'll hope that the kids and our noses let us sleep really well tonight.