We're Back...

I am happy to report things have improved around here.

Thank God.

Because I was about two glasses of wine away from becoming a raving lunatic. I literally could not take another freaking second of sick kids, home confinement, laundry or whining. It was truly awful. The quads got a terrible cold or virus of some sort—though they tested negative for flu—and two were suspected to have RSV. We were doling out meds, nebulizer breathing treatments and kleenex all day and night. Then sometimes one would have such a bad coughing fit that would cause them to gag which would end up making them vomit. Ugghhhh. And right when we started seeing some improvement, we ALL caught a stomach bug. Despite being indoors and Lysoling the crap out of my house, using hand sanitizer so much it cracked the skin on my fingers and washing sheets every day. So then we were holding puking kids over trash cans, toilets or plastic bags while trying not to be sick ourselves. The husband went down hard for a whole day and night, poor guy, and I had to rally and tend to the quads on my own, and no one was able to come over for fear of catching the sick. Awful, just awful.

My parents jumped to the rescue as soon as they recovered from having been ill for awhile and took the kids for two nights and two days last week. The kids had just gotten well and they needed to get out and I needed to not see them for a little bit. I know some moms are particular about it—for me, I think it's totally fine (and human) to need some space from our kids sometimes. It makes me happier to see them again, gives me a reprieve from being a mom for just a minute and helps me actually do better. So I'm all for it whenever it works out and I'm so glad the kids love going to my parents house. Incidentally, it was their first overnight stay anywhere ever and they did awesome. So awesome that they stayed a second night without issue, and they knew they'd be going home so they never got upset about being away.

I didn't worry about cleaning the house, updating my blog or really working on much of anything those two days. I needed to decompress, lounge around, sleep in (which I did quite well) and recooperate. Because no matter how much I did or didn't do, those four little people of mine were definitely coming back and I was going to have to be ready regardless! So sleep and lounging it was.

Since our return back to the living, the sane and the (for the most part) normally functioning part of society, we've done a couple things that indicate routine is forth coming. And right now I could really go for routine, because it doesn't involve puke or Advil.

It actually really, truly snowed in our area—a rare commodity for Texas!—and the kids got their first experience with the fluffy white stuff. Everyone loved it but two got cold and decided to throw a fit after about 20 minutes so, you know. They all went back out later that evening with the husband once he was home from work and, well, since daddy makes snowballs it was much more fun! And my mom even made snow ice cream, which was quite yummy and a hit with the kids. A snow day or two was fun, but once it all melted, though, it's been back to cold, wet, dreary looking weather.

I was practically giddy with excitement for the kids to go back to school, which they attend one day a week. Just in time for spring break next week so it'll be another hot minute before they get to go again. Win some, lose some.

We have made a trip to the grocery store and restocked our food supply, since everyone's eating more than crackers and jello again. We've done crafts, too. I have barely cracked open a crayon box since the Great Sickness came, so it feels good to actually do some projects with them and avoid the TV.

This evening, before bedtime, there were a few moments of heart melting sweetness. My girls are so beautiful and they look so grown up with their top knots and dresses here. And Harrison gave out a few very loving kisses to his sisters, which melts my heart even more. These kids, though they be a handful so much of the time, are truly my life's greatest achievement and my pride and joy.

Fill me in if I've missed anything important—I've had no knowledge of what's going on in the outside world and am catching up this week! Relishing every minute of our improved quality of life and keeping my fingers all crossed that it doesn't go down again for awhile...

{Weekend Recap} Ice, Ice, Baby

It's cold outside. And not just "Texas cold." It's actually been below freezing for at least 48 hours now. It sleeted for a solid day and night on Friday and by Saturday morning tons of broken tree branches littered the lawns and streets, cracking under the weight of the ice. Even the tops of the stately trees in our front yard are bowing under the pressure. Over 200,000 homes in the DFW metroplex have been without power for at least a day or more, and gratefully we are not one of them. I was pretty paranoid about it with four babies to keep warm that are on the mend from colds, to boot. We have relished every second of our warm house, movies galore and a fridge full of food!

our icy abode!

our two labs, jersey and shiner, taking a break from pouncing around in the ice!

The madness started Thursday evening. Apparently everyone misunderstood we were only approaching a freezing weekend of ice and instead thought the world was ending. I wanted to get out of the house for just a minute when the husband came home from work, so I ran to the store to grab some bread. There was only six loaves of bread left on the shelves, all the water was gone and there was barely room to squeeze through the aisles of the store! To top it off, the lines for every single register were at least 15 people deep. It was insane! I guess that's what happens when people all go to the store at the same time. It reminded me of when we lived in Houston and the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, which was actually much worse. You could barely even find a gas station that was in-service or not out of gas and there was plenty of damage to homes and buildings everywhere...

Anyway, I was in an even worse mood when I got back but having the husband safe and sound working from home the next day helped things. I took the day off from my work since he was busy and my nanny was certainly not expected to brave the ice to our house! We watched Baby Einstein movies, took extra long naps, ate lots of food and had a cozy dinner of spaghetti squash and marinara meat sauce (which simmered on the stove for hours prior to dinner and was delicious!) followed by hot baths in the tub and warm fleece PJs for bed. We had the best evening with our babies! They splashed in the bath and got both the husband and I soaked and were cracking up laughing the whole time. It was hilarious. :)

After they went down for bed, the husband and I holed up in our room to watch movies, drink wine and work on a few projects. We have mountains of laundry to fold, I have Christmas cards to address, a desk to organize and clean up (we recently moved my little office space upstairs to our room) and a few boxes left to unpack up there. But despite the mess, it was so nice and warm in the master and I had candles lit and it smelled good...something about it just made it so cozy (how many times can I use that word in this post!?) and we really relaxed and enjoyed our evening. So much that we'll be doing the same thing tonight!

This afternoon I attempted to get out on the roads for an errand and we both figured once I got out of the neighborhood the roads would be fine (without the kids, of course, who remained safely indoors!). The main roads were fine, but turned out our neighborhood is still so iced over I slid down the last half of our driveway and couldn't manage to get the suburban turned on the ice and pointed in the right direction on the street. Plus we have too many hills around our area so it was impossible to get past them on such slick ice. It took us over an hour and loads of buckets of hot water to inch the suburban back into the driveway! We would've left it parked on the street but folks were attempting the same thing and sliding around the curve near our house. A heavy iced-over tree branch was also hanging down in the middle of the street and people were attempting to dodge it in their vehicles, making the suburban a prime target for coasting cars. One car came down a nearby sloping street and couldn't slow down at the bottom and cruised right into our neighbor's front yard! The car came to a stop right after it's front tires went over the curb and they were able to quickly back out, but it was a close call nonetheless. Our cars will remain parked until more of the ice melts!

After getting the 'burb back in the driveway, we retreated inside to warm up and made ourselves Crown and Cokes and watched some TV until the babies woke up from their naps. Then we spent time playing upstairs and helped the quads decorate mini Christmas trees for their rooms. They loved it and were so cute playing with the ornaments!

We've had hot breakfasts in the morning and turned the quad table so the babies could see the "snow" outside while they ate...

...and we've read a few extra books in the evening before bedtime. My heart swells when all four kids clamor for a spot in my lap, which is really just my leg span these days. It's the only way I can make room for them all!

Whelp, the husband has just finished mounting our bedroom TV onto the wall and I'm pretty excited about it. We moved it upstairs since we upgraded the living room TV to a new 55-inch screen—a Black Friday Christmas gift to ourselves this year! I also realize that I have on no makeup in any of the photos of myself included in this post, so that's enough naked-face pictures for today! And the timer for dinner is going off, which marks the start our evening. (It's the third time in a week I've made this roasted zucchini.) Plus, even though this is a Weekend Recap post, we've still got one more day of weekend left!

But before I go, here's the cuuuuuutest little video of Logan saying "ho ho ho!"

Hope you and yours are staying warm!

PS - Up next, my DIY fabric strip banner post!

Winter 'Whites'

Today I am grateful for heaters. Plain and simple. Texas just wasn't made for this kind of cold and we don't come prepared for it! Though my heart goes out to those up North who are battling piles of snow and frozen pipes on the regular. Not my cup of tea.

I got a nice package delivered today from Homemade by Holman! A regular follower of her food and recipe blog, I was the giveaway winner for this box of Panko lemon pepper bread crumbs and the new Michael Chiarello's Bottega cookbook! Thank you Ms. Holman! I can't wait to get comfy in my recliner and thumb through the pages for inspiration and new ideas.

I've been inside all day except for one venture out to grab a couple things for dinner with the brother-in-law and his girlfriend tomorrow. I'm making pork chops and steak, salad, baked potatoes and corn on the cob, then we're going to watch Red afterward (I'm the only one who's seen it). I'm thrilled about drinking some red wine with a good movie and staying warm indoors!

But I needed a little something nice to look at so I grabbed these flowers today and arranged them in a clear glass vase I brought home from Scotland. I love having fresh flowers indoors, but my cats usually try to jump up on the counter or table and eat them. Which they then throw up about an hour later and I may or may not find it when I get up for water at three in the morning. Ah, the joys of pet ownership. But aren't these petals pretty?

I also grabbed a few bundles of firewood to stay warm over the weekend, starting with tonight! I always feel a little bit silly buying firewood... I mean, here I am paying several bucks for pieces of chopped log that I feel like I should be able to get somewhere myself. But then you think about it and realize there aren't exactly any forests nearby and with the price of gas you'd pay to find one and then haul out an axe and chop some up... well, I just end up paying my dues. Then I grumble all the way home until I light the fire place and relish in its heat and thank the Lord for the grocery stores that stock firewood in Texas in the winter.

A few minutes ago, I took a break from all my writing, researching and typing to spray paint a couple things some winter "white" as I'll call it, seeing as we're a bit icy and cold at the moment.

Most everything started off brown...

...and it all ended up a nice, crisp white!

The garage reeks of chemicals but I was so happy to finally paint a few items that I've long been waiting to do! It's all stuff for my office, the color scheme in there is so drastically different from the rest of the house and I love it. :) And yes, I realize there's a can of chalkboard spray paint in that photo and if my little test run worked out, I'll be sure to post the results!

Well, the dogs have been brought back indoors and just finished eating the rawhides I gave them and are now threatening to coat my laptop's keyboard with saliva and wet noses so it's back to the grind I go... TGIF tomorrow!

Gloomsday

This is what I feel like:

This is what it looks like outside:

And this is what I'll be doing the rest of the day:

Hoping tomorrow is much improved, and that we get some cheery sunshine for our roadtrip weekend.

Prague: An Amazing Surprise!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

(There were so many photos, I tried to condense them a bit. Just click any picture to see it in larger detail!)

Our visit to the Czech Repulic capital city of Prague was a short one, albeit a very rewarding trip! We really didn't know much about Prague to be honest, it hadn't even started out on our initial list of places to see while we're living abroad. But we'd started hearing some good things about it from friends that had visited and when we looked up a couple travel options, it was clear that just about anyone who'd been there had loved it. So we signed up and rolled out of bed at 3:30am to catch a Friday flight to the City of a Hundred Spires. And I'm so glad we did.

Situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia, Prague has been the political, cultural and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1100 years. For many decades during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the permanent seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus was also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Today, the city proper is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 1.9 million. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, making the city one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009. -Wikipedia

It was bitter bitter bitter cold, and our suitcase missed our extremely brief connection in Paris and didn't arrive until 2am, leaving us to fend off the freezing temps with the measely jackets and clothes we'd worn on the flight. But that certainly didn't stop us from getting started. We managed the airport-to-the-bus-to-the-train-to-what-the-hell-street-are-we-on process and found our hotel, Hotel Melantrich, fairly easily. (I dare say we're getting better at this whole bus and train-riding thing, I'll have it down pat by the time we leave!) Okay, so I'll give an honest review of our hotel real quick. We found it on Expedia.com, a money-saving wonder when it comes to flight and hotel packages just about anywhere. And it's so easy to book it all in one fell swoop. Anyway, we'd looked at pictures, read reviews, poured over maps and locations and had decided that this hotel would definitely do, based on the price and the happy customers that had stayed there. And we have yet to show up and be totally disappointed by Expedia's guidance. So no, it wasn't that bad.

But I had my doubts when we found the hotel and walked in a dark unlit entrance and pressed the creepy yellow buzzer for the Melantrich. After it crackled back and announced our entry, we found ourselves in a dirty gray concrete stairwell, also with no lighting, and an eery sense that I'd seen this place before in some horror movie. But after we climbed the stairs, pushed through the metal gate ("Um, why is this here?") and walked through the door of the hotel, it was a drastic improvement. The place was light and cheery, small but well kept. And our room was actually a fairly decent size, even though the bed might have come from the stone ages (literally... stone). So I guess Prague's many businesses and buildings are hidden within mazes of dirty concrete halls and sinster looking doorways barred with metal gates. Charming! But at least the buildings are colorful and fun to look at, with lots of unique architecture.

Since we didn't have a suitcase to unpack or clothes to change into, we had that awkward "well, I guess we've seen the room, so what next?" moment. Leaving our carryon bags behind, we traipsed just down the street to a rustic little gem of an Italian restaurant and nabbed the last table during the lunch rush. Papa Giovanni Pizzeria served us our first taste of Czech beer, Krusovice (the country's love of beer is so great, it's almost the unofficial official national drink). We loved it! A lager that didn't taste like... well, one that was good! I had pasta in a spicy sauce and greca salad while we enjoyed hearing the people talk at the tables around us. We even ordered another round of beer after we were done, just so we could sit and watch the foot traffic on the cobblestones outside and laugh at a table of four skinny little girls who each ordered pizzas, thinking they were small personal pizzas, only to be served giant pies apiece. They still ate them all.

After stopping at a nearby store for a much warmer hat, we headed over to Old Town Square, which was just a couple blocks from our hotel.

This area of town is pretty much a gold mine for several gorgeous pieces of history, like the Astronomical Clock on the tower wall of Old Town Hall, St. Nicholas Church and Tyn Cathedral. The square itself is marked by the Jan Hus Memorial monument, which was created in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the religious reformer's death, burned at the stake.

I think our favorite part of the trip was spent here. It was our very first true impression of Prague. I mean, it literally drew a breath of surprise from me when we exited a narrow shop-lined street and stepped out into this beautiful expanse of old city. It was also our last impression, since we spent our final night in the square eating the most incredible kebab dinner at Zlate Konvice, followed by a couple hours at an outdoor cafe right on the square--warm under blankets and heaters and sipping on litres of Krusovice.

Our second day was a wrap... literally. We had our suitcase by this point and I'm pretty sure I wore every single article of warm clothing I had bought. Without going into details, I was much warmer than the day before! We stopped for a couple pictures inside the St. Nicholas Church off Old Town Square then headed across the Charles Bridge. It's a famous bridge, especially for its role in connecting the Prague castle, Old Town and surrounding areas from its creation in the 15th century to about 1841.

The bridge is 516 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide, resting on 16 arches shielded by ice guards. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side. The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, erected around 1700. - Wikipedia

There were some wierd pyramid shaped things in the water, a little ways off from the bridge that we could never figure out what they were for. You could see them very clearly from our areial viewpoint at the lookout tower on the other side of the bridge. Thanks to Wikipedia, we now know they were ice guards. An understandable precaution, since the Czech Republic pretty much enters a frozen state during winter. Blimey, it was cold.

Next, we saw a wooden toy shop, tried another tasty lager (Staropramen), ate Frankfurt soup (sausage and potato), and walked about eight flights of icy stairs to the Prague Castle.

That's when we landed at the entrance to the Saint Vitus Cathedral, inside the castle grounds. What a sight. This was the most beautiful thing, by far, we've seen. Founded in 1344, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague and was faithfully attended by Charles IV, King of Bohemia. It also houses the Bohemian Coronation Jewels. Several lifetimes of builders and architects and painters contributed to its final immaculate results, and it even suffered a very damaging fire in 1541, slowing the process even more. The stately Roman Catholic Gothic church wasn't actually completed until about 1929, nearly 600 years after it was began.

(You must view these gorgeous photos in detail, click to enlarge!)

Perhaps the most outstanding place in the cathedral is the Chapel of St. Wenceslas, where the relics of the saint are kept. The room was built by Peter Parler between 1344 and 1364 and has a ribbed vault. The lower part of the walls are wonderfully decorated with over 1300 semi-precious stones and paintings about the Passion of Christ dating from the original decoration of the chapel in 1372-1373. The upper part of the walls have paintings about the life of St Wenceslas, created by the Master of the Litoměřice Altarpiece between 1506 and 1509. A small door with seven locks, in the south-western corner of the chapel, leads to the Crown Chamber containing the Bohemian Coronation Jewels. -Wikipedia

We also ducked into the Church of Our Lady Victorious so I could see the Infant Jesus of Prague. It's a very storied past with a lot of mixed origins and is easier for me to summarize the parts that are consistent. Basically, the statue originated in Spain and was given to a duchess in 1556 who was traveling to Bohemia to marry a nobleman. Either by the duchess or her daughter, the statue was eventaully given to the Discalced Carmelites (a Catholic mendicant order) in Prague, who honored the statue and gave daily devotions to Jesus in its presence. The friary where the statue presided was later plundered by a Swedish army and the statue thrown into the rubble. It was discovered by Father Cyrillus in 1637 and restored. The statue is paid homage by thousands every year, and it also recognized by an annual procession and coronation.

 

Having known absolutely none of this before stepping foot in Prague, and leaving with such a great trip and beautiful monuments to remember, our trip to the Czech state was pretty fulfilling. The people were really, really polite and the food was delicious. Lots of soups, pastas and meat. Gosh, we ate so much meat! They love goulash and starchy, hearty staple foods... probably a result of their long, super cold winters. I know Prague is beautiful in the summer time, but it was also neat to see it in the snowfall. Here, here to the land of Pilsner!