There’s nothing like those hard days—the ones where everything feels off and all wrong—to make you appreciate the normal ones. The days where nothing much happens. The sun shines, you go about your daily routines, and end your day cuddled in bed and extra thankful for the simple things.
A good book, healthy kids, trying new recipes, and learning something new every day. Little feet pitter-pattering on our worn hardwood floors, giggles galore, and dirty shoes all signs of life being lived in our little home. These are my everyday joys lately. Here’s a peek at how our week went!
Sick Sadie 🤒
Our poor Sadie girl was sick most of the week. She started saying she was cold while we were at church on Sunday. She ended up sitting between Jimmy and I during the sermon while she borrowed my cardigan.
By the time we got home that afternoon, her temperature was 102 and it didn’t go much below that until late Wednesday. We alternated giving her Tylenol and Advil and every time one of those medicines wore off, her temperature would spike again.
Day and night, she just kept having a fever—her temperature even went up to 104.6, which was scary and also made me cry. Her eyes were so sad and she was seriously pitiful. She slept a lot, complained of a constant headache, and a sore throat.
When Wednesday rolled around, she said she was feeling better. We played outside and then she went downhill again. She fell asleep on our porch swing and I finally decided to call the doctor’s office.
They were thinking maybe she had strep throat, but I wasn’t convinced. When she had strep throat a couple of years ago, she had a high fever like this but absolutely could not eat or drink without major pain. I just didn’t know what to think!
Off we went to the doctor. She did great being swabbed for strep and the culture came back negative! The doctor was like “I kind of wish it was strep so I could give you answers and send you home with medicine.”
She told us that the local children’s hospital sends their office reports each week of numbers of cases of things like step, flu, COVID, etc. and said there’s a virus circulating at the moment that causes super high fevers. So, I guess that was our answer!
She finally turned a corner at the end of the week and I cannot explain how relieved I was to see her act like herself again. If you know Sadie in “real life,” you know she is bursting with joy, energy, and is the loudest person in the room—always. I didn’t see her smile or laugh for days and I didn’t realize how sad it was until she was our usual boisterous, energetic Sadie girl again.
On top of Sadie being sick, we also had Memorial Day, Jimmy’s birthday, aaaaaand our dishwasher decided to break.
So, the calm days, the days with nothing on the agenda? Ones that seem “boring” on paper? Those are my jam right now. Walking through the worry over a sick child, trying to keep the siblings who are stuck at home busy, washing dishes constantly, and trying to make Jimmy’s birthday not a total failure has me feeling thankful for normalcy. For sunshine, warm weather, happy kids, books, conversations not revolving around medicine and temperature, and spending as much time outside as possible!
In the Kitchen 🍪
On Jimmy’s birthday, our dishwasher broke. It just… stopped working?! I’m blessed with a handy husband, but I felt bad he had to lay on the kitchen floor on his birthday and pull apart our dishwasher. He couldn’t figure it out right away, so I did a lot of hand washing of all of our dishes.
Thankfully Jimmy got everything fixed within a day (go Jimmy!!!). Once again, I was left feeling super thankful for normal blessings like a working dishwasher!
This week in the kitchen, I made stuffed peppers, a pistachio cheesecake swirl loaf, ice cream cake, and hot honey harissa baked chicken wings. It was a good week in the kitchen. 😊
I’ve been super into making marbled breads lately! Jimmy always requests pistachio flavor, so this loaf was pistachio cheesecake swirl bread!
I also made some classic stuffed peppers! These are so simple and comforting.
Jimmy requested an ice cream cake for his birthday cake this year! I made it cookies and cream flavor with a caramel drizzle.
Last but not least, I made harissa hot honey baked chicken wings! If you like heat and spice, you’ll enjoy these.
Everyday Life ☀️
Sadie wrote Jimmy and I the sweetest note on our dry erase board. Just had to take a picture because it was so out of the blue. Love my Sadie girl!
When Sadie was feeling good, we did a science lesson on geodes and used a National Geographic kit to break open our own geodes!
Miss Niva enjoyed a walk with me on Memorial Day! We were able to sneak out, just us two, and I listened to a sermon while we walked. It was glorious.
Mordecai and Dakota played together so much while Sadie was sick. They’re starting to actually play, too, which is super cute.
We celebrated Jimmy’s birthday! It was sweet to sing happy birthday and give him a few gifts (snacks, a new face wash, and shoes!) and his fulfill his ice cream cake craving.
We did school outside and have been working on a unit all about safety and first aid. We’ve talked, watched videos, and read about fire safety, water safety, and we learned about basic first aid with this book.
I was so impressed with this book! It was the perfect age level for Sader Tot and had great info, pictures, and even a quiz at the end. Not going to lie, I learned a lot, too! I ended up ordering two more books in the series (on survival skills and how to build a shelter) and I can’t wait to read them.
We met our friend at our favorite trail/creek and let the kids and dogs play. It was such a fun evening!
Pittsburgh has been having gorgeous weather lately! We’ve been spending time outside as much as humanly possible and I love every second of it!
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- Scripture I’m loving: Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17
- I’m obsessed with this spicy harissa sauce. I topped mini meatloaves with it and now I’m dreaming up 800 other ways to use it. 🔥
- Recipes to make: mini cannoli bites, lemon blueberry granola, and cherry berry pie.
- Dakota had her 15 month check up! She is doing great and I plan to post an update soon. 👶🏼
- Sadie hatched brine shrimp for a science project and was feeding them. Mordecai said “Let’s give them feta cheese!” and I was cracking up. Where does this kid come up with the things he says. 🤣
- I’ve been doing a quick yoga video a few times a week (sometimes outside 😍) and absolutely loving the time to stretch and calm my mind. 🧘♀️
- Books I’m currently reading: Paris in Love, the sixth book in the Bridgerton series, a Bible study on contentment, Simple Abundance, and the second book of the Zoey and Sassafrass series (with Sadie!). 📚
Living My Full Life 
Your Pistachio bread is the mom! Thanks for sharing everything going on, so sweet!
Love You!
Dad
🙂