The icing on the nightmare cake. It's not buttercream.

In case you were wondering if we were all still here instead of having choked each other, the answer is yes...barely. Owen is better and back in school today, Avery continues to be well. Erin was home from school friday afternoon, and then seemed fine all weekend. Then this morning her stomach started hurting again, so she is home today. Ethan is back to the doc this morning with Doug because he has been coughing and trying to wheeze, although I have been fighting it off with treatments and telling him to cough the junk up. We like to shout..."Get out junk!" I am frazzled after not really sleeping good for eight nights in a row. Doug too. Someone has needed something each night since a week ago last Friday. Sick tummy, coughing, fever, drinks, headache. You name it. NO vomiting, though. Maybe that's the silver lining.
So the icing on this nightmare cake came last night. All kids were in bed sleeping, and so we went to bed too. Ethan had a crazy coughing fit at midnight so I went in his room to hold him upright and give him something to drink. I fell asleep in there and we were snoozing peacefully until the puppies came playfully bounding up the steps and into Ethan's room...at FOUR IN THE MORNING!!!! When I realized what was going on, I got up and came downstairs. Their kennel had evidently not been latched right. They had gotten into the trash and fished out the WHOLE T-BONE that was left over from dinner two nights ago. I had to pitch it because it didn't get put into the fridge, and sat on the counter all night. Well, they didn't care and the downed the whole thing and left only the bone. Then they pooped like you would expect puppies to poop if they had just eaten a 16 oz steak. Remember, four in the morning. I cleaned up the mess and kept my cool even though I wanted to throttle them both. They cried when I put them in their kennel, and so I just closed the bedroom door. This morning when Erin got up and let them out, she said that she wondered why they wouldn't eat their dog food for breakfast. I told her they had binged over night, and they spent most of this morning sleeping it off in their kennel.

Needless to say, they are on my list today. They better walk the chalk...or else.