When Mommy gets sick...

the kids still have to be taken care of and played with.  I came down with the flu on Christmas Eve and my kids and my husband got sick three days later.  We were sick during all of Christmas break.  My four year old and two year old were sick with runny noses, coughs, and a fevers.  But thankfully in true kid form they didn't lose their desire to play and run around the house even with their fevers.  And this is a Blessing because they are sick, but not that sick.  Nothing is harder to see than your little one too sick to drive you crazy. On the flip side of this family-is-sick-for-the-Holidays-coin is adults are much weaker than kids when they get sick.  As we get older, sick means sick and adults do not feel like running around and playing with a fever. HOWEVER.... kids don't understand that and all they see is we are all home; let's play!

So hear are a few ways I kept my little sick, not so sick kids entertained while I was real-adult-sick this Christmas break.

We made sock puppets..... I have to say they loved it.  They picked out eyes and noses out of a button bowl.  And this process took a long time, which afforded my a bit of time to just sit at the kitchen table and rest.  I liked that part.  I hot glued their choices onto my husband's socks.  Then it was time to give the puppets hair.  We looped a bunch of hair, and I glued it down.  Lastly, they wanted tongues on their new friends.  We made those out of felt.  Once the puppets were complete, Aidan my four year old had a new object to chase my daughter Madeleine around the house with..... and by some weird twist my daughter was all of a sudden absolutely afraid of the puppet she made from start to finish.  The process was relaxing for awhile until it ended up in a chase through my kitchen, dinning room, and family room.  But I highly suggest making sock puppets even while you are adult sick.

Aidan kept asking to make Star Wars cookies, and he wanted to "paint" them -- decorate them for  you none four year olds.   Like any determined little boy..... he asked me, and then asked me again, and then asked me again, and again, and again .... you get the picture... I pulled the butter out of the refrigerator to bring it up to room temperature.  He saw me do this, and he squealed in delight because he knew that was the first step in making sugar cookies.  He is a very bright boy.  Aidan wanted to cut out Star Wars cookies and Maddie wanted to cut out butterflies and flowers.  And of course they wanted to paint them.  Funny part --- I only let them each paint five cookies because I had a feeling they would not like to eat the "painted" (royal icing) cookies as much as the plain cookies that they are used to.  Mommy was right -- Aidan bit into his Darth Vader cookie and said "it is yucky... too sweet." Another project done.  When will the flu end... that is what I kept thinking as I was coughing during this baking session.  Needless to say, I will not be sharing our baked treasures with anyone this time around.

Of course there was castle building, bridge building, fort building...playing with blocks.

And one day I even decided to bake donuts with the kids.

Because sick kids still need to be played with regardless if their Mommy is healthy or sick herself.  The kids have to come first; that is why we have them.  They are our Blessings.