I had a fabulous Mother’s Day due to the kindness and generosity of my phenomenal family … thanks, dudes! 🙂

The day kicked off with a big, fat nap — one of my favorite things in the world these days. Stephen tended to the kids all morning long and then awakened me with a fantastic “Happy Mother’s Day” chant, with spastic 3-Amigo accompaniment, of course. The boys jumped in the sack and lovingly attacked me, putting into action their best wrestling moves, and Zeke even treated me to one of his current specialties: loud, slobbery raspberries on the belly.

Team Dillingham raises $500-plus for March For Babies … thanks for the donations!

Then Stephen surprised me with a gift certificate for an hour-long spa massage and took the clan out for a Mexican dinner, which included not only delicious food, but also pretty well-mannered boys. A mom sure can’t ask for much more than that.

In fact, the weekend was great all around. On Saturday, Free Comic Book Day was a smashing success. I’ll have more details about that wonderful event once I deal with the pics, but suffice it to say that it was a complete 180 from our disastrous family outing the previous weekend: March For Babies.

I had been raising money for the March of Dimes charitable walk for a few months and had exceeded my $500 goal, so the family was looking forward to the culmination of our fundraising efforts and participating in the final event. It started off great, with the boys cheering “March For Babies” on the drive downtown, free doughnuts and drinks at check-in, access to the concourse overlooking our city’s awesome minor-league ballpark, and the kids having fun playing at the stadium’s playground.

Cousin David assists Zeke in hunting Easter eggs @ Gramsey & Papa’s house.

Things went south about a half mile into it when Zeke decided that riding in our red wagon just wouldn’t do; instead, he wanted to be carried by Mommy. Obviously, carrying a 35-pound kid on a 5k trek wasn’t feasible, but no amount of urging, reassuring or disciplining would change his stubborn-as-a-mule mind. Once the tantrum of Zeke “the Mean Streak” (his current moniker, which is quite unfortunate, but all too often appropriate) erupted in full force, we had to head back to the car, missing out on the rest of the walk, seeing our friends at the GMOM spirit station, and all the post-march fun, food and entertainment.

Who knows if Zeke was tired, hot, hungry, mad, sad, sick, vying for special parental attention or what, but we have decided to take two cars to all family outings henceforth, if logistically possible. That way, the troublemaker can be removed from the situation and punished immediately, and those who are well-behaved are rewarded with continued good times, instead of being forced to suffer the consequences of the lone agitator.

Luckily, good behavior abounded during the boys-only weekend, when I was up in Virginia in early April and Daddy had the kids by himself. After a rainy Saturday of blankie forts, movies, video games, books and action-figure fights, Stephen took the kids to on an Easter egg hunt at park on Sunday. The event featured real hard-boiled eggs and live children’s music.

Gabriel & Houston share their candy w/ a baby @ the Mom’s Club Easter Egg Hunt.

Later in the month, the boys went on the Moms Club egg hunt, but this time, the eggs were candy-filled plastic eggs. Considering that they were chanting “chocolate bunnies” before the search even began, I think this was a welcome variation to the seasonal activity.

There was a third egg hunt during our family trip to Virginia. Aunties Lisa and Dina, Lisa’s rockin’ fiance Albert, and cousins Kara, Meredith and David came out to Gramsey and Papa’s to see the kids. The 3 Amigos were treated to yet more candy and also participated in water-gun fights, light-saber battles and happy hikes in the pasture.

The day before was Kara’s 9th birthday bash. The Sponge Bob-themed party featured painting, pigging out and pinatas. The boys had a ball being part of cool-cousin Kara’s special occasion; she is, after all, one of their favorite people on the planet.

Gabriel does his best punk-rocker while painting @ cousin Kara’s birthday party.

However, poor Zeke puked his guts out en route back to Gramsey’s house, giving me horrifying flashbacks of his incessant infant vomiting, before his acid reflux was diagnosed and treated. At the time, we weren’t sure if it was caused by the mass amount of junk food he consumed at the party or if his Prevacid wasn’t fully back in his system yet, since our recent attempt to get him off the meds was unsuccessful.

In retrospect, Zeke’s hurling was probably due to the fact that the whole family came down with yet another stomach bug over the next few days after Kara’s party. In fact, Stephen and I were supposed to go out for a hometown get-together that evening with some of my oldest and dearest friends, but I was so exhausted that I had to cancel our plans, which had been in the works for months. (Sorry, CC Brew Crew girls!)

It was the next night on our drive back home that I started feeling achey, and by the following morning, I was sick as a dog and eventually spread the illness to my sweet babies and hubby. We went to the doc that Tuesday and, fortunately, tested negative for strep, but all the doc advised was “eat lightly, stay hydrated and the virus will pass within 48 hours.”

Zeke tries to get the attention of Axl, a male tiger @ the Natural Science Center.

Sure, she was right about that particular ailment, but our medical misfortune continued and our stomach bug soon morphed into a horrible, family-wide sinus infection. I suppose our immune systems were so run down that we were perfect victims for the next sickness. That week was a trying and turbulent one, for sure.

Since the kids and I had not left the house for what seemed like an eternity and we thought we were on the road to recovery, we decided to spend Easter at Granny and Grumps’ house. Sadly, that weekend turned out to be the height of sickness, especially for Houston and me. We had violent coughs, sparse appetites, scratchy throats, high-pressure headaches, clogged ears, stuffed-yet-runny noses, no sense of smell, major fatigue, etc., and all of our over-the-counter remedies did squat.

Despite the prevailing sickness, we still managed to have some mirth and merriment, including eating Easter breakfast and attending the sermon at Granny’s church; visiting with Aunt Naomi, Uncle Clay, Uncle Tommy, and cousins Terri and Peggy; playing on Clay’s tractor and in his old barn; checking out Terri’s fresh-caught trout and worm bait, and going on 4-wheeler rides with Clay.

Houston tweaks his firearms skills while fighting off bad guys.

We also went for a joy ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The section we drove on had quite a few tunnels, which delighted the kids and inevitably led to them belting out “more tunnels” chants. Other than my getting car sick when riding in the rear of the van (thanks for letting me have the front seat, Granny!) and almost puking over the edge of an mountainous overlook, it was the perfect way to spend a gorgeous Easter afternoon.

But the best part of our Easter weekend – besides celebrating the resurrection of Christ, of course – was the fact that our dear old Grumps looks fantastic. We are encouraged about his new, healthier outlook and happier attitude, and we will continue to pray for his improved wellness. Take care of yourself, Grumps … we love you!

There’s lots more news, but since it’s late and this blog is already long, I’m calling it quits for now. My hope is to get the amusing Free Comic Book Day photos done and to post another blog by week’s end. In the meantime, click each of the five pics seen here to check out our April happenings. You can also see a few of Miss Beth’s blurry-but-fun shots from Matthew’s birthday party in March.