She was devastated, though we sort of saw it coming. Lucy had been sick on Sunday. Wednesday was Bee’s turn. We’d hoped Julia might be spared, at least until after her softball game. But viruses aren’t sports fans. They prefer the couch, which is where they’ve spent a lot of time this week.

It seems “in sickness and in health” applies to sisterhood, too.

Last week, the girls had a play date and they painted with shaving cream.

It was some real messy fun.

Woops, there went the t-shirt.

And the pants.

Bee kept her clothes on.

Fun.

(And yes, that IS a purple marker mustache she’s wearing.)

2. Lucy was in a great mood this morning after a particularly rough night, so I said to her, “Wow, you’re being very kind today. Where’d that come from?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I just put it on this morning like clothes!”

Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if we could all put on kindness clothes?

3. Today I’m wearing black nail polish. (Not metaphorically.) I hadn’t been out in the world more than twenty minutes before I was asked if I was “feeling dark” and, “going through a Goth phase?” This could be yet another look I’ve had to learn the hard way that I cannot pull off. (Toe rings!) (Choker necklaces!) (Ironic t-shirts!) (Platinum blonde hair!)

4. The pathway leading to the doors of my house was looking pretty bad.

But now?

Not too bad!

Thanks to my helpers.

5. “I missed you all year when I went to school.” – Julia, from my homemade Mother’s Day book which also included a list of 10 Things That Don’t Make Sense in the World

So, what would you tell me?

I’ve covered the most unpleasant areas of my face (i.e. zits, unkempt eyebrows, chin waddle) with positive phrases and images. My wound is shocking enough when you consider it was inflicted by my children. With sticks! I’d love to make a joke, but there’s nothing funny about being hit with a stick. Okay, there might be an “ugly” joke in there. Reach for the stars! But the whole ordeal was pretty upsetting. Dark days followed. There was no television, no video games, no treats, no joy. I did, however, earn a tagline. I can add, “hit your mother with a stick” to any sentence. I may be bad at letting go, but I’m really good at guilt.

“I’m not sure how you can laugh when just yesterday you hit your mother with a stick.”

“I see you’re writing. I sure hope it’s an apology for hitting your mother with a stick.”

“Oh, you want to come with me? You’re not going to hit me with a stick, are you?”

But, it’s all okay now. They learned a lesson. I guess they really didn’t intend to actually hit me with a stick in the first place. It was just a bad choice (pretending a stick is a weapon [Note to kids: You don't have to pretend. A stick IS a weapon.]) paired with an accident (who knew I’d stop and turn around just then?) that resulted in my being beaten down in the back yard. I’m over it. Mostly.

*It’s Log from Ren & Stimpy.

(I love that they do this.

After weeks of getting unique messages, I got that one three days in a row. So, I downloaded a gratitude journal app to my phone.

That was my first entry. Message received, Universe.)

We also use that board to keep track of our weight loss “progress,” make lists, post notes and play Pictionary. Currently, it also contains a variety of countdowns of things we are either looking forward to or trying to endure, most notably, the number of school days remaining until summer break, because when summer beak begins, we can do more stuff like this.

That’s my family enjoying the supermoon and looking for meteors way past bedtime.

Did you see the supermoon on Saturday? The camera didn’t capture how bright that moon was, but it did capture an orb across the field.

And Pac-Man (middle right), which makes sense, because he eats ghosts.

What are you looking forward to? What are you trying to endure?