Quiet Week with Pneumonia

Daniel's recovery is going well. We're monitoring his activity, but he feels great, and it is wonderful not to have that aneurysm hanging over our heads any more.

Ruby, meanwhile, decided to develop pneumonia in her left lung, so her ear tube surgery has been postponed and she is on a hefty regime of medications. She doesn't act sick and is just as feisty and bouncy as usual, just with a rumbling cough.

We took a family walk to identify trees on Tuesday despite the recovery and the pneumonia. We had a relaxing time searching for the perfect picnic spot along Trout School Road. Pearl is collecting tree information for a book she's making following our unit on trees.

Later in the day Sapphire asked if we could make chocolate chip cookies "like we used to do." I'm not sure why she was feeling so nostalgic about them, but we made a batch and somehow I was left spooning them onto the cookie sheet.  They have such entertaining ideas that take a lot of prep from me, then they rush off to asking for something else while I am still cleaning up. No wonder I seem like a killjoy sometimes. I can only manage so many messes on my own.

If you have watched the girls you know that there exists a healthy sibling rivalry between Ruby and Sapphire. This has meant two kiddie picnic tables on our porch because the greater the space between them, the less arguing we hear. They also often have to go to separate floors of the house to give us a break from the fighting, though they are always drawn back together like two fractious magnets.  This morning I learned just how deep it goes. Sapphire had climbed into bed with us in the night and fell back to sleep. I awoke to hear her arguing with her sister in her sleep: "No, you can't Ruby!"

Daniel's trip to Israel is filling up, and he will be giving a talk about it this Friday at the Forks of the Brandywine in Glenmoore. See HolyLands2014.blogspot.com for the details of the trip.