The Illness Almost Won

Dearest Castillo Children,

Sadly, I have no letter for you for last week. I became horribly ill on Sunday afternoon. My throat swelled up and I couldn't eat. I ended up only being able to drink water and some egg drop soup that I made. Sadly also, you two were sick and we didn't do much. The week before it had been raining a lot. The weather decided to take a turn for the worse for about a week. It was like the weather wanted one more "I'm winter!" moment before it finally gave way to spring. We'll see if that lasts or not. Since this week was mostly us being sick, I'll focus more on the week before. That is if I can remember it....

The most fun activity of the week before was Valentine's Day. I decided to go with an Asian theme for our meal that night. I went and bought some paper lanterns from a party supply store and we got some take out from our favorite all you can eat Chinese place. (I don't really understand WHY I am obsessed with it lately) I also decided to buy 4 large heart balloons at the dollar store for you girls to play with for a few days. Those balloons are still full of air a full 2 weeks later. Thank you dollar store. I dressed Annalise up in her little Asian outfit from Chinatown in New York and I put on my Chinese dress that I have. (I think the real reason I went with an Asian theme is because I could fit into that dress again.) Nora wore a shirt with Anime characters on it that I got at a garage sale. Not as cool, I admit; sorry Nora. :) When Todd came home we ate and then did presents. Nora and Annalise got little princess dolls with changing plastic outfits and Todd got a video game of Destroy All Humans. I got a gift from Daddy that is between just him and me. When we got up that morning Todd had already left for work and he left little gifts for the girls to enjoy. A small bear and a little box of chocolates. Man, you guys loved them. Especially the chocolate. I was funny to watch how differently you ate them. Annalise would just pop the whole thing into her mouth, while Nora would slowly lick hers. It's not very often you get to have a whole piece of chocolate to yourself.

February 14 is also Arizona's birthday! Arizona turned 100 years this year and it was wonderful to be here for it. I love Arizona. I have to admit I didn't always care for it. I wanted to be other places. However, the more I travel and the more I think about it Arizona is the perfect place for me. I never want to live in snow or humidity. Basically my only choice is the Southwest.

I got to do some Visiting Teaching and you guys were watched by my companion's daughters. You guys had so much fun with them. Playing on swings, playing princesses and blowing bubbles. We'll have to have them babysit for real sometime soon.

Last Sunday I started the ward choir. I really have been doing a lot of research, trying to learn as much as I can about vocal technique. I realized a lot of the stuff I covered is the really basic things - breathing correctly and how to stand properly when singing. We worked on some music and hopefully people liked it enough that they want to come back and do more. I have to take a moment to vent though - just a moment, I promise. I HATE when people are like: "We should have a choir" and "why don't we have a choir? Man, I wish we did". Yeah, those people don't show up for choir. Those people suck. The reason I did NOT want this calling is because I'm really at the mercy of others showing up. Any other calling it is built into church time but this one it is all volunteer at a time that isn't always the most convenient. There is no time that works for everyone. At least I have Todd there to help me. Doing this alone is even worse. At least I feel I am getting a lot out of it by learning and then teaching what I am learning. I think in a few years, when I am better at piano, I would like to teach vocal technique privately. I might look into doing that since I really enjoy that aspect of the calling so far.

The rest of the week of illness was a blur of stacked dishes and over flowing laundry baskets. Just when I thought we all beat the sore throat/runny noses I got a sinus infection. On Friday at 4pm. I basically would have had to wait the whole weekend before I could see a Doc. Luckily something worked out that SO helped and I was able to get some medicine. So, so, so grateful. I'm feeling pretty good on my meds that I got and am doing so much better.

There is a cute story about Nora that I'll share real fast. Nora isn't the typical 2 year old I have to admit. She is very careful with things and considerate. I didn't do anything to make that happen - she just came that way. An example of that is she got a hold of my red nail polish and painted her nails with it. With most 2 year olds you would imagine a horrible mess. Not with my Nora. She painted her nails and nothing else. She even replaced the cap and put the nail polish away. Yeah - two year olds don't really do that. Anyway, the other story is from today. Nora and Annalise were playing with a pink bouncy ball. I didn't see the whole thing but I heard a scuffle and then I saw Nora push Annalise down. No. Not happening. Time out. So Nora did her time out and is usually great and willing to do it. Afterward, when we had hugged and kissed and she new that pushing was wrong, Nora said that Annalise hit her on the head with the ball and that's why she pushed her. I told Nora that what Annalise did was wrong and she'll also need to go to time out for it. Nora looked up at me and said "No time out for Anna." I was surprised. Didn't she want her sister to pay for what she had done to her? I told her we had time outs for a reason and if Annalise did something wrong or "not nice" then she needs to go to time out. Nora insisted again that Annalise not go to time out. I was really moved how eventhough she was wronged too she didn't want her sister to suffer through a time out. I think things like that are why the Savior askes us to be like little children.

Well, here is to a better week for all of us! Love you, my most precious gifts.

With Love,
Your Mother