John was sick all weekend, but didn't realize it was a sinus infection until Sunday when his mom, dad and I all told him he had to go to urgent care. He'd had a fever since Thursday and despite ibuprofen and acetaminophen he was alternating between shivering (in sweats and fleece under blankets when it was still 90 outside) and sweating. Even after a couple of doses of medicine on Sunday he still was feeling lousy enough to stay home Monday. (He also stayed home Friday. In the 15 years I've known him I can not recall another time when he missed two days of work to illness.)

When the boys and I got home around 1 p.m. he opened the door for us and Daniel immediately said, "Daddy! You look so handsome!"

We had a great laugh. It was so out of the blue, but a true testament to how much better he was feeling/looking.

He's not up to full speed yet, but managed to go back to work today and then mow the lawn when he got home.

The biggest bummer of the illness was that he had to miss his grandpa's 91st birthday celebration on Sunday. But the boys and I went to Chariton and had a great time with the whole family and then meeting Grandpa's friends from the apartment building who stopped in to share some cake.
Daniel was so pleased with his party hat that he wore it all the way home, asleep in his car seat. Unfortunately my phone does not transfer pictures to the computer, but ask me about it next time you see me. It's priceless.
The other milestone of the trip was Edward's introduction to the iPhone. His eight-year-old cousin Ethan was entertaining himself with his dad's phone and Edward sat himself down for a tutorial. At one point I left my cake-cutting post to check on him and saw him holding the phone.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked.

"Angry birds," was the gleeful reply. (I can't begin to explain this, so if you're not already laughing, try this link for additional background.) Looks like even more pressure for me to upgrade my circa 2005 flip phone. My sisters are lobbying for me to finally learn to text.