Keeping our sanity

What do you do when your child has a highly contagious virus and is forbidden to be around other children?
Here are some things that have kept the Gaglios sane and entertained the last seven days of confinement:

• Car rides around town with the windows down. 

• Drive-thru coffee shops.

• Arts and crafts. We didn't have food coloring to make an edible fingerpaint recipe I found on Pinterest, so I mixed in fruits and veggies instead. The texture was really weird and it didn't really work as paint, but it at least provided a few minutes of goopy entertainment while providing an afternoon snack :)

• A visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

• Playing dress-up in Mommy & Daddy's clean laundry that no one wants to fold.

• Katie Herzig music videos. I don't know what it is about her music, but Adeleigh stops everything to either sit and stare or dance to Katie Herzig music. She's got good taste :) Here's one of our favorites to dance to -

Hey Na Na

• Walking around the lake and birdwatching. 

Last night on our walk, we ran into some old neighbors of ours. As they approached, the woman said, "Uh oh. Is someone getting over the chickenpox?" My response was, "No, she actually has Hand, Foot & Mouth disease." We'd never seen two people walk so fast in the other direction. Phaeton and I, still standing in their dust, turned to look at each other. I said, "I should've just said she has chickenpox." Phaeton's response, "I guess since that's more familiar, they probably would've stuck around." He waved a "Bye, guys!" wave but they didn't see. They were already in Denver.

• Indoor picnics.

• Ring Around the Rosie. Anyone have any advice on how not to get dizzy playing this one?

• Lots of tickling and Eskimo kisses.

• Car washes. We thought it'd be a fun activity to get us out of the house and let Adeleigh experience her very first car wash. When she started crying in fear, Daddy turned and said, in an attempt to calm her down, "Hey, Adeleigh, look! It's a giant Elmo!" She cried louder. I think she thought her giant friend was eating all of us. Oops.