Sick week + Valentine's Day

Peter and Caleb were sick all last weekend. This past Monday night, it was my turn! Shortly after I arrived home from teaching a class, I was puking my guts out and wishing I were dead. I think I only actually threw up 4-5 times but it seemed like an awful lot. I finally resorted to sleeping on the bathroom floor after midnight. Once my stomach was finally empty I stopped throwing up but I felt like walking death for several days. On Wednesday night, the night before Valentine's Day, I found this note outside my door:In case you can't read it, it says: We hope you get well soon! Come into the kitchen for a great surprise! (when you feel like it) And then it's signed by all 3 kids.
I could already smell something sweet and had been hearing them bustling about in the kitchen. I was so nauseous that I was afraid to see whatever it was they had concocted. It wasn't so bad, though. I had some cookie dough in the fridge and Sam had cooked some cookies for me, with a marshmallow on top. Because a marshmallow on top makes everything better, right? The only problem, other than I was gagging at the very smell of anything, was they were a little bit doughy.

Me: "Wow, Sam. Did you cook these all by yourself?"
Sam: "Yep!"
Me: "In the oven?"
Sam: "Yep."
Me: "Ummm, how long did you cook them for?"
Sam: "Well, I cooked them for ten minutes but they didn't look even close to being done so I turned up the heat a little and cooked them for ten more minutes."
--note--these cookies cook for no more than 8 min. at 350.
Me: "What temperature did you cook them at?"
Sam: "I dunno, I just guessed at it."
Me: "Wow, well, you did a great job! I'm just going to save these for later, K?"
::note to self, teach kids importance of preheating oven::

Then Caleb presented me with his creation:

I was already trying not to gag or dry heave in front of them and this one nearly put me over the edge. It's a melted assortment of chocolate chips, marshmallow, and something else I can't remember. Dave said it actually tasted pretty good and the kids all liked it, too. I believe them, I just couldn't bring myself to taste it while battling the stomach flu.
They were so sweet to me the whole time I was sick and so proud of themselves for making "recipes". To my best knowledge, Sam had never cooked anything in the oven before. The most we've had him do is flip pancakes or make ramen soup! So all things considered, it was a success! Just not good timing for me. ;0)

The next morning was Valentine's Day. I was starting to feel a little better and was excited to see that Dave left this for me before he went to work. It was tied up in a pretty red bow and, no, there were no chocolates missing.

I managed to remember to give the kids some sweets in their school lunches, etc. and gave them tickets for Saturday to see the Harlem Magic Masters which is a cheap, low budget version of the GlobeTrotters who were playing in town. They were REALLY excited about the tickets and it was fun to go watch on Saturday. Since I had been so sick all week, I hadn't put much thought into what to get for Dave BUT the battery in my van had died so I surprised him with this:You can just feel the love in the air with this, right?! Nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like a new car battery. Hey, it comes with a big red bow AND a 60 month warranty. You don't get many Valentine's presents nowadays that come with a 60 month warranty. Those truffles Dave got for me are almost gone and it hasn't even been 60 hours! This is a gift that will keep on giving, people. If I had been quicker on my feet, I would've written some cute card about our "electric charging passion" or something but thanks to the stomach flu, it took every ounce of energy for me to just carry the darn thing into the garage. I transferred the red bow from my box of chocolates to the battery and called it good. Oh well, I'll try to do better next year!