more nyc and stomach flu

on saturday of christmas break we decided to get out and about one more time.  lexi didn't want to go with her staples she stayed pretty mellow, and brenner and malia seemed tired so they all stayed home with Dave.  i took kyler, and porter who had finally recovered from his stomach flu, after throwing up 15 times through Thursday night.

first we went to the Times Square visitor center to see the ball that drops on new year's eve. this is the ball that dropped in 2008.  the ball that dropped for 2012 was already in place (lower right picture). we made a wish at the wishing wall.  we wrote down our wishes and goals for the new year on a piece of confetti and pinned them to the wall.  on new year's eve all the confetti was dropped over times square as the ball dropped at midnight.  kinda fun!

 to make the outing worth it to my boys we made a stop at rockefeller center.  to see the tree you may ask?  no, we saw that gorgeous tree, but nintendo world was their destination.  they could spend hours here!

next was a stop at grand central station to catch a train to wall street.  i love grand central station, i don't know what it is about it, i just love it.  there is the chrysler building all lit up to the side.  so many fun places on 42nd street.

i really wanted to see the NYSE Christmas Tree so we hustled down Wall Street and saw the tree in front of the New York Stock Exchange, which was all lit up in green.  in a way we are saying goodbye to these places, because we are leaving nyc in 8 weeks.  fun to see these places one last time when they are lit up in all their christmas glory.

we caught another train back to grand central, then walked down 42nd street stopping at starbucks for hot chocolate and popcorn.  as we were walking to our subway stop to catch the F train back to Roosevelt island, poor dave called me and told me brenner had thrown up.  oh no!  when we got home malia started throwing up too.  it was insane!  we got the other kids in bed and brenner and malia took turns throwing up every 10 minutes until 2am.  dave and i sat on the couch between them as they threw up over and over.  at one point i was holding two bowls as they both threw up at the same time!  dave had picked up a couple movies for our datenight, and we had to laugh at this 'date' as we watched the movies in between cleaning up barf.  we thought it needed to just run it's course, but finally at 2 in the morning we were worried about how lethargic malia was. so dave gave them both a blessing and they stopped throwing up and went to sleep.  it was quite a miracle in my eyes.  thank heavens for the priesthood.  so so thankful for that power on earth, and for a husband that can use it to bless our children.  after that dave went to bed and i slept by the two sickies on the couch.  

i guessed they each threw up 30 times.  dave said it seemed more like 40.
what an awful flu-bug.  

the next day kyler and lexi got it too.  this is what our living room looked like for a couple days.  blankets, pillows, bodies, and throw-up bowls.  so sad.

poor sick kiddies.  dave got it a couple days later.    

i am so surprised i never got it since i was up to my elbows in throw up for days.  

i'm thankful i can keep on going. it's so hard when it's mom that's sick.

what a sweet tender mercy.  

i know Heavenly Father is so aware of each of us and sends these tender mercies, sometimes when we don't even know we need them.