Not the best..

...timing, moment, day, choice, weekend,...

It started in the school.  It always starts there, right?

By the time Parker was home from gymnastics, he seemed a little warm.  We grabbed dinner at the local chicken and rice place.  Parker looked a little lethargic and like he could tip over and fall asleep.  Felt his forehead and it was super hot.  He stayed home from school the next day.  And this is where it began.

He felt a bit better by the afternoon and probably a bit bored.  He and McKenna pulled blankets from around the house and chairs from the dining room and made tents and forts.  This is probably the first time my kids have ever gone "gung-ho" on this concept.  Not good timing...

The next day, Madison had a ballet leotard and shoe fitting at the same time as the adult session of church stake conference.  They are just down the road from each other, so I brought her with me to catch the end of "spiritual uplifting."  Around the time of the closing song and prayer, she mentions that her head itches.  I look over and she has a couple bugs crawling down her hair.  You can imagine my raised eyebrown and shrunken body movement.  Not a good moment...

We get home and I call a good female friend who we've known from a couple of offices that our husbands' have worked together in.  Allison has since put the other two kids to bed, and for the benefit of McKenna, has laid down on the floor between McKenna and Madison's bed.  Madison and I are arriving home and in that bedroom and bathroom and I am telling Allison to go upstairs to bed, as Ms. Dawn is coming over to check Madison for lice.  All she hears (in true Allison-fashion) is the word "mice."  I am now out the door, and what does she do?  She hops in Madison's bed.  Makes sense...don't want to encounter the imaginary mice.  Not a good choice...

Dawn brings "chemicals" and special combs back later in the night.  Sarah checks everyone else's hair the next morning and then runs to the pharmacy for more "chemicals" (or what Dawn refers to as "pesticides" as we were bypassing Nix and Ridix, etc. for 0.5% Malathion Lotion).  It is then a slow, long, tedious process of stripping everything off of every single bed, setting aside couch cushions, pulling out every stuffed animal, replacing all hair bands, combs, and brushes, moving rugs out...oh, and running the washer and dryer con-tin-u-ous-ly...repeatedly.  Let's just say that Jeremy's gone and four out of the remaining five are currently "affected."  Not the best weekend...

Lice is very common in this area of the world...it's always warm, there are always people traveling, it's a big school, etc. etc. etc.  There is not the common stigma over here as in other countries, it's met with deep mournful sympathy from anyone who knows someone else has it.  It's also difficult to get rid of the first time.

In the middle of all of this I am thinking that this is probably not the time I'd appreciate anyone coming over to help.  The house looks trashy (not just trashed, but literally trashy), there are mounds of laundry all over my backyard (the washer and dryer are outside), all the kids look like they have greasy hair (I let the "chemicals" set for 24 hours) and "someone" is running around without any clothes.  Not the best...

However, earlier the first morning as I am texting the whole ward/neighborhood to find shower caps before they all leave for church (stores around here don't open until 11:00 on any given day), one of my church friends down a couple doors had a sneaking suspicion as to why and came over later that afternoon to offer to wash some of my bedding in her washer and dryer.  I have to say that I was very grateful, as a couple days later I am still rotating the loads through just as fast as I feel safe!

Overall, not the best experience.