Or at least, that's what Mom says life's like right now.  One after the other, things have been happening to us that make us just want to cover our faces with our hands and shake our heads, mumbling, "Seriously?!" And just in two-and-a-half weeks!

1. Adam and Olivia got pneumonia, and everyone else got sick except for me and Rachel (luckily because of finals).  Those two got sick right after we skipped two days of school for Disneyland, so they had so much make-up homework by the time they finally went back.  Olivia even got a letter from the district saying that if she missed just a few more days she would be kicked out of Neely!  Seriously, Livy is a straight-A student!   She did miss more than she was allowed, but the doctor sent a note right in time.
2. The Mercedes died.  Literally.  Actually, that's more of a fortune, not a mis-.  That thing was as old as Rachel, had a lot of things wrong with it, and gave me a headache every time I rode in it because it smelled weird, due to the gasoline that had been spilled on the carpet at some point.  In its place we got a Mini Cooper!  It has four seats and is stick-shift, and is the fastest, most awesome little sports car ever! (It also has the Broadway station in the radio!)  It is all white with a black stripe down the middle.   
3. Mom had to have dental surgery.  She was in bed and hurt like crazy.
4. The same day Mom had surgery, Eric fell off his bike and got a concussion.  Mom was on meds and Dad was helping in the kitchen, and we thought Eric was with the other kids still.  But they had gone inside, and he took off his helmet.  After an hour, my mom couldn't get him to wake up, then made him stand up and he vomited.  Immediately he was all chipper.  He was given a blessing.  But then it happened two more times and he went to the ER with my parents.  Yeah, my mom was still suffering from the surgery.  They were up until 12 or 1:30 in the morning.  Fortunately he was fine, and actually he was really funny the next morning.  "I got to see my brain!  It's huge!  I am so smart!  Sophie's not smart because she has a small brain."  Etc.

      5.  Not 24 hours later, we were taking my friends home from a late night.  We saw a little dog        wandering around, and pulled over to help it, because it was a nice dog my mom had met before.  Of course we couldn't just let him be lost when we knew who he belonged to!  Kylie picked him up, and as my mom reached to look at his name tag, he yelped and bit her!  We dropped him and he ran off.  There was blood everywhere and it was really bad, with many teeth marks including one that had gone underneath her nail.  Now the nail turning purple, and her whole finger looks terrible.  We dropped the girls off and went home, and my dad took my mom to get it examined.  She has been soaking it in epsom salt to draw out any infection.  No stitches were needed, but it still hurts.  They went to the owners' house that night, and he had returned home, but they were so sorry.  It turns out that he had even bit the babysitter last week, though  he didn't break the skin.  Apparently he hates clipping his nails and assumed my mom was reaching for his paws, so he bit her.  Still, they have a baby who like to pull his beard, and he could easily take off her finger the way he bit my mom.