Just so I don't forget

Samuel and Joseph on the plane. I asked for one thing in prayer on the trip and that was that I might possibly have my own row on our flight. I got to the gate and asked if the flight was full. The lady said yes and I snapped my finger and said, "darn...I was hoping to have my own row." As I was boarding the plane, the lady came over to me and handed me new boarding passes. She had arranged for me to have my own row. It was in front of the bathroom, but that was nice because Joseph went 2 times and I had to change Samuel twice. I remembered to thank Heavenly Father for that one for sure. Also, the flight went faster than planned. They shaved off about 40 minutes of flight time. :)

A house that is prepared for the holidays. It even had musical lights.

Joseph and Samuel helping grandpa decorate the tree. Joseph loves to help.

Joseph with Santa Claus. When Santa wasn't busy, Joseph would go over to chat. He asked Santa what his favorite cookies are and informed us that Santa said chocolate chip, which happen to be Joseph's favorite too. We know what we need to bake for Christmas Eve.

Samuel with Santa Claus. He didn't scream and actually seemed excited to see him. He smiled at him when he saw him.

Last week Joseph was very upset to be in primary without me. This week he was a totally different little boy (from what grandma described to me). They asked the primary children what the purpose of Christmas is and Joseph yelled out enthusiastically: "Santa Claus." Nice...apparently I need to work on teaching him more about the meaning of Christmas. :)

This offsets a discussion that we had last night. Joseph has decided to sing contrary to whatever I am singing. For example:

I sing "teach me to walk in the light" and Joseph will sing "teach me to walk in the dark."
I sing "the wise man built his house upon the rock" and Joseph will sing "the wise man built his house upon the sand." When the house built on the rock stood still, Joseph will say, "the house built on the rock washed away." You get the idea.

Last night, when singing "oh come all ye faithful" at the part that says "come let us adore him" Joseph said, "come let us ignore him." I asked him if understood what ignore means. He said no. I then explained that ignore meant not listen to and Joseph apologized. He then started explaining to me that when Jesus lived, lots of people ignored him and they killed him and put nails in his hands. We talked a little about His sacrifice and what it meant and how we shouldn't ignore what He wants us to do. It was a good discussion and then after we were done, Joseph apologized for something he had done earlier. (During breakfast he said that he didn't want to eat anymore cereal and when I left, he "accidentally" spilled it all over the floor...he doesn't know how it happened) It was a sweet moment.

We had fun in West Virginia with Ernest and his family. On our last night there, Elena broke her little foot. Poor thing. Lydia and I talked about it and I mentioned that she was so calm. She said it is hard and that it is lousy that she has to see her little girl go through it. I have to say that I am very impressed with how well they handle the stress of the situation. Elena was just running around and stepped on her foot wrong. It got swollen immediately and they figured she had broken something. Elena handled it like a champ. Brandon is cute and looks so much like Ernest when he was little. The cousins got along well and had fun together.

The other night I was blowing Samuel's eyes to help him sleep. He took that as a cue and started blowing my eyes. Yeah...I guess that is something I can't do with him.

Joe got his own office at work. :) He got promoted from an associate financial analyst to an all out financial analyst. He's a smart guy that spouse of mine. :) We will get to see him in 4 days. Hooray!! Now I just need to pray that a snow storm doesn't keep him from reaching us in time for the holidays.

In West Virginia

My brother picked me up in PA and we are visiting him in West Virginia. Joe's parents were kind enough to drive us for a few hours to meet Ernest and Ernest was kind enough to drive a couple of hours to pick us up. This is the first time that I met my brother's kids, Elena and Brandon. They are a lot of fun and so cute. :) We are just chilling with them as it snows a lot outside. There are at least almost 2 inches of snow. We will be here till Saturday and then we will head back to New Jersey. Joe will meet us at his parents in a week. Yay!! He worked till super late last night because their budget stuff was due at work. It has been fun catching up with my brother. Samuel took forever to fall asleep last night. He hasn't napped today either. Maybe he will sleep well tonight...

Jersey

We made it okay to New Jersey. It has been fun so far. Samuel is having trouble sleeping, but that is probably due to his nap schedule being the same and the times being later here. Joseph is having fun with grandma and grandpa and his Aunt Chrissy.

Samuel also has what I think are hives. He has been on an antibiotic and I think he reacted to it...just like Joseph. He has been fine, he is just covered in splotchy points all over his body. If he scratches, a hive forms. Good times. :P

I am glad to be here. I miss Joe a lot. I hope that he gets a lot of rest and relaxation. :)

crazy days

Tomorrow morning I fly to New Jersey with the boys. I am nervous and excited and worried. I have everything packed and tons of snacks. Joseph is super excited. He recieved a letter from Santa this past week. We decorated our tree on Sunday. Saturday night was Joe's company's Christmas dinner. Yesterday was insane. Our day yesterday (mind you I had both boys with me for all of this, minus the last activity):

Took Joe to work
Came home and got the boys dressed
Went to my doctor appointment
McDonald's for a quick breakfast (drive thru)
Preschool
Drop stuff off at Saver's
Pick up stuff from Target
Go to Macy's to exchange Joe's coat that I bought for Christmas (3rd time doing this)
Run home and pick up library books
Go and babysit for a friend
Take Joseph to the doctor (he has strep)
Go to Panda Express for a quick lunch/dinner
Pick up Joe from work
Open Christmas presents
Clean up the mess
Run to Target again to pick up Joseph's prescription (I only took Samuel with me)
Come home and put the boys to bed
Go to bed

Yesterday was tiring and tomorrow will be stressful. The boys are bathed and asleep. It is time for me to get ready for bed and try to sleep. Everything is packed and ready to go...I hope. We are going to miss Joe, but luckily he will be there 2 weeks after us. I also get to hang out with my brother's family for a few days. Exciting times. :D

Samuel's first ear infection

So on Tuesday night Samuel woke up crying. He was burning up. We gave him some medicine and I ended up sleeping with him on the couch. Periodically through the night, I gave him medicine. At one point it seemed his temperature reached almost 104. He was toasty and fussy. It seemed that the medicine helped and he would get hyper and play for a bit and then fall asleep. With the medication he seemed fine. I put him down for a nap around 3:30 in the afternoon and took Joseph to a birthday party around 4:15. My friend noticed that Samuel looked super flushed and she said that he wasn't responsive. I got a call from Joe about 5 minutes after we had arrived at the party. I left immediately, asking Joseph's friends to bring him home. From what my friend Celia described, it sounded like Samuel had a febrile seizure. I spoke to a nurse on my drive home and then conferred with them after. They wanted me to bring him in. Last night at 8:30 we went to the after hours peditrician. He said he was surprised that we hadn't had symptoms prior to late Tuesday night because Samuel had a nasty ear infection, with puss, in his left ear and his right ear was also really red. I had debated taking him in because he didn't give me any indication that he had an ear infection. Poor kiddo. He is napping right now.