And we're back

I met up with Joe and my boys in Denver a couple of weekends ago for my newest nephew's baby blessing. It is great to be back with them again and to see family. :)

Things are busy around our house. We are trying to get things organized for when Joe's parents come to stay with us for Amy's wedding. It is crazy that the summer has flown by. Joseph starts school this fall. He will be in kindergarten. Wow. Joe starts classes this fall at SLCC. Hopefully he will receive credit for some of his BYU courses for the certificate he hopes to get.

Samuel talks a lot. He also has a lot of attitude for a 2 year old. He continues to be a light sleeper like his dad. He and Joseph like to confront each other over the littlest things. Sometimes they are great together and other times, they are at each other's throats.

The other day we went through their old clothes. I was saving some for the future grandkids. Anyways, Alison is due soon, so we decided to contribute to their baby's wardrobe. Joseph got this sad look on his face. He said, "But I want to save some of these clothes for when I have babies." We saved a small bag full of clothes that he helped me choose.

The boys finished their summer reading program at the library and got a free book a piece. They are excited about it. Samuel loved that they gave him cinnamon bears as a treat. Both boys love to be read to and were super excited when we unpacked one box of their books from the storage unit. Joseph kept running out with different books and exclaiming that he remembered this book or that book. Samuel joined in and would carry books to the room. He mimics his older brother a lot.

Countdown

In less than 2 weeks I will see Joe and the boys again!!! I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited. It is lonely without them around. I do get to read lots of books and now do homework with my intro to interiors class. It will be nice to have a car again too. It is nice to walk around to different places, but it has been so hot. Can I just say that I am grateful for Skype. I get to "see" my boys everyday. :)

Getting to New Jersey

We made it to New Jersey last night at 8 p.m. It was a long 2 days, but we are here and we are safe. We didn't really stop too long anywhere and only slept for a few hours here and there, but the boys did surprisingly well, other than Samuel vomiting a number of times on our first full day and once yesterday. We are wondering if he is motion sick, but even if he isn't, our car smells like vomit. We are happy and excited to be here. I will be sad when I leave on Tuesday, but at least I will have a few days to relax before I leave and Joe and the boys stay. It will be sad to be away from them for a few weeks, but it will be good for them to be here and spend time with their other grandma and grandpa.

There was some crazy wind and some crazy thunderstorms during our drive. One flash of lightning blinded us for a few seconds as the thunder shook our car. We must have timed it perfectly. Can I say that currently, Iowa and Ohio are beautiful. I also love, love, love Pennsylvania.

and also...

Samuel likes to eat raw onions and loves, loves, loves him some lemons (along with the rind).

End of the world

I know that there is a religious group that predicted it would happen yesterday, but I am referring to Joseph right now. A couple of weeks ago, when Joe was watching the boys, they were watching soccer. Joe left the game on and then went to take a shower. While he was showering, the soccer game ended and a movie began. As Joseph described it, "it had a lot of shooting and it was about the end of the world." Well, Joseph had nightmares about it for a few days. We have talked to him about it and tried to get him not to worry about it, after all, he is 5. The night before the so called rapture was supposed to occur, Joseph said this in his prayer, "I ask that there won't be an earthquake and that the end of the world won't happen." So everyone can thank Joseph...though we made sure not to tell him that someone had predicted that yesterday would be the end of the world.

Speaking of prayers, Samuel repeated his first prayer the other night. I think he likes doing it because now he has started to repeat words when other people are praying. He is napping right now. Church is not at a fun time. :)

In a couple of weeks we are driving out to New Jersey so Joe can help his parents around the house. I will fly back and work while my boys and Joe are gone. I am going to be so alone without them till after their soon to be born cousin's baby blessing. :P Not much else is going on here. I need to go and cook dinner. I will post pictures of Joseph and Samuel's marker fight later on.

Catch up

Yesterday we went to a safety check on our carseats. They had a firetruck. The boys got to sit inside, but we didn't have much time to get a good look around. Joseph is still in his soccer stuff. He is getting much better at playing the game and enjoying it lots. The team we played yesterday was a challenging one. The coach had someone in the box (not supposed to) and also had a few kids who were pushers. My kids did great. Joseph even got pushed from behind and fell hard on his knees. He got right back up and started running after the ball.



These are the Easter baskets that the Easter bunny left the boys. They were very excited. :) Easter was nice. We had fun hunting at a friends on Saturday and then with the fam on Sunday. This past week Joseph and Samuel both found a couple of eggs that were missed on Easter Sunday. It is funny because Joseph regulates how much candy he eats, but Samuel would probably eat until he makes himself sick. In fact, he asks for "dulce" quite often.



Samuel likes to push around strollers. This pink stroller is his friend's, Eliza's, and he will not let anyone else play with it if he is around. He loves to ask for her and wants to see her often. Aunt Amy was nice enough to take the boys to a hot tub and since then, they want to go more. She took them again yesterday with Uncle Michael and last night, Samuel found his swim diaper and walked around saying, "Samuel go swimming."



Samuel and Eliza "looking" for Easter eggs. Samuel ate every piece of candy after he found an egg, as you can see from the picture.



I took Joseph on a mini date. We had been telling lots of jokes, and I saw that Divine Comedy was doing their semester end show. I decided to take him. Well, it was crazy. They had 60 tickets available for a 7 o'clock show and then 60 more for their 9 o'clock show. Granted, this is in the evening, around Joseph's bedtime. Well, the line to get tickets for the 7 o'clock show was too long. I decided to take him to the 9 o'clock. Well, after waiting in line, we could finally purchase tickets. One of the workers said they had 1 ticket to the 7 o'clock show. I asked if I could have Joseph in my lap during the show. They said that would be fine. Then, instead of charging me for the ticket, they gave it to me. I asked if I could buy something so that we could be seated early versus waiting in the insanely long line that was still waiting to be seated. The lady who gave us the ticket walked us to the door and told the ticket taker to let us in. We got to sit right in front and we got to do it for free. To top it off, they were throwing out glowsticks. They had a huge ball of glowsticks. Joseph got up and was trying to catch it. The guy acted like he was going to throw it further back, but in the end, he tossed it to Joseph. All in all, I don't think Joseph got most of the humor, but we still had fun.



Here is a picture of daddy after Samuel finished decorating him. Samuel put each sticker in the spot he felt was best.



Last year, Joe took Joseph to Big Guy/Little Guy at the library. Joe said it was not very good, but Joseph really wanted to go again this year. It was a cowboy themed event, so Joseph wanted to wear this shirt. Here he is riding his horse.



Joseph also practiced lassoing the bull. All in all, he had a great time. He even told me that he learned to like mustard and ketchup together on burgers. All the kids got to choose one "free" book (you pay for 2 tickets to get in). Anyways, there were hard cover books and Joseph chose a Pokemon book that was paperback. He likes Pokemon because of a video game he has played. At least he liked it, right?

Life is starting to settle into a pattern of sorts, but we have so much to do. Happy mother's day to all of the wonderful women in the world who serve family and friends! Joseph and Samuel let me "sleep" in this morning. Joseph also gave me stuffed animal and had picked some dandelions for me. During one of the talks at sacrament, a sister was talking about how her little boy cups her face in his hands on almost a daily basis and says, "you are a good mommy." Joseph heard that and turned to me and said loudly, "I love you mommy!" Samuel then said, "I ruff you." Sweet moment.

Samuel to his pound puppy at bedtime:

"Are you okay?"
"You sad."
"I love you."
"Hi. You soft."

It was so adorable.