Love antibiotics!

Thank goodness for modern medicine and antibiotics! Friday night was my first uninterrupted, full night sleep since Monday! James has been up between 1 and 3:30 am crying and coughing and generally unhappy. But, there was no fever, no runny nose, no change in appetite. Generally during the day, he was his happy normal self. Except on Wednesday there was no nap and Thursday there was no nap... he would wake himself with coughing. I called the pediatrician on Thursday and she said to try benadryl for a day. It did NOTHING, so I took him in on Friday. Dr. Springer said she could see thick yellow stuff going down the back of his throat, so she suspected a sinus infection. After only one dose of amoxicillin, he slept all night! Yippie!!! :)

I'll try to update more tonight... Tracy arrived Thursday night and is playing outside with Jemma... I need to get some work done around the house in preparation for my husband coming home!!!! YIPPIEEE.... I feel like a giddy little school girl!!!!! :)

Scout update

Scout is having her surgery tomorrow. She is so much stronger. She has had so much improvement just in the past month. And Merin said that she had only one or two seizures in the last week! Here she is on 11/8 with her new brace. The brace helps with body and head control. She was over 15 pounds, but lost some a little weight... she caught a little cold, plus Merin has been making her work on sitting and standing and crawling! I really hope the surgery goes smoothly and she will be able to make even more progress soon. I know that they appreciate the extra prayers and support!

Happy, happy, happy...

My wonderful husband flew his last flight over Afganistan today. He will be home next week!!! Yippie, yippie, yippie...

Daddy in the jet:

Getting gas:

Getting gas at night:

Final flight at sunset:

The price...

...I pay for blogging while my daughter is doing play dough in the kitchen: a play dough sprinkle party all over the kitchen floor. She and I spent about 15 minutes cleaning together. And there are still "sprinkles" everywhere! Time to pull out the vacuum!!

Pictures...

I'm finally able to sit and post a few pictures from the week! (James is napping and Jemma is playing Playdough in the kitchen.)

Here is Jemma on Tuesday morning, with the Abby costume on again. She wore it to Trina's house while I went to vote. I did make her take it off and put on real clothes for the Bounce House!

James with playdough:

At the Bounce House. Of course, James loves the tallest slide the most:

Jemma and Mya pretending to put on a play at the Bounce House:

The smaller slide and obstacle course:****************

James (know to us as "Red-Haired James") came home with us from school to play on Wednesday. The kids used watercolor crayons:

Then, James asked for pudding. They both agreed on chocolate:

Jemma before school on Thursday:

Jemma before school Friday:

Phrases...

There are several phrases that I've heard come out of my mouth that I never thought I'd utter... for example, tonight the kids were playing and giggling in the bath. I was folding laundry in the hallway where I could supervise, but I was slightly distracted. When I finally realized what all the giggling was about, I had to say, "Jemma, stop playing with your brother's penis." Geeezzz...

Our pediatrician...

Our pediatrician is wonderful!!! James has clear ears, lungs and throat. So, she suspects that his molars are bothering him. Thank goodness there is no infection. And, while we were there, she gave Jemma her flu shot. We had an appt for the 19th, but I hated to drive all the way there again just for the shot. She was very understanding and the nurse had it all over in about 5 seconds. As is the luck with kids, James decided to fall off the chair and onto his head on the hard floor so he was crying when the nurse came in to do Jemma's shot. And Jemma cried... oh, my drama queen... so I can only imagine what people thought as I ushered two crying kids out of the lobby and into the car. As I was driving out of the parking lot, Jemma said that chicken nuggets would make her feel better. The healing power of chicken nuggets....

Jemma told me before the bath that her arm hurt and I could not take of the band-aid. But she told me this just as I ripped it off her arm! And she was fine after a few seconds of whining.

The Hokies won... yippie!!!! :)

Jemma's artwork

Jemma is getting so much better with her artwork! This is a family of suns... then she practiced writing the number 3:

Tired...

Something is not quite right with James. He has not slept well for the past two nights. In fact, both nights have been rather sleepless for us. I think that we may just visit the dr tomorrow to rule out an ear infection...

Last night, after an hour of crying and asking for Jemma, I finally took him into Jemma's room to show him that she was sleeping. He calmed down much more after I proved that she was just down the hall and in bed asleep. I am so glad that she is a sound sleeper!
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I took the kids (Jemma, Mya and James) to the bounce house yesterday afternoon and I have some cute pictures to post... but not tonight... tonight, I'm going to bed.

Vote!

I spent an hour in line to vote today. My only regret is not taking a book or magazine to read to pass the time. Luckily, it was at an elementary school so there was cute kids' artwork to look at while waiting. And, if my last name had begun with H-O, then there would have been NO wait. There was NOONE in that line! How strange...

Thank goodness for Trina! She watched both kids for me to vote. They had such a great time at her house. Then, I brought Derek home with us so she could go vote. I stopped by the drive through and got lunch and Trina was done voting before I got the kids unloaded! How odd that two polling locations have such different lines.

Now James is napping and Jemma is playing with Mya in the kitchen...

No school day

Today was parent teacher conferences at school; therefore, there was no school for the kids. Trina had the 8:30 conference. I had the 8:50 conference. Derek got into the minivan with us at 8:25 and I turned on Little Einsteins while Trina had her conference, then she sat with the kids while I had my turn. Then, we all headed to the zoo. We rode the new train and the kids loved it. Afterwards, we had lunch in the little zoo cafe. Jemma shocked me by eating her slice of pizza and a hotdog. (Derek got a hotdog, so Jemma wanted a hotdog. But she also said that she wanted pizza. So, I got both planning to eat whatever she did not eat. Who knew that she would actually eat both?!?) The kids had fun seeing the animals and running around and then we headed home.


Here are two more pictures from the Zoo Boo yesterday:

Zoo Boo!

Sunday at the Zoo was Zoo Boo! We arrived about 1 mile away from the Zoo at 10:30... it was just after 11 when we parked. I should have heeded the wise advice of Carol. She and her playgroup arrived at 9:30, parked at the Zoo and went to the playground next door until the zoo opened at 10.

However, my kids requested French toast for breakfast. So, I made a yummy breakfast of French Toast. James with a mouth full of french toast:Then, we made a stop by Target because Carol told me that Halloween costumes were 50% off and they had Abby Cadaby left. (Jemma had begged for Abby before Halloween, but I refused to pay $30 for the costume!) So, I successfully purchased the Abby costume (the last one in size 4-6x) and a cute tiara for $1. And, I noticed that I had forgotten James' shoes.

So, by the time I had made breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, visited Target, and returned home for James' shoes, it was already 9:50 by the time I headed to the Zoo. Therefore, we got to sit in a long line waiting to park. BUT, it was worth it! Jemma and James trick-or-treated around the zoo getting and eating candy. Here are some pictures from our day.

Cool pumpkins decorated the zoo:

Jemma with the fairies:

Playing on the turtle:

I did refuse to wait in line for a train ride, but I promised the kids that we would return tomorrow.

Jemma with her new Abby costume... it was the first thing she wanted to do as soon as we arrived home!
Dancing to the Wiggles after dinner:

It was 6:15 and the kids were getting tired. Here James has grabbed the horse's tag and started sucking his thumb. Both kids were in bed asleep by 7:30... the time change is hard on kids!

Yippie!!!

It is November!!! That means that my husband will be home soon!!! YIPPPIIEEEE!!!! Here is my wonderful husband flying:

I think that this an awesome picture with the carrier below!
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And this him running a 10K on the flight deck in honor of his fallen classmates: ******************************

I miss my husband. I know that this is why he trains so hard, and I appreciate his dedication to our country and his willingness to serve, but I miss him oh so very, very much!! I can hardly wait to have him back home!!! :)

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It was a beautiful, beautiful day today. We went for a walk, then went to the park. James was putting pieces of mulch in the holes in his shoes:Jemma collected sticks:

James took a nice nap while I mowed. I asked Jemma if she would get me a glass of water. Not only did she bring me water, but she made me a snack! She put dried apricots and craisins in a bowl! It was so incredibly sweet!! Trina and Derek came over to play for a little while. I'm so grateful to Trina. She arrived as I was just finishing the mowing which was just as James was waking. So, she went to get him out of bed while I put the mower away. Then, she volunteered to watch the kids while I took a quick shower. It was so nice!!! I love good friends. :)

The kids playing in the grass with the pumpkins:Jemma made a pumpkin snowman:

And James knocked it over:

After dinner, we watched The Little Mermaid. Trina had brought 2 cupcakes for the kids. I thought that I had put them far enough back on the counter that James could not reach them, but I was wrong. He got his off the counter and brought it to me on the couch. He ate the cupcake in less than 2 minutes and asked for another. We had just eaten dinner... he ate very well... six strawberries, an entire chicken breast, some rice and blackeyed peas with a glass of milk! I don't know where he puts all that food...

Jemma liked the movie. She did ask me to turn it off a couple of times when the witch was on, but I told her that she had to keep watching to get to the end. I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "When Ariel saves the prince."