Still alive up here!

Quiet on here huh? :) We've had a very full couple weeks.
Keith had a great time at Together for the Gospel and was greatly encouraged and provoked by the godly men there! A special treat for him to have lots of "guy time," something he doesn't get much of at home. He got spend almost a full day with my brother, have a reunion dinner with last year's PC class, and lunch with a dear old friend from Knoxville. He had to share a room with a freight train of a snorer (who shall remain nameless here!) but figured out turning the TV up really loud with fuzz drowned him out :) We were glad to get him home again, but so glad to send him too!

While he was gone, my parents arrived! We took a not-so-wise trip to Mount Vernon, had an egg hunt, and celebrated Samy's birthday. Pictures coming soon :)

We were slowly getting back into the swing of things when we received word last Wednesday night that Keith's grandmother had passed away suddenly. She was turning 85 last week, but was in good health, so it was quite a surprise and of course very sad. Keith was able to fly down Friday morning to be with his family for the funeral. It was a really rare time for him to hang out with his sister and actually have conversations with his mom and other relatives without kids crawling all over him :) We were so glad he could go and be there for his mom!! He got home Sunday afternoon.

I headed to my dear friend Laura's house after dropping Keith at the airport in Baltimore. She is one of my best friends from college and she, her husband, and daughter live on the east side of Maryland. The kids and I got to enjoy the entire morning with them! It was such a blessing and always good to be with her :)

So, now we're trying to get back to normal routines again, but my mom is coming back this Thursday with a friend for my church's ladies retreat! I'm so glad to have her back!! Twice in a month is just unheard of :)
I'll try to get pictures up soon and more on my little 3-year-old!

Update to the Lego story :)

Well, by God's great mercy, Keith and Isaac were only gone from the house for about 2 hours on their trip to the ER! and probably an hour of that was driving and getting ice cream! I questioned Keith's rewarding the boy for sticking a Lego up his nose though :)

Keith reported it took all of 30 seconds with the right tool to get it out. And they didn't even bring home our $100 Lego! It was a skinny round grey one, which was hard to see amid his runny nose or we would have tried to get it out, we couldn't see it.

So, I am grateful that it was only for this we were visiting the ER and that it was so simple!
Keith left for Together for the Gospel in KY this morning. Me and my two sick kiddos (yes, Samy has a runny nose too now) will be holding down the fort and my parents will be here in just a couple days! We're all looking forward to their visit and celebrating Samy's third birthday Saturday!

Little boys

Last night Isaac went to bed with a sore throat. An hour later he woke up coughing like a seal. We did the steamy bathroom thing and got the humidifier going in his room and I was in several times throughout the night. He woke up this morning with a runny nose, but acting totally normal.
We were all out in the backyard this morning, weeding and such. Isaac had just gone in and was playing in his room with the window open, which looks onto the backyard. We hear him crying and he's looking out the window saying, "I can't get it out!"
I don't know if he was trying to stop the perpetual pouring from his nostril but he shoved a Lego up his nose! He and Keith are at the ER as we speak.
My sister-in-law called me while we were getting them out the door and her reply to our predicament, "Welcome to mothering boys!"
I must say I'm pretty surprised this is our first trip to the ER, though not the first Lego he's put in his body :) He swallowed one just after his hernia surgery.
Praying God will have mercy on my sick little boy and his daddy and there won't be a long wait. And also that it wouldn't be too difficult to get out.

Date night!

Last night was date night with the kiddos! How much fun to have just one child to focus all your attention on for a couple hours! Keith took Isaac for "boys night out" and Samy and I stayed home and had "girls night in" :) When Keith asked him what he wanted to eat, Isaac quickly replied, "Hot dog sandwich!" (which just means a hot dog on a bun) One of our favorite places to take the kids out to eat is Five Guys Burgers, which is where Isaac always gets a hot dog sandwich and Samy eats ketchup :) she's in the right family to love condiments! Keith said Isaac ate the entire hot dog (it's gotta be a quarter pound!) and tons of fries and peanuts. He said he was super excited about the peanuts :) Then they went to a pet store and looked at all the animals. Isaac's least favorite part, "I don't like the stinky dogs!" but he really liked the fish. And he does a great impression of the little birds in there!
No cameras allowed at boys night out, but Samy and I got a few pics :)

We had our little dinner, then got all dressed up for a princess tea party! She picked out my bridesmaid dress from my sister-in-law's wedding for me. We got on our tiaras and necklaces, and "glass slippers" to finish the look of course! Then we had tea (though she didn't like it) and ice cream (which she loved). And what princess party is complete without dancing and singing to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack? I got my work out holding her and skipping and twirling around the house, a few breathless song lyrics thrown in :) She kept begging for more, but i could hardly breathe!


tea and ice cream!like a true princess, getting every last lick!

Sparkles

Keith found some super old sparklers in the garage last weekend so we just had to burn them!


Samy acted like the fairy godmother: "Bippity, boppity, boo!"

Hiking & PJs

Two weekends ago it was absolutely gorgeous outside AND Bruster's had their "free ice cream if you wear your PJs" day, which made for the perfect combo :)
We headed to a little hiking/biking trail not far from home that runs along a little stream and had a lovely time enjoying the sun and throwing rocks and sticks in the water. The kids were bribed the entire way with promises of ice cream afterwards :) They actually did enjoy "hiding" as they called it.
We got back in the car, ate our lunch on the way to Bruster's and their changed into our PJs (or partial PJs actually). We all enjoyed our treat very much as is evident by the ice cream faces!!

Beauty and the Beast

Samy's current favorite princess is Belle and she's been wearing out my old "Beauty and the Beast" soundtrack. As soon as she's done with breakfast she's in her Belle dress and asking to turn on "Booty and de Beast" (I love her little voice!). She just twirls around in circles for half the day! Here she's enlisted her brother and Cinderella doll in the spinning:

And the few times they've watched the whole movie, neither one wants to see the Beast. "He's scarwy!"