Coming Home

There are lots of Home comings here in PA this week. Today Shai is officially being released and coming home! (yeah!), Sunni and Cale are going to be at least going to Bellefonte this weekend to be with their other Grandma (they still can't go home because they are sick) and my gang is about ready to pack it up too. *whew*. This week has been ok. My croupy boys made nights a bit long at times but with the window wide open and the cool mist blowing directly on them they are starting to get better. Sunni and Cale are fighting colds but thankfully have not had the croup - maybe they have stronger bronchial whatever ;) And today my mom is quite sick- OYE.
We spent a day with my extended family (Jaedon only has about another foot to go before he's as tall as my Grandma! ;) I have cousins that we spent time with- ages 16 to 5. The 5 year old (Cavid) and Jaedon are about the same size and had a LOT of fun wrestling! And I informed my Grandma that GREAT grandbaby number 17 (!) is on it's way ;)
Yesterday we had blues clues day- the older 3 had notebooks and found the pawprints that I hid on things. Sunni is such a great artist at her age that she LOVED drawing the items in her book. Jaedon and Cale just had fun finding them =) We also made paper binoculars and cameras to go on a safari adventure with PopPop in the evening. After supper we went to Gander Mountain - they have lots of mounted animals so the kids had lots of fun going on safari.
Oh hey- Here are some things I've heard recently that have made me smile - some Pennsylvanianise:
Once = Wanst
Day = Dee "Tuesdee"
You all = yous
Not = as in the end of a question "ya turn left here not?"
Jerry = Jury
Pulley = Pooley
and my last name is pronouced Howse (yes even by my parents!)

I'm thankful that I am not sick (yet?!) and things really are going well. It's not the number of kids that is challenging- it's the number of sick and HOMESICK kids! Jodi (my sis in law) has not seen these two for over a week and over the past 6 weeks she has only seen them a handful of times. They are really homesick for their kids too- but the end is near!
Sunni is such a sweetheart. She's the most thoughtful 4 year old I have EVER met. For example the other night my mom was awake a lot with Cale in the middle of the night and was telling me about it at breakfast. Well, that afternoon (when my mom usually naps with the kids) my mom had to go somewhere instead of taking a nap and Sunni was very concerned and said "but Aunt Amber, Grandma should take a nap because she didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Ok seriously- what 4 year old thinks like that?! Anyway, it's been fun to spent time with them and it's been fun doing ponytails!!! ;)
Ok- well, this is a long post. I actually decided to go to a coffee shop today (where I am now) during naptime so that I could get an internet connection - plus it's turning out to be a nice getaway. But I need to get back and make sure all is well. Thank you all for your continued prayers - now for a safe and uneventful trip home!
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