James woke up Saturday, Nov 18th at 3am throwing up. I was worried he had the flu...but he assured me he wasn’t contagious. He thought it was just from eating a whole bag of candy-cane popcorn at work the night before. He made it to our youth temple trip that morning and attended a stake dance that night (where he had to help with decorations). He still wasn’t eating anything by Tuesday, November 21st, so he asked me to call the doctor and to sign him out of school right before lunch. When I told the doctor his symptoms––feels like something is caught in his throat, severe belly/chest pain, and vomiting––she told me to take him to the ER. At the ER he was diagnosed with “Pill Esophagitis.” The prior Friday night he had taken his acne medicine, doxycycline, without water and went straight to bed. This is one of three medications that can cause esophagitis (the other two are aspirin and iron supplements). We now know taking pills with water and remaining upright immediately after are important instructions to follow. The doctor said James had blisters in his esophagus that would take at least two weeks to heal. Four hours later we were on our way home and stopped at CVS for some prescriptions to help with the pain. There went my afternoon to clean the house before company came, but it was worth it for James to know what was causing him so much pain. Poor guy didn’t enjoy food again in any real quantity for the next ten days! I froze him a plate of our Thanksgiving meal for him to enjoy later.
I was grateful that Emma and I had done most of the grocery shopping on Monday. I was almost giddy doing Thanksgiving grocery shopping in America for the first time in seven years. It is so much easier to shop and cook here. Tuesday morning I made the green bean and sweet potato casseroles. Tuesday night, after the trip to the ER, we finished cleaning the house. Wednesday morning John took Mia to the dentist to get a cavity filled and was back just in time for the company to start arriving. The Olsen/Seelys arrived around 10:00am from Wisconsin. They had left in the middle of the night to avoid Chicago traffic. The kids played in the yard while Becky, Emma and I made a quick trip to Costco for pies. A few hours later the Andersons arrived from Iowa and we had soup for lunch. Becky brought so much food — enough for several meals. We had her Cincinnati Chili for dinner and played games and visited. The Gustafsons (friends from Shanghai) came from Wisconsin that evening for a few hours too (they stayed in a hotel). That night when I tucked Mia into bed she said, “When is Kate coming?” I realized when we say cousins are coming she doesn’t know which ones and hasn’t even met all of them. Since Kate was our last cousin to visit she had assumed the Wilkinsons would be here too. She said she had fun playing with Kinzie and Alia all day and that cousins are the best!
The boys in the backyard. John enjoyed taking them on rides with the ATV.
Our Thanksgiving crew!
Emma made this cute cheese ball. She also made cute name placards for the table and Eliza folded the napkins all fancy.
Becky and Shauntel are so helpful in the kitchen. Shauntel brought a delicious homemade peach pie and rolls and Becky brought the stuffing and cranberries. Most of the boys played flag football at the church with John in the morning. We had a leisurely morning with most of the food already prepared. Jeff peeled potatoes and Shauntel and Becky made the mashed potatoes and gravy while I finished making the jello salad. John carved the turkey and it was time to eat. The Gustafsons brought drinks and salads. What a feast! We have so much to be thankful for and felt blessed to be celebrating with family and friends.
(from the Left) Larsen, Tate, James, Reb, Eliza, Emma O, Gwen, Connor, Arch and Cole
Seth, Alia, Mia, Tessa, Kinzie and Drake
Tessa and Kinzie
Before eating pie we went to the movie “Wonder,” which is about a boy with facial differences who attends school for the first time as a fifth grader. It was such a sweet movie. Other than the middle/high school boys there was not a dry eye in the theater! Tessa’s fifth grade class is going on a field trip to see it in a few weeks for their Christmas party.
The morning of Black Friday John and Jeff took the youth to the temple for baptisms. Larsen was cracking us up saying that Black Friday was his favorite holiday and he was sad to be missing it. We assured him we would take him to the mall when they returned. James had about 200 family names and was happy they could get through most of them. John said when he and Jeff were doing confirmations with Tate, James and Larsen he had a distinct sensation of something pulling them together and binding them. It was a very special morning for them.
Emma woke up and left for work before any of the rest of us were awake. She was happy to work the early shift so she could spend the rest of the day with us. It was fun to see her at work. We found a few deals at the mall but all agreed that Black Friday deals are a little overrated.
I like this picture of the boys hanging out while Becky did some birthday shopping for Alia. At one point in the day Shauntel called to ask where I was in the mall. I replied, “I’m in Justice buying this dance shirt for Tessa.” She did not hear me clearly and thought I had sworn about the shirt. Later on we figured out the mistaken interpretation and had a good laugh about it! Shauntel works as a school psychologist so it was fun to have her read Mia’s IEP (Individual Education Plan) and give me some suggestions on motivating her to tell us when her diaper is dirty.
What a fun few days for all these cousins to hang out. Even though it was hard to sleep that last night with loud kids staying up way too late, I liked hearing them all having fun playing One Night Ultimate Werewolf. After cinnamon rolls and cereal Saturday morning everyone packed up their cars. They helped clean the house and it didn’t look like we had just had a few days of company. While the kids played one last time in the basement Becky and Shauntel helped fold our Christmas letters to be mailed. And Becky helped make another meal for lunch. I am not joking when I say that we were eating leftovers for the next five days—we especially liked eating the soup she made from the turkey bones! What easy and fun guests to have!
