On Wednesday I took my 3rd grade class on a field trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. We left first thing in the morning and stayed as late as we could so that we got back just in time for pick up at the end of the day. Since Ben was hanging out with Samantha for the week, he decided to come along as a "chaperone" and bring Samantha, too. (Samantha LOVES the Children's Museum.) Ben's mom also met us at the museum for the day since she was also done teaching for Christmas and couldn't pass up an opportunity to hang out with her granddaughter for the day. I didn't spend too much time with them during the day, as I had a group of girls that I was chaperoning, but I did get a chance to go on the Yule Slide and the carousel with my little girl. Here are some cute pictures from our time at the museum and videos of the slide.
I was surprised with a snow day on Friday which allowed for us to get packed up in the morning and head out for our Christmas traveling early. We left for Upland, got lunch on the road, and arrived in time for Samantha to take a nap there. We had a good time hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma that night. Samantha was excited to see them, especially Grandma, since we saw her three days in a row this week.
On Saturday morning we had our Christmas for Samantha so she could open her presents separately before the Toll Family Christmas on Monday once Ben's brother and sister and her family arrived. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the presents, but once I started ripping the paper for her, showed her what to do, and reassured her that it was okay to rip the paper, she got the swing of things.
We gave her a doll stroller, play plastic dinosaurs and horses, a play purse, a Playschool bus, and I made a jewelry box for her with a picture of her on the front and lots of necklaces and bracelets on the inside from the dollar store. The jewelry box seemed to be her favorite present. She would spend many, many minutes taking the necklaces on and off, as you can see in the video below.
Later that day, after a wonderful dinner of vegetable soup, the Riley crew arrived and Samantha was so excited to see Alaina. She loves her cousin.
The next day was church in the morning. We were up and ready fairly early, so the girls had some play time before we had to leave. Here is Grandma, also known as Ema, reading her two granddaughters a story.
After church, we went back to the house to let the dogs out, grab our sandwich lunches, and hit the road. We drove out to see Ben's Grandma and extended family in Ohio. We hadn't seen any of them since Christmas last year. Luckily, after we ate a quick lunch in the car, Samantha fell asleep in the car. We were a little worried because this past week we switched her around in her car seat to forward facing. She LOVED the new perspective on the world, interacting with us more, and looking out the front window at the world passing us by. However, we were afraid that this would make it difficult for her to fall asleep in the car since she is such a social baby. Samantha slept for almost the whole rest of the way to Ohio, letting Ben get some work done as well.
Once we got to the house, Samantha was so excited to see all the people, especially Ben's cousin Sheri and her two little dogs. Samantha spent the first twenty minutes following the dogs around, trying the pet them and hug them. She is definitely an animal lover. We had a good lunch, even though Samantha wasn't too interested in eating. Samantha got to play down in their basement with many new toys, and I got a chance to talk to Ben's cousin Crystal about education, children, and homeschooling. It was a great afternoon. We left around dinnertime, picked up some nuggets on the way, and it was my job to entertain a tired Samantha on the way home. Samantha and Alaina had some more time to play once we returned home, then it was off to bed. After all, our Christmas was tomorrow morning!
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