Family Fun, Christmas Activities, and Samantha Learning to Read

Samantha: 55 Months, Week 1

Aedan: 19 Months, Week 3

This is kind of a strange picture to start the week off with, but we have been having some trouble with Aedan's diapers leaking. Some of our previously owned diapers have stretched out elastic on the sides, which I know needs to be fixed and will occasionally result in leaks. However, as you can see in the picture below, we have been having a different type of leak in the last few weeks. It will be right in the center of the diaper and leak through to his pants. Sometimes I've had to change his pants several times in one day due to diaper leaks. I'm not sure why this is happening because nothing has changed in our wash routine to change their absorbency. I know that Aedan is peeing more volume all at once rather than in spurts. In fact, he often is noticing when he's going to the bathroom and will make a funny face, stand still, and grab his diaper. In fact, every once in awhile he will actually go sit on the little Minnie/Mickey Mouse potty for a few seconds. Anyways, I took these pictures to send to my friend in Oxford who is a cloth diaper advocate to see if she had any advice for me. The PUL, which is the waterproof coating on the inside of the diaper, may have small holes or tears in it that is causing this to happen. She suggested putting fleece under the microfiber insert to help absorb any extra liquid and hold it, preventing it from leaking out the diaper. I don't have any fleece that I can cut up right now, so I figured that I would just try doubling up the inserts with the newborn size microfiber insert as well as the regular size insert. I will try that and see if that solves my problem before going out and buying anything new. I also asked my friend about how to get back into cloth at nighttime because we had switched to disposables for a while now since Aedan was peeing so much at night, and it was leaking out onto his pajamas, sleep sack, and sheets every morning. I was tired of cleaning that all up every day. She suggested I try one layer of microfiber and then two layers of hemp, whereas before I was doing two layers of microfiber and then one layer of hemp. We will see if that works as well, and if it does, I can always order more hemp inserts to use in all four of our overnight diapers. I really like using cloth diapers because they save us a ton of money since we don't have to buy disposables all the time, but there are times like this when you are trouble shooting to make the diapers work for the various stages your child go through that make it a little more complicated to use cloth. Hopefully these solutions will work for us, and we can avoid leaks and wet clothes!

Ben planned on working most of the week on his papers for the conference in Puerto Rico in January, so the week continued on like normal for the rest of us. We went to the library for story time on Tuesday morning and got to sing some fun Christmas songs and listen to Christmas books. Aedan did alright at the beginning, but he started to get too disruptive towards the end and I had to take him out of the room while Samantha stayed to finish story time. The library has a little bit for both of them, for Samantha really enjoys story time as well as picking out and looking through new books. Aedan doesn't really care for that part, but he really enjoys the play area of the kitchen, the tools, and pushing the shopping cart around. It's always a fun morning outing, but every time we go we keep checking out more books, more than we have room for at home! I think next time we go we need to thin down our pile. You can renew each item up to five times, so we get to keep our books for quite awhile.

Samantha was pretty tired that morning as it was time to leave the library; however, when it was time to take a nap, she was just making noise and singing. She wasn't feeling too well with a cold, and she was crabby, but she was refusing to sleep, and that is when it's frustrating to me. I didn't want her to wait too long and then eventually fall asleep when it was too late and have her nap impact her bed time, but I also didn't want her to get more sick from being overtired and end up missing her preschool winter party on Friday. Especially knowing that we had our community group get together that night, we wondered if we should just have her stay home so that she could go to bed early. Samantha's sleep has been perplexing lately because it never seems like she is getting enough, it seems like she is constantly tired, and when she is tired she is way more emotional and overreacts much more than normal. I keep hoping this will be a phase and things will settle back down at some point soon.

Wednesday morning was another preschool day for Samantha and then I watched Bennett for Andrea so she could have a morning off. After running a couple errands, I brought the boys back home to play, and it was a lot of fun having them together again. Aedan and Bennett really get along well, and the fun toy of the morning was the basketball hoop that we brought inside the kitchen so that Aedan can still play it even if it's wet and cold outside. Bennett definitely loves playing basketball and really just wanted to play it the whole time. I certainly have missed these times of our babysitting swap. It's fun for Aedan to have a little friend that's pretty much his same age.

As it is getting close to Christmas, Ben and I were trying to finalize all of our Christmas presents for our kids and our family. We ended up ordering pretty much everything from Amazon because it was cheaper and easier than going to a store searching for it. I also finally got our Christmas cards mailed out, so I felt like I got important things accomplished that were causing more stress than need be. I try so hard not to let the "hustle and bustle" of Christmas get to me, but sometimes it's hard not to when you feel pressured to do things in a certain way and all of the extra "Christmas" things are piled on top of all the other day to day things that already keep me busy enough.

Since Samantha didn't nap on Tuesday afternoon, she was super tired on Wednesday morning for preschool. In fact, she was saying that she didn't even want to go, which is definitely unlike her. When I picked her up, she just lost it. She sat on the stairs coming down from the gym and refused to come with me. She was crying and whining, and really acting like a two year old, not a four and a half year old. It was a really nice day outside, and on my way in to get her, I thought that I might let her and Aedan play on the playground for awhile before going back home, but once she started acting out like this, she ruined that chance. I finally got her to come out with me, and then she begged to play on the playground because she saw some of her preschool friends playing as well. However, they did not throw a fit like Samantha did that day, and really has done many times when I pick her up at the end of preschool. When I told her no, that we weren't going to play on the playground, she started screaming and crying very loudly. It's like she has regressed in this area lately, especially with transitions, almost like when she was a two year old except even worse because she's four and a half now and should be able to handle her emotions better than she is. We always prepare her for things ahead of time. For example, she knew that I was going to be picking her up that day and not Daddy. She obviously knows when preschool is over that it's time to go home. I don't know what it is that's going on in her little world to make her freak out so easily, but I certainly am tired of having to deal with this behavior every day. I wonder if I need to think up some kind of incentive to get her to leave preschool in a respectful way instead of being stubborn and throwing a fit. Sometimes I don't know how best to handle her when she acts in this way, whether I should try to ignore her or if she is trying to get attention and if I acknowledge her feelings and try to comfort her, if that would help her from escalating the problem even more. Every stage is challenging in different ways, and just when you think you have your kid figured out, they change, always keeping you on your toes.

Wednesday afternoon, Samantha was so tired that after lunch she didn't even play, she just went to her room and laid in her bed, looking at books. When I put her down for her nap, she fell asleep with me in the room which she pretty much never does anymore. She did end up waking up when I left the room and made noise for a little while, but then she fell back asleep and took a pretty long nap. You could tell her body really needed a good rest.

That evening I didn't feel like cooking or cleaning up dinner, I just wanted a night to relax with my family, so we decided to go out to eat Uptown at a restaurant we've never been to before called Mac and Joe's. It's a hole in the wall place back in an alley, and it's not a place I'd like to go to when students would be around, but it was fun to go during break. Our kids did really well sitting in the booth with us while we waited to get our food. I even brought in some of the little readers for Samantha, and she practiced reading her popcorn words, reading all four books pretty much all by herself. I have been trying to be really positive with Samantha in encouraging her to read because many times she refuses to read when I ask her to. However, she knows a lot of words and is smart enough to pick up on others that appear frequently throughout a book. She was so excited about reading all on her own and couldn't wait to tell Miss Betsy the next time she saw her at preschool. It's amazing that my little girl is learning how to read. She loves to look at books and will love it even more when she can read the books all on her own.

It was still fairly warm that evening, so after dinner we decided to walk around and play in the Uptown park for awhile before going back home. This mild winter is certainly nice as we haven't had snow at all this year. Samantha was in a much better mood that evening after letting herself take a good nap that afternoon. It's amazing how different her disposition is when she gets enough rest. (Now if there was only a way to guarantee she would get enough sleep.)

Once we got back home that evening, we had some time for the kids to play before it was bedtime. Both kids were playing with baby dolls for awhile, feeding them and changing their diapers. It was cute to see Aedan role playing right along with Samantha. Then Daddy put on a video of a light display timed to "Let It Go." Unfortunately for Aedan, he has heard this song many times and really likes it. He even tries to sing along with it, singing "det ih gooo." We tried to capture it on this video because he was singing along, but then he stopped when we started recording.

I always enjoy this break that we have between semesters, giving us more family time and more flexibility in Ben's schedule. Because of this, we decided to take a family trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center on Thursday. We were going to meet our friends, the Chagdes', there as well, but they ended up not being able to come. Nevertheless, we had a great day together playing in the sand pit, walking through the caves, and visiting the Holiday Junction exhibit since Daddy didn't get to see it last time we were here.

The kids really enjoyed the train ride again, and I think Samantha had to be a little mommy to Aedan during the ride, telling him to sit down so he didn't get hurt.

After eating our packed lunch, we went up to Tower A since Daddy and Samantha hadn't been there before. The kids had fun looking at the trains moving down below and then playing with the train tables that they could have all to themselves, unlike the tables down in the children's area.

We went through the museum in a backwards order, as we usually start in the children's museum area, but the kids were doing well, so we decided to stay as long as they were being respectful. It was nice going to the children's museum after lunch because a lot of the school groups had already left and there were a lot less kids, meaning more space for Samantha and Aedan to enjoy themselves. We had a great afternoon playing, climbing, and exploring. Samantha even spent a long time in the water area which she doesn't normally do. I think it was better doing the children's area in the afternoon when she was more sleepy because she did activities with a more concentrated focus rather than fluttering from one thing to another.

On the way back from the museum, both kids crashed in the car after a long, fun day of playing. This video is of Samantha snoring in the car, even though it's kind of hard to hear. She is so cute when she sleeps, and we think it is adorable when she snores. That's when you can tell she is really out.

On Friday morning Aedan slept in longer than normal since he didn't nap much the day before. Daddy took Samantha to preschool since Aedan was still asleep, and she was super excited because she was having her class party that day. Plus, they got to wear their pajamas to school which made it all the more exciting. She picked footie pajamas, saying that she could still fit her boots over them. I couldn't wait to hear about her day celebrating with her friends and teachers. While Samantha was having fun at school, I took Aedan to go grocery shopping. I had everything I needed for going out, even bringing Aedan breakfast to eat while we shopped. However, once I arrived I realized that I left my shopping list at home, so I had to drive all the way back home to get it, making our morning a lot more rushed and hectic than it needed to be. Nevertheless, we got our shopping done, and I was able to still meet up with Ben so he could take the kids for lunch while I went to Zumba. Just like on Wednesday, Samantha freaked out again when it was time to leave preschool, crying and making a scene for no reason. No offense to Ben, but I was glad that she did it to him as well, and that it wasn't only me that got the brunt of this behavior. Samantha changed her attitude around after talking with Daddy, so he decided to take them to eat in his office anyways. Here's a cute picture of Aedan sitting on a bench in the hallway in Ben's building. They love their Friday lunch dates with Daddy.

Saturday morning I had plans to take Samantha to paint pottery, but before leaving we just had a relaxed morning at home. I captured these adorable videos of the kids sitting on the couch reading together. Samantha is reading the little readers I checked out for her from the library, and she is reading every single word of the book by herself. She smiles and giggles to herself after each sentence that she reads, and I love it. I love how Aedan is trying to copy her by looking at the books and mumbling sounds as well. I love how they are sitting close to one another, touching their feet together. I love how she calls bananas yellow fruit because she knows Aedan loves bananas and he would want one if he hears the word. I love how great of an example she is setting for her little brother, already instilling in him a love of reading and a strong desire to look at books. I think these might be my new favorite videos. My heart feels full to overflowing when I watch these two together.

I took Samantha to a local pottery painting studio called You're Fired so that she could paint an ornament as her ornament for the year, and also a special present for Upland Grandma. Samantha has really enjoyed coloring and art this past year, so I figured painting her own ornament would be a good way to signify this past year. She had fun picking out her items and colors and really was pretty meticulous in her painting. This is her concentration face in the below picture.

Before painting we stopped at the local coffee shop across the street to get some hot chocolate to enjoy while we painted. Samantha thought that was pretty special and really enjoyed sipping on her hot chocolate while waiting for the paint to dry.

Even though she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it, Samantha really wanted to paint this special Elsa statue. (Shh! Don't tell Grandma!) She was very particular about how she looked and even tried to paint snowflakes on her dress. Samantha was getting a little tired of painting towards the end of our time there, so I helped her do the second coats in order to help the paint show up darker. It was a fun outing for her and I to do together, and we will definitely have to do this again sometime. She couldn't wait until her items would be ready to be picked up. I think she's a pretty good little artist for a 4 1/2 year old. Maybe we will have to sign her up for art classes when she gets a little older.

While Samantha and I were out, we stopped by TJ Maxx so that she could pick out presents for Daddy and for Aedan. (Daddy also took Aedan to pick out presents for Samantha and for me, and he planned to take Samantha out to shop for me later in the day after nap time.) We think it's important to let the kids pick out presents to give to the family for it helps them to think of others and be a part of giving, not just receiving gifts.

Sunday was another big day for Samantha because the kids performed in the service in front of all the adults. We had been practicing her songs at least two times a day for the last week. They sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Joy to the World." Samantha knew all the words, and she did a wonderful job singing. Her little friend Isaac is standing to her right, and the two of them were by far the best singers out of all the preschoolers, and even better than some of the elementary kids. If you watch the video, you can see a cute moment where Isaac and her look at each other and smile. Samantha seems like a natural performer at times. She isn't ever nervous about going on stage and being in front of people. She doesn't fidget very much, and she even looks around the audience, like she is engaging with the people that are watching her. I think she has the sweetest little singing voice, and I am so glad she is using her voice to worship God and give praise to Him. It makes my mama heart proud. :)

At the last minute on Saturday night, I was able to get free tickets to the "Awaited" show I had heard about from some friends at church who said that Samantha would really enjoy it. I contacted a high schooler from church who has babysat for us before, and she agreed to watch Aedan for us so that Ben and I could both take Samantha to the 1:00 showing. We technically had stand-by tickets, but there was no problem finding a seat in the giant auditorium. Samantha was very interested in the show, the singing, the dancers, and all the colorful props and lights they used. She got a little antsy towards the end, which is to be expected for someone her age, but this show was a great reminder of what we are really celebrating this time of year as we enter into the last few days before Christmas.

On Monday morning we just took it easy at home, played together, and even made pretend snow using baking soda and conditioner. I figured since it's not going to actually snow any time soon as it was actually quite warm outside, we might as well enjoy playing with it inside. Samantha got some horses to play with in the snow and didn't mind getting her hands dirty piling the snow on top of the horses and making snowballs. Aedan was a little unsure about it at first, preferring to push it around with the spatulas, but then got into it more later, dropping more of it on the floor and on his pants than back into the pan. It was a fun little sensory activity, something different for our morning at home, and something they could both enjoy together. :)

Since both kids took good naps that afternoon, we decided to eat dinner on the early side before going to a light display in Eaton called Whispering Christmas. We went to it last year and thought it was pretty neat, so we decided to go again on a week night when we hoped it wouldn't be as busy. The weather was in the mid-50s and slightly rainy, which we hoped would also deter some people from coming out. It wasn't too busy at all, giving us time to drive through the lights at our own pace. I let Aedan come up to the front seat to sit on my lap so that he could see better since he can't really see anything when facing backwards in his car seat. I unbuckled Samantha as well so that she could stand up and look out her window better. We stopped in the middle to look at the little houses with displays set up in the window and then went into the cabin for some cookies and hot chocolate.

Aedan didn't like drinking the hot chocolate, so we got him some orange drink to try. I didn't know if he'd like it or not, and every time I gave it to him he made a funny, sour face like he didn't really like it, but then he kept wanting me to give him more. He's a funny kid. It's amazing to think that when we came to this last year he was a baby and not even crawling yet, and now he's a little toddler running all over the place. So much can change in a year. Who knows what will happen in the next year with so much potential change in waiting on news for employment for Ben, whether we are staying in Oxford or moving somewhere else. Whatever happens, I know that it doesn't matter where we live because home is wherever my family is, and I sure do love this time of year where I get to spend so much time with my family.

(Blog about December 15-21, 2015)

Festival of Lights & Extended Family Time

Samantha: 54 Months, Week 4

Aedan: 19 Months, Week 2

On Tuesday morning Samantha had a dentist appointment, so we all made the trip there by 9:30. I was a little concerned with how Aedan would do waiting, but he was fairly calm that morning, enjoying playing in the waiting room and then watching all the hustle and bustle in the area where Samantha got her teeth cleaned. Everything checked out well, they said she's doing a good job brushing her teeth, and we will bring her back in six months for another check-up and cleaning. Since we have Samantha and know what to expect and how to take care of teeth, they said they don't really need to see Aedan until he's about three years old. After the appointment we made a couple quick stops to pick up dry cleaning and then a few items at Kroger before heading back home for lunch and nap time.

In fact, as we were on our way home and talked about how nice it was outside, Samantha suggested that we go to Hanover Park. At first I was going to say no, but then I thought, "Why not?" The kids were in good moods, and it was in the mid-50s and sunny in December. The kids were so excited to run around and play, go back and forth on the swings, and play in the tractor and boat play sets. It was so beautiful out that I almost didn't want to leave the outdoors. I like having snow at Christmas time, but I have to admit that I'm enjoying this warmer weather where we can be outside more without being bundled up.

While I was putting Samantha down for her nap that afternoon, a package was delivered to our house. I knew that it was a present from Great Grandma Donna, but I didn't tell Samantha that. However, I did tell her that she could help me open it when she woke up. So after watching her show, we opened the box, and I took this picture and video of her opening her present. Samantha is a big train enthusiast right now, so she was excited to see the Christmas train. It was very thoughtful of my grandma to send it to her in the mail, and to let her open it before Christmas so that she could enjoy playing with it more between now and then.

As we were opening the box, Daddy arrived home from campus, so I let him take over putting the track together and getting the train set up. It took a little work to get the wheels set just right and to figure out how to turn the train on and off without knocking it off the track. This is definitely a train track that you need adult supervision to operate, but Samantha was so excited when it got started. As you can see in the videos below, she really enjoyed watching it go around and around. She even tried to set it up like a train station where Little People from our nativity set took turns riding around on the train. We left it in the kitchen for that night, and then we decided we would move it up to her room and set it up for her to play with.

Sometimes Aedan will sleep close to three hours in the afternoon, and Tuesday was one of those days. We leave for small group around 5:15, and sometimes we even have to wake him up if I get him down for a later nap. Even when he sleeps that late, he still is very ready for bed at 8:00 or sometimes earlier. His second year molars are still pushing their way through, but they seem to be bothering him less this past week. He has been sleeping more normally with better nights and less interruptions. I'm not exactly sure why Daddy took this picture below, but it shows our little guy all ready for bed in his comfy footie pajamas and his trusty pacifier. He only gets his pacifier at nap time and at bed time, but he sure does like it. We had a green one as well, but I realized it had some cracks in it, so we threw that one away. Now this blue one is the only pacifier we have left. Hopefully it can last until we decide to phase the pacifier out. It will be interesting to see if it's challenging to get him used to sleeping without it. Samantha has her blankie as her comfort object, and I feel like Aedan's pacifier is his comfort object.

On Wednesday Samantha went to preschool like usual while Aedan and I stayed home together, playing, doing laundry, and changing all the sheets and towels. I think by the end of the day that day I had done six loads of laundry. I don't know how people do it when they have five or six kids. The amount of laundry one accumulates must just be massive. Aedan enjoyed playing in the various rooms as I worked. At one point he went to the bathroom to get Samantha's step stool, brought it into her room by the closet, and then stood on it as if to reach something. I don't know if he was trying to reach her hangers or the new train that we put on the top rack of her closet, but either way it was cute to see him coming up with this idea on his own and also copying Samantha because he has seen her do this in order to reach things that are too high up. I just love my little guy, watching him play, hearing him talk, and seeing the way he learns something new every day.

That evening it was going to be warmer than normal for this time of year, so Daddy suggested that we make a family trip to the Cincinnati Zoo to see the lights again. He came home from campus a little early that day, and we ended up having to wake up Aedan so that we could get on the road. We planned on eating pizza at the zoo and were excited to visit on a day when it wouldn't be as crowded as when we went on the Member's Preview night.

Samantha wanted to see The Polar Express at the 4D theater, so we split up when we first got there so that Samantha could stand in line to see Anna and Elsa while I took Aedan to get tickets for the show and then order pizza before meeting back up again. It was so nice just walking through the zoo without crowds of people, being able to hear the Christmas music playing, and seeing all the colorful lights everywhere. Here is Samantha posing with Anna and Elsa, as well as saying hello to Olaf.

We had a great time walking around the zoo together that evening. We had a little confusion with the 4D show because we ended up going into the theater too early and were sitting for a different show, so we left the theater and waited in line again before returning to the theater for the correct show. They were running behind schedule so it was difficult to tell what show they were seating for. The Polar Express was much more crowded, so Samantha ended up just sitting on Ben's lap which worked out well for her. She got a little surprised by some of the loud noises and flashing lights from the train in the show. Aedan, of course, didn't keep his special glasses on, but he did fairly well sitting on my lap for the fifteen minute show without getting too fidgety. Samantha really enjoyed seeing the show and for the week after that was extra interested in reading our Polar Express book at home, as well as talking about what it would be like if a train really pulled up in front of our house at night, how loud it would be, and how it would shake our whole house.

Samantha's other favorite area was the gingerbread people and gingerbread houses. Aedan got in on the picture with Samantha. :)

Down by the reindeer they have little gingerbread houses set up with windows on the sides where you can peek in to see what's happening in the little house. One has them baking, one has them sleeping in their beds while elves deliver presents, and one has them decorating their Christmas tree. Aedan, especially, loves to go up to the windows and have me lift him up so that he can have a better view through the little windows.

Last time we were here we skipped the carousel, so we decided to ride it on this night since the line was not very long at all. Aedan looks very spacey in this picture below. You can tell it was getting late, and he was very tired. However, when it was time to get off the he cried and held on to the bar for dear life because he wanted to stay on for another ride.

After the carousel, we got holiday cookies to share before walking toward the petting zoo area. Both Samantha and Aedan love to pet and brush the goats. In fact, we often have to tell Samantha to stop trying to kiss and hug the goats. Aedan doesn't know quite how to hold the brush in the proper way to actually brush them, but he still enjoys wandering around and seeing all the goats.

We checked on the train line but it was so long and neither kid was in the mood to wait in line for that long. We had ridden it last time we were here, so we decided it wasn't that important to do it this time as well, especially since we saw the 4D movie and also rode the carousel. So instead, we decided to walk down some fun pathways with pretty lights, leading us to watching the light show around the pond from a different view. It was almost just as nice as watching it while riding around on the train.

It was already close to 8:30 and time for us to go home, so we headed out after a fun family night at the zoo. It was much better going on a weeknight because it was so much less crowded and more enjoyable.

We had a more relaxed morning on Thursday, playing around the house, and getting ready at a more relaxed pace after our late night out at the zoo. Samantha usually does a pretty good job of playing with Aedan and keeping him occupied while I finish getting ready. Well, at one point, it got really quiet in his room, which usually is a bad sign that they are getting into something. In this case, however, I saw them both calmly sitting next to each other in the glider, reading books together. Samantha loves to try to read books to Aedan, and Aedan more likes reading time to be each person with a different book sitting down to read books on their own. I just love these two. :)

After awhile, we took a trip to the library. We had to return a few things, plus they have a toddler story time on Thursdays that I wanted to let Aedan try out to see if he would like it any better than the Tuesday story time that is geared more towards preschoolers. I took him to the toddler story time once over the summer, and the librarian that did it then was very interactive with the kids with lots of singing and dancing and instruments, as well as play time with toys at the end. However, this librarian was just not the same. She seemed very unsure of what she was going to do next or even how the songs went. She was soft spoken and not as engaging with the kids. So, as a result, she lost Aedan's attention quickly, and he wandered around the room just like he does on Tuesdays when we go. It was fun to try it out, but I think we will stick with the Tuesday morning story time because Samantha enjoys it so much and really story time is more for her than for Aedan anyways.

After a late night on Wednesday, and of course our kids waking up at normal times in the morning, everyone was tired and cranky on on Thursday. Nap time was very welcome, and our evening was low key having dinner and playing with trains before I left for my Bible study. We set Samantha's new train tracks up in her room with part of the track circling underneath her bed. She thought that was pretty cool, like it was going under a tunnel. This is what they were playing when I left, and it ended up being a nice distraction for Aedan who usually gets upset when he notices that I am leaving. This time I was able to sneak out, and he didn't even notice I was gone. Samantha also said some nice thank-yous to Great Grandma Donna for the fun train set.

On Friday I was invited to a fun Christmas cookie decorating play date through the PATS Facebook group I am a part of. At first I was hesitant to go, as I always am with events like this, but I decided that it would be good to get out with other moms, to continue meeting people, and to let Aedan play with other kids in a new environment. It was so fun to be able to just take Aedan somewhere, and the event was at a house with plenty of space for the kids to run around and play. Aedan's favorite activity was playing with all the balls in the basement and trying to shoot baskets in a big-boy hoop. He did help decorate one cookie, but he was more interested in eating the toppings than the cookie.

From the play date, I met Ben on campus to do the kid swap so that I could go to Zumba. Ben decided to just bring the kids home for lunch and stay home for the afternoon. I stopped by the post office after Zumba and thought that the Saturn was making a much louder noise than usual, which is really saying something considering how loud the car normally is. Well, I was just driving along, crossing the railroad tracks on Chestnut Street, not going fast or anything, when I heard a loud clunk and then something underneath the car scraping along the ground. I pulled over on the closest side street to the right, turned the car off, looked underneath, and noticed that a large section of the exhaust pipe had broken off and was dragging along the ground. I tried to get a hold of Ben, but he was in the middle of putting the kids down for their naps. Eventually, I called the shop we usually take our cars to, and I asked if it was safe to drive the car to the shop which wasn't too far away. They said it would be fine to drive as long as I went slow. Oh man, those ten minutes it took me to go those few blocks were agonizing. I was so afraid that something worse would happen to the car, cars were tailing me since I was going ten miles per hour down the road, and I had to cross two sets of railroad tracks to get there. As I went over the tracks, I went extra slow because I was very nervous that the exhaust pipe would somehow get jammed in the space between the wooden and metal parts of the track and then I would get stuck on the tracks. I finally made it there and was so relieved. The next problem, since our day wasn't already stressful enough, was that I needed a ride back home. Ben had already put the kids down for naps, and then a man showed up at our house to repair the leaks in our shower. Luckily, the shop offers rides so I was able to get home after a very long and stressful (and hopefully not too expensive) diversion.

On Friday night we were invited over to a friend's house for a bonfire and s'mores. The weather was so warm that you could almost be outside without coats on. There were several families from our community groups that were invited over, and it was such a fun time of hanging out, talking, and watching our kids play. I'm so glad that we are involved in this new community group and that we can get together outside of our weekly meeting to hang out and get to know one another more. It is such a blessing having so many connections in such a short time here in Oxford.

We had plans to visit Ben's Grandma Dorothy near Findlay, Ohio on Saturday. It was a two and half hour drive, so Ben and I got up early to be ready before the kids woke up so that we could be on the road by 8:30. Both kids did pretty well in the car, even though after about forty-five minutes you could tell Samantha was getting antsy. We decided to set up the portable DVD player for both Samantha and Aedan so that they could watch a movie to help pass the time. It's nice to be able to have this as an option for long trips. Samantha picked Monsters, Inc., I gave them pretzels in a snack cup as well as their drinks, and they were mostly quiet and entertained for the rest of the trip. Aedan thought it was pretty cool that he got to see the show as well, as this is the first time I figured out how to hook it up for the second screen.

We arrived at the house around 11:15 and made our way in to greet the family. Samantha vaguely remembered the house, and Aedan had fun discovering a new place and opening doors more easily with pull knobs. We played down in the basement with toys until it was time for lunch. Samantha got to sit at a table with Alaina and Grandma and ate pretty well. Aedan, on the hand, was just too tired to eat very well, plus he has just been really picky and particular about food lately. He just picked at his food no matter how hard we tried to get him to eat, which is fine, he'll eat when he's hungry. After lunch Aedan was getting tired and getting into everything. He tends to be more his "monster" self when he's tired, so when Matt and Crystal's girls offered to take Samantha, Alaina, and Aedan over to see their chickens, we took them up on their offer. It was a beautiful day outside, warm and 65 degrees, which is so unusual for mid-December. We took a walk through the woods, watching Aedan pick up and play with various sticks as he walked.

At Matt and Crystal's house we got to see ducks and chickens, Samantha got to climb and swing on their play set, and Aedan even got to ride around on a vehicle (I don't know what to call it) with Ben's Uncle Merle driving. In fact, Aedan was extremely upset when he had to get off and his rides were over. Eventually the girls meandered into the house and found Emma and Abby's room full of fun things to play with. They disappeared, playing happily and contentedly with dollswhile I got a chance to talk with Crystal for awhile. I always look forward to our conversations when we come for a visit. She is easy to talk to, friendly, and very encouraging in her words even though we don't talk to each other often and only stay in touch through our postings on Facebook. Eventually Ben and Aedan came in the house as well, and Aedan had fun discovering all of Bella's toys that light up and make noise.

We had a great afternoon visiting, but it was late into the afternoon, our kids were tired, and we needed to start making our 2 1/2 hour trek back to Oxford, so we made our way back to Grandma Dorothy's house to visit for a few more minutes. In fact, Great Grandma Dorothy even bought gifts for the kids. She gave the girls an ABC writing book, and she gave Aedan a soft and cuddly teddy bear. It was so sweet of her to think of the kids and give them something special to remember her by.

The girls also recorded a few songs so that Crystal could play them for Bella since she loves watching videos of little kids singing. We have two good little singers. Their voices are so sweet and innocent. I love it. Here they are:

After that, we gathered up our things, took bathroom breaks, and made our rounds of good-byes with Aedan very cutely going up to each person and hugging their legs. I love that our kids are so friendly even with family that they may only see once a year. It is heartwarming to me. :) Before we left, the girls posed for a picture with Great Grandma Dorothy. Isn't it precious? Grandpa posted it to Facebook with the comment, "Ninety years difference in age, but connected by love."

Then we were off in the car, hoping the kids would take good naps. Samantha had her blankie, and Aedan had his new teddy bear. It didn't take long for him to be out like a light, all cuddled up with his teddy bear. It was so adorable. Then, a few minutes later, Samantha was fast asleep as well. We wore the kids out after a long, fun day, and we were glad to see them sleeping. Aren't they so cute while they're sleeping? I love the pictures of Aedan all snuggled up and sleeping on his bear.

The next couple of days went by like normal with going to church, volunteering in the children's department, and hanging out together at home. It's nice to have this small reprieve of Christmas break where Ben is not teaching classes. He still goes to campus to work on his papers for the conference in Puerto Rico in January, but he has less work to do at home in the evenings or on the weekends. It's nice having these evenings together, like Monday night, where Samantha and Aedan just had fun playing together. Samantha had the idea to build a fort. She was trying to drape her Frozen blanket over the chairs for the kitchen table, but it wasn't working, so I suggested we try it upstairs in her room.  She then even invited Aedan to come into her fort with her. They just sat like this for quite some time. They will carry on a conversation with each other, even though Aedan will be looking right at you babbling and you can't understand what he is saying most of the time. They sure do love each other. It's these moments that I want to just soak in and freeze in time. Ben and I just sat there watching our two kids interacting with each other, and we couldn't help looking at each other with joy in our hearts. We have a wonderful family, what more could we want, really?

(Blog about December 8-15, 2015)