Fun Family Times in Oxford

Samantha: 48 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 13 Months, Week 1 (Week 58)

Ever since we got the dollhouse and Barbies from Chicago Grandpa and Grandma over the weekend, Samantha has LOVED playing with them up in her room.  She did not even care about us because she was busy dressing her dolls and discovering all the various accessories.  We got her a big under the bed storage bin to hold the Barbies and bigger things, as well as some smaller bins to hold the doll clothes so that way she could find what she was looking for easier without having to dump everything out onto the floor.  It's fun for her to have her room with special toys just for her.  Aedan is pretty much not allowed in her room because that's where she keeps all her little things.  I think she likes having a space to call her own.

Here is a picture of the Barbie house with all Christy and my old Barbie furniture.  I sent this picture to her, and she said, "Wow!  That brings back so many memories!"  It's fun that Samantha can play with this and enjoy it for a few years, and then we'll pass it off to Brielle!

This week was pretty exhausting with the kids.  Aedan woke up super early Monday through Wednesday morning, sometimes as early as 5:00 a.m.  Ben and I would take turns trying to get him to go back to sleep, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  I probably would be more inclined to just leave him in his crib babbling, but sometimes he can get pretty loud.  He will bang on the wall and squeal pretty loud, and I don't want him waking up Samantha at that early of an hour either.  I was working on a project throughout the week which kept me up later at night than I should have been.  Having our sleep interrupted and waking up that early in the morning made it rough for all of us, and by Wednesday evening I was really feeling the effects of the lack of sleep and was feeling very tired.  I took the kids to the park that morning because some other moms were meeting up for some play time.  To be honest, I just needed to get out of the house, let the kids play somewhere where I didn't need to entertain them constantly, and get some adult interaction for myself.  However, by that afternoon I was so tired that I wasn't really feeling well.  Ben lovingly came home early to be with me and help me out with the kids, even bringing me my favorite drink from Starbucks.

Wednesday night we went to bed thinking we may actually be able to sleep in past 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, but boy were we wrong.  Just before 5:00 a.m., we were woken up with a start because ALL our smoke detectors were going off at the same time.  It took me longer to figure out what was going on (I don't respond very well in emergency situations), but Ben went into Aedan's room and got him just as he was starting to cry from the loud beeping noise awaking him from a good night's sleep.  He handed Aedan to me, as he went down the hall to Samantha's room.  All of us got down the stairs and out the door quickly, as Ben went around the house to see if he could smell any smoke, see any fire, or even try to figure out what caused our smoke detectors to go off.  Once we were sure there actually was no fire, Samantha Aedan, and I came back inside because it was rather chilly outside that night in our pajamas.  Ben and I weren't sure what to do because the smoke detectors would stop, but then a few seconds later start beeping again, meaning we weren't going to be able to stay in the house and try to put the kids back to sleep.  Ben called a non-emergency fire department number, and they recommended that a fire truck come out so that some firemen could look our place over and be sure everything was okay, as well as try to figure out why the smoke detectors continued to beep.  We backed our car out the driveway so the fire truck could have space to pull up, and we all sat in the car while we waited.  The fire truck came a few minutes later, and Samantha thought it was pretty fascinating seeing a fire truck with flashing lights sitting in our driveway and firemen in their fire suits entering our house.  They checked everything out, even using a special heat camera to see if there was any fire in our neighbor's townhouse that is connected to ours.  Everything was clear, the smoke detectors were reset, and they said it was most likely a faulty censor that caused the smoke detectors to go off.  Once that matter was settled, we went back inside and decided to try and get everyone some more rest.  Daddy took Aedan to rock him back to sleep, and I took Samantha to tuck her back in bed.  We hoped that they would go back to sleep or else it would be a long day with two crabby and tired kids.  Both kids took a little while to calm down, but they eventually fell asleep by 6:15 or so.  Ben and I tried to go back to sleep as well, but it was difficult for me to relax because I was paranoid about the smoke detectors going off again.  I eventually fell back asleep as well, and we all got about another hour of sleep in before waking up for the day, so that was a much needed thing.  Needless to say, it was not the best way to start our day, but we were so glad it was just a false alarm.

I had plans to go out to breakfast with my friend Maggie that morning, and both kids (and parents) were pretty tired, so they just had a relaxed morning at home, giving Aedan a good morning nap, and playing together.  We had plans to go Uptown for the Summer Music Festival that evening, so we knew a low key morning would be good.

We were all pretty tired that afternoon from being awoken so early that morning, so we actually all took a nap.  After that, we left to go to Miami's campus to push Aedan in the stroller and let Samantha ride her bike.  We parked in a place close to the inner area of campus where there are a lot of sidewalks leading to various academic buildings, including Daddy's building.  Samantha had a great time riding her bike around.  She is really good at riding her bike now and has pretty good control over the direction her bike goes.  She is now working on controlling the speed now with braking.  

Daddy asked Samantha if she wanted to go into his building to see his new office.  We visited Daddy's old office and new office, before exploring the classroom across the hall.  Samantha thought it was fun to make us sit in the seats and pretend to be teaching us about political science.  Then, Daddy showed her how he can play things on the big screen and played a clip of Frozen for her.  Some day it would be fun for him to bring her here to watch a movie on the big screen.

 

After being on campus for awhile, we made our way Uptown to get some sandwiches at Jimmy John's before finding a spot in the park to have our picnic and listen to the concert.  There was some nice bluegrass music playing which made Samantha just get up and dance.  Here are some cute videos of her.

After we ate our dinner and listened to the music for awhile, we visited the booths set up with various games and activities for kids to play.  Samantha got some prizes and even got her face painted like a butterfly to match her shirt.

She even got a balloon animal, which she held on to with dear life since she popped the first one.  We stayed at the concert until almost 8:00, and then we decided that it was time to go home and get the kids to bed.  We had a great time at the first summer music concert in the park.  After being there that evening and enjoying this wonderful, family environment, it made us even more excited about the possibility of being in Oxford long term.  (We'll see what the future holds for us.)

(When we got home that evening after the concert and started getting ready for bed, Samantha realized that she would have to get her butterfly washed off her face.  She thought she could leave it on forever, kind of like a temporary tattoo, and she was VERY upset that she had to lose her butterfly so quickly.  It took us quite a while to calm down our tired, upset little girl.)

Friday was another day that Daddy decided to stay home since he went to campus Monday through Wednesday.  After Aedan took his morning nap, we decided to visit a new place on Miami's campus, the Formal Gardens.  I had heard of this location from some other local moms, and we were excited to check it out.  We even brought some bread for any hungry ducks we might see.  The gardens were beautiful with many varieties of flowers, and there was also a large pond with a fountain in the middle  We enjoyed walking around and exploring the place, and even though we didn't find any ducks, Samantha scattered bread around in the grass in case the ducks came back later.

Aedan enjoyed holding our hands and walking around the grass.  He also really liked playing with the sticks he found on the ground.  

It's been fun exploring campus a little more the last couple of days.  Now that the students are gone for the summer, it's much easier to get around and to park, so I imagine we will be doing this a lot more during the rest of the summer months.

Once we got back home, it was time for lunch and I had plans to meet my college roommate, Janell, in Indianapolis for dinner and time to catch up.  Daddy planned to hold the fort down for me while I went out.  I hadn't seen Janell or talked to her for quite awhile, so I was really looking forward to it.  Plus, Samantha and Aedan really tired me out that week, so I was looking forward to some extended time away from them.  I love them and love being able to stay home with them, but it's good for introverted me to have some time away as well.  I am so grateful for Ben, for his freedom in his schedule and for his willingness to let me get out on my own like this.

Aedan has been getting pretty messy when he eats lately, so many times we will just take his shirt off at meal time.  He is in a phase where he likes to take his bib off as well, so it's often just easier this way.  We remember doing this with Samantha when she was his age as well, although he is actually neater than her because he likes to make sure the majority of the food goes in his mouth.  This kid LOVES to eat.  In fact, he often gets pretty grumpy when waiting for meal time, especially in between when he wakes up from his afternoon nap to when it's time for dinner.  We will always give him a snack to tide him over, but some nights that just isn't good enough.

We had another fun family night planned on Saturday night.  They had a special free concert planned at the library as a kick-off to their summer reading program.  I thought both kids would enjoy that, and we couldn't go wrong in attending something that is free in the first place.  Daddy was really craving some Mexican food, so we went to a local Mexican place Uptown for dinner before walking over the library.  When we walked in, one of the librarians recognized Samantha and carried on a conversation with her about how she usually brings her Anna and Elsa backpack with her to the library to hold the books she checks out.  It's fun being in a small town and being recognized by various people.  When we go places, we often know at least one person or family.  Aedan got bored and antsy after about ten minutes or so of the concert, so Ben and I just took turns taking him to the children's department to let him play with the toys there.  However, the concert was really fun for Samantha.  All the kids sat up in the front on the floor, and the man was really entertaining in his songs with actions and ways for the kids to get involved.  There was one song about a ghost, and the kids were to turn around to the grown-ups in the chairs and shout, "Boo!"  This was Samantha's favorite part of the concert, and she re-created it in the car on the way home.  Aedan loves to mimic people, especially his sister, so this was our car ride home from the concert that evening.  Even though it gets loud sometimes, they are great together and have such a special sibling bond.  Ben and I just kept looking at each other in the car that evening and smiling. :)  We have a wonderful little family.

On Sunday, after many weeks of not meeting, our community group decided to get together again.  There was a youth meeting after church that the other families had to attend, so we decided to get together later in the day for an afternoon swim and cook out.  One of the families has a pool in their backyard, and Samantha couldn't wait to get her bathing suit on and get int he pool.  She played with her friend Tia and had a blast climbing up on the rafts with her.  Aedan got in the water for a few minutes as well, but was mostly interested in walking around and playing with the pool toys outside of the pool.

The pool had a small diving board at one end, and Samantha had never jumped off a diving board before.  We told her she could do it since she always wears her floatie in the pool, and she really enjoyed it.  She would jump off the diving board, swim to the ladder, climb out, and then jump right back in again.

Monday morning was another day where Daddy went to work on campus since we had plans to be gone in Upland for the rest of the week.  I had thought about taking the kids to this thing called Preschool Playground, but it was a rainy day again and it was cancelled, so we decided to just spend the morning at home.  While Aedan napped, Samantha and I did some preschool activities together for the letter M, and this time I remembered to take some pictures.  I let her choose which activities she wanted to do.  So first, she colored in the pictures related to the letter M that then get stapled together into a little book.

Then, she practiced her scissor skills by cutting out the little pictures and gluing them on the outlines of the Ms.

After that she played a roll and race game where she rolls the cube with uppercase and lowercase Ms placed inside the pockets.  Whichever one she rolls, she picks the correct paper with either an uppercase or lowercase M on it, and glues it on the proper side of the ladder.  The side that reaches the top first, wins!  (Although, Samantha likes to then just fill in any extra spaces leftover so that way it's a tie every time.)

It's fun to have a little bit of downtime at home, yet still do something productive where I can increase her learning of letter recognition and sounds, plus use my teaching skills since I'm no longer in a classroom.

(Blog about June 2-8, 2015)