Samantha: 49 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 13 Months, Week 4 (Week 61)
After returning from Bloomington late Tuesday night, we had a busy few days ahead of us with swim lessons for Samantha and Aedan every morning from 11:00-11:30. Even though we had warmer weather previously, it seemed like this week was much cooler with more chances of rain. Samantha really enjoyed her lessons where she learned how to be more sure of herself in the water without a floatie on. They did some work with kick boards, practiced diving under the water to pick up dive rings, they kicked off the wall and swam back, they wore life jackets and jumped off the diving board, and many other skills. I have a feeling Samantha will be more confident in the water now, especially in water where she can touch the bottom.
I spent the day Wednesday and part of Thursday doing laundry and cleaning the house in preparation for our visitors arriving on Thursday night. Our dear friends, the Brashers, were stopping by our house for a night before continuing on their journey across the country. We were so excited to see them after they have been overseas for the last year and a half. They arrived around dinner time on Thursday night, and we spent the rest of the evening having an Americana dinner of BBQ pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, and watermelon. The kids had a great time playing together while the adults talked and caught up with each other. Around 8:00 we started getting everyone ready for bed. We planned on having Ryan and Melanie sleep in Aedan's room with their youngest sleeping in the crib. Then, we also had another air mattress for Samantha's room for the oldest boys to sleep on. Everyone was so excited about the sleepover arrangements that it took quite awhile to get everyone settled down to bed. (I think Samantha was up past 10:00 that night before finally letting herself fall asleep.) The adults shared some coffee and fresh strawberry pie after the kids were in bed. We mentioned playing a game, just like old times, but we got so involved in talking with each other that it was midnight before we knew it. It had been a long day for everyone, and we knew it would be an early morning.
Friday morning was more fun of playing for the kids. It was so great to have the Brashers staying with us and to connect with their family again. We decided to all go out together when it was time for Samantha's and Aedan's swim lessons. The Brashers took their kids to play at the playground while Ben and I went to lessons with our kids. However, we had a little incident with Samantha that day. She was pretty tired from being up very late the night before with the boys so she wasn't paying as much attention to what she was doing. The kids were taking turns jumping off the diving board, and as Samantha was climbing the ladder, she wasn't paying enough attention and slipped off, cutting her elbow when she fell down. Ben was standing nearby as I was with Aedan, warming him up in his towel. Samantha cried pretty hard and had to be taken to the lifeguard office for some first aid and a bandage, but she was fine. However, she is a bit of a drama queen and refused to move her arm or elbow for the rest of the day (and a couple days after). It was as if her arm was in an invisible splint. Ben and I always wonder what it will be like if she ever actually hurts herself badly. She won't know how to handle herself.
Anyways, we recovered okay, and then went over to the playground to play with the Brashers. We had plans to have pizza delivered to the park so that we could have lunch together before the Brashers had to take off. All the kids were getting pretty tired from lots of intense play time, and all the adults were hoping for good naps that afternoon. We had such a good visit with the Brashers. I wish we would have taken a picture of all of us together! It was short but sweet. They are the kinds of friends that will last forever. Even though a lot of time has passed and we don't always do the best at keeping up, we can always pick up where we left off. It was great to connect again. :)
On Saturday Ben's parents lovingly offered to come to Oxford to watch Samantha and Aedan so that Ben and I could go out to celebrate Ben's dissertation defense. We had swim lessons in the morning and then left right around lunch time. We went down to Newport, KY to the movie theater on the pier to see Jurassic World. It was fun getting out and going to a movie together. It had been a long time since we last went to see a movie together. Then, after the movie we drove into Cincinnati to eat dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. I made reservations for 5:00 so that we would have plenty of time to eat a relaxed dinner and still get back by bed time. They had a huge salad bar and waiters carried around large skewers with at least 14 different kinds of meat to choose from. We had a nice, leisurely meal together, reflecting on and sharing about the last 7 years of graduate school, the highs and lows, the expectations that were greater or less than expected, as well as what the future may hold. I didn't want our date to end. I was having such a good time with my husband and best friend. It is so important for me to be able to get out and have dates with Ben, and I was so glad to be able to plan a special dinner out for him at a restaurant I knew he would enjoy. Congratulations, Dr. Hubby, on your great accomplishment!
Monday was another day of swim lessons. I took the kids by myself so that Ben could go to campus and get some work done. We had mac and cheese for lunch, the favorite choice of Samantha and Aedan for lunch. It is always a sure hit, (We stock up on the Annie's mac and cheese when it is 10 for $10 at Kroger). Aedan has been very interested in trying to feed himself lately, so I let him try to scoop out some mac and cheese from a bowl with his spoon. He wasn't able to scoop it out by himself very easily, but he was getting pretty good at holding the spoon levelly and getting the food into his mouth. However, one time I accidentally left the bowl on his tray when I got up to get something, and by the time I turned back around, Aedan had the bowl up to his mouth and dumped the rest of the mac and cheese all over his face and bib. Whoops! Samantha and I had a good laugh over it. :)
One of my favorite things is to just stand back and watch Samantha and Aedan play with each other. Especially with Aedan walking now, they are able to interact with each other on a different level. Aedan already has a propensity for wrestling and tackling and has convinced his sister to join in as well. It is so great to see them get along so well. I hope their relationship will always be close. These next few videos show their after lunch entertainment of Samantha hiding under the blanket, Aedan wrestling her and uncovering her, playing peek-a-boo, with many laughs and smiles along the way.
The time between the end of nap time and dinner time if often the hardest part of the day. Both kids tend to be whinier and clingier, which makes it difficult to fix dinner sometimes. It seems like as soon as 5:00 rolls around, both kids are SO hungry and ready for dinner. We made pizza for dinner that Monday night, and I turned the light on in the oven so they could see it cooking. It was just too wonderful a moment not to capture in a picture! Ben posted it with a caption reading, "Apparently 5:15 is too late for dinner." Our kids keep us on our toes!
(Blog about June 23-29, 2015)
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