Thanksgiving in Upland

Samantha: 54 Months, Week 2

Aedan: 18 Months, Week 5 (Week 83)

This past week was one full of fun family time, as we spend most of it in Upland with all of Ben's family. I thought about possibly taking the kids out to Tot Gym or Story Time at the library on Tuesday, but Samantha was still battling a cold and cough, and I figured we just needed a day at home to rest and play, and also so I could get started on laundry so we could get all packed up that evening. Instead, we invited Stephanie and Isaac over to play. They arrived a little after 9:30 and stayed until almost 12:00. It was fun having them over, even though both Samantha and Aedan were tired and not the best at sharing at times. Stephanie and I had some good chances to talk in between chasing kids around, so that was fun. At one point all three kids had a push toy and they were racing back and forth from our kitchen into the living room as fast as they could, getting lots of good energy out. If only we had a circular set-up like in our last apartment, then they could just do laps!

Ben had another interview that Tuesday morning at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. It's the only non-academic job that Ben applied for, and really, the only other place he would consider leaving academia for because of it's reputation as a strong research group. Ben has actually applied for jobs there before and never heard anything, so it was interesting that they contacted him this time. It was a phone interview with a human resources representative, and the next step would be a Skype interview with the team of people he would be working with, then a fly out. Ben said that he would enjoy working there, but it would be weird to be in a non-academic 9 to 5 type job with less flexibility than you get as a professor. There are several things that appeal to Ben in working for Pew because he likes to explain complex issues, which he would be able to do working there as well. He is not interested in the publish or perish mentality of many top tier universities where you don't really have the freedom to ask big questions because publishing papers is too time consuming. Living in Washington, D.C. would not be our favorite either as Pew is located a few blocks away from the White House. Cost of living is high, and it could be difficult finding a decent place to live that is in a nice area with good schools and is not too expensive. It would also be a change adjusting to a "regular" job where he has set hours and certain amounts of vacation a year. Now don't get me wrong, Ben puts in more hours than most "regular" jobs in one week; the big difference is that it would just be less flexible, and I would definitely miss the more relaxed time that comes at the end of a semester and over the summer. So, we will see, who knows what will happen. Pew has a different way of hiring than universities do. Instead of having a pool of people and doing phone interviews with everyone, then narrowing it down from there, they just do one person at a time, working through the hiring process until they decide the person is not a good fit or hiring them. They have no set timeline like an academic calendar imposes.

Tuesday night was spent getting packed for Upland. Samantha was super excited about seeing all the family, and it had been awhile since we'd visited Upland as well. It's always a little hectic getting out of the house in the morning with last minute things to pack and kids to get dressed and fed, especially when they are anxious to get on the road just as much as we are. We left a little after 9:00, dropping Roscoe off at the kennel, and went on our way. Aedan must have been really tired that morning as he was quiet almost the entire drive, which is very unlike him. Samantha, on the other hand, asked if we were close to the pink barns yet after only driving 40 minutes. She loves Upland, Grandpa, and Grandma, so the drive to get there just seems like forever sometimes.

We got there in enough time to play before lunch time. In fact, they got snow over the weekend and some of it was still on the ground, so both kids took the chance to walk around in it and touch it before it melted away that afternoon. It's so funny when we go to Upland because Samantha and Aedan just disappear. They go off and play with the toys and with Grandpa and Grandma, not giving much of a care to Ben and me, which is fine by us. We love that they are so excited to be there for a visit.

After eating lunch we got the kids down for their naps before Ben and I left for a date together. Grandpa and Grandma agreed to watch our kids for us and give them dinner while Ben and I ate a late lunch at Mi Pueblo and then went to see Mockingjay: Part Two. We have seen most of The Hunger Games in the theater, and I was really excited about seeing this last one of the series. It's nice to get away on a date, knowing that our kids are being well taken care of.

When we got back to Upland, Aunt Jeni and Alaina had already arrived, and everyone was downstairs playing. The kids were excited to see us, but Samantha was acting pretty emotional. She said that she took a nap that afternoon, but when we left she was still making noise, so who knows if she actually went to sleep. Once we got all the beds and rooms situated, it was time for bed. Aedan slept in Tim's old room since his pack and play fits in there really well, and Samantha slept on an air mattress in Jeni's old room where we would join her later on. Samantha does a lot better if she just sleeps with us, and it works better if we're not in the downstairs bedroom where she can hear everyone talking in the family room and where lights and noise from the bathroom wake her up in the morning. Samantha (and everyone else) is much happier when she is well-rested, so we were trying to maximize the chance of that happening.

Samantha did pretty well sleeping that night, making it past 7:00 a.m., which is really all we could ask for. Both girls were raring to go, and played a game where they chained up Grandpa because he was a bad guy. Alaina likes to pretend that she is the Incredible Hulk, hence the mean face in this picture. Samantha isn't so sure how to play this game because she doesn't know much about super heroes and their powers, but that's okay, she found ways to contribute as well. Grandpa is wonderful how he plays right along with the girls, being much sillier than the parents are at times. They have a blast with him. :)

Later on that morning, once everyone had eaten breakfast, showered, and got dressed, Grandma suggested that the girls help her make a special turkey treat. Every holiday we are here, Grandma plans some kind of special treat for the girls to make, and then, of course, to enjoy eating! This turkey was made out of two varieties of cookies, candy corn for the head and feet, a chocolate covered cherry for the body, and of course lots of chocolate frosting to act as glue. (You notice Samantha's wearing her turkey shirt? She was so excited to be able to wear it on Thanksgiving.)

After enjoying our turkey snack, we decided it was time to get out of the house for awhile and let the girls burn some energy. It actually was a pretty nice day, and the girls had fun batting, riding the Big Wheel, building a campfire with sticks and leaves, and doing lots of pretending with sticks and walking around. It's interesting to watch Samantha and Alaina play together because Alaina seems to be much more assertive and Samantha will just tag along with whatever make-believe game she is playing. When Samantha is playing with us or Aedan, she is definitely the boss and tells us how to play her game. It's great to see their imaginations develop and to see lots of pretending and role-playing going on, although I have to admit that sometimes it makes it difficult for us adults (who lack as active of imaginations) to keep up with the game.

We had our Thanksgiving meal for lunch that day since Andrew and Jeni had to go back to Warsaw that evening for work the next day. The food was delicious. We had turkey, yummy stuffing with cranberries, a pear-feta-pomegranate salad, homemade bread, and pecan pie or pumpkin angel food cake for dessert.

Then, it was nap time for all the tired kids. Ben put Samantha down to ensure that she took a nap since she was so tired and emotional that whole morning. I think he even fell asleep with her for awhile. She took a pretty good nap, and then we just had a fun night of playing inside. Samantha was in an introverted mood and wanted to do a lot more quiet activities on her own, like building a tower out of Jenga blocks. I asked her if she wanted me to teach her how to play the game, but she wasn't in the mood for that. Maybe another time.

We also busted out the play-doh kit. Once Samantha figured out how to make different shapes with the tools, she played with this for a long time. Of course Aedan wanted to play with it too, since he wants to do everything that Samantha does. At first I wasn't going to let him because last time we did play-doh at home he tried to eat it. This time, however, he did not even attempt to put it in his mouth. Instead, he enjoyed squishing it in his hand, and then putting it back and forth into two different containers. Both kids needed some quiet downtime before bed, and this was the perfect idea. I'm so glad that Daddy took some pictures of us together because we don't have too many of me interacting with the kids. Usually I am the one in charge of picture taking, so then it looks like I am always the one in the background.

For some reason Samantha had a lot of trouble going to sleep that night. We had to go up to her room a couple times to get her to calm down. We were throwing around the idea of taking a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum on Friday so that Alaina, Grandpa, and Grandma could go as well, but when Samantha was up until 10:00 that night, we knew it would be a bad idea to go anywhere the next day. It ended up being good that we decided to stay in Upland anyways because Aedan ended up sleeping in for quite a long time.

The girls were playing really well together Friday morning, mostly sticking to themselves, so we didn't want to interrupt their own imaginative games. However, we figured Aedan would really enjoy being able to go to the Taylor gym to run around and throw balls. He has never experienced the Taylor gym, and it's always a fun tradition we do when here celebrating various holidays when the students are gone. So before lunch time we went over to the gym to spend some time there. Here are some fun videos and pictures of our time that morning. Aedan loved seeing the large basketball hoops and so badly wanted to dunk his basketball like he does in his Little Tikes basketball hoop at home. However, even Daddy couldn't lift him up high enough to actually make a basket. Aedan didn't care though and would throw the ball with all his might.

Samantha was still very tired and suffering from staying up so late the night before, so at the gym she didn't really want to play with anyone but preferred to kick the ball around by herself. After awhile we moved on to the aerobics room where the girls like to dance in front of the large mirrors.

Aedan even got in on the dancing with the girls. He loves to copy them, and he loves to spin around while holding his right arm out to help him spin. I just love him so much. He really does loves to dance, and I think he dances more than Samantha did at his age. I don't know if that's his personality or him mimicking an older sister that likes to dance. Either way, I will encourage it because it's cute. Plus, he throws balls just as much as he dances. :)

Even though the kids were all doing pretty well, it was approaching lunchtime, and they were fading fast. All the kids were tired and ready for naps, especially the girls. Samantha threw a fit when it was time to leave because she wanted to ride in Grandpa and Grandma's car even though she had a turn riding in it on the way to the gym. She didn't want to share with Alaina, and since she was tired, she totally overreacted to the situation. We knew she just needed to get back and get to sleep because she can't think clearly and act rationally when she's tired. In fact, Alaina was so tired that she didn't even want to eat lunch, she just went right to sleep. It was an early nap time for all our tired kids.

That evening we had tons of fun together after everyone got some good rest. Daddy got crazy with Samantha and Alaina, playing a game where he had powers whenever he had the large exercise ball. The girls would try any way possible to steal and hide the ball, leaving Ben powerless. They were all having such a good time, getting very wild about it, getting lots of good energy out, and in fact, running around so much that they were getting pretty hot and sweaty. These videos capture just a bit of the action, and they are so great. Ben plays along so well with the girls, building great memories with them. It was great to see Samantha tackling Ben and coming at him pretty aggressively. Usually she is more hesitant to be really physical like this, but she was having a great time rough housing with her daddy.

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Aedan loves the toys in Upland, especially the ones that make music and move. He was constantly playing with Larry Boy and the Menards bear. I tried to get a video of Aedan dancing and even making noise like he was trying to sing along with the bear, but instead I got this funny video where he kept trying to get the bear to stand off, but then it just kept falling over.

We had thrown around the idea of going to the lighting of the tree in downtown Indianapolis, since Ben's friend Tim invited us, but then we decided it would just be too much for our kids, especially since it was going to be raining all night. So instead we gave our kids an early bath, got them in their pajamas, and watched the event on TV. They had many acts of singing and dancing before the actual lighting. It held the kids' attention for a little while, and the kids got some good snuggle time with Grandpa and Grandma, as well as each other.

Alaina thought it was so cool that Aedan wanted to sit on her lap. We told her that he really likes her. Samantha got sad though because he didn't sit on her lap. We just tried to explain that Alaina was a new person, and he gets to sit with his big sister all the time. That seemed to make her feel better.

They got bored of sitting and waiting for the lights after awhile and decided it would be more fun to get up and dance to the music. Aedan loved clapping along to the music. Samantha and Alaina also danced together, and at the end of the second video you can see Samantha's weird dance moves with Aunt Jeni. I'm not quite sure what she was trying to do. I think she was getting a little tired at that point.

Both kids had a good night's sleep on Friday, and we were planning on leaving sometime on Saturday anyways, so we decided to make a day trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis before heading back to Oxford. We hadn't been there in a long time, and we were excited to let Aedan experience it more since the last time we were here he was just learning to walk.

Here are some pictures and videos from our day. They had their holiday decorations up, and Samantha wanted her picture taken as a gingerbread person.

On our way up to the Playscape area, we stopped to get pictures taken in the race car. Samantha was more than happy to have her little brother join her in the car.

Once we got into the Playscape area, Ben and I had to split up, one of us with Samantha and one of us with Aedan because they each wanted to play in different places. Aedan went straight for the water while Samantha went for the climbing structure. It's fun to think about hard this was for when she first attempted it back a couple years ago, and now it is just so easy for her. She just loves to climb.

We spent quite a bit of time playing in the music room because Aedan loves music and really enjoyed banging on the drums and using mallets to play the xylophones.

After that Samantha wanted to play with the sand, but Aedan wasn't quite tall enough to be able to reach over the side and access the sand, so instead I took him into the baby and toddler area so that he could discover things in there. He liked playing with the light switches, sliding down the little metal slide, and pushing buttons that made leaves and flowers swirl around.

It was then about lunchtime so we went to the food court to eat lunch before continuing with more time at the museum. The line for the Yule Slide wasn't too long, so we decided to take a ride down the slide. Aedan, of course, didn't like waiting in line, and Samantha was getting sleepy, but the line moved quickly. I raced Samantha down, and then Daddy rode down with Aedan. It's always fun to ride down the slide.

Then we went to the Christmas area, but it was super crowded and somewhat overwhelming for both the kids and us. Aedan's favorite part was the pretend fishing poles. He didn't want to hold it the correct way with the rope and hook dangling into the hole, but instead just had fun putting his stick into the hole and grabbing fish out with his hands. We tried to keep the kids together playing in the same area so that way we could all stay together, so I got Samantha involved by catching fish and then measuring them on the chart to see how long they were.

It was already well into nap time, and both kids were starting to lose it. Samantha was crying over every little thing and Aedan was crying every time he didn't get his way. Ben and I debated whether or not it was just time to leave, but we got them both calmed down and decided to leave the crowded area for a place that was more calm, that seemed to help.

We took a ride on the carousel, getting there just ahead of a big rush. Aedan was just captivated by the lights and sounds of the music, as well as the museum employee dancing her animal puppet around. After awhile Samantha reached out to hold Aedan's hand, and they stayed that way for the rest of the ride. I love our kids. Most of the time, they are just so sweet together, and Samantha really is so kind to Aedan, trying to look out for him and include him whenever she can.

We decided we would go to one more area before heading home to Oxford, and Samantha wanted to go to the bottom floor to build sculptures with the plastic pieces, like the glass sculpture that resides in the middle of the ramp that goes around the museum. However, on our way downstairs on the elevator, there was a boy riding by himself, he was lower elementary age and looked like he had some kind of a mental disability. Ben and I waited to see if he met up with someone when he got off the elevator, but he just looked around in a confused way. We wanted to make sure he got back to his family, so Ben took him up to the concierge desk so they could help him find his family. The person working at the desk said they knew who he belonged to, and his family had been looking for him for quite awhile. We were glad we could help out, and it made me think about how something like that would be my worst nightmare. Most people at the museum are with their families and are not looking to harm or kidnap little kids, but you never know. The place was so busy, and many people wouldn't even notice if a kid was wandering around without parents. I could never live with myself if I lost either Samantha or Aedan, or if something ever happened to them.

Anyways, both kids had fun making art with their plastic sculpture pieces, and we spent quite a bit of time here. Samantha's goal was to fill every hole with a piece, whereas Aedan would take pieces out just to put them back in again. Eventually Samantha decided to build her sculpture somewhere else so that Aedan would stop taking her pieces out.

While Aedan kept playing, Samantha and Daddy rode around on the spinning benches where you could look at the glass sculpture from underneath, talking about the various pieces they could spot.

We then made our way over the trains where the kids played with the train tracks for awhile before watching the engine light up and make noise and then riding on the pretend train.

After a diaper change for Aedan, we decided our last stop would be the dinosaurs where the kids spent some time digging for dinosaur bones.

It was already close to 3:00, the kids were tired, and we wanted to get back to Oxford before dinner time, so we got some coffee for Ben and me, as well as a little snack for Samantha while Aedan ate his fruit/veggie pouch before we headed out. Aedan fell asleep right away in the car, sleeping pretty much the whole way back home. Samantha took a little while to fall asleep, slept about 45 minutes, and then watched a Thomas video the rest of the way home while Aedan slept. It was a nice, quiet, peaceful ride back home.

After picking Roscoe up from the kennel, we got back home, unloaded the car, and scrounged up what we could for dinner. Even though Aedan slept on the way back, he usually sleeps longer than that and was still pretty sleepy. Because of that, he was pretty fussy that evening as we tried to make dinner and get things put away. Then, we got all our bags unpacked, things put away, laundry started, and the kids in bed before 8:00. It was a good few days away seeing family and celebrating Thanksgiving, but we were glad to be back home and in our own beds again.

The rest of the weekend we just relaxed at home, going to church on Sunday and spending the day playing at home. Then, kind of in a spur of the moment decision, we decided to run a couple errands that evening. We had been thinking about getting a new TV to replace the large, heavy TV that my dad got for us when we got married almost ten years ago. However, we haven't been able to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a TV when ours worked fine. Plus, we figured we might want to use our old TV in the future if we have a basement or something like that to put an extra TV for the kids to use. Just recently, when we mentioned getting a new TV to Ben's parents, they mentioned how they never got anything for Ben as a present for finishing his Ph.D. They then offered to give us money towards a new TV if we found one that we liked. Ben found a good sale at Best Buy on the kind of TV we would like, but the deal ended on Monday and we wouldn't have time to go out and look on Monday night, so we decided to take a family trip to look at TVs that evening. We ended up buying one that night and were excited to get it hooked up. Regardless of the better picture and bigger screen, which is certainly nice, I was most excited about having a Smart TV where we could have Pandora and Netflix on our TV. I figured if his parents were offering to pay for it as a gift, it would be fun to actually have a present that we were apprehensive about buying for ourselves, rather than just putting the money into our bank account. I know Ben is really going to enjoy watching football on a bigger and better screen, and we are thankful to Ben's parents for purchasing this generous gift for us.

(Blog about November 24-30, 2015)