Weekend Trip to Upland

Samantha: 56 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 21 Months, Week 2 (Week 94)

I have written about starting a "Good Choices Jar" with Samantha. We have been pushing it a lot, letting her fill it with cotton balls whenever making good choices, especially in transition scenarios when we ask her to do something and she willingly does it with no fighting, whining, or delaying. On Monday night she filled up her jar, so we let her choose her reward, which we knew was going to be sleeping in our room. I'm not sure why she finds that so fascinating, but we were happy to oblige. Ben moved her mattress into our room at the foot of the bed, and we got her situated for bedtime. She was pretty excited about sleeping with us, as the only other time she's done this is when my whole family visited at Christmastime. Samantha did fairly well in our room, probably not sleeping as much as normal due to the different surroundings and excitement, but it was fun to reward her for all the good choices she made.

Overnight Monday into Tuesday, we had snow come through. It really was not all that much, but the wind was blowing pretty hard, making it difficult to keep the country roads cleared off. Because of that, they cancelled school for the day which doesn't really affect us anyways as Samantha doesn't have preschool on Tuesdays. However, it did free up our friend Kristyn from having to work, so she invited us over to go sledding down the hill in their backyard with her kids. We had a couple of other plans for the morning, and circumstances kept changing, altering our plans as well. It took us awhile to finally get out of the house, but the kids had a great time playing out in the snow and sledding down their hill. Samantha was rolling around and falling in the snow, having a good old time. She went down the hill on the sled with Aedan, and even encouraged Jonas to try sledding as well. At one point all three of them went down together! Then, once the kids had their fill of being out in the cold, we went in to the house to play for awhile and have lunch together. I packed sandwiches, yogurt, and fruit for lunch so that way we could stay longer instead of feeling like we had to leave right away to get back for lunch. However, after lunch Samantha was getting a little too tired, probably because she didn't sleep that well in our room the night before, and she started to become disrespectful towards me, refusing to listen, saying no, and then trying to hit and kick me when I made her get up. So instead of leaving with a good attitude, she got a time out and wasn't able to play in Jonas' room like she wanted to. I don't like to end fun times out like this, but I can't let her get away with treating me like that. Luckily, I'm sure most parents have gone through this before, so no one is judging me based on her behavior, even though I feel embarrassed about it sometimes.

On Wednesday, after dropping Samantha off at preschool, I took Aedan on a trip to Meijer to pick up my prescription, buy new socks for the kids, and also to get a booster seat for Samantha to use in Ben's car. The car seat that we currently have in his car only goes up to 40 pounds, so we needed something different, and we figured since she rides in it so infrequently, that it would be fine to get her a backless booster seat that she will then use for a long time into the future. However, for some reason Aedan was extremely cranky that morning, much more than normal. He didn't have much patience as I looked for things in the store, and he cried several times pretty loudly. I tried to get finished as quickly as I could, and even though he was upset, he still wanted to pay a penny to ride on the horse. It's a tradition. We can't leave Meijer without taking a pony ride.

These pictures are pretty cute of Aedan, and he doesn't look the least bit grumpy. However, you can tell that he is tired, and then throughout the day his cheeks kept getting more and more red. Ben and I are thinking that his second year molars may finally be getting ready to push themselves through.

After getting back home and playing for awhile, we had to get back in the car to go pick up Sissy at preschool. Aedan wasn't too big of a fan of being back in the car. He was just having a rough morning. However, now that he is forward facing, he can reach his feet a lot better, meaning that he can now take off his socks and shoes. When I saw him do this, all the memories of Samantha doing the exact same thing came flooding back to me. When Samantha was around his age, she would take her socks and shoes off in the car every time we drove, whether we were just going down to road or on a long car trip. You can see the joy on Aedan's face in being able to touch his bare feet. :) I love it when he sticks his tongue out when he is really amused at something.

In this video below, I was trying to record Aedan saying "silly," but he was grumpy that morning and was not in the mood to be compliant. He just wanted to see the camera and not perform for me, but you can hear his really good whiny pathetic voice and way of saying no, which is still pretty cute.

When Samantha got in the car and saw that Aedan had his shoes off, she decided to join in, taking her socks and shoes off as well. And of course, she wanted me to take a picture of her as well.

When putting Aedan down for his nap on Wednesday, he was super tired and after I finished reading him his books, he turned around right away and laid his head on my shoulder. Normally, I lay him across my lap with his head in the crook of my left arm, and he falls asleep with both his hands together up near his pacifier. However, on this day he just cuddled into my shoulder and fell asleep. His hands twitched every once in awhile as he drifted off to sleep, and he would grab onto me again just to be sure I was still there. I don't even remember the last time he has fallen asleep on my shoulder like that. I enjoyed holding him close, rubbing his back, patting his bottom, and feeling his soft hair on my face. I think I may have rocked him a little longer that afternoon. :)

For however good Aedan naps, Samantha has been hit or miss again lately. In fact, she did not nap Wednesday or Thursday afternoon despite trying to get her to go to sleep and going up to her room to tell her to go to sleep. Ben and I started having the conversation about whether or not we think napping might be fading away for her. It is still amazing that she continues to nap when she will be five in three months, but we really think that most days she still needs it. We tried cutting out her naps before Christmas, and it didn't work, so we figured we'd keep them up for awhile. Honestly, I have always hoped that the end to her napping would be more organic rather than forced. I always pictured her just being unable to sleep more often than not, or having trouble settling down for sleep at night, and naps gradually fading away, so if that's what's happening, I am okay with it. I think it will be an easier transition now than it was a few months ago because on days that she doesn't nap, she doesn't act quite as crazy in the evenings. Most of the time she can handle herself pretty well and doesn't totally melt down. I'm sure it will take time for her body to totally adjust to getting all her sleep at night, and we will also have to adjust by making sure she gets to bed earlier at night so that she can get the rest she needs. So we will see, I think we may keep trying to get her to nap for another week or so, just to be sure it isn't a weird phase, and then we will go from there.

Thursday morning the kids and I had to be up and out the door early so that we could help babysit some kids from a family in our small group while their mom went to the doctor. We had a good time playing with new toys, drawing with markers, and watching Daniel Tiger. While we were there, Aedan just amazed me with all the words he knows and the the fact that he knows the correct context for using the words. For example, the kids will often have a small snack while watching a show after nap time, so since we don't usually watch shows in the morning, Aedan kept asking for "nack" (snack) and "show." Also, he kept coming up to Sissy, cuddling with her, and laying his head on her as they watched baby Margaret and Daniel Tiger together on the show. Samantha and Aedan are so cute together. I love their bond and connection, even though they are different genders and three years a part, they love each other fiercely.

The biggest thing that happened on Thursday was an email Ben received from Lake Superior State University inviting him for a campus visit next week. We were both slightly surprised by this email since we hadn't heard anything much since the Skype interview and the strange follow-up email. Ben and I talked about what days would work best for our schedule, and he booked a flight that would leave Wednesday morning and get him back Friday morning. His main interviews, meetings, presentation, and tour would then be most of the day on Thursday. It was kind of surreal that he was asked for a campus visit, simply because Ben has had about ten phone interviews and none of them have led to a campus visit for whatever reason. Lake Superior State University is a small liberal arts college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, almost in Canada. It's in a smaller town called Sault St. Marie. We would not be crazy about living in an area that is pretty cold and snowy; however, I was thrilled for Ben that he got asked for a campus visit. I had been praying for some encouraging news, at least something positive to lift Ben's spirits and let us know that the process isn't over, and then Ben got the email. It's amazing how God is faithful in keeping his promises, hearing our prayers, and giving us the encouragement we need when we are starting to doubt.

Thursday evening we decided to go out to eat to relax as a family. We had free Chipotle burrito coupons that we were going to use, but then discovered that the line was just too long to go there to eat. Instead we decided to go to Fiesta Charra, the sit-down Mexican restaurant right down the street. The kids like the food there, too, it's just not quite as fresh. However, we had a busy night ahead as we had plans to borrow a truck to use so we could get the elliptical machine that I bought off the Oxford Online Yard Sale site for $50. I figured we would be much more likely to exercise if we had the machine in our house and $50 seemed like too good of a deal to pass up. Also, it that weren't enough for one evening, we also had to get packed up for our weekend trip to Upland and I had Bible study to go to.

Friday morning, after getting ourselves packed up and dealing with our kids not being in the best of moods, we went on our way to Upland. Ben and I said that next time we should just put a show on for them to keep them somewhat occupied while we finish up last minute packing. It would make our life a lot easier and keep us from wanting to pull our hair out before we even left on our trip.

As soon as we got close to Taylor and turned onto Grandpa and Grandma's road, Aedan started talking about Brush and Money. He was so excited to see his old friends again. We were excited to see what Aedan would do first when arriving at the house since he is just so obsessed with these singing and talking Veggie Tales characters. Of course, after wondering where Papa was (which I think it actually what he is calling Grandma), he slid downstairs on his tummy to find his friends. They were lined up on the rocking chair in the toy room, and Aedan was SO excited to see them all. He immediately got them all out, playing their songs, dancing and singing along. We had lunch on our own since Grandpa and Grandma were still at work, then we got the kids down for their naps. We told Samantha that she had to take a nap since she hadn't the two previous days and then woke up early that morning because she was excited about going to Upland. It took a little while for us to convince (or was it coerce?) her to go to sleep, so then Aedan ended up waking up before her. Grandma got home around 4:00 and was happy to go in and get Aedan when he woke up. Here is Aedan playing with his favorite friends. You can see that he dances and sings along with them, even knowing many of the words to the songs. It's so funny how attached to these things he has gotten, and it will be interesting to see how long this infatuation carries on.

That evening, once Papa got home from work and Samantha watched her show, we went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. The kids did really well there, and they didn't mind having rice, beans, and a quesadilla again, plus they thought it was great being able to sit next to Grandpa and Grandma in the booth.

Since Aunt Jeni and Alaina couldn't come this time, we had plenty of space to spread out in, meaning everyone could sleep in their own room. However, like normal, Samantha had a hard time getting enough sleep, taking awhile to fall asleep on Friday night and waking up at 6:40 on Saturday morning, much earlier than Ben and I would have liked to wake up. We tried to encourage her to go back to sleep, but that rarely works anymore, making for a somewhat tired girl.

On Friday night Samantha helped Daddy and Grandma mix up the batter for a red velvet cake, so she was pretty excited when it was time to decorate it on Saturday morning. Grandma had red and white sparkly icing for Samantha to use, and she spent a long time decorating it, making flowers and other pretty decorations with the icing, as well as using sprinkles to make it even more festive for Valentine's Day.

Grandma was nice enough to let Aedan lick the icing off the spatula, and he thought that was great. He just walked around licking the spatula and saying, "Mmm!" And he learned a new word, "icing." :)

Here are Samantha's finished cakes. They look beautiful and delicious, don't they?

After awhile of playing inside, I decided it would be worth it to get the kids dressed up in their snow gear so we could play in the snow and go sledding down the large hill in the yard. It had been awhile since we'd visited Upland when there was enough snow on the ground to go sledding, so I wanted to take advantage of the freshly fallen snow. Even though it was pretty cold outside, I knew Samantha would love it, figuring we could just stay out for a little while if it felt too cold. Daddy had never really seen Aedan dressed up in his snow gear, so he thought he was pretty cute all bundled up and had to take some pictures.

The great part about Grandpa and Grandma is that they join right in the fun with us. They put on waterproof clothes and gathered the sleds, sledding down the hill right along with the kids. Here are Daddy and Samantha going down the hill together on the torpedo sled that kind of spins out when you get to the bottom of the hill. Samantha was so cute laughing and squealing the whole way down the hill each time.

And here I am going down the hill with Aedan on the torpedo sled. (We almost took out Daddy with our sled near the bottom of the hill.)

Both kids were really enjoying being outside, and it was cold but we were all bundled up well enough that we were pretty protected from feeling too cold. After a few times down the hill, Aedan just wanted to walk around. I think he really wanted to play basketball and shoot into the hoop, but that is a little difficult to do when you can't grasp anything with your hands. So instead he walked around and explored with Grandma. Samantha wanted to go down the hill over and over again, taking turns riding with both Ben and me. We didn't feel comfortable enough letting her go by herself since you had to sometimes help steer the sled away from trees as you zipped down the hill. I'm so glad we had the chance to get outside and have some fun in the snow together.

After having a yummy sausage, vegetable, noodle soup for lunch, we put the kids down for their naps. Aedan always goes right to sleep, but Samantha was a little too ramped up that afternoon, acting silly in bed, and continuing to whisper and wiggle even though we told her to calm down and take a little nap. We can encourage her, but we can't force her.

Then, mid-afternoon Ben and I left for our Valentine's Day date. We had plans to drive up to Fort Wayne, go shopping at Kohl's with our gift cards from Christmas, and then have dinner at Flat Top Grill. We were so thankful to Grandpa and Grandma for being willing to watch the kids while we went out by ourselves. Ben and I love this chance to reconnect and talk for an extended period of time, to have a relaxed meal together, and to remember who we are and our love for each other that goes deeper than just our kids. As a fun idea, we even went through a list of 36 questions that I saw posted on a blog to help you get to know your significant other better. Many of the answers were things we could have answered for each other and were fairly predictable, but some gave me a different perspective on Ben, and I'd like to think he thought the same way about me. It was a great time out together, and we got back to Upland just in time to finish helping get the kids ready for bed and then put them to bed with stories and songs.

Originally we planned on staying through church and lunch on Sunday, but there was more snow coming in starting mid-morning, and we decided it would be safer to just hit the road and get home by lunchtime to avoid any bad weather or slippery roads. Really, that worked out better anyways so that the kids could have good naps at home, we could get everything unpacked and put away, and we could get some laundry started and be in a better position before another week started up again. Plus, we had plans to go over to the Troy's house for dinner that night. The roads were not so great, making a 12 minute drive turn more into a 25 minute drive, but I was glad we were able to get over to their house. They made us a yummy lasagna with bread and salad, along with a very delicious cherry dessert. The kids had fun playing together and meeting their new puppy. It was so great to see their excitement for this puppy. Samantha especially loved the puppy and it made me wish that we had a dog that was younger and more friendly, one that the kids could hug and kiss and play fetch with, one they could take on walks and play with in the backyard. Maybe some day, when Roscoe is no longer with us, we may consider another dog for our children to enjoy.

The other first of the evening was Aedan falling down the stairs while at the Troy's house. He normally is really good with stairs since he knows he has to slide down on his tummy. He has never fallen down the stairs at our house before, which actually is kind of surprising considering how fast he flies down the stairs sometimes. However, as the adults were sitting around the table talking that evening, all of a sudden we heard Aedan crying at the bottom of the basement stairs. The other kids were downstairs playing and watching a show, and the oldest boy said that he saw Aedan fall down the stairs. Now, who knows what actually happened or how many stairs Aedan may have even fallen down, but that didn't matter to Aedan as he was crying very hard and was very upset about the whole situation. The good thing is that the Troys were used to this kind of thing, so our kids crying or throwing a fit wasn't going to phase them at all. I brought Aedan upstairs with me, and he sat on my lap and cuddled with me for awhile until I could convince him to be happy and start playing again. It's fun to be invited over to a friend's house for dinner, and it was a great way to end our weekend.

(Blog about February 9-15, 2016)