Trip to the Zoo, Walking in the Rain, Pictures of the Michigan House, and Ice Skating Lessons

Samantha: 57 Months, Week 4

Aedan: 22 Months, Week 2 (Week 97)

It was such a whirlwind of a last week with the job offer from Lake State, the visit to Sault Ste. Marie for the weekend, and the decision to accept the offer. It was almost a strange feeling that we finally accepted a job after so many years of waiting. I was so very excited for Ben and knew that he would be a wonderful addition to their faculty. I was excited to be able to start telling people our official plans for our future. In fact, Monday afternoon some moms and kids from our community group decided to meet up at a local playground because the weather was just beautiful. It was going to get up into the 70s the next few days, and we were excited to take advantage of the warm weather to play outside.

Before we went to the park, we had nap time. I hoped that Samantha would nap because she hadn't napped all weekend with Papa and Grandma; however, even though she was super tired, she still fought me in taking a nap. Lately she has just shown very little interest in napping and it takes a lot of effort from us to get her to fall asleep. Or, like on Monday, she will play around in her bed for forty-five minutes or more before finally falling asleep around 3:00, which really is too late to just be falling asleep for an afternoon nap because then it's getting close to dinnertime when she wakes up and it pushes back her bedtime.

After Ben accepted the position Monday, we decided to look more into putting an offer on the house we like in Sault Ste. Marie. The realtor didn't expect many more options to pop up in our price range. The location of this house is just perfect for us, and the seller is really motivated because they can't buy in their current location until they sell this house. Ben called a national lender on Tuesday to figure out what we could get a loan for, but he said they wanted him to be working at Lake State for a month before they would qualify us with that income, which obviously wouldn't work for us to wait until September to get some place to live. So we were left with looking more into local banks that could work with our situation and possibly even give us a better interest rate.

I have made many comments of that cute bond between Samantha and Aedan. Obviously they have their moments of fighting, especially now that Aedan is entering the two year old phase and knows how to push his sister's buttons, but that is typical for any sibling relationship. Tuesday morning was one of those mornings where they were being so cute and sweet with each other. Samantha was working on puzzles at the coffee table and normally she would be telling Aedan to get away and not mess with her puzzles, but on this morning she was including him in her activity, letting him try to put pieces together even though she knew they wouldn't fit, and she was saying encouraging things like "Good job trying to get those pieces together! You're being a good helper, Aedan." I love it, and I have to remember these moments during other moments when they are stealing toys from each other and fighting. Really, the good outweighs the bad, and I need to remember that more often.

Since it was going to be in the mid-70s on Tuesday and Samantha doesn't have preschool, I couldn't resist the opportunity to take the kids to the zoo. Especially since there is no large city with a zoo near where we will live in Michigan, I want to take advantage of our zoo pass this spring and summer. We arrived around 10:30 and were hoping to see the penguin parade at 11:00, but we were informed that they had to cancel the parade because it was too warm for the penguins to be out walking around. Also, since it was still the winter season, they weren't operating the train, the carousel, or the petting zoo, which was disappointing to Samantha, but she handled it pretty well. We had a great time at the zoo that day. The kids were doing really well, and Samantha was being respectful which made the day that much better. One of the best memories from the day was when we saw zookeepers taking flamingos for a walk, right past the people walking to different exhibits. Samantha was astounded to see the birds out of their exhibit. We also got to see zookeepers taking goats on a walk. The goats had leashes and collars just like a dog, and Samantha was able to pet them as they walked by. One of the goats came up to sniff Aedan in his stroller, but Aedan wasn't too big of a fan of that. They were a little too close for comfort, I think. Here are some pictures from our day.

I love this picture below. Samantha is trying to lean in to get a picture with Aedan, but Aedan leaned forward and pushed her head with his hand. He loves her attention most of the time, but now he can fight back to show what he does and doesn't like.

I think the exhibit we spent the most time at was the bonobo monkeys. There are a few babies in this exhibit, and they are always very active. I never know how much the animals can see through the glass at the people watching them, but it was very clear that these monkeys could see the kids on the other side of the glass. This little girl had an orange, and the monkeys were following the orange as she moved it back and forth along the glass. They would even put their hands up to the glass when the kids put their hands on the glass. It was pretty amusing to watch these monkeys run around and play.

Aedan knows that it is fun to get out and walk around now, so there was a lot of getting in and out of his stroller. He really was doing a good job listening, staying by me, and not running away, so I was fine with letting him get out and explore. Samantha and Aedan both enjoyed watching the manatees for awhile.

Aedan also liked watching all the fish swim around in the manatee exhibit because he could get up really close to the glass to look at them. He actually was making little fish faces at them, and I tried to capture it on video but he caught me taking a video and then of course wanted to "see, see."

I love how brave Samantha is. There really is not much that she will shy away from or be afraid of. This zookeeper was letting people pet the owl she was holding, and Samantha went right up to have her turn, interacting with the zookeeper and answering questions about owls. So far it seems like Aedan is more cautious and doesn't just jump into new situations like his sister has always seemed to do. It will be interesting to see if this is always a characteristic of his personality or if it will change as he gets older and experiences new things.

Towards the end of our afternoon, we were going to get some ice cream before heading home. However, all the soft serve places were either closed or out of order. We waitted in line for one place and as soon as we got to the front of the line, they said they had to stop serving ice cream because the machine wasn't working properly. This did not make Samantha very happy, and she started throwing a little fit. We took a little time out to just sit on this bridge and watch the monkeys climb around, giving Samantha some time to regroup and calm herself down.

As the monkeys climbed to the branches right in the front, Samantha decided that they were sitting there because they were posing for a picture. She wanted me to get my phone out so that she could take a picture. I held the phone and she pushed the button. Then she told the monkeys, "It's okay, you don't have to pose anymore, we already took your picture." :)

We checked back with the out of order ice cream place to find that it was still closed, so my solution to the problem was found in the Dippin Dots stand right next door. The kids had never had Dippin Dots before, but I figured they probably would like them. I let Samantha pick her own flavor, and then Aedan and I split one. Samantha thought it was really interesting and liked it quite a bit. In fact, she said that she wanted to get that again next time when we get ice cream. It was such a fun day with the kids, and I'm glad that I took them even though they were super tired by the end of it. Samantha tried to fall asleep on the way home but to no avail. Aedan fell right asleep in the car on the way home, and I was even able to lay him back down once we got back home, having to wake him up when it was time for small group. The kids were a bit crabbier that evening at small group since we had such a busy day, but it was worth it to spend that time with my kiddos.

Andrea and I have started our babysitting swap back up again, so she takes Aedan on Mondays and I take Bennett on Wednesdays. We came back to the house to play for awhile before going to the library for story time. Aedan is starting to recognize things around town now. For example, when we turn on to Chestnut Street, he will often say, "Ko-ger, cookie" (because he always gets a free cookie when we do our weekly grocery shopping at Kroger).  Lately, he will say "stories, stories" when we pass by the library. Apparently he likes story time more than I think he does! That Wednesday at story time, Aedan did pretty well sitting since Isaac was there for him to sit next to. Bennett wasn't too interested in story time, acted pretty shy, and preferred to linger around the outskirts of the room. Then, the kids had some time to play in the children's department before it was time to go back to preschool to pick up their older siblings. It's fun to do this babysitting swap because the boys get along so well together. It will be sad to move away from Oxford and not have this connection with the Schroers anymore.

Wednesdays are always Ben's busy day anyways with his last class going until 5:20 and then having Bible study at 7:00. Well, this particular night there also was a lecture going on on campus that he wanted his students to attend. Since he was asking them to attend, he figured he should attend as well, especially so that the students could check in their attendance with him. Because of that, we decided to meet Uptown for dinner so that we could at least all be together for a little while that day. I ordered Chipotle online so that it would be ready at 5:15, I dropped a meal off to some friends dealing with raising twins, and then we parked Uptown to meet Daddy. It was raining pretty hard that evening, so we decided to bust out the umbrellas. Samantha loves her Hello Kitty umbrella, and of course Aedan wanted an umbrella, too. Really, he is pretty obsessed with umbrellas already, so he was literally jumping with joy when I handed him this green one. They were just too cute walking Uptown with their umbrellas. Aedan didn't quite know how to hold his, as he let it hang too far in front of his face so that he wasn't able to see where he was walking.

 

The most difficult part for Aedan was having to hold my hand while we crossed the street, and then having to put the umbrella away when it was time to go in the restaurant. Daddy met up with us at that point, so he got to have that battle with Aedan outside of Chipotle. Eventually he convinced him to come inside, and we had a good dinner together. Online ordering is the only way to go when wanting Chipotle during the school year in Oxford. Otherwise, you have to wait in a very long line most nights. Daddy had to duck out early to get to his lecture on time, so the kids and I finished eating and walked back out in the rain. I was trying to get a picture of the kids standing next to each other with their umbrellas while we waited for the light to turn green. Aedan had his umbrella in front of his face, so Samantha tried to lift it up for him. He must have thought she was trying to take it from him which is why he has this super sad face in the pictures below. I had to include them because it so accurately portrays Aedan's emotions lately. He is either very excited and in a good mood, or he is very upset and lets you know it by the look on his face.

Lately, on Thursdays we have been taking it easy at home more often since there aren't any local activities taking place. Also, it's fun to just spend the day at home playing with the kids. This past Thursday Samantha was actually invited to a tea party birthday party for a little girl in her preschool class. The party was from 1-3, so I knew she wasn't going to be napping that day, which is why I thought it was even more important to have a low key morning.

I dropped Samantha off at her party at 1:00, after stopping by TJ Maxx so that she could pick out a present for her. Samantha was super excited about the party, and the fact that it was in the afternoon when she normally is napping. Here are some pictures another mom took of the girls at the party. It was so cute how they all had their little hats on, and I know Samantha had a fun time playing with Barbies and eating snacks with her friends. It's fun for her to be at the age where she is being invited to birthday parties.

Aedan was a pretty tired little boy that afternoon since we don't normally leave the house after lunch time. Ben had plans to get Samantha after her party and let her watch a show in his office, so that way I could get Aedan down for a nap and not have to wake him up in order to go pick up Samantha. We had a couple errands to run on the way home, and Aedan was almost falling asleep in the car, which I did not want him to do, so a stop at the bank and a sucker helped solve that problem. The rest of the afternoon went smoothly, as he is always easy to get down for naps. As soon as you say that it is nap time, he will say repeatedly, "nigh-nigh, paci."

The other interesting thing that happened on Thursday was that we officially put an offer on the house that we like in Sault Ste. Marie. We felt like we gave them a pretty fair price, and we were excited to hear back from them. Even though this is all going pretty fast, we are excited that we found a house so quickly, that it is in our price range, and that it has most of what we were looking for without any major updates or projects that we would have to do right away.

Friday was a pretty normal day as well with preschool for Samantha, grocery shopping with Aedan, and then Daddy having lunch with the kids while I went to Zumba. It was nice getting back into a normal week again. Here are the kids enjoying cookies together from the main office in Daddy's building.

I love how excited she is about her cookie, plus how Aedan is looking at Sissy like she is just the coolest person in the world.

On Friday evening we had plans to go over to our neighbors' house for dinner, sort of as a celebration dinner for both Ben and her getting jobs. This family has two elementary age girls who Samantha really likes to play with, so she was super excited about going over to their house. However, just before we were about to head over to their house, I got a phone call from our realtor, Steve, who said that the seller had thought about giving us a counter offer but then decided to just accept our offer as is. We couldn't believe it! We are in the process of purchasing our first, stand alone, family home, and we are so excited that we found this house. Now, I know there are a lot more steps in the process between now and when it's officially ours; however, I can't resist posting some pictures of the house.

Front of House

Fenced Back Yard (You can see campus across the street.)

Bedroom (Probably would be Aedan's room.)

Bedroom (Probably would be Samantha's room.)

Bedroom (Room for if we have another baby.)

Upstairs Bathroom

Upstairs Bathroom

Basement Family Room/Play Room

Basement Family Room/Play Room

Downstairs Bathroom

Downstairs Bedroom (Probably would be our bedroom.)

Garage

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room

Living Room

Extra Downstairs Room (Maybe an Office/Guest Bedroom?)

On Saturday morning Samantha had her art class, and she was super excited about going back again. They were learning about primary colors, and this is what Samantha was working on when I went in to pick her up. She was very focused and concentrated and had to finish it before she could leave for the morning.  They had little mice that they painted red, blue, and yellow, then mixing those colors together to make the secondary colors in the middle. She was busy drawing eyes and whiskers on her mice. However, she did inform me that she forgot to mix the blue and yellow to make green, instead ending up with two purple mice.

They also made sculptures out of clay and pipe cleaners. It's so fun for her to have this experience with art in different mediums. I think we finally found something that Samantha really enjoys. It certainly seems like she will be more artistic and interested in music, art, and dancing rather than overly athletic and into sports. But we will see, for personalities and interests can change a lot over the years of a kid growing up. I'm just glad she's enjoying these art classes so much.

From there, we went over to Goggin for Samantha's ice skating lessons. We didn't get to see her at her first lesson last week, so we decided to make it a family affair so that both Ben and I could watch her. It was fun to see all the little kids on the ice, and the teachers were so good with them even though many of the kids couldn't stand up on the ice for very long before falling down and needing help. They practiced falling down in a way that would hurt less. They pushed around barrels to help with balance while they learned how to pick up and move their feet.

The best part was watching Samantha take off on her own. I actually think she preferred to skate on her own rather than with the bucket. Especially knowing that we are moving to Sault Ste. Marie, I'm glad that Samantha is getting the opportunity to learn how to skate some now. Hopefully we can continue lessons for her more after we move as well. She seemed to really be enjoying herself, and we were really proud of the work she was putting into it.

Eventually we moved up to the stands because we felt like we were distracting her too much by being right on the other side of the windows watching her. It was a little difficult having Aedan there with us as all he wanted to do was crawl around on the bleachers so we will probably leave him home in the future.

Saturday evening we had plans to watch Isaac while Stephanie and Jim went out on a date together, reciprocating a time when they watched our kids so that Ben and I could go on a date. Both Samantha and Aedan took good naps that afternoon which made the evening go much more smoothly. The kids played together, and we had alfredo pasta, bread, and fruit for dinner. We watched a Super Why show, we played with blocks, and Ben had quite the long wrestle session with them where he was locking the kids in jail (which actually was just the bathroom). Aedan started getting pretty tired toward the end of the night, so Ben put him to bed before Isaac was picked up, but the evening went really well, it's nice to have friends like this that we can do babysitting swaps with, and it's fun for the kids to have friends over to play.

Saturday night was the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, meaning we all got one hour less of sleep that night. Luckily, the kids slept in a little later than normal. In fact, Ben and I decided to sleep in ourselves since our kids were still asleep when it was time that we would have had to get up to get ready for the first service. We actually had to wake Aedan up at 10:00 so that we could feed him breakfast and get him ready for church on time. It's funny how daylight savings time messes with everyone's schedule and routine.

After church the kids had a short rehearsal for performing in church for Palm Sunday. Samantha was super excited about getting up in front of church to sing, and since it was just practice, I let Aedan go up on stage as well. It was so cute seeing him clapping, swaying back and forth, and trying to sing along with all the big kids. Our kids certainly love to sing, and we absolutely love their enthusiasm.

Monday was the start of a normal week with Ben going to campus, Samantha to preschool, and Aedan to Andrea's house to play with Bennett. I had some errands to run on my morning off and a long to-do list to try to knock out throughout my day. Ben was also working on talking to a bank about our different options in getting a loan and how that will affect our mortgage. I also got an inspection set up for the house in Michigan for March 24th so now we have to start making our plans for our family trip to Sault Ste. Marie over spring break. Life is certainly busy, but these changes are exciting for our family.

(Blog about March 8-14)