Samantha Turns 6 Years Old!

Samantha: 72 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 36 Months, Week 3

On Tuesday, May 16th, our little girl turned six years old. It's hard to believe that she is getting so old, so grown-up. She can no longer count her age on one hand, and now that she is school age, I know time will fly by even faster than before. We were excited to celebrate with her, even though we didn't have too many grand plans. Kids don't need fancy, expensive birthday celebrations, just time to celebrate them and spend special family time together. Samantha was excited to bring brownies to school for her birthday treat. She also was looking forward to wearing the birthday crown and sticker that they give everyone who has a birthday. 

Another fun thing was that I convinced Ben to bring Aedan by school to eat lunch with Samantha. It was a surprise, and she was excited to see them on her birthday. Then, Aedan stayed for recess time as well, and he loved running around with Samantha and her friends on all the playground equipment. In fact, he went down almost all the slides on his bottom, feet first! Some of the slides were pretty big, too, and he didn't act scared or cry one bit. I was so shocked to see him going down the slides like they were no big deal. I was so happy and proud of him, and it seems like he now realizes that slides are fun, not scary, and that he really enjoys them.

It was a little bit difficult to celebrate her birthday in a "big" way since it was a weekday, but Ben helped finish the rest of her cake by putting the vanilla ice cream that she requested in the middle of the cake and making the icing so that it would be ready for me to decorate when I got home from school. Since she requested an ice cream cake and I couldn't do too fancy of decorations, I decided to make a rainbow on her cake and then just do some simple lettering. It turned out well, and she was excited to eat it for dessert that evening.

Our normal place to go on birthdays for dinner is Chipotle. I think Samantha has chosen that restaurant every year since she was eating solid food. However, there is no Chipotle anywhere near us anymore, so the next best option was Pizza Hut. Samantha had a Book It coupon that she earned for a free personal pizza. We don't go out to eat very often; however, Pizza Hut is s pretty safe bet and you can still get some good deals.

We all enjoyed our pizza, then we went back home to have Samantha's ice cream cake. We lit six candles on her cake and placed the cake on the table to sing Happy Birthday to her. Then, before she blew out the candles, she asked for help from the boys as well. Samantha was so cute how she reached out for their hands and let them join in with her in blowing out her candles. The cake was delicious, and all the kids enjoyed their "rainbow cake."

Then, it was time for Samantha to open her presents. Aedan helped Daddy wrap the presents that morning, and Samantha was pretty excited to see what we got for her. She didn't give us too many ideas of what she wanted, except for the Belle doll and high heel shoes, so I just tried to find some other simple, but practical gifts that she would enjoy. So we ended up getting her a new bike helmet, since the old one is getting too small, and really we need it for Aedan now that he has a big boy bike. Aedan picked out the Operation game for her. Then, we also got her a sticker book, high heel shoes, and the Belle baby, which she was very excited about and couldn't wait to have me open the box for her. Upland Ema and Papa also got her a new suitcase with a matching carry-on bag, just like the one they got for Alaina awhile back, so now she is all set for her trip to Florida. Here are some pictures and videos of Samantha opening her presents that evening.

It was kind of a whirlwind of an evening, since it was a school night and we had to get everyone to bed at a decent time, but Samantha enjoyed herself and had a good birthday, so that's all that really mattered. Her party with her friends was planned for Saturday morning, so she was really looking forward to that.

While all of us were at school on Wednesday, Ben and Aedan took Izzy to another vet appointment for another shot. She measured at almost 11 pounds, so she gained three pounds from the last time I took her three weeks ago. We were able to get a six month supply of flea and heartworm medicine, and we scheduled her next round of shots for before we leave on vacation.

On Thursday evening Aedan was not acting like himself. He was very lethargic and as soon as Ben and I got home from our volunteer appreciation dinner, he was practically begging me to put him to bed. He woke up crying a couple times that night before Ben and I even went to bed. Then, at 5:00 in the morning, I heard Aedan coughing on the monitor and then he started crying. I went upstairs to his room to check on him, putting my hand on the edge and kneeling by his bed to see what was going on. When I put my hand down, I touched something wet, and knew that he had gotten sick to his stomach. I got up to turn the light on so I could assess the situation. This was the first time Aedan had every thrown up. He probably didn't know what to do and was just asking me for a washcloth. Everything on his bed needed to be changed and washed, including the pajamas Aedan was wearing. I wiped his face off and had him stand up in bed so I could take his dirty pajamas off and ball everything up together. Then, I got him in clean pajamas and had him just sit in the rocking chair covered in a blanket while I got his sheets and blanket changed. He also needed a new pillow, so I had to go downstairs to get one of the guest bed. I got everything remade and ready for him and then tucked him back into his bed, telling him he needed to try to go back to sleep, that it wasn't time to get up yet, and that he needed to get rest so he could start feeling better. I brought the trash can in from the bathroom, but I had no idea if he would even have the wherewithal to throw up in the trash can if he were to get sick again. By the time I was done with this whole process, put stain remover on his sheets and pillow, started the first load of laundry, got myself changed and cleaned up, and crawled back in bed, it was already 5:40 and my alarm would be going off in ten minutes. Poor little guy, I felt so bad for him. Getting sick to your stomach is no fun as an adult and it's probably even more scary as a kid when you don't know what's going on.

It made me feel so much better knowing that Aedan could just spend the day home with Ben. He was just starting to wake up when I went in his room to get him up so Ben could drop Samantha and me for the day. However, on the way to school, Aedan started coughing and some phlegm type vomit came out of his mouth. He didn't know what to do, especially since he was way in the back in his car seat. I had Ben pull the car over so that I could get out and help him. I grabbed some napkins to help clean up, and then I ended up just sitting back in between Samantha and Aedan so I could help him more if he got sick again. You could tell Samantha got a little scared and almost started crying when she saw Aedan get sick. She cares so much about her little brother and has so much empathy for him that she really feels sad when he is hurt or not feeling well.

Ben and Aedan spent the rest of the morning just resting at home. He put Finding Dory on TV, and Aedan was just very lethargic and only wanted to lay down and cuddle with Daddy. He got sick a couple other times throughout the morning, but mostly when he would eat or drink too much. I think sometime around 10:00 a.m. was the last time he got sick, and from then on he was at least able to keep things down.

It was a bit tricky trying to get Izzy to leave Aedan alone that day. She obviously didn't understand that he was feeling sick and wasn't in the mood to play with her. Luckily, it was a nice day, so she enjoyed laying on her bed by the patio door, feeling the nice breeze from outside.

Saturday morning at 10:00 was Samantha's birthday party for her friends. We decided to have it at Project Playground so that it was simpler, and she could then invite as many people as she wanted. Before her party, Ben and I made different colors of icing to make rainbow colored cupcakes, and we tag teamed in icing all the cupcakes for her party. Ben had to run out to the store again for a couple last minute things, and then we loaded everything up to go over to the park and set up a little early. We didn't do anything too fancy, just some plastic birthday tablecloths, some plates and napkins, a birthday banner, and some balloons provided by the Sayers.

As Samantha's friends started arriving, I had a chance to sit and talk with some of the moms for awhile. Luke, his mom, and brothers came, as well as Isaiah and his mom and siblings, as well as Uriah and his mom, our neighbors Calla and Shay, the Sayer girls, and eventually Owen and his mom came as well. She invited her whole class, but there weren't very many that came. I was surprised that no girls from her class came, but it is totally fine with me for her to have boys for friends. I was glad she had a pretty good turnout, just a big enough group, but not too big. However, you could tell that Aedan was still recovering from being sick the day before. He hadn't thrown up for 24 hours, but he still had little to no appetite. He was playing pretty well on Saturday morning at home, but it almost seemed like he used up all of his energy playing at home and had no energy left once we got to the playground. He wanted me to pick him up and hold him, and then he sat on my lap and snuggled with me for quite awhile. This is definitely not like him at all. He normally is very independent and ready to run and play. However, I was more than happy to give him some cuddles. It's not very often that my three year old boy will ask to sit on my lap.

JeSaturday, May 2

Our plan for the party was just to let Samantha and her friends play and have fun together. We didn't have any games or activities planned. We just wanted a simple birthday party where Samantha could have fun with her friends. Here is a video Aedan helped me take of some of the kids swinging.

After a good amount of play time, we called all the kids over to the shelter to enjoy some cupcakes and juice and sing Happy Birthday to Samantha. They all enjoyed their cupcakes and then ran back out to play.

Then, we brought the presents out to a table in the sun since it was a little chilly in the shade, and called the kids over to watch Samantha open her presents. She got a decorate your own journal art kit, a bead jewelry making kit, a homemade card, giraffe toy for her backpack, a big, red spiky ball, and a Crayola art kit full of makers, pencils, crayons, and a drawing pad, as well as two Book World gift certificates. I love how her presents really were perfect for her personality, money to buy books since she's become such a good reader and arts and crafts supplies since she loves to draw, color, and make things. Her friends know her well. :)

We had a busy rest of the day on Saturday because we were also invited to Jorja Sayer's birthday party cook out, so we went straight from Samantha's party to her party. The kids were all doing pretty well, and Aedan seemed to perk up some at their house and after getting some food in his tummy for lunch. The kids were having a blast playing outside, and it was a beautiful afternoon to be outside. There were a lot of people at their house for the party, and we stayed until about 2:30 when we decided it was time to go back home so the boys could get a nap in, especially since Aedan was still recovering.

Samantha got a package in the mail from Great Grandma Donna with a first grade workbook and some new colored pencils included. When she came out of her room from quiet time on Saturday afternoon, she got her book out and started working on it right away. It's amazing how easy this stuff comes to her and how eager she is to learn.

Lately Aedan has been a little strange at bedtime, not really wanting to have songs sometimes and not getting in bed nicely. However, on Saturday night Aedan and I had a great bed time. It reminded me of back a long time ago when we would still rock him more and he would just lay in my arms and talk to me about whatever would come into his mind. He hadn't done that for a long time, but tonight I could tell he was interested in just sitting and talking to me, and I didn't want to stop that. He just sat on my lap and leaned up against my chest, just chatting away. I don't even remember what all he talked about, but I loved it. I love getting a glimpse into the thoughts that meander around in his head. I love seeing how he connects things and what makes him excited or happy. In fact, it also reminded me of a night the previous week when we had a thunderstorm right at bed time. I was putting Aedan to bed that night, too, and he usually wants to hop right down after singing songs and praying so he can get in bed, but that night he said, "I just want to stay with you, Mommy." How can I resist something like that? He actually laid in my lap for quite ahile that night, not sleeping, but just snuggling and cuddling with me. I loved it, and I was ready to stay like that with him until he said he was ready to get into bed. This Saturday night was similar, I could have let him sit on my lap and talk to me for much longer, but I knew that he needed to get to bed, too. I love my little guy.

On Sunday all the kids were pretty tired and whiny before church and lunchtime. You could tell we had a long day on Saturday and it wiped everyone out. We had an early nap time for everyone and that helped them get in better moods for a good rest of the day.

Over the weekend the new Meijer in Sault Ste. Marie opened. It was a really big deal to the people that live here, even though Meijer is so commonplace to us. Ben had to run to the store to get a few things (it seems like we've had to do that a lot lately), so he decided to take Aedan to Meijer rather than Walmart. Aedan enjoyed riding on the one cent pony, Sandy. Now we need to try and do a little price comparison with Walmart prices and Savings Catcher compared to Meijer prices, M-perks, and coupons.

On Monday morning I had an important meeting with the principal of Samantha's school. I wanted to discuss with her what our plans for next year could be to accommodate Samantha's giftedness. Samantha will be coming into first grade at a second grade reading level, and we will have finished the first grade math curriculum before school even starts. I mentioned, and the principal agreed, that it would be good if her first grade teacher and another second grade teacher could align their schedules for math so that Samantha could just go up to second grade for math class every day. Also, they have been doing and will continue to do a reading group for the students that are reading at a higher reading level across all first grade classes so they can dig deeper into books rather than be stuck at a basic reading level with the rest of the class. Samantha will continue to do AR as well. I was pleased with the suggestions the principal gave me, and I believe that with those things in place, Samantha will be challenged adequately next year. The principal asked me what teacher I would request for Samantha, and I was glad she asked because I didn't want to appear too forward by requesting one myself. I told her who I requested since she has been the most helpful and responsive in providing challenging material for Samantha this last semester of her year in kindergarten. I hope that they will honor my request and that the above things will be in place for Samantha when she enters first grade. It was a productive conversation, and I'm glad I decided to meet with her.

On Monday night at Bahweting, there was a Festival of the Arts Show, but it was mostly for the older grades because they were performing music as well. However, the kindergarten is singing at graduation instead. I thought it would be rather silly to come back to school with everyone to look at Samantha's art when we could just look at it right after school, so Ben brought the boys into school so we could find all of Samantha's art. Here's her paper plate in the middle.

Here's her decorated hand.

And here's her fish picture on the top. They studied art from around the world, so different art was representative of different countries, but I can't remember which piece of art came from what country. Anyways, I was impressed with the complexity of the art projects. I think the art teacher does a really good job of teaching art using a variety of mediums and materials. She guides them, but each piece is unique to that student, none of them are identical. Samantha was very proud of her artwork and couldn't wait to take it home sometime soon.

Izzy has started to calm down more in the last week or so, especially on days when we do more to wear her out. In fact, I think on Monday evening I took her on her nightly walk after putting the kids to bed. We think that helps her to get some energy out, plus we are able to train her to walk nicely on the leash, and even to stay near us off leash when we are protected on campus and can let her explore. On Monday night she actually came up and sat next to me on the couch, curling up in a little ball, and falling asleep. She doesn't do this very often, and she was just so cute sleeping next to me that I had to take a few pictures of our Izzy girl, or Grizzy Bear as the kids affectionately call her.

(Blog about May 16-22, 2017)

Daddy's Special Time with Aedan and Samantha

Samantha: 71 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 36 Months, Week 2

The best thing that happened during this week was simply the weather warming up. I have been SO ready to feel some spring-like temperatures, to be outside more, to feel the sun, and not to feel chilled when outside. I have loved seeing everything turn green and start budding. We even have tulips springing up in our front "garden" area that we didn't even knew existed. Most of them are coming up in places that don't make sense, like inside or behind a bush, so you can tell that it was not exactly intentional where they were planted, but things are looking so nice, the trimming and weeding we did last spring really paid off, and at least so far it doesn't look like many weeds are growing back. Now we just have to decide what to plant to fill in the empty area in front of the house that needs another flowering bush or perennial plant. I also have thrown around the idea of taking the kids to pick out flowers for the barrels as well, we would just have to make sure someone could water them and take care of them while we are on vacation.

It has been really nice having Ben be home with Aedan since the semester is over. He likes to plan something special or fun for them to do in the mornings together, even if it is as simple as going over to campus. So here is a cute video Ben took while going on a walk with Izzy, and Aedan riding his tricycle on campus. Ben said that Aedan really liked the walk with Izzy, and Izzy really enjoyed chasing Aedan as he rode off on his tricycle. Both Aedan and Izzy took good naps that afternoon while Ben worked and a flan finished baking in the oven. Being out a lot in the morning and being active helps Izzy nap better as well. Ben said she was barking in her sleep, and Aedan didn't make a noise after Ben put him down for his nap.

These last couple weeks have been all about testing at school, meaning I have been more in charge of the classroom while Ms. Cornwell facilitates the testing, making sure the students are doing what they are supposed to. I feel like all I have been is a police officer, trying to keep the class quiet while a few kids test at the back table. It has not been very enjoyable, especially since the class is not really used to having to actually work quietly. I will be glad when testing is over and our schedule can get more back to normal. Samantha also finished both of her MAP tests, and she scored 182 and 183 on them. The goal for kindergarten is around 158, so she scored very high on her tests, well above where she needs to be. I was really proud of how well she did, without any assistance at all.

Ben came and picked me up early from school on Wednesday because I had my regular check-up with Dr. Amo. I planned on just going by myself since it was just going to be a quick check of the heartbeat and answering any questions I may have. Everything looked good, and I actually lost a couple pounds from my appointment the month before, which was encouraging to me. I am about the same weight right now as when I started doing Weight Watchers after Thanksgiving. I feel like my stomach has really popped out more lately, now that I halfway through my pregnancy, and I am trying to keep my weight gain in check because I probably gained too much weight with Samantha and Aedan, in particular with Samantha. The heartbeat was nice and strong and easily identifiable. Everything checked out great, and I was scheduled to come back in another month. It's amazing how fast this pregnancy is going. I can't believe I am already halfway through.

The weather was just too nice to not spend more time outside that evening. Ben got Aedan a new container of bubbles, so I filled up Aedan's bubble mower, and he had a wonderful time pushing it around the yard. You know who else liked it, probably just as much, if not more? Our little puppy, Izzy. She followed Aedan all around the yard, jumping and biting at the bubbles to pop them. The two of them were having a great time together, and we loved watching them from the kitchen as we worked on making dinner.

Aedan has been doing a really good job with going on the potty more often. In fact, on Thursday morning Aedan told Ben that he needed to pee when they got home after dropping Samantha and me off. Plus, when he took him to the bathroom, he had a dry diaper. He is really picking up on going potty more! Then, Ben sent me another message again an hour later saying that his diaper was dry again, and he just went pee in the potty again. His comment was, "He is starting to do this..." I was excited that he was showing so much interest all on his own. Apparently he just had to wait until he was ready. :)

Ben took Aedan on another outing on Thursday morning, this time to the lighthouse to spend another nice morning outside. Aedan just spent an hour throwing rocks into the water, having a grand old time. I love all the pictures Ben took of our little man. The faces he make are so great. He is such an expressive little guy. There are definitely benefits to living somewhere with so much beautiful nature surrounding us. It's been hard being mostly indoors during the long winter months, but we will now find even more enjoyment in being outside this summer.

My sister asked me for updated belly bump pictures, so after I got dressed for work on Friday morning, I decided to snap a couple pictures of myself. I definitely have a bump, there's no hiding that anymore. :)

On Friday morning Ben and Aedan took another walk on campus and then just hung out at home. Ben cleaned the house for me, partially because my parents were coming in town for the weekend, and partially because it just needed to be done. He also did our weekly shopping trip. I really appreciate him taking care of all this stuff at home for me. It's been so hard for me to feel like I'm staying on top of things at home since I've started working full time, so having Ben at home to get things done the last couple weeks has relieved a lot of pressure on me from always feeling like I am falling behind.

Ben said Izzy was out since 10:00 that morning. He just left the patio door open since it was a beautiful day outside, and he left the kitchen closed off so he didn't have to worry about where Izzy was, and she would just go in and out as she wanted. She was a happy puppy.

I don't have too many stories about Samantha on this blog, since she is just at school during the day all week, but I will share a funny one from Friday. I texted Ben and asked him to come by school to bring Samantha new pants because the zipper broke on her jeans and she couldn't seem to keep them up. Ben came and dropped them off at the office, but when the office called her classroom to let her know, she thought that Daddy was there out in the car so she just walked right out the front door of the school, as if to meet him, making the office staff freak out and have to go after her. The police officer saw me as I was leaving the teacher's lounge from eating lunch and commented to me, "Your daughter tried to run out of the school today," in a joking voice, of course. I had to give Samantha a hard time after school about it, and I wondered how she reacted when they had to stop her, if she got embarrassed or upset. They know she's not a flight risk like some other students at school are, so I'm sure the office staff got a kick out of that.

Then, after dropping off Samantha's pants, since Aedan had a good day, played really well with Izzy, and "helped" him clean the house, he figured he would splurge on a sundae for him.

Samantha was very excited about Friday night because she was invited to Jordan's birthday at the Big Bear recreation center. She couldn't wait for his birthday party to start. However, before leaving for the party we had Chicago Grandpa and Grandma get to our house for their weekend visit. They were able to visit with the kids for awhile and have dinner with us before I took Samantha to the party from 6-8 p.m.

When you get Samantha one-on-one, you can have some pretty interesting conversations with her. As I drove her to the birthday party, she started talking about how there would just always be people, that people would keep having babies and more babies, and on and on. I told her that eventually the world would come to an end, and she was pretty flabbergasted by that. She wanted me to explain more, so I started talking to her about the book of Revelation and how it tells a little about the end of the world, but it's not something we can really picture or understand. I told her that when Jesus comes back, that will be the end of the world as we know it right now, and that there are different theories about how that will happen and what will happen next. So, I said that's why we have to be ready, because no one knows when Jesus will come back. To that she replied, what do you mean, we have to be ready, "Like we have to have our house clean and our toys picked up?" I had to chuckle when she said that. But I told her that Jesus doesn't care at all about that stuff, but what he's looking for is whether or not you believe in Him, live for Him, and are a part of His family. Samantha said, "Well, I am definitely a part of His family." I told her that I was extremely happy that she is a part of His family, but there may come a day when she doubts that, so she has to always remember His sacrifice for her and how she gave her heart to Him at a young age. I love having these deep, spiritual conversations with my little girl. The way her mind works, the things she thinks about sometimes, and the questions she asks about life just amaze me sometimes.

Samantha had a great time at Jordan's birthday party, and the rest of us enjoyed time with Grandpa and Grandma that evening. I know they both also really enjoyed meeting Izzy and playing with her for awhile. My parents are definitely dog people. It was fun to have them visit, as we hadn't seen them since Christmas, and they hadn't visited since sometime in the fall. We like having visitors come to our home.

On Saturday morning we had plans to take my parents over to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Again, it was going to be gorgeous outside, so we decided to check out a few places we had never been to before. We walked on the paths by the Sault Ste. Marie Canal and out onto Whitefish Island, overlooking the water that separated Canada from the United States. We had clear, blue skies. The kids had a blast walking and exploring along the path, and spending time with Grandpa and Grandma. We were glad that we decided to come over and do this together. We had always seen this path from the International Bridge when crossing over and had it on our list of things to do once the weather got nicer. We will definitely have to do this again sometime, and maybe next time we can bring Izzy with us as well. She would love to go on a walk with us here. Here are some great pictures of the kids together, as well as some of the sights we saw that morning.

After spending a good amount of time walking on the trail, we decided to head back to the car, get a little bit of a snack for the kids, and then drive over to a local playground/park area. We were super surprised at what we saw when we got there, for the playground was huge. It was made up of probably five or six different playground structures that just stretched on for quite a while. The kids had so much fun going from one to another, and you know what? Aedan actually went down some slides! He has been so wary of going down slides for some reason, but he was actually brave enough to go down quite a few of them on his tummy. I was so proud of him for trying them, and I'm hoping that we crossed over a hurdle and that he will start realizing that he can do slides and doesn't have to be afraid.

The playgrounds were so fun that the kids didn't want to leave, but it was getting close to lunchtime, and we still had to stop somewhere to eat before crossing back over to the United States before it was nap time. Since Samantha was out late at the birthday party on Friday night, and Ben had plans to take her to a Daddy-Daughter dance that evening and be out past her bedtime, we had Samantha take a nap as well. Ahh, relaxing, quiet afternoons while all the kids are asleep. We had a wonderful morning playing outside and sharing part of our world with Grandpa and Grandma.

Ben and I made our classic lasagna recipe for dinner that night. We like to make bigger meals like that when we have company over because there's no way we can eat an entire lasagna when it's just our family. We had a yummy dinner together before Ben and Samantha got ready for the dance. Samantha picked out her red sparkly dress, black sweater, tights, and shoes. Ben told Samantha that she could pick out his tie for him. She picked his red tie and wanted him to wear his black shirt so that way they could match. I must say they make a pretty cute couple. :) She wanted me to do her hair up in a fancy braid bun, and she was so excited to go to the dance with Daddy. Here's a picture of them together before heading out for the evening.

Ben said Samantha really enjoyed the dance. There were a couple other girls that Samantha knew, but she mostly wanted to be with her daddy. Apparently she was playing a game where she would run across the room and then try to find Ben on the other side and run up to him. You can see some of her awesome dance moves in the second video below. I love how kids just don't care who is watching them, they are just themselves, and that is so great.

It was so great for Daddy to have a special date night with his little girl. We like to be able to get out with our kids one-on-one. Samantha loves to be silly with her daddy, as you can tell from these pictures. I love the two of them so much. :)

While Samantha and Ben were at the dance, I stayed home with the boys and my parents. They played pretty well together, then it was time for bath time and bed time. They got to bed a little later than what we usually try to do, but it worked out okay, and it was the best I could do by myself. Izzy was really enjoying having my parents to visit to give her extra attention as well. My dad was good about taking one for the team when she was getting rowdy and trying to "attack" him. I think he may have left with a few scratches from love bites from Izzy.

Since our kids are always up at the same time, it's usually best for us to go to the 9:00 service on Sundays, that way we get home earlier and can have lunch earlier. Plus, since it was Mother's Day, we had some special brunch recipes planned for lunch together. Ben and I put together Monkey Bread on Saturday night so it would be ready to bake on Sunday afternoon, and we also made our typical breakfast casserole that is super simple, but really very good. Church was nice that morning, and we were able to get a family picture taken as a Mother's Day present (along with a chocolate candy bar for the moms). Here is a picture of the picture. I think it turned out really well. Aedan is not exactly looking at the camera, but at least he's kind of smiling. Plus, I love how Samantha is holding his hand so sweetly. They of course have their sibling squabbles, but she is so sweet and kind with him. I love our little family, and I can't wait to meet the little guy that is growing in my womb. I can't wait to see how he fits into our family.

Since we got home earlier from church and had an earlier lunch, the kids had a chance to open their birthday presents from Chicago Grandpa and Grandma. They got Aedan a play rug with roads and buildings that you can drive cars around on, and they got Samantha an Elsa piggy bank and a responsibility chart where she can keep track of the jobs she does around the house. She has asked us quite a bit lately about wanting to earn money so she can buy things that she wants, so we figured this would be a good way for her to keep track of her jobs around the house and then at the end of the week we can add up her jobs and pay her accordingly. We were thinking something like five cents for each magnet she puts up for completing her responsibilities. My parents were asking for present ideas, and we just didn't want any more toys that would just sit around and never get played with, so when I thought of these ideas, I thought they would be fun and useful gifts that wouldn't take up any more space or just get tossed to the side and forgotten about.

Samantha was very excited about her Elsa piggy bank!

And here are all the kids enjoying Aedan's new play rug.

On Monday I took the day off of school, since my parents were still in town. It was so nice just to be home and get things done around the house, hang out with Aedan, and spend lots of time playing outside. Aedan and I also went to Walmart and Payless to buy Samantha her birthday presents. We bought her the Baby Belle doll that she has said she's wanted for a long time, a new bike helmet, a sticker book, the Operation game (which was the present Aedan picked out for her), and high heeled shoes (which she has also asked for for a long time). Plus, I made Samantha's cake that afternoon since she requested an ice cream cake which requires a few steps to put together. I really enjoyed being home again, and it made me realize how much I will enjoy being a stay at home mom again after my stint with going back to work full time. I am definitely not ready to be working full time with young kids still at home.

Aedan has done such a good job with using the potty this week, and I am so proud of how much he's trying to learn to use the potty. In fact, on Monday he kept his diaper dry the whole time we were out that morning, and then he told me he had to go when we got home, going pee and poop in the toilet. The potty fairy has been to our house a lot lately!

Monday was another nice, warm day, so we decided to eat dinner early so we could take a family trip, Izzy included, over to campus to ride bikes, explore, and just enjoy the spring weather. People at school were complaining about being hot, but I was enjoying the warm weather, sun, and even the humidity. We drove over to campus and then let the kids ride bikes so that way we didn't have to get all three kids and a puppy safely across the road. Aedan even rode his new Buzz bike around campus, realizing how much faster he could go on his bike rather than his tricycle.

The kids also just enjoyed running around, climbing on rocks, and playing. Samantha got on this big rock and posed, wanting us to take her picture. She is such a beautiful little girl, inside and out.

Then, we decided to get some pictures with Samantha as well. After all, this was the last night of her being a five year old, for on May 16th she would turn six. She was so excited for her birthday, and we feel so lucky and blessed to have her as our daughter.

(Blog about May 9-15, 2017)