Owen Pulling Up & Samantha Turns 7 Years Old

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 5

Aedan: 49 Months, Week 3

Owen: 7 Months, Week 4 (Week 35)

Sunday, May 13th was Mother's Day, and although we had nothing special planned since we were driving back home that day from Upland, Ben and his siblings bought some chocolate and a picture frame that they filled with family pictures the night before, to give to Ema/Mom that morning. Here she is opening her Mother's Day presents. The kids didn't know what she had gotten, so they were very interested in seeing what she had in her bags.

As is normal, the kids were very sad to leave Upland that day. This trip was very different with all the traveling we did to Ohio and back, as well as special occasions we celebrated, so we didn't have as much time to just play and hang at the house or outside, which is what the kids love so much about going to Upland. Our trip back home that day went fairly well. We stopped at Chipotle at the Lansing Mall, like we usually do, and the kids did fairly well in the car all day considering how long of a trip it is. Owen did a good job as well. We weren't sure how he would do as he loves to move around so much more now than he did two months ago, but as long as he had someone to play with him and keep giving him toys, and someone to sit next to him to help him fall asleep when he was tired, he was a fairly happy boy.

Monday was back to reality with Samantha going to school, Ben going to campus, and the boys and me hanging out at home. It was nice to have everyone back in their own beds, but then came the work of getting caught up on laundry, going grocery shopping, and things like that. Here are the kids wearing some of their new shirts they got for their birthday in Upland. That NASA shirt is just perfect for Samantha. I love that her interest in space and becoming an engineer hasn't wavered. And I love that Aedan really does think that he can grow up and be a super hero. Lately he's been saying that he wants to be Iron Man. :) Samantha is going to design rocket boots for him.

 

As I was fixing lunch that day, I came out into the living room to check on Owen, and this is what I saw. I was amazed that he was doing that all by himself. I thought to myself, "Oh boy, Ben and I are in trouble!" Neither Samantha nor Aedan even crawled like he does this early, and now he's already pulling himself to standing. This boy is on the move! Maybe we will have a walker this summer after all. :)

Look at him! He was so proud of himself. He could even do it one handed! He is a strong boy.

So just as we did with Samantha and Aedan, we bought some meat baby food to try with Owen. We were eating chicken for dinner that night, so we decided to feed Aedan some chicken as well. I had to get this video of his first taste because I knew it would be funny. I can't imagine that meat baby food would taste very good, considering how bad it smells. Owen definitely wasn't impressed, and almost gagged on the food at one point, but Samantha and Aedan thought it was pretty funny to watch him try it. We will keep giving it to him every once in awhile, but I know Aedan never liked it either. We even tried to mix it in the vegetables, but he caught on to our tricks, so we didn't push it too much.

When we were in Upland, Ben gave me a box that had been delivered there, as part of my Mother's Day gift. They were a pair of earrings with the Trinity symbol in them, since we met in Ireland and both have a desire to get back there to visit some day.

Then, there was another present delivered on Monday for me. It was a beautiful necklace with the birthstones of each of our children. Samantha is on top, Aedan is in the middle, and Owen is on the bottom. I have always wanted something like this with the birthstones of our children, and this necklace was beautiful and simple, the perfect type of jewelry for me. Ben knows me well, and it was so sweet of him to get this for me. (However, I do joke with him now about how he making it clear that we are done with three kids now that he has gotten me the picture frame with our kids birthdays and now this birthstone necklace.)

Now that Ben's semester is officially over, his schedule is much more free, which is nice for me. I enjoy getting extra help with things and the freedom in his schedule. He still goes to campus to work (since it's close to impossible to get much work done at home), but things are much more relaxed and much less stressful. I enjoy these well-earned breaks we get in the summer, where the pace of our life slows down just a little bit.

That morning Aedan, Owen, and I were invited on a play date to his friend Marion's house. We have tried to get together a couple times, but it never worked out, so Aedan was super excited to go over to her house and play. They live outside of town in the country, so Owen fell asleep in the car on the way there. I left him in his car seat in her garage to continue his nap. Cassie even had a monitor set up in the garage because she does the same thing with her son quite a bit. Anyways, Aedan acted a little shy at first, simply because it was a new place he had never been, but he warmed up after awhile, and he played trains and explored lots of other new toys. Once Owen woke up, he had fun playing some of the baby toys, too. They were nice enough to serve us some fruit and cookie things for snacks before the kids decided they wanted to go outside and paint. Cassie got everything set up for the kids, and it was funny to see how differently Marion and Aedan painted. Aedan did just a few things on each page, always asking for more paper; whereas Marion covered almost her whole paper with color. While we were there, I figured Owen would get hungry, and I tried to take him upstairs to feed him, but he was too distracted by being in a new place to eat. As it was getting close to lunch time, Aedan was still having a lot of fun playing, but I knew it was time for us to get home so I could feed Owen and not have him get too grumpy in the car on the way home. It was definitely a fun play date, and we will definitely have to invite them over to our house to play sometime.

Just recently, with the warmer weather finally coming, we switched our glass-paned front door with our screen door so that we can let more air into our home on warmer days. Owen found the new view and the new breeze from outside fascinating, and he kept crawling over to the front door to look outside. It was really cute.

After seeing Owen pulled up on his toy yesterday, I tried to get a video of him pulling himself up that Tuesday afternoon before nap time. However, I was only able to capture him up on his knees, enjoying his musical toy.

Since Owen is now a pro at sitting up and crawling around, we decided we should try him on some finger food. We got some Puffs at the store that week and decided to let him try some after dinner. He didn't quite know how to get it out of his fist and into his mouth, but it's definitely a skill he will be working on. It was funny to see him chewing it and tasting the new texture in his mouth, trying to figure out what to do with his tongue so he wouldn't just push the puff out. Samantha was very enthusiastic about helping him try it out. (And then he started gagging on it at the end of the video. This boy seems to have a very strong gag reflex.) Trying new things with babies is always so much fun, and I love that the kids are just as excited to see their baby brother try new things.

Wednesday, May 16th was a big day in our house because our little girl turned 7 years old. The little girl that made me a mom. The little girl who is the big sister to two little brothers. The little girl who has a sense of humor just like her daddy. The little girl who loves playing outside, getting dirty, and collecting bug friends. The little girl who gets so excited about things happening that she has a hard time sleeping. The little girl who is very smart, learning second grade math and reading at close to a third grade reading level. Really, she's not so little anymore. Sometimes I look at her and I can't believe how tall she's gotten, I can't believe she has grown up teeth growing in her mouth, and I can't believe how independent she has become. These last couple years of her in school full time have just flown by. She has grown so much, from a little preschooler who still napped, to an elementary kid who sits down and devours an entire chapter book in one sitting. Even though we have had some issues with behavior and talking back, Samantha is such a good, sweet, loving girl. She is so special to me, and I was really excited to celebrate her birthday in a special way.

Wednesday was a busy day and Ben and I were pretty tired from a couple of rough nights with Owen. We hoped that he was teething, as he had been up for a couple hours in the middle of the night on Monday night and Tuesday night, screaming and crying when I tried to lay him down. After a rough night with Owen, Ben ended up being with him that morning, trying to get him back to sleep after he woke up entirely too early. So I was upstairs with the kids helping them get ready and making them breakfast, which is unusual. Usually I am feeding Owen or trying to sneak in a quick shower, so I miss out on this time. Since it was Samantha's birthday, I asked what she wanted for breakfast, and she requested waffles, so I got the waffle maker out and made her some waffles for breakfast. We also had her birthday party invitations for her to pass out to her class, as well as brownies to share with her class during snack time.

Time seemed to have gotten away from me, and I hadn't taken Aedan to let him pick out a present for Samantha yet. We stopped at Meijer that morning, and he picked out a Marble Art Rock kit. We also got her the game Clue Junior. Ben had already picked up a Lego Friends Friendship House set, and we ordered a month subscription for the KiwiCrate service where they deliver a box that builds children's creative confidence and problem-solving skills with STEAM projects and activities. Once again, with Samantha's interest in becoming an engineer, we figured she would really love something like that were she got to build and create and then play with her creation.

When we got back home, I tried to put Owen down for a nap, but he woke up crying again. Ben stayed home that morning to work because we planned to go eat lunch with Samantha at school as a surprise. He tried to get Owen back to sleep, but at that point it was already getting close to the time we needed to leave to get to school, so I just nursed him and we left. When we got to school, Samantha's class was still outside playing at recess, so we met her outside. She ran up to us, super excited and surprised by all of us being at school. We went in to the lunch room with her and got our trays of food, sitting off to the side from her class so that we could talk with her more and see how her day was going. Their lunch is only half an hour, so our time went by quickly, but it was fun to see her in the middle of the day, and she was particularly excited to have her two little brothers there with her.

After how hard it had been to get Owen to sleep, I was a little worried how Wednesday afternoon would go, especially since I needed to get things done like wrapping her presents and icing and decorating her cake. Luckily, he slept much better that afternoon, giving me just enough time to make some pink and purple icing for her chocolate ice cream cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream. I even decided to make some butterflies on the top of her cake with pretzel sticks for bodies.  Here is the finished product. I think it looked pretty good, and I hoped she would like it.

Jenn

Samantha also requested that we pick her up from school instead of having her ride the bus, since it was her birthday. We gladly obliged, and since Ben was down with Owen again, trying to get him to sleep a little longer after waking up crying, I left with Aedan to go pick up Sissy. She was excited to see us, and I enjoyed the ride home to just be able to talk to her. I miss her a lot when she's at school all day, and I'm glad that summer is coming soon. When we got back home, we all went outside to play until Owen woke up from his nap.

In more celebration of Samantha's birthday, she requested that we eat at Applebee's for dinner. The main reason she wanted to eat there was because she wanted them to bring her a dessert and sing the Happy Birthday song to her. Here are the kids hanging out in the booth that night after finishing their dinner. I don't get many pictures of the three of them together, so I'm glad that I decided to take some pictures of them being cute and loving together.

Samantha picked the chocolate molten lava cake, and she was okay splitting it with the rest of us so that she could still have birthday cake at home. Here is the video of the Applebee's employees singing to her. She acted like she was a little embarrassed, but I think she secretly liked it. She doesn't usually mind being the center of attention.

Here's our birthday girl, enjoying her dessert. Happy Birthday, my 7 year old!

Once we got back home that evening, it was time for Samantha to open presents from us. These first two videos show Samantha opening up her present from Aedan, the Marble Rock Art kit. You can tell she wasn't really sure what it was, or what to think of it. However, it was so cute that Aedan came up to explain it to her. He was very insistent on getting this for her, and this is another thing she will enjoy making this summer when she has time at home.

Samantha then opened up the Clue Junior game. She didn't give us much direction on what she wanted for her birthday, so we had to come up with ideas on our own that we thought she would like. I think it's fun to have a collection of board games to play, and I knew this was one she would be able to play fairly independently.

And then came the big present of the Lego Friends Friendship House. She was definitely most excited about this present, as you can see the reaction on her face. She has really been wanting more Legos to build with and play with, and we figured she would have a lot of fun building with this set. It had 722 pieces in it, so we knew it would keep her busy for awhile. She couldn't wait until she had enough time to open it and work on building it.

After presents, it was time for cake. We put 7 candles in Samantha's ice cream cake and all sang Happy Birthday to her.

I love that Aedan was actually singing, and that Samantha joined in halfway through the song. I love that she looked a tad embarrassed that we were singing to her, and I love that she still let her little brother help blow the candles out, too. I can't believe my baby girl is already 7 years old. That sounds so old. I can't believe she is already done with first grade. Time is going by way too fast, especially now that she's in school. Sometimes I wish I could just hit the pause button, or that I could just go back in time to when it was just Samantha, so I could hold her and rock her in my arms a little longer, or play dress-up with her as a two year old, or experience the first time she read words from a book. She has grown and learned so much this past year, I feel like she is so different from who she was just a year ago. (I also love how Ben captured Owen crawling around on the floor, going right for Izzy's food and water bowl. Those things are no longer safe on the floor when Owen is around.) We had a great evening celebrating Samantha's birthday, and I'm glad we were able to have a day that was all about her and celebrating how much we love her.

That night as I was getting Owen ready for bed and changing his diaper, I took this video of him smiling, laughing, and playing with his toes. Pretty much ever since he could laugh, he has laughed while we change his diaper. I feel like most kids cry, but he can be really upset and then you go to change his diaper, and he cheers up, almost like he can't resist laughing. I have been meaning to capture it on video because it is just so cute, and some day I will love to look back at this.

Even though Owen went to sleep like normal, he woke up screaming and crying only five minutes after I laid him down fast asleep. Both Ben and I took turns going in his room, patting him, and got him back to sleep. We hoped that he would have a better night after so many nights of interrupted sleep. I felt so tired and didn't know how I could do it again. Sometimes I dread when he's asleep, especially at night when he's having trouble, because I never know what the night will hold. We figured he was teething, so we have been giving him ibuprofen before putting him down, and I let him chew on a teething toy right before bed, but that didn't seem to help much. He was up 6 times during the night on Tuesday night, and I fed him 2 of those times. The other times Ben and I took turns going in to pat him or bounce him back to sleep. Teething is the worst, and it seems like Owen is a pretty bad teether. (Samantha was the best because she usually slept more when she was getting teeth in.) He is pretty happy and easygoing during the day, not really acting like any teething pain is affecting him, but it's just when he is laying down and sleeping. Sometimes I wish he would enjoy sleeping in our bed more, so I could just bring him to bed with us and let him sleep in between us, but he's never slept with us, so he would just find that too weird and probably just roll around an think it was time to play. I don't even mind him waking up during the night to eat, because Aedan did that until he was over a year old, waking up once a night between 4:00 and 5:00, nursing, and then going back to sleep. However, it's just the waking up and then not going back to sleep for a couple hours, or getting him to sleep just to have him wake up soon after you lay them down. Both Ben and I are ready for this little boy to get into more of a sleep routine. Sleep deprivation is real, and we are feeling it lately. Kids are exhausting sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love Owen dearly, but it's hard having multiple nights in a row of little sleep and then still having to go about your normal day.

After getting him to sleep that evening, Owen still woke up quite a bit on Wednesday night, 4 times, but we were at least able to get him back to sleep. He wasn't up for two hours in the middle of the night like he was the two previous nights. I still felt pretty tired from three nights in a row of such little sleep. Owen slept in until 8:30 on Thursday morning, which I was glad for. (If only Ben and I could have slept in until 8:30 that morning, too. But when you have a 7 year old to get to school and a 4 year old that is up between 6:15-6:30, sleeping in is not really an option anymore.)

Since Ben is done with official classes, his schedule is more open. He was able to go out to breakfast with a friend on Thursday morning, and then he volunteered to hang out with the boys while I did some clothes shopping and had lunch with a friend. I desperately needed some new summer clothes, especially before going to Chicago where it was supposed to be really warm. Last summer I was wearing maternity clothes, so I didn't have anything that really fit me anymore. I very rarely go shopping for myself. It was also nice to be able to have lunch with a friend, and to enjoy my food without having to feed a baby.

I got back home in time to put Owen down for nap, but he only made it forty minutes before waking up crying, so I had to go back down to get him back to sleep again. His teeth just really must be bugging him because before this rough stint with sleeping, he was actually getting into a more predictable routine with napping better and only waking up once at night.

I had a mom's night out that night that I went to after dinner and helping Ben with giving the kids baths. We have been trying to let Ben put Owen to bed with a bottle every once in awhile so that he doesn't forget what it's like to take a bottle. When we go to Chicago, my parents will be babysitting for us while Ben and I go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, so I don't want Owen to give them too hard a time that night. Ben got Owen to drink about two ounces before he decided he was done and fell asleep. He woke up right as Ben and I were getting ready for bed, and Ben tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he was hungry from not eating as much as he does before falling asleep, then he woke up one more time around 3:15 and then again for the day around 7:10. It was still much more than an 8 month needs to wake up at night, but it was a slow and steady improvement from the several nights before.

On Friday morning, while I was taking a shower, Ben took these pictures of Owen discovering the stairs. Just the day before, he had discovered the coffee table, and he is pulling up on everything now. It's amazing to see this little boy and his curiosity to keep up with his big brother. We are going to have to keep an eye on this little one around the stairs now! And probably keep the baby gate at the top of the stairs as well. Owen definitely loves to follow Aedan around.

In preparation for our trip to Chicago, I found a friend that agreed to watch Izzy for us for the weekend, since our normal boarder wasn't open that weekend. After letting Owen take a nap at home, we went over to their house to let our dogs meet and to see how they would get along. Their dog, Frankie, just followed Izzy around, and you could tell she was trying to get away from him being all up in her business. However, I was pleasantly surprised that Izzy didn't bark at all at any of the family, until the dad came home for lunch. Izzy was in the house, and she barked at him just like she does if someone were to come into our house, like she was already feeling protective. I was so glad that the dogs got along and that my friend was willing to take her for us for the long weekend. They also have two kids, so we knew Izzy would get lots of attention and lots of walks. Aedan had fun at their house as well because his friend, Kenny, was there, and they quickly started playing together up in his room and outside with sticks and riding bikes/tricycles. We even ate lunch there, and Aedan didn't want to come back home because he was having so much fun. We will definitely have to invite them over to our house sometime so the boys can play outside in the back yard together. We can even include our dogs on play dates now!

Friday afternoon went much better with nap time, even though we got to bed much later than usual due to being gone over lunch. Both boys took good naps, I didn't have to go down with Owen, and he slept until a little after 4:00. I was so glad for him having good sleep and for the little break that I got that afternoon. However, that night was rough again. Owen was up for over two hours in the middle of the night again, and he woke up many other times as well. I nursed him three of those times, mainly as a way to just get him back to sleep because I know it usually works, and at least I get to sit down and close my eyes while he nurses himself back to sleep. Ben and I were super tired again Saturday morning, but there was no rest for the weary, as we had things to get done in preparation for Samantha's birthday party that morning.

Here is sleepy little Owen that morning, after waking up for the day around 8:00. He was pulling himself up on the shelf, which is what I was attempting to take a picture of, but then he saw me and stopped.

Saturday, May 19 was another big day because it was the day we planned Samantha's birthday party with her friends. She invited all the kids in her class, plus the Roe boys, the Grundmeier girls, the Sayer girls, and Calla and Shea. Our original plan was to have the party at Project Playground, as per Samantha's request, but the weather forecast changed and there was rain in the forecast. So, we decided to change it to the Norris Center instead. We set up a table in the lobby area with the cupcakes, fruit, pretzels, and juice boxes. Without really planning it, we went with a butterfly theme, and I think everything looked really nice. I even put butterflies on the cupcakes.

After the kids had their fill of running around in the gym, kicking balls around, and playing games, we came back out into the lobby to sing Happy Birthday and have cupcakes. There weren't too many people that came from her class, but really this is a good representation of the people she enjoys to be with most: the Roe boys, plus our neighbor families. I love how she lets all her friends blow out the candles at the end.

Here are the kids enjoying their snacks.

I got Owen to take a nap in the Ergo for awhile that morning, but all the commotion from the kids eating and talking woke him up. He still got a decent nap in though, and then he was ready to get down on the floor and play with his friend, Carly.

Samantha's first gift was a little box from Shea with a gift certificate to a local bookstore.

From the Grundmeier girls, she got a popsicle maker and an Anna Barbie doll.

From the Roe boys, she got a craft kit where she can make a Pencil Bouquet. She was really excited about this gift. In fact, later in the day as she was looking at the present, she smiled and said, "Luke just knows me so well."

One of her friends from her class came later to the party, but also brought her a present. It was a big package of sidewalk chalk and an cupcake-shaped inflatable pool raft.

We were out at the Norris Center until past noon that day, so the kids were pretty tired when we got back home. We had a quick lunch and had nap time for everyone. Every once in a while, I look in Aedan's room to make sure he is asleep, and sometimes I like to take pictures of him sleeping. Our children are so cute when they are sleeping, and I love to see the different ways Aedan falls asleep, always with Happy Bear by his side. (Sometime I need to sneak into Samantha's room and get a picture of her sleeping as well.)

We had a good day celebrating our girl's birthday, and even though it wasn't quite what she wanted as far the location goes, she still had a fun time playing with her friends. Everyone left the Norris Center with sweaty heads, and now Samantha has some fun new things to use, play with, and enjoy this summer.

(Blog about May 13-19, 2018)

Playing Outside & Our Trip to Indiana and Ohio

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 49 Months, Week 2
Owen: 7 Months, Week 4 (Week 34)

The rest of this weekend was spent hanging out together and with my parents. We went to church on Sunday morning, had lunch together, I put Owen down for his nap, and then we went over to the casino to watch a Peter Pan show put on by a local dance group. I figured the kids would find it interesting, and it was something different to take my parents to. We got there with plenty of time to get tickets and find seats. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the show, and it was good, but it was really a glorified dance recital set to the theme and music from Peter Pan. There were a lot of dance numbers in it, and it lasted almost three hours, which was a little longer than the kids were interested in. Nevertheless, they had fun watching the kids dance and dancing around with friends during intermission.

After having a quick dinner at home, we went out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. It had been open for several weeks now, but we didn't have a chance to go yet. Aedan had been asking to go for some time now, and when we pass it, he would say something like, "Look mama! People are in line at Dairy Queen!" We wanted to sit outside and eat our ice cream, but it was a bit windy outside that evening, and eating ice cream outside was a bit too chilly, so we decided to go back to the car to finish eating. Aedan and Samantha were so excited to finally get their ice cream treats.

My parents stayed into Monday to hang out with us a little bit longer. Samantha went off to school and Ben went to work, but they got some extra time to hang out with Aedan and Owen before leaving about 11:15.

It was a beautiful day outside that Monday afternoon, and we had plans to go to Samantha's school for dinner, ice cream, and a drum dance, so since we didn't have to make dinner at home, we all went outside to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. This was really the first time we took Owen outside and put him down on the ground. We spread out a blanket for him to lay on and wondered what he would do. When Samantha was a baby, she did not like the feel of grass, so as soon as she would crawl to the edge and touch the grass, she would know to stay on the blanket. Therefore, it was fairly easy to contain her. Owen was very curious about this new environment, and as you can tell, he was not afraid to venture out onto the grass.

Samantha was cute coming over to talk to Owen, showing him the grass, and interacting with him, before going back to play with Aedan.

Samantha and Aedan love our back yard, and the play set the Clemons family brought up for us last summer is still a big hit. I'm so excited for this warmer weather and for the days the kids can spend playing outside. I definitely felt cooped up this winter, and I am ready for summertime. :)

And here's a video of Owen exploring the blanket, looking all around him, and spinning himself around in circles so he can see Samantha and Aedan as they run around and play. While the kids played, I took advantage of some time to sweep all the dirt, needles, and sticks from the patio. It looked so much better than it did before, and now we were ready to have people over at our house for small group.

After getting everyone washed up and ready, we went to Samantha's school for dinner. They had soup, sandwiches, and salad, with ice cream sundaes for dessert. Then, we went into the gym for the drum dance. We decided we would stay for a few songs, let the kids dance, and then head back home. Samantha has been to many drum dances at school, but Aedan hasn't, so he was excited to go out and join her in dancing. It was cute to see them going around the circle together. She's such a good big sister, leading her little brother around, and showing him the ropes.

Tuesday, May 8th was a day I had been looking forward to for awhile because it was spa day at MOPS. We were able to get our hair braided, get a massage, get our eyebrows waxed, do a foot soak, eat some yummy food, shop for make-up, and lots of other fun things. I should have taken a picture of my hair because it never looks like that since I can't do stuff like that to my own hair. It was such a nice, relaxing morning, and it made me feel like I need to get myself another massage sometime soon.

The rest of the day was pretty busy with having lunch, getting the boys down for naps, and then I had a doctor's appointment for my foot. Ben came home for the afternoon so I could go to my appointment, and unfortunately, Owen did not stay asleep that afternoon. He was fast asleep when I laid him down, but shortly after I left the house, he woke up crying. Ben tried to lay him down twice, but he woke up every time. He was just off that day, and he hadn't even taken a nap at MOPS that morning, so he was super tired.

The day was even more crazy because we were trying to get ready to go out of town the next day. After several months of going downhill mentally and physically, Ben's Grandma passed away on Tuesday morning. There were plans being made for a visitation on Thursday night and a funeral on Friday morning. We were already planning on going down to Upland for the weekend because Ben's dad was going to have a retirement dinner on Saturday evening. We were going to leave Thursday morning, but we decided to leave Wednesday morning instead so we could make the drive to Upland before having to make the drive out to Ohio as well. Since we were leaving a day earlier, we had to get things done quicker, like an oil change on the car, laundry, and packing. 

We had small group at our house that night, and since it was such a nice night, we decided on having a cook out for dinner where everyone brought their own meat to grill, as well as a side to share with the group. The kids were able to run around and play in the back yard while the adults just sat and talked. We didn't do any kind of of Bible study that night, we just hung out. It was nice to just have a social night. However, I always feel like it's difficult for me to really talk to other people in situations like this. Ben was manning the grill, so that meant I was in charge of keeping tabs on Owen, feeding him, and making sure he wasn't eating stuff off the ground outside. I put a blanket out in the grass to sit on with him, but I was removed enough from the group that it was difficult to join in on any of the conversation.

After getting the kids to bed, Ben and I got as much packing done as we could that evening so that we could get on the road sooner the next morning. We got out a little later than we would have liked, but there's only so much you can do when you have three kids and a dog to wrangle. We dropped Izzy off at the boarder before continuing on our journey. I drove the first leg of the trip, and Owen took a pretty good nap in the car that morning. We discovered that you can help him fall asleep by rocking the car seat back and forth once he shows the signs of being tired. I was so glad he took a good nap. Samantha and Aedan were able to play on their LeapPads with headphones, Ben read a book for fun, and I listened to music on my phone. It was a nice relaxing drive until we stopped for lunch in Gaylord at Five Guys.

The rest of our drive went pretty well. The boys napped in the car that afternoon, and then we let them watch a movie. The last hour or so of our drive always feels so long. Owen was done being in the car, and there wasn't much that was going to make him happy. We were all just ready to get to Upland, get situated, and see Ema and Papa. We arrived just before 6:00, and they couldn't wait to get out of the car and play in the yard until dinnertime.

Ben and I were pretty tired after a long day of driving and a rough night of sleep the night before. Sleeping arrangements had to be a little different that night because Uncle Timmy was going to be coming in from the airport and would need a place to sleep when he got to Upland. Owen was in the room with us in a pack and play, Aedan was in the toy room downstairs, and we ended up putting Samantha on an air mattress in the office.

Even though we had a long day and everyone was up later than usual, all the kids were up by 6:00 that morning. Ben and I both had to go down and tell Aedan to go to sleep, even though he had the bunny clock in his room to tell him that it wasn't time to get up. Owen also woke up early, and even though I tried to feed him and put him back to sleep, he was too distracted by being in a different place. With the long day we had ahead of us, we weren't too excited that all the kids were up so early. 

After having breakfast and getting the kids bathed and showered, he had to take down all the beds and get everything re-packed for our trip to Ohio. Since Owen was up so early, we decided to put him down for a nap in Upland before we left. We had a 2 1/2 hour drive, so we stopped in the middle of our trip for lunch at Wendy's before continuing on. Owen and Aedan also slept an hour in the car that afternoon, which we were glad for. We were thinking he might be starting to teethe again because he had a runny nose, lots of poopy diapers, and just was not nursing well. Here are Samantha and Aedan enjoying some time by the water outside of Wendy's as I attempted to feed Owen in the car before continuing on our drive.

We arrived at Ben's grandma's house with just enough time to get all our stuff brought into the house and set up, changed everyone's clothes, and headed out for the visitation that evening at the funeral home. We tried to prepare the kids as much as we could about what to expect since neither of them had been to a funeral before. We explained how everyone was going to be sad, and that they were there to visit Ema and her family. The kids were sweet when they saw Great Grandma Dorothy. I think they realized the seriousness of the occasion, and I definitely teared up seeing the wonderful little lady who was such an example to others of what it meant to serve and put others first.

The funeral home had a room upstairs with a DVD player, so after visiting for awhile, we took the kids upstairs to have some food for dinner and then put Moana on for them to watch while the visitation took place. They enjoyed having the time to relax some, and Alaina, Samantha, and Aedan acted the movie out as they watched it. Owen got pretty tired as the night went on. He had had a long day with a shorter than normal afternoon nap, so he actually fell asleep in Aunt Jeni's arms and took a little evening nap.

We left the visitation just before 8:00 to drive back to the house and get the kids tucked into bed. Samantha slept on an air mattress in the room with Jeni and Alaina, and we had Aedan's air mattress set up in the bathroom attached to the room that Ben and I had with Owen. We hoped that everyone would sleep as well as possible that night, but knew it was a weird place we had never been before. Owen was up several times during the night, and we tried to keep him as quiet as possible.

The funeral service was at 10:30 on Friday morning, and Ben had to be there early since he was a pall bearer. Samantha and Aedan were ready to go pretty early and then just enjoyed playing in the basement with some of Ben's cousins' foster kids. Owen's schedule was all out of whack with the traveling we were doing, but I was able to nurse him and put him down for a nap before it was time to leave for the funeral home.

When we arrived at the church, we were all able to see one last good-bye to Grandma/Great-Grandma Dorothy. We sat in the church pews near the front of the church, and I tried to keep Owen with us as long as possible until he started being too loud. Then, I took him back to the little room at the back of the church where he could crawl around and play, but I was still able to hear what was being said. Samantha and Aedan did a great job being respectful during the service. Samantha sang along with the songs because she could read the words on the screen, and she was really excited when they started reciting Psalm 23 because that was something she learned at AWANA this past year. Aedan also did a nice job sitting sit and be respectful. We were pretty proud of them for doing such a good job.

From there, we left the church to go to the cemetery. However, Owen had just about had it with being dragged around. He was hungry and getting tired again, and he cried pretty much the whole way to the cemetery. I decided to stay in the car and feed him so he wouldn't just cry and scream the whole way back to the church as well, but then I missed the brief ceremony they did at the graveside. It was a cold and rainy day, and no one had the proper clothes for the weather, so we didn't spend too much time outside that morning. After that, we drove back to the church where they had food provided for lunch. Everyone was happy to get some food in their stomachs and the kids were allowed to be a little more free to run around and play.

It was definitely a sad couple days, and I know it was probably different for Ben and the rest of his family because it was their grandma/mom, but it was also a very nice tribute and celebration of her life. She was 96, she lived a good life raising a family, working on the farm, helping with kids at their church, and taking in many foster kids over the year. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that she was in heaven with her husband, Arthur, and her Savior, Jesus.

After going back to the house and getting everything taken down and packed back up again, we drove out to the farm that Ben's grandparents lived on and worked for so many years. The people that live there now gave us permission to walk around, so we were able to see the old red barn and hear stories about what Ema would do as a little girl and also the memories that Tim, Jeni, and Ben have in visiting there and playing in the barn. The kids had a great time walking around and seeing the animals inside the barn, as well as hearing stories from when Ema was a little girl on the farm. Here are some pictures of the farm from that afternoon.

We had had a long couple of days, and it was time for us to head back to Upland so that we could arrive before bedtime. It was already well past nap time, and we told Aedan he didn't have to take a nap, but as we drove he was just too tired to keep his eyes open. We had a movie playing for the kids, and he just fell asleep in the middle of the movie, with all the noise from that, plus Owen playing in the middle seat. Here is our tired little four year old fast asleep.

Luckily, Owen was a pretty happy boy in the car that day, even though we had taken him lots of different places, and he hadn't had much decent sleep. Here are a couple pictures Ben took of Owen with the camera flipped around the other way so Owen could see himself.

It was nice to be back in Upland again that night, but we once again had to get all our stuff unpacked and set back up. Jeni and Alaina were staying there as well, and we didn't want to kick Ben's parents out of their room, so we had to do some switching around of sleeping arrangements. Samantha ended up sleeping on the floor in the closet of his parents' bedroom, and Jeni and Alaina shared the air mattress in the office. It worked, but I wasn't convinced that Samantha was going to sleep very well in there. However, we need to have her become more flexible with sleeping, and not let as many little things bother her. She was actually pretty excited about sleeping in the closet.

Owen woke up several times during the night on Friday, and all the kids were awake before 7:00 that morning. Ben let me stay in bed a little longer and get some extra sleep, which was very nice of him. Here is Alaina giving Owen a big good morning hug that day. She definitely loves him very much.

Even though we already had a busy weekend, Ben's parents had planned a fun morning outing for the kids on Saturday. They had a friend from church who had a farm with lots of different animals, some quite exotic like camels, and we had plans to meet some of the animals. Owen ended up falling asleep on the way out to the farm, so we left him in the car to continue napping while we went into the barn to see Michelle's horses and pigs. It was like a farm field trip just for our kids.

She asked if the kids wanted to sit on the horse, which the kids were really excited about, of course.

These cousins sure do love each other, and it's so fun to share in these special experiences together.

Then, she even let the kids ride on the horse around in circles outside the barn. Aedan was off playing with sticks in the grass, but Samantha and Alaina were excited to be able to ride on a real horse like that. Samantha has always said she wanted a horse of her own, to which we always explain how much work a horse is and how we don't have anywhere to keep one, but she was really excited to get this horse ride from Michelle.

From there we drove a few minutes away to Michelle's friend Evan's farm, where we got to see more animals, and some were pretty unique because they have a circus show that they take around the country.

Here are the kids petting a baby donkey.

Just the night before we came over, they acquired this monkey from Thailand. The kids thought it was so interesting seeing a monkey like this close up, and they thought it was even more interesting when Evan fed the monkey a dum-dum sucker. With Aedan's love of suckers, he definitely thought it was funny watching a monkey eat a sucker.

They had a kangaroo that was fun to watch, and it was amazing to see how long and strong it's tail was.

We saw some giant tortoises...

...some pigs, which Owen thought were very interesting to watch.

And they had this pretend wooden rocking horse for the kids to ride on and see how it felt to sit in a real saddle. While the adults talked, the kids had a great time taking turns riding on this horse.

After our time seeing the animals on the farm, we went back to the house to wrap some presents for the kids, have a quick lunch, and then get our birthday ice cream treats. Since the weekend became busier than we anticipated, we decided to not worry about making a cake or anything. The kids were pretty excited about their Crazy the Clown sundaes. I love Aedan's crazy eyes in this picture. That boy certainly loves his ice cream.

After we ate our ice cream, we had present time with the kids. Things were a bit thrown together, as no one had any presents until the night before when Ben, Jeni, and Tim went to Meijer to buy some presents, but the kids were still excited about some new clothes and a few new toys. It doesn't take too much to please the kids, and they were all happy to have something to unwrap.

In case you can't tell, this is Iron Man, a.k.a. Aedan. He was pretty excited about this costume from Ema and Papa. He loves to pretend to be a super hero.

The original reason for our trip to Upland was Papa's retirement dinner on Saturday night. Luckily, we got the boys to take good naps beforehand, so that would make for a better evening. We got everyone dressed up and ready to head over to the Taylor Dining Commons a little before 5:00. It wasn't too formal of a dinner, with the food being served buffet style, but I still did my best to keep the kids occupied and not too noisy when people got up to speak about Papa. It was so enjoyable for me to hear what Tim, Jeni, and Ben said about their dad. It was amazing to hear what qualities they saw in him both as a father and as a faculty member and dean at Taylor for so many years. I have always had a high opinion of Ben's family and the example they provide for their kids and grandkids, but I must admit I thought even more highly of them after hearing all the stories and thoughts Tim, Jeni, and Ben shared. It was a wonderful evening celebrating his retirement, and we were so glad to be able to be a part of it.

Here is a family picture that we took that evening. It is such a good picture of everyone, and I'm glad we got a picture taken of everyone together. I love being included as a part of this wonderful family.

(Blog about May 6-12, 2018)