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