Touching Moments with my Children & Our First Snow Dusting

Samantha: 89 Months, Week 1

Aedan: 54 Months, Week 2

Owen: 13 Months, Week 1 (Week 57)

After a typical Sunday of going to church and serving at second service, we spent the afternoon at home and I finished cleaning the house before our small group started that evening. We only had one family over for our small group, but it went well and we had good conversation. We decided not to get a babysitter and just let the kids play in the basement, but we eventually had to bring Owen upstairs because the kids had too many things out that he could put in his mouth. It was a little more difficult having Owen around, but we were still able to have some pretty good conversation. The kids had fun playing together, even if they did make a mess of so many of the toys in the basement.

Monday was a pretty low-key day for the boys and me. We didn't have any plans, so we stayed home, did things around the house, and played together. We had snow showers pretty much all day, and I wasn't too happy about seeing all the snow coming down on October 15th. I need to start warming up to the idea of the snow and cold coming, rather than dreading it. (Can you tell that I am not a true yooper?)

That evening, I tried my hardest to have dinner ready so Aedan and Daddy could eat before going to hockey, since it didn't work to eat so late last week. They were able to scarf some food down quickly before having to leave. Ben had a board meeting at church that evening, so the plan was for Ben to take Aedan to hockey and leave a little early to come drop him off at home before heading to his meeting. Samantha, Owen, and I ate dinner after they left for hockey, and it was strange, but kind of nice just having Samantha to talk to while we ate. I don't get that opportunity very often, and it was nice to have some time together in that way. Here are Samantha and Owen playing together that evening. He was trying to feed Samantha his toys, and she thought it was pretty funny.

During hockey practice that night, Ben said that Aedan was not wanting to leave the walker. I'm sure it also doesn't help that we only take him to hockey one night a week instead of two nights a week, but Aedan likes AWANA too much to skip out on that on Wednesdays. They placed the kids into groups that night, and Aedan got placed in the second to lowest group, which is okay because he needs the extra practice. Ben said it was still a little chaotic with all the kids skating all over the place, but he was proud to see Aedan getting all around the ice and not sitting or laying down as much as he did during the first practice.
After kind of hectic night with getting the kids ready and to bed, Owen ended up waking up at 6:15 on Tuesday morning, and I couldn't get him back to sleep, even though he was tired and not ready to wake up. However, since Bible study doesn't start until 10:30, I was able to get him down for a nap before we had to leave, and he slept for a good 45 minutes. I actually had to wake him up so that we could leave. I was glad he slept a little for me, and I knew that would make the rest of the day go so much better.
Bible study went really well and people were really open with how they were struggling in marriage and in parenting. We had really good discussion and because of that, it went past noon and then I had to rush to get Aedan fed and to preschool. We ended up stopping at Wendy's to eat fast, since we didn't have time to go home first, but we were still 15 minutes late for preschool. Then, I had to go back home and feed Owen more food since he didn't eat much while we were at Wendy's.
After eating a bit more food, I got him down for a nap, but then he woke up half an hour later and I couldn't get him back to sleep. I wasn't sure what was going on with him. The only thing I could think of was that his molars still have not come through yet. He still has huge lumps in his gums. He has also been waking up more after putting him to sleep at night, too. He's just been tricky lately because he hasn't been falling asleep nursing like he used to, so it take a lot more effort, and a lot more walking around, to get him back to sleep at night. After awhile, I had to leave to get Samantha and Aedan so we could go to gymnastics, so I gave up trying to get Owen back to sleep, and just brought him upstairs. Calla had just arrived when I came upstairs, and Owen was pretty upset, crying and clingy when I was trying to leave. I tried to distract him with snacks and a milk cup and then left, hoping that he wouldn't be too cranky for her. I found out later that he actually curled up on her lap and fell asleep for awhile, which I was so surprised about. I don't think he would have even done that for me if I was at home. He certainly needed more sleep, so I was glad he fell back asleep for a little while.

Sitting and watching the kids at gymnastics is always fun. It's relaxing for me to not have to chase Owen around, and I like watching them move through the stations around the gym. However, that evening Samantha hurt her neck when she turned sideways while she did a somersault. The rest of the night was rough for her because her neck hurt every time she moved or turned her neck in a certain way. I let her use the heating pad for 20 minutes that night to help it feel better, along with giving her some ibuprofen before going to bed to help her sleep.

After eating dinner together when we get home from gymnastics, we usually get the kids bathed and then have a little bit of time together before it's time for bed. Here is Samantha reading her brothers a story that night after bath time. It was a book that made noise when you pushed buttons, and Owen was much too excited to not reach and grab it out of her hands.

Jen

When putting Samantha to bed that night and snuggling with her in bed, she started to talk to me about the struggles she is having in school with a boy in her class who is saying mean things to her and making her feel bad. He keeps making comments about the silver crown that she has in her mouth, saying that it's bad that she has that. She also said she feels like everyone in her gymnastics group is better than her, even though they are younger. We talked about what to do with those feelings, and I shared with her my experience of being made fun of in school as a kid with my teeth. We also talked about how there will always be people around you that are better than you or not as good as you, but the important thing is that you are trying your best and enjoying what you are doing. We talked about how it's hard to not compare yourself to others or wish that you were somehow different than you are. If Samantha gets any of her personality from Ben or me, she will probably struggle with self-esteem issues, feeling like she doesn't fit in, or just feeling like she doesn't measure up. I have been noticing a lot more of these feelings coming out lately with her, and Ben and I are really trying be cognizant to not put too much pressure on her or have too high of expectations on her because she is the firstborn and she is a good kid who excels in school. I know Ben and I both felt like we didn't measure up to expectations of us, and we want to try to avoid making her feel that way. I have been praying for her a lot lately, and I will continue to pray that she can continually find her worth in God, and not what the world thinks or says, but I know from personal experience that that is so extremely difficult. Samantha was pretty tired that evening, and as she faced me in bed, with her arm draped over my side, she fell asleep while I was praying, breathing deeply and almost snoring. As I listened to my little girl, who really is not so little anymore, I almost started tearing up. I just love her so much, I miss her being little sometimes, but I'm so glad she still wants me to cuddle with her. I hope I can foster this close relationship with her that will last into her middle school and high school years, and I hope she can always bear her soul to me as she did that night. It's these moments that make me glad that I don't miss out on bedtime with the big kids, even if it means making Owen stay up a little later than he would like.

Wednesday, October 17th, we woke up to a dusting of snow covering the ground. Now granted, it didn't stay for very long, but the kids were much more excited about it than Ben and I were.

Since Owen doesn't usually take morning naps anymore, we made our typical trip to the library for story time on Wednesday morning. Aedan was having a fun time running around the library with his friends. However, he was having a rough day that day and wasn't listening well most of the day. He threw something at Mrs. Telisa, and I made him apologize to her, even though he didn't want to. He also got a couple time outs at home for making faces and sounds at us when we asked him to do something. We are trying to stop that behavior and try to explain to him that it is disrespectful and hurts our feelings when he treats us like that.

At nap time, Owen was tired and fell asleep right asleep with his hand tucked into my shirt. I love it when he falls asleep nursing and I get to hold him in my lap for awhile. I can always tell when he is getting ready to fall asleep when he sticks his hand inside my shirt like that. I don't know if he does it to feel my skin or if it's a reminder of when he was little and we would swaddle him or use the Zipadee-zip sack. He was so cute that I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures of him.

When I arrived at Aedan's classroom to pick him up that afternoon, he was playing under the table with his friends, Kate and Morgan. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to leave, and then later that night, he said that Kate is his best friend. In fact, earlier in the week, Aedan said he wants to dress up like Iron Man for Halloween because Kate is going to as well. I'm glad that he's making new friends and really enjoying himself at preschool. He is definitely coming out of his shell more, and it's good for him to have his own thing separate from things from Samantha. He is learning a lot, too, and it's nice for him to be out of the house in the afternoons while Owen naps.

On Wednesday night, while Samantha and Aedan went to AWANA, Ben and I invited some couples over for an appetizer, dessert, and game night. Everyone had their bigger kids at AWANA, and we just had Owen and one other toddler in the house. It was so much fun. I don't even remember the last time we've been able to be social like that without having kids around to distract us. Everyone brought food to share, we all sat down around the table to talk and eat, and then we played a game that Denise brought. I wish we would have had more time, but we all had to go pick up our kids by 8:00. However, the night reminded me of our college days where we actually got to hang out and talk to people in a casual, social setting. I really enjoy these friends that we are getting to know, and I'm glad that husbands and wives were able to make it. It's been fun opening up our home to people more this year, inviting more people over, and even though our house isn't huge, it certainly is big enough to host people, and I'm so grateful for our home. We will definitely have to get everyone together for another game night sometime soon.

Thursday was grocery shopping morning, and it was a beautiful day outside that day. In fact, Izzy spent most of the afternoon sitting outside in the sun. I definitely enjoyed the sun shining in the front windows, and it was very welcome weather after we started the week off with snow flurries.

Owen wasn't too happy being put in the car to go pick up Samantha and Aedan because he had just woken up from his nap, and sometimes he is slow to wake up. In fact, he was crying when Samantha and I got back out to the car, and she offered to stay in the car with Owen while I went in to get Aedan. She talked sweetly to him when he was upset, saying, "It makes me sad when I see you crying like that. It makes me want to cry, too." She's such a kind and loving big sister. I love the way she loves and cares for her brothers.

Then, since we don't have anything to do on Thursday afternoons, Samantha and Aedan went right into his room to play together when they got home from school. It was wonderful to hear their happy voices from the other room. They love each other and really are each other's best friend.

After eating dinner that night, the boys got these pool noodle light sabers and were doing some Jedi practice. I love how Owen tries so hard to keep up with and join in on what Aedan is doing. He loved that Aedan was playing rough with him like this, and I knew he couldn't get hurt with these soft pool noodles. These boys are enjoying each other more and more every day.

And the brotherly fun continued in the bath tub that night as they continued to be silly together.

On Thursday night it was my turn to put Aedan to bed, so as I was cuddling with him in bed, I shared how I miss him being little and rocking him to sleep like I used to. Then, the next thing you know, he started crying, saying that he wishes he wasn't a big boy and was little again so that I could still rock him. He even talked about remembering when my belly kept getting bigger and he couldn't fit on my lap anymore, saying how he's sad and wants me to rock him again. Little tears just streamed down his precious face, and I couldn't help but cry right along with him. He also started talking about not having enough time with me because he has to watch Owen and then I have to make lunch and he has to go to preschool, so he has no time with me when Owen's not around. He just kept crying, and so did I. I talked about how I always like to spend time with him, even though Owen takes a lot of my attention. I said that sometime soon, he and I could have an afternoon where just he and I could play together, however he wanted, and that made him feel better and he finally stopped crying. I had never seen him act like that before and get that emotional. Man, he pulled at my heartstrings, and my heart was sad for most of the rest of the night. Adding Owen to our family has been wonderful, don't get me wrong, but he has definitely been our hardest addition, and sometimes I do miss the time I got to spend one-on-one with Aedan before Owen was born.

Friday morning was my turn to volunteer in Samantha's classroom for reading groups. While I was at school, Ben actually took the boys outside to play for most of the time because it was in the low-50s as a high for the morning, which was super nice weather for this time of the year. They had a great time, and Ben told me that Owen figured out how to climb up the steps of the play house and go down the slide head first. He did that over and over again and was having a blast. Once I got back home, we actually went over to Aedan's friend, Owen's house, for a play date. The boys ran upstairs to play right away, and Aedan even got to play with Bryce for awhile, even though they both always wanted to play with the same toys. We even got to play outside in the driveway for awhile, and I had a great time talking to Kristen. It had been awhile since we had time to just catch up and talk, so it was a wonderful time for everyone involved.

Samantha had a half day that Friday, and Samantha and Aedan got right to coloring together at the desk in her room when she got home. We offered to let Aedan stay home from school so that he could play more with Samantha if he wanted to, but he actually chose to go to school instead. That says a lot right there about how much he loves going to preschool, that he would choose that over playing with Samantha at home. 

Ben ended up working from home that afternoon after running an errand, and 

we let Samantha get out her circuit building kit that she got from Chicago Grandpa. She did an excellent job of working through the directions in the book and learning how to make various circuits to make things light up, change the color of the light, and even use a button or a switch to turn the light on and off. She loved spending her afternoon in this way, and she got so excited every time she successfully completed a circuit and got the expected result.

I was needing to do some shopping for winter gear, and I wanted to do it before it was too late, so since Ben was home, I left a little early to go do some shopping before picking Aedan up from school. Then, we spent the rest of our Friday night just hanging out and spending some relaxing time together as a family.

Ben decided to do something special with Samantha and Aedan that weekend by having a little sleepover with each of them separately in the guest room. He decided to have the sleepover with Aedan on Friday and Samantha on Saturday. The kids were super excited about it, and I wished that I could participate as well, but with Owen still waking up to nurse at night, there really was no way that would work yet.

Unfortunately, while Ben was upstairs sleeping with Aedan on Friday night, Owen had a rough night. He was up for 1 1/2 hours on Friday night, and then on Saturday, when he was sleeping with Samantha, Owen was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night. Both nights I just could not get him back to sleep no matter what I did. Having two nights in a row like that really wore me out, and it was difficult dealing with it on my own since Ben wasn't down there to help me like he usually does.

On Saturday we didn't have any plans other than going to Samantha's school that evening for a fall harvest dinner. I suggested that we go over to the Norris Center in the morning so that Ben and I could exercise while Samantha and Aedan played with balls and ran around inside the track. Ben went on the bike, and I pushed Owen in the stroller as I ran around the track. The kids really did pretty well playing while we exercised, and it was a good use of our time. I wish we had more time to do things like this, and I know it would be good for Ben and I to try and get into more of an exercise routine. Plus, Samantha and Aedan got some good exercise as well as they ran around and played for quite awhile. It was a fun way to spend our morning, and I'm glad we tried it out.

After being awake for so long that morning, Owen took a good nap for us that afternoon before we got ready to go over to Samantha's school. They were supposed to have a hay ride and then fall festival meal, but once we arrived at the school, there was a sign on the door saying the hay rides were cancelled due to the weather. The kids were disappointed, and we had some time to kill, so we stopped at Walmart so I could buy a few things for MOPS Kids supplies, and then we went back to school to participate in the meal. They had typical Thanksgiving type food, and it was all really yummy. Owen enjoyed eating most of it as well. It's always fun to be involved in things at her school, and free meals that we don't have to cook or clean up after are always appreciated, for sure.

(Blog about October 14-20, 2018)

Aedan at Hockey, Our First Snow, and Enjoying Fall

Samantha: 88 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 54 Months, Week 1
Owen: 12 Months, Week 4 (Week 56)

Sunday morning the Clemons family was still at our house visiting, and Ben and I were scheduled to teach small groups for kids during church, so we all decided to go to the first service. Then, instead of making the kids stay at church for two services, Christy and Matthew volunteered to stay home with our kids while we taught at church, that way the kids could have more time to play together. Here are some pictures and videos of them playing that morning (with Samantha reading in the background).

The Clemons family left to go back home after having lunch and hanging out for a little while. Then, I got Owen down for a nap and Samantha and Aedan had some quiet time playing in their rooms after a busy weekend with lots of people around. We decided to not have small group that night because not enough people could make it, and we didn't mind just having time together as a family before the week started.

Here are the kids playing and being silly together that evening. Aedan and Owen decided to go into Izzy's kennel, and Samantha put her leotard on so she could practice her handstands and things for gymnastics.

That night as we were getting the kids ready for bed, we realized that we didn't know where Happy Bear was. We looked all over, and we asked Aedan where he thought he might be and he had no idea, so we ended up giving up looking for it for that night and let him sleep with a different bear. He didn't seem to mind, which was good, but I just wondered where it disappeared to. We planned on doing more searching in the morning.

Monday was technically Ben's fall break. Especially since he took Friday off to go to the conference, he decided that he couldn't take Monday off at all. He needed the day to work. However, he was able to take our van in to the shop in the morning to get the back tires replaced. Especially after getting a hole in one over the weekend and needing to replace them anyways.

That morning the boys and I didn't have any plans, and I usually use Mondays to get caught up on things around the house, as well as laundry. Aedan and I took some time to look around the house more for Happy Bear. I searched every bin and hidden area in his room with no luck. Then, I moved on to Samantha's room, looking all over her closet, and finally finding it in her laundry basket, buried in the middle. Even though Aedan didn't let on that he really cared that much, he was so happy when I found him. Here he is snuggling up to him, rubbing his soft fur against his face.

The rest of our Monday continued on like normal with making a quick stop at Walmart to find a few things, give the boys lunch, drop Aedan off at preschool, and then put Owen down for a nap. Since Ben was just on campus working, he offered to come home so we didn't have to wake up Owen in order to pick him up. Then, we gave Aedan a bigger snack before getting him ready for hockey. It was my turn to take him that night, and I was excited to see how he would do. I talked really positively to him on the way there, encouraging him that he can do it, and reminding him about how he used to skate across the ice when he took skating lessons two years ago. It helped having him get ready before getting there, I just had to get his skates, helmet, and gloves on. We got there early, with plenty of time to spare, so Aedan actually got on the ice before 5:30. He was able to get one of these metal frames to push around, and that helped him a lot, just to realize that he can move confidently with just a little assistance.

I went down to the ice several times to try to encourage him, and one of the female coaches spent a lot of time with him, helping him scoot his feet forward a little bit at a time. I was so proud of him skating all by himself without holding on to the metal frame. At one point he fell down pretty hard, hitting his head on the ice when he fell. I could tell that he was crying, and the coach was trying to cheer him up and make sure he was okay. I went down to check on him and encourage him about how well he was doing, and I got a couple of close up shots of my little hockey player skating around the ice.

Towards the end of practice, I encouraged Aedan to get his hockey stick and use that to help him stand up. He was able to do that, and even stood up by himself a few times without any help and without using the stick. When it was almost time for practice to be over, Aedan had to go get his stick from across the ice, so I told him if he got up and skated over to get his stick and back, that he could get off the ice and be done with practice.

Here's a picture of Aedan all dressed in his hockey gear after practice that night. I was so proud of him, and I made a big deal over how well he did, and how I couldn't wait until we got home and I could tell Daddy and Samantha all about it.

While we were at hockey, Ben stayed home with Owen and Samantha, and he got dinner ready for us. We decided to try eating dinner afterwards this time, to see if that would work better than trying to get Aedan to eat quickly before practice. However, we decided it was just too late to to wait to eat until after 6:30 at night, especially for Owen who is usually hungry from when he wakes up from his afternoon nap until we get him dinner. Here is a picture of him laying on the floor throwing a fit because Daddy wouldn't let him eat Izzy's dog food.

And here's Samantha trying to pretend she is like Owen throwing a fit on the floor.

Tuesday, October 9th was another MOPS day, which is always fun, but makes the morning feel busy. I am always rushed trying to get everyone ready and out the door to get to MOPS on time. It was a good meeting with time for good discussion at the tables and a chance to really share things with other moms about how life might not be what you thought it would be and how you handle that. I always enjoy MOPS, and it's nice to have the boys taken care of and to have a "morning off" from chasing them around and entertaining them. Once MOPS was over, I tried my best to get things cleaned up quicker, while also lugging Owen around on my hip. More people volunteered to help me carry the bins and sweep the rooms, so that was nice. We were able to leave and go home and eat lunch before dropping Aedan off at preschool and then trying to keep Owen awake until we got home for nap time. He is always extremely tired on MOPS days, and it's difficult to keep him up until after 1:00 when I drop Aedan off at school.

I got Owen to sleep just fine on Tuesday afternoon, but then he was awake crying about half an hour later. It took me another half an hour to get him back to sleep and then he only slept for another 30 minutes before waking up again. So he was already awake when Calla came over to watch him so I could take Samantha and Aedan to gymnastics. He was having a little bit of trouble right before I left, so I tried to distract him with snacks and get him to be happy before I left. Luckily, he did well for Calla, even though he didn't nap for very long, and she did a great job taking care of him on her first time watching him by herself. I definitely enjoy not having to take him along and to not have to walk around and chase him during gymnastics.

We always eat dinner once we get home from gymnastics, a little bit before 6:00, and then we do quick baths and showers for all the kids before tucking them into bed. Here is Owen playing with toys, banging them together, as Ben and I cleaned up dinner that night.

Owen really enjoys playing with combs and brushes when we comb hair after bath time. He takes the brush or comb and tries to comb people's hair, which usually turns into him hitting the person (usually Samantha) on the head with the comb or brush. Here he is attempting to comb her hair that evening. She thinks it's funny most of the time, unless he starts whacking her too hard.

After a not so good nap time on Tuesday, I was worried about how the night would go with sleeping, but you know what Owen did? He slept through the night! From 8:00 when I laid him down until 7:30, when he woke up for the day. I couldn't believe it when I woke up that morning with my alarm instead of waking up with Owen in the middle of the night. I actually had to think a minute about whether I actually had gotten up and just didn't remember it. I love it when he does this because it give me hope that he actually can do it, and that I won't be waking up with him in the middle of the night forever. However, it gives me false hope for it to continue, but usually these nights are just once in a blue moon. But hey, I will take them when they come. I'm certainly not complaining about getting a night of uninterrupted sleep.

Wednesday morning, after getting ready and playing at the house for a little while, we went to the library for story time. Aedan enjoyed listening to the stories about dinosaurs and making a dinosaur puppet with a paper bag. Then, after that, the librarian sprayed some shaving cream on the table for the kids to practice writing letters, their name, or just drawing shapes or pictures. Aedan thought this was a lot of fun, and it gave me the idea to try that at home to get him used to the motion of making letters in with the correct shape before we even move onto using paper and pencil. Aedan also enjoyed spending with his friend, Owen. They really like playing together, and it's fun having this time at the library when they come.

Owen took a good nap for me on Wednesday, which was a welcome relief after the trouble he gave me on Tuesday. It seems like he often has trouble sleeping on MOPS days. I don't know if it's the busyness or excitement of the morning, or if it's just too much and he gets overtired, but this was now the second time we had MOPS and he didn't nap much at all. But on Wednesday he took an almost three hour nap, so he definitely had a good sleeping night and afternoon.

Aedan's preschool has a different theme of the week each week, and this week it was studying fall, nature, and leaves, along with a visit from the fire department on Wednesday. He came home from school on Wednesday with a leaf crown that he made, and as we were getting ready for AWANA that night, he put it on and wanted me to take his picture. I will gladly take his picture anytime he asks me. Isn't he such a cute little boy?

Ben and I didn't really have any plans of things to do that night, so we decided to just hang out at home, get laundry put away, play with Owen, and just be together in our quiet house while the big kids were at AWANA. It's nice to have these more low-key evenings together, and maybe some week we can get someone to watch Owen for us so that Ben and I can go out to dinner together.

Thursday, October 11th was a big day because Owen had his 12 month checkup at 8:30 that morning. Ben agreed to stay home with Aedan so that I didn't have to drag him along to the appointment, too. It was a few weeks after when he actually turned 12 months old, but that was okay. He measured at 30.5 inches in length which put him in the 63.5 percentile. He grew an inch and a half since his last appointment on September 13th! He measured at 25.66 pounds which put him in the 81.5 percentile. He really did not change much in weight at all from his appointment on September 13th, so apparently our little boy had quite the growth spurt over the last month. That definitely explains why he can reach more things now and climb up on things he could never get to before. There were really no other concerns that I had for the doctor. He has been sleeping better, generally only waking up once per night to nurse and go back to sleep. And he has been taking better naps, especially now that we are pretty much going down to one nap in the afternoon unless he wakes up super early. Those afternoon naps are at least two hours, if not longer, and he doesn't wake up much in the middle anymore like he used to. He has been transitioning away from baby food pretty well, and we were beginning to work on getting him used to a sippy cup, so everything was going pretty well with him. After Owen was checked out and the doctor said that he looked perfect, he then got four shots, two in each leg, one being the first chicken pox vaccine, and one being a flu shot. He was obviously not very happy about getting shots in his legs, but once I was able to snuggle with him, he calmed down right away.

Then, once getting back home from the doctor, Ben went to campus, and I took the boys over to the Arts Center for a family concert with a group called Gemini. Samantha's class was also going there for the concert, and she was so excited when she saw us walk in. Miss Allison said that Samantha could come down and sit with us, which Samantha wanted to do, and it was fun to have all my kids together in the middle of the day. I wasn't sure how it was going to go with Owen lasting on my lap for an hour long show, but I hoped that the music would keep his attention enough. Owen did really well for about the first twenty minutes, and he found it fascinating to sit on my lap and watch the men play and sing. Once he started to get antsy, I tried to distract him with some snack and changing his position every so often. Samantha and Aedan really enjoyed the concert. They sang and danced and did motions, and it was amazing to hear them singing the songs for days afterwards. In fact, it was probably a week later when Samantha was singing and acting out the entire "Stingy Man" song. Here is a YouTube video of the actual Gemini guys singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B25wAX7tJA

The concert was simple, but great, perfect for kids. It's fun to live near a university and be able to experience things like this at a very cheap rate. Telling stories through song and rhyme is so fun, and I love how captivated Samantha and Aedan were.

After the concert, we said good-bye to Samantha, and then the boys and I went back home to hang out for awhile and eat lunch before taking Aedan to preschool. Owen took a nice nap for me that afternoon, giving me a chance to get some phone calls made, bills paid, and other things checked off my to-do list. 

Then, on Thursday night we actually decided to go out to eat for dinner because Zorba's had been sounding good to us for a long time, and we decided to be adventurous and go out to eat with three kids. Samantha and Aedan do well, but Owen is the wild card. Sometimes he can be fine, and other times he will just scream in his high chair during meal time. Samantha and Aedan sat on the same side of a booth together and colored on the back of their place mats. Ben and I kept Owen in between us on the bench for awhile, giving him some Cheerios and letting him climb around a little more until our food came. We didn't want him to be cooped up in the high chair for longer than he needed to be. We tried giving him some of our food in bite size pieces, and he ate some of the cheese and bread and french fries. We gave him some of Samantha's pizza, but he wasn't too big of a fan of that. Overall, our eating out experience went well. Ben and I couldn't remember that last time we went out to a sit down restaurant with the kids, especially since Owen has been eating regular food because that makes it a little more complicated because we have to make sure there will be something for him to eat there. I'm glad we were adventurous enough to go out, and I'm glad that it went well and everyone enjoyed themselves.

On Friday morning it was Ben's turn to volunteer in Samantha's classroom, and the boys and I had plans to go over to Valerie's house to play. We haven't seen much of them lately, which is sad considering we live around the corner from each other. Aedan was looking forward to playing with Bridget, and there was another boy there about his age, too, that Valerie was watching for the day. Owen and Carly found it fascinating that there was another little person their size. Aedan took a little while to warm up since there was a new person there, but after awhile, he got right into playing, and it was so fun to watch the kids all getting along so well. It's fun to go to a friend's house to play, to experience new toys and different playmates, and since they also have a toddler in their house, everything is baby-proofed, so I don't have to worry about Owen getting into something that he shouldn't. All that to say, since everyone was playing happily, I was able to actually sit, talk, and have tea with Valerie.

As Aedan and I walked outside to go the play date that morning, this is what we saw...it was actually snowing! I couldn't believe that I was seeing snowflakes in the air on October 12th. This was much too early for my liking, as I am still in denial about winter time coming soon.

As I was cleaning up lunch that day, the sun was shining so brightly on our birch tree that the yellow leaves shone so brightly in contrast to the dark sky in the background. I wish I would have taken a picture when all the leaves had first turned yellow because it was full and beautiful, but I have enjoyed watching how the seasons have changed the view I see outside my kitchen window.

I got Owen down for a nap easily on Friday afternoon, but then he woke up crying in the middle of his nap. Luckily, I was able to get him back to sleep relatively easily. Ben had planned on coming home to work that afternoon so that I could go grocery shopping before picking the kids up from school. It was a little bit of a rush trying to get the shopping done and picking everyone up on time, but with our busy mornings that week, I didn't have a chance to go any other time, and I was grateful for Ben being able to come a little early.

After dinner on Friday night, Owen sat down and started playing with this ring stacking toy. I had never seen him focus on it so much, nor had I seen him actually try to put the rings on the post. He sat there for quite awhile taking the rings off and putting them on over and over again. He was so focused on doing this, and it was cool to watch him guide the ring on by placing his finger on top of the post and letting the ring fall down. I had to stop cleaning up from dinner so I could take a video of him. I love watching Owen learn new things.

Friday night we had plans to go to our first Laker hockey game of the season. Originally, we planned on bringing Owen along and just seeing how he would do. However, after taking him to the concert on Thursday morning and trying to wrestle and corral him, I knew it wouldn't work very well keeping him happy at the hockey game when he is normally wanting to go to bed. So, I contacted Valerie to see if they could return the favor of coming to sit at our house while Owen slept, just like I did for them a few weeks back. Ben, Samantha, and Aedan left for the game a little before 7:00 while I started to put Owen down to bed a little earlier than usual so I could not miss too much of the game. He gave me a little bit of a hard time going down that night, almost like he knew I was trying to go somewhere. I was a little nervous leaving him there with Jeff, in case he were to wake up crying, even though he hasn't done that in a long time. However, I was glad to walk over to the Norris Center and spend the rest of the night with Ben and the big kids, enjoying the hockey game, some snacks, and a fun night out.

On Saturday we tried encouraging the kids to sleep in since they were out two hours past their bedtime, then we spent the morning just hanging out at home and giving the kids some downtime just to play, something that they don't get too much of during the week. Then, we ate lunch and I tried to get Owen down for an earlier nap because we wanted to go out and do something that afternoon. We thought about driving down to Pond Hill Farm for their fall festival and then to drive through the Tunnel of Trees, but we decided it would make for too busy of a day, and the kids would enjoy being at home just as much, if not more. So after Owen woke up from his nap, we headed toward Brimley to stop for a hike around Monocle Lake. I was looking up places that we could hike and found Monocle Lake, which we didn't even know existed. It was right near Point Iroquois Lighthouse, so I don't know why we've never checked it out before. But here was the drive into the area near the lake. It was kind of like our own Tunnel of Trees.

We didn't really know what the trail would be like, so we checked out the view of the lake first. It was a bit chilly outside, but wearing coats, gloves, and hats, we were just fine. The sky was clear and sunny, and the fall colors all around us were just gorgeous. We will definitely have to come back to this lake again sometime to hike, to swim, and to enjoy another lovely spot in nature.

We then went on a walk on the trail for a little while until it split off in two different directions that would have been more difficult to push the stroller on and would have been longer than what he had time for that afternoon. However, the kids had a great time walking through the forest, hearing the leaves crunching beneath their feet, and looking at all the beautiful colored leaves on the trees. It was a perfect fall day for a hike, and I'm so glad we stayed local so we could experience this together as a family.

From there, the kids wanted to stop at the lighthouse for a little while, so we did. We looked in the 1950s house, and Ben climbed up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse with Samantha and Aedan while I walked around on the boardwalk with Owen. It was just beautiful there. I love it when the sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue like it was that day. I love how brightly colored the leaves look when the sun shines on them. And I loved how different the beach looked than the times we came over the summer. (It was much less rocky and there was more sand.)

As Owen and I walked around, I turned back toward the lighthouse and saw these beautiful views of the colorful trees with the stark white lighthouse in the background. I am no photographer, but I like how these pictures turned out.

The man who was running the gift shop was outside playing his violin, so we stopped and listened to him play for awhile. Owen loves listening to people play music, and I wasn't able to capture it in a video, but he was standing there dancing, bouncing up and down the music, and it was pretty precious.

Here are some pictures and videos of the kids being silly together.

We had a great afternoon exploring the outdoors and enjoying some time together in nature. From there, we went to a friend's house for dinner, and we had a yummy meal, good company, and the kids were very respectful in a stranger's house. They enjoyed playing with their two dogs, and it was fun for Ben and I to get to know another couple that we serve alongside at church. We love being invited over to people's houses, and we were glad they invited us, kids and all. It was a fun way to spend our Saturday.

(Blog about October 7-13, 2018)