Samantha: 92 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 58 Months, Week 3Owen: 16 Months, Week 4
As we are now two weeks away from our first day in Florida at Disney World, I am getting more and more excited day by day. Ben and I both love traveling so much, and I have been looking forward to this trip for several months now. Disney World is such a fun place to go with kids, and Florida will be so nice and warm in comparison to this long, cold, snowy winter. I don't know if it's because I am looking forward to our vacation, but I find myself being really excited about just getting away from the U.P. I have been finding myself feeling very claustrophobic and isolated lately and just wanting to get away from here, from the snow, from our normal daily routine, from Ben's work, from school, from everything. I just need a break, and I'm so glad we are going to get out of town and do something totally different for a week.
On Monday morning, as the boys and I were at church getting everything set up for MOPS, I got the message from my dad about my grandpa declining, that he's having more dizzy spells from his increasing heart rate and declining blood pressure. He has fallen a number of times, does not seem to be eating well, is weak, and has some memory issues and confusion. My dad said it seemed like they were approaching time for him to go to some care facility. I felt a heavy burden on my heart for the rest of the day. It's so hard to see someone that's family going through this. My grandpa is 99 and has lived independently, in his own house, for years, so I know this must be really hard for him. My dad is an only child and is having to bear the brunt of the decisions, and the emotional toll of it all, mostly by himself, and from a distance. However, after hearing all this news, it made me all the more glad that we planned this trip to Florida. It will be so good for all of us to see Grandpa again, for him to see all of his grandkids, and for all of us to be in one place. I hope it will touch my grandpa's heart and make him feel loved and remembered.
The rest of our Monday went on like normal with Aedan at preschool. Owen took a good nap that afternoon and was still sleeping when it was time to pick up the kids, so Ben came home so I wouldn't have to wake him up to go get the kids. It's so nice having campus right across the street so that Ben can do things like this to help me out, and to allow our little guy to get the sleep that he needs. Then, that night Ben took Aedan to hockey since it's the second to last practice that he will be at. Ben was very impressed with how well he was doing. He was skating with both feet pretty well, and said that after the whole year, he was finally getting more confident.
On Tuesday morning, probably since Aedan was so excited about his field trip to the bowling alley, Samantha told us she saw Aedan's light on at 6:00 a.m. when she got up to go to the bathroom. She told him to go to bed and turned his light off. When she came back out of the bathroom, he had his light back on again, so she turned it off again. He obviously knew it wasn't time to get up yet, but he just didn't care and kept playing. This was the first time, at least that we know of, that Aedan has gotten out of bed to play before his bunny clock changed. He was starting off his day tired and grouchy, and as a consequence, we told him that he wouldn't be able to stay at preschool all day like he wanted to, but instead would have to come home and take a nap. I hope that this was just a fluke because of being excited, and not something that he will start doing more often.
Tuesday was a long day for me with MOPS. I was racing around in the morning trying to get everything and everybody ready. I dropped Aedan and Daddy off at the bowling alley before heading to the church with Owen. We were having a special Valentine's Day meeting where Jill talked about communication and how to have conflict well. She did a great job speaking, and then we had a craft of making coupon books for our husband and children, as well as chocolate covered strawberries to wrap up and take home. It was a really fun meeting, and I almost didn't have time to complete everything to take home for my family. After MOPS is always a bit stressful because I'm trying to clean everything up while also trying to keep tabs on Owen who is usually getting pretty hungry and tired by that point. Owen was kind of crabby that day, and it was hard to get cleaned up afterwards without Aedan there to help me watch Owen. He usually does such a nice job helping me out and following him around the church. After finishing up at church, I went to pick Aedan up from preschool, got home and fed the boys lunch quickly, and then got them both down for naps. Even thought Owen was really tired, he woke up early from his nap crying, Aedan wasn't sleeping at first, and I wasn't feeling well because my sinuses and ears were really hurting from being all stuffed up. It had been a long day, and I felt like I could have taken a nap myself.
Aedan had a great morning at the bowling alley with Daddy, and he was really glad that Daddy was able to go with him. Ben said he kind of took over organizing a lane and keeping the kids cycling through. Aedan said he had a lot of fun and he even got a strike one time!
Wednesday morning started with a dentist appointment for me, and luckily I didn't have any cavities. While I was gone, Ben stayed at the house with the boys. I made my appointment at 8:20 so that I could drop Samantha off at school before heading to my appointment, and Ben could still get to campus at a decent time. Here are some pictures of the boys and Izzy hanging out that morning.
Owen liked that he had a tie on his shirt like Daddy wears to work sometimes.
Once I got back home from the dentist, we got ready and headed out to the library for story time. The librarian read books about Valentine's Day, and then the kids made little heart crafts with a heart for the body, hands, and feet and squiggly arms and legs. After a little while of playing at the library, we decided to head back home so Aedan could work on writing his valentines. Here's a picture of how much snow we have built up around our mailbox, and at the end of our driveway, just to give perspective of the amount of snow we have this winter.
Owen was trying to get in on the valentine action as well, so he was trying to climb on the table to get to Aedan. (Don't worry, I got him off the table pretty quickly.)
I was feeling like Ben and I needed some one-on-one time together, and since Valentine's Day was the next day and Samantha and Aedan would be at AWANA that night, I decided to contact Calla, our neighbor girl, to see if she could babysit Owen for us so that Ben and I could go out to eat. I picked Karl's Cuisine and called ahead to make reservations for us, just in case. After dropping the big kids off at AWANA, and making sure Calla didn't have any questions, we went to the restaurant. We both had delicious food, the atmosphere was comfortable and slow-paced for us to enjoy talking and eating, and we got back home in enough time for me to put Owen to bed and for Ben to pick up Samantha and Aedan. We got a night out, and Calla got some good babysitting experience, a good thing for everyone.
On Thursday, February 14th, since it was Valentine's Day, I left my presents for Samantha, Aedan, and Daddy on the table for them to see when they came in the kitchen that morning. They were little coupon books that we made at MOPS with various things they could redeem, like a date with mommy or daddy, a movie and a special snack, sleeping in our bed, or something of their choosing. They thought they were pretty cool, and Aedan wanted to use all of his up that day, so I had to explain that he can use them whenever he wants. I also made chocolate covered strawberries for them at MOPS, but I gave those to them on Tuesday night since I didn't think they would still be as good a couple days later.
That morning there was a MOPS play date at Burger King. I hadn't taken the boys to one for awhile, and we had never been to this Burger King play place. It was a smaller crowd, but Jordan, one of his friends from church and small group, was there, and he had a blast running around the play place with him. I helped Owen climb up to a level where he could interact with more things, but he couldn't figure out how to get back down again so when it was time to eat lunch, I had to go up and get him. The boys ate pretty well for lunch, and I was able to talk with Jenney about our plans for our Disney trip. It was a fun escape from the house.
Samantha had a half day that day after having her Valentine's Day party that morning, to which she brought brownies that she helped make on Wednesday night. Aedan and Owen were very glad to see Samantha coming home on the bus that afternoon, and they had a good time playing together before I took Aedan to preschool.
Samantha offered to stay home with Owen while I dropped off Aedan. I have started to do this lately when Samantha is home in the afternoons. I am only gone for fifteen minutes, and Samantha likes to feel like she is responsible and trusted. Once I got back from dropping Aedan off and got Owen down for his nap, Samantha decided she wanted to walk more of America's Got Talent, so I put that on for her. It's fun that she likes that show, and it was a good, relaxing way to spend her afternoon off of school. We don't do screen time very often, so it is usually used as a treat or special opportunity, making it more enjoyable.
When Ben got home from campus that evening, he had three carnations, one for each of the kids. At first, Ben just handed one to Aedan and one to Samantha, but Owen came right up to Ben, reaching out his hand, wanting one for himself, too. It was so adorable and the kids felt really special with their flowers. I took these pictures of them together before they each got a vase with water for their flower so they could put it in their rooms. It's the simple things that kids enjoy, just a simple carnation made each one know that their Daddy loved them and thought about them.
That afternoon, while I was putting Owen down for his nap, Samantha was being sneaky and put these cards on everyone's pillow. She taped a piece of her own Valentine candy on the inside and wrote a sweet note inside for each of us, even Izzy! She is such a sweetheart, and I love her heart in wanting to do special things for people. I pray that she will always have this empathy for others and look for ways to help and encourage others around her.
Aedan also made me a card that day. He decorated it with these stickers on the front, but he told me he didn't write anything on the inside because he didn't know how to write any words. :)
Once Daddy got home from work that evening, the kids were super excited to see him, as is normal, and they decided to start a wrestling match in the kitchen. Ben is such a good Daddy, and he loves it when all three kids are piling on him at the same time. Daddy is the best at wrestling. :)
Samantha didn't have school on Friday, and Ben and Aedan had appointments for a hair cut, and Samantha decided she wanted to go along with them. I also had to get our grocery shopping done, and since we only have one vehicle, Ben dropped me off at Meijer so I could get started on the shopping while they got their hair cut. It was strange shopping with just Owen, a much quieter experience than when Aedan is along with us, but we got our shopping done rather quickly as we only had to get ourselves through when we would leave for our Disney trip and were trying our best to finish off any food that we had left in the house before we left.
The rest of the day went well, and we actually had small group at our house that night instead of on Sunday since Ben was going out of town on Sunday morning. It was our last session of the "Not a Fan" series, and it was good to get everyone together to discuss and share. (Plus, we had some delicious Mexican food. I always enjoy tasting other people's recipes and food. It's a nice break from the rut we get stuck in and gives me new ideas of what we could make for our family.) We decided we would do a Francis Chan study on James next, and I am excited to move on to the next study with this group. I'm so glad we have this small group and that it has taken off so well over the past few months.
We didn't have any real plans on Saturday except to go over to Canada to pick up Ben's rental car for his trip out of town because it was cheaper to rent a car in Canada then in the U.S. It look much longer than we anticipated to get there and for him to get the car. It was kind of frustrating that we had to do all of this because we live in such a small area where flights are so expensive, so Ben has to drive all the way to Lansing to get a flight to Pennsylvania.
However, after getting back home and having lunch, the kids finally had a chance to play outside. The sun was shining bright, and it wasn't bitter cold out. When Owen saw Samantha and Aedan outside, he wanted to join them as well, so I got him all dressed in his snow clothes so he could go outside for a little while before nap time. Owen has definitely reached the stage where he notices when he is being left out. He loves his big sister and brother and always wants to be right where they are. It was a big challenging for the kids to play in the snow when the piles are taller than them and they just kept sinking into them. I thought maybe they could sled from the higher banks of snow next to our driveway down towards the trees in our front yard, but the snow wasn't hard enough for that and they just kept sinking. Here's how tall the snow pile is out our front door.
And here's our poor buried mailbox and Ben standing at the edge of our driveway to show you how tall the snowbank is in comparison to how tall he is. It will be interesting to see when the snow begins to melt and how long it will take for these gigantic piles of ice and snow to go away.
(Blog about February 10-16, 2019)
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