The End of Aedan's Hockey Season & Ben Out of Town

Samantha: 93 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 58 Months, Week 4
Owen: 17 Months, Week 1

Going into this week I knew it was going to be a busy one, starting with Ben going out of town early Sunday morning and then all of us leaving on Friday morning to start making our way down to Florida.

Ben left about 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, and I got up in enough time to say good-bye to him, laid back down for a few minutes, and then got in the shower so I could be ready before the kids woke up at 7:00. We had church that morning, and I was on the schedule to lead the 2-3 small group at the 9:00 service, meaning we needed to be there early, if possible. Plus, I had to get breakfast and all the kids ready on my own, which Ben is usually around and very helpful for. However, the big kids were helpful for me, and we were able to get to church a little bit before it started. Teaching went well, and then I stayed for second service so that I didn't miss out on that. Owen got a little upset when I left him at the nursery, but he doesn't take too long to calm down.

After church we went back home for lunch. I had tostadas in the crock pot cooking for lunch, so it didn't take too long for me to get the rest of lunch ready. Then, it was nap time for Owen. That afternoon there was an Essential Oils 101 class that I really wanted to attend, but it started at 3:00, and I knew I would have to wake Owen up to go to that. I was talking with my friend, Linda, and she offered to come to the house to be with the kids so that I could attend the class, so I could learn more about how to use my new essential oils kit. The kids were super excited to spend the afternoon with Miss Linda, and she even brought popcorn along and let them watch a movie in the basement. The kids were sad when I came back home, I think.

I got home after 5:30, which was later than I expected, and then I rushed around to get dinner ready so we could eat. I made spaghetti and meatballs, an everything was going fairly well, but it was at that point I really started feeling Ben's absence. I don't know how people handle having their husbands gone out of town for multiple days at a time. I love just doing life with him, taking care of the kids together, eating dinner together as a family, and spending time together in the evenings. Even if we are both working, it's nice to just to know he is there with me.

As the day progressed for Ben, things got more and more ridiculous with his flights. Even though he left super early to get to the airport on time, his flight was delayed out of Lansing to Chicago, so much so that he would end up missing his flight from Chicago, unless that would be delayed as well. He finally left Lansing at 2:20, landed in Chicago, and discovered that his 6:00 flight out of Chicago was cancelled. He went to see if he could get on his original flight that was delayed, but now it wasn't leaving until 8:45 that night, meaning he would miss his opportunity to get their early for dinner, which was the whole reason I was trying to leave early on Sunday in the first place. Then, that flight ended up getting cancelled because the flight crew had already timed out and they couldn't find another crew to fly them. It was after 8:00, Ben had been traveling for over 14 hours, and he was still not at his destination. He was tired and frustrated, and there was no good option to get him to his destination. He ended up staying overnight in Chicago and couldn't fly out until late afternoon the next day, pushing his whole trip back a day, and making it so that he had to be gone an extra day and night away from home.

Monday morning the boys and I didn't have any plans, and I was up too late the night before, so I was feeling tired and didn't have much motivation to go and do anything, so the boys and I just hung out around the house and played. I put laundry away and started going through some of Aedan's clothes for our trip to Florida, but that was about it. The snow was really starting to get to me, and I was really looking forward to getting away from our regular life for awhile. I was looking forward to not having all the things to do, the activities, all of Ben's work, and the chores around the house. It will be so nice to have a break to get away from all that stuff and truly get a break from the daily grind of life. This is when these long winters get really hard for me.

The rest of my Monday went on like normal with taking Aedan to preschool, putting Owen down for a nap, and then picking Samantha and Aedan up from school. As I left Aedan's preschool that afternoon, I took this picture of the snow being removed from the street outside his school. This is one of the craziest things about living in Sault Ste. Marie. They have to go around and do snow removal where they push the snow into the middle of the road, and then this huge machine scoops up the snow and blows it into a dump truck, which then takes the snow somewhere else. There's more snow than what can fit piled up on the side of the road.

Monday was Izzy's 2nd birthday, so when Samantha and Aedan got home from school, they were excited to give Izzy the presents they picked out for her: a squeaky doughnut and a squeaky hot dog. Izzy definitely loved all the attention. :)

I had dinner all ready to go so that would be simple that evening, but trying to get everyone fed and Aedan dressed for hockey practice was a little nutty still. As I was getting everyone ready to go to hockey, it was just hectic and made me feel exhausted. 

Everyone had to go to hockey practice, and this was the first time I brought Owen with me, but he did surprisingly well. (Samantha brought her homework and a book along to work on.) Owen even found another little boy about his age there that had foam hockey sticks and a puck, and they graciously allowed him to play with them as well. Plus, Owen liked to stand right up by the glass and watch the boys skate around. Aedan did an excellent job during his last practice (that he would attend) of the season. I loved watching him skate around so quickly. This was definitely the best and most confidently I had ever seen him skate. He wasn't exactly going for the puck much, but it looked like he was having so much fun!

I believe this short video was when Aedan actually got close to hitting the puck into the goal.

Do you see how quickly he is moving across the ice? And he is doing so much better using both feet!

Here is Owen and his little friend. They were almost exactly the same age and size. It was cute to watch them interact with each other.

Owen loved this hockey stick and puck. It entertained him for quite awhile. Maybe this could be a future present idea?!

Aedan took a turn playing the goalie.

And here is Aedan's last skate across the ice. He did so well. Look at him go! This is the little boy who couldn't even stand up on the ice at the first practice. He has come so far! I almost want to make him do another season because he has the hard part down, now comes that more fun part once you actually know how to skate and can start learning to actually play hockey. We will see if he shows any more interest in the future, but it was a wonderful end to his hockey season.

Aedan did an excellent job at hockey that night. I was so proud of him and how much effort he put into his practice. Since it was the last one, I offered to take him (and the other kids) out to ice cream at McDonald's afterwards. Then, we were just about to leave when Savannah and her family came, so I was nice and let them stay longer than we probably should have. They were just having too much fun to make them stop playing with their friends. 

Once we got back home, we rushed to get everyone in bed. It was 8:15, I had gotten Samantha and Aedan to bed, but I still had to get Owen to bed, and then I had to clean up dinner and get MOPS stuff ready to take to church the next day, so it was going to be a long and busy night for me. I decided I would have plenty of time for a fire, so even though the logs were bigger than normal, since I wasn't able to chop them much, I was able to get a good fire going nonetheless.

Here is the comfy spot Izzy found to spend her night with me.

Tuesday morning was a Bible study day, and I made sure to bring all the MOPS bins and snacks to church so that the leadership team could get everything set up the next week when I would be gone in Florida. I also planned on borrowing suitcases from a couple people. I felt like I needed to get packing more, but the week was busy, and with Ben being gone, I just didn't have much extra time.

Our Disney shirts finally came in the mail that afternoon, so I pulled Owen's out to try on him before putting him down for his nap. He looked pretty cute, don't you think? They turned out really well, and I'm glad we decided to order them.

I was nervous about mine fitting since I just had to go by the size chart online, but it ended up fitting me like I hoped it would, and I was happy. Bring on Disney!

Tuesday afternoon and evening was a little busy because Samantha had her orthodontist appointment over in Canada. Ken and Linda offered to come over to watch Owen for me while I took the kids over for her appointment followed by their gymnastics' lesson.  Samantha's orthodontist appointment went well. They took x-rays and went over everything with me, recommending the same thing as the orthodontist on our side, for her two baby teeth to be pulled to allow for her adult teeth to descend from her gums, and then we would see how everything progressed from there. I appreciated getting a second opinion, and I now felt more comfortable going ahead and making the appointment to get her baby teeth pulled.

Later that evening, I dug out Samantha and Aedan's old Magic Bands from our trip when Samantha was 3 and Aedan was 9 months and we stayed on-site, that we can still link to our current tickets. I had them try on their shirts, and Samantha even got her Mickey Mouse ears. Can you tell that we are looking forward to our vacation?

With all the trouble Ben had getting out of town on his flights, his whole trip got pushed back a day, then his flights got delayed coming back home as well. It was all just such a mess. And to top everything off, he had to drive through a snowstorm to get home to us on Wednesday night. I picked the kids up from AWANA and Daddy was back home when we got to the house. They were over the moon excited to see him, and I think he was glad to be home with them as well. Here they are all cuddling together that night at bedtime. I love how Aedan is all tucked under Samantha's covers, snuggled up to her, she looks like she couldn't be happier.

It's amazing how good it felt having Ben back home on Wednesday night. I don't know how moms parent by themselves, especially for long periods of time. We survived okay, but things are definitely more stressful having to bear the burden of all the household tasks, all the cooking and cleaning up, all the driving kids around, all the baths and bedtimes, just everything that has to be done only by you. I was exhausted, plus it was lonely being in the house by myself in the evenings and sleeping in a bed by myself.

Since we planned on leaving Friday morning to start driving down to Upland to stay the night before flying out of Indianapolis on Saturday, I spent most of Thursday finishing laundry, packing, and figuring out what suitcases were going to fit everything in. The boys were in decent moods that morning and let me get stuff done. They were happy playing as long as they were near me in the house, and I felt like we were in a pretty good position. I was even able to go to a classical pianist concert at LSSU that evening by myself as a way to get out of the house and enjoy some time away after all the days I was home myself with the kids. She was an amazing pianist, and it was really fun to be able to go.

We got most everything packed up and ready Thursday night once the kids were bed, so we were able to just get up, get ready, eat breakfast, and get on the road. We left home about 9:10, which is pretty good for us. We were going to get to Upland around dinnertime, and the kids were looking forward to an evening with Ema and Papa, as well as the thrill of flying to Florida the next day. We gave Samantha and Aedan the option of sleeping in the same bed that night, and they were excited to do that. Owen slept just fine in the pack and play in the basement bedroom, even sleeping in quite a bit the next day. It's kind of crazy that we had to drive all the way down to Indiana to fly to Florida in order to get a decently priced flight, good times, and a direct flight. However, we were able to see Ema and Papa, and they offered to drive us to the airport and drop us off, so that was nice as well. 

(Blog about February 17-23, 2019)