Ben's Date with Samantha to the Aquarium, Special Moments with Owen, and Grandpa & Grandma Come to Visit

Samantha: 105 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 72 Months, Week 1
Owen: 29 Months, Week 3

On Sunday we all went to church together like we usually do, and then Ben and Samantha left from church to go on their date together. Here is Ben writing about his date day with Samantha:

"Jenny and I had been struggling with what to do for my next date with Samantha. She is so curious about a lot of things, but she really likes being active with us as well. A perfect date would be going on a hike or long bike ride with one of us. However, the weather still isn't ready for doing either of those things. Then, I remembered that Samantha would probably like to go to the local aquarium in Scranton on a date."

"Just as I had done with Aedan, I let Samantha pick where we went to eat. Samantha was struggling between going to a Mexican restaurant or going out to eat sushi. She and I are the only people in the family who like sushi, but she chose the Mexican place we have liked here in Wilkes-Barre. I talked her into getting an adult meal, lunch sized portion, rather than a kid's meal. It was a dollar more but had many more options to choose from. She just looks too grown up for me sometimes."

"We had a good conversation at lunch and just chatted with each other. Samantha kept comparing our conversation to the last time we had eaten at the restaurant. Aedan had spilled his drink, Owen was being ridiculous, and we were all ready to leave the restaurant. But, our table was quieter with just the two of us."

"After we got done with lunch we took the 20 minute drive from Wilkes-Barre to Scranton and went toward the aquarium. Samantha desperately wanted to take her camera that she got for Christmas. Lately Samantha has decided she wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up. It was funny because one of the conversations we had at lunch is that she just doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up. I had to remind her that it is okay to not know at 8. In fact, very few people know what they want to do at 8. But, for now, her job is to be interested in new things and learning about all sorts of different things. Then, she will be well-rounded and be ready to do whatever she wants to do as an adult."

"Samantha LOVED the aquarium. It was the perfect idea for her. We got there in the early afternoon and spent a good 3 hours there. We spent a long time looking at all the animals. Our goal was to read all the material about each one and discuss it. This was very different than a normal trip to the aquarium with the younger boys. We were able to discuss differences between the frogs and how poisonous some of them were."

"We also spent a good 15-20 minutes petting the rays at the aquarium. Samantha asked the girl watching over the people petting a bunch of questions about rays. She was trying to distinguish between the types of rays that were in the tank and asked a bunch of interesting questions. At one point, I apologized to the girl about all the questions we were asking and she replied that it was a lot of fun having someone ask her all these things."

"Another fun part about the day was watching the alligator and python get fed. Samantha stayed and asked quite a few questions of the keepers about feeding and training those types of animals. She really found watching the python eat the frozen rat interesting. She took a ton of pictures on our adventure. It was funny because I saw a lot of parents with kids about Samantha's age and those kids were invariably less interested or engaged. She is just a fun kid to hang out with and see the world with."

"One of the other interesting things about the day we went to the aquarium is that it was a day they had traveling mammals. It was a group out of Saginaw, Michigan and they travel around the country talking about endangered and rare mammals. Obviously, one of them was a sloth. It was really interesting watching this and seeing all the different animals they showed us. I think Samantha's favorite was the ant eater."

"It was a really fun day out with her. She is just a sweet kid who finds a lot of different things interesting. I made a deal with her that I would let her read a book in the car on the way home if she talked with me on the way up to Scranton. So, on the trip home I just had a quiet car. This girl would always read in a car if you let her."

While Ben was out with Samantha on the date, I took the boys back home from church, we ate lunch together, and then I put Owen down for his nap. 

I decided to let Aedan watch a movie for something a little extra special to do that afternoon while his favorite playmate was gone. He chose Toy Story 4, and while he watched a movie, I worked on my project for the weekend which was putting away all the shoes that didn't fit in the kids anymore, putting out Owen's new shoe size, and then putting away a whole bunch of clothes from Samantha and Aedan that were too small. I also took an inventory of what summer type stuff I have in their current size so I would know what we need to be looking for in the next few months to get them ready for warmer weather. Ben was near a Once Upon a Child store where he was on the date with Samantha, so he actually stopped by the store to look for pants for Aedan because he is growing out of a lot of his pants but his waist is just too small for size six pants. He also looked for shoes for both kids because Aedan's Batman shoes were starting to fall apart. He's pretty rough on his shoes. Plus, at some point we should work on teaching Aedan how to tie his shoes. He has only ever had velcro shoes, and we haven't even tried to start showing him. That seems like it will be a good summertime skill to tackle.

Owen and I are into a pretty steady routine at this point, with Monday being our shopping days. I don't have too much to report about our day on Monday, it was just a typical day of shopping for our groceries, coming back home to put everything away, having lunch together, and putting him down for his nap.

Here is some work the kids brought home from school on Monday. It was Read Across America Day, so they did lots of special reading activities, particularly focused on Dr. Seuss. He also did some work with the letter Ww and the short e sound.

After having a few issues with drones that stopped working due to getting stuck in carpet threads and someone's hair, we had to have Papa order a couple replacement drones. We got them all charged up, and the kids were super excited to play with them in the basement after taking baths that night. I love how much they scream and squeal with delight (and that Owen is trying to hit one with a ping pong paddle)!

I put Owen to bed on Monday night. (Ben and I usually take turns.) And I took advantage of turning on the video on my phone to record my nighttime conversation with Owen. (You might have to turn up the volume quite a bit to hear, and there is no video.) I just love his little voice saying, "No clue!" and then silence before saying, "I love you!" He says, "I love you" to me quite a bit, and it melts my heart every time. He is so sweet and is so verbal with his love and thanks for things. He often says, "Thank you Mommy-Daddy for making breakfast/lunch/dinner!" The things he thinks to talk about are so funny, and I love how he just started saying silly things at the end and making himself laugh. I just love these little conversations I get to have with my little boy in the darkness of his room while I rock him in the chair before bed.

Tuesday, March 3rd was my first substitute job. I was an Emotional Support Teacher at Lehman-Jackson Elementary. It was definitely a different feeling getting up and getting ready for work instead of just helping the kids get ready and taking care of Owen. We ended up having Samantha stay home from school because she was up several times overnight having diarrhea. She was still having trouble that morning, so we decided it wouldn't be wise for her to go to school and be around other kids, just in case.

I arrived at school around 8:20, got signed in, and another teacher took me back to the room I was going to be in. There were two other teachers in the room with me as well, and the teacher I was subbing for left very detailed lesson plans and a schedule of what I was supposed to do for the day. The kids didn't start coming into the room for almost an hour, so I had plenty of time to talk to the teachers and read through the plans and lessons that I would be following. The students in this classroom were mostly removed from their regular classrooms because they have issues that prevent them from succeeding in a regular classroom environment. Angry outbursts and bickering among the students was a common thing. Most of the time the teachers were working with only one or two students at a time, so it was very manageable for me. Other than an argument between two students over a possibly stolen marker that resulted the two students being separated and the student I was working with was moved to another room. After that, the day went pretty well, and I was able to get all the work done with the students I was assigned to. I definitely hit a point in the afternoon where I was very tired and really wanted some coffee. I didn't have as much to keep me busy in the afternoon, but it was a successful day, and I felt good about being back in a classroom working with students again. I figured doing a job like this might be a good starting point so I could get to know the school better, and hopefully at some point I will be able to take more jobs as substitutes for regular classroom teachers.

Ben took Owen to the play gym that day, just like we always do on Tuesdays. Samantha went along with them and just sat on the side and read or played games on her Kindle. Owen had a hard time understanding that his sister couldn't play with him, but I was glad to hear that she was feeling better and would be able to go back to school on Wednesday.

One of my favorite parts of working at the school was hearing the teachers rave about how wonderful our kids are. They talked about how they are such good, kind, helpful kids and how much they look out for each other. One teacher told me a story about how Samantha was at the end of the hallway waiting for the school van, and she was getting really worried that Aedan wasn't there yet and didn't want the van to leave him behind. The teacher assured her that they wouldn't leave Aedan behind, but when Samantha finally saw him walking down the hallway, they both took off running at each other and gave each other huge hugs. It makes me happy to hear stories like this, and I'm glad they are kind and look out for each other at school. I'm pretty proud of our two kiddos.

Here is the work that Aedan brought home from school on Wednesday. He was working on the letter Ww, sight words, and counting by 10s.

On Wednesday Owen and I went to story time at the library. I am trying to remember to take more pictures of daily life and activities with Owen because sometimes I forget to capture these simple moments as my little boy grows up before my eyes. On this particular day they heard books about dinosaurs, so then they had a coloring page with a dinosaur on it. He sat down and colored it for a few minutes before running off to play. He looks so hard at work in these pictures!

Owen decided he wanted to sit at the counter to eat lunch that day, so as I sat next to him, he cuddled up to me, and I took a few pictures of him and I together. I don't often put myself in the pictures, but it's something I should do more so the kids can see records of us being together. I love Owen's sweet little smile, his dimples, his silly expressions, and how he faked me out for a kiss at the end!

That afternoon while Owen napped, I started checking online for what I needed to do to apply for the Master's Program at Wilkes, since I can take classes for free with Ben teaching there. It would be silly to pass up that opportunity while I have time to take classes. Ben then went to work doing things on his end to have the fees covered, and then I could work on applying to the program. I was going to apply for the M.S. in Education for Literacy with PDE Reading Specialist Certification. I looked at the course list, and the classes definitely sounded like something that would interest me. If I wasn't a regular classroom teacher, being a reading specialist would be another position I would be very interested in. It was a little nerve wracking thinking about taking classes because it has been 14 years since I graduated college. I'm nervous about remembering how to write a proper paper and read so that I can actually remember information for a test. I figured I would probably start with one class and go from there.

Owen wakes up slowly from his naps, and he often wants me to just hold him so he can cuddle into my shoulder and allow himself to fully wake up. Again, just to capture his littleness, I walked into my bedroom so I could take a picture of him in the mirror. He definitely is getting big these days, but he is still small enough for me to hold him like this and let him cuddle on my shoulder, his favorite position that he has preferred since being a newborn.

Here is the work Aedan and Samantha brought home from school that day. Aedan was working on number matching, a comprehension page that you can tell he didn't care much about coloring nicely, work with the letter Ww, counting by 10s, beginning sounds, and a 100% that he got on his Chapter 7 Math Test.

Samantha was finally able to bring home some of her artwork that was displayed in the hallway at school, as well as her blueprints for the house she designed in Gifted. She was proud to show me her owl and heart picture, and for me to hang them up on the wall. I really love the colors that she chose for it. Plus, she wanted to tell Ben and I all about the house she designed and what each room was for. I love that she built her house around a courtyard in the middle, and she had a very specific purpose for each room.

Wednesday night was AWANA night for the kids, and Ben went to the PTO meeting at the kids' school so that I could work on trying to descale our new coffee maker and take time by myself to start cleaning the house. It was time for the house to be cleaned, especially with my parents coming to visit this coming weekend, and Ben's parents coming a few days after that.

Thursday morning was our morning to go to Bible Study down at Abide. We also had to pick up an order from Walmart of some things that we needed that we couldn't get at Aldi, but Bible study went late, and Owen was already getting tired, so we stopped and ate lunch at Chick-fil-A before going home. We had our own little lunch date together, and he had a great time sitting next to me on the bench. He thoroughly enjoyed dipping his chicken nuggets in ranch dressing, eating his applesauce, and drinking his chocolate milk. I was really enjoying and soaking up all the special time him and me got to spend together this week. However, after we ate lunch, he was just so tired that there was no keeping him awake on the car ride home. Instead of trying to keep him awake for our twenty-five minute ride home, I decided to just let him fall asleep and hope that I would be able to transfer him to his crib once we got back home.

Even though it was a bright, sunny, warm day outside, and Owen woke up when I unbuckled him from his car seat, I was able to get him to fall back asleep in my lap once we got up to his room. Since it was so bright, even with his curtains closed, I was able to get this clear picture of my little boy's sleeping face. I love his little pouty lips and his arm tucked under his chin, completely relaxed in my arms. I love that he still falls asleep in my arms even though he is almost two and a half years old.

And here is my little Owen after I laid him down in his crib. He always rolls over onto his side/belly like this and rests his little hand on the edge of his pillow. I just love him so much that sometimes I want to just sit and hold him the whole afternoon while he sleeps. I wish I would have just enjoyed holding and cuddling him more when he was a baby and only wanted to sleep in my arms, instead of always being in a hurry to lay him down and have him stay asleep so I could do something or just have some time to myself. I wish I would have realized just how fleeting those moments really were.

On Thursday night I put Owen to bed again, and I took another video of my conversation with him before bed. We talked about the things we did that day like going to the coffee shop and going on our lunch date. He even remembered that they didn't have a book for him to trade out for the toy that came with his kid's meal. In the second video he starts recounting everything that happened in the movie "Frozen" because the kids were watching it during small group that night while the adults met and talked. Apparently I have been feeling rather nostalgic lately, and feeling the finality of Owen very likely being my last baby. Some days I still feel incredibly sad thinking about that and would love to get pregnant again and have one more baby, one more sibling to add to the mix of our wonderful children. I still have that baby itch deep inside me, and I'm trying to soak up all these moments while Owen is still little and needs me to hold him, and cuddle him; so for now, I will cuddle him, listen to his sweet little voice talk to me about whatever is on his mind, and watch him fall asleep in my arms as much as I can.

I did more cleaning around the house that afternoon and evening, as well as Friday morning with Ben before leaving to pick up my parents at the airport, and he finished the rest of the cleaning for me. (He was technically on Spring Break, even though he has been working like normal most of the week, except for Tuesday when he stayed home so I could sub.) Cleaning our whole house is a big job, and I usually have to spread the work out over two or three days since I still have other things I have to do around the house and taking care of Owen, but I always feel so good when it's all done.

I left early on Friday so I could go to Panera, sit by myself, and get some work done on my blog. It was nice to have some time to myself while Ben was at home with Owen. I was able to enjoy some lunch and coffee, and it was nice to go out, even if by myself. It was Ben's last day of Spring Break, so he was able to help me out a little bit, and I was grateful for that.

Here is some work Aedan brought home from school on Friday. He worked on matching numbers, the letter Ww, the story "The Mitten," three dimensional shapes, got a 100% on his test for the letter Ww, and did work with sight words.

I got back home with my parents just before dinnertime, so we enjoyed dinner together and some time to play before putting the kids to bed and having some time to talk and catch up with each other. They hadn't come to visit us since late last summer, so we were glad to have them come visit us.

On Saturday morning the kids were excited to start playing with Grandpa and Grandma. We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast, our typical breakfast for a Saturday morning. Then, we just had time to play. Samantha was in the middle of starting a busy week of rehearsals for her play, "The Journey of the Noble Gnarble." She had practice on Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon, and every night of the coming week except for Monday, as it was Tech Week to get ready for the performance next weekend.

I'm not exactly sure why Owen brought all these things out into the kitchen to make himself a bed, but it was pretty innovative. He wanted Grandpa to sit on the floor next to him. In fact, I know that Grandpa was also very busy reading lots of books to both Owen and Aedan that morning. They love to be read to, and they could sit and listen to books for hours.

When Samantha got home from play practice, and in an effort to allow everyone to have a little rest time, I suggested that we start watching some of "The Sound of Music." I knew that Samantha would like it, and I thought Aedan would too, if he gave it a chance. At first he was resistant to it and just sat on the stairs refusing to watch the movie, but then he decided to come over and join us. I took these pictures of Samantha because she was just beaming watching the people sing in the movie. She even exclaimed, "I didn't know kids could really sing in movies like this!" This was definitely right up her alley, and she enjoyed hearing about the part I played when my grade school did this musical. We will definitely have to take her to a Broadway musical sometime. She would love it.

We tried to eat an earlier lunch and get Owen down for a nap a little earlier so that way we could go up to Scranton to Bee's Backyard for some active play time for the kids. With Samantha having play practice in the morning and the next afternoon, that limited our possibility of going somewhere farther away, but we knew the kids would have a blast running around and playing there. Once Owen woke up, we all piled in our van, and we drove up to Scranton together. We arrived around 4:15, and the kids went right to playing. Samantha and Aedan did a wonderful job helping Owen climb up and down when it was too far for him to reach. The big kids were playing some kind of imaginary game where they were cats, based off of Samantha's Warrior Cat book series. Owen really enjoyed going down these slides over and over again. Around 5:00 we ordered some pizza from the food court to bring in for dinner. The kids all washed their hands and sat down for dinner before going back and playing again for another forty-five minutes or so. We ended up being there for about two hours, and it was a wonderful way to spend our evening. The kids got to play, and the adults were able to have some conversations while watching the kids play. It was a fun night for everybody.

(Blog about March 1-7, 2020)