Samantha's Kindergarten Graduation and Last Week of School Before Summer

Samantha: 72 Months, Week 4

Aedan: 37 Months, Week 2

With this being the last week of school, we had a lot of fun things going on throughout the week. On Tuesday all the kindergartners had a celebration field trip at Sherman Park. We left for the park shortly after arriving at school, and the plan was to spend most of the morning there, have a picnic lunch, and then most kids would be picked up at the park to be taken back home. All the kids had a wonderful time running around and playing at the park that morning. It was beautiful outside, perfect weather to enjoy time outside. Ben came to the park with Aedan as well, and I mostly posted myself near the edge of the cliff where some of the boys were digging and playing in the sand. I wanted to make sure they didn't get too far down the hill, as we weren't allowing the kids to go down on the beach near the water. We went under the sheltered area for the kids to eat lunch and shortly after that Ben took Aedan and Samantha back home for the afternoon. I went back to school with the other teachers and paras to do some work in preparation for kindergarten graduation that evening.

Samantha was very, very excited for graduation that night. She had been practicing her songs every day for weeks now and knew all the words by heart. I was so excited to watch her perform, and of course I was extremely proud of how much she had learned and grown throughout her year in kindergarten. I kind of had to do double duty as a parent and employee that night. We got there a little early so that Ben could find good seats and so I could help all the kindergartners get their caps and gowns on. Once everyone was up on the stage ready to go, I didn't have too much of a job anymore, so I took a seat out in the audience so I could watch Samantha sing and take a video of her performance. They did four different songs. The first was a march led by Mr. McBride, a song sung to the tune of the Addams Family theme song, a little finger play poem called "Five Spring Flowers", and then a song called "Ready to Go." Some of these videos are slight repeats of each other because Ben and I were both recording from opposite sides of the gymnasium. However, as I was recording, my phone ended up running out of storage space, so I had to stop recording. At the beginning Samantha has a little bit of a grumpy face because the boy next to her accidentally poked her in the eye with the corner of his graduation cap. But as soon as the music started, she got right into it. I love how she knew all the words and the motions, and she was trying so hard to stay with Mrs. Wilkinson, the music teacher, who was leading the songs. I also love how she danced along to the "Ready to Go" song at the end, bopping along to the rhythm of the song and smiling. She seems to be a natural performer, not really having fear of being on the stage in front of people. Maybe we need to get her into more acting/music classes and performances. I could see Samantha really enjoying being a part of a local theater production or something like that. Anyways, here are some great pictures and videos of Samantha's kindergarten performance.

After singing their songs, it was time to hand out the kindergarten diplomas. I realize that having a graduation from kindergarten is a little silly, but I was pretty proud of my little girl as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma. She loved her teacher, Mr. McBride, and his personality was perfect for her, just the right mix of silliness and seriousness. I'm sure she will remember him and his impact as her first teacher for years to come.

Here are some pictures of our little kindergarten graduate with her cap, gown, and diploma. :)

After filing out of the gymnasium and getting their graduation attire taken off, the kids got some cookies and water to drink. Then, we took the chance to get Samantha's picture taken with her kindergarten person that she made as well as with her teachers, Mrs. Corbiere and Mr. McBride. I thought about not including all the pictures of her and her teachers, but they were too expressive and indicative of his personality and his interaction with her. One of his goals for Samantha back in January when she transferred to his class was for her to come out of her shell a little, to become more confident and even more out-spoken. I really appreciated him saying that because I can see that part of her personality being a lot like mine; however, I want her to feel confident in herself and her abilities, I want her to feel comfortable being smart and knowing the right answer, I want her to not be shy and not be afraid to challenge herself and do things that may be scary or difficult at first. I really feel like he helped her come out of her shell. In fact, he also made a comment that she may have taken it a little too far out at times, dishing out the sarcasm and jokes just as much as he would give them to her. You can see the fun way they would interact through the succession of pictures. What a fun way for her to end her year in kindergarten! :)

Even though Samantha had her graduation on Tuesday evening, she had to go back to school on Wednesday for a regular school day. In fact, there was even one kindergartner who was confused on where to go when they came in to school on Wednesday morning. I think they honestly thought that they would be in a first grade class since they had graduated the night before.

Thursday was another half day of school for Samantha with field day lasting most of the morning. Again, we had perfect weather for it, and they had all the games set up really well for the kids to rotate through that morning. They were more simple games for the kindergartners, like ball and frisbee toss, bear and crab walks, a filling the barrel with water game, and other things like that. They were all easy games to learn and explain, and the kids were all having a great time playing and having fun. Samantha decided to take the bus home that day since I stayed at school to help Ms. Cornwell get things wrapped up around the classroom for the end of the year. She hadn't been on the bus for awhile since I worked there and she would just get picked up after school with me, so she was excited about being able to ride with her friends again. That afternoon Samantha got a hold of Ben's phone and took a whole bunch of really silly pictures of herself. She cracks me up, so I had to include a good assortment of them.

Friday, June 9 was a big day as it was Samantha's and my last day of school. It was just a half day, mostly with finishing up activities, cleaning, and packing up. At Bahweting they send the kids off with playing the song, "School's Out for Summer" as the kids walk out of the building and then as the buses pull away, all the teachers stood on the sidewalk and blew bubbles. Samantha got to help blow some bubbles and enjoyed being a part of the action. However, as soon as the buses pulled away, I think the realization of what was going on finally started to settle in. She leaned into me and started crying. She was really sad that school was over, and she was especially sad about not being in Mr. McBride's class anymore. She gave both Mr. McBride and Mrs. Corbiere hugs five or six different times before leaving that afternoon. She just couldn't get enough of a good-bye in. In face, Mr. McBride said, "Don't you start crying now, or you will make me cry, too!" Samantha loved her year in kindergarten. She grew, she was challenged, she was loved and cared for, and she thrived. I'm so glad that Samantha's first experience in school was so successful even though I was worried how it would go before the year even started. Samantha is looking forward to another good year in first grade.

I have to share this picture below because it was a present I received on the last day of school. It is a cake decorated like a hamburger from the aunt of the student that punched me in the stomach a month or so ago. He was running when he was carrying the cake and he tripped and fell which caused it to smush a little inside the container. I thought it was pretty funny that she wanted to get me (and my family) a whole cake for putting up with her nephew for the year. It was a sweet, but hilarious gesture.

We decided to celebrate the beginning of our summer vacation by going on a family trip together on Saturday. Since we have a state park pass, there are a lot of places that we can get into for free. It was supposed to be a nice day, so we decided to head to Tahquamenon Falls State Park on Saturday. However, as we started driving there, the rain chances greatly increased. We thought we would miss the rain, but more popped up. Since we were already almost to the falls, we didn't want to turn around and go back, so we decided to go to the Shipwreck Museum instead. We had always wanted to visit that place and took advantage of the rainy weather to do an indoor activity.

However, when we arrived in the parking lot and got out of the car, we were immediately met with a swarm of mosquitoes. Because of the rain and being so close to the water, the mosquitoes were really bad. We couldn't get bug spray on us fast enough, and even with bug spray we had to keep swatting mosquitoes away from our face and off our body. After paying for our entry into the museum, we walked around a little bit and followed the boardwalk down toward the water. It's amazing to live so close to Lake Superior. It's beautiful, big, but also can be very unpredictable, as we learned about while discovering more about all the shipwrecks that have happened in the waters of Lake Superior.

The shipwreck museum was really well done. We got to see the living quarters of the lighthouse keeper, watch a little show, and see a museum with a description of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Samantha heard about this shipwreck at school and was really interested in learning more about it. We spent a couple hours there, and it was definitely worth the visit.

Once we were done at the museum, the weather had cleared up and we decided to head to Tahquamenon Falls after all, eat our picnic lunch, and walk around a little bit. Aedan and I went with Chicago Grandpa and Grandma last fall, but he hadn't been there since then. It was fun to walk around, enjoy the beautiful weather, and experience a fun family day trip. Here are some pictures from our afternoon together at the falls.

We were all pretty tired from our day out. We brought blankets for the kids so they could nap in the car, and it didn't take very long for them to fall asleep. I tried desperately to keep my eyes open as well, but I didn't last very long before I fell asleep as well.

The rest of the evening we spent just hanging out and the kids played outside quite a bit because it still was so beautiful outside. I filled up Aedan's water table, and he really enjoyed splashing and playing in the water. Izzy enjoyed trying to get at the water as well. It's fun seeing the two of them interact.

On Sunday we had a pretty typical morning with church. Ben ended up staying for the second service to lead the small group for the 4th and 5th graders so the kids came back to the house with me and then we went back to pick Daddy up after he was done. While the kids and I were at home we did a couple things around the house and started working on lunch. That afternoon a storm was approaching the eastern U.P. and right at the end of Aedan's nap, the power went off. It was strange when it went off because the storm hadn't even reached us yet. We decided to take advantage of our time to go outside before it rained, and we actually ended up wandering over to our neighbor's house because they were playing outside in their back yard. Samantha loves to play with our neighbors any chance she can get, and sometimes stalks them a little too much by always noticing them when they are playing outside and wanting to join them. They have a fun play set in their backyard with a swing and slide, so she had a lot of fun playing on that. After awhile, we decided Aedan was awake from his nap, probably because of the power going off, meaning his sound machine went off as well. Aedan was also very excited to be able to go to our neighbor's house to play. The kids all had a fun time climbing, sliding, and swinging, until the dark clouds got too close, we started hearing thunder, and we felt light sprinkles of rain. Once back safely in our house, we tried to figure out what we were going to do for dinner. We really had nothing to eat, and we couldn't cook anything on the stove or microwave since the power was out. However, most of the town was probably out of power as well, so we thought about going over to Canada to go out to eat. But then, about 5:00, our power turned back on again. We waited awhile to see if it was just a fluke, but it seemed like it was going to stay on, so we started making our eggplant pasta dish for dinner. We had the eggplant cooked and the tomatoes ready to go when the power went back out again. We had no idea how long it would be out for, and it was already 5:30, so we decided to get in the car and drive around our town to see if the power was out everywhere, and if we'd have to cross over the International Bridge to have dinner. However, it seemed like quite a few businesses along the business road were still open, so we decided to have Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner that night. Wings always go over well with Daddy, and they have a pretty good selection of kids meals.

When we got back home our power was still out, but luckily it stays light enough outside in the U.P. that we were able to get the kids tucked into bed without needing flashlights or anything. We hoped that the power being out wouldn't bother them too much in falling asleep. Situations like this make it difficult when our kids are used to sleeping with sound machines and fans on. They aren't used to falling asleep in a quiet room, possibly hearing the noises from Ben and I (and Izzy) out in the living room. However, shortly after they were in bed, the power turned back on again. Ben went into their rooms to check and make sure they didn't have any random lights left on. Samantha was already fast asleep, snoring away, not even noticing that the power turned back on or that her closet light was on. Aedan, on the other hand, was not asleep yet, but was very excited when his sound machine and ceiling fan turned back on. When Daddy went in to check on his light situation, Aedan said, "They came and fixed my fan for me!" We were all glad to have our power back.

It was definitely a different feel being home on Monday and not going to school. Ben took advantage of his time to go to campus and get some work done before leaving for our vacation on Thursday morning. The house needed to be cleaned, so I decided getting that done before leaving would be a good idea. Samantha and Aedan played with Legos fairly nicely for much of the morning, and then after awhile I put on the Trolls movie for them to watch so that I could get more done without having to worry about them fighting or arguing or Izzy attacking them while they were playing.

Daddy did take the kids on a quick trip to Meijer to pick up a few things to get through the rest of the week at home before leaving for vacation. Here are the kids riding on Sandy.

Throughout the morning, I was talking back and forth with Christy about a play set that was for sale on a local online site for Naperville, right around where Christy and Matthew live. I have been looking at play sets on and off for the last year, since moving into our new house, because I know the kids would really love having something like that in our back yard. However, I didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for a new one, but I also wanted a nice enough one that they could enjoy it for awhile and not outgrow it right away. I found this one in the picture below being sold for $100. I thought that was a great deal, and it looked really nice and in pretty good condition. We were able to contact the owner, and Christy and Matthew were willing to go check it out, take it apart, and bring it up for us the next time they come visit this summer. Hopefully, we can figure out how to put it all back together again. :)

(Blog about June 6-12, 2017)

Fun In and Around Sault Ste. Marie

Samantha: 72 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 37 Months, Week 1

It was definitely nice having Memorial Day off from school this week. Going back on Tuesday didn't seem too bad because I knew I only had two weeks left of school. The end was near and the next two weeks had special events sprinkled throughout which I knew would help the days pass by quickly. On Tuesday, Ben returned some library books that were due, and Aedan decided he wanted to stay and play for awhile. He was enjoying himself there, especially since he hadn't been there for awhile. I will have to get the kids back there sometime to get them signed up for the summer reading program and to check out some new books since we now no longer have any books from the library.

Tuesday was a normal day of school, but on Wednesday we had a special bowling trip with our fourth grade reading buddies. However, in the morning there was just a lot of misbehavior. The kids and the schedule at school was crazy, and our own kids were pretty tired in the evening from fun, full days. However, with each passing day, I was more and more ready for a break, ready for summer to start.

Ben had a more low-key morning with the boys on Wednesday. They played at home. Ben took them to Meijer to pick up a couple things that we needed, and then he took them to lunch at McDonald's. They both ate their food really well and were then able to play for awhile together. Aedan napped really well the day before, but it took some work to get him calmed down enough to sleep that Wednesday afternoon. Every once in awhile he will refuse to nap, but not very often. He is a really good napper, which I am so grateful for. Samantha was terrible at napping consistently when she was three years old. Now if this wonderful napping can only continue on for awhile, especially once our new little boy arrives in mid-September.

Thursday was a normal day of school in the morning, followed by an exciting afternoon. All the kindergarten classes were going to ride the buses over to Project Playground to play and enjoy the beautiful, sunny afternoon playing outside with their friends. I found out that the lady I had lined up to watch Izzy for us while we are on vacation wasn't able to watch her any more, so I began frantically scrambling to find someone else to watch her for the two and half weeks while we are gone on vacation. I called a few places, posted on a couple Facebook groups that I am a part of, and hoped that something would turn up soon as we were only two weeks away from leaving to drive down to Upland.

Ben and Aedan had a fun day just hanging out and playing. They went to the bank, but Aedan just loves to play outside in our backyard. Izzy likes playing out in the back yard with Aedan just as much. Ben sent me a message saying how well Aedan and Izzy get along. Aedan loves her, and it is so nice being able to let them just play in the back yard together without much need to interject. Aedan has gotten so much more comfortable around dogs; it's amazing. Back just a few months ago he was afraid to go near a dog, and now he is perfectly fine with Izzy getting up in his face and licking him. She often will jump in his bed and try to steal his teddy bear which he calls Happy Bear now. Every once in awhile he will be in a grumpy mood or Izzy will be particularly jumpy, making Aedan cry and scream for Izzy to get down and leave him alone, but those instances are few and far between. I am glad that we got Izzy when we did. I think she will be a perfect dog for our family, and with her growing up with the kids, they will know each other well, and we won't have any issues with snappiness like we did with Roscoe.

This was a busy week with things wrapping up at school, but for some reason I didn't seem to take many pictures during the week. However, Ben did take some cute pictures of Aedan when they went out together on Friday. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but after doing the weekly grocery shopping, Ben decided to take Aedan out to the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. They were able to climb up inside the lighthouse this time, which Aedan found to be interesting. Look at that gorgeous view of the lake behind him! He makes some silly faces when we attempt to take pictures of him. :)

Aedan and Daddy spent time walking around the boardwalk, playing down on the beach, and throwing rocks into the water. Here are some more pictures of their morning together.

On Friday our special event of the day at school was the last drum dance social of the year called Jingtamook. This is a big deal at JKL Bahweting, and Samantha was really looking forward to it. The weather was perfect for it, allowing them to set up for it outside. They had special guests and an announcer, chairs set up in a circle with a couple large drums in the middle, and they even let the kids have snow cones as a special treat. Samantha sat by me for a lot of the time. For some reason she didn't seem to want to dance that day, but was just happy sitting next to me or even cuddling on my lap. Toward the end, she finally decided to don a scarf and dance around the circle for a little while, so I was able to get this little video of her dancing at the Jingtamook.

On Saturday and Sunday, there was a fun opportunity for us with there being a free weekend for many of the tourist locations around town. As long as you had identification showing that you lived in town, you were allowed to get free tickets for the Soo Locks Boat Tour, the Tower of History, the River of History Museum, and the Museum Ship Valley Camp. Many of these things we wanted to do regardless, but we weren't too keen on spending a lot of money to take the whole family to something we weren't sure they would find tremendously interesting. So once we discovered we could do these things for free, we were eager to take advantage of the opportunity.

Ben looked up the schedule for the boat tour and discovered that the first boat was scheduled to leave at 10:00, so we decided to get there a little before that time to get tickets and get in line for the the first boat. We got there in plenty of time, and we had beautiful weather. Do you see that beautiful blue sky? The boat tour was a lot of fun and lasted about two hours. It was a little difficult keeping the kids interested and involved the whole time, but we got to go on the upper and lower deck, watch a freighter pass us by, and watch the boat go up and down in the locks. We were amazed at how quickly we were raised and lowered as we went through the locks. The tour took us over to the steel plant across the river in Canada, and we were even able to come back through the Canadian locks. Ben and I found the tour very interesting, and we were really glad we took the chance to do it as a family.

The boat ride was over around noon, and we debated what to do next since it was lunch time and the boys needed to take naps that afternoon. However, we figured it would be quick and easy to visit the Tower of History. We got to get in for free and took the elevator ride up to the top. Again, this was a something we wanted to do, but we didn't really want to pay a lot of money just to ride up to the top. The kids thought it was pretty interesting because the tower stands out so much in town. It was pretty windy up at the top, and Samantha and Aedan were pretending like the wind was knocking them over. Here was the view from the top. It was pretty cool getting this perspective of our town.

Since the boys were getting tired, we decided against stopping for lunch somewhere. We just went home and had leftovers before getting the boys down for their naps. Luckily, we got them to nap, but they didn't sleep as well or as long as usual. We just let Samantha have quiet time in her room. Unless she is super tired, up really late, or feeling sick, it's better not to make her nap because then she has a harder time falling asleep at night.

After dinner that evening, we decided to head out to the Locks Park to walk around for awhile and let the kids run around the park, explore, play, and let Samantha climb trees. We made our way over to this stairway where the kids found tons of little caterpillars. The kids played with caterpillars for a long time, and I was so proud of Aedan for being willing to let the caterpillars crawl around on his hands. Normally he is pretty afraid of bugs, but since he saw Samantha playing with them and not being afraid, he decided they were pretty fun to play with himself. At one point Samantha had seven or eight crawling around on her hand. I love just watching the kids explore like this. After being cooped up and feeling like the winter was so long, I love finally being able to spend time outdoors. I love these pictures of the kids. They were so proud of their caterpillars. :)

Sunday was another day where you could take advantage of free things around town, so after going to church in the morning and having an early lunch and nap time, we decided to go to the Museum Ship Valley Camp before it closed at 5:00. It was an old freighter ship that they turned into a museum, and again, we got to visit it for free, so we figured even if we didn't spend much time there, we wouldn't be losing anything. It actually really surprised us with how neat it was. They had a lot of exhibits and information. There was a scavenger hunt with questions for the kids to find the answers to as you toured around the museum, so I asked Samantha if she would like to do that. I knew doing something like that would be fun for her, and it would help hold her attention and keep her interested in learning and discovering instead of racing through the museum. We walked all around the ship, both on the inside and on the top deck. We saw the engine room, as well as where all the crew and captain would live, work, and sleep. The kids found it all pretty interesting, and we ended up staying at the museum for close to two hours. I'm definitely glad we came to check it out. Samantha really finds learning new things exciting, and she really was interested to hear about the Edmund Fitzgerald that sank. I love her curiosity for the world. It's so fun now that she's getting to an age where we can really engage with her about things like this, and she will actually remember what she learns.

June 5 was the start of the last week of school. I was so ready for school to be over and was thrilled that it was finally almost the end, that it was almost summertime. That Monday I was the main teacher in the classroom because Ms. Cornwell was gone on a trip for her son's graduation. There was another sub coming in my place to help me out, which I was grateful for. It's nice to even just have an extra person to help with any problems that may arise. I wasn't particularly looking forward to being the one in charge for the day, especially since there weren't very well laid out plans, but I knew I could do it. I had trouble with one student right off the bat because he didn't take his medicine since the nurse ran out in her office. She had already notified the mom about needing more medicine, and she hadn't brought any in for him yet. However, he was being very disrespectful and disruptive to the rest of the class, so I had to take him down to the dean during writer's workshop. I sent a message to his mom, and she actually brought some in for him shortly after that, making our afternoon together much better. The day actually went pretty well, and I felt like they did work pretty quietly and were respectful to me. It helped to remember how much I like being in charge of my own classroom and how you can shape the behavior of the students through your presence, interaction, and expectation of the students. It has been a good experience being a paraprofessional for the last five and a half months, but when I decide to go back to work full time, I'm pretty sure I will want to enter back in as a classroom teacher in charge of my own classroom.

(Blog about May 30-June 5, 2017)

Samantha's Zoo Field Trip & A Visit from Ema and Papa

Samantha: 72 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 36 Months, Week 4

It's been nice to finally be experiencing some spring-like weather in Sault Ste. Marie. Ben decided to take Aedan over to Canada on Tuesday morning because it was going to be a warm day. It was a little wet that morning from rain we had overnight, and the park was pretty much empty when they got there. That didn't stop Aedan from having fun though. He enjoyed going down the slides that he is no longer afraid of and riding on this little "roller coaster" ride. They also stopped at Once Upon a Child for new t-shirts for Aedan and a couple pairs of shoes. Ben was even able to mow the front yard before putting Aedan down for a nap. It's nice that Ben and Aedan get to spend all this time together, and Ben is also able to get stuff done around the house.

Ben had a pretty important thing take place on Tuesday afternoon. I can't share too many details, but it was an opportunity Ben and I were really excited about, an opportunity that we thought would be perfect. It was hard not to get my hopes up, even though I was trying really hard not to jump to conclusions. I will include more later in the blog about the outcome of this important event.

On Tuesday evening, I was feeling tired and not very patient with the kids. Sometimes my job uses up all my patience, making it hard to deal with the kids in the evenings. Especially now that we are approaching the end of the year, you can tell the kids (and teachers) are just done, leading to more misbehavior than usual. I am hoping that things will change once I am done working full time and life gets back to normal. I'm hoping that my energy will come back some and that I will be more patient and be able to enjoy my time with the kids more in a more relaxed routine. Now that I am getting more of a baby bump, getting comfortable at night is more of a challenge. Because of that, I woke up with a sore back on Tuesday morning, and it was sore most of the day, which didn't help how I felt either.

Every once in awhile, Ben sends me messages throughout the day to let me know what they are up to and how things are going at home. On Wednesday Ben sent me a message that he made a cheesecake that day. I could get used to him being home. :) He definitely likes to bake much more than I do, and the chocolate chip cheesecake turned out delicious.

Even though Aedan did well going to Miss Lisa's house, I am glad that he is back home with Ben now. It's nice that we are saving money, and it's also nice for Ben to have this time with Aedan. Ben sent me a message on Wednesday saying that Aedan loves me. It made me smile, and I was glad that he thinks about me during the day, too, because I definitely think about him often.

Aedan continues to do well with going in the potty. He doesn't do it every time, but more often than not, he will poop in the potty and he often wants to sit on the potty as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Aedan took a really good nap for Ben on Wednesday, and even kept his diaper dry during nap time, saving his pee for after he woke up. I think that was the first time he stayed dry during a time when he was sleeping, so we were pretty impressed. I'm so glad that he has started to become more open to the idea of potty training. I would definitely be glad if he is out of diapers, at least while he's awake, before our next little boy arrives in mid-September.

On Thursday, May 25, we got some disappointing news regarding the opportunity Ben had on Tuesday afternoon. I can't go into any details, but once I heard from Ben about the news, I had a really hard time concentrating or even caring about my job for the rest of the day. I was pretty upset and disappointed, and I knew Ben would be as well, even though I knew he wouldn't want to talk about it. It's so hard for me when I feel like there is such a good opportunity for us, for our family, but for some reason it doesn't work out. It seemed like it would be perfect, but it clearly is not the right time for our family, or it's not the right opportunity for our life right now. It's hard for me to understand how God works sometimes, and it's hard for me to come to terms with disappointment. It's hard for me to remember to trust sometimes and to remember that what I think is perfect for us, may in fact not be, for God's plans for our lives will be much more satisfying than what I may have planned. I just need to do a better job of being content with where I am and what I'm doing, instead of always dreaming about something different or what the next step will be. 

On Thursday Ben began to clean the house for me, and we decided to go out for dinner at Zorba's. Both Ben and I had had a long, not so happy day, and we didn't feel like making and cleaning up dinner at home. However, meal time, in general, is not very fun or relaxing anymore. Even at home we are dealing with getting the kids to eat and giving out food or cutting up food, not being able to really talk or enjoy our own food much. Dinner out went fairly well that evening. We ordered a pizza for the kids to share, and Ben and I got a yummy Greek salad and a gyro. The food there is pretty good, and it was nice not having to make the food or clean up dishes at least.

I know a lot of my mood and attitude that evening was impacted by the disappointing news of the day, but I just felt totally stressed out and high strung. As I was trying to handle the kids, our time at home that evening, and our bed time routine, I was just holding back tears, commenting that I couldn't deal with this anymore. I felt like it was all just too much, I have felt too overwhelmed lately, and I felt like I never have any time to just have fun with the kids because there are always things to be done around the house when I am home with them in the evenings and on the weekends.

On Thursday night, after putting the kids to bed, Ben and I sat down together to start planning what Fast Passes we wanted to reserve for our trip. We were approaching the thirty day mark where we are allowed to go online and reserve them, and we wanted to have a plan before the time came so that we could get the best rides and times possible. We got a little input from Ben's family about what rides they may or may not be interested in, and we used our experience from going to Disney World before, as well as researching what rides have the longest wait times, to determine which Fast Passes to get on what days. It's fun to start thinking about and planning more for our trip. I'm really looking forward to it, and the kids are definitely getting excited.

Friday was a big day for Samantha, as it was the kindergarten field trip to the Garlyn Zoo. Ben decided to bring the boys as well, driving separately, of course. Luckily, Samantha's class was paired up with my class, so we were able to ride the bus there together and be in the same place at the same time. She wanted me to sit next to her and Annie on the bus, which made it a little more uncomfortable for me for the hour and a half ride, but I was glad to be able to sit by my little girl. Samantha and Annie read books from their book bags, talked, and looked out the window. When we got closer to the park where we were going to stop for lunch, Samantha leaned her head against my shoulder, and then a minute later I looked down and noticed that she had actually fallen asleep. I couldn't believe it! She never falls asleep like this, especially in the middle of all the commotion of the school bus. Later, she informed me that her tummy wasn't feeling very well the night before and she woke up to go to the bathroom a couple times and then had a hard time falling back asleep. She must have not slept very well, but I was happy to let her sleep while leaning on my shoulder. The best thing about doing this job for the last few months has been seeing more of Samantha during the day. I have gotten a lot more hugs from her, and I love seeing her in action at school.

Since we had over sixty kindergartners going on the field trip, plus teachers and parents, we went to the zoo in shifts. Mr. McBride's class and Ms. Cornwell's class went to the park/rest area first to eat our sack lunches and walk and play down by the beach for a little while. Then, we headed the mile down the road to the zoo, switching with the other two classes that went to the zoo first. Once at the zoo, we broke the kids into small groups, assigning a couple to each parent that was there to walk around with and keep track of. It would have been impossible to keep everyone together, and the zoo is not that big, so I'm glad we did it this way. I tried to wear two hats that day so I could hang out with Ben, Aedan, and Samantha, but also still do my job as teacher and supervisor. I didn't get too many pictures, but it was a beautiful, sunny day, a perfect day for a zoo trip. I'm glad we changed it from Thursday to Friday so that we could have better weather. 

On the way back to school that afternoon, Samantha decided to ride back with Daddy and Aedan. The boys took a nap in the car, since they were both tired out and needed to sleep. Samantha just had to wait until they were asleep and then she was allowed to play on her Leap Pad on the ride home. A lot of the kids left on the bus ended up laying down and falling asleep as well. We had a fun, busy morning out in the sun, and we had an hour and a half bus ride back to school. It was definitely a much quieter ride going back.

Friday evening we mostly spent playing at home and getting ready for Ema and Papa to arrive at our house. They arrived around 7:00, and all the kids were really excited for their visit. We let the kids stay up a little later that evening so they could play with them some before going to bed. And of course they requested Ema and Papa to put them to bed. We very rarely get to put our own kids to bed when Ema and Papa are around.

On Saturday we had plans to take Ema and Papa to Canada. It was a beautiful day again, with a high of 75. Perfect weather to go for a walk, time to play at a playground, and have a picnic. We ended up taking them to the same place we took Chicago Grandpa and Grandma when they visited a couple weeks earlier, but it was a place we hadn't taken Ema and Papa before, and we knew they would enjoy a trip to Canada. We started off by walking along the path near the river and the Canadian Locks.

The kids had fun climbing around on the rocks with Ema and Papa and throwing rocks into the water. They love this special one-on-one time with their grandparents.

After awhile we left the locks area and drove over to the large playground area. The kids played on the playground for awhile, showing Ema and Papa all the fun things like discovered the last time we were here. Aedan also impressed all of us by going down lots of slides. Just like at Samantha's school on her birthday, Aedan was going down anything and everything, on his bottom, feet first. It's like he totally conquered this irrational fear he had built up about slides. He certainly wasn't afraid anymore, and I was so glad. He was so proud of himself, too.

After letting the kids play for awhile, we got our picnic lunch and walked over to a picnic table by the water to enjoy eating our lunch with a nice view of the river. The kids saved the crusts from their sandwiches to feed the seagulls. Aedan had Papa's hat on, and they were so cute together throwing their bread for the seagulls. Samantha was even reprimanding the greedy seagulls that weren't sharing with the others.

After the kids used up all their crusts, it was time to head back over to our side of the river so we could get all the kids down for naps. It was such a lovely day outside that I decided it would be perfect for Ben and I to go to a local garden center to get a new bush/plant for our front yard. We have a pretty burning bush that is growing nicely right outside our living room windows, but then there was a pretty big empty spot next to it where there were a lot of weeds growing and scraggly looking rose bushes that we had to cut back quite a bit. I saw a sign saying this garden store got their perennial bushes and plants in so I wanted to check out what they had available. The lady working there pointed us toward their bushes, and when they said they had hydrangeas, I knew that's what I wanted. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, so much so that I included them in my wedding bouquet and on our wedding cake. The idea of having a beautiful hydrangea bush in our front yard was very appealing to me, so we decided to go ahead and purchase one so that Ben's mom could help us plant it and give us advice on how to help it grow well. We also got a bucket of soapy water and some sponges and let Samantha help wash our minivan. It was pretty dirty and needed a good cleaning. She thought it was pretty fun to wash the minivan for us, and it was a great day to be outside. In fact, we were outside for most of the day. Once the kids were up from their naps, we also did some cleaning up of the back yard. I had been wanting to sweep up the patio and get the pine needles, pine cones, and sand cleaned up, but it's more difficult to do when we are trying to do other things around the house or take care of three kids and a puppy, especially when the puppy likes to chew on the bristles of the broom.

We decided to go out to dinner that evening at Clyde's drive-in. We had never been there before, but we heard good things about it from all the locals and wanted to try it out. The restaurant is located right along the river, near the ferry that crosses over to Sugar Island. Our food was really good. Samantha enjoyed her cheeseburger, one of her favorite things to eat nowadays, the boys enjoyed their hot dogs, and the pizza burger and fried pickles I had were pretty good as well. Everyone was happy with their food, and this is definitely a place we will have to go back to again another time. The other nice thing about the location of the restaurant is also that it is right next to Rotary Park, so after we all had a good dinner, we went over to the park so the kids could play on the playground for awhile. We got to watch a freighter go by, the kids went swinging and sliding and spinning, they went down by the water and threw rocks in the water, and we had a great time enjoying more time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Here are Aedan and Ema sharing lots of dessert (wood chips) together.  Days like that day are perfect to me, spending time outside and doing fun things with my family. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I remember how much we enjoyed our time living in the U.P. last summer. There are so many fun outdoor places and things to do with kids. It's just a struggle in the wintertime when everything is snowy and cold, there aren't as many indoor places for kids, and it seems like it takes forever for spring to finally arrive up here.

For how nice of a day it was on Saturday, Sunday was colder and rainy, so we spent most of the day playing inside. Ema and Papa were able to take the kids across the street to the playground next to the school for a little while that morning while Ben and I worked on lunch in a quiet house, but other than that we just rested and played at home with Ema and Papa, which was fun as well. Samantha and Aedan loved having their grandparents here to visit. They can't wait until the next time we get to go down to Upland to visit them.

Since Monday was Memorial Day, Ema and Papa were able to stay through Monday morning. They didn't really have anywhere they needed to rush off to, so it was fun to spend a couple more hours with them. In fact. Samantha made a whole schedule of activities for the day, including getting dressed, having breakfast, playing outside, saying good-bye to our guests, story time, and craft time. It was cute that she wrote everything down, and she wanted to check things off our list as we went through our day. In fact, she got a little upset if we did things out of order or added something into our day that wasn't on her schedule. She seemed to handle saying good-bye to Ema and Papa better than she did last time they visited, not getting nearly as upset about it, so maybe writing down the plan for the day helped her process the fact that they were leaving. I'm sure it also helped knowing that we would see them in a few weeks when we travel down to Upland before flying out for our family vacation to Florida.

After nap time that day, we decided to take a family trip to Meijer. I still had not been to our new, fancy store, and we had a few things we needed to pick up, as well as taking advantage of some of the specials they had going on. The kids enjoyed riding on Sandy for a penny, and I was able to use the rest of our money on our Starbucks card. It almost seemed like you were transported to a new world when entering the store because it was all so new and so nice, so unlike many of the places around Sault Ste. Marie.

Most evenings, after we get the kids to bed, Ben will take Izzy for a walk around campus as a way to wear her out some and to get some exercise for himself. While on the walk he took this cool picture. It's easy to forget that we live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by natural beauty like water and forests. This new place we call home is definitely a world away from what it looked like around me growing up in the Chicago suburbs. We've lived here for almost a year now, and it will take me awhile longer to get used to it, but I think it's beginning to grow on me more.

(Blog about May 23-29, 2017)