AWANA Awards Night, Fun Activities with the Kids, and Aedan's 4th Birthday Party

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 48 Months, Week 4
Owen: 7 Months, Week 2 (Week 32)

It is slowly starting to warm up in the U.P., and Sunday was going to be a beautiful sunny day.  This is what our front yard looked like that morning, and we were super excited to see the snow finally starting to go away. Our back yard has a little more built up right behind the house because it doesn't get as much sunlight; however, slowly but surely it is starting to go away, and I am SO ready to be able to get outside and play more, and to enjoy the warm sunshine.

We decided to try going to the first service that morning to see how it would go, hoping that Owen could make in through church and just fall asleep in the car on the way home and then continue his nap once we got back home. However, he was super tired after waking up at 7:00 that morning, and he actually ended up falling asleep for about twenty minutes in the nursery that morning, which is very unlike him. Usually there is way too much going on around him at church for him to be able to fall asleep. However, it worked out okay that he took a little bit of a nap because I had plans to take Samantha and Aedan to see a local production of Lion King Jr. at the Soo Theatre. So, we were able to eat an earlier lunch and I put Owen down for his nap in plenty of time to get to the theatre with the kids, buy tickets and popcorn and find our seats.

I debated whether or not to take Aedan to the show, especially since we were out late swimming on Saturday night and then he would be skipping his nap that afternoon. However, I figured he was old enough to start handling things like that, and I knew he would enjoy the show with all the fun music, songs, and animal costumes. They are working on restoring this old theatre, and I had never been in it before. It was pretty cool looking, and we were able to find pretty good seats right in the middle with a good view of the stage.

Here are the kids and me before the show started that afternoon. It's not the greatest lighting for pictures, but I think they turned out pretty well. I love my two big kids, and I'm glad I can start doing special things like this with them again. I knew that Owen was happily napping at home, and that Ben could hang out and play with him, keeping him happy until I got back home. Samantha has such a pretty smile, and Aedan's faces just crack me up. :)

Of course we had to do a silly picture, too!

The Lion King Jr. show was a lot better than I expected it to be. Everyone was miked, so it was easier to hear the actors and actresses. The singers really were pretty good, and the costumes were colorful and creative. Aedan enjoyed it too, but he did get a little antsy about halfway through. Anytime the audience clapped after a song, Aedan would ask, "Is is over now?" Samantha was totally in her element, singing along to the songs, not moving a muscle, and loving every minute of the performance. Watching her watch and enjoy the show made me so excited for the Elementary Musical Theater Camp we signed her up for this summer. I think Samantha would really like acting, singing, and dancing on stage like this. I'm excited for her to have the opportunity to start getting involved in theater and trying it out. Maybe she can start trying out for productions like this in the future as well. Samantha is so expressive and has no shyness about being up in front of people, so I could see her really enjoying being a part of something like this.

While we were gone at the show, Ben was attempting to get some work done, but Owen woke up from his nap after about an hour crying. Ben tried to get him back to sleep, but he kept waking up every time he tried to lay him down, just like what happens with me during the week. Eventually, he decided to just sit with him and let him sleep on his lap, getting another forty-five minutes of sleeping in.

For some reason Owen continues to have trouble sleeping, both during the day and at night. Sunday night was a really rough night with Owen. He was up a lot and very hard to get back to sleep. He was up five times between 11:00 and 6:00. He had a stuffy nose, which I'm sure didn't help. I gave him medicine and cleaned out his nose really good before bed, but that didn't seem to help. The first time he woke up he was tooting quite a bit, so I gave him some gripe water stuff, too, to see if that would help. After being woken up so many times that night, Ben and I were definitely tried come Monday morning. He seems to be especially finicky with sleep lately, and I commented to Ben that I am tired of being tired. I would love Owen to get into more of a routine and stop waking up so much at night. I feel like at 7 months old he should be doing better than he is sometimes. Then, Owen was up for the day talking in his crib at 6:15, not exactly what I wanted after a long night of being woken up many times.

This was Ben's last week of classes so he had a lot of meetings for wrapping things up at the end of the year. Most of his meetings happen at 7:30 or 8:00, so that way they can meet before classes start at 9:00, so I was in charge of getting Samantha off to school the first three days of this week. I am always up and showered, but it takes a little more work taking all the kids and Izzy in the car to go drop off Samantha. Since Owen was up so early that morning, he fell asleep in the car on the way to school. Even though I told Samantha to be quiet, she went right up to Owen and talked to him, waking him up, which I wasn't too happy about. However, he ended up falling back asleep on our drive back home, so I just took his car seat downstairs to his room so he could keep on napping. He slept for about an hour, which was a pretty good morning nap for him.

Once he woke up, I went downstairs to feed him before heading out to go grocery shopping. This is what I found when I came out of the bedroom after feeding Owen. Aedan was upstairs playing, but apparently Izzy decided to come wait for me up on our bed. We don't usually let her up on our bed, but she was too cute there to make her get down. She is my faithful little shadow when I am at home, following me around the house wherever I go. Our little Izzy-girl is such a good puppy. I am so glad we made the crazy decision to get her a year ago.

Since Owen napped at home that morning, he was awake during our whole shopping trip; however, he was pretty happy just hanging out in the car seat looking around while we shopped. Since we left a little later, we got home a little later than usual, making lunch time a little rushed, and I was hoping both boys would take good naps that afternoon. I was pretty tired from our rough night the night before. Aedan was pretty tired that day because he didn't nap on Sunday and was out late on Saturday night. However, by 3:00, after only 45 minutes, Owen was awake crying. I really should just come to expect it by now. However, I was optimistic that he might sleep better since he woke up from his morning nap around 9:15 and hadn't been back to sleep since. Instead of picking Owen up every time he cries like this, I have been trying something new. I flip him onto his tummy and pat his bottom until he falls back to sleep. This afternoon I tried that, and it didn't take long for him to fall back asleep. I hoped that it would last and he would get a good nap in that afternoon. I don't mind picking him up and holding him until he falls back asleep, but it's getting harder for me to hold him as he gets heavier. His favorite way of being held is still up on your shoulder and being bounced up and down and back and forth. However, it's getting harder for me to hold him like this for very long, but he doesn't like to be held laying down and doesn't like you to sit in the rocking chair because he thinks he's going to be fed, I think. Anyways, I've tried the patting trick a few times lately, and it seems to work pretty well if he's ready to go back to sleep. Owen was really congested that day, so I'm sure that didn't help his ability to sleep either. The whole family has had colds for the last week or so.

With Aedan's birthday coming up that weekend, I was busy making plans and getting things prepared. After school on Monday I took Samantha to Meijer so she could pick out a present for him, and so I could get the rest of the supplies for Aedan's party and cake. Aedan's blanket set came in the mail that day, as well as the set of Lego Super Heroes that I ordered. They all came in little pieces, so I had to put all the arms and heads and extra things on each little guy. We are very excited to give Aedan his big boy bed, and we are excited to celebrate him turning 4 years old.

Tuesday was a MOPS morning, plus I had to take Samantha to school again, making it for a little crazy of a morning getting ready and out of the house. Owen fell asleep in the car on the way to MOPS, but he woke up shortly after going into the church, unfortunately. I decided to just take him to the nursery, telling the workers that he may need to take a nap sometime that morning or he will be super tired and possibly cranky. When I went to pick him up, I was told he was too busy looking around and talking to nap that morning, which really surprised me. I couldn't believe he went all morning without napping.

Here is a little video I took of Owen practicing his crawling skills that afternoon. He's getting so good at getting around now, and he is almost doing a mixture of  scooting, crawling, and rolling.

After being up and out at MOPS all morning, Owen was definitely ready for his nap that afternoon. I got Aedan put down first, since he takes longer to fall asleep, and then I nursed Owen and put him down. Aedan did not nap, unfortunately, since we have small group on Tuesday nights, but there's not much I can do to make him nap.  However, Owen took an AMAZING nap! He slept for over three hours! I couldn't believe it when I went down to check on him at almost 5:00, and this is what I saw. He was totally passed out on his tummy, laying sideways in his bed, breathing softly. I wished that I didn't have to wake up this cute, little sleepy boy, but we needed to leave for small group soon, and I wanted to be able to feed him first. I took these cute pictures of him sleeping before waking him up though. He has never taken this long of a nap before. I was amazed and so excited that he got some good rest. That was going to make for a happy baby that night at small group.

Wednesday morning, especially since Aedan didn't nap on Tuesday and was up late, he was pretty tired. He still expressed interest in going to the library, and even though we tried as hard as we could, we still were late and missed the reading of the stories. Sometimes I'm not sure why it is that we are late places. I try to be organized and keep things moving, but it's hard to get out the door. Owen needs a last minute diaper change, or Aedan isn't listening about getting his shoes and coat on. I guess I need to start factoring in more time to allow for these things that always take longer than I think they should. Nevertheless, we made it to the library for craft time, and Aedan really enjoyed coloring all the little articles of clothing and Knuffle Bunny before gluing them on the paper as if they were inside the washing machine at the laundromat. After he was done with his craft and wrote his name, we went down to the reading area so I could read the books to him that the librarian read to the other kids. Aedan enjoyed this just as much, especially since he was getting one-on-one attention from me. After that, we stopped and had our snack at the table before playing in the library. I put Owen in the Ergo so he could take a nap while Aedan played. It took a little bit of time to get him to fall asleep, but then he slept for about 40 minutes or so, which is about as good as any nap he would take at home. Aedan was having a lot of fun playing with another little girl, making food in the pretend kitchen and serving it to the mommies. It's fun watching Aedan play, and even though he's often the oldest kid at the library playing, he still has fun interacting with the other kids, looking at books, having me read books to him, and playing with toys that are a little different than what we have at home.

With Aedan's birthday coming up this weekend, and our plan to get put his new big boy bed together, I took advantage of my chance to take a picture of him sleeping in his little toddler bed. This may very well be the last picture I have of my little Aedan looking so big sleeping in this little bed. He looks so peaceful and calm, and I was so glad he was getting the rest he needed, especially with the AWANA Awards Ceremony coming up that evening.

For how good of a nap Owen took on Tuesday, Wednesday was not so good. He fell asleep fine, nursing, like he always does, but then he woke up crying after about half an hour. He was crying on and off, and I waited a little bit to see if he would settle himself back to sleep, which he did. He was snuggled up on his tummy near the side of his crib when I went in to check on him.

However, a little while later he was up crying again. It was close to 4:00, so I figured he was going to be done napping for the day. I was just going to nurse him and let him get up, but he ended up falling asleep while he was eating. I thought about trying to lay him down again, but I figured he would just wake up if I tried to lay him down again. He was clearly still tired and needing to sleep, so I decided just to hold him. He was so content and comfortable, and I enjoyed my time of cuddling with my little baby. I'm trying hard to not let these moments frustrate me because I am not "getting anything done," but instead to embrace and enjoy the moments when my baby needs me and just wants some extra snuggle time with his mommy. He ended up sleeping on my lap for almost an hour and a half that afternoon. Isn't he cute?! Little pink cheeks, open mouth, and hand grabbing on to my shirt. :) This little boy has stolen my heart, that's for sure.

Samantha and Aedan had been looking forward to AWANA Awards Night for a long time. They couldn't wait to get up on stage and sing their songs for us. We were a little worried that Aedan might be too nervous to be up on stage and sing with everyone looking at him. There was one night where he was singing his Cubbies song for us in the kitchen after dinner, and we were all smiling at him because he was so cute, but when he saw us smiling, he got all embarrassed and ran away down the hallway, thinking we were laughing at him. Of course we were not laughing at him at all, we simply thought he was adorable, but he just gets embarrassed easily when he senses everyone is looking at him.

When we got to the church, I took the kids downstairs to get checked in, dropping Aedan off at his Cubbies room. The room was set up differently and had no tables like it usually does because of Awards Night. Well, things being different like that really throws Aedan off, and he immediately came over to me and clung to my legs, not wanting to sit down and do puzzles and blocks with the other kids.  It took a little prodding from me to get him comfortable to sit down so that I could leave.

Both kids did a fantastic job up on stage singing the songs that they sing each week. I loved watching them sing the words and do the motions, showing so much exuberance for singing about Jesus. AWANA has been such a great program for the kids to be involved in this year. They have learned so many Bible verses and so many truths about God. I love that the leaders are consistently there every week, and the kids are excited about going every week. They love singing, they love game time, and Aedan always comes home with a meaningful craft about the story they are learning. They already made sure we knew they wanted to do AWANA again next year. Here are some pictures and videos from the Awards night, starting with singing the songs, and moving on to when they got their awards. Our kids are so cute, and we were so proud of them.

After several nights of Owen waking up two or three times a night, on Wednesday night, he only woke up once and then slept in until 8:00. He was such a happy boy when I went to get him out of his crib that morning. I love his crazy, noisy personality. I love his smile. He really is such a happy, delightful baby. I love being greeted by this face every morning. (It was amazing how awake I felt that Thursday after having only been woken up once overnight.)

Thursday was turning into a beautiful day. It was bright, sunny, and warming up nicely, melting even more of the leftover snow piles. Even Izzy was enjoying the yard with no snow. In fact, one time I checked on her, she was just laying out on the patio enjoying the warm sun. She noticed that I was looking at her, so she sat up right away. It's so nice to have the snow almost all gone and to finally start seeing some glimpses of spring.

It was too nice of a day to not go outside and enjoy it, and Owen had taken a longer morning nap that day, so after eating a quick lunch, we decided to go over to campus for a walk/bike ride and to visit Daddy in his office. This was the first time Owen got to ride in this big stroller, and he thought it was very interesting. He was super quiet as we walked down the street, enjoying his view, the sun, and the new perspective on the world. Aedan really enjoyed riding his bike over to campus. This was the first time we were really able to do that since the weather has turned nice. He did a great job riding the whole way there and back, although afterwards he did say that his legs felt like they were falling asleep. He has to get used to riding his bike again, and there will be many more days where we get to do things like this together! Yay, warmer weather!

On Thursday night both Ben and I had things going on, he had presentations to listen to and then went out with people afterwards. I had a Lemongrass Party I wanted to go to, so we just tag-teamed it. I had dinner with the kids and got the big kids showered/bathed, leaving only Owen for Ben to do himself. We wanted Ben to do more practice runs in putting Owen to bed so that he doesn't forget how to take a bottle and I can have someone else put him to bed, giving me the opportunity to go out and not always have to be home with him. I want to take Ben to a Cubs game for his birthday when we are in Chicago over Memorial Day, and we want to go to a married people date night event at our church when my parents come up to visit in a week, but we haven't given Owen a bottle for quite awhile. I was a little worried how it would go, but he texted me saying he didn't eat a whole lot, but that he was asleep, which was good to hear. (However, he then woke up around 10:30, and I had to go in and feed him before going to bed myself.)

Friday morning I took Aedan and Owen to the MOPS play date at McDonald's. Originally, I wasn't planning on going, but the family that has the foster child we had last spring contacted me about getting together because he was asking about us. We figured this play date would be a good chance for the boys to get together, see each other, and play together in a neutral environment. I was able to give Owen a nap at home before we left, so he was in a pretty good mood while we were out. Aedan had a lot of fun playing that morning. There were quite a few little boys his age that he got to run around and play with. In fact, when it was time to leave, his head was all sweaty. I was glad he had this opportunity to play, and I will be even more glad when we can have play dates at parks instead of McDonald's.

Since Aedan's birthday is coming up, he has started to get cards in the mail. He got this card from Ema and Papa, and you can tell they know him well. The card has a picture of Optimus Prime, and he talks when you open it up. The expression on Aedan's face when he heard it was priceless. He thought it was so cool, and this is definitely going to be a card he will keep until the sound no longer works. I took this video of Aedan listening to the card so that Ema and Papa could see how much he liked it.

The rest of Friday and into Saturday was spent getting ready for Aedan's birthday party. Ben stayed home on Friday to help me with the boys so that I could get the house cleaned. We got a few last minute things for Aedan's party, I wrapped his presents, and we made one of his cakes to be ready for the next day. Saturday morning I finished cleaning a couple rooms of the house, and then we actually went to the Art Van furniture store to look at couches. They were having a sale, and Ben and I have been tired of our old couches for quite some time now, so we figured we'd take the whole family and go look. I was really interested in a sectional so that we have lots of space for people, and still have the capabilities of putting our feet up without having to get reclining couches. We found one that we really liked, and it was a pretty good deal with the discount. Plus, we could pay it off in six months with no interest, so we decided to go ahead and buy them. It felt weird finally committing to this purchase. This really is the first large item we have bought new for ourselves, other than our kids' mattresses. We were excited, and it kind of felt like a monumental occasion, an end of an era. They were due to be delivered the following Thursday, and I had plans to try and sell our old couches on our local Facebook sale group.

Since we were at the furniture store longer than we anticipated, we picked up Wendy's on the way home, tucked Aedan and Owen into bed, and then got busy getting ready for Aedan's party. Samantha was a big help to us that afternoon with getting supplies set up for the activities that we were going to do, covering the table with a tablecloth and setting the table, and any other task we gave her to do. While Ben and Samantha worked hard getting other things set up and cutting out stars in the green jello and arranging the fruit on the tray, I spent about an hour decorating Aedan's cakes. I decided to make him super hero cakes, and combined a couple ideas from Pinterest. We decided to make two round cakes because one wouldn't be enough. I am no expert cake decorator, and it was a little tricky trying to figure out how to split the icing so I had enough of each color that I needed, but it all worked out in the end. I was a little nervous about pulling it off, but they actually turned out much better than I expected. I finished the cakes with about 15 minutes to spare before people started showing up for the party around 4:00.

I had a few activities set up downstairs for the kids to do. One was decorating paper and gluing it on frisbees to make Captain America shields. The kids had a fun time coloring and putting stickers on their craft. They all looked so unique, and they made a good party favor that the kids could take home.

Since we were having a super hero themed party, I said that the kids were welcome to come dressed up as their favorite super hero. Aedan shared some of his capes and masks, too, and Samantha shared some of her princess dresses for the girls.

The other activity I had planned was a super hero wall smash. I borrowed these cardboard blocks from another mom at church, and Telisa and Cory were good sports in setting up the wall over and over again so that the kids could pretend they were super heroes and knock it down. I was trying to take videos of Aedan and his friends during the party, but there was so much going on that it was hard to sometimes. Right before this video below, Aedan had his turn to knock the wall over. The kids really loved doing this, and it was such a simple activity.

Another activity I had planned was to throw newspaper balls at a tape spider web. However, I had trouble keeping the tape up, so that was kind of a failure of a game. The last activity involved shooting silly string out of cans on to a pretend web that I had taped up on the door. I put a sheet down on the floor to catch the silly string and contain the mess, and the kids had a blast doing this. I should have bought more cans of silly string because they ran out a lot quicker than I expected them to. Aedan was having fun, but when he sprayed at the beginning, there were too many kids spraying at the same time, and one the kids sprayed him in the back of the head on accident. Well, the feeling of the wet, slimy, silly string made him kind of freak out, and he didn't want to try it again for awhile. Plus, he had a hard time pushing the button down hard enough to make it spray out. Anyways, here are some videos of the kids have a great time spraying the web with the silly string. That was definitely a fun activity for everyone. :)

 

We ordered a variety of pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner that night, so as we were getting ready for the food to arrive and the kids were just running around the house playing, I took advantage of my chance to take pictures of the cakes and our decorations. Aedan requested one cake to be funfetti and one to be strawberry, so that's what we made. The icing is all buttercream frosting that Ben made, and then I dyed it different colors to make the various colors for the super heroes. I was pretty proud of my decorations, and Aedan loved them, which is the most important part.

Here is our fruit (and marshmallow) tray in the shape of Captain America's shield. I found the idea on Pinterest, and Ben did a great job putting it together. He also made the lime jello and cut it into stars that was supposed to be like the kryptonite from Super-Man; just some other cute, but simple snack ideas to go along with our super hero theme.

Once all the kids were sitting down to eat, I made sure to take pictures of everyone so we could remember who all came to his party. At this table Aedan has his back to you, and there was Bridget, Parker, Ruger, Grendel, and Daisy.

Samantha, being the big kid that she is, agreed to sit on the floor to eat since we didn't have enough chairs for all the kids, and we knew she could handle sitting on the floor.

And here's Marion and Owen sitting up at the counter. All the kids were pretty quiet while they were eating, so I think they enjoyed their food.

After everyone had their fill of food, we went out to the living room for present time. Samantha got Aedan this Batman Boat Lego set, which he was pretty excited about.

Aedan got a Spider-Man watch from Marion, his friend from Cubbies. (I think Samantha was just as excited as he was about his presents.)

He also got Spider-Man bubbles from Marion. I love how he has his little tongue sticking out as he opens his presents.

The next present Aedan opened was from Bridget, and she gave him two Paw Patrol puppies, a set of dominoes, and a Paw Patrol bracelet.

The next present Aedan opened was from Owen. It is a Stomp Rocket, and it can shoot these foam rockets up really high into the air. Aedan couldn't wait to get it out and try it, and Owen couldn't wait to show him how it worked.

And the last present he opened was another one from Samantha, a Batman car that can hold two people (a new Batman since his old one got chewed on by Izzy) and a motorcycle for Robin. Samantha was so excited to show Aedan and tell him all about it.

Even though it was super hard for Aedan to wait to open his presents, he was distracted by the fact that it was time for cake. All the kids came back out into the kitchen, we got the candles on his cake and lit them, and we were ready to sing to the birthday boy. 

Aedan is a little more shy than Samantha, so he doesn't usually like being the center of attention and having a lot of people looking at him. He was a little tired and overwhelmed, so he has kind of a blank expression on his face, but I'm sure he enjoyed having everyone sing to him, with the singing led by Sissy of course.

After everyone ate their strawberry or funfetti cake decorated like their favorite super hero, we decided to get the stomp rocket out and take it outside to play with it. They each took turns doing it, and they were having a blast playing in the front yard. I feel like this party was perfect for Aedan's age. We had a few activities that were fun and not too involved. We had food, cake, presents, and plenty of time to run around and play. It is so fun having a house big enough to welcome this many people in at the same time. I'm so glad that Aedan enjoyed his party and that so many of his little friends could come celebrate with him. He had been looking forward to his party for a long time. I can't believe my boy is a 4 year old. He's looking older and taller now, less like a little kid, and he can communicate so clearly with his words (even if sometimes he chooses not to use them). He has so much energy and exuberance for life, often running everywhere he goes. I see a lot of Ben in him with his looks, but I also see a lot of myself in him with his more reserved nature, and his tendency to be quiet around new people or new things, observing first, before jumping right in. I feel like he has grown and changed so much in the last year, developing his own personality and interests, his own way of playing and expressing himself, instead of just doing whatever Sissy does. It has been so fun spending this year at home with Aedan, even if it has been busier and more hectic because of adding little Owen to the mix. I sure do love being his mommy, and I'm so glad God blessed us with this sweet little boy, especially after experiencing the sorrow of a miscarriage. Happy birthday my dear little man!

After a long and busy evening with lots of commotion, everyone was ready to sleep that night. I know I have a lot of pictures of Owen sleeping lately, but he is just so cute all cuddled up in his bed. As soon as I laid him down that night, he rolled over on his side and got comfortable. My children are so sweet. I certainly love being their "mama."

(Blog about April 22-28, 2018)

Special Time with Samantha, Snow Days, and Owen Turns 7 Months Old!

Samantha: 83 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 48 Months, Week 3
Owen: 7 Months, Week 1 (Week 31)

Sunday, April 15th, when you would normally think spring would be in full swing, at least in all the places we've lived before, Sault Ste. Marie hadn't gotten the memo for spring yet. This is what our back yard looked like that morning. You can even see the grey, ominous clouds in the background. So as you can see we already have quite a bit of snow. Some of it has melted recently, but then we just keep getting more. Sunday into Monday we were supposed to get even more snow, possibly over a foot, which Ben and I were not too excited about.

We followed our typical morning routine for a Sunday, putting Owen down for a nap before going to church, and then coming home for lunch and nap time. That afternoon Samantha and I had fun plans to go to a Dolly and Me High Tea event over on campus. I'd seen it advertised for awhile and was excited to take Samantha to it, especially since the tickets for the event went to a good cause that helps out women in need. Samantha was super excited to get dressed up, get Kit dressed up, and go do something together with just the girls. :)

After entering tickets into a couple raffles and finding a spot at a table, we enjoyed some special snacks like little cakes, fruit, and cookies, as well as some juice, water, and hot tea. Samantha wanted to try one of each thing and was gobbling everything down. After that, we went across the hall to see what activities they had going on. Samantha decided she wanted to get Kit's hair done first. Even though her hair is short, the lady was able to do these special upside-down french braids, and Samantha loved how it looked.

From there she wanted to get her nails done, and she picked three different colors for the lady to do in a pattern: pink sparkly, purple sparkly, and blue sparkly.

Then, Samantha decided to wait in line to get her hair done. She wanted pig tail braids brought together in the back with a bow and the rest of her hair curled. She did a great job sitting still and letting the lady do her hair. However, she mentioned that it felt weird when she used the curling iron, making her feel like her hair was on fire.

And here are Samantha and Kit all dressed up with fancy hair. Samantha is so cute and so proud. She was having a good time being pampered.

Here is a view of Samantha's hair from the back. It looked beautiful, and she was so proud of her bows.

From there, Samantha did a couple of crafts, got her picture taken, and we went back to our table to have some more snacks and drinks. Another mom offered to take our picture together, so here are some great pictures of my little girl and me. We had a really fun afternoon together. We don't get to do stuff like this together very often anymore, especially just the two of us, so this was really special time for me to be with just Samantha and give her some one-on-one attention, which is hard to get at home with two little brothers around.

She decided she wanted to get her face painted once the line slowed down some, so here is her little red sparkly butterfly.

Here's what it looked like later that afternoon in our back yard. There was some freezing rain coming down, covering everything with a thin sheet of ice. It was basically going to snow the rest of Sunday, overnight, and well into Monday, so we were expecting  Samantha's school to be cancelled on Monday. However, Ben got an email from the president of LSSU cancelling classes for Monday as well. That is basically unheard of from a university, especially one in the U.P. where there are plenty of snowstorms that they have to deal with. Nevertheless, we were all looking forward to a snow day at home on Monday.

As the day went on on Sunday, I developed a pretty bad head cold, feeling a lot of sinus pressure and congestion. It made me feel pretty miserable overnight and into Monday, but at least it was just a cold and not any kind of flu symptoms again. Aedan was so excited that Samantha didn't have school on Monday, and they got right to playing together. They were playing together really well, and it reminded me how fun it will be for them to have the summer together. Ben actually stayed home that day and attempted to work from home some as well. I decided to take Owen to the grocery store with me to get our shopping done because there really wasn't going to be a better time for me to do it. Samantha and Aedan stayed home and played outside in the snow for awhile before lunch, and I'm sure they were glad to not have to go shopping with me. We got back in time for lunch and nap time, watching the snow continue to fall for the rest of the day.

Monday evening after bath time, we decided to play games together as a family. We don't do things like this very often, and I figured a snow day was a perfect excuse. Each kid picked a game, so we played Don't Break the Ice first, discovering that our tissues were much stronger than the original ones that came with the game. We could pile all the marbles on, and it still wouldn't break! Aedan picked dominoes, and I tried to convince them to play a dominoes game with me, but they just wanted to build with them and make chains to knock over, which was fine with me. Ben helped them build the first letter of their name to knock down, so here's an S for Samantha and an A for Aedan.

That evening after getting the kids tucked into bed, Ben and I decided to spend some nice, quality time together. Instead of turning on the TV and watching a show, like we usually do, we decided to light a fire in the fireplace and play a game of Mexican Train dominoes. I don't even remember the last time we played a game together like this, and it was really nice to spend this time together without any distractions. In fact, we both remarked how long our evening felt since we didn't just zone out in front of the TV. Now that the semester is coming to a close and Ben won't have to work every evening after the kids are in bed, we will definitely have to plan more game nights together like this. It was like a date night right in our own living room!

Early Tuesday morning, as Ben was getting up to get in the shower and get ready for the day, I noticed a message saying Samantha's school was cancelled again that day. Ben also had all classes cancelled until 12:00 that day. It probably was slightly unnecessary to cancel school again, especially classes for Ben since it is almost the end of the semester, and he is trying really hard to cover everything before the semester is over. However, the kids were super excited to have another snow day to play at home together. I'm not even sure what kinds of games and activities they play in their imaginary world, but it's fun to watch them play. After playing outside with the neighbor girls in the back yard that morning and having a blast, while Owen took a nap downstairs and I talked with the girls' mom, Samantha and Aedan still had more time to play together before lunch.They were packing to go on a trip together, so you can see Samantha's suitcase in the background. Then, they also got their pillows and a blanket and were pretending to sleep. Owen even got in on the cuddle session on that snowy morning. Even though they tire me out (especially with Owen nursing three times during the night and not going back to sleep easily on Monday night) and are really good at making messes, my three kiddos are cute together. It was fun to have this extra time together. That's the one good thing about living up here; snow days in April!

Since Tuesday was April 17th, it meant that Owen was officially 7 months old. We were getting close to dinnertime, so he wasn't exactly in the mood to smile as easily as he usually does. Plus, with how active he is now, he doesn't want to sit or lay in one place while I try to get good pictures of him smiling. Samantha and Ben both helped me get pictures with him looking at smiling. So here is Owen's 7 month photo shoot. (We had to do an outfit change in the middle because he started to leak through his diaper.) Samantha picked out the Mickey Mouse shirt for him to wear.

Here is our big guy sitting up with some help from the the boppy pillow. He is getting better and better at sitting up unsupported, but he still needs someone close by in case he starts to tip over so he doesn't hit his head on something.

Owen got his two bottom teeth before he even turned 6 months old, but no more have popped through yet. However, that doesn't change the fact that he chews on everything he can get his hands on: toys, body parts, dog toys; he's not picky. :)

He is a happy little boy, and it is pretty easy to get him to smile and laugh. It's easier to distract him now when he gets upset or fussy, and most of the time the kids enjoy interacting with him. Samantha is definitely better with him than Aedan, and I don't know if that's simply because she's a girl and more nurturing, or if she just enjoys babies more, or if Aedan is just used to playing with someone older (Sissy) so it's hard for him to come up with ways to play with someone younger. So far it seems like his eyes are going to stay blue, which is fun for him to have that trait from Ben. I love the fluffy, baby hair on his head. It's longer up on top and down around the back, but the sides where he lays are definitely more sparse.

I tried to get a picture of Owen on his tummy on the floor, but he is too mobile for that now. I turned the camera around so he could see himself, but then he just wanted to crawl toward the camera. Now that he is mobile, nothing is safe. He can roll and scoot to get to things, which brings a whole new dimension to our days. In these pictures he was trying to get to my phone, which is why he looks a little upset, because I wasn't letting him get it.

I tried to get some more active videos of Owen while he was in his bouncer that evening. He really loves this thing, and it hangs in the perfect spot, right in the doorway between the kitchen/dining room and living room, so he can see all around the house. He can see us in the kitchen as we are cleaning up, and he can see Samantha and Aedan playing in the living room. Plus, he gets to bounce and get energy out, while also being safely contained, which makes it much easier for Ben and I to get things done without worrying about what he is getting into.

I love his big smiles in this first video (followed by getting fussy because he couldn't get to me).

This next video isn't the greatest because he is pretty fussy, but I like it because you can hear him kind of say "ma-ma." I have no idea if it is in reference to me or not, but I like to think that he is beginning to understand that he can call me mama. He also has started babbling "dada" quite a bit lately, too.

And in this last video, Samantha came over to talk to and play with Owen, so we got a lot more smiles from him. He loves his silly big sister. (I'm not quite sure why she started making that loud bird sound in the background.)

Later that evening, since we cancelled small group due to the weather and bad roads, we spent the evening at home together, giving the kids baths, and just hanging out. It was kind of nice not to have to rush out of the house shortly after Ben getting home from campus. I haven't taken as many videos of Aedan just playing and talking as I would like. Some day he won't have his little boy voice anymore. He will say things with proper pronunciations and correct grammar. Some day he won't want to sit in the bath tub and play anymore, so I took a little video of playing and talking in the bath tub that night. A lot of times, once he realizes I am taking a video of him, he will stop talking and start acting shy, but he let me continue videoing him that night.

And just for good measure, after Owen took his bath that night, I got a few more really cute pictures of him all nice and clean and ready for bed. I let him see himself in the camera again, so I got some really cute close-up shots of his face and smiles as he sat next to me on the floor. (Sorry for all the pictures. They were all just too adorable to choose.)

I went a little overboard with pictures of Owen that day, but with him turning 7 months, I was just trying to capture some moments in time. For example, that night after nursing him to sleep, I was just holding him in my arms, enjoying some sleeping baby cuddles, when I decided to take a couple pictures of him curled up, sound asleep in my lap. I know so many people say not to nurse your baby to sleep because it will develop sleep associations, but I have nursed all my babies to sleep at night, for as long as they want to do that. It's such a peaceful time, such a nice way to end a long and busy day. I love these snuggles I get in the quiet calm of his bedroom at night. I love how when he falls asleep his body gets heavy and his breathing deepens. Sometimes he even snorts or snores some. (He has always been a noisy sleeper.) Lately, he's even been propping up his top leg against my arm as he sleeps, which is cute, too. Sometimes, even though he's done eating, I will just sit and cuddle and rock him. I know I often write about how inconsistent he is with sleeping and Ben and I joke about how he is making sure we know that he is our last baby, but it's moments like these that I need to remember. Even though I'm tired and wish more sleep would come, I'm not going to always have these moments where my boy will fit comfortably in my lap, fast asleep.

For some reason I could not get Owen to nap on Wednesday morning, even though he was super tired. I would get him to sleep, and he would wake up as soon as I laid him down. Since it was getting close to when we were going to leave to go to the library anyways, I decided to just get him up and go to the library, hoping that I could get him to sleep there. He didn't fall asleep in the car like I'd hoped, so after sitting and listening to the stories and doing the craft, I put him in the Ergo and he took about a half an hour nap, which was better than nothing. Aedan really enjoys going to the library, and it's our one scheduled activity every week, so I like to try to go anytime Aedan shows interest. Aedan has been doing a much better job with being compliant when it's time to leave, and he always comes home with new books and a craft that he made.

That afternoon, I hoped that I could get Owen to take a good nap since he hadn't napped much that morning. He was really fussy that whole day, was tired, and just needed some good sleep. Aedan was really tired, too, and he went right to sleep. I didn't even hear any kicking. However, Owen only made it forty-five minutes, one sleep cycle, before waking him and crying. I tried a couple times to get him back to sleep, but he just kept waking up every time I laid him down. I was just fighting a losing battle, so I decided to just sit nurse him and let him get up. However, he fell asleep while nursing, so I decided to just let him sleep on my lap until he got enough of a nap in. I didn't expect for him to sleep as long as he did, but he was still asleep when Samantha got home from school. Luckily, the bus drops her off at the end of the driveway, and she knows the code to our front door. I was worried that she would feel afraid coming in the house and not seeing me upstairs. I also thought I heard Aedan start to wake up, and I didn't want him to be sitting in his bed calling for me for a long time. However, I knew Ben would be home from campus fairly soon, and Owen was still fast asleep on my lap, mouth wide open, breathing deeply. He was so cute, so calm, and so happy, I didn't want to wake him up until he was ready. I'm trying to embrace these moments where I get to just sit and snuggle my little boy, rather than feeling impatient that I can't get up and do something else. He ended up sleeping on my lap for almost an hour and a half, giving him a nice, good nap, and allowing him to be ready for the rest of the evening. After a rough day of trying to get him to nap, I was really glad he was at least able to nap on me.

Normally Ben and I have Bible study on Wednesday nights while the kids are at AWANA. This was their last normal week of AWANA before the Awards Ceremony next week, Ben's Bible study is over, and mine was up in there air about who would be able to meet, so Ben asked me if I would like to go out to dinner with him (and Owen) that night while the big kids were at AWANA. The idea of going on a date with Ben, even with Owen along, sounded wonderful. This semester has been rather stressful with Ben teaching three new classes, and with Owen being an inconsistent sleeper, Ben and I have not had nearly enough one-on-one time with each other. It has been very difficult to find time to connect as a couple. We decided to go to Applebee's and take advantage of the 2 for $20 deal, as well as split a dessert. Owen did pretty well for us and is even getting better at sort of sitting up in a high chair. We gave him toys to play with, fed him his baby food, let him tear up a napkin, and it gave Ben and I a chance to still have a conversation with each other and enjoy some good food. It was fun to take advantage of a night out while our big kids were being taken care of at AWANA.

On Thursdays the boys and I usually stay home and try to get caught up on stuff around the house and do some laundry. I also like to try and play more one-on-one with Aedan on the mornings that we are home while Owen naps, but as is normal lately with Owen, he only napped about 40 minutes before waking up. I couldn't get him back to sleep, and I know Aedan was kind of disappointed that we couldn't play together longer. However, we did a couple puzzles together, read a book, and played super heroes together; so that should count for something in his world.

During nap time that afternoon, I began planning for Aedan's upcoming 4th birthday party. It's coming up quicker than I realize, so I started searching Pinterest for super hero party ideas and a place where I could make up an invitation to send out. I wanted to make sure people knew about his party and could plan on coming. Aedan was really excited about inviting some of his friends from church and from Cubbies, so here is the invitation I made up. I'm so excited to celebrate this little man turning four years old. He has been looking forward to his birthday for a long time, and I think I found some good ideas for simple games to play, as well as how I'm going to decorate his birthday cake. (Owen woke up crying after about forty minutes that afternoon, and I though my planning time was over, but luckily, he quieted back down and went back to sleep, giving me a little more time to work.)

It's funny sometimes as I go back and write about certain days or weeks because sometimes I don't have any recollection of what I did on certain days. Sometimes I have to look at messages I send to Ben or on my calendar to remind myself. Friday of this week was one of those days. Owen had a flu booster shot he had to get at the doctor that morning and Samantha had a half day, so I didn't plan on doing much that morning. However, as the boys and I were getting ready to go, I went to let Izzy inside and I couldn't find her in the yard. I called and called her name, but she didn't come running like she normally does. I didn't see her anywhere out in the yard. I started to get scared, hoping and praying that she hadn't gotten out and run away. I got my snow boots on quickly, just in case I had to search somewhere for her. I opened up the door to the garage and started to walk out into the garage to go look around the house, and she came running in from the front of the house, came right to me, and laid at my feet, which is what she does when she does something she knows she's not supposed to do or feels scared for some reason. I was so glad that she is such a good dog and would never dream of running away.

The only plans we had that morning were to take Owen to the doctor for his flu booster shot. For some reason, even though we had an appointment, we had to wait for a long time. In fact, Aedan got to sit and watch almost a whole show on PBS on the TV while we waited. Owen was doing remarkably well considering it was his nap time. We only saw the nurse for the shot, and I held Owen on my lap to keep him still and happy. He kind of looked at the nurse and looked down at his leg when she poked his leg with the needle, but he didn't even cry. It was rather amazing. Then, we went back home to hang out and play until Sissy came home at lunch time.

We have had a fairly relaxed April after having a pretty busy March of traveling and having visitors. It has been nice having our weekends at home to be together, and also just to play catch up. I feel like I finally feel on top of things around the house, and up until recently, I was even caught up on my blog. However, May will be much busier with birthdays, a couple trips out of town for long weekends, and my parents visiting. All those are great things, and I am really looking forward to them, but I know this is kind of the calm before the storm that always happens as a school year ends for Ben and Samantha.

Since we were going to be busy or gone the next few weekends, we decided to go to Canada to go swimming on Saturday night. We had a more relaxing morning at home and Ben tried to get some work done, but Owen gave Ben a hard time when he was trying to get him down for a nap that morning. Then, that afternoon he didn't take as long of a nap as we would have liked considering we were going to be out late at the pool. The kids all took naps that afternoon. We told them we wanted to do something fun with them, but that they would have to take naps for that to happen, so we were glad everyone rested. Owen ended up falling asleep on our way to the pool, and I didn't want him to wake up as soon as we got out of the car, so I volunteered to sit in the car with him while he continued to nap. Ben went inside the pool with Samantha and Aedan to help them get changed and let them start swimming. It was kind of nice sitting in a quiet car, with the only sound being Owen breathing. I should have taken advantage of the time to get a nap in myself. :)

Going to the pool is always so much fun. The kids have a blast swimming, playing, sliding, jumping, and just getting lots of good energy out. Owen has enjoyed the pool every time we've gone as well, and Ben and I just take turns holding Owen and playing with the big kids. I even got to go down the slide with Samantha a few times. Aedan was doing a great job swimming in the beachfront pool without his floatie on. Owen really enjoyed sitting in the shallowest section of the pool playing with the water jets. I enjoy that the water is always warm, so I don't have to worry about being brave and swimming in cold water with the kids. It was a great way to end our Saturday evening together, and we were all tired and ready for bed when we got back home.

(Blog about April 15-21, 2018)