Owen Turns 1 Year Old!

Samantha: 88 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 53 Months, Week 3
Owen: 12 Months, Week 1 (Week 53)

Sunday, September 16th we had church in the morning and then I worked on cleaning the house for most of the afternoon. I started some on Saturday, but I always need more than one day. I hadn't really cleaned the house in a long time, and even though I wish I didn't have to do it because I would much rather just be hanging out with my family, I really enjoy the finished product when everything is all clean.

Then, that evening was our first time meeting together with our new small group. Our old small group broke off into three different groups, and we decided to start ours on Sunday afternoons from 4:30 to about 6:30 so that way we could still do our Bible study, have a meal, clean up, and put the kids to bed at a normal bedtime. Especially with AWANA being late on Wednesdays and Aedan in preschool every afternoon, and kids' activities starting up, we wanted to keep our weeknights open. We had a few families interested in starting up with us, and we are doing the study that goes along with our sermon series called "All the Places to Go...How Will You Know?" There were a few people that couldn't make it, but it was enough to get our group started. We also had a babysitter come to help watch the kids. The only problem was that Saturday night into Sunday we unexpectedly caught a skunk in our trap outside. It had been so long that we didn't think we'd catch one anymore. However, when I looked outside that morning, I noticed the trap door was down. I'm glad I looked because I almost let Izzy right out into the backyard, and she would have run right for the trap, scared the skunk, and gotten sprayed again. Anyways, all that to say, animal control wasn't open until Monday at 11:00, and the trap was right along the fence to our backyard, so we didn't want the kids outside playing, which is what our original plan was. Instead, we had the babysitter take the bigger kids across the street to the playground at the school to play for about an hour while the adults did the Bible study. Then, once getting everything set up to eat, we ate about 6:00. Our house works fairly well, but it's hard when we are trying to accommodate a lot of people trying to eat at the same time, even with the leaf put into our table. It gets pretty crowded in our kitchen. However, I think it all worked well, and even though we had 11 kids, including our own, they all got along really well, played, and had fun together. Samantha and Aedan couldn't wait until everyone could come back for small group again.

After getting things mostly cleaned up that evening, we got the kids ready for bed, and I was downstairs getting little Owen ready for bed. I took this cute video of my little boy who would wake up the next morning as a 1 year old. He was getting so tired, but he was laughing so hard at me tickling his tummy. I love his laugh, his gurgling, and his look of anticipation at my hand as I come in to tickle him.

And here's my little boy fast asleep in his crib after I nursed him to sleep. It was pretty warm that night, so his head got all sweaty when I was holding him. I love his sweet little red cheeks and his hands tucked up underneath him. I love having the privilege of putting him to sleep every night and getting to cuddle with my little baby when he is calm and relaxed. I know people say not to nurse your baby to sleep, but this is always one of my favorite parts of the day (has been with all my babies), and I found myself holding Owen a little bit longer that night, touching his soft hair and skin, feeling the weight of his body completely relaxed in my arms, listening to his sweet, deep breaths. I can't believe I've been holding this little boy in my arms for a year now. :)

Monday, September 17th was the big day: Owen's 1st Birthday! We didn't do too much that day other than hang out at home. Owen took a little morning nap, and animal control came to get the skunk trap just before lunch, so we were finally free to use the back yard again. The boys and Izzy were so excited to be able to play outside. It was another beautiful, warm day, which we've been lucky to have so many of this summer, and this Monday was going to be the last warm day for awhile. Fall temperatures were going to be moving in that week, and I wanted to take advantage of the bright sunshine. (Sometimes I wish we lived somewhere where it was warm and sunny most of the year. Having the sun out and being able to spend time outside does so much for my mood.) Anyways, here are some pictures I took of Owen playing outside that afternoon before we had to leave to take Aedan to preschool. Owen loves this net that Aedan got from church a long time ago. He was just walking around carrying it for a long time, (and he got really upset with me when I had to take it out of his hands so we could go get in the car).

I love these pictures of him sitting on the chair because you can see his thighs, which aren't nearly as thick as his brothers were at this age, but that's probably because Owen has already been walking for about a month now. You can see his light colored hair that is a little wispy and curly in the back, especially when it's more humid outside. And you can see the bruise on his forehead because it seems like he always has some sort of bruise or scratch on his forehead or cheek from falling down so much. He just gets going too fast for his little legs to keep up. You can't tell in this picture, but he still has blue eyes like his daddy, and he still has the cutest dimples on each cheek (even though it's difficult to capture that in a picture).

Owen gave me some trouble napping that afternoon, which made things a little difficult as I was trying to finish decorating his duck cake. Luckily, I was able to go back down to his room, hold him and bounce him and got him back to sleep. It was a little tricky decorating the cake because it was so humid outside that the frosting was melting and dripping down as I put it on the cake. I had to stick it in the refrigerator to cool and even in the freezer at one point so that the icing could stay the right consistency. However, I got it done, and I was happy with the end product. We have made a duck cake for each kid's first birthday, so it's kind of a tradition now. And I have to say that this cake turned out the best. The consistency of the batter worked well, and it didn't break apart at all when I stood it up from the pan. I even think the way I iced it looked better than what I've done before.

When I picked up Samantha from school, I discovered that Samantha wasn't feeling well, but she was being kind of vague about how she was actually feeling. She said she felt dizzy, or woozy she put it, but that it got better later in the day after she sat out at recess time. Since it was such a warm day that day, I wanted to go to Sherman Park beach one last time before it got cold. I thought about going earlier with just the boys, but our timing didn't work out and I figured that Samantha would enjoy going with us. She decided that she felt good enough to go to the beach for a little while, and even though the cold front was starting to come through and it was cloudier and windier than it was just a couple hours earlier in the day, the kids still had fun, and I got some great pictures of my three kiddos. I love these three so much, and this was a perfect way to celebrate Owen's 1st birthday. He loves water, he loves playing in the sand, and he loves his brother and sister.

Samantha went right out into the water. Aedan ventured in a little bit, but came back out quickly because it was feeling cold because of the wind, and the water was pretty wavy as well. Owen mostly walked around and played in the sand, but he did try out the water for a little while before deciding it was much too cold to sit in for very long.

He enjoyed having the waves come over his lap, but you can tell in this picture and video how cold he is. You can tell by his face that he is not enjoying the water much and that he is cold.

I convinced him to come up out of the water and play with the sand toys instead, and I tried to get a few more pictures of my little 1 year old boy.

Samantha and Aedan also decided to come out of the water, but they still wanted to play more at the beach before going home, so they started digging a tunnel in the sand. They worked together and figured out how to get the water from the waves to flow up the path they made in the sand and up into their little hole they dug for their cave.

After being at the beach for about an hour, we decided to head back home to eat dinner and do more celebrating of Owen's birthday. I made his little "1 Year Old!" sign to stick on his chest, but he was much too interested in it this time for me to get many good pictures of him looking at the camera with the sign on.

When we got back home that evening, it became very clear that Samantha wasn't feeling well. She wasn't just cold from being in the water and the wind at the beach. I took her temperature, and she had a fever. I felt so bad that I took her out to the beach when she wasn't feeling well. She just really made it seem like she was doing okay when I talked to her after school. She bundled up in a sweatshirt and tried her hardest to not get too close to Aedan or Owen, just in case she was coming down with something. I felt even worse for her because she told her teacher at school that she wasn't feeling well, that she felt dizzy and woozy around lunch time, but her teacher didn't message me until after 3:00 when I had finally gotten Owen back to sleep and it was almost the end of the day. If I would have known she wasn't feeling well earlier, I could have come and gotten her so she could have rested at home that afternoon. I am wondering if this woozy feeling she was feeling probably was her body having a temperature, but I don't think they ever checked her temperature. Our plan was to keep her home from school the next day, since she had a fever that evening, so she could rest and get feeling better. There was a lot of nasty stuff going around, so I just hoped that it wasn't going to turn into something more.

After eating dinner, we decided it was time to let Owen open his presents before having birthday cake. Samantha and Aedan were pretty excited about letting him open presents from them first, so the first present he opened (with some help) was the new farm they picked out because it had a bell, and they knew Owen would like ringing the bell.

I love how Samantha and Aedan are just as excited about his presents as Owen is.

The other toy they picked out for Owen was a small ball that would light up. He likes to play with balls, and they thought he would like that it lit up.

The next present Owen got was a touch and feel book called "Never Touch a Monster" from the Clemons family. He really enjoyed feeling the pages and particularly liked the front cover.

Samantha was more than happy to look through the book with Owen.

Then, he opened another present from the Clemons family that was a xylophone and pounding toy combined into one. We tried to get things out of the box for him to see and play with for a few minutes before moving on to the next present. He loved using the mallet to bang on the xylophone and was so proud of himself for creating the noise all by himself.

Then, he opened up the present from Ema and Papa, which was a tunnel he could crawl through. I just love this video of him discovering it for the first time. He had such a look of joy on his face, and it was so fun to watch him (and Samantha and Aedan) enjoy these new presents together.

The next two presents were from Grandpa and Grandma: a pelican with animals that you put in it's mouth and you can pull out the tummy, as well as an octopus bath toy.

Then, the last present was from Mommy and Daddy. We got him this Cozy Coupe car. It's ironic that we are just now getting a toy like this because Samantha was obsessed with cars like this when she was a toddler and we took her to play at the Banneker Center in Bloomington, but we just never had space to keep one or to use one in our tiny apartments. Then, Aedan didn't seem to like them as much as Samantha did. However, when trying to think of a present to get for Owen, I was often drawing a blank because we already have so many toys, so I decided this might be a nice present for Owen to grow into and for Samantha and Aedan to enjoy playing with as well. He was pretty excited to get into it and loved it even more when Aedan started pushing him on a ride around the house.

After letting the kids play and enjoy the presents for a little while, we got the duck cake out of the refrigerator, and we made sure to take some pictures of it before cutting it up. I think it turned out pretty well. I was proud of my decorating, and it was the best duck cake I've made so far. Third time's a charm!

I brought Owen up on to the counter so he could see his cake and the candle we lit for him. Samantha and Aedan sang Happy Birthday to Owen very excitedly, and Owen couldn't help but clap along. Then, I think my favorite part is at the end when Samantha says, "1-2-3, Yay!" and starts clapping. That is Owen's favorite thing to do. When he hears someone say, "Yay!" He automatically starts clapping. I love his smile in this video, as there is nothing better than his big brother and sister doting on him. :)

And here are some great pictures and videos of Owen trying his birthday cake. He didn't really know what to think of it, partially because it was past 7:00 and he was getting tired, but he definitely got messy trying to pick up the cake and put it in his mouth. I think he liked the icing better than the cake.

I had such mixed feelings with my baby turning 1 year old. They change so much in the first year of their life and sometimes the pace of that change makes me sad. These days go by so quickly even though sometimes they seem so long when you are in the midst of them. In fact, here's what he looked like the day he was born:

I still see a lot of similarities between this newborn and the big boy in the pictures above, but it's just amazing how much babies grow and change in that first year, from not being able to even hold his head up to now walking around. It has been a wonderful year watching him learn and grow, soaking up the snuggles that he so freely gives. It has been so awesome to see Samantha and Aedan grow into their role as big sister (again) and big brother. They love Owen and are so excited to see him every morning. Aedan even came up with the nickname that we still use for him: Owen Bowen. I love seeing how Owen follows Samantha and Aedan around the house, wanting nothing more than to be involved in whatever they are doing. He is definitely our most physical boy and he loves to wrestle and climb all over people (and Izzy). In fact, just a few months ago, when he was just crawling, Aedan would say, "He's attackling me!" He is eating like a champ now, when just a few months ago, he was choking on puffs. We have been cutting back on the baby food as much as we can and have been giving him what we are eating, as long as it's something he could handle chewing and enjoy eating. He really enjoys being able to feed himself and try new flavors and foods. Strawberries seem to be one of his favorites. Sleeping has been an issue for most of his life, since about four months on, from sleeping regressions, to teething, to 45 minute naps, to waking up 5+ times a night, to ear infections, to being awake for a couple hours in the middle of the night, to waking up every time we put him down. However, I feel like we are starting to come into a better pattern lately. Most of time I can get him take a pretty good afternoon nap, and most nights he only wakes up once to nurse and goes right back to sleep. Morning naps are hit or miss sometimes, but most of the time it works out okay because he is almost always happy when he is awake and allowed to play and explore. Sometimes we compare him to the Energizer bunny because it seems like he would just keep going and going all day and all night if we let him. However, regardless of the trouble we've had with sleeping and the way it made me feel crazy at times, Owen is truly a joy and a blessing. During those hard times, I tried to remind myself that I cried and prayed for this baby for almost two years as Ben and I tried to get pregnant. I love him so much, and I can't imagine our lives and our family without him. He is happy, easygoing, fun, has the greatest laugh and the cutest dimples. He has just started to say, "Mama," mostly when he is getting tired and ready for bed, and he also has learned how to say "uh-oh," which the kids definitely get a kick out of. I can't wait to see how his personality will develop in the next year, and I can't believe I now have a 1 year old!

Owen had a pretty good sleep that night after his birthday, sleeping all the way until 5:00, nursing for half an hour, and then going back to sleep until a little after 7:30. Samantha stayed home from school that day since she had a fever the night before, but she didn't have any more fever the whole day on Tuesday. Aedan was pretty excited that Samantha had an unexpected day home from school, and they had a blast playing together that morning. Sometimes I miss this free time for them to just spend playing together. They were acting out and singing all the songs to the movie "Coco," and it was so funny to watch them.

Then, later that morning, I had my first MOPS Bible study that started at 10:30 at church. Samantha came with me and just brought a book to read and a coloring book to color in. I had her sit in the living room at church while Aedan and Owen went with the childcare, and I participated in the Bible study. I didn't join this group at all last year because they were doing a study on more basics of the Bible that I didn't really feel like I needed. However, to start this year, they are doing a study on parenting in the early years. With Owen getting out of needing to nap every morning, and even having a chance to get him down for a nap before Bible study some weeks, I decided it would be good to try doing the Bible study this year. This first week was just time to get to know each other, and each of us introduced ourselves and gave a little background about how we grew up and what experience we had with the church growing up. It was a wonderful first meeting, and I'm excited to be a part of this Bible study group.

Since Samantha was largely acting like normal and hadn't had a fever all day, I decided to let her go to gymnastics that afternoon since it was the first one. We got everything we needed and piled in the car to go pick up Aedan. I had a snack for them in the car, and we were on our way over to Canada. However, the line to get through customs was longer than I anticipated, and we ended up getting to lesson a few minutes late. We weren't sure exactly where we were going or what we were doing, so the first day was a little crazy. The gym is packed full of kids in various classes, and parents aren't allowed in the gym area, so Owen and I just hung out on the outside. I gave him some snacks, and I brought his light-up ball for him to play with while Samantha and Aedan were in their lesson for an hour. Owen was perfectly content walking around and throwing his ball over and over again, so I spent most of the time just following him around. I was able to get a few videos and pictures of the kids when they were on the balance beam, but the rest of the stuff was too far away for me to be able to see much of. Aedan didn't think he would like doing gymnastics, I think mostly because he didn't know what it would be like or what to expect, but afterwards he said he liked it and wanted to go back again. Samantha said, "I didn't just like it, I loved it!" I'm glad that we were able to sign them up for this. When I asked Samantha what activity she wanted to try, gymnastics was the one she mentioned, so I wanted to let her try it out, even if it means our Tuesdays are a little busier with going over to Canada and not getting home until 6:00.

Ben was able to have dinner ready for us when we got home, since he got home from campus around 5:00, so then we enjoyed eating dinner together as a family, talking about our days, and then getting the kids bathed and in bed. Owen had another decent night of sleep, making it until 5:20 before waking up to nurse. It's wonderful that he is sleeping so long now without waking up. He's almost there, so close to sleeping through the night! However, when it gets to 5:00 or later, it's harder to get him back to sleep, and then, like on days like Wednesday, he nursed until close to 6:00 when it was almost time for me to be awake for the day. Luckily, I was able to get him back to sleep and he slept until almost 7:30. I definitely was not ready for him to be awake at 5:20 for the day.

I never know what to do about Owen's morning naps, especially because sometimes I can take the time to try and get him to sleep just to have it not work or have him wake up right away. So on Wednesday I decided to skip his nap so we could go to the library for story time. It's dinosaur themed right now, and Aedan just had a blast making his craft and building Legos with Ruger and Josiah. Owen likes exploring all the toys and watching all the kids play around him.

Here is a fun video of Aedan and Owen both playing with cars, driving them around in the same area, but still playing side-by-side, rather than with each other. I love that they are starting to interact with each other more, and it seems like Owen really enjoys playing with cars. I'm glad that these two boys still have the mornings to play together.

Now that Aedan's in preschool, he is coming home with a lot more papers and projects that he makes at school. Here is one where they were practicing writing their names using paint dot markers. He's definitely getting the hang of making his letters correctly. I like watching him learn. :)

Wednesday was one of those days where skipping Owen's morning nap came back to bite me later on. He was not napping for me that afternoon. I think he was just overtired, and he would not stay asleep no matter what I did. Then, no one was feeling well that evening. Samantha still had a slight temperature, Aedan had developed a pretty bad cold, and Owen was tired and grumpy from only sleeping half an hour all day. We decided to keep Samantha and Aedan home from AWANA that night so we could get everyone to bed at a decent time and hope that everyone would start feeling better soon. So instead, we ate dinner together, went on a little walk around campus with the boys riding in the wagon and walking Izzy as well. We have to remember to get outside more, even as the weather gets colder. We don't have to always be cooped up inside, and it was so nice just getting out and taking a walk together like that. The boys had fun riding, Samantha was a good big sister and pulled them around, and Ben and I actually had some time to talk as we walked around campus. It was a nice change of pace to our usually hectic weeknights.

Ben had an event to go to on campus that night, so I put all the kids to bed by myself. It was a little challenging because Owen was just getting so tired, but I had to get Samantha and Aedan down first before I could nurse Owen and put him to bed. He went to sleep okay, but then he woke up twice between when I put him down and when Ben and I went to sleep, which made me really nervous for how the rest of the night would go. However, after those times, he ended up sleeping all the way until 6:15 without waking up. It was SO wonderful to get an uninterrupted night's sleep. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the clock. Now, 6:15 was too early for him to wake up, in my book, but it would have been silly to try and get him back to sleep at that time of day. I figured I would just put him down for a morning nap. However, I tried everything I could for an hour to get him down for a nap, even tried nursing him again, and he wouldn't stay asleep. I felt like I was just doing everything wrong with him, like it shouldn't be that hard, so it must be something that I'm doing or not doing. I just felt so inadequate as a mom lately, like I can't do anything right. He was just crying in his bed, and I was so tired of dealing with him not napping, that I just let him cry in his bed for awhile. After I tried for an hour and then he cried in his bed for an hour, he finally fell asleep at 11:00, just as I was about ready to go down and get him up, so then I felt guilty for letting him cry himself to sleep. At least during that time he was in his bed, I was actually able to spend time with Aedan. We played games together, played super heroes together, and even did a little bit of our preschool activities with letters and numbers and writing.

Then, I had to wake Owen up at 12:40 so we could take Aedan to preschool. Since he had just gotten up from his nap, I decided there was no way he would take another one that afternoon before we would have to pick up the big kids, so I decided to get our grocery shopping for the week done while I just had Owen. It ended up being a productive afternoon, just different than I thought it would be. I had just enough time to get home, unload the groceries, put everything away, give Owen a snack, and then head back out to pick up the kids.

Thursdays are our more low-key evenings since we don't have anything going on. Owen got this present in the mail that I ordered using my grandma's money that she went for Owen's birthday present. I let him open it once Samantha and Aedan got home from school, and Owen was SO excited to have his own broom and mop to use and carry around as much as he wanted. He was always trying to take mine out of the closet, and the little set we had for Aedan was all broken and chewed up by Izzy, so I figured a nice wooden set would be a perfect present for Owen. He carried around the broom for most of the rest of the evening. Even Samantha and Aedan enjoyed playing with it quite a bit. New toys are always fun.

Jen

Earlier this week, Ben mentioned that I should take Aedan out to breakfast on Friday morning, as a way to do something special with him. I so often don't get time with him one-on-one, especially with how finicky Owen has been with napping, so I was glad to have this chance to spend time with this cool little boy. He was still feeling a little under the weather with his bad cold, but we had a good morning together. I took him to Pure Country, and he got pancakes with bacon, and lemonade. Before our food came, we spent time coloring in coloring books together. We talked about his time in preschool, and it was really nice to be able to take my little boy out, who really is not so little anymore. I love his sweet face, his cute smile, his little baby teeth, and his quiet, more reserved personality. (I think he is a lot more like me.) He will always have such a special place in my heart, and I loved this special time with him.

Ben stayed home with Owen that morning, and he didn't nap for him either. He did the same thing he has been doing with me where you get him to sleep, but he wakes up as soon as you lay him down. Part of me has been thinking that maybe he is ready to go down to one nap, even though I think he is still a little bit young for that, but then sometimes it seems like he is so tired in the morning and is clearly showing signs that he is tired. And then even if he skips a nap in the morning, it doesn't mean he will actually take a good nap or any nap at all in the afternoon either, so I have no idea what the right thing to do is.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning hanging out and playing until Samantha got home from school because she had a half day, and then we took Aedan to preschool. When we got home, I got Owen down for a nap pretty easily, for which I was thankful for. Then, I got to spend some fun time with just Samantha. I feel like I don't share much about her in my blog during the week because she is at school. I need to do a better job of recording some of things she tells me about her day so that I can write them down as a record of her time at school as well. Samantha asked if we could play games together, so we played Hedbanz and then read a book together. I was glad she had a half day, that Owen was actually napping, and that Aedan was at preschool so I could have this special time with my girl. I definitely miss her a ton while she's gone at school, and I don't get much time like this to just hang out with her and do what she wants to do. If Aedan is home, she usually chooses to play with him, so I was honored that she wanted to spend time with me that afternoon. I made sure that she knew nothing is more important than being able to spend time with her. Sometimes I am far too guilty of letting work get in the way of just enjoying my kids, and that is something I am consciously trying to work on.

However, after about an hour of Owen's nap, the power flickered on and off a couple times before going completely out, which woke him up, since he has a sound machine going in his room. It was super windy here that afternoon, which is probably why the power went out. I rushed downstairs with my phone to put the white noise app on in his room, but it was too late, he was already up and crying. I ended up holding him and getting him back to sleep, but it didn't last for too long and he was up crying again, so I decided to just give up and let him come upstairs to play. I just hoped that the power would be back on before bedtime so everything would be normal for the kids trying to sleep that night.

The power went out at Aedan's preschool as well, so they called and asked for all the parents to come pick up their kids. I was with Owen and didn't know how to manually open the garage door, so Ben came home, since he is flexible on Fridays, and he was able to go pick Aedan up from school. Because of that, he was home earlier than normal, and it was so nice for all of us to just be able to hang out as a family. After a long and busy week, Friday was like a breath of fresh air. Here are Samantha and Aedan dressed up with their things they got from their Wendy's kids' meals on Tuesday for lunch: a pirate and a scuba diver.

Jen

Ben surprised me that night with a date night out. He lined up a babysitter and everything, which was so sweet of him. We decided to go out to dinner at The Palace, giving it one more chance for its credibility as a Mexican restaurant. The only other time we had gone there was shortly after we moved up here. We had the kids with us, and I remember them being cranky and not eating their food well, which probably marred our recollection of the restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised, and it would definitely be a place I would go back to again when I have a hankering for Mexican food. It's no Chuy's, but considering we don't live anywhere near one, we will take what we can get. It was so fun to get out and eat a dinner we didn't have to make or clean up, without having kids interrupting, or feeding and entertaining a messy toddler. Ben knew we needed a night out, and it was so good for us. We even rented a movie to watch together after the kids were in bed. It was a perfect date night, and even better because it was spontaneous and I didn't have anything to do with the planning of it. :)

After a week of rough naps, Owen took two great naps on Saturday, which was wonderful. Here is Owen playing with his car that morning.

After Owen's morning nap, we went over to Lincoln Elementary for their Fall Fest/Touch a Truck event. They had carnival games inside the building and lots of trucks and vehicles outside for the kids to climb in.

Hopefully this is the only time we will see our kids in the back of a police car!

Here they are trying to look sad because they got in trouble. :(

Owen wanted to get in on the action, too.

There were lots of different trucks and vehicles, and the kids climbed up and sat in almost all of them.

After spending a long time on the Coast Guard boat, Owen was running too fast, tripped, and fell right onto his face, scraping up his cheek right under his eye and the edge of his nose. He cried pretty hard, and his face didn't look very good. He normally does better at catching himself, so I'm not sure what the deal was then. However, we decided it was a good time to go inside and eat some lunch. They had hot dogs, popcorn, and water. Before we left, Aedan wanted to take a picture as a strong man and Samantha as a fancy lady.

We had a few more vehicles to see, and I think the favorite one was the ambulance. Mr. Kent Goulet from church was inside and was answering any question a kid had for him. Samantha sat across from him, asking him question after question for at least 20 minutes. She was like a sponge soaking it all in. I love her curiosity for learning new things, for asking good questions, and for actually wanting to know and remember the answers. That girl is smart and loves learning, and she will go far in her life, I just know it. I am confident that she can become a scientist, or whatever it is that she sets her heart to, when she grows up, and I will do whatever I can to support her in that.

After spending over two hours at the fall fest, we decided to head home so I could get Owen down for a nap. He didn't give me any trouble going to sleep, and guess what?! He slept for 3 hours! I don't think that has ever happened before. I was able to get some work done, and then sat and watched the movie "Coco" with Samantha and Aedan. Ben had a lot of work to do, and the kids were both still working on getting over their colds, so we decided that relaxing and watching a movie was a perfect idea for a Saturday afternoon. They were excited that I sat and watched the movie with them, so now I know more about the story and songs that they sing and act out. It was such a wonderful family day together. We had beautiful weather and fun times together. I love weekends with my family. :)

(Blog about September 16-22, 2018)