A Week of Halloween Festivities

Samantha: 65 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 29 Months, Week 5

This week was a fun and busy week with lots of Halloween activities, both at church and at school. On Tuesday Aedan and I had MOPS in the morning and then Ben came home around 4:30 to take us to Samantha's school for their Halloween Party. Samantha dressed up at Anna, and Aedan dressed up as a football player. We got there a little early so we just had to wait out in the hallway until we were allowed back at 5:00. We first went to eat dinner in the lunchroom. They had pizza, chips, juice boxes, and water. Ms. Cornwell sat down at the table with us, and Samantha kept seeing friends she knew that she just had to go say hello to. The kids ate pretty well since pizza is their favorite thing. Then, we went down to the gym to play games and do activities. There was a place where they could put stickers on to decorate a picture frame. Someone was there taking pictures that printed right away so you could take them home for the picture frame. There was even a station where you could decorate a doughnut. Once Ben was done with his class he came back over to the school to join us, and once it got to be about 6:00, all the kids made their way to the big gym for trick-or-treating. There were people lined up around the outside of the gym passing out candy, so we walked around the circle for the kids to collect their candy. They had a really fun night. The school was crowded with lots of people, and it was fun that Daddy got to join us for awhile since his late classes usually prevent him from doing any family activities or school functions together.

Wednesday was another full day of activities with volunteering at Samantha's school in the morning, taking care of Aedan, and then heading off to church for the Trunk or Treat event that evening. We found another costume in a box of clothes for Aedan, so he decided to dress as Wolverine that night. Samantha decided to dress as Rapunzel, and she wanted to wear the long hair so that she would really look like Rapunzel. I concocted a pretty good way to secure it to her head by hooking the comb part into a small pony tail at the top of her head, then braiding the sides of hair and wrapping them around the sides of the Rapunzel hair so that it wouldn't flop back and forth and hurt her head. It took awhile to figure it out, but Samantha was satisfied and loved that she could drape the long braid over her shoulder.

Trunk or Treat started at 5:30, and we arrived a little later than that due to fixing Samantha's hair. It was a packed house, and we had to park all the way out on the street when we arrived. It was pretty chilly outside, so the kids were wearing their winter coats over their costumes (something that is not uncommon for trick or treating in the U.P.) We started with the Trunk or Treat part, where there were cars lined up and down the sides of the sidewalk that led into the church. The kids got quite a bit of candy, and then we headed inside to get warm and have some more fun. They had hot dogs provided, so we got some and took them back to a table in the sanctuary to eat our dinner. Both kids ate two hot dogs, Samantha ate bun and all, but plain with no ketchup and mustard. Aedan liked to take his out of the bun and just dip the hot dog in ketchup and mustard mixed together. Strange eating habits, but hey, at least they ate! After finishing our hot dogs, we went to get in line for the inflatable obstacle course. Both Samantha and Aedan were so excited to go in this, and Samantha did a great job of helping Aedan through it in case he got stuck and didn't know what to do.

They were only allowed to go through the obstacle once before having to go back and stand in line again, so we decided to move on and do some other activities and then come back to the obstacle course later. Here are my two cuties posing for a picture: Samantha as Rapunzel and Aedan as Wolverine (not that he even knew who that was).

Our church had different activities set up in different rooms. One room was a cupcake walk where they basically ensured that everyone had a chance to win a cupcake. So to follow up our wonderful dinner of hot dogs, we had cupcakes for dessert. :) There was a pumpkin bean bag toss game, and that was probably Aedan's favorite. He loved tossing the bags over and over again into the holes on the wooden pumpkin's face. Then, they had this candy corn race where they had to go around cones with a candy corn on a spoon without dropping it. They were all very simple activities, but the kids had a great time playing, seeing friends they knew (both from church and school), and most of all, dressing up in costumes and getting candy.

After that we went back to the inflatable obstacle course, and the kids spent the next 15-20 minutes going through it over and over again. They were having a blast, and I enjoyed watching them have such a good time together and with friends. We had never been to a Trunk or Treat before, but this was definitely a fun event.

We stayed until past 7:00, and then it was time to get the kids home and get them ready for bed. Ben was teaching his night class until 8:00, so I was on my own for getting them in bed, but they both really did pretty well for me that night, for which I was grateful.

Thursday was more of a relaxing day. It was a beautiful, sunny day even though it was a little chilly still, so Aedan and I spent some time playing outside. I even mowed the lawn that afternoon because it had been needing it for awhile but it was just too wet or too rainy to do it anytime earlier. I wanted to get the lawn mowed one more time before winter and snow comes. I also took the chance to take pictures of our Halloween pumpkins on our front porch and our beautiful red bushes in front of our house. They are called burning bushes, and now I can tell why. The leaves were green all summer and now, in the fall, they have turned a gorgeous bright red color. It's amazing how different our front area looks with all the weeds pulled and bushes trimmed. It will be fun to plant some new bushes and flowers next spring to fill in some of the empty space and really round out the landscaping, sprucing up the curb appeal of our house.

Since our week nights aren't crazy enough, on Thursday night as soon as Ben got home from his 5:00 class, I left to go to a training on LSSU's campus regarding dealing with infants born dependent on drugs. The training counted towards the 12 hours of training we need to become foster parents, and I thought the topic could be pertinent for us since we are interested in possibly fostering an infant. So Ben was in charge of the kids for dinner and bed time on his own that night. Sometimes I feel like Ben and I are just passing ships in the night with our schedules this semester. Next semester will feel so much different, and I am looking forward to it.

On Friday Samantha had a half day at school. They were allowed to bring candy to share with their friends and dress up in costume, as most of the day would be spent doing Halloween activities. Even though I didn't take a sub job for that Friday, Samantha still wanted to ride the bus to school, so here is Samantha all dressed up in her Rapunzel costume, with her backpack, ready for school. She liked how I did her hair for Trunk or Treat so much that she decided to have me do it again for her on Friday morning. She was up early that morning and ready for a fun day celebrating with her friends at school. I think she makes an adorable Rapunzel. I love that her school does special things like this for the kids.

Ben really needed some time to work and get caught up, which was another reason I didn't take a job for Friday, in addition to there being no jobs I really wanted. Instead, we headed over to school for their costume parade. It was so fun watching all the kids parade around the gym in costume. What a fun event that families could participate in.

The rest of the day went by quickly with Ben working some and both of us running a few errands around town. Samantha had a half day of school, so she got to spend the afternoon at home, playing independently with toys in her room, and spending some one on one time with Mommy and Daddy while Aedan napped, something she doesn't get to do very often.

Ben helped organize a congressional debate for the local elections that took place on Friday night, so he had to leave a little before 4:00 to get to the event. I wasn't looking forward to another night on my own with kids and without him, having dinner without him and putting the kids to bed without him yet again. It was a rough and busy week. The kids and I had plans to go to downtown trick or treating with the Sayer family, but the weather was cold and rainy, so we decided not to go out in the rain. However, that really disappointed me because I was looking forward to meeting up with friends. Especially with how little Ben and I saw each other throughout the week, I was feeling really lonely and needed some connection with other people than my children. Instead of trick or treating, I took the kids to eat dinner at Pizza Hut since I didn't feel like cooking a meal. I was definitely looking forward to the rest of the weekend that we could spend being together as a family.

Saturday morning was relaxed with making pancakes and enjoying family time before ice skating lessons. It's amazing how much improvement we see from week to week. Here are some pictures and videos of their lessons that day.

Even though we had already participated in lots of Halloween activities, there was another one on Saturday night before the hockey game. The kids could come wearing their costumes and go trick or treating around the gym that was decorated in a Finding Dory theme. For this event, Samantha dressed up as Merida from Brave and Aedan wore his football player costume. They got even more candy on this night. I think they have enough candy to last them a year (especially since we only let them eat one piece a day)!

There were some students there doing face painting, so Samantha got a blue heart on her cheek, and Aedan got Olaf on his cheek.

They had a few areas with games like corn hole, blocks, and these lovely painted boxes with scenes from the movie.

After the Halloween party, we went into the hockey game which started a little after 7:00. Both kids took good naps that afternoon, so we planned to try and stay for the whole game with them, even though it would be well past their bedtime when it was over. Overall, they did pretty well, but it is definitely not very relaxing watching a game with the two of them to entertain and corral. In between each period we got up to walk around and stretch our legs. I tried to keep Aedan for the whole game, but by the beginning of the third period, he was just getting too tired. I asked him if he wanted me to take him home and put him to bed, and he said yes. Samantha wanted to stay for the rest of the game with Daddy, so I took Aedan home early and they stayed. It was fun to go to the game as a family, especially since the tickets are such a reasonable price.

After a late night out at the hockey game, the kids slept in a little later than usual on Sunday, so we decided to just go to second service since Ben and I had to teach our elementary small groups, the last time for the month. Then, we had lunch together, Aedan took a three hour nap, and I worked on installing the rest of our kitchen knobs as well as doing lots of laundry. I did the measuring for where the knobs should go and marked them. Ben used the drill to make a hole for me, and then we screwed all the knobs on. I think it really turned out well, and I am happy with how it looks. The cabinets look so much fancier, and it will be nice to not always have to grab the corner of the door to open and close a cabinet or drawer. A little thing like this can make the whole kitchen feel a lot more put together.

As the day wore on from Sunday to Monday, I was not feeling the greatest. My cough seemed to be getting worse. Monday morning I felt very tired and lethargic. I woke up really not feeling well with my cough. I took some cough medicine to help me sleep on Sunday night and took some Tylenol on Monday morning because I had a headache and my head felt fuzzy. I debated whether or not I should go to the doctor, but I didn't want to take the time to go and spend the money to have them tell me it's just a virus, and I should just take cough medicine and Tylenol. It's always hard to know when to go to the doctor with a cough. I tried to relax as much as possible during nap time on Monday afternoon so that I could get through another night alone with kids while Ben taught his late class.

We hadn't really talked about whether we'd go door to door trick or treating on Monday. Especially since I wasn't feeling the greatest, I was fine with just staying home and passing out candy to trick or treaters that came by our house. However, as soon as Samantha walked in the door from school, she asked if we were going to go out trick or treating that night, so I figured I couldn't turn her down. I had dinner ready early, by 5:00, to that way we could eat quickly and go out trick or treating. They had some trick or treating in the dorms that evening as well. Samantha dressed as Merida again, and Aedan dressed as Wolverine. We went door to door down our street on our way to walking over to campus. The kids loved going door to door, ringing the doorbell, and choosing their candy.

We went to the two dorms on campus that were participating in trick or treating, but the highlight of the night was being able to see Daddy teaching his class. He told us to stop by, so we found his room and interrupted his class. Samantha and Aedan were not shy at all about going up in front of the class to introduce themselves. Daddy's students thought the kids were adorable and you could hear many "awwws" from the classroom. Aedan did cry a little when we had to leave Daddy, though.

From there, we decided to do a little more trick or treating door to door around the street near our house. It was getting dark, it was getting cold, and the kids were getting tired of walking. Once it got to 7:00, trick or treating hours were over, so we headed back home. Here are the kids sitting outside our house with their pumpkins full of candy, next to the jack-o-lanterns that they carved. We had a fun Halloween celebrating in so many different ways. We have enjoyed all the family-friendly community events that seem to be here in Sault Ste. Marie.

I was a "nice" mom, as Samantha called me, and let the kids choose one more piece of candy once we got back home. Plus, I had them take their coats off so I could take a picture of them in their costumes better. Happy Halloween from Merida and Wolverine!

(Blog about October 25-31, 2016)

Recovering from Sickness & Out of Town Guests

Samantha: 65 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 29 Months, Week 4

Due to Samantha developing an ear infection and going to the walk-in clinic late on Monday night, she stayed home on Tuesday to rest and let the antibiotics begin working. We set her bunny clock for later, and she actually slept in past 8:00, which is definitely not normal for her. Ben went back out to Walgreens to pick up the rest of her antibiotics and her nasal spray, since he wasn't able to get everything the night before. And, because of the good dad that he is, he agreed to stay at home with the kids while I went grocery shopping. I didn't want to have to drag Samantha out when she wasn't feeling well, but we really needed to get some groceries. Ben is so self-sacrificing. I'm sure he had many other things he could have been getting done that morning, but he put his family first, and I was so very grateful.

Once getting back home, Ben headed off to campus, and I worked on putting the groceries away just as the plumbers showed up. We had a leak in the crawlspace in the unfinished part of our basement, and it just was getting worse. Neither of us know anything about plumbing, and it seemed to be a bigger issue than just tightening a connection, so I used a suggestion from a friend from MOPS for a plumber to come out to our house and check out the issue. They looked at it and made comments about it being complicated for it was leaking back behind the wall, plus the connection that we could see. They said they would need to reconfigure some pipes under the sink to fix the problem. They basically cut and took everything out from under the sink, drilled a new hole in the cabinet going down to the basement, and got everything much more compact under our sink, which was nice. Also, the green growth on the outside wall that we could see from our patio was because of where it was leaking in the wall, so it was a good thing we got it taken care of. All told, it ended up being around $280 for all the materials and labor, and the guys workd until about 2:15, so they were here for quite awhile. Ah, the joys of home ownership, when you have to fix all the problems on your own or through hiring someone to do the work for you.

I think Aedan really enjoyed having an unexpected day home with Samantha. He misses her a lot when she's gone at school every day, and you could tell her antibiotics were already making her feel much better because she was acting back to normal. The kids played pretty well together that morning, even though it was a little crazy with the plumbers there and lots of weird noises happening.

After eating lunch together, I put Aedan down for a nap and let Samantha play in her room until it was time for her to take a nap. She resisted me on napping, but I told her when you stay home sick from school, you have to rest so you can get better. Plus, she was up until almost 10:30 the night before and needed the extra sleep. I hoped that she wouldn't give me too much trouble going to sleep, so after a little while I peeked into her room to check on her, and she was fast asleep, snoring. I decided to peek in on Aedan as well, and even though these pictures are dark, I like seeing pictures of my children sleeping. They are so peaceful.

We took it easy the rest of the day, played at home, ate dinner with Daddy when he got home, had bath time, and then played until it was time for bed. The kids love to be silly with Daddy, and on this night, they were taking turns riding on his back. Samantha and Aedan loved every minute of it. I love the smiles on their faces and the giggles of joy. I'm so glad that Samantha was already feeling so much better.

Wednesday mornings are usually my mornings to go in to help in Samantha's class. However, I had Ben go this Wednesday so that he could see her classroom and let me know what his impression of it was, rather than just hearing stories from me. Plus, my goal for the day was to clean the house, so I needed the extra hours at home to get work done. I love our house, and it's so nice having so much space, but it definitely takes me longer to get the cleaning done than it did in previous places we've lived. Luckily, Aedan did pretty well for me while I cleaned, helped me some, but generally just played near me as I worked.

Ben's experience with Samantha's class wasn't a typical one because they had the Sault fire department visiting that morning. Here are some pictures that were posted on ClassDojo. It was a very foggy morning, but Samantha said it was cool to see the ladder on the truck go up so high, especially with a fire fighter standing all the way at the end of the ladder.

After seeing the fire truck, Samantha's class went back inside to finish calendar time. Ben got to see Samantha's turn at the calendar, which uses the promethean board. They match shapes and colors, write letters, practice counting by 5s and 10s, and many other skills. Each child gets a turn each day and then the order starts over again. Ben commented on how well Samantha did and how earnestly she was trying to reach up high on the board. They were just starting writer's workshop when he left, so he didn't get to experience as much of the classroom as I have in the past. However, I feel better about the work being done now that they've started writing workshop, math centers, and reading groups. Here are some pictures from their math centers. I'm excited to see how much Samantha will learn and grow now that they are doing more academic work, are getting settled into routines, and have more of the behavior problems figured out.

Cleaning the house on Wednesday was like an 8 hour job, but I was so glad to get it done. I feel like it had been awhile since I really got the house all clean. I even got the ladder out of the garage and cleaned the outside of the living room windows. Since the windows are older and the crank versions, they open outwards, meaning they get a lot dirtier and even had some bird poop on them. I was amazed at how much dirt I cleaned off (as well as how much brighter it looked in the living room with the windows cleaned). I felt proud of the work I did that day, and I was glad I got all the cleaning done on Wednesday before my grandma and her husband, Don, arrived for their visit on Thursday.

Thursday morning Aedan and I ran a few errands together, one being going to the Pro Shop in the Norris Center to get guards for the kids' ice skates. I also looked into trading Aedan's figure skates for hockey skates. One of Aedan's teachers recommended that to us at his last lesson because hockey skates are curved on the bottom, so if his goal is to play hockey, it may be a hard transition if he learns how to skate on figure skates. However, in talking to the man at the Pro Shop, who knows a lot about skates, he suggested just leaving Aedan in figure skates because it's important to give him confidence right off the bat as he learns to stand and be steady on the ice, and then take little steps as he learns how to skate. He said that hockey skates are a bit trickier, and he wouldn't want to frustrate Aedan when he's trying to learn and make him give up. He suggested just leaving Aedan in the figure skates and then when he's ready to go up to the next size, we can switch him over to hockey skates. So anyways, we decided to keep the figure skates, but we did get the guards. Aedan's teacher suggested that we put guards on his skates and let him practice walking around the living room on his skates, so that's what we did when we got back home before lunch. Aedan was so excited to put his skates on, and at first he wanted to hold my hands for reassurance as he walked around the coffee table, but after awhile he gained confidence and was able to do it all by himself. He got better at keeping his balance, and even figured out how to fall more gracefully to the side and how to stand back up again. It actually was a battle to get him to take his skates off so that we could do other things and eat lunch. I was glad he took to it so quickly, and if this helps him, we will definitely have to let him walk around in his skates more often.

Just as I started boiling the water for mac and cheese for lunch, I heard from Grandma and Don saying they were in Sault Ste. Marie and were going to stop for lunch. I asked if they wanted me to meet them, to which they agreed. I had to get dinner cooking in the crock pot, so Aedan and I worked on that quickly before leaving to meet Grandma and Don at Karl's Cuisine. I was a little nervous about taking Aedan out to eat lunch at 1:00 when he really should have been getting ready for bed, but I wanted to take advantage of seeing our out of town guests. The hardest part for Aedan, and most kids I imagine, is waiting for our food after ordering. I tried to distract him with coloring, looking at a book, or playing with a toy, but none of those things held his attention for very long. Aedan caught Samantha's cold and cough over the last day or so, so he wasn't feeling very well either which didn't help his attitude and behavior. He picked mac and cheese with applesauce, and he ate most of the applesauce and some of the mac and cheese, but then refused to eat anymore, except for the fruit of my plate, that is. It was good to see Grandma and Don, but it was pretty much impossible for me to carry on any conversation with them while I was trying to deal with amusing Aedan, keeping him quiet, and preventing him from throwing things or pushing things across the table. Eating out with a 2 1/2 year old is not the most pleasant experience, especially not when they want to be in bed napping.

After eating lunch, Grandma and Don followed me back home to see our house. I put Aedan down for his nap and then gave them a tour of our house. They really liked it and gushed over how nice it looked and how much space we had for ourselves. It made me feel proud of the life we've made for ourselves up here, and it made me feel good that they liked our house so much. We then hung out and talked for the rest of the afternoon until Samantha got home from school. Grandma and Don then left to check in to the hotel with plans to come back for dinner at 6:15.

Samantha had a pumpkin carving function at her school that I signed the kids up for, and she was super excited to participate in it. I had to wake Aedan up since he got down for such a late nap, and then we were off to school. They had all the pumpkins sitting outside for the kids to choose from, and Samantha ran into the new girl from her class and wanted to sit by her at a table. We gathered our carving tools and got to work. I helped cut around the top and then gave the kids scoopers to dig the guts out of the pumpkin. However, it is hard work for the kids to do on their own. I ended up doing Aedan's mostly for him, and for Samantha I would scoop it and loosen it up and then have her scoop it out and dump it into the plastic bag. Samantha got a little impatient while waiting for me to get their pumpkins cleaned, but she saw lots of her little friends from school that she just had to go say hello to. She's such a little social butterfly, and she loves the kids in her kindergarten class. Here are the kids working on their pumpkins.

The kids drew faces on their pumpkins, and I helped them use the cutting tool to cut out the design they drew. They both enjoyed popping out the piece when we had cut all the way around.

And here's the finished product! (I couldn't get them both to look at the camera at the same time.) I think their pumpkins turned out pretty well, especially since I was there by myself with them. It was really fun being able to do this with the kids. We all really enjoyed ourselves. It was a really fun event, and it's so nice that her school has these special events for families to attend together. I think Aedan enjoyed his first pumpkin carving experience as well, especially doing it with Sissy at her school made him feel like a really grown-up kid.

After pumpkin carving, we went back home for dinner with Daddy, Grandma, and Don. I made beef strogonaff in the crock pot, a recipe I had never tried before, and it turned out really good, even though the kids weren't too big of fans of it. The kids, Aedan in particular, have been really finicky with food lately. Sometimes things they usually like, they turn their noses up at, and it's hard to find food that everyone will eat and enjoy. We figure, if they're hungry enough, they'll eat. We're not going to make special food for them or not make things that we like because we don't think the kids will like it. Grandma brought presents for the kids, an Elmo book with interactive noises for Aedan and some Color Wonder books (one with glitter pages) and markers for Samantha, so the kids spent the rest of their evening enjoying their presents. Grandma did a good job finding things that the kids really like. Then, it was time for the kids to go to bed and Grandma and Don went back to their hotel to get settled in for the night after a long day.

Even though I could have taken a job substitute teaching on Friday, I decided it would be much nicer to spend time with Grandma and Don. Our plan was for Grandma to take it easy at the hotel because her stomach was bothering her, while I took Don to see the locks. That would be too much walking for my grandma anyways. I thought about bringing Aedan with me, but with his bad cough, I didn't want to take him out in the cold if I didn't have to. Ben was working from home, so he was fine with me leaving Aedan at home with him while I took Don. However, when I arrived at the hotel around 10:15, Don asked me if it would be okay with me to skip the locks and instead buy Grandma a birthday cake, card, and balloon so we could have a little surprise celebration that evening. So instead of the locks, we went to Walmart to get all of those things taken care of, brought the birthday items back to our house to hide, and then went back to the hotel to get grandma. They offered to take us out to lunch, so I suggested a family restaurant called Pure Country that I figured they would like. We had never been there before, but we heard good things about it and had always wanted to try it sometime. Again, Aedan isn't the most patient when sitting and waiting for his food at a restaurant, but it helped that both Ben and I were there to deal with him that day.

From the restaurant, Grandma and Don went back to the hotel while we went back home to put Aedan down for his nap. The cough/cold that originated with Samantha and traveled to Aedan, had now been passed to me as well, so I wasn't feeling very well that afternoon. I probably could have taken a nap myself that day, but I didn't know when Grandma and Don were coming over, and I expected them at anytime. However, Grandma actually ended up falling asleep at the hotel so they didn't come over for some time. Here is Aedan after getting up from his nap that afternoon. My grandma took this picture.

Grandma and Don were staying at the Holiday Inn Express right down the street from our house, so we had plans to go over to their hotel to go swimming on Friday night. As soon as Samantha got home from school and we got everyone dressed in swim suits and ready to go, we headed over for some swim time. The kids were really excited about swimming, and Samantha was particularly excited about trying out her new goggles that we bought for her after the last time she went swimming and turned her eyes red from opening her eyes under water too much. The water was a little chilly in the main pool, but not too bad. Samantha really enjoyed interacting with and playing with Don in the pool. And after awhile Ben and I made our way into the hot tub to warm up while Aedan sat on the edge with his feet or hands touching the water every once in awhile. It was a fun activity to do together that evening.

After getting dressed from swimming, we picked up pizza from Dominoes to eat back at the house. Then, we gave the kids quick showers since they were overdue for a bath and just were in a chlorine pool. We got Grandma's cake, balloon, and card out, and then told her we had dessert ready in the kitchen. When she walked out and saw everything, she was really surprised and touched. Don had a great idea, and I only wish I would have thought it up myself. Aedan loves it when people have birthdays because it means we can sing "Happy Birthday," blow out candles, and eat cake. However, it was already past their bedtime when we sat down to eat dessert, so for some reason Aedan got really upset and started crying. I don't know if it was because it was carrot cake and he was expecting chocolate or vanilla cake, but he just wouldn't calm down, so we just got him down from the table and put him to bed. Samantha always enjoys cake and ice cream and devoured hers before going to bed, too.

On Saturday morning, Grandma and Don decided to stay at the hotel and not join us until lunchtime. We didn't have any plans for that morning other than ice skating lessons from 11-12, so we spent the morning hanging out together. We had pancakes for breakfast, our traditional Saturday morning breakfast, and then Ben and I tried to work on installing our faux wood blinds in our bedroom downstairs. The window coverings the previous owners left behind were old looking, blocked too much light, and were unable to be pulled up and down. Until this point, we just had our sheer curtains covering the windows and that was fine with us. However, now that it is getting down into the upper 30s and lower 40s at night, we have been turning on our heat from the wall heater in our room. We can't close the curtains because they would lay right on top of the heater, so we needed something to block light from our bedroom and to also give us some privacy. It took Ben a little while to figure out how best to install the blinds, and our kids were not getting along with each other well that morning with lots of bickering and picking on each other, so we didn't get as much done as we had hoped. Because of that, Ben stayed home to finish the blinds and to work on lunch so it would be ready when we got home from ice skating lessons.

So, I took the kids by myself which was fine, but definitely not as much fun as when Ben and I go together and can sit their and talk to each other while watching our kids skate. I was amazed at how well Aedan did in comparison to his last lesson two weeks ago. He had this little walker to push around to help him keep his balance and learn how to walk with baby steps. He was much sturdier on his feet, and his teacher was amazed at how much progress he had made from the little boy who cried the entire time during the first lesson. It was so cute watching my little boy out on the ice. He even got a small treat of M&Ms for doing such a good job at his lesson. She said walking around on his skates in our living room made a huge difference in his confidence on the ice.

Samantha did really well at her lesson as well. She was getting much more speed than in the past and was trying her hardest to bend her knees, scratch out her name on the ice, weave her legs in and out, and even twist back and forth to help herself move backwards. I was proud of the effort that she was putting into her lesson.

The only issue we had was when Aedan finished his lesson and got his M&Ms. It made her jealous of him, and she pouted for awhile. I had to go down and talk to her, telling her she needed to work hard for the next half hour and how there are a lot of times that she gets special treats that Aedan doesn't get. Also, just because he gets something doesn't mean she has to get something, too. Eventually, she snapped out of her funk and started making her way around the rink. When she was concentrating on what she was doing, she got going pretty fast, pushing off on her skates more and feeling more confident in her ability to move. Then, towards the end I encouraged her to skate around the circle at the corner of the ice, just to practice more control over her turns and to get her away from the security of the wall. 

Lessons went really well that morning, and I was glad they seemed to still be enjoying it. We got back home around 12:15, and Ben was finishing making mac and cheese as an extra something to eat along with the chicken salad that we made. Aedan was really whiny and clingy and didn't want to sit in his chair to eat. He kept saying, "No like salad." I offered to just give him mac and cheese, but he didn't want that either. We just could not calm him down, so we asked him if he just wanted to go down for his nap. He wholeheartedly agreed with that, so Ben went to put him down for his nap even without eating lunch. He was just too tired to eat, probably from his cough/cold as well as having a full morning of playing and skating hard.

Grandma and Don hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon while the kids took naps. I even was able to drive them around Sault Ste. Marie to give them an idea of where we live and what places we frequent. I think they really enjoyed seeing our city and were surprised at how big it really was. It was fun to be able to show them around, especially since we couldn't really go do much of anything since my grandma can't walk long distances.

Here are the kids listening to Grandma read a story after nap time that afternoon. This is Aedan's new Elmo book, and he loves it. He wanted to take it with him everywhere.

Grandma suggested that we go out to dinner again that evening, but I was not feeling like taking our kids to a sit-down restaurant where we would be refereeing our children the whole time, so I suggested that we go to McDonald's instead, that way we can all eat and then the kids can play and get out of our hair for awhile, allowing the adults to actually sit and talk with one another. Here are the kids and Grandma while waiting for their food.

The kids had fun playing in the play place together. Aedan asks to go to McDonald's sometimes because of the play place, but I don't think he'd like it as much without Sissy there to help him climb up and play with him. From McDonald's we all went back home to hang out for a little longer before the kids had to go to bed. My grandma took this picture of the kids and me. (I cut their nails because they were both getting too long.)

That evening at bedtime, Samantha gave Grandma and Don many, many hugs and kisses good night and good-bye. When Ben told Aedan to say good-bye, he said, "No want to," which usually means that he's sad to see people leave and hopes, maybe, that if he doesn't hug them good-bye, they won't actually leave. The kids had fun with our out of town visitors, and it's always hard to see people go.

On Sunday we took it pretty easy with going to church, teaching small groups for elementary kids, eating lunch together, and putting the kids down for naps. I gave the kids a bath on Sunday evening because Ben burned his hand on some bacon grease from breakfast, and I realized i hadn't taken many pictures or videos of them in the bathtub lately. They were doing this really cute thing with shaking water out of their cups and shouting, "Volcano!" It's fun to get these cute interactions on video to prove it wasn't just all bickering and correcting behavior. There are plenty of times when they get along well and are sweet with each other.

Monday was back to the grindstone, and it always feel like Mondays come too quickly. Ben had a meeting on campus at 8:00 a.m., so I was on my own to finish getting the kids ready and drive Samantha to school. I was actually prepared enough that Aedan and I just went straight to Walmart to do our grocery shopping after dropping Samantha off at school. Neither Aedan nor I were feeling very well that morning. In fact, he didn't get out of his "Captain Hook" pajamas all day. We just hung out at the house and played together. He even created a new fun game. He got a cookie sheet out of the cupboard and was jumping from it over and over again. Then, he decided to jump and go right into a somersault.  He did this motion seamlessly many times, but then there were times like his first attempt on this video where he just crashed his head into the floor. However, he just got up and tried again. I think his form on his somersaults is pretty good with how he pushes up with his arms and sometimes his head doesn't even touch the floor. He is just such a cute kid. I love to see what his little brain can come up with.

Monday nights are late nights for Ben, so the kids and I did some special things together that evening. I let them watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and we also made cookies together. Samantha and Aedan were having fun playing together in the basement, and we had a good night together for which I was really grateful. It was a good end to a busy day.

(Blog about October 18-24, 2016)