A Trip to Upland for Thanksgiving

Samantha: 66 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 30 Months, Week 4

On Tuesday morning, Ben and I had several errands and things to take care of before going out of town for Thanksgiving. He taught his 11:00 class, but other than that, he just helped me get things done like getting the oil changed, picking up a few things from Walmart, and getting cash from the bank. While he was out running errands, Aedan and I worked on putting away laundry and getting everything packed up for our trip. While getting things out of Aedan's closet, I discovered this monster hat and some green mittens. He was already wearing his striped shirt and the flower dress over the top, but he had to add to his outfit for the day. It was such a typical 2 1/2 year old way to dress, in all his own style, that I had to capture a picture of it.

Tuesday was a pajama day at school, and Samantha was excited to wear her fox pajamas to school that day. Here's a picture of her class working on writing what they're thankful for. Samantha made a card for Alaina, saying she's thankful that Alaina plays with her. You can tell that she had our trip to Upland and time with her cousin on her mind at school that day.

We decided to leave for Upland right after Samantha got out of school again because it worked pretty well last time. This time would be a little different though because it gets dark so early in the evening now. The kids were really excited about going to Upland for a long Thanksgiving break, and Ben and I were glad to get a break and get out of Sault Ste. Marie for awhile. The kids played and looked at books in the car for awhile, while it was still light out, then we put on a movie for them until we stopped for dinner. Since there's no play place or anything on our way down, we decided to order pizza from Pizza Hut and have it ready for us when we arrived at the restaurant in Grayling. It was good to get out of the car and stretch our legs, and we knew the kids would enjoy stopping at Pizza Hut. We even let them stand up in the booth while they ate since they were going to be sitting so much in their car seats that night.

We drove for about another hour before stopping to get gas, for Ben to get coffee, and to change the kids into their pajamas and make another bathroom stop. After we got back in the car, it was time for bed for the kiddos. Samantha took longer to fall asleep than last time, but she was asleep before 9:00. Aedan, on the other hand, gave us a hard time falling asleep again, which was really frustrating Ben. Ben was ready to just stop at a hotel, but Samantha was sound asleep, and I figured Aedan would eventually fall asleep if we just ignored him long enough. He wasn't being loud in his car seat, and none of it was phasing Samantha, so I was fine with just continuing on our way. He fell asleep closer to 10:00 again, so much later than we would have liked, but at least he fell asleep. We had a smooth ride all the way down to Upland, arriving a little before midnight. We got the kids in the house, got them set up in their rooms and tucked into bed, then we brought everything else in before getting settled into bed ourselves.

On Wednesday the kids had the house and Ema and Papa all to themselves, which is fun for them to have their own personal time. They love coming to Upland, for playing with Ema and Papa is way more fun than playing with Mommy and Daddy. Aedan usually spends most of the first day playing with Larry the Cucumber, who he calls Wherebrush, Bob the Tomato, and Junior Asparagus, who he calls Nana. Samantha likes to sit and color, while Aedan is playing with his precious Ema. I think she was enjoying time away from school with freedom to be more relaxed, to play how she wanted, and to not have anywhere to be or anything in particular to do.

Aedan has been slightly obsessed with Super Why lately, and he asks to watch it almost every day. We let the kids watch an episode that day as well, and I was trying to catch the kids on video dancing to the "Hip, Hip, Hooray" song that is at the end of every show. Aedan always gets up and dances just like the characters on the show, and he goes back and forth between pretending to be Alpha Pig or Super Why. He usually chooses Alpha Pig because he likes to pretend to use tools from his toolbox. This little dance they did in the video is not quite like normal, a little more silly shaking of the hips that usual, but it made me laugh. Family time is pretty great.

Since the kids were up later than usual with the drive down, we put them both down for naps that afternoon. In fact, Ben and I even laid down for awhile too. Then, on Wednesday evening Ema and Papa were kind enough to watch Samantha and Aedan for us so that we could go out on a date. Ben and I were both craving Mexican food, Chuy's in particular, because that restaurant is just so good. It's hard living in a city with not even one Mexican restaurant, so we will definitely have to take advantage of it when we go places out of town.

Ben and I had a nice dinner out together, and we got back home around 7:00. Aunt Jeni and Alaina had arrived about an hour earlier, so all the kids were having a fun time playing together that evening. We switched Samantha's stuff over to the other bedroom, for she was going to be sleeping on an air mattress in the room with us while Jeni and Alaina were staying over as well. Samantha usually does pretty well sleeping in the room with us, so we don't mind, it works out pretty well.

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, and Samantha must have been pretty tired because she slept in past 7:30 that morning, which is very unusual for her. Ema and Aunt Jeni were up earlier getting things prepared for our Thanksgiving meal. Ben and I would have gotten up earlier as well, but we didn't want to disturb Samantha's sleep by getting up and moving around in the room. It is traditional for Ben's family to have the Thanksgiving meal at lunchtime, so much of the morning was spent getting food ready in the kitchen. I tried to help entertain the kids some downstairs, so they weren't getting in the way too much in the kitchen. We did all go on a walk that morning to get some exercise and get out of the house for awhile. We walked around campus, letting the kids run, climb on rocks, visit the fountains, and walk under the bell tower. Here is a great picture that Jeni took of all three kids looking at the stream together.

We had a delicious meal for lunch of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, stuffing, a broccoli salad, and several choices for dessert. Both Samantha and Aedan aren't big fans of traditional Thanksgiving food, plus at lunchtime they are both just too tired to eat a big meal, so they didn't eat too well that day. However, the rest of the adults really enjoyed the meal. It was all very good, and we filled our tummies full.

With how tired out all the kids were, it was nap time for all that afternoon. Alaina slept, Daddy and Samantha napped together, and even Andrew and Jeni fell asleep on the couch that afternoon. I don't do very well napping, and it really doesn't make me feel any better most of the time, so I think I was one of the only ones up that afternoon and decided to get some work done on my computer instead.

That evening we spent more time hanging out at the house, playing, and talking together. I forget exactly what Samantha and Alaina were watching, but they had their hands over their hearts, and I think they were watching someone sing the national anthem.

It was a busy, noisy day at the house with it full of all the people. I love that we all get to be together and that Samantha and Alaina have all this time to play together, but sometimes it's hard for Ben and I to have any time together or by ourselves (since we are both introverted). Especially on Thanksgiving, it seemed like he and I were always in two different places doing different things, and then at night we don't have the chance to talk and catch up like we usually do as we lay in bed at night since Samantha is sleeping in the same room as us and we try to be quiet so as not to wake her up.

Jeni and Andrew both had to go back home on Thursday evening because they worked on Friday, but Alaina stayed with us so she could have more time to play with Samantha and Aedan. In fact, we decided to let Samantha and Alaina have another slumber party together. We moved Samantha's air mattress into the other room so that Alaina could sleep on the bed and Samantha could still sleep on the air mattress. Since Samantha had complained last time about Alaina snuggling up into her too much during the night, we decided they would both sleep better in separate beds, but right next to each other in the same room. They were really excited about this chance for a slumber party again. I read a book to them, and we let them lay in bed together and talk and be silly for awhile before telling them they had to get in their own beds and try to go to sleep. Ben went up to their room a couple of times to tell them to quiet down, but they were still whispering with each other so he had to go back up again and use his stern dad voice. They finally fell asleep later than we would have liked, but it was great for them to have this experience and special time together.

On Friday morning Papa followed his typical morning tradition of making pancakes with the kids. They like to help stir up the batter and Samantha is even a pretty good pancake flipper most of the time.

Both Samantha and Alaina do GoNoodle at their school for brain breaks, so Ben decided to log in on his computer so the kids could move around and get some wiggles out that morning. After a couple days of mostly being inside the house, since it was raining pretty much the whole time we were in Upland, the kids were getting a little bored with toys and antsy to get out of the house.

Aedan pretty much will never let Ema out of his sight. If she goes somewhere, he follows. In fact, Aedan fell down the stairs again on Friday morning because he was following Grandma with too many toys in his hands. As soon as he got up from the bottom of the stairs, he crawled right back up the stairs to get a hug from Daddy, and he calmed down pretty quickly, so we knew that he was okay. Anyways, Aedan will often say to Ema, "Play wif me, Ema," and will drag her off to play, to do a puzzle, or to read a book together. I am definitely pushed to 2nd place, if not even farther down on the totem pole, when we are in Upland and Ema is around, but that is perfectly okay with me. I love the special relationship the two of them are forming together.

Before lunch that afternoon, we decided to drive over to the Science building as a way to get out of the house and let the kids run around and get some energy out. We looked at the finches, rode on the elevator, the kids played down on the bottom floor where they always pretend the area under the stairs is a cage in a zoo or a jail. Ben, Papa, and I were actually able to just sit down and talk for awhile as the kids played their imaginary role-playing game. We even got a game of Ring Around the Rosy in before going up the stairs.

All three kids were sitting in the same place at the same time, so I decided to take advantage of my chance to get a picture of the three cousins together. Such cute kids. :)

(Do you notice that Samantha and Alaina have the same shoes? This is purely coincidence. They both chose the exact same kind at different times. The tricky part is that they are both the same size, 12.5, so we have to do our best to keep track of whose is whose. It's fun to see how similar they are to each other, yet how different they are in so many ways.)

On Friday night we all decided to take a trip into Marion to see the Walkway of Lights. We figured the kids would really enjoy seeing some Christmas lights, and I was excited to experience our first Christmas activity of the season, especially since I don't think they have anything like this near Sault Ste. Marie. Samantha rode with Alaina, Aunt Jeni, and Papa in Jeni's car, and Aedan, Ema, Ben, and I rode in our car. Aedan was super excited about the Christmas lights, as you can tell in this video below. Every time he saw Christmas lights, he would shout, "Christmas Lights!" It was so cute to see his childlike excitement as we drove around the walkway of lights.

When we were about halfway through, we decided to stop and let the kids walk around for awhile. Aedan was crazy that evening and was just running around everywhere because he was so excited. Both Samantha and Aedan loved going up close to the lights, and all the kids were particular fans of the dinosaur area.

It was such a fun way to spend our evening together: listening to Christmas music, seeing Christmas lights, and spending time together as a family.

Saturday was a day we were all looking forward to because we were going to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. Back when we lived in Bloomington, we had a season pass to this museum and would go all the time, but it had been quite awhile since we'd gone. We were looking forward to going to a children's museum with the kids, especially since we don't have anything like this anywhere near where we live. We had to take three cars down to Indy, so Samantha and Ben rode in Jeni and Alaina's car on the way down so they could hang out and talk more. Aedan and I rode together, and he did a pretty good job playing and listening to music on the hour and fifteen minute drive down.

It was funny talking to Samantha about the museum because she didn't really remember any of it, even though we brought her here all the time. It's funny how their long-term memory doesn't kick in for awhile when they are young. Ema and Papa had arrived at the museum before the rest of us and bought the tickets already, so we went right in and down to the dinosaur section first. It was fun to see how much Aedan enjoyed the museum because the last time we were here was probably about a year ago, and he's now at the age where he really enjoys interactive things like this. Here are all three kids digging up dinosaur bones together.

Then, they dressed up like dinosaurs and sat on their eggs in the nest.

From the dinosaurs, we went down the hall to the train area. It was interesting to see how Samantha's interests change as she gets older. She used to love to play with the train tables. In fact, we would almost have to drag her away from them to get her to move on to another area. This time, however, she showed no interest in the train tables, but rather enjoyed pretending to be working at the ticket counter. Aedan played with the train table instead, and then we listened to the sounds of the train start up on the real engine parked outside.

We then made our way to the glass sculpture section.

It was amazing to see how different the museum was from when we were here last. One new section is a whole area on the International Space Station. Plus, they took out the old star theater area, replacing it with a smaller seating area and this capsule from the Liberty Bell 7. We decided to stay and listen to the show, but Aedan was tired and getting hungry because it was lunchtime, so he went out with Daddy and Ema to get our packed lunches from the car. The show was very interesting, using the dome screen on the ceiling as well as the actual Liberty Bell 7 artifact on the platform in the middle of the room, to present the story. The girls thought the story of the rocket going up into space and then crashing into the ocean was fascinating. They kept asking questions during it, trying to understand what the narrator was saying and what was happening on the screen.

After that we made our way to the cafeteria to eat the sandwiches, oranges, chips, and other goodies that Ema packed for us before heading up to a new exhibit about Doc McStuffins. Samantha used to be pretty obsessed with Doc McStuffins right around when Aedan was born. We had a DVR at that point and would just record any Dog McStuffins that every played so that she could watch an episode whenever she wanted. They both had a lot of fun playing with this interactive exhibit, pretending to be doctors and checking their animals. There even was a pretend surgery area where they had to press buttons in a certain order and also a pretend nursery area with babies that you could dress, give baths and bottles to, and rock to sleep before placing in their crib. Both Samantha and Aedan spent quite a long time there taking care of their babies.

Then, we went down the hall to a storybook area about princesses and pirates. These spots to take pictures were right outside, and I love this progression of pictures because Aedan sees the girls sticking their heads out and posing for a picture, so he looks at them curiously, and then sticks his head out too, even though there is no place for him to pose. Aedan just loves following anything that Samantha and Alaina are doing. He will probably spend most of his life trying to keep up with them. :) I'm so glad these cousins can grow up together.

In the pirates and princesses room, they had outfits and dresses for he kids to dress-up in, a pretend throne room, and a pretend pirate ship. They were having a great time pretending together, and Samantha and Aedan would have played in here a lot longer if we hadn't encouraged them to move on to another exhibit. Have I mentioned that I love this children's museum? It's always been so fun taking day trips here, and I really miss it now that we live in the U.P. and aren't close to any major cities where there are more family-friendly attractions.

At Christmas time, they always have a Jolly Days exhibit, along with the Yule Slide. The line wasn't too long and moved fairly quickly. At first Aedan was unsure about going down the slide by himself, but I encouraged him to sit on his own towel, and I would sit right next to him and hold his hand as we slid down the slide together. At first his face turned red, and it looked like he was about to cry, but then we reached the bottom and he realized that he had a lot of fun. Papa took videos of everyone coming down the slide. You will have to click on this link to view the video of the four of us sliding down:  Yule Slide

The Jolly Days section of the museum was much busier, so once we all got in there it was impossible to keep the kids together. Alaina did the ice skating for a long time, Samantha played in the ice castle, and Aedan really enjoyed the ice fishing. He had some trouble hooking the fish when dangling the line, so he made his work easier by just sitting down, holding the fish, and hooking the metal ring.

Heere is Aedan brushing the pretend reindeer. Then, we met up with Daddy and Sissy over in the house area where you can pretend to bake cookies and other treats in the large oven. Both Samantha and Aedan baked things for Ben and me, bringing them to us to eat.

By this time it was already after 2:00, and even though Aedan is normally napping at this point, he was doing great and was still really enjoying himself. We planned on staying at the museum as long as the kids were being respectful, and until we felt like the kids had their fill. We made our way to the Playscape area which is specially designed for kids 5 and under. Samantha and Alaina when right to the lily pad to climb, whereas Aedan played in the water with some boats for awhile.

After he played in the water and got himself pretty wet despite the smock he was wearing, I convinced him to join the girls in climbing on the lily pad. I knew he would have more fun in it with the girls. Plus, he needed a little help with figuring out how to climb up. We got Samantha's attention, and she climbed back down so that she could show Aedan how to climb up. She's such a kind, loving big sister.

The kids played in the music room, with the sand, and in the ball area before we decided it was time to hit up a couple more places before heading out for the day.

Here are the obligatory Indy 500 race car pictures.

We spent some time in the Science Works area which is totally renovated from the last time we were here over a year ago. The water area is completely redone, the health house is changed quite a bit, and instead of the large rock area with the tunnels the you could crawl through as if you were underground, they have a larger rock wall section and a more open cave you can explore with a flashlight.

We decided our last stop for the day would be a ride on the carousel, which is always a highlight of a trip to the Children's museum. The kids were getting tired, as they had been going strong playing all day, but they were still having fun, as you can tell by the expressions on their faces.

What a pair of silly guys!

After the carousel, we made our way out of the museum, stopped at the bathrooms, and got coffee for Jeni, Ben, and me. We also convinced Papa to turn the tickets they bought that day into a Grandparents' Plus Pass. It was only $50 more, and we said we would pay the difference. We figured it was worth it to have a pass so that way we can come back again anytime we want within the next year. Since we don't have anything like this near where we live, it will be nice to have the option of going whenever we visit Upland.

And here's a great pictures of the girls together standing by Bumblebee the Transformer. They were really sad to be leaving each other after such a great few days together. However, they were encouraged by the fact that Christmas is only a month away, and we will be able to see each other again then.

On the way home from the museum, Aedan fell asleep quickly, but Samantha was stubborn and didn't let herself fall asleep, even though she was tired enough that she probably could have if she would have closed her eyes. We didn't care though, it just meant that we could put her to bed earlier that evening and she would fall asleep faster from being tired.

Saturday evening we hung out with Ema and Papa some more, did some laundry, and got ourselves ready to head back home the next day. We left a little after 9:30 on Sunday morning, and our trip went well. Both the kids had some introverted time for the first hour and a half or so, just playing and looking at books. They watched a movie, and we stopped for lunch at Chipotle at the mall in Lansing, our traditional place to stop. Then, we hit the road on our way to Sault Ste. Marie. Both kids took pretty good naps in the car. I think it helped that we had a busy day on Saturday because it tired them out more during our trip on Sunday. We arrived home about 6:00. It was a really nice trip to see family in Upland for Thanksgiving, although, this time it made me kind of sad as well. I'm glad that we live in Sault Ste. Marie, that Ben has a tenure track position, and that we own our own home. But part of me is sad about living so far away. We lived within a couple hours of Upland for the past six years, so living six and a half hours of purely driving time now, is quite a change. It was nice living so much closer to family. Also, I miss living closer to a bigger city where there are more things to do with kids like zoos, museums, or even free, family-friendly activities. I know God has us in Sault Ste. Marie for a reason, and I know the first year living somewhere is hard and lonely, but I am ready to start feeling less new and more settled.

Monday was back to reality with Ben going to campus, Samantha going to school, and Aedan and I getting settled in from being out of town and going grocery shopping for the week, our typical Monday morning routine.

Over Thanksgiving break, Ben and I were working hard on our data packets for becoming foster parents. Turning in all our paperwork is one of the last steps on our end before our license application can officially be turned in to the state. I wanted to get this information turned in as quickly as possible so we could keep the process moving. So, both of us were spending a lot of our free time working on writing answers to over 40 pages of questions. I understand why it is so detailed, because they don't want to entrust a child to just anyone, but it was a lot of information to think about and to write about ourselves.

Monday evening was another of Daddy's late classes, so after eating dinner together, we had the evening to play together. One of the chosen activities was the Christmas train that Samantha got from Great Grandma Donna and Great Grandpa Don last year. We only get it out at Christmastime, and Daddy set it up for them in the basement on Sunday night. They enjoyed watching it go around and around and even used their bodies to make bridges and tunnels for the train to go through. I thought Great Grandma Donna would enjoy seeing this video to show that the kids still get a great deal of enjoyment out of their Christmas present.

(Blog about November 22-28, 2016)

Our First Snow & Decorating for Christmas

Samantha: 66 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 30 Months, Week 3

Tuesday of this week started off with a busy morning. I scheduled doctor's appointments for Ben and me back to back at 8:00 and 8:30 so we could get them done and out of the way before Ben needed to get to campus. So, since we only have one car and Samantha had to get to school, Ben dropped me off at the doctor first, then dropped Samantha off at school, then came back to the doctor with Aedan. These appointments were just to get our papers signed off for our health forms to become foster parents, so my appointment didn't take long since I don't have much of a history and don't have anything physical going on right now either. Ben's appointment took a little longer because of his history with his thyroid not working properly and his year of dealing with diverticulitis and surgery to remove part of his colon. Aedan was getting tired of waiting around in the waiting room, so we went on a little walk around the block, but it was too cold to be out for too long. Ben had to wait for quite awhile so he didn't get done in the exam room until it was already past the time when MOPS started. Aedan and I dropped Daddy off on campus before heading to church for MOPS. 

Because of Thanksgiving, we only had one meeting of MOPS for the month of November, and I was looking forward to getting together with other moms for the morning. MOPS is always a welcome reprieve. Aedan has fun with other kids and is well taken care of, and I get to sit and eat some breakfast and drink some coffee in peace. For this MOPS we split into two groups and went through a list of parenting questions from potty training boys to giving your kids chores to how to connect with your husband when you always have kids around. It was good to hear what other people had to say, but I think the best part about it was just that you realize that you're not alone. Every mom struggles with the same issues with their kids, but so often being a mom is so isolating and it's easy to think that your kid is the only one that does "fill in the blank." It was refreshing and reassuring all at the same time.

Here are two pictures of Samantha form school on Tuesday. They cut up vegetables and made vegetable soup. Samantha said it was really fun to use the knives and cut up their own vegetables, and she said the soup was really good and we should make it at home sometime. They even sent home the recipe for us. It's so fun that they get to do stuff like this as a class at school.

I don't have too many pictures or specific stories from this week because I am now writing this two weeks later and it's hard for me to remember what happened on each specific day, but I will do my best. The hardest part about the whole week was that we were waiting to hear some important news. We expected to hear news sometime that week, but it's so hard to wait patiently. Sometimes I did better than others. I tried to read my Bible and write in my prayer journal a lot because I found myself constantly worrying about it. I was trying so hard to not get my hopes up too much, but how do you do that while also not losing hope? Throughout the week I just prayed for peace and that God would lead us where He wanted us to be. As the week went on, and there was still no news, we figured we knew the answer, and it was all very hard for me to deal with because I like to talk through things. When big things happen in my life, I like to discuss how I'm feeling with a friend, so I felt like I just kept bottling everything up, making it painfully evident how I don't have any close friends to talk to up here. I don't have anyone that truly knows me or what is going on with me, so I was having a really sad and lonely week. I was having a hard time understanding why God does things the way He does. On top of all that, I was having a really hard with still not being pregnant. Again, I try to push those feelings away as well, but I still feel really sad about it. I know so many people who are pregnant or have just had a baby or didn't even plan to have a baby and got pregnant, and here I am, still unable to get pregnant, when there's no physical reason why I shouldn't be. It again just made me wonder why God is doing these things. I feel like He's trying to test me or something, but it seems really vindictive of Him to withhold things from me that I feel like are good things, and I know that God is not vindictive. I know He has a plan, and hopefully someday I'll understand, but right now, I have a hard time not feeling bitter, angry, and sad.

On Wednesday morning, Ben, Aedan, and I all went to Samantha's school for a conference with Ms. Cornwell. There wasn't too much to talk about since Samantha is doing so well, but it's good to touch base with the teacher and hear what she has to say. They do a standards based report card at Bahweting, which is a little different for me. Plus, in kindergarten there are so many standards that they don't master until further along in the year, so Samantha scored mostly 3s which means Partially Proficient, simply because she hasn't "mastered" it yet. Earning a 2 means Proficient, and she got that score in two areas of Language Arts: "Participate in group conversations about topics" and "Ask/answer questions to confirm understanding." She also earned a 2 in Art and Computers. She earned a 1 meaning Highly Proficient in Physical Education, which is funny to me because when Samantha was little she always seemed so uncoordinated and not as interested in physical challenges. In the Skills for Learning section of the report card, she earned 2s in Adaptability, Goal Setting, and Motivation. We were and are very proud of her, and we knew she would do a wonderful job in kindergarten, not only learning what she needs to learn, but being respectful, attentive, and helpful in the classroom as well. Ms. Cornwell also showed us a progress report from a test the kids do on the computer that assesses their Literacy and Mathematics skills. We got a report from October in comparison to a report from November and even in one month you can see the improvement. For Literacy skills, she went from "At Expectation" to "Above Expectation" in Listening, stayed at "Above Expectation" in Phonics/Writing, went from "At Expectation" to "Above Expectation" in Phonemic Awareness, and stayed at "Above Expectation" in Reading. For Mathematics skills, she stayed at "At Expectation" in Measurement, stayed at "Above Expectation" in Numeracy, went from "At Expectation" to "Above Expectation" in Operations, and stayed at "At Expectation" in Patterns/Functions. So she is already above where she needs to be in all areas except for Measurement and Patterns/Functions, but even there she is "At Expectation." Plus, Ms. Cornwell mentioned that these questions were probably closer to the end of the test, meaning Samantha could have been getting tired or not focusing as much as she did in the beginning of the test. It's great to have this data to track their progress, but really all this just confirms what we already know about our little girl. She is smart, bright, intuitive, and eager to learn. I'm thrilled that she is enjoying school and is already learning and growing in so many new ways.

Here is a picture of Samantha and her fellow classmates writing numbers in shaving cream on Wednesday. I love the expression on her face, and I love that we get to see little glimpses into the classroom through pictures on ClassDojo. You can tell she was having a great time with this activity. :)

The teachers had built-in time for conferences on Thursday and Friday afternoons, which meant that Samantha had half-days both days. It was so fun to have her around the house more, and Aedan loved greeting her from the bus and getting a chance to play with her more. I spent the day cleaning the house on Thursday with Aedan tagging along with me for most of the day. Then, after Samantha got home from school, I let her have some quiet time to play in her room since she rarely has time time play by herself anymore, and then I let her choose to do an activity with me before Aedan got up from his nap. She decided she wanted to watch a movie with me, so I was able to sit next to my little girl on the couch and snuggle with her while we watched the movie. I think I was looking forward to having her home from school more than she was looking forward to being home. I miss her quite a bit when she is gone from 8:00-4:15 every day, and I'm glad to take advantage of these half days with her when I can. Aedan woke up from his nap towards the end of Samantha's movie, so here they are cuddling on the couch together, watching the end of the movie. I love that they choose to sit next to each other. :)

I took a sub job in the special ed room at Bahweting on Friday. Ben had a Canadian-American debate to go to on Friday afternoon, and Samantha had a half day at school, so it worked out pretty well for me to just sub half a day. Daddy and Aedan dropped Samantha and me off at school so they could use the car that morning. Samantha stuck with me as I checked in and found the classroom I would be in for the day. She didn't want to leave me, but it was still too early for her to go into her classroom, so I walked her down to the doors to the playground so she could go out and play for awhile before school started. Then, she ran out onto the playground with no problem. Being in the special ed room was a good experience for me. It's interesting to see all the different components of a school. The class had 7 kids in the class ranging from a girl with Down's Syndrome to boys with autism and one boy that was hyperactive and was learning how to manage his behavior on his new medication. The day was pretty relaxed since it was a half-day and a Friday, but I helped the teacher give the kids spelling tests, took them to and helped them in art class, and even was on my own with them while the main teacher attended a meeting about one of the kids. None of their behaviors got out of hand, and they generally listened pretty well. They got their lunches and ate them in the classroom while finishing a movie, and then it was time to clean up, pack up, and go home. The day went well, and Samantha was excited to see me at the end of the day. It would be fun to work at Bahweting when I decide to go back into teaching full-time. It would be nice to be at the same school where Samantha (and eventually Aedan) attend, and the school has a lot of really good things going for it.

Daddy and Aedan picked us up after school was over that afternoon, and the weather was unseasonably warm, with an expected cold front coming over night, so I suggested that we go to a playground and have a picnic lunch together and let the kids play on the playground. We started out by this little playground on the water, but it was a little too cold and windy there. We decided to go to Project Playground instead, but first watched a freighter pass by us. They even blew their horn for us as they passed by. So from there we went to the other playground, and it was a little less windy but definitely colder than I expected it be with the cold front starting to go through. However, I know these temperatures are going to be gone shortly, and I wanted to take advantage of it. It was fun to have this time all together in the middle of a Friday afternoon.

Ben brought this newspaper clipping home from campus that the Dean of his department cut out and saved for us. She wrote on the sticky note, "Congratulations, Samantha! (and her parents). Samantha thought it was pretty cool that her picture was in a real newspaper, and we were very proud that she was chosen Student of the Month for October.

On Friday night our PRIDE training for becoming a foster parent began. Ben's parents and even Jeni and Alaina decided to come up for the weekend, but they couldn't leave Indiana until 4:00, meaning they wouldn't arrive at our house until midnight. Therefore, we hired a babysitter for Friday night so that Ben and I could both go to the training together. Katie, the college student that came to the house when I took Ben to the airport, came over to babysit, arriving around 4:30 so that we could show her around the house and explain how to do the bedtime routine. The kids were very excited to have a babysitter at the house, and Aedan didn't care at all when I left, which made me glad. I knew that they would have a fun night with someone new to play with and attention from someone other than mom and dad.

At the training they served us dinner, and we went through a couple sessions of PRIDE training, which is required to become a foster parent. Lauri Brown from DHHS who is in charge of Foster Care Licensing, helped to lead the meeting. It was a lot of information, and we had a lot of questions about foster care in general, how the licensing process works, and what the relationship is between us and the birth parents.

We got home a little after 9:00 that night, and Katie gave us a good report about the kids. They had a good dinner and went to sleep well for her, so we were glad our first attempt at hiring a babysitter went well. Ben and I hung out for awhile that night before I went to bed while he waited up for his family to arrive. We didn't tell Samantha or Aedan about the visitors that were coming that night, so we knew they would wake up to a surprise the next morning.

On Saturday morning Aedan woke up earlier than he should have kicking the wall and the bars of his crib, so we tried to keep him quiet while Samantha, Ema, and Papa were still asleep upstairs. Aunt Jeni and Alaina came upstairs shortly after that, and when Samantha came out of her room and saw Alaina standing in the living room, she was just in shock. I wondered if she maybe thought that she was just dreaming and that it wasn't real. Samantha has talked about missing Alaina a lot lately and wanting to see her again, but she had no idea that Alaina would just show up at our house for the weekend. They gave each other a great big hug and couldn't wait to start playing together. The last time Jeni and Alaina were here was when they helped us move in, so our place was a disaster and things were a bit stressful. Even though their visit would be short, I knew they would have a great day playing together. When Aedan saw Papa come out, he was very excited as well, but immediately said, "Where's Ema?"

Our PRIDE training started at 9:00 a.m. and went until 4:00 on Saturday. Samantha and Aedan had ice skating lessons like usual, so we decided to just have Papa drop us off at the DHHS office so they could have our car with the car seats to transport the kids. The training on Saturday wasn't quite as organized as it was on Friday night, and it was just a long day to be sitting in seats listening to someone talk. I'm not a good student any more and don't do well sitting all day long. Again, the information was good, but there was a lot of it, and my head was swimming with information by the end of the day. They presented a lot of good material, like writing down what you normally do at three different periods during the day, and then thinking about adding a foster child to that and realizing how much it will change the daily pattern of our lives. I know that I tend to be stuck in my usual routine and structure at times, so welcoming a foster child into our home will definitely stretch my flexibility and the normal schedule I follow with Aedan on a daily basis. There was also some discussion of making sure we know what we can handle as far as what type of child we would like, what age we prefer, and what issues we would be comfortable dealing with. They stressed the importance of knowing our limits and sticking to them, even with that phone call in the middle of the night. They emphasized how we should not feel bad to say no, that they won't be offended, and that they would rather us be sure we could keep a child until they are either reunited with their family or found a permanent placement. They want to avoid taking children in and out of foster homes, so they want us to be sure before we say yes. Also, there was a lot of talk about being willing to adopt the foster children that we might have in our home, and to be honest, Ben and I had never really considered that until that day. We are going into foster care purely to do foster care and to help out children that cannot be with their families. However, we also wouldn't be opposed to the idea of adopting a child if they cannot be reunited with their family and we feel like they fit in well with our family. It's an interesting idea to think of, and we will see what happens once we enter into this whole process!

A cold front came through the U.P. on Friday night into Saturday morning, and it began to snow about halfway through our training on Saturday. So when we got home that evening, I had to take a couple pictures outside our house of our first snow in Sault Ste. Marie. It wasn't much, and I know we are in for a lot more, but I'm glad that weather is kind of easing us into living in the U.P. I bet we don't have to wonder if we're going to have a white Christmas this year.

 

It was fun to be back home with Ema, Papa, Jeni, Alaina, and our kids that evening. We don't normally spend this much of our weekend away from them. We had dinner together, the kids did a lot of playing together, we talked and caught up, and it was fun to have a full house of family. That night Aunt Jeni suggested that Alaina and Samantha have a slumber party together, so we decided to make it work. We brought the air mattress upstairs and set it up in Samantha's room so that Samantha and Alaina could sleep on it together. To say they were excited would be a major understatement. We got all the kids ready for bed, Ben read books to Samantha and Alaina, and then we let them lay in bed and talk and be silly for awhile before going back in and telling them it was time to go to sleep. This was the first time the girls had ever had a slumber party together, so it was hard for them to settle down to sleep. They needed a few reminders to be quiet before they finally fell asleep. It was a fun experience for them, although they both woke up a little tired from having not slept as much and as well as they usually do. In fact, Samantha said that she had to tell Alaina to give her space in the middle of the night because she was trying to cuddle up into her too much.

Since our visitors had to drive all the way back to Indiana on Sunday, they left mid-morning to being their trip. We went to the 10:45 service so that the kids would have more time to spend together. Samantha and Aedan were pretty sad that everyone had to leave, but we reminded them that we would see everybody in a few days when we went down to Upland for Thanksgiving. They thought that sounded like a good idea, and we looked forward to having a short week before going out of town.

Since Samantha was pretty tired out from her full day of playing and then a slumber party with Alaina, we told her that she needed to take a nap so she wasn't overtired for the start of school the next day. Ben put her down for her nap, and it took a little while for her to fall asleep, but then he got this adorable picture of our little sleeping girl.

Since we decided to go out of town for Thanksgiving, I knew I wouldn't have an opportunity to put up our Christmas decorations that weekend. So, I decided to get them out and work on putting up the decorations during nap time. I got the tree in place and some of the other decorations put out before Samantha woke up from her nap. Samantha has always enjoyed helping me decorate for Christmas, so she was thrilled when she walked out and saw the Christmas tree set up. She helped me unpack all the ornaments and take them out of the box to be ready to hang, and then she helped me figure out where to put some of the decorations that we have. When Aedan woke up from his nap, we started decorating the tree together. Ben and I worked on the garland, and then we let the kids hang up ornaments, especially the ones that we've purchased just for them. I was truly amazed at how helpful Samantha was with decorating the tree. This was the first year where I believe she really understood the idea of spreading the ornaments out all over the tree rather than putting them all close together. She even used a chair to stand on so that she could reach branches that are higher up. Here are some videos and pictures Ben took of our tree decorating.

It's a fun tradition to share in with the kids, and I am glad that we invested in this artificial tree last year, for we've now definitely gotten our money's worth out of it. I like the idea of cutting down a real tree, and I love the smell of the evergreen tree in your house. However, we seem to have such a hard time getting trees to stand up straight in our tree stands (and we have even purchased a couple different stands to try out). It seems like we are always paranoid for the first few days about it falling over, especially because we have had trees fall over in the past. Also, with an artificial tree, we don't have to worry about keeping it watered and worrying about it dying when we go out of town for long periods of time. Plus, Aedan is just such a monster still, I wouldn't totally trust him around a live tree. Maybe in a few more years when our kids are older and would appreciate it more, we can go back to cutting down our own tree again.

And here is our finished product. I tried to get the kids to stand in front of the tree together, but Aedan wanted to sit over on the side because that's where he hung up the Veggie Tales ornament, which is definitely his favorite. Samantha is standing next to her ballerina ornament, which is definitely her favorite. The tree turned out beautifully, and it was so nice having a living room where we had enough space to put our tree without cramming it into a corner or having to rearrange half of the living room to get it to fit. I love Christmastime, and it's so fun experiencing it each year with our kids as they grow and enjoy new and different things.

(Blog about November 15-21, 2016)