Fun Things We Did
Thanksgiving Day was spent at R&C's house. Mom and I baked all day Wednesday and most of the day Thursday (which I've never really done before--it was an interesting experience and one I don't intend to repeat for a long time to come). We had SO MUCH FOOD it was almost ridiculous, but that's what Thanksgiving's all about I suppose.
Then the day after Thanksgiving we went to Maysville, KY where B&R live. A lot of the family was there and it was a fun time. Lots more good food (R always makes good food). We also checked out the miniatures at their local museum. B&R live in downtown Maysville, in the historic part, right by the river. It's a beautiful place, and the history on display is pretty neat. They are mighty proud of their heritage, and I think that's great. Anyways, the museum was a block away, so we walked down. B has been trying to get us to go see this miniature collection for some time. Described it as elaborate doll houses. Let me tell you how interested I am in doll houses. ... Yep. About that interested.
But it's one of those things that just doesn't translate well. About halfway through our visit, I turned to B and said, "You said doll houses. These are NOT doll houses." Wow. Amazing. A 1/12 scale of the Spencer House (Princess Di is a Spencer). Incredible. If you're ever in Maysville (and why not go?), check out the miniature collection at the museum. You will say as my aunt, C did, "I know I'm getting repetitive, but wow," or as I did, "Insane." (Really it is insane when you think about the amount of money that went into purchasing minatures. The entire collection (worth millions of dollars) is ONE WOMAN'S efforts. And that is crazy. Neat. But crazy.)
The model of the Spencer House, from the front. This does not even begin to show you how cool this is.http://www.kygmc.org/miniatureExhibits/
On Saturday my Dad was still in town, so we went to the Newport Aquarium with his sister, S. We'd never been (except Rob) till October of this year, and then we visited it twice in 2 months. Which made it really fun, because the second time we could focus on specific things we knew we wanted to see instead of feeling like this was our one and only time to take everything in. After the kids whined and complained (and this cracked me up. They kept saying, "We're going AGAIN?" like they'd been there SO MANY times.), they LOVED it again.
After the Aquarium we met up with S's daughter and family, C&B and their daughter, A, for lunch. A is about Miciah's age, and they had fun together. And lunch was lovely, too. Some fish place on the Levee. Michelle's? Something like that. Fantastic. They had tilapia, which is the only fish I've found yet that I really love (because it tastes the least like fish).
Sunday was insignificant other than the fact that Rob gave a talk at church. I love when Rob gives talks, cause I love to listen to him. Though I wasn't terribly fond of this talk (he already knows this. After I gave him my feedback he said, "Glad you enjoyed my talk" and when I tried to hug him he pulled away in mock-hurt), he did end it on a fantastic note: he sang a song a capella. I love when he sings even more than I love when he speaks. He sang The Olive Tree, which is a great song. Great song. Great singer.
Then the week after Thanksgiving when we all got to relax a little and my mom and C went into uber-project mode, as they always do when my mom is in town. Even when my mom comes intentionally without projects, they come up with about 20 after the second day of her arrival. This time we all helped (well, I didn't really help; I just watched them do their stuff and provided "technical support" as C said) C finish up her alphabet letters, a project she's been working on for years, off and on. Turned out really cute. Then Mom made all the children elves. I'll take a picture of all the kids with their elves so you can see how dang cute the elves are. ... My mom made me 2 Christmas elves and the kids liked them so much (particularly Teancom who wouldn't part with them) that she decided all the kids needed one. Miciah and Teancom are most fond of them. Miciah named hers Lilac and Teancom has no name for his, but it's HIS. He claims Lilac, too, and Elijah's (unnamed) elf.
Funny with Teancom and the elves. He calls his elf his "elb," which is a cute way to pronounce it. I worried that even though Mom made him an elf (she made his first so there would be no revolt) he would still want to play with mine. He had one he liked more than the other, and I let him hold it for a few minutes right before Mom finished Teancom's elf. Mom handed Teancom his finished elf and Teancom walked over to me, handed me my elf and said, "This is yours. Put it up," and pointed to the spot where I'd been keeping my elves.
He plays Jingle Bells with his elf, which is adorable. I got it on video and one of these days I'll get around to posting it. He says jingle bells like "JeanMon Bells." And he wouldn't let my mom sing with him. She would start singing and he would scowl, point at her and say, "Not you!"
Funny, he liked my mom less and less the longer she was here. I thought for sure he'd like her more over time. What's not to like? She's awesome! But I think he didn't like her because he thought I was going to hand off mothering responsibilities to her. And I did from time to time while she was here. He deeply objected to that.
To add to the Project Fever, Grandpa O. decided to re-do the kids' table in the basement. I asked my mom to simply make a tablecloth cover for it--one with elastic on the edge, so it would stay on the table. She looked at the wood (this is a table that is at LEAST 10 years old and you can tell) and said, "You should replace the wood, too." We thought about options and then Grandpa got wind that there was a possible project for him and he went to town. Now we have a beautiful almost completely new table for the kids. ... I won't let them use it for a while, to make sure the finish is SET. ... Thank you, Grandpa O.!
This last Friday Rob and I went on an all-day date. (My mom was in town, so I told Rob I wanted to go on a date that lasted longer than 2 hours!) We started the day at Miciah's school making a gingerbread house with her. It was so much fun! Then we went out to eat at Panera Bread (my favorite place, if I haven't said that before). On to pick up something from K, who works just south of Dayton. It cut into our day somewhat, but it ended up being really really good because Rob and I got to talk uninterupted for a couple hours. Actually, when Rob initially objected to making the drive part of our day I said, "I get to be with you. I don't really care what we do." I'll mention the drive and our talk later.
Then we went to the Museum Center. We walked around the Natural History Museum and actually READ stuff. Weird. Then we spent some time playing at the Children's Museum (Rob's idea, and a good one). We played horse (the basketball one) in the ball area (I won, of course), and then constructed a "building" in the large blocks area. The building was probably about 4 feet tall and it was fun to build. The BEST part of building it, though, was that when we were done a kid, maybe 4 or 5 years old, walked up and said, "I'm going to knock down your building!" His father started objecting when I said, "Okay. Go ahead." You have to knock down anything tall that you build when you're done anyways, so I figured he would have fun smashing it. The kid looked at me, trying to see if I was serious. I told him again that it was fine and the kid ran FULL SPEED into the building. It came down so fast and so loudly that I gasped. I thought the kid was going to get hurt. It was COOL to see it come down like that. ... And then the kid ran away saying, "Ha ha! I knocked down your building and you can never build it again!" What a snotty kid, but it was fun anyways. ... And then we did something a kid would probably never do: we picked up all the blocks and put them away.
From there we went upstairs to watch the Omnimax movie called "Grand Canyon Adventure" or something like that. I was expecting it to be more centered on the Grand Canyon, but it was really an environmental piece on the Colorado River. Should have figured that out, I guess from the subtitle of the film: River at Risk. Learned something I didn't know before: the Colorado no longer flows to the sea. Dries up well before then. The movie was pretty overtly anti-Lake Powell, which is fine with me because I am, too (just not very overtly--it's one of my opinionated opinions that I don't talk about much). Wasn't anti-Lake Mead, which surprised me (I am not personally anti-Lake Mead either), but it WAS anti-Las Vegas's "indulgent" use of water.
Then we ended the night with dinner at Outback. We go to Outback and order the Melbourne, which is possibly the best stake in the world. At least it's the best stake I've ever had. It melts in your mouth and is SO yummy. Get it medium rare (I dislike stakes medium rare as a general rule). Anyways, the excitement of the night about Outback is that the stake they brought us was awful! So bad, in fact, that the waitress sent out the manager to talk to us. This was our first experience sending a stake back, but it was seriously gross (I actually spit out a bite I'd taken. Like a little kid would do). The manager brought us the new stake himself (and was very nice about the whole thing: Can I get you something else while you wait?) and waited while we took the first bites. MUCH better, thank you. ... Rob said he felt like he'd grown up a little, sending his first stake back. Like a rite of passage into adulthood. So now it's official: at (almost) 30 and 27 1/2 we are Adults.
On Saturday we were going to all go to the Krohn's Conservatory to see the Christmas display. But Grandpa got sick on Friday with what seems to be the same cold we all got. NOT GOOD! Plus, Miciah woke up Saturday morning at 4:30 complaining of her ear hurting. She had just complained about her other ear a few days before--ear wax build-up. We took care of that and when she started whining about her other ear on Friday night we were less than sympathetic. But waking up at 4:30 a.m. is a different story. Rob took her into Urgent Care on Saturday morning, first thing, and she has a "raging" ear infection. We decided to not go to the Conservatory and sent my mom on with C and Mary, Mom's friend from HS that she still gets together with when she comes in town.
Miciah had a birthday party and a soccer game on Saturday night, and she ended up skipping them both, sadly, since she was sick. She had a low-grade fever (like really low grade) and she threw up once. No fun for her. So our Saturday transformed from a busy day into a lazy day. Fine with me.
Miciah stayed home from church on Sunday, and so did Mom and Grandpa and Teancom (if everyone else is home, why not keep the baby home?). So I got to go through Sacrament Meeting without losing my mind! Hurray! ... Only one kid at church. ...
On Monday my mom and I went to a bookstore. Elijah didn't want to go; he wanted to watch a movie. So he stayed with Grandpa (who played with Elijah a ton, and Elijah loved it!) and we took Teancom. And why does Teancom have me wrapped around his finger? Cause he's the best behaved baby in the world. He doesn't run away at the store. If I offer him my hand, he holds it. If I tell him to put something back, he does. If I walk to the next aisle, he follows me. If I tell him not to touch, he doesn't. ... It's unreal.
... We had his 2 year check-up last week (a little late, I know). The doctor asked if we had any concerns about his behavior. I said, "No. He's the easiest baby in the world." And the doctor said, "I'll write that down: Easiest Baby in the World." And I think he actually DID write it down.
Another fun thing I got to do with my parents when they were here: they came to see my soccer games. This doesn't sound like a big deal, probably, but it is. My dad was my soccer coach for years. My mom and dad spent every Saturday, all day, at the soccer fields when we were kids. It's a part of our make-up, it seems. So it was just like being a little kid again, having my parents drive me to a soccer game, me in the back seat. Quite pleasant. And though my teams lost both games, it was just fun to play and fun to have my parents there. Besides, I never mind losing (I'm 27, I have 3 kids, and I'm playing soccer at 9:30 on a Friday night. I am blessed).
And that's what we did when my mom and dad and Grandpa O. were in town. It was great to have them, they were gracious guests, and they are welcome back any time. ... After my dad left, he called and told me thank you for taking care of Mom. I said, "Right. She takes care of us while she's here and we all know it. Let's be clear about that." What can I say, she's still my Mommy.
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