Adventures with Kelsey

My best friend from growing up came to visit! Ever since I left NE to go to college, we have been trying to plan for her to come and visit, but it never worked out. And then, with about a week's planning, she was able to make it work and come. Yay!

We had many adventures while she was here - antique shopping, grocery shopping, and her and I going to see a nearby tourist area (currently abandoned) and having the car stall while we were turning around in a "Fun Center" parking lot (doesn't it just sound like the plot to a bad horror film?). But our biggest adventure was our trip to the zoo :)

I've been wanting to check out the Binder Park Zoo for a while, and thought her visit would be a good chance to go. We, honestly, didn't have high expectations because we knew it was a smaller zoo. We figured it would be a lot like Potter Park Zoo. We were amazed.

It is a smaller zoo, but they have done such an incredible job with the extra special touches that it really leaves a big impression. For example, the foliage there is amazing - tree lined paths and covered bridges. I actually didn't make the twins wear hats because it was so shaded! Another thing I liked was that their exhibits were LARGE. There was always a lot of room for the animals to roam around, and the habitats looked natural. So often (especially at smaller zoos) it feels like the wild animals are super caged, and this wasn't the case. Also, they did a lot of theme decorating (which I loved) - when you entered the hut by the snow leopard they had Mongolian prayer flags hanging around the entrance and special music playing; when you entered the swamp they had shacks, signs, and "Possum Peat;" and the Children's Zoo was filled with cartoon animal statues for kiddos pose near for pictures. But our favorite, by far, was the African excursion where they made it look like you were going through customs to an African country. In the "jungle" they had you look for signs of poachers - like their campsite or elephant bones. And all along the way they had various ranger stations or huts set up with things (like a checker board with a game in progress or water jugs) that made it so real. One of the huts (which I can attest truly looked like a hut you would find in the African bush) was open for kiddos to explore and see what living in a hut would be like! Other cool things were the train, the carosel, and the walk of Nations where there were not only dozens of flags from different countries, but maps on the posts to show you were that country is located (big for the geographically challenged, like me!).

The twins had a GREAT time. They talked to and giggled at lots of the animals. Their favorites were probably the Mongolian Horse (that we are convinced started putting on more of a show because he heard Ryan giggling), the Emu (it was biting at, and eating, bugs that were flying around and they found this hilarious), and the monkeys. The animals that LOVED them: the pigs (one came from the other side of the pen to see them), the monkey (that came and sat in the window when it saw them so they could get a good look), and the grey bird (just after I said, "lets just walk by here, birds tend to be boring," this bird flew over, stood right in front of the twins on their level, and started doing a dance. Then it proceeded to follow us as we walked by the aviary, doing the dance every time we paused! The adults even had fun (you can see us trying to do chinups to earn enough points to become park rangers in Africa - we all managed to do 1, but none of us managed to do enough to get the 5 points...). We definitely want to go again because we only left 2 1/2 hours for the trip...and we didn't get to fully do everything we wanted to (plus there is lots I want to see again because it was cool!). We loved this zoo!

My hope, as you may have guessed, is to do a tour of zoos this summer. Both Ryan and Allie love animals, but I also always really enjoyed going to the zoo. It's a fun (and educational) way to spend some time outside, while also getting some exercise. Plus, I have to scout out the zoos to see which one we will frequent next summer!

My Choice

We had a bad day. All day I kept thinking "It will get better. It has to get better. I will MAKE it better." But the bottom line is that, from beginning to end, it was a bad day. At least one of the twins was crying for most of it...and in all fairness a cried a few times too. I felt like a tremendous failure in so many of my responsibilities and various areas of my life. But most of all, it was a bad day because my babies are hurting, and this makes them cranky, and I cannot find a successful way to get rid of what's hurting them, and I feel like I should be able to soothe and heal them, and even the things I do that are (or SHOULD be) healing hurt them and make them cry, and this all makes me cry. So we had a bad day.

BUT, attitude is a choice. And when I look back on this day I DO NOT want to only remember that we had a bad day. So I am actively and persistently choosing to be positive, and to help with that, here are the things I am choosing to remember about this day:

• The fog on the lake this morning. How great it felt to start the day with a swim. The duck that swam near me.
• The amazing time I had with Kelsey (more on that to come), and the wonderful friend I have in her.
• All of Allie's cuddles. She's going through a mommy faze, and while I know teaching her independence from me is important, I also know that she won't want mommy cuddles forever, and I'm cherishing EVERY ONE.
• How much Ryan loves Baby Music Time. We've dropped the morning nap and replaced it with Baby Music Time and he laughs and giggles and plays so sweetly. I love it.
• Allie running to my arms for a hug. It's her favorite new game - stand from a distance and run, run, run for a hug - and mine :)
• Ryan waving at every car that we passed on our walk. Sure they missed the wave because he waited until they passed, but I got to see him, and it was adorable :)
• FINALLY figuring out why Ryan always points to the same house and says, "ball," when we pass by (they have one of those shiny, colorful, decorative globes in their yard).
• Allie making faces at me during bedtime. Cute, silly faces.
• Ryan kissing everything - his favorite characters in books, his giant stuffed penguin, his favorite toys....
• Allie's floor dancing - sometimes she lays on the floor and moves her arms and legs in very ballet-like poses. I swear she was born a dancer.
• The twins playing chase with each other, and giggling and falling on the ground.
• Holding both twins in my lap and having story time. I cannot get them both to sit still and share my lap long enough to get through one book unless they're feeling crummy. Today we got through 3!
• That no matter what, when I start singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" they stop whatever they're doing (even crying or throwing a tantrum) to clap their hands.
• Already prepared, frozen grilled chicken breasts to quickly microwave for our dinner guests when we had problems grilling the fresh, marinated ones we planned on having.
• A husband who sends me to the couch to rest for the evening while he cleans the kitchen.

Tomorrow is a new day - just waiting for memories to be made. I am choosing now to let the great memories of the morning swim propel me out of bed in the morning. I am choosing to hold out hope that my children will wake up tomorrow morning with perfectly healed bums, that there will be no screaming, that we will enjoy a wonderful day together, that I won't have to choose to see the positive things in the day because there won't be any negative. But I would appreciate your prayers just in case it turns out to be another day like today...

Adventures Up North: Part III

"Everyday Adventures"

Playing ball with Daddy (or "Daddy stealing Allie's Ball")

Nana's Surprise :)
Eating at the bar (notice Ryan's foot...)

How much watermelon can Allie stuff in her mouth at once?

A lot :)

Joy.

We had SO much fun up north! Thank you Nana & Poppy!!

Adventures Up North: Part II

"Fun We Had"

Playing with the big bouncy balls

Dipping their feet in Lake Huron for the first time!

Memorial Day Picnic (you can't see Allie's cheeks, but they were impressively stuffed with watermelon!)
On the bridge with daddy (who had his picture in the paper on the same bridge when he was a toddler!)

Sliding with daddy!

Climbing the steps on the playplace.

She would NOT leave a tower standing.

Nana & Poppy's schoolbus was a HUGE hit!

They loved all the "new" toys!

Adventures Up North: Part I

3 1/2 days, 474 pictures, and too many fun stories (and memories) to count later we are home after visiting Nana (and Poppy!). I cannot even begin to relate all the fun we had, so I will let the pictures do the talking (in several posts because 474 pictures don't fit in one post!). This first set of pictures could be titled "People We Saw."

Ry-guy playing chase with Great-Grandma

Allie dancing for joy with Great Grandma's TP

(note: sadly my memory card was full when Allie ate a fistful of dirt while visiting Great Grandma!)
Mr. D tries to enjoy his pie while the twins play behind him :)

Uncle Pat laughing at Ryan's antics.

Pat & Darlene stopped by and the twinners put on a show!

Poppy's boat came in while we were there and we got to see him (WE being Lucas and I...unfortunately, he was home during the night. But he DID peek in on the sleeping twinners).

This isn't ALL of the people we saw, but these were the one's we saw while I had my camera in hand :)

Highlight: seeing the town police officer and him turning the car lights on for the twins.

Adventures Continued...

Today we had a wonderful reunion with some friends from seminary. We headed to Ohio and spent the afternoon with 3 other couples and their kids. I cannot completely express how wonderful it was to spend time with these friends. When we first met them only 1 of the children was born. During our time together at seminary, 2 more came along. It was amazing to sit there with them today and see those 3 children running around and playing together (seeming so grown up!) with 5 more added to the mix! It was also a little incredible to collectively share our joys, hopes, and struggles in life and ministry - the ministry we dreamed about and attempted to prepare for together at seminary.

This post would be VERY long if I attempted to describe all of the mini-adventures of our reunion, so I will just give a few bullet points :)

• The twins discovering their dog - uncontrollable giggles!
• Seeing LJ & JJ who we have watched grow throughout the years.
• Discovering how close we are to our friends - hopefully we'll see them much sooner and more often!
• Ry-guy falling and bumping his head - his biggest gash yet. Thank goodness one of our friends is a nurse (which kept mommy calm), and they had a nice supply on band-aids (since this wasn't the only blood we saw...when you get 8 kids 5 & under together, boo-boos are bound to happen!).
• Allie stuffing her mouth so full of watermelon that she looked like a chipmunk!
• Lucas playing various games with the older kids - and them calling him "Uncle" Lucas!
• The twins wanting so desperately to play with the big kids.
• Ryan building towers with the blocks.
• Allie knocking down every block tower.
• Good conversation with dear friends - even if it was in disjointed snippets between chasing children, kissing boo-boos, redirecting, playing, etc.
• Laughing children - there's nothing better!

It was a wonderful day, and tomorrow we're on to our next adventure - a visit to Nana!

Adventures

In our house, every day is an adventure - full of surprises. I expect that is the case in any home with multiple toddlers (or children of any age, for that matter). Today was a little exceptional though.

The day started normal - laundry, dishes, the babies going for a run with daddy, 4 poopy diapers before 9 am - exhausting, but nothing out of the norm. We were really looking forward to the day because today our church is having a pie sale! We were going to spend the day baking some of the pies in our oven, and then go to the sale to lure people in with the twins' adorableness :)

Now, we have been fighting a persistent diaper rash/yeast infection. The twins have actually been on prescription cream for a little over a week. I have been letting them "air out" (a.k.a. go without a diaper as much as possible), but was getting tired of cleaning up puddles (or worse) on my floors. So, I decided to take the babies outside. I needed to keep them contained, I wanted as much privacy as possible (we aren't running a peep show here!), so I decided we would play on the deck. Worried about splinters in delicate areas, I covered the deck as best I could with blankets. The babies enjoyed a fabulous 2 hours diaper free! Unfortunately, when I went to put on their diapers I discovered that Ryan managed to find one of the uncovered areas, and had a splinter in a very, um, sensitive spot. With the help of daddy, a bottle, some tweezers, and his favorite song I managed to remove the splinter with surprisingly little fuss! Perhaps I missed a calling as a surgeon!

And then it was time to get Allie dressed. I had thrown some pajama shorts on her while I was taking care of Ryan, but planned on her wearing one of her sundresses for the day. When I went to change her she threw an absolute fit! She grabbed the shorts from me and hugged them to her chest while screaming her complaints. Then she threw them (and all the clothes she could get her hands on) at the wall! I eventually ended up putting the shorts back on (I mean, wanting to be MORE covered up is a good thing, right? I should encourage that desire!). I just didn't realize that she would not only develop a fashion sense this early, but also assert it so forcefully. I can't imagine the future clashes over clothing, but if today was any indication, they will be doozies!

Somewhere during these unexpected, but minor, dramas, I had run to the kitchen for something. I noticed it smelled smoky, figured a pie had bubbled over, and turned on the hood fan. A few minutes later, I had to run back and noticed the smoky smell was worse. I looked at the oven and saw smoke pouring out of it (no joke. It looked like something from tv!). I opened the oven and saw a small fire! Apparently, the pie had bubbled over a while back, and the goo had charred and then started on fire! I removed the pies, put out the fire (by smothering it with a grill spatula), cleaned the oven (Lucas walked in just in time to watch the kiddos so I could do this), and threw in another batch of pies :)

This was all before the afternoon nap, and I had assumed that the day's drama would be over. Then I tried changing Ryan's diaper after naptime and he started screaming the second I touched his poor, rashy bottom and didn't stop for 20 minutes! The pediatrician's solution? Equal parts of Nystatin, Liquid Malox, and Desitin to be put on their bottoms at every diaper change. And before putting it on: washing their bottoms with a warm washcloth and drying them with a hair dryer (and wouldn't you know it, my hair dryer died earlier this week!) So, Lucas is off to find me a hair dryer and I'm off to mix up a batch of wonder cream :)

Ultimately, the adventures keep life interesting. And then there are times when I get to do things (like play peekaboo - the new favorite thing around here) with the babies, and I couldn't care what crazy, stressful things happen during the day (like fires in the oven...) because when you get to spend the day with kids this cute, it's all good :)

P.S. I originally tried uploading a really cute video of them playing peekaboo, but blogger apparently couldn't handle that much cuteness. So, instead here are pictures of how we ended our day - with a really fun run through our new beach ball sprinkler!!