Last week was crazy busy. I am really glad we postponed the trip to MI to Monday from Sunday.
We got up and on the road fairly early, and made it to MI without any issues. Kris and Linda had plans to take Bailey to see Wicked as their present to her, so we wanted to get up there in the early afternoon before they needed to leave. Keira and Soren opened their presents from Nana and Papa, and were happy to be in MI.
For dinner, we met up with Kent and Valerie at REI and then Noodles, which are two mandatory stops practically for a trip to MI. It was great to visit with them. Kent had won a mountain bike and was pickiing it up from REI. Since I am in my third week of official Boston Marathon training, I did a quick treadmill run once we got back. It was not the easiest to run at night on a full stomach, but I had my new CDs I received from Santa loaded on my ipod, and I only had a short distance to run anyway. For this week, I knew I had to take advantage of any time I could run and use it wisely.
On Tuesday, we woke up to a light snowfall. I was happy the kids got to see a little bit of real snow. We got another early start with Kris and Linda and met up with Greg and Ellyn, their children, and friends Rob and Becca to go to the Edsel and Elenor Ford house, in Grosse Pointe. It is quite the impressive home. Keira and Soren were excited to go there because we had been reading, "The Night Henry Ford Met Santa", and it is about Edsel as a child. I am glad they were able to piece that together. It is pretty funny when Keira learns about how parts of stories are real or not. She is learning the difference between fiction and non-fiction at school. The home is amazing. Our tour guide was great too since we had so many children with us, at getting them interested. She gave them tasks to count the fireplaces and stairs along the tour. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, and we were amazed that some of the items, such as the wood paneling in the office, were from the 1500s and brought over from England. There are also very valuable paintings, although some of the originals have been placed in the DIA. After the home tour, we walked around the grounds a bit, but the snow had started to turn to rain, so it was rather wet. We did go into the playhouse for Josephine and the gatehouse/garage. There were activities for the kids in part of the gatehouse. The playhouse was a home built at 2/3 scale with working kitchen and plumbing. Josephine did not use the house a lot, but her children and grandchildren did.
We had lunch and then headed back to Canton. Ryan and I ran a quick errand to IKEA, and then the family had dentist appointments. It was Soren's first time in the chair. He didn't get a cleaning, but he did let the hygenist count his teeth, as well as show them to Dr Gradolph.
We went back to Kris and Linda's, and then had dinner there. Once the kids were in bed, I hit the treadmill once again. I used to run at night a lot, but usually I had more time between dinner and running, and didn't eat as many treats until after my run. I got it done, but I did not feel the best.
On Wednesday, we had a bit more running around to do. Linda cooked us a big breakfast of ebelskiver. Soren and Keira ate a ton of them, which was great since they are so picky and I knew today would be a long day. Then we headed to Dearborn so Ryan could clean out his desk there. He dropped me and the kids off at Fairlane, and I was able to pick up some toiletries that we had run out of at home, and take advantage of a Bath and Body Works sale. The kids were good and enjoyed being out with me at the mall. After that, Ryan picked us up and we headed to get Ryan's haircut. I wish I had talked to Brittany before getting Soren's hair cut last week. At least his hair was not so scrappy for all of the pictures taken of him opening presents. Keira got her bangs trimmed too, and then we stopped at REI in Ann Arbor, to do some returns that we didn't do Monday, as well as browse and purchase a couple deals. I also needed to stock up on Gu. From there, we went to Greg and Ellyn's for our big family dinner with everyone. We had prime rib and chocolate fondue for dessert. The kids had a blast playing together. Soren loved the ride ons, and it was pretty funny the way Soren and Lleyton interacted with each other. Here they are up to no good eating tons of chocolate graham crackers they got out themselves. It was after dinner, so it wasn't the worst thing they could do.
Keira had fun too, playing with Bryn, Avery, and Bailey.
Once we were home and put the kids to bed, Ryan and I went out to see Mission Impossible. It was a fun movie, and it was nice to be out with just Ryan for a change. It did make for a late night considering my Thursday morning plans.....
I woke up bright and early (in the pitch black) to attend Cristina's 6am spin class she was teaching. I was really glad that I was able to meet up with her on this trip, so getting up this early was not as hard for me as it usually is. I enjoyed her class and spent a bit of time catching up before heading back to get cleaned up and on the road to my parents house in Ohio. We got into Westerville just after lunch, and the kids were eager to open their presents from my parents and David.
We visited with David, who is in town for a short time between graduating from NYU and then moving to CA. He had NYE plans back in NYC, so he was getting up bright and early to catch a ride back with some friends. Sarah is working a salaried position, and worked today, but she was home for a dinner with the family. After dinner, she gave the kids their presents.
We also did a family picture using our new tripod, hood, and UV filter for our camera.
My mom had her camera set up too, and the hood really made a huge difference in the exposure quality. Here is our best photo.
Here is the funniest. Since I conked out in the car ride, I did not have a chance to read up on the self timer. Our camera takes 10 rapid fire shots on the timer, so you just can hopefully get a good one of the 10. My mom set it off while only some of us were waiting. Upon realizingthe timing of the shots, Sarah started posing, and I jumped.
We said our goodbyes to Sarah and David tonight, since they were going to be up and out early tomorrow.
On Friday, we got up at a relaxed pace, and my mom made egg nog pancakes shaped like snowmen. The kids loved them.
I did a short run outside in a light rain. I was able to try out my new running tights as well as get in my final miles of my midweek goal of 12 miles. We got cleaned up and packed up, and then headed to El Vaquero for lunch before getting on the road.
We got home not terribly late, so it was nice to be able to unpack everything and be home again. It was a whirlwind week, and it wasn't even over yet.
We ordered pizza for dinner, and put the kids in bed around the usual time for weekend. Keira could not find her new Jessie doll before going to bed, and Ryan and I could not find it! We looked everywhere, even putting on head lamps and going into the kids rooms. It was really bothering us. We were pretty sure it was not left in Ohio, and eventually stopped looking. I said a prayer that we would find it before we needed to put the recycling out. I did not want a real life Toy Story 3 event! Ryan and I made up the chocolate fondue (the kids really just like the dippers, so we gave them those before bed), and enjoyed that while we waited for the ball drop (and did more searching).
Sunday was the switch to early church, at 9am. It seemed extra early this morning. Keira was able to find her Jessie when she woke up, and it was in a place where Ryan and I had both looked already! I went to church not really sure what would happen with Primary. I had missed the email containing the new assignments because it went out to everyone under different subject than I had expected. I had been given a tentative assignment, but no lesson to teach. I picked up my lesson right before Sacrament meeting, and thankfully, it was on the same topic as my talk that I just gave, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. That was a huge relief, because at least I knew the material. I do have another teacher with me, and I had wondered if she had planned the lesson. We had a good sacrament meeting, but the wind kept making the power flicker on and off. It was off when we ended sacrament, but we continued on. The power did come back on shortly. I found my class and started to get to know them a bit. It is a big class. They were very well behaved, but maybe that is just because of their ages. I am not really sure that we need 2 teachers, but we hope to do a bit of traveling coming up, so this will at least help me out with being able to rotate the lesson schedule instead of finding subs. The primary has some holes, so I was surprised they have 2 of us there, but I will take it and enjoy it for now. Soren became a Sunbeam today. Ryan sat in the back of the sharing time room since Soren was a bit uneasy at first. They called up the Sunbeams and welcomed them to Primary, which is where he got his sign. His teacher, Amy (who I was teaching with), gave him his own personalized Book of Mormon, and he was very excited about that too.
Keira got a CTR ring, and it goes well with this year's theme of Choose the Right. I felt bad that I wasn't more prepared for my class today!
We had a relaxing day at home after church. It is amazing how much more time it seems with early church. I caught up on the blog and worked a bit on organizing the playroom. It was a disaster before the cousins came, and I spent some time helping the kids sort out their sets and find places for the new toys. It is not done yet, and there are toys that I am ready to part with that Keira is not. She has been bad at leaving lights on upstairs, so every time I catch a light on upstairs, we might need to get rid of something.
1 comment:
Amazing Blog!
This is nice photography and so beautiful kinds.Nice article .Thanks for sharing this new year blog.........
Stock Photo
Post a Comment