March Boondoggle

I had never heard the term "Boondoggle" until Steve started going on random "business trips".  Some business trips are necessities and some are "helpful" but you get perks along with the trips.  The latter kind of business trips are deemed "Boondoggles".  A few weeks ago, I created my own Boondoggle which aligned with a work Boondoggle, and we headed out on a week long trip!

Bean and I headed to Indiana on Thursday morning. I had volunteered to help out my old piano teacher with a contest she's involved in every year.  I extended the trip by adding on some extra days to hang out with family.  Steve joined us on Friday night once he got off work.  We had two separate cars for the remainder of our Boondoggle, but we purposefully planned it that way.  We stayed at my parents through Sunday afternoon, soaking up lots of family time!

(Pile-up on Ahm's bed -- dog included!  Bean has it figured out that if she doesn't like what's on the tv in the living room, she can convince Ahm that they should lay in her bed and she gets to pick whatever she wants.  My nieces apparently didn't mind Bean's pick and joined in on the fun.)

On Sunday after lunch, we headed (in our separate cars) to Cincinnati.  I was a little stressed about the driving alone with Bean.  The only long drives I've done with her alone, is between our house and my parents.  I know all the stops and the best places to stop and switches movies for her when she needs it.  However, this time, I'd be driving unfamiliar roads and not know where the best places to stop would be.  PLUS, she started the trip off asleep.  So I was at a complete loss of knowing how well (or long) she'd sleep or how many movies she'd need.  Luckily for me, she slept almost the whole time. She was awake the last 30 min.  I was able to reach her interactive books which kept her entertained the rest of the way -- no need to stop!

We met Scott and Ashley at our favorite Cincy hangout -- Ikea! We needed to make several purchases to make up Bean's new "big girl room".  We had warned them it would be a long trip, but I don't think they were fully prepared for our Ikea madness.  In the end, we came out with an extendable bed (it can be small for a toddler and can pull out to be a full twin), a book/toy organizer, a dresser, duvet & cover, and a wall light.  We let Bean pick out the duvet cover and wall light (let's just say, I'm a little nervous about making this room pull together!).  After we made our purchases, we headed (in 3 cars now - if you are keeping track!) to dinner at -- you guessed it -- Dewey's Pizza! Yummm!

(Even though this picture is from when we got home, Bean is modeling off the "colors" bedspread she picked out.  How am I going to make that bold confetti work in her room?!)

While everyone was at work on Monday, Bean and I just hung out around Scott/Ashley's house with Tyson.  The weather was beautiful, so we spent a lot of time out on their deck!  They have a pretty sweet set up. I was able to pull lunch together (and even blog a little) all while being able to watch Bean run around on the deck.  Once everyone was home, we spent the evening celebrating Ashley's birthday! We headed out for a picnic dinner at their local favorite BBQ joint and Ash opened gifts when we got home.

(Bean LOVED playing out on the deck.  She would find a bunch of sticks and keep herself entertained.  She also went through a phase of holding her diaper a bunch that day.  I asked her why and she just said she needed to hold it.  We've been talking to her a lot about using the potty, but she hasn't seemed interested.  Guess it is time to make her interested!)

On Tuesday, Bean and I headed BACK to Indiana to visit with friends (This is why I wanted 2 cars, so Bean and I weren't stuck at the house all day.  We were able to visit some friends and family, yet still be with Steve in the evenings!).  I was able to see two of my old roommates from college and Bean was able to play with my friend's kids and their ducks - ha! The weather was beautiful and we stayed outside nearly all day (we payed for it later with some sunburns, oops!).  After a delightful visit, we headed back to Cincy and got to the house just minutes before Steve returned home - perfect!  Scott/Ashley had run club, so we headed to an Italian version of Chipotle - Piada! We got to make our own pasta bowls.  Bean usually loves pasta, but I am never sure of what she will and won't eat.  This was a hit! When Scott and Ashley got back from running, we finished off her birthday celebration with cake - yum!

(My friend Brianna lives in the country and has a big backyard complete with swing set and duck coup.)

(Bean LOVED meeting the ducks.  Later in the day she said she was scared, but I never saw it while we were there! She bravely pet the duck and liked to chase it. She thought it was especially funny when Brianna tried to make the duck fly.)

(This kid is braver than me.  She picked up a bunch of dried meal worms and put her hand out for the ducks to eat.  I wouldn't mind the duck eating out of my hand, it's the dried meal worm part that I have trouble with!)

(My other roommate from college Julie came to visit, too!  Thanks for loving on our kiddos Julie!)

(Eating up the pasta at Piada.  I don't remember what I got.  I chose a preset dinner bowl and then added in a couple items.  It was delicious!)

On Wednesday, I packed all of our stuff up and headed to northern Cincy to visit with my aunt, uncle and cousin.  They were more than generous and showered us with love! They pulled out toys for Bean to play with and fed us both a great lunch! It was great getting to see them and catch up.  From there house, we headed home to our house.  Bean fell asleep in the car and slept almost the whole time (score again!). I got stuck in a 30 min traffic jam due to a crash.  Steve was supposed to stay in Cincy for a couple hours later, but ended up finishing early.  He left a little bit after me and I was able to inform him of the traffic jam.  He got to bypass it and we got home just around the same time.

Getting away and seeing friends and family was just what I needed!  I love our house and being a stay-at-home mom, but sometimes, even mom's go stir crazy and need their own boondoggles!

Thanksgiving Celebrations

I LOVE Thanksgiving!  I love how it kicks off the holiday season, brings family together, and all the food!  With family spread over different states, we have to be strategic about celebrating holidays.  Lucky for us, we get to have TWO celebrations for holidays!

Thanksgiving Round 1:

We had our first Thanksgiving with my family the weekend before the actual holiday.  We headed to IN after Steve got off work on Friday.  We stopped for dinner halfway and got to my parents' house around 8 o'clock.  At home, Bean is in bed by then, but on a travel day, bedtime routine goes out the window. She was all wound up - especially since two cousins were spending the night! So after lots of giggles and running around, we finally forced her to go to sleep!

On Saturday, my brother and his family along with my sister and the rest of her family came over.  We all chipped in with different responsibilities for the meal so that it wasn't all dumped on my mom.  The meal was wonderful, but the time with family was the best!  Bean had a little meltdown in the morning, and earned herself some alone time (I thought she'd nap, but she wouldn't). After some snuggles and reading a few books alone, she seemed to snap out of it and allowed to partake in the family festivities.

(The only picture I took all weekend -- We were watching White Christmas, much to my brother-in-law's dismay.  So my dad tried to make him like the movie by singing along with the music to my brother-in-law.  Willises be crazy!)

Bean was a little wound up from all the fun and decided to be up all night.  We sleep in the same room with her at my parents, and she has that figured out.  She ended up in bed with me.  I dozed off and on, but not really sure how much she slept.  I'd roll over and see her sitting, or she'd be playing with her legs in the air.  Whatever.  I was able to somewhat sleep, and that's all I cared about :).  We had a lazy morning and packed up our stuff.  My sister and her family came back over for lunch and we headed out after we ate.

Thanksgiving Round 2:

We had a couple of days at home before we headed out for Thanksgiving round 2! I was able to get us unpacked, laundry done, repacked, AND put up all the rest of our Christmas decorations.  Steve was able to get off work on Wednesday just a little bit early.  I had the car packed up and we were ready to go.  We hit the road, headed south, and met up with Steve's family in Cincinnati for dinner! Nanny & Poppy (Steve's grandparents), Mommom, Poppop, Scott and Ashley were all there.  Bean was a little grouchy at the start of dinner.  I've learned she gets very "Hangry" when she needs to eat.  With her picky eating, it tends to happen a lot more frequently since she won't eat what I prepare for her to snack on.  Mommom brought her some markers and a coloring book and won her over.

We headed Scott and Ashley's after dinner.  We set up our room - we got the basement.  We were able to put Bean back in the corner so she was shielded from us.  We had the option to put her in her own room, but I didn't want to have to walk up 2 flights of stairs if she got up at night! Steve and I slept on an air mattress.  I was worried about how that would go since I toss and turn a lot more at night now trying to get comfortable.  It ended up being fine, though.

On Thursday morning, Bean and I got up and were ready to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade together, only I was an hour ahead! Ha, oops! Ashley had got stickers for Bean to play with and Bean quickly got involved in that activity.  The stickers are reusable ones that you put on scenes in the provided book. However, Bean liked putting them on the big windows more.  So she'd point out on the sheet to Poppop or Ashley which sticker she wanted, they'd take it off, and she'd go place it in her collection on the window.  Bean was too focused on stickers to watch the parade, maybe next year she'll share in my affinity for it.

(Coloring with Aunt Ashley! Bean remembered where the crayons were located and went straight there asking Ashley to color with her.)

(Pointing out which sticker she wanted Poppop to get for her.)

(She then would put it onto the window and excitedly run back for another sticker! She ended up running out of space and we had to open the shade on the next window.  It took help from everyone to get all the stickers off the windows and back onto their appropriate pages.)

There was a lot of activity in the kitchen trying to get the lunch meal ready.  Ashley had everything organized and assigned jobs for everyone (mine was the mashed potatoes).  We planned to eat at 1, but the turkey took a little longer.  Bean was starting to get hangry (plus again, being a picky eater, there was nothing in the meal that she would eat.  We gotta work on this food thing!).  So she ate spaghetti while we waited for the food.  She joined us for the blessing of the meal, then she bid every night-night and I took her down and put her to bed! It made our meal just a little bit easier not trying to convince her to eat and entertain her while we leisurely ate.

(Eating her spaghetti before we had our Thanksgiving lunch!)

(Happy Thanksgiving from Cincinnati!  We missed Ian and look forward to seeing him at Christmas!)

The rest of the afternoon was just spent relaxing and enjoying time with the family.  There were 2 main rooms to hang out in.  1 room was a "devices free zone" and the other had the tv (devices allowed!).  There were a few good football games on in the afternoon, so you can guess where Steve and I spent most of our time ;).  Bean happily ran back and forth between the rooms doing stickers or playing with the toys that I had brought from home.

On Friday, there were several options of activities to be done.  I decided that Bean and I would only be partaking in 1 activity and that it needed to be the morning one.  So we headed with the family to the Krohn Conservatory.  They had decorated some of the rooms with different Christmas scenes and trains.  Bean enjoyed walking through the plants and looking for trains.  She especially liked going through the cave behind the waterfall (we even went twice!).  There was a little kids coloring room that was probably her favorite.  She got upset when it was time to go.  We headed back to Scott and Ashley's for lunch and naptime.  Naptime wasn't coordinated well for everyone, so people were all asleep at different times, haha.  The afternoon activity ended up being missed.  Poppop brought up the idea of getting some Grater's ice cream.  He got Bean on his team for ice cream and some of us headed out!

(Coloring with Mommom at the conservatory. Although, I think coloring quickly turned into take all the crayons out of the bucket and put them all over the table.)

Poppop made his famous spaghetti for dinner and we had another quiet evening with the family on Friday.  After Bean went to bed, we watched a new Amazon Prime show (The Man in the High Castle) with Poppop & Ashley while Mommom used a dehydrator to make turkey jerkey.

Bean had been sleeping good the first 2 nights we were there.  I'm not sure what changed, but the last night was not a good night.  She was tossing and turning a lot when we went to bed, and then she caught me going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  She started crying and wouldn't lay back down.  She kept saying, "lay down with momma."  So I put her on the air mattress with us.  It was like reliving the bad night at my parents.  I'm not sure how much sleeping she did. I would doze off and on between the jabs of her feet in my back and her head on my pillow.  I knew we would be in for a loooong Saturday.

I didn't feel the best on Saturday.  I was pretty nauseous, which wasn't anything unusual.  I hit 11 weeks pregnant while in Cincinnati.  Typically, I'd have a few good days and then a few bad days.  So I wasn't surprised by the bad day (I had had a couple of good days prior!).  I stuck to chewing my gum and drinking water and pushed through.  It was great having all the help with Bean while we were there.  I was able to rest a lot and not have to be on my feet a lot.  Some of the family went out for a mid morning activity.  It wasn't going to be very kid friendly, so Steve and I just stayed home with Poppop & Bean.  She played with Play-doh  (Mommom brought it) and stickers.

After nap, we said bye to Nanny & Poppy (well, Bean wasn't up in time to say goodbye).  Ashley and Mommom took them to the airport.  I got us all packed up and Steve loaded up the car. When they got back, we went to Bass Prop Shop so that Bean could meet Santa.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but she ended up sitting on his lap with no problem! We even got a little smile out of her!  From there, we headed over to Dewey's for some pizza!  We had to wait a half hour, but it is always worth the wait.  I was starting to feel more sick by the time food came.  I just chalked it up to being hungry.  I ate a slice and had to quickly swallow a couple of bites because my gag reflex was kicking in.  I thought maybe it had to do with the flavor (bbq chicken) and tried a smaller piece with plain sauce.  I was able to eat that small slice, but called it quits on the pizza.

(Picture with Santa! They had little coloring stations set up as you waited in line.  She was very adamant that she wanted to hold her picture as she sat on Santa's lap.  It drove the photographer crazy, but I said let her have it.  She's still holding it in this photo.)

We said bye to everyone after we ate and headed back to our house.  Steve's parents stuck around Ashley & Scott's for another day, but we had some church responsibilities and Steve had to get some stuff done on Sunday before work on Monday.  I felt miserable in the car.  Bean just sat and watched Dora all the way home while I just wallowed in self pity.  I couldn't entertain myself with my phone because it made me car sick.  And I was already fighting a lot of nausea. We got home a little after 9:30.  I went straight to work getting Bean to bed.  Once she was down, I crashed on our bed continuing to wallow in self pity.

Steve came in and tried to comfort me and get me whatever I needed.  I was tired, and felt super sick, and was tired of feeling sick and tired.  He calmed down and he went to shower to get ready for bed.  As I laid there, I felt worse and worse, and finally realized I couldn't fight it anymore.  I went to the other bathroom and lost my dinner.  I felt so much better after throwing up.  I got ready for bed and quickly fell asleep.  But that didn't last long, I woke up a few hours later feeling super sick again.  I knew the fight wasn't going to end well and went to the bathroom.  Steve heard me and came into the bathroom.  It took our relationship to a whole new level.  He rubbed my back and held my hair as I continued to throw up (only time he has ever seen me puke was at the beginning of labor, but my mom and nurse was there to help!).  We went back to bed and I again fell asleep.  I repeated the process a few hours later, only I told Steve to just stay in bed.  Finally around 4am, the puking stop and I just slept.

I felt awful the next day.  I was achy, I was tired, and still nauseous.  I nibbled on bland foods all day.  I'm super thankful it was a Sunday and that Steve was able to take on full Bean duty.  Bean didn't fully understand and wanted me to play with her.  We told her that "Momma's sick" and it stuck with her.  To this day, if I'm laying and tell her I need a minute before doing something, she'll respond with, "Momma's sick" and go about her play.  By Monday morning, I was back to my old self. I even ran a mile for the first time in a few months! As quickly as puke fest came on, it went away.  No one else got sick, so it somehow had to be some weird pregnancy thing!

Happy Halloween

We headed to Cincinnati for Halloween weekend to spend some time with Steve's sister and her husband.  They have recently moved to a new neighborhood and there was a rumor that Halloween was an over-the-top affair with the neighbors.

We headed south on Saturday morning and met them for an early lunch. After lunch, we headed to EnterTRAINment Junction to look at a large indoor miniature train display.  Bean loved to push the buttons to make the trains go.  They had a Halloween craft area, a little maze you could walk through and get candy, and a big play place with tunnels and slides.  We had fun going through all the different activities and headed back to their house for nap time.

(Putting stickers on her free little pumpkin!)

(She also got to color a page.)

(Playing around in the fun house at EnterTRAINment junction.  They had these different maze rooms with themes - like space, fun house, mirrors, etc.  I think the adults had more fun than Bean in those rooms!)

We took it easy in the afternoon and built up the excitement for the trick-or-treating.   We ate a quick dinner and then put Bean back in her Orville (bird from the rescuers) costume.  Ashley was gonna take the first shift of trick-or-treaters while Scott, Steve, and I took Bean around to get some candy.  Scott ended up disappearing and Ashley met back up with us when we rounded the next street.  By house #3, Bean was a pro of going up, and saying, "tricks, treat".  Everyone thought she was dressed up as Amelia Earhart.  I guess Steve and I should've had our mouse costumes on to complete her ensemble.  Pretty soon, Bean's candy bag was getting very heavy and we called it quits.  We went back to sit with Scott while he passed out the rest of his candy.  Their neighborhood wasn't the over-the-top affair that we had expected, but it was still pretty good! All the neighbors just sat out in their yards with fire pits and had big buckets of candy next to them.  Some of the neighbors passed out snacks like cheese-its or fruit snacks, while others passed out whole candy bars; and a lot of the neighbors had separate candy options for little kids - like suckers and marshmallow treats.

(Daddy taking Bean out to get some candy.)

(She did great carrying her bag and asking for candy on her own!)

(Aunt Ashley took Bean up to some of the houses, too!)

(We let Bean pick a couple of different things from her haul while we sat outside with Ashley, Scott, and Tyson!)

We had plans on Sunday morning to go out to breakfast at one of their favorite pancake places, but the wait ended up being too long.  Luckily, the weather was nice enough that we could go to a little coffee shop that sold waffles on Sunday morning only.  Only caveat was that they only had outdoor seating.  It ended up working out great! We said goodbye after lunch and headed back home.

We did do a stop at Ikea on our way home (did you think we could ever go to Cincy and not stop at Ikea?!).  Bean enjoyed the freedom of being able to run around and try out some of the furniture.  Things were going great until it was time to pick up the furniture boxes we needed (we bought a desk).  We had let her ride on the furniture cart, but needed her to get off for the boxes.  Huge meltdown began.  I ended up taking her away to sit by the little cafe while Steve checked out.  The meltdown ensued until I finally just had to take her out of the store - kicking & screaming the whole time.  She hadn't slept well the night before and I quickly realized she was teething a molar (anytime she has a huge meltdown like this, and sleep is a problem, it's because of teeth).  I had medicine in the car that I gave her (between the screaming).  And she finally calmed down.  I picked Steve and the furniture up at the cargo load and we hit the road.  Bean was out before we got on the highway.  She ended up taking an early nap, which made the rest of the day long (nothing some leaf playing couldn't solve), but the trip (okay, maybe the bag of candy for Momma/Daddy) was totally worth it!

Bean loved to help us rake leaves this year! She had a little hand rake that she'd pretend to use, but then she would just pick leaves out of our piles and throw them around.  We'd toss her in the pile, too. She loved it all:

A visit with Mommom & Poppop!

Steve's parents came for a visit at the beginning of July! They arrived on Thursday right about the time that Steve got off work. I babysat James on Thursday (the week was different since it was a holiday week) so things were a little crazy when they arrived -- kids needed naps, the usual! Steve was able to get off early and was able to set up his new smoker so that we could have pulled pork for dinner.  He and his parents worked on the smoking situation while I cared for the kids.  Since it was his first time smoking meat, he had to work out some kinks which resulted in us eating shaved pork sandwiches (meat was cooked, but not at a high enough temp to pull, who knew?!). 

(Playing blocks with Mommom!)

(Playing Star Wars Angry Birds with Poppop!)

(Chalk outside!)

(After dinner, we took Steve's parents to our favorite ice cream shack -- Pete's!  Bean loves piking out the chocolate pieces form my ice cream and always steals the last of the cone.  I can't get mad -- those are my favorites, too.  Just another way she is my mini-me!)

On Friday, we caravanned from Lima to Cincinnati with a pit stop in Dayton along the way.  There is a small hiking trail with a waterfall just off the highway.  We started Bean off in her stroller for the first part of the trail, but let her come out when we had to do the steps.  She enjoyed the freedom of walking but didn't so much like the rule of holding someone's hand.  A meltdown ensued and we had to force her to get back in the stroller.  She was a little hateful until promises of Dora in the car (DVD system) and lunch around the corner were given.  We ate lunch at our favorite pizza place -- Dewey's! Timing worked out perfectly for Bean to crash in the car after lunch.  

(Trail appeared to be stroller friendly.  I was going to make Bean walk, but Daddy & grandparents won out.  We always have a stroller driver whenever Poppop is around!)

(View of the waterfall from the top.  The trail was no longer stroller friendly, so Steve and his dad took turns carrying it while Mommom & I took Bean walking duty.)

(Bean loved going down the steps on her own -- of course! This girl is so independent.)

We continued our trek to Cincy and made it to Scott/Ashley's new house for the rest of the weekend.  The rest of the weekend is a blur.  There were multiple walks to parks (up and down hill both ways), yard work/house projects, delicious meals (Thanks Ash!), playground/splash pad/carousel, Grater's ice cream and meals out.  The highlight of the weekend was the fireworks in the park.  I was concerned on how Bean would handle the experience - walking to the park at 8:30pm, fireworks at 10pm, loud noises, having to walk back, etc.  She was a trooper!  She loved watching the fireworks and never even flinched at the noises.  She even stayed awake the stroller ride back (thanks Scott for pushing!) and happily crashed in bed at 11pm.  This girl never ceases to surprise me! 

(I brought books and toys with Bean to Ashley's house, although I probably didn't need to.  I think she only sat and played with the toys for like 5 min  while I took a picture.  The rest of the time, she was content to run around on the back deck.)

(How cool is this baby gate?!  There is a gate at the top and bottom of the stairs.  Scott and Ashley can put them up when they need, and easily take them down when they aren't needed.  Made my life easier knowing that Bean could run around on the main level and not get into too much trouble!)

(Look at those knees! Bean tripped a couple times that week and again at their house.  All the trips took a toll on her knees and she bloodied them up pretty good.  It didn't phase her too much, but boy do I hate dealing with injuries!)

(Walking to find the bike/scooter parade!)

(Aunt Ashley's turn to walk with Bean.)

(So there was a house in their neighborhood that had a sign up talking about the "Bike & Scooter parade starts here" with info of time/date.  I was curious and wanted to see the parade, as did others.  It didn't go down their street, so we went up a street and watched all the neighborhood kids go by. It was a legit parade complete with front pace car playing patriotic music and decked out in flags.)

(Going down the slide with uncle Scott.  Pretty sure he just used her to play on the playgrounds all weekend.)

(After the parade, we headed to a little kids park downtown.  There was different areas set up -- playground, giant keyboard/wind chime, water works, splash pad, swings, and carousel. Bean loved watching the water turn the wheel.)

(Enjoying the swings.  They were giant swings like what you'd have on a porch. They faced the river and it was very relaxing.)

(Bean wasn't too keen on being on the swing.)

(Riding on the carousel! Steve rode on one while I held Bean next to him.  She refused to get on - just like the carousel at the zoo.)

(When we got off the carousel, she actually pointed to it and asked to ride again.  Suuuuuure.  We got back on and she freaked out over being on it again.  So we sat on the bench.  On our first ride around, Steve asked why on earth anyone would pay to get on a carousel and just ride the bench -- now he knows why.)

(After the carousel, we put on Bean's suit and let her run around.  She didn't enjoy it like I thought she would. Time wise -- she was getting hungry and it was close to nap; but I had promised her she could get in the water, so I made the decision to just deal with the fallout.  She was a trooper and we were even able to enjoy a really good lunch with the family downtown.)

(This sucker was the key to success of the weekend.  Thanks again Ashley!  This kid would do anything for her sucker.)

(Coloring with Aunt Ashley)

(Selfie in the park!)

(I took a picture during the fireworks and got this hateful glare from Steve.  I wanted to capture how Bean intently started at the sky.  I guess I didn't think through the flash. . . )

On Sunday morning, we headed out for a late breakfast at the same restaurant Scott/Ashley took us on our last Cincinnati visit - Sleepy Bee.  After eating, we headed to a farmer's market and took in the people and overall experience.  Bean loved running around the little square/fountain.  There was a folk band playing and she'd randomly break out in dance, too.  We said goodbye to Steve's family at the farmer's market.  They headed to some stores and returned to the house to while we made a quick pit stop at Ikea before returning to Lima.  

(Dancing around the farmer's market.)

(Watching the folk music.)

(We didn't have anything on our minds when we went into Ikea -- other than hotdogs! Steve brought up the idea of getting Bean a little play table - how could I say no?!  So we decided to get Bean an early birthday present.  She is in love with it and uses it daily!  She plays with toys on it, sits and colors with me, and eats snacks and picnic meals on it.)

(Too cute not to include!  We are having one fun & busy summer!)