Kansas to see the Grandparents

Harper and I were supposed to visit my grandparents this past spring and with the house sale and the remodel and move, it just kept getting pushed back.  My grandparents had moved into an assisted living apartment this spring and I know they were hankering for some visitors.  Kristen called and decided that since she needed to use some vacation days, she would go with us.  And, after a hefty airline fee, she decided to drive with Harper and I in the car.  

We decided to leave Wednesday evening so they kids could sleep most of the way there.  We around 4:30 and made it to McAlister by 6 for dinner.  Harper and Grayson were just watching shows and playing on the ipad.  Reese was not having any part of the long drive.  Kristen gave her a different toy every 5 minutes, but it wasn't enough to suffice.  We ate dinner at Braum's which was extremely sentimental since that is where we always ate as kids when we drove to and from Kansas.  After letting the kids run wild at dinner, we hit the road.  Reese fell asleep immediately and Grayson not long after.  Harper and her stubborn self kept her eyes open until 11pm.  That kid is a force.  We got to Aunt Pat's at 12, set up beds and finally crashed at 1am.  Harper kept crying, so I ended up in her bed and bright eyed Grayson woke us up at 5am.  Ugh.  

My Grandmas has had some anxiety and memory problems lately, so it was good for us to visit.  She is such a phenomenal woman, but it is hard getting older.  This trip was especially important because it was their first time meeting Reese.  When we walked in and Grandma saw Reese, she started crying.  It was so sweet!  She loves babies and she enjoyed every minute she got with these three!   

We visited with Aunt Pat and Uncle Don, had breakfast, and showered.  We made it to Paola to see Grandma and Grandpa around 10 and stayed until lunchtime.  It was kind of hard to keep 3 toddlers entertained in a 20ft x 10ft room that was not childproofed, but we managed.  Kristen talked to Grandpa while I watched the kids, and then we would switch.  My grandpa is a talker and he just got back from visiting Washington D.C. on Honor Flight.  So he had ALOT to say.  :)  

These three kids did pretty stinking good considering what we asked of them.  They found toys to play with, investigated their apartment, and ran around the place.  Grayson kept finding coins, liked playing with the wheelchair, and messed around on the ipad.  Harper played with some toys, colored, and watched shows with G.  Reese just walked around, picking everything up and showing us her new finds.  She did great in that room - she never got bored.  We planned on going each day in the morning and afternoon and napping at Pat's in between.  It was a 40 minute drive to and from and a few times we ran out of time or had late meals.  Thursday morning they played around and Thursday evening they ate dinner while we were there.

 

They had a veterans day celebation Friday morning while we were there.  Grandpa and 2 others were honored and it was a nice ceremony.  Grandpa deserves every bit of that.  Kristen got him to talk about a lot of his past that day and it is fascinating stuff.  He was only in WW2 for 2 weeks before he was injured and sent home.  Crazy.  So glad we got to celebrate this with him.

Friday morning was little more rough - they were tired of driving and sitting and being good.  Plus, the home was having a veterans day celebration so we had a presentation for Grandpa and a few others.  Very cool.  So Friday afternoon, played outside.  Soccer, swings, chase. It was cold but really necessary.  Saturday, we packed the car and said goodbye to Pat and Don.  We spent the morning at Grandma and Grandpas before heading home at lunchtime.

The drive home was about the same.  We ate lunch and both of Kristen's kids slept during naptime.  Harper laughed when I asked if she wanted to nap, so she watched a show on the ipad.  We stopped after nap and got ice cream and that seemed to get us home.  It felt quicker this time for sure.  We made it home at 6pm and got all the kids a quick dinner.  We transferred the bags and Kristen left for Frisco at 6:30.  She called me an hour later and I assumed she was home.  Nope.  Grayson had thrown up all over himself and his carseat about 10 minutes into the drive and she had to stop and clean it all up. She was still 40 min from home.  Ugh.  Not good. 

It was still a good trip.  Hard, but good.  It was great to see the grandparents and it was so fun to hang with the McCools.  Harper always expects Grayson and Reese to be around whenever she wants them now.  And I actually got to talk to Kristen, about real stuff other than kids, for long periods of time.  It was so good.  Maybe we'll try again next year...

October Days

October was a fun month.  We played outside alot, went to the park, and had lots of playdates.  Harper is getting so big.  She loves to slide by herself at the park and she runs everywhere.  She climbs on everything at home, or finds a chair or stool to slide over to climb.  She loves hanging out in the pasture with Cody, walking around or getting stuff from the barns.  She has also gotten into some sports lately. Cody bought her a soccer ball when she gave up her paci last month.  We let her pick the color and she must have picked 15 different colors before finally choosing neon green.  We also visited Sandy Point with Buddy and Serena one last time before it got too cold.  I somehow forgot her suit bottoms so she played in a diaper, a swim shirt, and rain boots.  She and Cody walk all along the beach getting shells and looking at fish.  Obviously, Cody likes to play outside too, so they are 2 peas in a pod.  (Baseball picture - we told her squat down like a baseball catcher and she did and then was confused because that usually means she is peeing, but she wasn't, so she had to look under there and check.  Haha!)

She does so good playing with her toys at home.  Some are old toys that she rediscovers, some are new.  I love that she can play with others and also plays so well independently.  She is getting really good at her 4wheeler.  She goes round and round.  She also got a new horse from KK and loves it.  KK is a little obsessed with horses, so they will have fun doing that together.  She has also definitely gotten into dress up lately.  She has never done it a lot by herself, mostly only when friends are over.  But we dressed up a lot for Halloween and I think it got her excited to dress up even at home.  Her other favorite thing to play is dolls.  She has a favorite doll that she sleeps with, but she just found her 2 cabbage patch dolls that came with clothes, accessories, have hair, and shoes.  She seems to think their clothes fit her too, because sometimes she walks around in the doll shoes on her tippy toes.  

We have been doing lots of fun stuff for preschool lately.  We are doing more paper crafts, with paints and glue.  She loves glue - but has no idea when enough is enough so it's not as often.  Painting is still a major favorite.  This week we have gotten into working on fine motor skills with silverware, scissors, etc.  She had a ton of fun playing with rice the other day.  I really should just get her rice for Christmas.  

Harper is a total fashionista now.  She LOVES clothes.  She thinks they are cool, beautiful, awesome, and cute, and will you tell you over and over.  She carries new clothes around the house and accessorizes.  In the mornings, she likes to pick out shirts for me to wear and tell me how pretty I will look in them.  She got some skinny jeans for winter and she looks so stinking cute in them.  In general, she is just cute but she is also just growing up too fast!  What is it about jeans that make toddlers look like kids?  This month was Breast Cancer awareness month, which was fitting because our dear friend, Jeanne Bradley (Ben's mom) passed away from breast cancer.  She was a fabulous mom to all of Cody and their friends growing up and she will be missed.  So, at the last game in October, all of Denison wore pink to show their support.  And of course we wore our new A&M dress from Charla (Cody's work friend) and watched them play all month.  It's been an up and down year for us with Johnny Manziel.  We just want them to win so badly!

We got to hang with some fun people this month.  We met Kara down in Carrollton for an afternoon visit.  It's about halfway, so it was fun for both of us.  We had lots of playdates with the Spiegels, going to the library, dressing up in costumes, and playing at each other's houses.  We drove to Dallas a few times to play with family and sisters.  It's been so good for us to have the ability to go wherever and whenever.  Love it.  

This month started some pretty big sicknesses for us.  She was really fussy one morning and was crying alot.  About 30 minutes later, she spiked a fever and threw up.  After throwing up a couple more times, I took her to the dr and she had a double ear infection.  She was so tired, she slept through most of the doctor's examination.  It turned out to be Serena's doctor from forever ago - he really was pretty old.  So funny how everyone in a small town really knows everyone.  She got better pretty quick, so I was extremely grateful!