Meg's Life: A visit from my favorite 7 and 6 year olds!

The month of July has been a crazy busy one for us. From quick day trips to overnight visitors to running off to Chicago for a few days, the month has flown by and I can hardly believe we’re coming up on the two month anniversary since the wedding. Today’s date means I have exactly one month until the 2015-2016 school year starts and I am not even close to being ready for a new semester. Rather than focusing on all that has yet to be done, I am taking tonight to look back at all that has been done instead. Let’s see:

Get married.

Go on honeymoon.

Move to new house and empty out storage unit in Pennsylvania.

Start the name change/address change process everywhere (this, I’m learning, is a never ending process!).

Move offices at work.

Work two University Days at work.

Get a new puppy (in hindsight, I didn’t realize how much WORK this would be…why must the concept of house training be so difficult for our new little guy?!)

As the unofficial representative of the EDU Dept., work on organizing and distributing the wealth of donated materials our department received at work.

Looking back, I suppose this list is not too shabby as for what was able to be done over the last two months. I’m so glad I still have a month to work on prepping for the four classes this fall. Fortunately, on the way back from Chicago I was able to make a small dent in the course calendars for each of the courses. Maybe I will even get to do a little research before August 20^th rolls around eh?

Something else that was on the to-do list was to have some of our niece & nephews visit and we were able to do that with the two older ones on my side of the family. Mason and Clark were here for a couple days the other week!! As luck would have it, they were able to ride back with the pups and me as Adam drove the moving truck that contained the items from storage. The kids loved holding Hershey in the back seat as Dusty enjoyed the front seat all to himself. Due to an early pick up time, we made it back to Ohio by noon so that Adam could get right to work (he works on California time) from home. For lunch, I introduced the kiddos to a favorite of ours: peanut butter and marshmallow cracker sandwiches but they still like their peanut butter surprise (peanut butter and Nutella) sandwiches better). Later that day, the kids were entertained as Adam and I worked to unload the moving truck. When crushing boxes to throw away, Mason and Clark secured one for themselves to make a “tunnel”. They set to work drawing, coloring, and taping it. Who needs expensive toys when a cardbox will do??!

When not being creative, they spent hours playing with the pups, and enjoyed taking over the guest room. The first night they were here, Adam and I took them to our weekly Adoration hour (9-10pm) where they worked on coloring in their shamrocks we had used earlier to talk about St. Patrick and the Holy Trinity. Once home, it was time to play with left over sparklers from the wedding before bedtime.

We had some laughs at breakfast when Mason acquired a blue mustache from the juice she was drinking and the kids “watched TV” using the gift Mason had brought with her. She had made a TV set for Adam and me that we proudly displayed in the living room while the kids were here. In an effort to get out some of their energy, we piled into the car and headed on over to school where the kids joined some friends and co-workers for Jazzercise. They danced one song with us then found more fun in playing with the cones while us grown-ups danced (or in my case, attempted to dance)! The kids were the stars and my colleagues enjoyed having them join us. They also got a peek at my new office where we snatched up some books and props that go with one of my all time favorite children’s stories. Once back at the house, we scooped up the pups and walked over to the playground where we played in spite of a couple stray summer raindrops. We enjoyed burgers from the grill and patio that night followed by s’mores!

Throughout the day Clark helped me unpack boxes from the moving truck while Mason couldn’t put Hershey down for a second. Clark was a huge help since he loves crushing boxes so much and spraying the furniture polish as we wiped down the hutch. One of the treasures we found as we unpacked was the “Look Who’s Listening!” game I used when teaching. This educational game that reviews auditory memory and recall skills, created by speech language pathologists, was a favorite with my former students and I had a feeling Mason and Clark would enjoy it too. We blew off the dust as we pulled the game out of the box and played it before bed that night. The kids had a fantastic time even when Uncle Adam won. ; ) Our night time story that evening was the Princess and the Pea, a childhood favorite! Using the mattresses we had brought home from the office, we acted out the story before it was time for bed. Even Hershey got into the act.

Our last full day in Ohio found us adding to our arts and crafts that had already been completed (shamrocks, keys to the kingdom, Celtic crosses) by decorating miters! In case you haven’t been able to figure it out yet, yes, these were extra crafts from this summer’s Vacation Bible School at our church. I’m really glad I had thought to ask for extras when teaching because they sure did come in handy with Mason and Clark during this visit!

By late morning, we were on our way headed to West Virginia to the Children’s Museum of the Ohio Valley. The children enjoyed themselves during the couple hours we were there and loved being able to take their crafts home with them. Mason made a maraca that had a couple other uses and Clark created a beautiful masterpiece that was frame-worthy. Later in the afternoon, before a quick rain shower arrived, Clark colored in the driveway and on the sidewalk with chalk as Mason continued working on her craft on the front porch. Catching this glimpse of Clark watching the cars go by reminded me of the days when his Dad did the same from our Grandma’s front porch. Like father like son I suppose!

The kids even accompanied Hershey and me to the vet for a check-up. It was their first time going to the vet and I think they enjoyed seeing the other animals while there. They showed Hershey some extra TLC back at the house by throwing in all the doggie toys in the pen. Poor Dusty! After dinner it was time to make some cookies that were wildly popular at our wedding reception. The kids delighted in the no-bake oatmeal chocolate peanut butter cookies (“What do you mean, they’re cookies but they don’t have to be baked?!”). Other highlights of the visit include catching lightning bugs, putting rainbow Jamberries on Mason’s fingers (she loves glitter and color…hmm, sounds like someone else I know), feeding the birdies in the yard, and just being together with each other.

The last two fun things we enjoyed were to watch the reception DVD where the kids got a kick out of seeing themselves on the “big TV!” and to go see Shrek Forever After at the movie theatre before making the trip back to Pennsylvania to meet Mom, their little brothers, and Grandma. It was a noisy trip back but I missed seeing their little faces in my rearview mirror on the way back to Ohio. I already can’t wait until the next time!