Finding "normal"

This week has been about keeping busy and getting back to "normal", at least in regards to day-to-day life and routine with the kids.  While I have given myself some grace and time, I personally function better when I'm busy.  And while the kids are fabulous and pretty laid back, they function better when they have a regular daily routine.  This week we worked our way back to "normal" and it felt good.  I've found some comfort in the day-to-day routine myself.

Tuesday we took a family trip to Costco.  While family grocery shopping trips aren't usually our thing, the shopping needed to get done, and I needed to get out of the house.  While we were there we bought the ingredients to make 20 crockpot freezer meals (which can be found here).  After the epic shopping trip (complete with a mini-melt down from J), it was back home for lunch and naps.  J has taken to "tucking" himself into his "boat" (laundry basket) to watch his 15 minutes of movie/TV before naps.  

During nap time Justin and I worked hard and created a mess in the kitchen (and on the kitchen table), but managed to get all the meals assembled and into the freezer in 2.5 hours - just in time for the kids to wake up.

where I found J when I went to wake him from his nap...

The rest of the day followed our normal play, eat, bath, sleep routine.

Thursday was an epic day for J.  Unfortunately Justin ended up needing to go into work early, so he missed out, but that didn't stop the kids and I from having a blast.  We went to breakfast at the airport with our neighbors, and ate out on the patio.  The boys yelled "hi" and "bye" to every plane that came in for a landing or took off.  Afterwards we headed over to the police department's air unit for a brief tour and to see the helicopters up close.  It took a bit for J to warm up to the helicopters (he was much happier looking at them, and threw a fit every time we tried to put him in), but he was right at home "driving" the golf cart (go figure).  On our way out the door, he asked to "drive" a helicopter though, and we managed to get him in without a fight.  He still talks about it.

That night A was being rather loving to me and her brother.  Going back and forth giving kisses.  Then something else caught her eye on the other side of J.  She tried to crawl in front of him (not over him) on the couch, and in the process, J full on pushed her off the couch with his feet - and then proceeded to put himself in time out.  I think we need to find a new punishment/deterrent.

Friday after work, mom and I took the kids on a tour of the local Mormon Temple that just opened.  They are having an open house, open to the public, to show off the completed building.  We figured that we may never get another opportunity to visit a temple, and took them up on the offer of a brief and limited tour of the building.  I don't quite know what I expected of the building, but what I saw was not what I expected to see.  I will say, the the rooms we saw were beautiful, and the artwork that they had on the walls was fabulous.  J was just super excited because we got to ride a bus from the parking lot to the temple.  And kept asking throughout the tour to ride the bus again.  

Dinner that night was one of the crock pot meals I prepped on Tuesday.  While Justin and I liked it, the kids preferred yogurt.  In the interest of feeding myself, I let A feed her yogurt to herself…she got at least half of it in her mouth ;)

Justin managed to get Saturday off from work, and we took the kids to a pumpkin patch up north.  A was in LOVE with the petting zoo, mostly the pigs, while J loved feeding the goats.

The icing on the cake was the 10 minute horse ride I managed to take J on.  Justin and I were both surprised that he (somewhat) willingly got on the horse.  He threw a bit of a tantrum until he saw me get on, and then he was okay with the idea of riding a horse.  The whole ride he was petting the horse and saying "nice horse" and counting the horses in front of us (which he can only count to six, but always skips two).

Afterwards we had fun climbing the haystacks, taking the hayride tour of the farm, and "driving" the tractor.  He LOVED exploring the pumpkin patch, though it was a bit past lunch time and A was less than thrilled at the idea of being lead blindly by her brother through a ginormous pumpkin patch.

Once home, it was survival mode (due to a grand total of one hour naps from both kids in the car on the way home) until bedtime.  Survival mode around here includes outside playtime whenever possible.

I just want to thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers through these past two weeks.  They have helped us through the days more than you know.  We did get some test results back, and they have helped us in our understanding of some of the "why" questions we had.  They have also prompted a few additional questions that we may not be able to find answers to, but regardless, I am thankful to have the few answers we have.  At the end of the day, everything happens for a reason, and we are over the moon happy with the two healthy kids we have, and are healing with each passing day.