Our trip to Detroit

My brother-in-law, Tanner, is serving a 2 year church mission in Detroit, Michigan. He goes home in less than a week now, so Monday we went and visited him. He's a lot closer to us now than he will be when he goes home to Utah next week, and he hasn't seen Jake since his first birthday and he'd never met McKenna. Plus Andrew and I have missed him!

I was pretty nervous about the long day in the car for the kids. It was 8+ hours in the car, and then lots of time in the stroller, which they aren't used to at all. I figured McKenna would sleep close to 2 hours each direction, but that girl does not like sleeping outside of her crib! She got about 20 minutes on the way there and another 15 on the way home. For how little sleep she had, she was pretty good, thankfully. 

Jake, on the other hand, has given up naps, but took a 2 hour snooze on the way home. No amount of poking or bribery with the iPad could keep him awake, so it ended up being a very late night for all of us. But despite all the sleeping woes, it was a great day and a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Tanner as a missionary. 

As we drove into Detroit we switched our car from venting in "fresh" air to recirculating the air already in the car because the pollution there is absolutely disgusting!  There were tons and tons of smokestacks, some of which were emitting a brownish orange haze of yuckiness rather than the typical white color that you can almost believe is steam rather than pollution. And the smell!

Our second experience of Detroit came when we hit pothole after pothole, which was more accurately described as crater after crater! When we pulled into the fast food restaurant parking lot where we met Tanner, he pointed out the government housing, and the number of scary looking people on the street was the highest I've ever seen! And when we ordered the food, it was through a bullet-proof glass window, and then they passed it out through a turn table. Eek! I'm glad it was light and we were with several men, or I would have been peeing my pants!

After a fun lunch catching up with Tanner, we headed to the Detroit Auto Show. For how yucky the city seemed, the auto show was clean and really bright and impressive! I think looking at the mini vans vs SUV's convinced us that we are going to be a mini-van family, despite saying adamantly for at least 10 years that I would never come to that :)

After walking around the auto show, we headed to Greek Town on the Detroit People Miver, which is a fun train-ish system that takes you over the city. There we had flaming cheese, which they actually light on fire, which really impressed Jake. And the rest of us!

The kids were pretty grumpy by time we were heading back to our car, but I think all of us had fun seeing Tanner, who kept reminding us that we should be calling him Elder Olsen. And we survived the trip home. What a great Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday it was for us!

Jake's first solo prayer

Guest blogger Andrew documented a sweet moment for us as parents, our baby's first prayer:

Jake said his first prayers today. They were so cute. We were really excited. We said one prayer, with Andrea repeating what I was saying. At the very end, Jake chimed in with Andrea. He kept wanting to pray, so we said about 3 more prayers, with him mostly repeating what we were saying. But then he said his own, and it was so sweet. He said he was greatful for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cereal, and blueberries. Pretty funny for a kid who doesn't even like to eat that much! In a different prayer, he also blessed McKenna, Jake, Mommy, Daddy, and Kyle. He even started closing in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. It was so cute!!!! And he got really excited after. When he says amen, he jumps up and down, runs around in little circles and then asks for more. Very very cute!!!! We're so lucky to be parents of such a great little boy and girl. 

Jake's 3!

My baby turned 3! And I think he had the best day ever. 

Jake woke up to the best present ever- a train table from Andrew's parents. And Jake is in love! He's played with it so much in the past couple of weeks. Even McKenna walks around saying "choo choo!" 

After spending some time with his trains, Andrew took him to see a movie at the theater, popcorn and all! It was his second trip ever (he saw Frozen last summer), and they saw the new animated movie, Big Hero 6. Andrew says he loved it, which I don't doubt one bit!

After the movie, the boys came home for lunch- pizza bites- and we all headed to COSI, the science center here in Columbus. It was absolutely nuts, but Jake had a blast. 

After COSI, we came home and watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse (the train episode, Jake's favorite) while eating dinosaur chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese on the couch. And then he helped Andrew decorate his cake- frosting it with both blue and chocolate frosting that he chose from the store and loading it with sprinkles. We enjoyed cake and the ice cream Jake chose (mint chocolate chip) and Jake opened his presents from us. 

I'd say his big day was a huge success. I can't believe he's 3! It is so fun watching him learn and grow, and I feel so lucky that I get to be his mom. 

Jake is quite the little character and makes me laugh all the time- he thinks he's funny too, laughing at his own jokes, just like his mom and dad. Jake has made awesome progress with his speaking and he's much happier (at least most of the time) now that he can easily express what he wants and needs. 

Jake is in no way a home-body. He'd rather go get the mail or even run to the grocery store than stay home any day. He likes watching people and the world pass by; he's very observant. Jake is also mr fix-it. One of the gifts we got him was a toy tool set, which fits his current stage very well. He loves fixing things. Just a few days after his birthday, Jake watched Andrew blow up a flat basketball with a bike pump and spent the next 30 minutes or so blowing up all the balls he could find. He loved it! My parents got him a fun plane for Christmas with an electric drill that he can take apart and put back together, which is perfect for him. 

If Jake can't be out and about, he wants to be watching tv. That kid loves shows, it's actually kind of ridiculous. We really have to limit him, he'd watch way more than the recommended amount if we let him. He's especially into monsters inc, Mickey Mouse, and planes fire and rescue right now. 

My top few words to describe Jake are:

Energetic

Curious

Exuberant

Fun

Observant

Strong-willed

Andrew's top few words to describe him are:

Enginuitive

Active

Curious

Loving

Fun-loving

What a fun, challenging, crazy, wonderful adventure it has been to have Jake in our family. We love you, big guy!

Christmas

We spent a wonderful Christmas morning with my family this year. The magic of Christmas with young kids is so great. Like I'm smiling just thinking about it.

Jake and McKenna had so much fun opening presents, and so did Andrew and I! Our families spoiled us like crazy!

After a fun Christmas morning with my parents and Kory, we headed to my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Tom's house for the afternoon and evening where the kids were spoiled even more. We had a delicious, DELICIOUS dinner and laughed a lot with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a fabulous day!

We have been so blessed this Christmas season by the goodness of others- we received $100 anonymously in the mail with a sweet note, which happened last year too! We saved the cards and gift card packaging and plan to frame them and put them out yearly with our other decorations to remind us to spread the joy of Christmas with others. We have been so blessed! I think this was the best Christmas ever!!

Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas morning at my parents house, but in an effort to start our own family Christmas traditions, we had our own little Christmas morning a day early. 

We put the kids to bed at 8pm December 24th and then started our elvish work. I wrapped gifts while Andrew put together our present for our kids (which took a whopping 5 hours, keeping us up until after 3am!) 

I'm turning into one of those crazy ladies that has to have the perfect gift for her kids. But we don't have a huge budget for lots of extravagant things, so I did some serious research and we (like Andrew had a whole lot of say) chose to get a combined gift for our kids- a toy kitchen. And Santa knew what we were getting and found some fun accessories to go with the kitchen: pots and pans, toy food, a play cookie set with a cookie sheet, and a sandwich making kit.

I found way too much pleasure in searching out the right kitchen for the best price, but I think it paid off because the kids love it and we got a killer deal. 

Christmas Eve morning we also skyped with Andrew's family so they could see our kids open the presents they got them. They spoiled Jake and McKenna with a pirate ship, doctors kit, mini mouse with horse dress up set, and an Ariel baby doll. It was fun to see the kids so excited to open their presents, and I'm thrilled to have new toys to help entertain them with. I think I was as giddy as they were! 

We also spent a lot of time this Christmas season explaining the purpose of Christmas to the kids. I'm sure McKenna had no idea, but Jake did seem to understand, at least to some degree, that we are really celebrating Christ's birth. In order to drive that point home a little more, we made an angel food cake and sang happy birthday to Jesus, which I think will be a fun tradition to carry on through our kids' childhood. 

After spending plenty of time playing with their new toys, we headed to my parents for dinner and to celebrate Christmas with my family. I love this time of year when we draw closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It was definitely a Christmas to remember.  Having young kids on Christmas is seriously THE best!!

Cleveland Christmas Fun

(Written 12/22/14)

Every year since I can remember, my extended family meets at Tower City in Cleveland just a few days before Christmas to get in the Holiday spirit. We window shop, visit Santa, talk to Bruce the Spruce (a talking Christmas tree), eat a fabulous lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and my grandparents fund a trip to the candy shop. I love including Jake and McKenna in that tradition!

Saturday we took our yearly trip, and it was fun, as always. 

The kids do NOT like Santa this year. I guess every kid needs a crying picture on Santa, and Jake and McKenna definitely got theirs this year. It's a framer, that's for sure :)

My parents treated us to Hard Rock Cafe, which was obviously delectable, and the kids did great- much better than last year, and much better than expected. And the highlight of the trip for Jake was a train ride with uncle Kory. He lit up, it was cute :)

I love fun traditions with my family and celebrating Christmas in Ohio!

Sibling Love

(12/18/14)

Jake and McKenna are starting to get along- at least most of the time. Now that McKenna can say a few words and can walk and play, Jake seems to see her more as a play mate and less of an intrusive baby. Thank goodness! I find myself with the HUGEST grins on my face when they play together. My heart could burst ❤️