Good Times

Today MOPS had a playdate at the church. We actually made it although 15 minutes late. The kids ran around then played with play doh. The lovely Mrs.Youngberg read them a story then lead them in some songs. I enjoyed talking to the other moms. One mom in particular seemed to have a similar mothering style to mine.

I missed the MOPS meeting last week. I was very disappointed, but Gavin had his doctor's appointment in Traverse City. I had already rescheduled it from the week before when we were all sick. The appointment was at 10am so I managed to have us on the road by 8:15. I was worried about the roads being bad since we've had so much snow. Traverse City is only about an hour and fifteen minutes from here during good weather but add some snow and ice into the mix...

I was almost to the office when Mark called me. He wanted to know what I was doing because he was in Grand Rapids with two days off. So after we were done with the doctor we drove the hour back home which took longer since it had started snowing and the roads were getting bad. Then after a quick stop at home we drove the two hours to Grand Rapids. When we got there Mark called to inform us that he was running behind. It turned out to be 4 hours later that he actually got there. The kids were hungry and Gavin was crying from too much time in the car. We left Grand Rapids around 8:30pm. The weather was not good and the roads were bad. We did stop for a quick dinner and finally got home around midnight.

On Friday Henry and Irene needed to get there second H1N1 shot. I called and got Mark added to the list for a shot too. Henry cried and carried on like a madman over the shot. It took Mark, me and a nurse to hold him down. At least now they are done with those!

After Henry was done with school we drove to Traverse City. We had a gift card to Outback Steakhouse so we had dinner there. The kids were pretty good until we were almost finished. Gavin started getting cranky. Afterward we got mark some new work boots.

Saturday we set up Gavin's room. He has been sleeping in the living room in his Amby bed. I figure that it is time to get him sleeping in his own room. We shall see how that goes! After doing that and having lunch it was time to take Mark back to Grand Rapids. It was a nice surprise having him home but it was pretty much three days spent in the car.

Sunday morning my brother Peter and his wife Ashley came to visit and have a late Christmas with us. They showed up an hour before I expected them and scared me when I turned around and saw them at the door. I was giving Gavin a bath when they arrived and didn't expect to see people at the door. I made lunch for everyone and we opened gifts. The kids were thrilled with their gifts and Henry is planning to take his to show-n-tell this week. Later in the afternoon during naptime my mom stayed with the kids and Peter, Ashley and I went to the casino. We each took a whole ten bucks! We played a few nickle slots, my favorite being the Hexbreaker machine. We checked out the gift shop and had some popcorn. We managed to kill about an hour of time which is pretty good since ten bucks doesn't go far in the casino! On the way home Ashley ordered breadsticks from Big Al's. They have really good breadsticks and she has heard several different people rave about them. We had dessert when we got back to my house. It seemed like all we did was eat! But it was a fantastic day and I loved seeing them. The best part is we'll be seeing them again this weekend because it is my brother Matt's son Eric's birthday. We'll all be meeting up in Lansing on Sunday.