Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Rest of the Week in Ohio

We stayed all week in Ohio but it sure went by fast.  Monday was all Christmas all day long.  Tuesday we ventured out to see if there was any Christmas decorations left at any of the stores. My sister scored two Christmas trees, much to her husband’s dismay!  They had to be brought back to Missouri on the top of their van!  But hey, she got a good deal!

Wednesday morning my dad, my sister and I left bright and early and headed to Royal Oak, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit).  I have a great aunt who lives there and had just been put in a rehabilitation nursing home on Monday the 26th.  She has no husband or children and her only living brother is in Florida.  She’d been taken to the nursing home from the hospital and therefore had nothing from her house.  My dad has been helping her out a lot lately so we made the almost 3 hour trip so we could see her, visit with her, and help my dad out.  We stopped by to see her first thing and she was not in great spirits.  She was having trouble adjusting to the new surroundings.  We visited a bit and then left for lunch and to run errands and go to her house.  We cleaned her house out a bit since she won’t be going back and we picked up some of her clothes and belongings.  We headed back to see her and visited for awhile more before heading home.  I think she truly enjoyed the help and the visit.  I hope she can adjust because it is the best thing for her!

Thursday, after a long walk (in pretty cool temps with my mom and sister) and a quick trip to Costco, we headed out with all the kids to the movies.  This was Lindy and Will’s first ever trip to a movie theatre to see a movie!  I’ve always been too scared to take Lindy, not having a clue whether she would be able to see the movie.  We saw the new Chipmunks movie, Chipwrecked.  We sat on the second row, partly on purpose and partly because there were no other seats available.  It worked out great though!  Lindy seemed to see the movie.  She might have been more interested in the popcorn, but she definitely saw the movie!  I had visions of her not seeing it and therefore not wanting to sit still in her seat but she actually did great.  Will sat the entire time and watched, only moving to my mom’s lap after a little while.  Lindy did finally want to sit with me and she actually did fall asleep at the very end of the movie.  She watched all but about the last 10 minutes.  I was so very proud of her!  I always expect the worst and love to be pleasantly  surprised.  After the movie we went to my parents’ Thursday night stomping grounds, Buffalo Wild Wings, for dinner.  They have a group of friends they meet there every Thursday night.  After dinner we headed back to my parents’ house for a little birthday celebration.  We have three January birthdays in my family (Drew is the 2nd, I’m the 18th, and my dad is the 27th). 

We got up Friday and got everyone bathed and fed and we packed up most of our belongings.  Lee flew back in from Missouri that morning so my dad went and got him and then we all headed to get family pictures taken.  Something the boys LOVE to do – NOT!!!!   It was actually a rather painless experience.  The entire family picture is the best one of Lindy but oh well.  They only had one photographer for a group of 10 people.  After the group picture another lady came in and helped make the kids smile.  I really wish she could have been there from the get go.  My parents got an awesome picture of the four grandkids.  Everyone is looking and smiling!  I can’t wait to get my copies of them.

We got back to my parents’ house, finished loading our things in the car and we headed back to NC.  It was a much, much more pleasant car ride home since no one had diarrhea!  We got home about 10:30pm last night and put the kids straight into bed and they were out in a few minutes.

I’ve spent every waking moment today (aside from a trip to Walmart) unpacking from all our Christmases.  It’s a definite love hate relationship with all these presents.  Especially stocking stuffers.  I love getting them, all very useful, little items, but they all have to be put away!  And I can’t help rearranging or organizing or cleaning as I’m putting stuff away.  Maybe I’ll start taking Christmas stuff down tomorrow.  The kids had a pajama day while I worked putting everything away.

We rocked our New Years Eve tonight playing the kids’ new Wii games.  They got the Nick Dance and Nick Fit game.  We all had fun tonight playing games.  Now the kids are in bed and I’m going to beat Drew in some Wii fit games!  Happy New Year!


Dancing with the kids’ new gamesDSC_6364 - CopyThese two take their dancing seriously!DSC_6369 - CopyMy beautiful niece, Hayley!DSC_6375Lindy got new flip flops with her name on them and she was loving them.  She has never worn flip flops because of her braces.DSC_6377 - CopyAmy and I with our Great Aunt MargaretDSC_6387At the movies for the first time ever!DSC_6392 - CopyDSC_6394 - CopyDSC_6395 - CopyAlvin and the Chipmunks!DSC_6396DSC_6398 - CopyDSC_6400DSC_6402 - CopyDSC_6405 - CopyDSC_6408 - CopyDSC_6412 - CopyDSC_6414 - CopyThree cousins!  Rylee is so funny!IMG_9278IMG_9280Lindy loved her some Aunt Amy this week.IMG_9283 - CopyGroup bedtime hug with Papa.IMG_9285Sweet hugs for Nana.IMG_9289Awww!IMG_9302The birthday kids!IMG_9295My dad was laughing at the sweet card my mom bought Drew for his birthday.  Something about their daughter picking out a prince of a guy.  My dad thought it was pretty funny.IMG_9304Me and Lou.IMG_9315

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

cute k