A Weekend of Birthdays with the Mooses

Last weekend my parents and sister came to visit.  They arrived around 10am Saturday morning with our kitchen table meeting them at the front door.  They helped us move furniture back as we quickly ended our Saturday cleaning. We jumped right into birthday celebrating.

Emily set up her presents and requested Grandma Moose to sit next to her and help.  I love how much they adore each other. Emily received pattern blocks and boards from Grandma and Grandpa Moose and new favorite books that she’s practically memorized from Grandma and Grandpa Jackson (we saved all grandparent gifts for this day).

Emily helped grab Nathan’s presents.  He had no problem playing with the wrapped gifts and soon figured out he could tear pieces off.  He stayed focused on the task at hand, and it was fun to see his diligence in experiencing something new.  He recieved delightful board books from Grandma Blomquist, an ABC book from Grandma and Grandpa Jackson, and a train set from Grandma and Grandpa Moose.  He immediately flipped through his books (one of his favorite things) and set about playing trains with Emily and Andrew.

For my birthday my parents gave me a bag of oranges and glass spray bottles.  Earlier in the week I was talking with my mom while I processed why I wasn’t cleaning my bathroom.  It came down to wanting to try using orange peels in vinegar to make a nice smelling natural cleaner, but not having any oranges.  I also wanted to get a new spray bottle to replaces our 88 cent broken one from walmart to put this new cleaner into.  She made both possible and now I’m excited about cleaning my bathrooms – now that is a birthday gift!

We moved onto lunch and rest and read time, followed by a walk on the bike trails while Nathan finished his nap with Andrew at home.  Emily RAN almost the entire time, totally about 1.5 miles.  She kept inviting Grandpa Moose and Aunt Christine to run with her, which turned into a game of tag with me.  There was time exploring, time swinging in between Aunt Christine and myself, time riding on Grandpa Moose’s shoulders, and time being scooped up by mom.

Once Nathan woke up we did a quick Walmart run to gather various food and supply items and returned home for a quick dinner and costume making.  Andrew and Emily worked on her purple cat costume (when we asked her what she wanted to be for halloween there was no hesitation in her declaration to be a black cat. She quickly switched to a purple cat because black cats scare her).  We drew whiskers on Nathan so he could join in on the fun and then headed to the church for a trunk or treat.

Andrew manned the car which he decorated with teeth and a string to pull the trunk open and closed.  Christine, my mom, and I took Emily and Nathan around.  Emily quickly warmed up to the idea of asking for candy and has enjoyed consuming it.

We tucked some very tired kids into bed and then pulled out the mint chocolate chip ice cream for my official birthday treat.

On Sunday I had the visiting teaching conference that I had been planning for a few months.  It was helpful to have additional adults to work with Emily and Nathan while Andrew was in meetings and I had set up and clean up.  When we got home Grandpa Moose helped Emily get my old scooter set up that they brought for her to ride.  Christine showed me how to do a twist in Emily’s hair.  After lunch I went to bed with the kids’ naps and my family quietly snuck out to head home.  We are super excited to see them in a few weeks at Thanksgiving!