Trip to Truckee

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we drove my parents back to the airport and took a little trip ourselves to the Dettinger's new house in Truckee, CA to stay with them while Josh did his interview in Reno and one in Phoenix. (Truckee is just outside Lake Tahoe and 30 minutes from Reno).  It was so good to have Josh flying with us! 

We got to Truckee late Saturday night, and even later when you factored in the time change, but the kids managed to stay wired and we were glad because we got to spend a little time with Josh's sisters who were leaving the next morning.  (We missed you Sarah!)  Josh hadn't seen his siblings in almost 2 years.

Jake and his family stayed til Monday

 and the kids were so excited to have some cousin time.

Marissa of course couldn't keep her hands to herself.  At least it was a lot less rough this visit:)

After church we went on a walk to a nearby lake

and got to check out the town.  Truckee is kind of a ski resort town up in the mountains and the houses were all so beautiful.  We are definitely glad they moved here!

 

They were sad to see their cousins leave but luckily having Uncle Matthew around is like having a cousin.  Shane and Marissa LOVE him

He got a little annoyed by them at times but was pretty cute with them too.

 I was happy to see them warm up to Grandpa and Grandma so quickly, I think skype really helps.

 

We spent a week there and got to see beautiful Lake Tahoe (albeit from the car because of rain/snow darnit), the high school that Greg is principal at, and spend lots of quality time with Josh's family.  And I finally got to go to one of the interview dinners:)  Thanks for hosting us Greg and Shelley, and for putting up with our shenanigans:)

 

Mom and Dad Came

My mom and dad came to visit the week of Thanksgiving and we were so glad they did!! We started their trip bright and early to pick them up at the airport at 6 am. They had taken the red-eye flight and I'm pretty sure they were pretty tired but they let us cart them around all morning anyway. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast, then headed to Lowe's for their kids workshop.

 The kids made sleighs (well, let's be honest- the adults did ;) ), and then they had a bunch of Christmas activities going on in the greenhouse.  Santa was there, but he was right next to a coi pond, which was way more interesting.

I thought it was brilliant they had him on a bench so timid kids could sit next to him instead of on his lap, but Marissa wasn't buying it.

Shane was a little friendlier once the candy came out...

We had a fun week and took them to the children's museum, 

and to Frankenmuth to go to Bronners, the world's biggest Christmas store,

and then of course we had to walk through town and get some fudge :) 

Grandma even got to go with Shane to his Thanksgiving Feast at preschool. 

 But the best part was just hanging out with them

 

and having someone to help read some of the millions of books we go through around here!

 It was the last week of Josh's away rotations and they couldn't have come at a better time, I was so done with being alone with the kids, and apparently so were the kids!  They were so excited to have their grandparents here, and I got a good idea of how Shane had been feeling when my parents went for a walk the first day while Marissa was napping and when Shane realized it he asked where they were and said dramatically, "We can't be alone AGAIN!!" 

 

Fort Wayne

Josh's second away rotation was in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  We drove down there the first weekend he was there to check out the town and hang out with him.  We went to the science museum there and found some cool things, but most of it was for older kids.

They did have a little kid section and they had a lot of fun with the water area.

And two big malls with a play area and giant carousel. 

Overall we liked Columbus as a city better, but so far the program at Fort Wayne is Josh's favorite hands down.  He had a really good experience in his rotation and interview there and left feeling really impressed with all the opportunities the residents have there.  Part of me wishes (not really though...;) ) that he could do a rotation at all the programs he's interviewing with because it really gives you a good idea of what the program is really like, and also because he has gotten a lot of positive feedback from the two programs he's rotated with and feels like it has given him a big advantage.  But halleluia for the rest of his rotations being in Saginaw!   

Catching Up

I've got a lot of catching up on the blog to do and have a goal to do a post a day for the next few days so I can be caught up before we head on more adventures!  It is always a little overwhelming when you've got a lot to post, so I thought I'd start first with the random goings on and pictures that don't really fit anywhere but I wanted documented for myself:)  Like the fact that I can now do these little pigtails on Marissa.  They make me want to kiss her cheeks off. 

We had a little stomach bug a couple weeks ago so we stayed in the house for a few days and found some new ways to entertain ourselves.  Marissa pulled out all the pots and pans and spent over an hour trying to figure out which lid went where and transferring puff balls from each of them.  Totally worth the mess!

I am always trying to find activities to work on Shane's fine motor skills, and this colored vinegar with an eyedropper onto a sheet of baking soda was a fun one.

He is playing with his cars most of the day these days so I try to use them for learning sometimes.  I made this little parking lot where he had to figure out where each car went (he can't read but he does like to tell what letter a word starts with)

And we went to our city's Christmas celebration downtown and visited Santa and Mrs. Claus.  He would not sit on his lap but did tell him what he wanted for Christmas, which was a step up from last year!  So what's on his list this year?  A whale.  (A stuffed one).  Thank goodness Santa knows how to use Amazon, because I have never seen one in a store!

Thankful

 We had a great Thanksgiving this year and have so much to be thankful for.  First and foremost on my list this year is that Josh finished his last away rotation and got back in time to spend it with us. 

 

 

 I am also so thankful that my mom had the whole week of Thanksgiving off and that my parents came to visit.  I am so lucky to have parents that are not only so good to me but that my kids absolutely adore. 

 

 

We debated what we wanted to do for dinner but after calling pretty much all the restaurants in town and finding out that they were all closed (how dare they want to spend time with their families!!) we knew we would be cooking something but I didn't really want to deal with a full turkey.  Luckily we went to Sam's Club a few days before and they were sampling this deep fried turkey breast and it was delicious and super easy.  So we went with it



and decided to make stuffing, funeral potatoes, and green beans with almonds to go with it along with pumpkin cheesecake crumble bars for dessert.  Somewhat festive and totally delicious.  As an added bonus it was in the high sixties and beautiful that day. 

Also on my list of things to be thankful for this year:
-two healthy, happy kids and another little GIRL on the way!
-the gospel of Jesus Christ and modern day revelation from living prophets
-a husband who works so hard and has found something he is truly happy doing
-the opportunity Josh has to interview with so many residency programs
-a great house to live in in a good community with a great support system of friends and neighbors
-the gift of being together again as a family
-great in-laws, and an interview near their new house that gives us an excuse to go visit them next week!!  We are super excited to see them and to have some time together as a family. 

Love This Girl

Oh I love this little girl!!  She can give me a run for my money and melt me all at the same time.  She is 19 months now and has been going to nursery for awhile with no problems.  Thank goodness because I have 10 rambuctionous 7 year olds to teach and it is a lot easier without her!

This is typical Marissa- always drooling, still.  And always has a snotty nose.  I'm sure people think she's sick.  She's not, she's just Marissa:)  Pretty much she is always a mess!

It has been so fun for me to have some one-on-one time with her while Shane is at school.  Her activity of choice while he's gone?  Reading lots and lots of books.  If Shane is at home and there is a book being read, he HAS to be a part of it, so it is nice to be able to read to her without him up in her grill. 

She loves her brother, and the feeling is mutual.  When he is sad a kiss and hug from Marissa works better than anything else. 

 

She can say a lot of words now, and they are starting to become more understandable.  I am trying to get her to use them more now when she wants something instead of just whining.   

 

She is still a pretty good eater, but not very consistent.  Some days I can't get her enough food, and other days she will take one bite and decide she's done.  One day something will be her favorite food, and the next day she won't touch it.  But the other day they gave her a little apple at the Y and she munched on that thing for quite awhile while we waited for Shane to be done with school.  When we got home and I looked in her seat for it, the only thing that was left was the stem!  Silly girl ate the seeds and all!

Grandma Dettinger sent her some alphabet magnets, and I started noticing that she was always carrying around the letter O.  So I told her what it was and she is obsessed with it now, she will find it in books or places and point and say, "Ooooohhhh!"

 

I love you Marissa!

Trick or Treat!

We started off the first of many Halloween celebrations at the library playgroup.  Shane asked me in the car on the way there, "Is today Halloween?"  I tried explaining that it wasn't yet, but he insisted that it was.  So said, "well buddy, we are going to have a lot of Halloweens then!"  And we did.  The next week we went back to the library for storytime and trick or treating. 

And this is a pretty accurate depiction of Marissa at every Halloween event.  She figured out quickly exactly what this holiday was all about and wanted to get right to the good part.  I quickly learned which candy could be used as a chew toy to tide her over without making a huge mess down her costume when her jaws of death inevitably ripped open the packaging (Laffy Taffy works great for any of you out there with little candymongers like mine :) ). 

We of course did the trunk or treat at church and Shane's preschool party.  I wish I had brought my camera to his class, it was so cute to see him and his little buddies all dressed up!  Then we ended it with trick or treating in the neighborhood the actual night of. 

I was worried it was going to be cold and rainy, but was glad it wasn't rainy (but certainly cold).  But hey, that's what cute bundley costumes are for.  They both had a lot of fun, Marissa couldn't really say trick or treat but she did say thank you a few times and she sure knew what to do when they held out the candy ha ha.   

Shane got tired of walking by the end and was ready to go back home. I tried to tell him we might as well stop at the few more houses that were on our way back anyway but he was done and told me, "I'm getting tired of Halloween."  I guess it's a good thing, cause that was our last hurrah buddy.  And probably even better because we already have WAY too much candy for a tempted pregnant lady around here by now!!

Happy Halloween(s)!