November 2022

 We had Mom come visit! She normally doesn't come visit this late in the year but she wanted to be here for Kaylee's play. We went to opening night of Shrek Jr and Kaylee did great! She always puts her whole self into every scene and it is so fun to watch her. She was a Duloc dancer, a butterfly, and a dragon handler so she got to be in quite a few scenes.

We decided that since Mom was going to be here over 3 school days, we would let each of the kids miss a day of school to have a special day with her. Brooklyn was first and she chose to go to the Worthington Mall where they have a cool curved staircase and a hidden elevator that she loves to play on. I thought we would maybe be there for an hour but Brooklyn seriously played on those stairs for 2 1/2 hours, plus we had about 30 mins of eating lunch there. And even after that, we had to drag her out of there! I tried to get her to go to the Art Museum where they have a fun kids section but she was really against that so we went to an Aquarium store. They have a pond in the front with huge Koi fish and for some reason they were all going crazy and rising up out of the water and so Brooklyn was able to reach in and pet all of them! She thought that was pretty cool. The other highlight was getting to see real Axlotls! They were so cute.

On Saturday we tried to think of something fun all the girls could do with Grandma and we were struggling to find something to do but finally landed on going back to Scene 75. The girls were able to do the Go-Kart race and some other fun activities and luckily were able to find some fun games to play with Grandma too, like SkeeBall. 

On Sunday, we had the Primary Program. McKenna gave a talk on Esther and did a great job even though she was really nervous. For second hour, I was asked by the Primary President to come dressed as Queen Esther and tell the kids my story and let them ask questions (and there were 6 others who were asked to come dressed as different OT characters too). Unfortunately, I went first and the kids kept asking silly questions about how I could still be alive and how I knew what a microphone was. After I finished, the President told them they needed to focus on questions that were more about the person and they kids did a lot better for everyone else.

Even though it was freezing cold, I wanted to try to get outside and take Mom on a walk on the Scioto Mile. Unfortunately the wind was even colder than we thought and it didn't make for a very enjoyable walk. But we were still able to show her that beautiful area of downtown and the girls loved showing her the creepy deer statues!

Kaylee got her day with Grandma on Monday and we had so much fun! First we went to a bowling alley where we tried Hyperbowling for the first time. It is played on a normal lane but the bumpers stay up and have different colored lights along them. Depending on where you hit it on the bumpers, you will get bonus points and the lights change and get smaller as the game goes on. It was really fun! We had to get a pic after our first game to show how high we scored!

Then we went to an escape room. It was prison themed and was more of a scavenger hunt for keys than an escape room but was still super fun. 

That night we bought some Oreo gingerbread houses and decorated them. 

Tuesday was Mom's last day and McKenna got to choose what to do with her. She wanted to keep it a little more chill and we just ended up going to the pet store, which is no surprise for Kenna! She also got to go birthday shopping with Grandma. 

Brooklyn was chosen as the Citizen of the Week for her class and got to make a poster all about her. I thought it turned out pretty cute and I loved reading all the nice things her classmates said about her in the letters they sent home.

We were invited to a pre-Thanksgiving pie night at the house of a family in our ward. I wasn't feeling well so I stayed home and Richard took the girls. I tried to make a cookie pie, which I had tried at a Relief Society activity and really liked, but even after cooking it for longer than it should have needed, it was still just mush in the middle. Richard had to run to the store to buy a pie to take but I tried to keep cooking the pie to see if I could get it to set up. Instead, the butter just kept bubbling up and oozing over the edge of the pie pan and eventually it started burning and filled the oven with smoke! I have no clue what happened but it was quite the dessert fail.

We knew we would be driving home from Holly's house on McKenna's birthday so we decided to celebrate her birthday early. We went out to eat, opened presents and made mint chocolate chip cupcakes. She also chose to go back to the pet store because that is her happy place!

Wednesday morning we headed to Holly's house. When we first got there, it was pretty good weather and so we went for a walk on this trail by the river and then hung out around a playground. 

Thanksgiving morning, we started the day with a turkey trot and went to the middle school to run on the track. It felt good to start the morning that way! We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner and even had a fun printable escape room that we played.

Friday we made sure to go back to our favorite creepy thrift store that she introduced us to last year. There were slightly less creepy things than last time but still plenty to make us laugh. Holly even surprised us with a fun present from this store of a ceramic doorstep with 3 very... interesting looking carolers :D

Saturday we got to go ice skating! I was so impressed with how well my kids did when they haven't been very many times, especially Brooklyn. She got tired really fast and Holly took pity on her and pushed her around on a hilarious blue seal, which Brooklyn thought was way better.

We ended the night by watching the new Santa Clause series. Brooklyn loves anything we do where she can snuggle Mio! We always love doing Thanksgiving with the Andreason's and I love to see our kids (mostly) get along so well!

October 2022

 We started off October by having a fun date night at the Ohio Theater. We got to see Hamilton! It was mostly good, although there were a few people whose voices I didn't love and poor Richard got stuck next to a very drunk lady who kept bumping him, laughing at the wrong places, and singing along to every song. But going to musicals is one of my favorite things so I still loved it. 

On the Hilliard scavenger hunt we did, we found a new path that was really pretty and peaceful. We have had the most gorgeous fall so we went there one afternoon to walk around and we could have spent forever in those woods!

We also had to check off one little park that was by the Hilliard splash pad. Even though we have been in that area many times before, we had never walked down far enough to see the path with the plaque that teaches about the first black family to own land in Hilliard.

Kaylee and I got to go on the best trip ever! Our family found out that Phantom of the Opera was leaving Broadway and Holly really wanted to take her family to it. So Kaylee and I and Mom and Dad decided to tag along! It was literally one of the most perfect trips ever and we filled every minute with fun. We did get a little lost on our way from the airport to the hotel but we finally made it and met up with Mom and Dad. While we waited for Holly's family to arrive, we walked around and went to Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. We also saw a super cool church and went inside to walk around it as well. 

We went back to the hotel to meet up with Holly's family. While we were in the hotel, there was a knock on the door and someone delivered a letter with this message:

It was the most amazing surprise ever!!!  Kristi and I had talked so many times about how badly we wished we could see Hugh Jackman in the Music Man and Mom and Holly made it so I could! I was like a giddy kid on Christmas, I could not stop smiling. We had a little bit of time before the show started so we walked through Times Square and Grand Central Station to show the kids and then grabbed dinner. 

We walked into the theater and I could not believe how small it was! Even though we were in the last row, we could see all the actor's faces perfectly and it felt like you were right there in the action. Hugh brought such an amazing energy to the show and it was a blast to watch! I was so so happy that we got to see him! Best. Night. Ever!!

The next morning, we headed to Battery Park to catch a ferry that goes to the Statue of Liberty. We couldn't go all the way up to the crown but we could go inside and walk up hundreds of stairs to the base of her feet where they have platform that you can go outside and walk around and see the incredible view of the New York skyline.

We also stopped at Ellis Island on the way back but all of us were pretty exhausted by then and hadn't eaten anything all day except a few snacks. We watched a short film and saw a few things but then hopped on the ferry to go back to New York. 

We grabbed dinner and then walked back to the hotel where we ran into a giant street market that went on for blocks and blocks! It was really cool and we all found some souvenirs to buy. The theater for Phantom of the Opera was pretty close to our hotel but when we started walking, the street was SO crowded with people that Chase turned down another street to see if he could get away from some of the crowds. He accidentally turned into Times Square where a huge concert was going on and there were millions of people all packed in there! It was pretty funny that we tried to avoid so many people and walked through one of the most crowded streets in America! The Phantom play was really good overall, except Christine's voice wasn't great which was disappointing. But it was amazing to be back at the play that brings back so many memories of my childhood and share that with Kaylee.

The next morning we woke up and headed to church. They obviously get a lot of visitors to their ward and everyone was very nice and friendly. After church, we went to the 9/11 memorial fountains and walked around there and the Oculus. Then we were able to go into the 9/11 Museum which was incredible! We literally walked around in there for 4 hours and still didn't see everything and could have stayed longer except all of us were so tired of being on our feet and were starving. There were so many things that it was a little overwhelming but I loved it and wanted to see everything and read every plaque. The last thing we did was go to the In Memoriam section where they have pictures of every single person who passed away on 9/11. They also have tables in the middle of the walkway that has a touch screen on it and you can pull up information on any person. It has extra pictures of them and their families, info about where they lived and what they did and some of them had a recording of someone speaking about them. It was awesome! 

After we left the Museum, we grabbed dinner and then went to the Manhattan temple, which is attached to the other ward building in NYC. We needed to use the bathroom so we decided to try to go in and I'm so glad we did! A local artist who is a member of that ward, has painted these gigantic Book of Mormon portraits and they were hanging up in the hallways of the Church.

Afterwards, we walked a little bit on the edge of Central Park but we couldn't see much because it had gotten dark already. We were all dead so we went back to the hotel and just played some card games.

Mom and Dad left super early the next morning but Holly's family and I had some time to explore more. We decided to explore the High Line. It was more walking which we had had PLENTY of but I'm glad we went on it because it was gorgeous! We got there at the perfect time in the fall with all the bright colors and it was such a cool little oasis right in the middle of the city.

The last thing we did before heading to the airport was go to a place called Spyscape which was SO COOL. It was part museum and part spy training with games and activities. It was one of the most unique, cool places I've ever been to. Somehow we didn't take a single picture of us there though!

We got stuck for a couple hours on the runway as a storm was delaying a lot of flights but luckily we made it home safely, even if it was a little late. It was such an incredible trip and I loved being able to share it with Kaylee!

We came home to a fun, random surprise. Disney Plus had chosen a few of their subscribers to randomly receive a Disney package. We got the Aladdin package and, while some of it was lame, there were a few cool things and it was super fun to be one of the people chosen!

The day after we got back, Kaylee had her first orchestra concert of the year. They had it in the middle school cafeteria which felt odd but they did a great job!

Kaylee also got new glasses! I hadn't realized how bad her eyesight had gotten and felt bad we had waited so long to get her new glasses. They fit her so perfectly and made her look very grown up.

She also had her last cross country meet. She was having a hard time breathing and struggled at the beginning but pushed SO hard at the end and got a new PR. It's been really fun for her to run with two other girls from our ward and have gotten really close to them. 

We finally had enough leaves that had fallen to rake them up. It made me a little sad that Brooklyn was the only one who had any interest at all in playing in them. So many reminders that I don't have little tiny kids anymore!

We got to spend a lot of time outside in this amazing fall weather. We went for a Sunday walk along a trail behind one of the parks near our house and the colors were gorgeous!

We also finally carved the pumpkins we had gotten a few weeks ago. Although our fall was so warm I was glad we didn't carve them earlier because they would have been fully rotten by Halloween. 

The week before Halloween, I decided to do a Dia de Los Muertos FHE and we made an ofrenda for Grandma Joye. I wasn't sure if the girls would be interested in hearing much about her but they were really into it and kept asking to look at more pictures and we watched all the videos we have of her. It was really sweet and made us all feel close to such an amazing woman.

That same week, we had a Relief Society activity where a woman in the ward who is from Mexico taught us all about Dia de Los Muertos and showed us how she puts together her ofrenda every year and then we all shared a picture and story of an ancestor and added them to the ofrenda. It was a great activity!

Hocus Pocus 2 came out and we decided to watch it as a family and make it a whole night. We made colored pasta with eyeball meatballs, Halloween cutouts in our garlic bread, and a Winifred veggie tray. 

Kaylee and I needed to go help out at the school to do costume fittings for her play, but Richard took McKenna and Brooklyn to Fliptastics Halloween party and trick or treating down Old Hilliard. The gymnastics party was a little bit of a let down but since they came home with a ton of candy, they weren't too sad about it. 

Later that day, we went to the ward trunk or treat and even before Halloween, our kids had a ridiculous amount of candy!

Then we finally got to go trick or treating on the actual day of Halloween, which hasn't happened for years. Reagan Harston came with us as she has every year since we moved in and we also had Brooklyn's friend, Ella, and her parents go around with us. This is the first year we've been able to go trick or treating without it being freezing cold or raining, it was wonderful!