jaredferguson.com

I picked up the kids on Thursday night and had them ’till Saturday. Corinne had quite a bit to do, so I took the kids while she worked. It was great seeing them, but sending them home was very hard.

Thursday morning, I picked them up and we went out to breakfast. We spent some time at McDonalds (I swear it’s the weekend fathers hangout) and then headed back home. We spent some time playing, drawing on the back porch with chalk (Milaena and I practiced spelling out simple words, she’s doing so well) and visiting with Grandma and then Mase went down for his afternoon nap. I took some time with Milaena then to read to her and work on her sounding words out. She is learning SO much. She’s such a smart girl. She is also learning to whistle and can almost tie her shoes. She’s grown up so much in the past month. I put on a movie for them (Polar Express) and then had to go to work. Mase woke up just before I left.

I returned home that night to find them both asleep on the makeshift bed in my room. They were so cute. I took some pics of them. I kissed them both several times and Mase woke up about half way and said “Daddy, can I have a penny?” It was adorable. I would have pulled him into bed with me, but I’ve been having a difficult enough time sleeping with my jacked up shoulder. Here are some of the night time pics. The exposure was quite long so they look bright, though the room was actually quite dark.

Friday morning, we woke up at about 8:00 and had breakfast (Frosted Flakes). We got ready for a big day. Milaena showered by herself and did a remarkable job getting in and out very quickly (something with which she has struggled in the past). I had to go to Kohl’s and exchange a pair of jeans and then we were headed to Chuck E. Cheese (since Mason has been talking about it for quite some time). At Kohls, the kids were all over the place and initially, I was a little short with them, but remembered that I had promised myself not to get that way. I put them into a cart and they were much better. I lost my return receipt and Milaena was so funny in helping me find it. She looked at every little piece of paper we found, it was awesome.

Then, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese. We ordered our food and sat down to watch the show. The show was quite sad and most of the stuff there is on the TV now. Not at all like I remember when I was a kid. We enjoyed some pizza (warm actually for a change) and Mase downed two pieces while Milaena had just one. We then headed out to play some games. The kids each got 21 tokens and seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit. Mason really liked the basketball game (I helped him make every basket) and Milaena enjoyed the game in which kids get to stomp on spiders (hilarious). They played almost every child’s game there, both rode a few rides, and after turning in their tickets, got some prizes. I tried to make sure they were about even on the tickets, but Mase came out on top. Milaena was actually exited about how many tickets he got. It’s so wonderful to see a child who is happy for someone else gets something; she is a truly wonderful little girl. Regardless, they both left with three prizes a piece. We returned home and I put Mase down for his nap. It took him a long time to actually go down and I was constantly putting back down after he would come up with some reason to be out of bed. It was annoying, but cute at the same time. Milaena and I read books again and practiced her sounding words out. We started looking for some games to play and found an old checkers board downstairs. Milaena had seen the game before, but didn’t know how to play. I decided I would teach her as I have some very fond memories of learning to play checkers with my Grandma when I was young. Remembering that Grandma threw the first few games so I could win, I did the same for Milaena and she talked about it for the rest of the day and night. Mason eventually work up and wanted in on the action, but I was careful to let him participate without ruining the game. We then went outside and took some pictures of the kids playing in the leaves.

I had to go to work and packed up and headed out. Work was short though and I soon went to Chuck-a-Rama to pick up the kids as they had gone to dinner with my parents. We headed over to Ryan and Brenda’s house for a night of fun. There were lots of kids to play with, including two they had never met before. The kids had a great time, but Mason was hitting quite a bit and ended up in time out a number of times and then spending a lot of the evening in my lap. Milaena and the rest of the kids played house while we made an attempt at playing Trivial Pursuit. Eventually, a movie was put on and all the kids passed out. At about 2am, I packed them home and we crashed. I was so engrossed in conversation (as usual, I did most of the talking) that I didn’t realize how late it was.

We slept in late Saturday and got up at about 10. We had breakfast and then weren’t sure what to do. Corinne was supposed to get the kids that morning, but something came up. So, I decided to take the kids up to see Dad and Val. They had a great time making cookies with Mimi. Milaena and I played more checkers, then she did a puzzle with Mimi and Papa. I watched mason play out front for a bit and then we came in. We cuddled on the couch for quite some time and I just loved the hell out of him. He cuddled with me quite a bit this weekend. We eventually took off and, because of another delay, found ourselves at McDonalds, where we spent almost two hours. The kids had dinner, played very hard, and then had an ice cream cone. Milaena finished hers, but I had to cut Mase off as he was just taking forever and making a beautiful mess. We came back home where I got the kids ready for bed (for the trip home). Then, Mason and I cuddled while Milaena tried to play with Callie. I just love cuddling with that boy. Eventually, Milaena wanted in on the action, so we all just snuggled for a bit. Unfortunately, the night had to come to an end and I packed them up and drove to Orem to meet their mother. On the way there, we listened to Bicycle by Queen and Fat Bottomed Girls over and over. We all practiced clapping to the rhythm and had a great time. We pulled into the hotel parking lot where we were scheduled to meet and sang a few songs before Corinne arrived.

Undoubtedly, we had a GREAT time. They are coming back up next week for Thanksgiving, and I definitely cannot wait to see them again. I’ll get pics up soon.