Manic Mondays are when I let you know what plans I have for the week. Some weeks I may be very busy where other weeks there may not be any plans. We are up for quite a busy week. Every day something is scheduled! I have also decided to do a quick recap of what we actually did versus what I thought we were going to do.
This Week
Monday-S and I are planning on staying home and hopefully will start wrapping presents. Since S wants to help me so it is going to take 5 times longer than it would if I did it myself.
Tuesday-Today I need to work on finishing S’s Snapfish books that I do every year for the grandparents. It always seems to be a tight squeeze to get them back by Christmas Eve.
Wednesday-As of right now, we need to go pick up S’s birthday pictures and then we are heading to my sister’s for her 40th birthday.
Thursday-S and I have errands to run to Costco and then I hope to be able to come home and work on S’s thank you cards for his birthday.
Friday-B is off until next Friday so our little Christmas vacation starts. As of now nothing is planned so we will be finishing up any last minute details for Christmas.
Saturday-As of now I have no idea what we are doing. The weekend before Christmas I am sure something will come up.
Sunday-As of now I have no idea again what we are doing.
Last Week Recap
Last week was an extremely busy week and with Christmas coming so fast this week will be no exception either. Last Monday we went on an Amtrak train and S loved it. We had a two hour delay but S was so good waiting. I think he would have waited all day as long as he got to ride on a train eventually. Because our train was delayed we could not ride to our destination and had to get off a stop early to catch our return train. It all worked out fine and our ride was long enough. S passed out in the car on the way home. He barely made it out of Ann Arbor before he was sound asleep and it wasn’t even 7pm yet.
Tuesday S helped me bake his birthday cake and then we packed our stuff to head to Kalahari. Before we checked in at Kalahari we made a stop at the Sandusky mall to check out Hot Topic for my niece. I did not get the Hetalia shirts she wanted because there were not any Hot Topics or even online that had any in stock. I was able to get two shirts that I really liked for her and if all else fails she has a gift receipt to exchange them. Once we got to Kalahari S was all about getting his swimsuit on and heading down to play in the water. We all suited up and S started his fun of going down the slides. We thought he may be apprehensive about them but he would go down the slides before I had a chance to even get a picture of him. The slides were a little rough on his elbows, shoulders, skin, etc. After about an hour of doing slides he had strawberries so bad on his elbows I thought they were bleeding. I could already see bruises forming on his knees and shoulders. So we headed to the wave pool and kiddie area for S to check out and play. He loved it and we finished our time in the water with two trips around the lazy river. S was done so we went and got dressed and headed downstairs to get some pizza and play in the arcade. He loved the arcade almost as much as playing in the water. We finished the night off with going to drive through the Parade of Lights. S never made it through the whole thing. He fell asleep when we were only about half way through.
Wednesday we woke up and went down to the restaurant for a birthday breakfast. S had a birthday shirt on and was eating it up telling everyone it was his birthday. He picked pancakes to eat. S ate his entire breakfast and then the waitress brought him a huge cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday to him. He was smiling ear to ear. After that we went and played in the arcade for a while. S had so much fun playing all the games. B and I even got to play a few. I kicked his butt in Skee ball, my favorite game. After we ran out of tokens, and got S his prizes we headed over to the play area where S just crawled around that thing like a little monkey. S really had no interest to go back in the water again which was okay with B and me. The snow was really starting to come down so we decided to head home at checkout time 11am. S was totally fine with that and home we went. When we got home after unpacking and settling down I started decorating S’s cake to make it look like Thomas. Three hours later I was done and had enough time to clean up the kitchen, change my clothes and grab a bite before everyone got there for S’s party. S had a great time at his party eating cake, playing with his cousins and friends and then opening presents.
Thursday we did S’s four year pictures and then headed to Build A Bear for S to make his yearly animal for his birthday. S fell asleep on the way home and took a much needed nap.
Friday we were surprised to get a call that Papa was sitting on a train waiting to go back into the yard. We raced out to try and meet his train so we could see Papa driving a train. After a year of trying we finally did it and got to see Papa driving a train. It was so cool and S had the biggest smile on his face. When we got back in the car after that his response was “Woo Hoo!” To finish out his birthday week we did a trip to visit Santa at Bass Pro. S loves to see Santa and always has. He just walks right up, sits on his lap, and starts telling him what he wants. This time he told Santa he wants a blow horn. Where that came from I will never know.
Saturday we had a snow storm come to town and drop a total of 8 inches when it was all said and done. B was able to take S to his build at Lowe’s in the morning when we only had about 2-3 inches. We hung out inside all day and had a good time. B spent some time outside on his four wheeler plowing. Really I think he just wanted to play in the snow.
Sunday we hung out in the morning just playing. B went outside to play in the snow again on his four wheeler and S and I made Spritz cookies. This was my first time making pressed cookies and it sucked. The cookies did not want to come out of the cookie press and it was not as easy as the videos on line showed it to be. S got up super early this morning like 6am so he went to bed a little earlier than normal to end our night out. I watched the finale of Survivor and then headed to bed.
Last Week
Monday-Today Grandma is taking S on an Amtrak train ride from Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo. B and I are tagging along. S is so excited and has been counting down the days till we get to go on the train ride. S keeps asking me if we are riding a bullet train. I told him it is “like” a bullet train.
Tuesday-I have to make S’s birthday cake so I can decorate it tomorrow when we get home from Kalahari. We are then leaving for Kalahari for a fun day of playing in water. S is so excited to be able to go down waterslides and swim.
Wednesday-S is 4 years old today. We are going to have his birthday breakfast at Kalahari, and then head home. I have to decorate his cake and he finally decided on Thomas the Train. I have a train mold so it is just a matter of making it look like Thomas. We are then having friends and family over for cake and ice cream. We did big parties for S the first two years but honestly it was way too much. He has so much more fun with it being small and casual and we always did something on his birthday even when we did have a big party on another day.
Thursday-We are going to try and get S to cooperate for his birthday pictures. I am not sure what exactly we are going to do for the pictures but I am sure I will think of something by then.
Friday-We are going to the mall to make an animal at Build A Bear for S’s birthday. We have done it every year and he loves to make it.
Saturday-S has a build scheduled at Lowe’s to make a candy scented train. He is so excited about it and B gets to take him. I don’t think B’s schedule has worked out for him to take him to a build since the summer.
Sunday-As of right now we do not have any plans, but I am sure with B being off we will end up doing something.