Blessed Beyond Measure: The A Team Week 5: Dino-mite!

My little dinosaur

This was a dino-mite week. Avery slept wonderfully, waking only once a night most nights and giving me 4 or more hours of sleep at a time for several of them (one was 6.5 hours!). Because of the additional sleep, I was able to accomplish some projects that needed to get done.

First, I reorganized our office file storage. Our current storage was busting at the seams, and we recently received a free 4-drawer file cabinet from some friends at church. I was very excited to have the extra storage space, but the cabinet was deeper than I had expected, so it required me to rethink some of our current organization. After making a big mess of the office on Monday afternoon, I figured it out, and was able to even get rid of some things in the process!

I started with the cabinet here, but had hoped to turn it 90 degrees. It was too deep though, which is why I needed to rethink my strategy.

So I made a big mess of the office and took everything off our shelves.

Then I came up with this. Much better...now I just had to find a place to put everything back...

While I was working, this little guy woke up, so he became my helper...at least until he bored of the "excitement".

Thank you Auntie Erika & Uncle Aaron for the cute outfit! :)

This is what I ended up with.

On Monday, I also got around to taking the comparison pictures with Avery to the ones I took when I was pregnant. Unfortunately I didn't get around to taking them until he was almost a month old, but when you see the comparison, you can still get a pretty good idea of why I was so huge while I was pregnant...if only the weight all came off when he was born!

On Tuesday, our dino-mite week continued with a visit from our Laillet friends again on Asher's day home with me. Asher and Theo had a great time playing in the basement, bouncing on the guest bed and chasing Emma around. Lilou and Avery also had a good time hanging out while Britni and I caught up.

Lilou is talking to me...she is quite a little (& loud) chatterbox! :)

Asher & Theo playing on top of the guest bed.

After our friends left, we had lunch, naps and then more basement fun. Avery continued to take a good nap, giving Asher and I some alone time to play and build together.

Asher's creation...he was excited to show Daddy.

On Wednesday, Avery and I enjoyed another dino-mite day alone together. He got a bath, and I messed up his hair afterwards. It dried that way and stuck up until he got his next bath! Crazy hair! That afternoon, we continued the week's productivity by heading to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up material for Asher's Halloween costume and for a Christmas project I am hoping to make. Then we got some groceries (including frozen pancakes for Asher, because he insists on them almost every morning and that is easier than dealing with the tantrum sometimes) and went and got Asher from daycare...allowing Christina (our daycare provider) to meet Avery for the first time. She was super excited! :)

Check out the hair!

Video: Asher Draws Emma

Thursday was another day home with both boys and proved to be a mostly uneventful (but good) day, and Friday it was time to get to work on Asher's costume, as I was running out of time. At around 10:00 am I got out my sewing machine to begin. I was hoping it would be a quick easy project, but since I am by no means a pro at sewing, it took some time and work. I worked on it throughout the day between caring for Avery and at about 6pm I was finally finished, save a few finishing touches which I sewed on by hand that evening and in the car the next morning on the way to our destination...talk about cutting in close!

Video: Asher Gets to Try On His New Tail

The next morning was Saturday and time to start our dino-mite weekend. Unlike most of our weekends it was not lazy time, instead we had lots of plans...fun plans, but plans nonetheless. It figures that the one morning that we had to be somewhere, both the kids were still sleeping when it was time to motivate!

Eric & Avery cuddling while I got ready.

A little after 9am, we were on the road and headed to Crystal Lake to go Truck or Treating with my brother's family. We arrived there a bit before 11am and after changing Asher into his (literally just finished) costume, we were off and running (or walking at a toddler pace) to the trucks and the treats. Fun times!

Asher all set with his halloween basket...Eric bought this Yoda Easter basket for him a few years ago, and I decided it was better for Halloween than Easter.

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, Asher was a dinosaur for Halloween. When I was pregnant I began to make use of my sleepless nights scouring Pinterest on my phone for a costume to make for Asher. Knowing that I was going to be busy with a newborn when the time came (& refusing to purchase a store-bought costume) I was hoping to get on the ball and have a costume done before the baby came. That didn't happen, but I did at least decide on a dinosaur costume when I found this site on Pinterest. As Halloween drew closer, our nephew Caleb decided that he wanted to be a TRex for Halloween and then Micah decided he wanted to be one too (but Buddy from Dinosaur Train), so at that point we had three of the five Klingenmaier boys all set to be dinosaurs. Since that was the case, we figured we might as well get the little guys into it as well, so that they could all be dinosaur cousins. So that is how we ended up with a whole crew of dinosaurs and were off to scavenge for candy amongst the sea of big trucks...every little boy's dream! :)

Eric (trying to get Asher to "ROAR" like a dinosaur) & Asher with his dino-cousins off to the side.

"Roarrrrrrrrr!"

The Klingenmaier Crew.

Micah & Caleb checking out one of the trucks...Asher didn't want to go in the trucks, just check them out from the safety of the ground and the vicinity of Mommy & Daddy.

Eventually Eric talked Asher into checking out one of the trucks as long as Daddy went too. He did it, and enjoyed it, but didn't want to do it again.

Me walking with my little dino-boys (notice the baby-dino tail...thanks for making it Auntie Erika!)

Checking out the BIG truck tires!

Asher didn't want to go in any more of the trucks, but when he saw the tractor he decided that he could handle that one (& REALLY wanted to) as long as Daddy joined him again.

Asher enjoying some of his scavenges.

After Truck or Treating, we all (Aaron, Erika and the kids + Erika's dad + Erika's brother, SIL and kids) headed back to their home for a dino-mite grilled lunch. It was such a beautiful day that we were able to enjoy most of our time outdoors in the yard. With all of our kids together, plus the kids of some friends of theirs that came over, there was a total of 10 children ages 4 and under of which only one was a girl...Craziness! Two of those boys are Avery and Aaron and Erika's nephew Christopher. They both were given the due date of September 19th, so Erika's SIL Julie and I were "racing" to see who could deliver first. Not really, as we both knew she'd likely win, but we ended up with Christopher being born on September 15 and Avery arriving nine days later...

Due Date Buddies: Avery & Christopher

Hudson & Erika enjoying our lunch outside.

Avery enjoying the fresh air.

Eric & Asher picnicking on the front lawn.

When lunch was over, it was time to get ready to head home, but like always we had to get some pictures of all the little dinosaurs before that could happen. Getting a picture of 5 little guys under the age of five (with no adults), however is VERY difficult. We did the best we could...

Eric with our little Baby Dino-Avery!

Dino-Hudson

Dino-Asher

Hudson waving for the camera

Dino-Micah with Eric & Baby Dino-Avery

Dinosaurs on the loose!

Our attempts for the picture of all boys together...

...and then there were three...

...and then there were two...

Finally, it was time to head home. Asher stayed strong and stayed awake for about half of the drive, powering off of his candy/cookie sugar buzz, but eventually he couldn't withstand the exhaustion any longer...

When we got home, the fun didn't stop. We enjoyed a little bit of relaxation during the afternoon Michigan football game, and then Eric and Asher headed outside to enjoy more of the fresh fall air. When evening came, I ran into Eric in the Kitchen as he and Asher were excitedly collecting supplies to make grilled pudgy-pie (pie iron) sandwiches over the fire pit in the back yard. Together, they sat in the driveway and grilled dinner (Avery and I did join them for a bit while he took a little nap). Asher loved it and had a great time bonding with his daddy. He also loved the sandwiches (everything tastes better over the campfire!) and ate 2 whole grilled cheese sandwiches plus 3/4 of a jelly sandwich!

Video: Campfire Fun

On Sunday, our dino-mite week finished strong with another great family day at home. We enjoyed a morning at church followed by the usual naps and then more time outside taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather. It was a great way to end our week: a family rested, refreshed and completely in love.

Asher eating a carrot that he and Eric pulled from our mini garden.

Avery & I after church.

Lookin' good in his Sunday best!

Eric & Asher jumping in the leaves...with our 4 gigantic trees and several more down the street, we never have a shortage of fall leaf fun in our yard!