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DAY 5:  Our first day in Ohio was mostly spent relaxing at my parents’ house.   Lee stopped over as we were having some lunch and introduced us to his girlfriend, Jen.  We had a nice visit with Lee and Jen as we munched on french fries and BBQ chicken.  Nicole took to Lee right away.  She snuggled up to him as soon as he picked her up and enjoyed smiling at him and making faces. 

 

Since it was Halloween, we thought the kids would enjoy a little trick-or-treating.  Unfortunately, my hometown had trick-or-treat night early so we had to take the kids to Fostoria.   Isaac had chosen his costume in Utah.  He picked the doctor costume because it was “not scary.”  I bought Charlotte a nurse costume to match. 

Nicole stayed home with Grandma Bunny, while Grandpa Bird took the older kids and I out.  The drive to Fostoria wasn’t far, but when we arrived, both kids were fast asleep (the picture below was taken before trick-or-treating).

It was a little cold, so after a few houses we returned to the car for coats.  As we walked from house to house Charlotte commented repeatedly about how she could hear trains in the distance.  Isaac and Charlotte were adorable in their costumes and there were not many young children out, so at each house the kids were rewarded with a handful of candy instead of just a piece.  We only went down two streets–maybe a half an hour before I asked them if they wanted to go home and eat their candy.  I thought the experience and a little bit of candy was enough and they were well pleased.

We brought the candy home and ate some “AJ’s Heavenly Pizza” then watched "The Great Pumpkin" while they ate their candy.  Isaac was overly eager to share with Nicole and kept giving her suckers.  Even when she had one in each hand, he tried to give her a third sucker.  She was as pleased as could be to walk around the house with two suckers in her mouth and was quite sticky by the time she was done.

At bedtime, the kids told me that having toys in their bed would help them sleep better, but I had my doubts.  When Isaac remembered that he was scared of the fireplace we suggested moving their bed over by the pictures.  He countered by suggesting we move the bed over by the toys.  When I told him that I thought the toys would keep him awake, he said “no, the pictures will keep me awake because I won’t be able to stop looking at them.”  I decided that was a risk worth taking and moved the bed next to the pictures.  He did fall asleep looking at picture books that night.

DAY 6 (SUNDAY):  Sunday church at the Tiffin Branch was a little odd.  Much of the branch was out with the flu so there ended up being just one person from each auxiliary.  The primary president was there, but they had no teachers and none of her counselors, so Isaac and Charlotte had no Sunday School classes.  They sang and colored in a group with the entire primary.  Since the branch had no nursery leader and no nursery aged children, my mom and I spent second hour in the nursery letting Nicole play.  For third hour, my mom was the only one there from the RS presidency so we brought some nursery toys into relief society and stayed in there for the meeting.  I counted only 8 people in RS.

After church (while their mother was napping and grandma was making dinner), Isaac and Charlotte made "turkey M &Ms" which are made by soaking Reece’s Pieces in water until the candy shell dissolves and then dumping the candies from one container to the next, leaving a sticky residue on each container. 

Later, Uncle Bryan took them outside for a little while where they made "Tiger Food" which is composed of "soil, leaves, and rocks."  They left the "tiger food" in a box on the porch in case any tigers come by.

My brother Lee came over for dinner.  Nicole once again snuggled right up to him when he picked her up and every time he’d look at her she’d cock her head to the side and smile at him. 

My sister Barb also arrived just before dinner.  She had been attending a conference in Michigan where she was one of the presenters and was on her way back home to DC.  Isaac wanted to show her which room she would be staying in and offered to give her a tour of the house (despite the fact that she grew up in this house and certainly knows it better than he does).

Cindy Lynch (a friend from church) also stopped by after dinner.  We all visited for several hours.  Nicole loved being the center of attention.  She danced and sang much of the evening and even lead us in a few "touchdown" cheers.  Isaac and Charlotte also stole the spotlight a few times.  They decided to share "faith" something (I can’t remember what they called them, but it had the word faith in it. . .faith talks or faith words).  They took turns climbing on a chair to announce things like "I’m thankful for my birthday" (Charlotte) or "Praying is the goodest thing you can do" (Isaac) or "You should only look at pictures of Jesus or Heavenly Father during the sacrament" (Isaac).