Sometimes it’s hard to find an indoor place suitable for a playdate, but today my friend and I met up with our kids at the indoor playland of a newly remodeled McDonald’s (which, by the way, is part of a 1 billion dollar worldwide remodeling effort to make McD’s feel more like a Starbucks).

Yes, I feed my kids French fries. When Carissa caught sight of the fries her excitement level shot up from about a 1.5 to a full 10. She ate them all, except for the few I sneaked from her.

Wes preferred his chocolate milk.

The best part for Wes–the indoor basketball court!

Wes and his friend Abby had so much fun together.

This week it’s been warm enough for the kids to play outside without jackets.

Today, the start of a new year, our church’s start time moved back two hours. Three congregations share the same building so, to keep everyone feeling equal, every year we rotate our meeting times.

All last year our Sunday mornings were somewhat of a groggy haze of getting kids bathed, dressed, fed, hair combed, socks and shoes found and put on, diaper bag packed, etc., while getting myself dressed and presentable and getting John–the Not Morning Person–out of bed and on his way. Breakfast was frequently unbuttered toast, eaten standing over the sink at home, then a gulp of water from the drinking fountain once we got to church. We were not the award winners for being on time each week.

Today we had TWO MORE HOURS! What did we do?

First, Carissa walked down the stairs by herself for the first time, and Wes cheered her on.

Then the kids ate toast and drank milk on the couch under the same blanket.

I had time to make French baguettes–my new favorite bread to make because 1) I have new baguette pans that shape them so nicely and 2) they take only about an hour to make from start to finish.

Carissa wanted to use the trash can. She knows we put stuff inside it, and she really wants to put stuff in it, too. She is also learning how to blow her nose.

I didn’t bother to take pictures of it, but while I was upstairs putting Carissa’s dress on, Wes was downstairs at the sink filling a measuring cup with water and dumping it on the floor over and over again. So then I got to clean it up and start a load of laundry of the armful of towels I used.

But we got everyone dressed, fed, and out the door on time. And, I even curled my hair.

It’s looking to be a good year.

Wes likes it when I do criss-cross applesauce on him. The words go like this:

“Criss, cross, applesauce
Spider crawling up your back.
Tight squeeze (I squeeze the back of his neck),
Cool breeze (I blow on the back of his neck),
Now you’ve got the shiverees!”

He’s picked up how to do it, and here he is practicing on Dad and Carissa.

Wes loves the theme music from the TV show The Office. I’ve been watching reruns streaming on Netflix lately, and every time he hears the closing credits he’ll come running. He likes to conduct the music.

Last night I was putting gifts together that included clementine oranges (those cute mini oranges that are easy to peel). Wes and Carissa zoned right in on them, thinking they were things to throw like a ball.

But I showed Wes how he can eat it, too. He ate all of this one, plus half of Carissa’s.

Our friends invited us over for a night of games and crepes. We played minute-to-win-it type games.

The first one: stacking cups as fast as you can with one hand behind your back.

This is Brittanie stacking cups, and Wes looking on (far left). He was the biggest clapper for everyone who participated. He will always be a terrific cheerleader.

John gave it a shot…

But guess who took home the prize! Moi! In a quick 23 seconds I won a full single-serving dish set: 2 plates, bowl, and cup.

The party hosts were nice to give each kid a turn trying the games.

Wes and Carissa liked to find alternative uses for the cups.

Here’s Wes and his soul mate Abby trying the game where you tie a tissue box with a ball in it around your waist and you have to jump/dance around until the ball falls out. They LOVED this one.

Afterward someone opened a mini stomp rocket launcher and let Wes play with it.

The party was for adults, but Wes obviously thought it was a party meant just for him!

Carissa tried painting…the paper, the table, anything she could reach. Notice the pigtails–her first time.

When it’s time to put on Wes’s pants or diaper, he gets silly and folds himself up like this so I have to work harder to get the job done. People with Down syndrome are very flexible.

Wes likes to read books, or at least to look at them. I found him at our bookshelf with a giant old picture Bible.

We had our family picture taken at a church activity. It was the end of the night and Wes and Carissa were ready for bed.