Fun in MN

We had a lot of fun in Minnesota visiting family and friends.  We got to see both sides of our families, we got to see my Grandma Ruth (going strong again thankfully, and full of determination), Will and I went to the Zoo with Chandra, Brylee and Brittyn, we planted G&G Mc's garden and flowers, and had lots of fun playing with all the "new" toys at the grandparents houses.

William was playing with a farm set in my parents house and learned about cow poop from Grandma.  He then told us a pretty extensive story about poop that went like this...

"I a farmer.  I pick up cow poop and William poop and put in my hopper.  I a garbage man, I take the poop to the corn and grow corn.  I eat corn, its yummy."  I was trying so hard not to laugh during his story about what he does with cow poop.  Too funny.

He is starting to tell us more about the world, today on our drive home from daycare he told me "no ducks in pond, they having breakfast at the table, their Momma cook dinner for them".

And after extruding some play-dough into strings and balling it up, "this is yarn for kitties to play with, kitties like playing with yarn"

I forgot my camera's memory cards at home, so pictures from the IPhones are all we have.

My son the garbage and port-o-potty investigator, yuck!  He is just intrigued with them.

Tons of fun on the flying fox!

Attempt to get some family shots from arms length.

Perry and William scowling at us from the back seat.

Murphy was a good, quiet traveler.

Gotta love naps in the car.

Happy Mother's Day

William and I had lots of fun this weekend, unfortunately Adam had to work this weekend so we didn't see much of him, but he got some good sleep so that is good. 

Will and I went to Max and Maya's 3rd Birthday Party at a fun place called Kids Unleashed.  Imagine a great big room with tons of toys.  There were about 16 or so kids running around having a blast while the parents just tried to keep an eye on them and disarm any struggles over playing with the same toys.  The airplane you see below was there and was pretty neat, it was a teeter-totter and could fit 6 kids on at once.

For Mother's Day Will and I headed to Lakeside Park to play, watch the duckies and have a picnic.  We had a great time and can't wait for the farm animals, trains and carousel to be open in a few weeks.

Happy Mother's Day to all those special ladies I know who are wonderful Mothers.  Thanks Mom for all you did for me, and for teaching me how to be a good Mom myself!  Happy Mother's Day to my Grandma Ruth, I still can't fathom how she managed 7 kids!  Happy Mother's Day to my Mother in Law, thanks for raising a wonderful man, and hope you are having fun on your trip.

And to all my girlfriend-mother's out there, thanks for the advice, talks and fun.  Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Crazy Week

It has been a crazy week around here, Adam is on light duty due to a sore that got infected by his duty belt area, I could barely get to work on Wednesday due to flooding in the area (all 4 of the ways I know to get to work were closed due to flooding), and William was sent home from day care on Friday after vomiting.  Thankfully it was the only time that he threw up.

I think we all really need a vacation around here, so Memorial Day weekend can't come soon enough.   Let's hope for less rain around here too!

Pictures from the last week...

William helping Momma clean up utensils after making chocolate cake and white frosting.

Playing with diggers and tractors in true boy style.

Taking pictures (tripod, no camera) of Murphy on the couch. 

So I got a little behind in my blogging.  I didn't think I took any good pictures and have kind of been sick of computers since I am on them so much of the time at work and then trying to get work done from home.  

I had a nice birthday this week, Adam and Will got Chinese for dinner and we went on a nice walk to the park.  The weather was nice, so it was time to get out and enjoy it while it lasted.  

Will out and about around the house taking pictures just like Momma...

Easter Weekend

My Grandma Ruth fell at home, my Uncle Ted found her a couple hours later conscious but not herself. No broken bones luckily, but it appears she was overdosing herself on Advil for back pain. They have her in the hospital and so far she is doing well. They are evaluating her next steps, most likely some rehabilitation and then the Uncles, Aunts and Grandma will have to figure out what is next. I am sure they all hate to take her away from her house, kitchen, garden, but she needs some daily help and the driving and stairs at her home are too much for her anymore.

Aside from that scary news, we had a nice Easter weekend, we colored eggs last night and did some shopping in the morning for upcoming birthdays. The Easter Bunny was good to William today. He got some tasty chocolate and some new toys (the favorites are at a tie between a butterfly net and a toddler tough camera). The Easter Bunny came twice, once in the morning with baskets and once after nap with eggs. I hope Will doesn't think he will now come after every sleep :)




"What is that?" and What is that called?" are now common questions we hear. Usually it is while reading a book and there are words he doesn't know. His vocabulary is building and he is getting much quicker at pulling the words he needs out of his brain when he wants.

Pictures of an escaped toddler after bath. I am not comfortable with "naked" time, but "near naked" time is okay.

Exploring

We continue to have fun around the area and our house and are trying to make the most of the sneaky weather. 70-80's for two weeks then back to a much colder 40, brrrr.

William is so much fun this spring, riding bikes, helping in the yard, playing at the park, playing in the back yard. As much as we can we try to get out side.

We got his tricycle out and he can just reach the peddles this year, so with a little help getting started and a lot of help watching where he is steering we are riding up and down the side walk. The tricycle is one that Grandpa S fixed up for him. Adam used to ride it at his Grandma's house, so I am not sure how old it is or who rode it first, but William will make good use out of it.

He likes to peddle three or four times, say "Stop" then ring his bell, and then the cycle starts over. Going 3-4 drive ways takes 10 minutes, but as long as he is having fun, so be it.




It's fun to help Daddy push it back home too!


Having a ball in the back yard, kicking, throwing and rolling a really big ball. William is definitely stretching out, some of his jeans are starting to get a bit short, but stepping on the scale he is only about 33lbs. So no real weight gain, but definitely some height gain. His little budda belly is no longer :(





Last weekend Will and I headed to the bog walk at the marsh 30 minutes from our house. We had fun walking on the floating paths, meeting a photographer who was taking bird pictures, seeing lots of ducks, geese and birds. We even saw a snake, turtle and a chipmunk. We had a picnic outside at a picnic bench complete with juice boxes (a treat around our house).



Funny quotes from the week:

After a 3 minute crying fit William announced to us "Babies cry, I talk, I use words". If only he had remembered that 3 minutes ago!

At the store this morning as a lady was walking toward me, he said "My Mommy, William's Mommy". As if she was going to claim me instead.

At daycare they go on nature walks around a pond behind the center. They were learning about spring the other week. This week William decided to fill us in. "Birds live in nests, in trees, have eggs in nest".

The other night, Will talked to himself for 20 minutes then broke out crying. I went in and asked what was wrong. "I need water, make my tummy better". So I handed him the sippy cup that was in the corner of the crib. "Thank you Mommy, bye bye" and not another peep was heard that night. Isn't it nice when they can tell you what they need.

Have a great week.

Same fun, different park

For a change of pace we headed down to Lakeside park to check out the playground, ducks and lake. They have a nice selection of playground equipment for various ages and William had to try them all. He also saw people fishing and wanted to as well, so we told him we will have to wait until we go up to G&G's cabin this summer. Our first visit is going to be in July, so it will be a long wait :(

Pictures from the park...







We had William's parent/teacher conferences this week and got a peak into William's daycare world. He is very polite, always says his please's and thank you's. He is very quiet and doesn't say much, but when he does talk he usually copies what an adult is saying. His teacher Joy nicknamed him "Her Little Rainman", oh boy, I hope this is just him practicing his speech!

His other teacher Lisa adores him and wants to take him home with her, and she said she would love to baby sit. Lisa said that day she said "Come on Sweetie" to him and then later he said "Come on Sweetie" back to her, making her crack up.

They say developmentally he is doing great, gets along with the other kids but has a tendency to become "Joy's Best Friend" (term for misbehaving toddlers) when he doesn't listen out of stubbornness. He putzes and digs in when shoes or jackets need to be put on, or it's time to clean up. So we have a little work to do at home helping these skills along. He gets left in the group that takes their time and eventually figures out that he is missing out and gets with the picture.

Sounds like they have a lot of fun themes coming up, Teddy bears next week, then Easter, then later on a Circus week. We are really happy with our daycare and William does great going there every morning, so I know he likes it too.

This morning William and I had fun shopping for baby clothes; congrats to Chandra and her family who welcomed Brittyn Isla into the world last Sunday. Then we went to the Library and Culver's for lunch before heading home for nap.

William is starting to be afraid of more things... Air hand dryers, worms, bugs in the house, and noisy carts at the library.

Yesterday we sat on the porch watching the rain and we tried to take a walk with our rain gear on, but the worms on the ground were just to much to handle and I couldn't handle carrying him down the sidewalk so we settled on looking for froggies in the grass. Adam found one on our deck the other week, but our search in the rain turned up no froggies :(

Okay I think that is enough randomness for now, have a great weekend, stay dry!