We're taking the dude back to the old school rap era with a little ditty that he LOVES dancin' to. I found the second video of the little little man learning how to walk and couldn't resist posting it. It melts my momma heart. Enjoy.
6.22.2010
6.19.2010
Adults Only BBQ Baby!
I've told you before how kid friendly our neighborhood is. Tons of playmates for the dude, parks, sidewalks for attempting, but not quite figuring out how to ride a Big Wheels, the ever present, especially during nap time, ice cream truck etc. etc....we l-o-v-e living here.
In addition to being kiddo friendly, it's also quite adult friendly. There are some super cool peeps for mom and dad to hang with too. For the first time since we moved in, we dumped kids on sitters and some of us adults played for the night. By "played," I mean engorged ourselves on mouth watering eats and drank adult friendly beverages. Quite a bit of the latter. We hosted and shipped the dude off to Maria and Tim's across the street. Splitting a babysitter...genius. We're definitely going to do that again.
We couldn't fit all of the super cool grown ups from the hood at this little shin dig, but we had a rockin' good time with the ones that came. Thanks for hangin, kid free, friends! We really do have the bestest neighbors on the planet.
My Big Dude on the Dude Ranch
While the dude and I partied with Uncle Kyle, Dadio was playing on a dude ranch. His company owns an unbelievably beautiful and oh so cool ranch out in Wyoming-about 5 hours from us. They were opening for the season and Tim is now in charge of managing all things financial for the ranch. SO....he got the "task" of driving out and spending 5 days with the staff, the horses and the endless amounts of mud that resulted from 3 days of consistent rain. Bummer. He did get to take a lovely horse ride, minus his lovely wife, to a meadow where breakfast was served. I still can't get a mental image of my husband on a horse in a meadow, but he swears it did indeed happen. He hiked a bit, ate quite well and slept in peace and utter silence (the part I was most jealous about). The diesel trucks on each side of our house and a three year old needing to use the facilities in the middle of the night don't provide much in the area of utter silence.
Dude and I can't wait to go hang with Dad on the ranch next year. Here are some shots of Dad's 5 days away from house and home.
6.13.2010
Ky Time
If you know Kyle, you know that he couldn't pass up an opportunity to clothe his nephew in Black Hawks gear. They were quite the pair walkin' around the zoo.
Baboons. They're funny, I guess. Not quite sure what I'm laughing at. Dude walked into a glass door, smashed his nose and cried, which was pretty funny, but he doesn't appear upset in this shot.
Seriously, no matter how old you are, this is just amazing.
Dude has a perma-smile on his little face the ENTIRE time we were hangin' at the pool.
6.07.2010
Pools, Pigs n Beatles
No rest for the bootie. That summarizes our weekend. It was kicked off Friday night with pool time with the Syers. Just the beginning of summer splashin. I swore my hair wouldn't get wet. Yeah right Gwen.
While we're on the subject of pooling it...after the uphill battle that was organized soccer, we were a bit squeamish about dude's first swim lesson on Saturday morning. So much so that I hid in the locker room to avoid being a clingy distraction. Much to my delight (and dismay), he didn't look for me once. Not even a turn of his little noggin. He jumped in the pool into his teacher's arms, obeyed everything she told him to do and had the time of his life. Tim eventually retrieved me from the locker room and we sat together, watching our little man in action. Learning. Without us. He would occasionally turn around with a mile long grin on his face, making sure we could see the progress he was making. Lucky for him, 2 of the 4 kids in his class refused to put their toes in the pool, so he got a whole lot of 1 on 1. This Mama was just grateful that her child was the one with his toes IN the water.
Dude thinks all his friends want to be hugged. At all times.
We danced. And danced. Dude now loves Beatles cover bands.
My boys. Precious.
6.04.2010
The New Face of Nap Time
For the past 3 days, this is what has occurred during what is supposed to be nap time for the dude.
6.03.2010
The Troll
I so wish that this was my story to tell. It isn't, but I can not, in sound mind, not pass this along for your reading enjoyment. If you haven't peed lately, go pee before reading on.
A co-worker's friend has a son with Downs Syndrome. He's 30 years old and stays home alone during the days while his parents are at work. One afternoon, the son called his mom at work, explaining that there was a troll walking around the neighborhood. What should he do?
The Mom didn't really know what he was talking about and told him to stay inside with the door closed and he'd be fine. 30 minutes later, son calls Mom again. "Mom, don't worry. I caught the troll and he's in the closet." Mom hears a ruckus in the background, rushes out the door and heads for home to investigate what's happening.
Mom walks into her home and her son unveils the troll that he has been holding hostage. The troll happened to be a "little person" hired to go door to door for the recent census polling. The son figured this short little man was a troll and needed to be captured. And so he did just that.
I don't know if he chased him around the neighborhood or waited until the man knocked on his door, but regardless, there had to have been a struggle. Mom spent quite a bit of time apologizing and making sure that the little person wouldn't press charges against her son. He didn't. But I can imaging this man is still a bit traumatized by the happenings of that neighborhood assignment.
Not funny for the little person, but SO freaking funny all at the same time, right?
6.01.2010
A True Memorial Day
The cabin was Uncle Ken's place. He kept it organized and made sure it all was running the way it should. He made frequent visits up there with Peg. The cabin knew Ken. He was kinda like the cabin's alpha. And so, going to the cabin on Memorial Day was bittersweet. Maybe a little more bitter than sweet. It was just different. There was a hole in the midst of all the laughing, running, hiking, trailer riding, eating, and hustle and bustle. A sad hole. Uncle Ken and all he was and all he did for everyone was definitely remembered on this Memorial Day. His family didn't want to let Ken down and dismiss our Memorial Day tradition, so they all made their way up and did an amazing job of smiling through the day and making the best of a really sad time. I admire all of their strength. Don't know if I could have done it as gracefully.
We did have a fun day doing all the stuff we normally do. The kids were dirty beyond dirty and tired beyond tired. We ate well (always do), talked, hiked, played mountain boccie, bean bags, shuffle board, wiffle ball, Mouse Trap....you get the idea. We're just so grateful that we get to be a part of it. There are a boat load of photos below. Couldn't choose, so you get um all.
The peanut gallery, cheering on their respective loved ones.