Pillow Mountain, Grandpa V & Goodbye Pre-School

I'm sitting at my parent's house, looking at the sun setting over their pond.  Squirt is giggling from the depths of her belly on the floor with her Nana and Duder is wrestling with Papa.  Serene huh?  It really has been a fabulous trip...a trip that I'm not going into tonight.  More to come.  In the meantime, here's a bunch of random pics from the week before we headed out on a jet plane to watch my little bro marry the girl of his dreams. 

This is what happens when you leave two 4 year olds alone for 45 minutes.  Every pillow and blanket from the house was made into a giant mountain. 

Grandpa V graced us with a fun visit mid week.  He loved on the kids like only a Grandpa can. 

 

Look at these two.  They are totally enamoured with each other. More and more so every day.

The conclusion of Dude's first year of pre-school.  His teacher, Miss Yvetta, gave him a glowing report of progress and displayed the patience of a saint (as you can see).  Aside from one early year biting incident (naturally, he was being a cat) and one giant temper tantrum,  Dude was a model student.

 

Mrs. Olsen was teacher saint #2. 

Soccer Mom? Kinda, Sorta.

Look at that form.  Whewww.  That's the sign of an athlete in the making folks.

When we made the executive decision to sign up our dude for his 2nd "soccer" season, we had medium-high hopes.  Hopes for a margin of forward progress on the soccer front. What were our medium sized goals?

1. We hoped that he would participate and not lay on the ground crying during the 30 minute game portion (the part where there was only ONE ball).
2.  We hoped that he would not be the kid on the sidelines with the cones on his head.
3.  We hoped he wouldn't climb in the stroller, announcing it was high time to go home and have peanut butter jelly.
4.  We hoped his feet would touch the ball at least once per game.
5.  We hoped he wouldn't tackle any of the unsuspecting children on the field.
6.  We hoped that neither Tim or I would have to run around the field, holding his hand and dragging him to wherever the ball happened to go.
7.  We hoped that when he got his end of season metal, that he could wear it with pride for a soccer season well done.

Well, the 2nd season of Dude's soccer career is officially over.  The results from our beginning of season hopes are below. 

1.  He DID participate during the games.  This doesn't mean he understood quite what he was supposed to do, but he willingly ran around the field, chasing the ball and usually had a cheesy grin on his face.  Check. 
2.  He was NOT the kid with the cones on his head!  This year he was the kid tangled up in the enticing nets instead.  1/2 check.
3.  He did NOT jump into the stroller wanting to go home!  Reason?  We did not bring the stroller.  Check.
4.  His feet DID touch the ball at least once per game!  Sometimes even two times.  From time to time he would get so excited that he was kicking the ONE ball on the field that he would continue kicking it out of bounds until the coach chased him down, yelling at him to stop.  No boundaries.  But rather amusing.  3/4 Check.
5.  He did NOT tackle any children!  During his last game, he did pull on a kid's jersey until the poor child fell down though.  Why?  I have no idea.  He thought it was real funny.  3/4 Check.
6.  Tim and I did NOT have to enter the field this year!  The coach, however, did pick him up like a sack of potatoes a few times and place him where he was supposed to be.  3/4 Check. 
7.  Can he wear his shiny metal with pride?  Pride is such a general word.  So, we'll say "yes."  Progress was made.  Check, check. 

Will we sign up for a 3rd Soccer season? Jury's out.

 The half hour practice was definitely Dude's favorite part.  Reason?  He had access to his own ball.  No sharing necessary.

 Inseperable.  The day will come when the boy, girl thing will become a barrier.  I will shed big crocodile tears when that day arrives. 

 Our buddy, Avery, joined the team this year too, along with daycare & neighborhood bud, Holden. 

 Delaney and Avery's little sis, Taylor, were team mascots this year.

 Our little peanut cheered on her big bro too.  Look at that face.

 The team.  Coach Diane was a rock star volunteer coach.  She deserves the metal.

 The highlight of our last game.  An awesome, soccer ball cookie. 

The kids absolutely adore the parental tunnel at the conclusion of each game.  They run through at least 5 times before we lower our hands. 

 

Squirt's First Aquatic Introduction

Going to the pool with Duder isn't so much fun for the parent who sits on the side with Squirt, so we decided to adorn her in her baby bathing suit and introduce her little feet to the water.  I sat with her in the zero depth area for 45 minutes and she squealed in delight the entire time.  You could hear her screeching across the room.  At this rate, she'll be a little fish.  Just like her big bro. 

Horrible Parenting

Dude was swinging directly above a sprinkler head.  Tim and I knew that said sprinkler head was going to begin spewing water in 7 minutes and also knew that Dude would most likely still be swinging when it reared it's wet head.  We had a number or options...

#1.  Tell Dude to get off the swing and let him run through the water using his own free will

#2.  Warn him of his fate and allow him to make his own decision

#3.  Encourage him to keep swinging, not filling him in, knowing full well what would happen and run to get the video camera, ensuring his reaction would be caught on film

We chose #3.  I know, I know.  Super sad, but super funny at the same time.  Never fear, he still adores us and ended up running through that very same sprinkler head, buck naked, 10 minutes later. 

A Whole Lotta Handsome

Some more Amy DeYoung photos from our archives......

Mama Day

I know Mom's Day is behind us, but I'm still feeling all warm and cozy about it.  These two little people came to us through the grace of God.  And nothing else.  I was chosen to be their Mama.  I was chosen to love them and protect them and guide them and cherish them.  And I do.  With MUCH help from my amazing and charming husband. 

Mom's Day was lovely.  We started off with a cooking and clean up free breakfast at Panera, where I cupped my delectable mug of Chai Tea with a perma-smile.  Little things do it for me.  We loaded up Duder's bike and Squirt's stroller and took a hike around a local park.  Dude played around the river and further mastered his biking skills.  Squirt snoozed and Tim and I got to hold hands.  Yes, that was worthy of noting. 

 

 Dude loved that celebrating Mom meant he got a "Mountain roll with butterflies on it."  I guess pecans look like butterflies in a 4 year old's brain. 

 Squirt's favorite pose.  Up in the air.  Only once has her spit up ended up in my mouth.  Pretty good record. 

 Look at me Grandma V!  Money well spent.  Walks are MUCH more enjoyable (and faster) these days. 

We ended at the park, where the blazing sun forced us to go home and retreat to our non-air conditioned house.  I was then treated to 2 hours of "me" time, which was filled with sangria and guac and a fabulous mama friend named Linsy.  We even sat at the bar and I must admit, we felt pretty cool about it.  One doesn't chose bar seating with two kids in tow.  After the children were tucked in bed (much later than planned unfortunately), Tim cooked up a rockin' steak, stuffed mushroom and sweet corn dinner for his princess wife.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.  Thank you to my hubs for spoiling me to an extreme and to my kids for not pooping on me, puking on me or throwing any major temper tantrums while in my presence.  Bliss.

And a special Mom's Day shout out to our 2 fabulous Mama's.  Wish we could have celebrated with you!  Love, love, love from us, us, us. 

 Dad can ALWAYS make this little pumpkin smile. 

This was Dude's wardrobe choice for much of the day, including his bike helmet. 

The Faces of My 4 Month Old

 Our Squirt hit the 4 month mark on Saturday.  My not so little pumpkin continues to be not so little.  She's still in the 90% for height, 85% for head and she plummeted to the 75% for weight.  She's just about 15 pounds now.  Compared to her 10% brother at this age, we're lovin her chub and rolls.  Dude tells random strangers that "his sissy has a fat, fat face."  Endearing huh?  Enjoy my little sweet cheeks and her endless smiles.  We sure do. 
 

 Not quite sitting up yet. 

 The hands are always in the mouth.  Pretty much anything in her reach goes in the mouth these days.

She's lovin the summer weather, allowing complete access to her toes.

Dude's Portrait of His Sis

Dude used to draw a conglomeration of abstract doodles for people.  Hes come a long way.  He decided to draw a portrait of his baby sis for her arrival home on Monday.  Squirt's facial features aren't quite proportionate, but you can at least detect what he had in mind.  My favorite is her uni brow.  He said, "Look Mom!  She has one SUPER long eye brow!" 

These pics really deserve their own post, but I realize that not everyone thinks "tub" pictures are as cute as the parent in question does.  This was the first successful double bath for our children.  There was very little screaming from Squirt and no screaming from Dude during Squirt's screaming.  Progress - forward progress!

My Little Man n' Me

This weekend was a rare treat. For so many reasons.

#1. Tim was able to get all his "man-ness" out with buddies in Chicago, all while racing our friend Chris's M3 at the Joliet speedway. I can't even begin to describe the utter joy that this type of activity brings to my adventurous husband. He anticipated this trip, saved up money for it and deserved every second of reving, high fiving, carburetor talk, speeding, leaving the toilet seat up and who knows what else. Better left that way.

#2. He took our little Squirt with him to Chicago and left (dumped) her at Nana and Papa's house. In theory, this was a great idea for everyone involved. It just happened that she decided to get a 102 degree fever for 2 of the 3 days (her first sickness). This left me quite sad and feeling helpless. She did offer some smiles and giggles for them, but wasn't our happy go lucky babe. Thanks for taking good care of her Mom and Dad. She couldn't have been in better hands.

#3. These first 2 highlights leave us with the best of all. I got 3 days with my dude. Just the two of us. It was so refreshing and fun and lovely to do puzzles and play games and read books and go to the park and go out to eat and drive in the car and sing songs and go swimming and play soccer and just hang. Just him and me. He ATE it up - in fact, I'm a bit concerned about him having some attachment issues this coming week when he goes back to being second fiddle. I can imagine this is how he feels so much of the time. It was SO evident that Mom time was treasured and the glee that ensued was just what the doctor ordered. We did a little photo shoot tonight to wrap up our Mom n' me weekend. This kid. He is quite somethin'. And I'm so grateful that he's ours.