Happy Fourth of July: Part 1

This weekend has been pretty good!  Friday morning Gabe helped me make muffins for breakfast, cupcakes for a BBQ we were going to on Saturday and played real well till Xa showed up later that evening.  I took the boys to the Granite City carnival that night with my good friend, Pam.  The boys had a blast and even though we stayed till 10PM they didn't fall asleep on the way home.  They also didn't sleep in on Saturday either....

Saturday after a great pancake breakfast we played in the yard and made hand print eagles.  Then Mom and I checked out a new craft/antique store in Fairview.  I found two great end tables that match my antique dresser in our guest room and they were only $24 a piece!  A great buy!  I was so excited to get them!  Saturday night we headed over to a friends BBQ and to watch their fireworks.  It was so hot and miserable.  Gabe sat pretty well for the fireworks for the first 5 minutes or so but once they really started to go off all together he said it was time to go home.  So, me, Dad, The Boy and Sissy enjoyed the display from the van while watching the Backyardigans.  It was a good night.

Hello, again.

I haven't written in over a month, not because I haven't been doing anything, but because I haven't felt the desire to share my life with everyone who reads my blog.  This month has just been one of those months. 

I've really been enjoying watching Gabe and Lilli interact and letting Gabe experience new things now that he's a little older and loves to play with other kids.  I was never good at play dates, probably, because its been my experience, I didn't like chatting with other moms.  It's so hard for me to build new relationships; I need to be better at that so I can have a more full-filling life, I suppose, but it's a struggle.  Gabe always loves playing with Xavier, so I've taken them to Monkey Joe's a few times to run off steam.  It only takes about an hour of playing on all the inflatables to get tired.

I also always try to do some type of art project with the boys.  I think my persistence with Gabe sticking his hands in paint is finally working.  He's not afraid to get them dirty like he was before, but the mess doesn't last long before he tells me he needs to wash his hands.

Speaking of telling me things, he's gotten quite the personality this past year.  He's learned that when I say "No," he should respond with "yes!"  Or, the latest and most annoying and cute all at the same time is "What is that?" and "What you doing?"  The things children learn amazes me. 

Other than that, we go to Xavier's baseball games once or twice a week.  I started a boot camp class at the Y that kicks my butt every time and we bought Gabe a swing-set.  That's about the highlights of June.  July will be another story, hopefully.  I can't wait to let the month fly by so I can see the man of my dreams and get a vacation of total bliss. 

Memorial Day: Part 2 and Our Weekend Adventures

I finally am a little caught up since our vacation so I wanted to post some more pictures from our trip as well as the past weekend.  Since my last post we had taken down the flags at the cemetery and went back to my grandma's for our last dinner/get-together with the family.  Gabe was so sad to leave the next day, he even said he didn't want to go to Paw-Paws, which never happens.  I'm glad he had such a good time and is able to meet and get-to-know his extended family.  It was a long road home but we were all glad to be back.

Grandma with the grand and great-grandchildren

What we weren't glad to come back to was the Kitchen.  A few weeks ago we had a leak under the sink and we thought we had fixed it but not before all the wood tile was soaked and now starting to smell like mold.  Yuck.  So, after spending eight hours in a car driving home Dad and I spent a another two tearing up the kitchen floor.  What fun!

Fast-forward to this weekend which was jam packed with outings, just the way I like to spend my weekends!  Friday I took Gabe to the Y to swim.  I knew the trip would be difficult since he had skipped his nap but it was so hot I wanted to go anyways.  We got there around 2:30 and quickly changed, showered and jumped in.  The day camp kids were there too, so it was a little rowdy and super loud but it didn't seem to phase Gabe - he loved it.  He saw another little boy jumping in from the side, probably 18 months old, and decided he would like to try that.  So, he did, and LOVED it!  He kept saying "Ready?!" and he'd jump, sometimes before I actually was ready but he didn't mind going underwater.  He actually go so brave that he told me not to hold him and he would swim to get the ball we were playing with or he'd jump in alone.  It was so cute to see how brave he was.

Needless to say he didn't want to leave.  Thankfully there was only one other person in the locker room when we went to change that had to listen to his temper tantrum and constant screaming about wanting to go back into the pool.  Once his clothes were on he was good to go.  All in all it was a pretty good trip.

Saturday while I was working really, really hard, I found a few festivals in the area I wanted to attend.  So, after work we headed out to the Horseradish festival.  We only stayed about an hour since it was really too hot to walk around.  Gabe played on the playground a little but agreed it was time to go.  Then, we headed across town to the Pig-A-Palooza, a charity event for Jacob's Ladder Foundation.  They had BBQ and a few inflatables for kids.  Gabe slid down the large inflatable slide all by himself.  I was so proud.  They also had a silent auction, I tried to win the Hubby a Yankee's something-or-other but I didn't win.  My friend Pam also met us out there so it was nice to catch up and chat with her that evening.  It's so hard to meet new, good friends that it makes me very thankful for the friends I still have from school that I can call anytime and everything just clicks back in place as if I never moved.

Today, we finished up our weekend with the Strawberry festival.  This takes place about an hour from the house in an old town.  There are tons of booths set up with crafts and food.  They also had a petting zoo and rides for kids.  Gabe, Xavier and I fed all the animals: a camel, a cow, some goats, sheep and chickens.  Then the boys rode in the airplanes (Gabe's favorite part of the day) and the mini-train.  We were all tuckered out by the time we got home.  In fact, this is the first night since we've been home from Oklahoma that Gabe is asleep in his room before 9PM.  Let's just hope he sleeps in too!

Busy Easter Saturday Night

Today was another rainy day.  I am officially ready for Summer, although as soon as it gets here I’ll be officially ready for Fall.  Today I had to work but I left early so I could take Lilli to see the Easter Bunny.  Nothing like waiting for the last minute; but hey, I was sick last week.  I convinced Dad to come along with us by promising him lunch at Olga’s.  It’s a good thing we did that first because we stood in line for the Bunny for over an hour.  Surprisingly both kiddos did quite well despite the wait.  Gabe smiled really big when asked but of course, in good Gabe fashion turns his head and smiles.  Lilli didn’t cry at the Easter Bunny but wasn’t too sure about getting her picture taken.

After the mall we headed home to wait for Xavier to come over.  I had lots of fun stuff planned for us.  After dinner we began with dying eggs.  It was Gabe’s first time but he did well placing the eggs in the cups, although he wanted to take them out as soon as they got in.  He also thought you have to stir the egg.  Once his dried we put stickers on them in between him smashing them on the table and letting them roll off onto the floor.  I even got to make a few too. 

Gabe's first Easter eggs

I made eggs too!

After eggs I had a little craft project lined up for Xa.  We made jar animals.  I found the idea online and it was super easy – Xa had a great time.   Basically, you fill a baby jar up with pom-poms and turn it upside down.  Then, using construction paper or foam (or feathers) you cut out shapes to create the animal of your choice.  I made Gabe a dinosaur, which he kept calling a frog, and Xa made a dog.  He loved the craft.  It was pretty fun for a spur of the moment idea. 

 After that we put together paper lanterns that I had bought him over a year ago to do.  I’m glad I didn’t do them when I originally intended because they were darn hard to follow the directions.  I’d had to say these were not geared toward any 8 year olds I know – or 27 year old, just sayin’.  He had such a good time doing crafts.  He even asked me why I was sitting with him so long to do the projects.  Poor thing, I guess he’s not used to all the attention.  I'm hoping to find more fun projects we can do that Gabe can help with too.  I think tomorrow, if there's time, we'll try painting with marbles.

Resources:
Jar Animals: http://www.kidactivities.net/?tag=/balloon+stress+ball

Back on track!

I went on a short hiatus since I was sick for a week with a terrible sinus infection.  I could barely function to play my roles as mommy, worker and Cinderella, let alone blogger.  So, now that I am feeling better I can get back to documenting our days.  Here's a recap of what everyone missed in the very exciting life that is mine.  (That was a joke, it really is rather dull without my hubby around.)

April 16: I took the boys (Gabe and Xa) to sign up at the YMCA since it was free that day.  Gabe loved the daycare and Xa enjoyed the rec room.  They have a great facility with a trail, a pool and tons of equipment and staff that will show you how to use it and train you - all included in your membership.  Xa was even more excited when I told him they had a spy day camp this summer.  He can't wait to go!  After the Y we headed to the movies.  It was Gabe's first time ever at a movie theater.  Since we were running late I wasn't able to get his picture since the previews were running by the time we got our seats.  He did such a good job -- better than I expected.  We saw "Rio" which I thought was a cute little movie.  We finished the day by celebrating our next door neighbor's 89th birthday.  Gabe was so excited to help him with his cards and of course, the cake.  He only likes the icing so Dad helped him finish his piece.

April 17: We cleaned out the fish pond in the backyard and let Gabe and Xavier put the fish back in.  Gabe was insistent on touching/holding them but when give the chance declined.  He still had a good time "helping."  Lilli lending a hand too, of course!

April 18-21: I can't think of what we did so it must not have been worthy enough to write about.  Except for the day when Luis sent me flowers since I had been feeling down.  He's such a sweetie.

Finally, today:  We started our day off with breakfast at IHOP, which let me tell you is NOT on my new diet, so I guess I'll start it again next week.  Or maybe the week after since I'm headed back to Texas for vacation...  Anyways, after breakfast everyone took naps, except me of course, who had to do laundry and finish the diaper cake I've been putting off for over a month now.  And then after Gabe's nap, with inspiration from my good friend Laura and the cricut, he made sun catchers for his teacher appreciation cards and a butterfly for Mother's Day coming up. All the websites I looked at online said tissue paper and contact paper is a great project for toddlers.  They were right.  Gabe loved doing them.  Although towards the end he decided it was more fun to crumple the paper than to lay it on the paper flat.  They still turned out beautiful. 

We went out for dinner to a local pub restaurant for catfish (Gabe and I had chicken strips) and headed back home before the storm hit -- again.  (Side note, earlier during the week Mom and I went to Target for a birthday card and ended up sitting for 45 minutes in the back of the store with all the other crazy storm shoppers.  Not fun.)  The sirens kept going off so we turned on the news and sure enough there were two super cells north and south of us.  We barely got any rain but for good measure we camped out in the basement eating milk and cookies watching the news about all the damage from the storm.  It tore part of the roof off the airport, shattered windows and moved a shuttle bus on top of a building.  Gabe liked that picture, he kept asking how they would get it down.  Such a curious little boy.  After an hour or so it was safe to head back upstairs where my sweet babies are now snoozing away.  And, I, about to join them.