summertime!

We've had a busy few weeks, and I think I can safely say that we're enjoying summer to the fullest. 

We spent a week at the cape. Actually, Chris and the kids were there for a week. I stayed behind for a few days so I could attend a rehearsal, and then joined them. It was a week in one house with Chris's whole family, which was chaotic. But, the kids had a great time. We also had a few days of doing our own thing, which were the most relaxing. We took the kids to a couple of playgrounds. We spent one day visiting Jocey, Tom, and baby Sammy at their place on the cape. Tom and Chris played golf, while Jocey and I took the kids to the beach. It was a great day. 

Chris and I also took the kids to a county fair. It was a new experience for the kids. We walked around, saw part of a fire juggling/acrobatics show, the kids played a couple of games, and we got cotton candy!

The kids were so good, and we had a great day together as a family. But the best part was the adventure we had when a storm rolled in and it began to pour very heavy rain. We stayed under a tent for a while, but it became apparent that the rain wasn't letting up. We decided to run for the car. It was a long run. Celia and I were running through rivers of water, soaked from head to toe, laughing hysterically. Chris followed behind us, carrying Henry. When we got to the car, the kids and I climbed into the very back to change. Luckily I had their bathing suits there. They changed and climbed over the seat into their car seats. I took off my wet clothes and was wearing a sweatshirt and towel found in the back of the car. Poor Chris... He was sitting in the driver's seat, naked except for his shorts laid across his lap. It got even funnier when we realized that I was stuck in the back of the car. I couldn't climb through, and couldn't open the back door from the inside. Tha naked guy couldn't exactly get out to open the door for me, so we rode back to the house with a naked driver and a half naked lady bumping around the back of the car. Oh, man. It was hysterical. I laughed so hard I cried. 

At the end of the week, we headed home. It seemed like the kids had been in a pattern of eating too many treats, so it was a perfect reset for them to gobble up raw peas and green beans from the garden that afternoon. With a frisbee as a plate, of course. 

Last week, we jumped back into our regular routines. Henry had daycare, Celia had half days of camp, and Chris left Monday for a business trip. I only billed 3 1/2 hours for work, between Celia being sick one day and some cancellations. On Friday morning the kids were both in a terrible mood. They were whining, yelling, fighting. Ugh. They were horrible. I finally got them out of the house and we went to the library. They really like it there and always have good behavior. They spent a long time doing crafts in the children's room, and I found them some books. Henry had to use the potty and wanted to do it all by himself. He asked Celia to go with him. It was adorable. On Friday afternoon, I took them to a beach we recently discovered. It's only about 15-20 minutes away, and is part of a larger park with trails and picnic areas. It only costs $1 per adult to get in! The water is shallow for the kids, nice and clean, and there is nice soft sand. It's the best local beach we've found. The kids had a great time swimming together. 

Their Puddlejumpers are great for keeping them safe in the water, but they almost work too well. We need to work on swimming more independently. But both kids are comfortable in the water and are now able to swim and change positions in the water easily with the Puddlejumpers on, so that is good. 

We'll be going back to this beach whenever we can this month! 

Yesterday, Celia had a birthday party to go to at our town beach. So we all went, and Henry was able to swim and play while Celia did her party stuff. We left just in time before a big downpour. We got home and I cleaned the floors, the kids played, and we ordered takeout for dinner. This morning I'm taking the kids to play at a friends' house. One of Celia's classmates invited the class over to play. We love her class- both the kids and parents! This afternoon, I'm hoping to work in the garden and spend some time at home. We have been out a lot lately and the kids haven't had a lot of time to just play in the yard. I'm also looking forward to cooking a healthy dinner tonight. Lots of fun activities and time out lately has also meant more takeout dinners than usual. We normally eat so healthily that I really prefer to cook at home. On the other hand, we've been able to relax and have extra fun when I haven't had to cook.

Being at a point where the kids are old enough to do more has been so nice this summer. I'm starting to think about preparing for the school year, though. Henry starts preschool in September, so we will now have two schools and two school schedules to think about. He needs a backpack and a lunchbox, both kids are growing like crazy and will need new clothes, and I'll have to start packing lunches again. I can't believe that today is August 1st. The month of August is going to fly by.

a summery weekend

We had a really nice, busy weekend. The weather was beautiful and perfect for spending a lot of time outside. On Saturday, I went for a walk and did some things around the house in the morning. Then we packed up and went to a state park. The beach there was almost empty. We had a picnic lunch, and watched the kids play. They played in the sand, and at the water's edge catching tadpoles. 

It was too cool for swimming, but they played for a long time. 

On the way home from the park, we stopped at a Humane Society animal shelter. We have been thinking about getting a pet. We aren't ready yet, but thought it would be fun to stop and see some animals. The kids really liked seeing the cats and dogs, and wanted to bring a cat home immediately. I am not a dog person, but I am a softy and felt so bad for the poor dogs needing homes. We will probably end up with both a cat and dog eventually. 

On Sunday morning Celia and I went grocery shopping together, and picked up a couple of things we needed at the craft store to make a gift for her teachers. It is really nice going out and spending time alone with her these days. Then we packed another picnic lunch and headed to our town playground. The kids had such a good time. They make friends quickly at the playground, and before long they were hanging out with another little boy and girl. It was adorable. They played, and then would just sit in a circle on the ground and talk. We could overhear some of their conversations and they were so funny and cute. Henry was really quite outgoing. He is going to love preschool in the fall. 

The rest of the day was spent keeping the kids entertained, finishing laundry, prepping food, and cleaning up the house. We had a "salad bar" for dinner, which the kids have been enjoying lately. I roasted sweet potatoes and beets to put on the salads. 

That's about all for today. 

fall fun and big milestones

It's been a long time again. I think of things to write about during the day, but by the time the kids are in bed I'm all out of energy for writing. We are really deep into autumn here now. We're probably just past peak fall foliage. We had some rain and wind that blew a lot of trees bare this week. Henry and I have been playing in leaves while sister's at school, we've taken some walks, and we've all been outside quite a bit. Today the kids played while Chris and I started preparing the yard and garage for winter. We brought some firewood inside and had our first fire, which is something I look forward to every year. (Ask me how I feel come February, when I'm dusting the house daily and constantly running and cleaning the humidifier.) 

It was a dreary day when I took this picture, but we've had some beautiful views from the back deck.

In other news, Henry has surprised us and ended up potty training over the last few days! He was very resistant to it, so I had decided we'd let him go until his third birthday and then train him. But it seems that he's now ready and has done a great job this weekend. He has been in underwear all day with no accidents! He is very proud of himself, and has even been going to the potty when he needs to without us always reminding him. 

He is so adorable in his little undies.

Henry has been a bit of a terror lately, but this weekend he seemed to turn a corner. He still had a few moments, but was much happier and more compliant. I think potty training has something to do with it. 

Celia has also hit a big milestone this week. She is reading! It's amazing. We've worked on letters and their sounds, and a little on the beginning concepts of reading and spelling. We came across a set of BOB books at my in-laws' last weekend, and I brought them home to try. Celia picked them up and something just clicked for her, and she read them! She's doing very well at it. 

Guess that's all for now. 

weekend fun and an extra day

It was a very summery weekend with temperatures in the 80s. Weird! I much prefer the cool fall weather, so hopefully we'll be back to that soon. On Saturday we all went to Celia's soccer practice. It might have been more fun if it hadn't been so hot, but Henry and I were just hanging around and it was too hot outside. There was a new playground for him to play on, and he really liked that, and we sat in the shady dugout on the baseball field for a while. I wanted to see Celia's soccer a little, so we went to watch the last ten minutes. We had lunch, the kids played on the playground for a while, and we went home. Chris and I were all worn out for the rest of the day! 

On Sunday we went to a place with a corn maze, corn crib, a couple rides and other fun stuff. It was fun, but again it was very hot outside. Definitely would have been more fun on a 60 degree day. The kids really like the corn crib. They could have stayed in there all day. We spent more than half an hour just in there.

I had noticed earlier that Henry felt warm, and then he didn't want any lunch and was really dragging as we walked around. He was very quiet, and I kept asking if he was okay and he would say yes. He did perk up a little for ice cream. But sure enough, when we got home I took his temperature and he had a fever of almost 102. Poor little guy. He spent the rest of the afternoon glued to either me or Chris. We rented the movie Cars, which we guessed Henry would like, and he sat for the entire thing. He didn't want dinner, and then fell asleep sitting in Chris's lap when Celia and I went up to take a shower. Poor little guy. So he slept from 6:15 to 8:15, and then we got him changed and put him to bed. We were afraid he wouldn't sleep well, but he slept through the night until 7:00 this morning.

Celia was so cute when she found out Henry was sick. She kept saying how cute Henry was, sleeping with Chris in the chair, and she really wanted to take a picture of them. She was concerned about how we would get him to bed, and as soon as she woke up this morning she asked how Henry did. She is such a sweet little mommy. I hate when Henry is sick, but it was cute that he fell asleep and reminded us a little of having a newborn. 

I cancelled my work appointments today, and had a bonus day at home with the little guy. Luckily, it seems like the worst is over for him. I took him to the doctor and he has Hand, Foot, and Mouth. His throat is sore, so he hasn't eaten much today. He started feeling a little warm before his nap and I have him some Motrin, but other than that he's been a pretty happy guy. We stopped at the store on the way home from the doctor, and got him popsicles and sauce pouches. He was so funny talking to people in the store. Someone would say hi to him, and he would say in a tiny little voice: "Hi. I'm Henwee." Haha.

I got some work done and prepped dinner during nap time, and then Henry and I went outside to wait for the bus. The kids played so well together outside that we stayed out until it was almost time for dinner. 

They have pretend houses under the magnolia tree, and they play in there for a long time. They collect berries and acorns in dishes, and pretend all kinds of things. They stay so busy. It will be hard when it's too cold to play outside every day. 

It's ended up being a very nice day "off". 

weekend in review

Just a little post on our weekend fun. My weekend starts on Fridays, which is awfully nice. Henry and I went to music class, which was kind of disastrous. He is very sensitive to loud sound, and I think this is why he gets upset and acts out during music class. I ordered a pair of loudness reducing headphones for him. Hopefully he will wear and like them next week. Otherwise, I am out of ideas and I don't think we'll be able to continue music classes. That would be really sad. Then my parents came, which is always nice.

A side story: Henry was coming down with a cold on Friday, and I was really dreading the week to come because he never sleeps well with a cold. I started giving him extra doses of elderberry syrup, we got his room really humid with the humidifier before bed, and put Vapo Rub on his chest and feet. Miraculously, he slept without a peep all night and woke up with no sign of a cold in the morning! I still can't believe it. 

Celia has soccer on Saturday mornings now and Chris is her coach, so they went to soccer and Henry and I stayed home. We went for a long walk, with me pushing him on his tricycle. We ended up going more than a mile, which is quite a bit with the tricycle. 

It was a beautiful day. We stayed outside in the yard until lunch time. Then Celia and I went grocery shopping and to the library in the afternoon while Henry napped. 

On Sunday we drove to Mount Wachusett for their Kidfest. Chris's parents met us there. The kids were excited to see them, and we had an extra couple of adults to help wrangle the kids. We stayed for a few hours, and before heading home Chris and I decided to drive up to the summit just for fun. I hadn't realized that Wachusett State Park was so nice and so extensive. It will be a nice place to hike with the kids when they get older. We all enjoyed the drive, and the air was nice and cool and fresh at the summit. Henry and Celia loved climbing the rocks. Henry had no fear whatsoever, and we really had to watch him. He was quite insulted that I insisted on spotting him as he leaped off of large rocks. And in the picture below, he refused to even look at the camera. He is so ridiculous sometimes. 

Wearing wolf ears!

We went home, the kids played outside, and we had dinner, baths and bedtime. Last week I took Celia to Children's Hospital for an appointment, and we had her kindergarten open house one evening. This week we have a normal week planned with no appointments or extra stuff to do. And hopefully no one will get a cold. I'm going to go crazy with elderberry syrup until spring! 

christmas-y weekend

We had a fun and festive weekend around here.

On Friday afternoon, the kids and I went out to a neat local country store to mail Celia's letter to Santa Claus and get their annual Christmas ornaments. Celia and Henry liked looking at all the Christmas things, and there was a special mailbox there for letters to Santa. Then we made a stop at the library. It was a quick but successful trip. Henry doesn't have the best track record for good library behavior, but he is getting better.

On Saturday, my parents came down and Nana and I took Celia to see The Nutcracker. It was loooooong, because it started late and intermission was really drawn out. Celia got very wiggly by the end, but did great and really liked it. She was trying to imitate the dancers and dance in front of our seats during the show. When we got home, she and Henry put skirts on and danced around the house.

Today we went to another Christmas event that's always really fun. The town next door has events for kids all afternoon, and then Santa arrives at the town common on a firetruck and there are a band and chorus with Christmas music. Last year we went early and did some of the activities, but today it was really cold out and Chris wasn't home, so I waited until a little later and we just went to the town common.

Waiting for Santa! (And Daddy, who met us there.)

Henry really doesn't understand what Christmas or Santa is about, but he had fun. He liked seeing the firetruck and police cars, but was a little scared by how loud the sirens were. Celia was so excited to see Santa, and talked all day beforehand about whether or not it would be the "real Santa". We had talked about how sometimes we see people dressed up as Santa, but she would know if she saw the real one. The Santa at this event is a really good Santa, and tonight she told Chris that it was the real Santa. Anyway, Celia got some candy canes from Santa's bag, and got to shake his hand. She was thrilled.
We listened to the music, and then went home for dinner and had hot chocolate stirred with our candy canes.

Back to the workweek.

catching up

1) I had to have another procedure (lower GI series) on Friday. I shouldn't have to have this done again for five years, which is a big relief. It was not fun. The prep is terrible and the procedure is (far) less than enjoyable. I also didn't feel well for about 24 hours afterward.

One good thing is that I didn't lose any weight this time. And now it's done with, and I can enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas without any medical stuff (hopefully) to deal with.

2) These two...

3) Yesterday Celia was playing with our Little People toys (without Henry around to ruin everything) and she really got into it. She built different buildings for them with blocks, and was so busy talking and pretending with them.

4) A big box that came with a delivery provided a lot of entertainment this week. They have spent hours playing with it. It has been a house, a truck, a car, a restaurant, and an art studio.

5) Pita girl. She's just so sweet. I love looking at her little profile. She was holding twisty ties in her hand. We were at the grocery store and she kept asking for twisty ties in the produce area.

Later that day, I found this:

She made it into a plant for a caterpillar.

6) I set up the best activity for the kids yesterday. It kept them busy for at least a half hour while I was making dinner. Stick pieces of dry spaghetti into a play dough base. Have the kids stack Cheerios on the spaghetti sticks. Celia and Henry loved this, and it was so easy!

7) I'm kind of wanting to start decorating for Christmas, but I held off this weekend. I did get out a couple of little Christmas houses that light up, and Celia likes to turn them on. Maybe next weekend I'll do a little more.

8) I'm trying to make the most of my time when I have an hour or so at home alone some days. Sometimes I have a block of time to go home in the middle of a work day, or I get done early and have time before picking up the kids. I'm trying to keep some space in my schedule. But what to do during that time? The first thing I usually do is prep dinner or clean the house- things that aren't easy to do with the kids around. But I really need to use some of that time for exercise/doing something for myself. Somehow I need to balance getting the dinner prep done (which significantly decreases my stress) and getting exercise in too. Today I'm taking a walk when I stop at home during lunch, and prepping dinner before I pick up the kids.