August Update

A little late, but our sweet, sweet Andrew turned 18 months old a couple of weeks ago.  I just took him to the doctor and he is 27 pounds and 33 inches long (50-75th percentile for both categories).  He continues to grow and grow.  He has all but two of his teeth as well.  He cut his bottom two second-year molars a few weeks back and you wouldn't have known it at all.  He is such a happy boy and loves to play with all sorts of toys and books.  His favorite word is "basketball" and he will let you know when you pass a basketball hoop, a basketball at the store, a basketball in a magazine...you get the drift!  We bought the boys a new hoop for the hallway when Ryan was home last weekend and they LOVE playing hoops.  Matthew is getting the hang of shooting the ball instead of throwing it towards the hoop.  Matthew has also gotten the hang of riding his bike and has become quite fast in the process.  Before when I ran with the jogging stroller I would have to run a few houses and then look back around to get slow-poke Matthew.  Now I can sprint and he is still ahead of me.  I love my new jogging stroller and love that I can still get out and exercise with the kids.  

We had a wonderful visit with Ryan last weekend, too.  Coming home to our 90 degree temperatures was a vacation for him.  It has been much, much hotter and way more humid where he is working (heat indexes of 115 during the night) and to make matters worse with the heat he has to wear jeans, long sleeves and work with a hot welder!  He came home late Thursday night until Sunday night.  We spent a lot of time together playing, going for walks, errands, family movie night (Despicable Me was excellent by the way) and just hanging out.  Ryan decided to stay and put the boys to bed before hitting the road based on the weekend's reaction when he would leave the house.  Matthew is very, very aware of Ryan absence and didn't like when Ryan had to leave for a haircut or to run to the grocery store.  When he would start crying Andrew would chime in too and they both would be crying full force.  Monday morning was a little tough on Matthew, but a trip to my classroom cheered him right up.  On the positive side, things here are looking up in the way of work and Ryan should be home by Labor Day or before!  He may have to do some driving once he is home and possibly work on the Lakeshore, but a two hour daily commute would be a much easier sacrifice.

I have started to get back into my classroom in anticipation for the new school year.  It's a little difficult bringing the boys with me because they make more of a mess with the toys and want to get into EVERYTHING!  Luckily the prep work of getting my room ready is much, much less this year thanks to our gorgeous new school and not having to move :)  I have a few more weeks of "vacation" (can I really call this summer a "vacation"?, I don't think so at all!) before officially having to report back.  I am super excited for football to start and the school year to get underway! 

A Much Needed Family Vacation

Loving their time with Daddy

The boys and I met Ryan in Chicago last Thursday for a five day vacation as a family.  This was Andrew's first vacation and first time out of the state.  The boys had a blast with Ryan, as usual.  We went downtown to Shedd Aquarium and saw all kinds of neat exhibits.  We also went to Brookfield Zoo and saw more animals and even ran into a friend from here that was visiting some family in Illinois.  We spent a lot of time hanging out as a family in our hotel, or as Matthew called it, Daddy's house.  Yes, "Daddy's house" has three elevators, cool doors at the entrance, and a pool.  We swam everyday, ate lots of good food (Cheesecake Factory, Portilios, Weber Grill to name a few), saw lots of new things (Matthew loved the shopping cart escalator at IKEA), tons of cool buildings downtown, big airplanes and spent lots of time with Ryan, which is why we were there in the first place!

Matthew's favorite animals were the dolphins (at both places), the giraffes and the lion.  Andrew loved the dolphins, too.  Though he kept calling them fishies...oh well :)  They both loved the dolphin shows at both places.  We saw part of a 4D movie at Shedd (a 15 minute movie of  Happy Feet), but had to leave early because Matthew got freaked out by the moving, shaking and rumbling seats.  Andrew, on the other hand, loved it!  I think my favorite part was the jellyfish exhibit at Shedd and the lion at the zoo.  While we were at the zoo looking at the underwater viewing of the dolphins, something cool happened.  A guy took out a plastic comb and started strumming on the comb fingers at the glass.  All of the sudden the dolphins (at one time all 7 of them) came to the window trying to get the comb.  The strumming is similar to one of the sounds the dolphins use to communicate.  It was quite the site to see and the boys loved it. 

Andrew loved sleeping on his new Aerobed at the hotel and having the freedom to walk around at night and tickle our noses and mess with Matthew while he was sleeping.  We drove around Schaumburg, Barrington and Hoffman Estates and drove by my childhood house.  That brought back lots of memories of old friends.  I completely forgot that we had a lake/large pond in the neighborhood that we would go fishing at and for some reason I thought of the time that I accidentally hooked my brother in the eyelid with my fishing hook.  Sorry, Brian.

The boys were spent by the end of the trip and both crashed in the car on the ride home, a rare thing for Matthew who has not taken a nap for me in over a year!  Once we got home and relaxed, I took the boys to see the fireworks in Schoolcraft.  They were amazing, as usual.  It was Andrew's first experience with fireworks; he stayed home last year.  So, now it's back to reality and back to routines at home.  The boys are adjusting to being home and we all can't wait to see Ryan again in another five weeks.  Let's hope these next five weeks go as fast as our five day vacation!  To see more pictures from our trip, visit our photo site.

We have this exact picture of Matthew, but from two years ago

Getting ready to see the animals at the zoo

The dolphins were mesmerized  with the comb and all came to the glass

Moon Jellies

The Jellies exhibit at Shedd was beautiful

Andrew and Ryan watching the Dolphin show at Brookfield Zoo

 

 

Matthew watching the Jellies

Isn't he gorgeous?!

Ryan and Matthew petting the stingrays

Has it really been two years?

July 2009  Matthew just turned two

July 2011  Matthew just turned four

Makin' it Pretty

I have always wanted to add to my landscaping, but never had the time or money to do it.  I finally bit the bullet this year and just started ripping out grass once school got out.  Once I started I knew that there was not turning back and I had to finish.  Well, after three LONG days of working (over the course of a week) I accomplished what I set out to do.  I don't want to look at a pick axe or a shovel for a while!

It wasn't easy having the kids around, so I had to work on the first day while Andrew was sleeping.  On the second day I took them to daycare and spend eight long hours tearing out grass.  The third day was spend with the boys playing and Matthew being a HUGE help.  Turns out he likes digging, planting, gardening, watering and playing in the dirt.  Andrew on the other hand was a bit to control, so he spend a lot of time playing in his wagon with toys on the last day.  Matthew and I finally finished after Andrew went to bed.  Here is the before and after shots of the yard.  Now we just have to wait for them to grow and fill in.  Thanks to my water boy, Matthew, a lot of the plants are already growing and it's only been three weeks!  To see more progress pictures click here.

Before

My wonderful helper!

After

Matthew's race

My school puts on a 5K and a one-mile fun run for the community.  This was the second race they have put on and it was much bigger than last year.  The weather was beautiful and the kids and families had a great time.  I had planned on running the 5K, but with Ryan being gone it has been nearly impossible to find the time to run on my own.  Instead I decided to run the one-mile run with Matthew.  He did excellent.  He ran the entire time, even after tripping over the curb and skinning his knee.  Of course we stopped at every drain to see if there was water, but luckily the neighborhood behind school doesn't have many drains.  Matthew got a ribbon when he crossed the finish line and he was SO proud!  We stayed for the metals ceremony and Matthew had a great time cheering for all the 5K winners.  Hopefully I will get some more pictures of the race and the photographers throughout the course start submitting their pictures. 

Ryan will be home in 5 days for a weekend visit and we all can't wait!  Matthew has been tearing off his countdown every morning.  He never lets me forget either.  School is out in two weeks (on Matthew's birthday) and I have to admit that I have some reservations about it.  School and daycare are my routine and they both really help make the days go faster.  Weekends have been super busy and that helped too.  As much as I hate to make my days go by faster, because that means the boys are growing up way too fast, I also need that to help this time in our lives to be over.  My fear is that once I am out for the summer I will get a little stir crazy being home with the kids 24/7.  I have set up for them to go to daycare every Thursday so I can get things done, like mowing the lawn, appointments, grocery shopping, etc.  We do have a few trips planned, too, but I hope we can keep the rest of the days busy and fun-filled too.  

I can do it...

All of the sudden, Andrew decided he wanted to be the one to feed himself and wouldn't let anyone else do it.  So, I gave him his fork and let him dig in.  He gets such a thrill and enjoyment of doing this; I just love it!  He's doing okay with the messy things, such as applesauce and yogurt, and usually requires a bath after dinner.  Mainly due to the food in his hair.  He loves to pick up the plate or bowl and put them on his head.  

As the weather gets nicer and work winds down our lives are getting busier and busier!  I am looking forward to next month when school is out and we are free to go as we please, play as long as we want outside, and really not give a care to the world.  Matthew LOVES doing yard work and will try at every opportunity possible to get outside and mow the lawn.  Just the other morning he let Norm out and I caught him in the backyard, in his jammies with bare feet, removing our downspouts so I could mow the lawn.  Explaining to him that I had to go to work didn't go over too well with him.  Luckily for him, his good behavior at Deah's earned him a tractor ride with Donny.  That made his day!  

In work news, our area millage renewal passed (by over 70%).  The day I voted I had told Matthew that I would be voting and then we could go home.  He thought I said boating and was pretty persistent that we get the boat in the water.  Poor guy was pretty disappointed when he finally realized that voting and boating are two different things.  The millage renewal was wonderful news to our district because now we are only about 4 million in the hole instead of the 8 million we would have been if it hadn't passed.  There are a lot of changes going on for next year.  Luckily I was "safe" from getting one of the courtesy letters, but 265 other employees of the district weren't so lucky.  They are looking to outsource all custodians, secretaries, bus drivers, cut music, some art, Reading Recovery, Gifted and Talented programs, reading paprapros and other support staff, librarians, food service, and the list goes on.  We will know the finals in June as to who and what will be cut to help balance the budget thanks to our crappy Governor Snyder. 

Three more weeks and Ryan will be home for a visit.  He was going to make his annual trip up north with his friends, but chose to stay at home for the entire weekend with us.  We look forward to spending lots of time with him doing many family things, including celebrating Matthew's 4th birthday!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can get the boat out for a day or so.  Crazy to think he'll be heading to kindergarten/Young-Fives screening next March.  Where did the time go?

9 weeks at last!

The first stretch was finally over and after 9 long weeks, Ryan was able to come home for three days!  He surprised us all by coming home early Thursday morning instead of really late Thursday night.  When Matthew first saw him, he just said "Hi Daddy" like it was any other day.  Then it sunk in and about 5 seconds later he turned around and yelled "DADDY!!".  The hugs and kisses didn't stop all weekend!  Drew was in amazement and had the best look on his face.  He was a bit shy at first with Ryan and wouldn't Ryan hold him.  It only took him about 10 minutes to warm up to him and then Drew was handing our hugs and kisses all weekend long too.  It was so nice for Ryan to actually see Drew's walking and running skills in person and listen to him say "Mama", "Dada", and "Ball".   

It was nice for Ryan to have a break in the nasty weather they have been having down there.  On Wednesday night his work was evacuated because of tornadoes.  When he and Gary left work they actually drove through part of one.  The wind was so powerful that it pushed Gary's truck (a 7,200 pound Dodge beast) horizontally across the street.  Ryan said there was wind and debris flying all over the place.  On the way home they had to move 2 trees that had fallen in the road.  Overall, they have gotten over 6 inches last week alone.  On Friday, St. Louis got hit pretty hard with 12 tornadoes!  We were very happy that Ryan drove this trip and didn't fly, because it would have been uncertain if he would have been able to fly in to St. Louis today.  So all in all coming home to 50 degree weather was a nice, chilly break from his 85 degree severe thunderstorms.

I took a half day on Friday so Ryan and I could get some errands and odds and ends done.  We bought Matthew's birthday present, because Ryan wanted to be a part of it and his next trip home will be for Matthew's birthday.  We spent most of the weekend as a family, just the way we needed it to be.  We did have some time that Ryan and I went out just the two of us and we also celebrated our birthdays with Ryan's family.  The four of us started a movie night on Saturday, but Drew fell asleep during his breathing treatment and Matthew passed out about 30 minutes into Toy Story.  We had a very casual and spur of the moment Easter with my parents.  The boys got to have an egg hunt in their yard and after our lunch we came home to get Ryan ready for his trek home.

Before leaving, Ryan took Matthew and Drew on their first JD tractor rides of the year.  A perfect way to end the weekend in those boys' eyes!  Of course once Ryan drove away, Matthew started asking for Daddy.  The next five weeks will hopefully fly by and Ryan will be home again with us for the weekend. 

Check out some more photos at our picture site.  We can't wait for Memorial Day Weekend.  Love you Daddy!