I'm Back - 2011

The last half of 2010...in fast forward..
Starting a job in 2010 put a big damper on the blog world for me. I have realized that I missed it and miss getting down what the kids are doing. I know I will forget the cute things they say and do. Along with all the pictures that I need to put down with the little happening here and there. For now, I will just put down a quick synopsis of 2010 from June-December as I can remember it.
June 2010
Let's see. I worked at Jake's Fireworks - A LOT. I was working somewhere around 70 hours a week, I would venture to guess. Go in around 9:00am come home around 5:30 or 6:00 for a dinner break and go back around 8:00 to work until 10:oopm or so. With all those hours it became clear that it was going to be too hard on all of us for me to work those hours (even if it was for just 2-3 months a year). So I interviewed and took a job as a Program Director for the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas (more on that later). Zach enjoyed doing Tot Lot through our Parks and Rec Department. He did that in the morning and then went to our local Center in the afternoon. He was in the Geckos with his favorite teachers, Valerie and Nilla. I will have to say I was little sad at the beginning of the summer when I thought he was moving up in rooms. Turns out they thought he was older than he was - whew, we bought ourselves one more year in the Geckos. I wasn't quite ready for him to be a "Big Kid" yet. Wednesday afternoons he went to church and did Wacky Wednesdays and played with the kids there. He also took swim lessons at the Club and we managed to sneak in some swimming across the street at our neighbor Fran's house as well.
Dylan spent the summer as a Lamb with his teacher Amber and his "best friends" - Kya and Bryce. He "loved" Kya. We were told that every day at nap time he would tuck Kya in for her nap. He would put her blanket over her and pat her back to help her fall asleep. I have to admit I find that pretty adorable. He moved up in the Fall to the Bees class. And for awhile we would still have to go find Kya and say goodbye and give her hugs. We had a couple of meltdowns when time would not allow for goodbyes or Kya had already left. Bryce and Dylan were not separated for long so it has not been as tough of a separation. Bryce is a good buddy and Dylan tries to be a good friend. We have been told he helps Bryce separate from his Mom in the morning by helping him find toys in the morning to play with when he is sad. It's nice to see your children become good friends to others!
That is the summer in a quick review. I will try and do my next post on the holidays so that I can get caught up and put some pics up as well. Here's to a up to date 2011!

Dylan and Zach isms

I always like to observe things that my kiddos do - little things that maybe only their mom and dad know about them. These are also things that they may grow out of, or not and I want to remember them. Some cute, some not...

Dylan:

• Scratches his head very intently with his right hand. Mostly when he's tired. It's one of his sleepy cues.
• Cracks up at all things Zach. LOVES his big brother.
• Smiles when you go to get him out of his crib...rarely is he crying in the morning
• ALWAYS scratches his face with his nails - no matter how much I clip and/or file them
• Rolls across the floor now and loves trying to scoot on the hardwood floors
• All his hair has fallen out and now is trying to grow back a little lighter maybe
• Looks a lot like his brother, but is built very differently - is longer and not as round as Zach was at his age - head is smaller than Zach's

Zach

• Gestures for emphasis when he's talking
• Calls Craig and me by our first names when he's really serious and wants our attention
• Great facial expressions especially his eyes
• Very sweet and caring little boy - he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings
• Is thinking all the time and things will just pop out of his mouth when he's thinking about them. i.e. something about school in the middle of dinner when no one's been talking about school at all
• 100% boy - loves cars, space ships, trains, animals, etc.

Tee Ball 2011

Zach played Tee Ball for the first time this year. He played in the 5-6 year old league and they had 6 games. This was our first sport that we had pratice one time a week. Right before the final game, I grabbed the camera before getting in the car. Zach asked why I was bringing the camera. I told him the other pictures I took hadn't turned out too good. He asked, "Why? Because I'm so fast." I said, "Yep, I think that's why."


This picture is of Zach after the game enjoying his after game treat of a Capri Sun and some Cheezits. Please note the dirt all over his hat. You might assume he has made some great sliding play. See photo below...nope, just building a dirt pile. I couldn't get close enough but wanted to capture this priceless moment.



Zach had a great time playing this season. Who knows if he will choose to play next year. Before the last game he announced he would be retiring from tee ball. After some investigation, he said he had a hard time paying attention. (I don't think you're the only one buddy!)
I did think he had a play or two that was pretty exciting for a mother to watch. The last game he managed to get an out at second (when he spent a serious time building sandcastles that does seem a bit amazing). He managed to stop the ball with a bare hand and then. shocked that he stopped it, looked into the stands at Craig and me to see what to do. Thank God Craig was paying attention. Craig yelled, "Zach touch second." I then joined him at waving arms and pointing to second base. He figured it out and ran over and triumphantly stomped on second base. A clear out. I asked him on the way home, how did you do that? He showed me by putting his hand out to one side, turning his head the other way and closing his eyes.
I love tee ball!

Potty Training: The Sequel

It's officially started. We have started seriously potty training Dylan. He has been using the potty at school and we try to do it at home, but weren't real consistent. He had little interest. We started doing things they way we had with Zach but that soon turned out not to work for Dylan. (Shocking. I should realize by now they are not going to do anything the same.) Nothing really motivated him to stay dry. He would get wet and then just change and move on and do it again. Hence we waited until now to try again.

By George, I think he's getting it. The big draw for him...Tropical Sno.

This will be a common site for us this summer...

I'm just thankful it's cheap and open fairly late. Although the other morning, he woke up enthusiastically sat on the potty and went "number 2". He turned to me and said, "We go to Tropical Sno?" Oh buddy, I don't think it's open at 7:30am. A flaw to our otherwise brilliant plan. :)

Boring Shoes

I was preparing Zach for his first day of vacation bible school at our church. I told him he was going to church the next day. He turned his nose up and said he didn't want to go to church. I said, it's not like on Sundays. You'll get to do fun stuff and play games. He said, "Do I have to wear my boring shoes?" I just laughed and said, "No, you can wear your running shoes." Oh, good.

He clearly did not want to wear the "nice" black shoes we have that he obviously only wears on Sunday and they are boring b/c you can't run in those! :) Too funny, I think I will always think of his dress shoes as his boring shoes from now on!

Fireworks and Soccer

I've been bad about writing lately. They say fireworks season hasn't started yet, but I sure do feel busy enough! For whatever reason, if I have a work commitment in the evening or weekend, the funeral home seems to get very busy. Unfortunately, this last week we had our big trade show for Jakes, a large funeral in town (for a very young man who died tragically) and Craig's mom was in the hospital all in the same 3-4 day period. It was really a tough week for everyone emotionally and physically. We are glad it's over and we survived.
On a more upbeat note, we went to our first "shoot off". In the fireworks world, this is where we "shoot" off a lot of our products for customers who are buying wholesale from Jake's. They have it at the Frontenac City Park area and it's a pretty impressive showing of fireworks you can buy at stands all over the US and then they do a big professional finale that was quite impressive too. Dylan thought it was pretty neat although he was just as interested in the little baby next to him and then wanted his bed more than anything. Zach liked it a lot too but again was more impressed with the little book lights they give away to read the "shoot sheet" during the shoot off. Next year, we were given the tip to get a babysitter and bring our six pack of beer.
Soccer season has been going pretty well, all things considered. Craig has "gotten" to be the coach for 2 of the 4 games because our friend that volunteered originally didn't realize the games were on Wednesday and had to go out of town for work. (He thought they had Saturday games.) The irony of Craig coaching soccer will not be missed by some of you. He knows very little about soccer so his coaching will be limited to the Pee Wee league. It's a lot of fun for Zach and I think it's a great first experience for him with team sports. He loves running up and down the field and kicking the ball. He volunteered to be the first kid to be the goalie at the first game (which is somewhat unusual for Zach and I was very proud of him!). He also was standing next to his friend, Grant, when Grant kicked the ball in for a goal. I think Zach thinks he should get as much credit for the goal as Grant (I don't know, for moral support?). I like going to the games and especially while Dylan is being so good about sitting in his stroller and watching for most of the game. The last half gets a little tricky because Dylan just wants to run out on the field and kick the ball in the goal with the other boys (especially his big brother).
We are still working on balancing full-time working mom and life thing. I'm somewhat getting the hang of it, but it's definitely a challenge!

Conversation with Zach

I wish I remembered to write down everything Zach is coming up with these days. I've decided that moms in general think our children are amazing and genius (b/c mine are, but I digress) because we remember when they physically couldn't hold their heads up on their own. Any progress after that seems miraculous and especially the thoughts they are able to develop on their own as they get older. Also the fact that they start to develop independent thoughts and actions after being 100% dependent on you. For now, I'll try and remember last nights bedtime discussion.
Zach got in a little tiff with his good friend, Grant. I can not get to the bottom of how this "great' fight began, but it ended with Grant telling Zach that his Dad was going to not let him be on his soccer team b/c his dad is the coach. See Zach, you better watch who you cross...Grant's got connections! :) Anyway, I chose this moment to teach Zach that friends can argue and still be friends the next day. He didn't seem too concerned about not being on the team and when I pressed him a little more to find out how it started, he clammed up. I asked him, "Did you say something that hurt Grant's feelings?" He returns with, " I can't remember that now Mommy. Some times I can only remember one thing. Like today I remembered my sunglasses." Well, what more could I expect from the boy!?!?! It just cracks me up how he comes up with his reasoning for not wanting to share his feelings/thoughts. Boys. They start early with this don't they! :)