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.