Happenings

We miss our friends.

After a bad experience last week at the preschool that left me in tears, Sean went to the mailbox and brought in a big yellow envelope. I could not fathom what would be inside since the return address was a friend from the Buffalo Mothers Group. I opened up the envelope and it was just what I needed.

Some of the moms and kids got together and made "waves of hello" from Buffalo.

It made my night! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!!

I have joined a Meetup Mothers Group here. Well, it is in Waterloo/Cedar Falls which is an hour away. Their calendar is pretty much empty and the few things that I have attended are things that I suggested but we have had fun with them. It is usually the same group of 3 or 4 moms and Braeden and the boys get along really well. One of the places we went recently was the Phelps Youth Pavilion. It is an extension of the Waterloo Center for the Arts. It is like Explore and More in East Aurora, NY but BETTER! A very hands on learning experience. We went on a Thursday when they have story time and craft.

I think Braeden's favorite thing that day was the cave exploration. He put on a vest equipped with a flashlight and headed (reluctantly) into the dark cave. The inside of the cave was covered with ancient cave paintings. The kids could take in a piece of chalk and make their own drawings on the cave walls. He just thought that was the greatest.
We then headed over to another area where he could be an archaeologist. We dug in rubber tire shreds to find buried treasure. Here he found a gold plate. We went on to find other items like statues, masks and pottery.
They have an area designed as a farm.

There was a tractor the kids could drive.

A barn that housed a milkable cow and a hay loft.
And a one room school house with desks and chalkboards.

There are different rooms that represent different parts of the world. Here, Braeden is in Ghana. We also visited places like Mexico, China and India.

There was an awesome stage where the kids could dress up and perform. It has a working curtain, lights and a sound effect machine.

Miles really wanted to play dress up and Braeden played along.

Last week we met the moms for a playdate and picnic at the park. The equipment and the weather was awesome.

There are quite a few Amish communities around here. We have had Amish carts buzz by our house a time or two. It is neat to see them out on the road. I was filling up gas on the way home from the park and this Amish cart pulled into the gas station.

I am told that there are some roadside stands on Fridays that you can buy bread and fresh baked goods made by the Amish. You just have to beware of the Amish woman that buys the frozen dough at the grocery store, bakes it and sells it as "fresh Amish bread."

Other things....

Some things we have been working on are letters.

Here Braeden drew a picture of me and with a little prompting, he wrote Mom.

He made it a point to tell me that the circle was my belly. I bought Spanx on Saturday.

Fort

Marshmallow roasting and S'mores in the yard.
This wall in the kitchen was Home Depot Orange. When my mom was here she primed it and it sat white for the past two months.
I went out on a limb and chose purple and painted the rest of the kitchen the yellow/brown on the wall on the right. I hate it but I am not repainting it.

I need some wall hangings and then I think I can live with it for a year.

I should have gone to Beauty School

About 10 years ago we decided that we were going to save some money and I was going to start cutting Sean's hair. He had an Army haircut. How hard could it be? Well, after a few bad blends, he vowed to never let me touch his hair again.

Fast forward to present day. I have two little boys. I can't think of anyone better to practice on. Braeden was way overdue for a haircut so I ran down to the corner Walgreen's.. ha ha ha ha... and picked up some new clippers. It even came with a nifty plastic cape!

I think I did a pretty good job.. if I do say so myself.
A few days later it was Miles' turn. His hair is too fine to use clippers so I had to cut it all with scissors. I had never done that before but I had a pretty good idea about sectioning the hair and which direction to cut it so it would not have lines in it.

I put his highchair in front of the t.v. and played Curious George. It kept him occupied just long enough. I did have a difficult time cutting the back since the back of his chair is taller than his head... but it worked out.

Here is the shaggy do he had last week.

And this is the nice cropped cut he is rocking today.

He will never be mistaken for a girl again.

Sweet B

I can't believe my little B is almost 4. He is my daily treasure as well as my terror.

Well, not really a terror. Actually, not even close at all. But he does know how to push my buttons lately.

The first thing he asks for in the morning is Chocolate Milk, and yes, I give it to him. The last thing he asks for at night is for me to "peek". Peeking means that Braeden is in his room, I creep up the stairs and I become the monster. I sneak in his room and he attacks me.

He loves to listen to music and dance. I will catch him singing through the day and it is the sweetest sound. If he finds that I am listening, he gets bashful and stops.


He LOVES Miles. I always tell him that he is the BEST big brother that anyone can ask for.
He is ecstatic every day when Sean gets home from work. Braeden runs out of the house and to the garage where Sean can't even get a second before Braeden is hanging on his neck.



Braeden will be going to preschool next month, here in Strawberry Point. (The school finally called me back with some information) I was so stressed out about it that I decided that he was not going to go. Then, the school called and after talking to the head teacher, I was feeling that this is the right thing for him to do. He is also enrolled in a 9 month gymnastics/tumbling class. I can't wait to see the outcome of that!!

Although I can't wait for these events to occur, that means that Fall is upon us. I love, love, love summer and I am not looking forward to winter at all! But, Sept is school and gymnastics, In-Laws are visiting, my sister and her son are visiting.
My mom might be back out early October. My cousin mentioned that she and her daughter might come out.

Then we have Miles' 1yr Birthday, Braeden's 4yr Birthday, Thanksgiving, Sean's Birthday, Christmas, New years.
We are hoping for final destination answers after the new year. That would then mean, house hunting in February and it is all down hill from there.

Breathe.

Just a Material thing

But it was a material thing that I LOVED. My garden globe.

We worked our butts off on the house on Grand Island. Inside and out.

I had always wanted a gazing ball to place in a garden. But we did not want just any gazing ball. We wanted to find something unique for the flower garden we were about to plant. When we went to the landscape place, we saw this one and fell in love despite the $$.

It is a hand blown, hand crafted, globe of the earth. The continents (inside the globe) consisted of a tiny glow in the dark material. It was a piece of art. I loved it. Did I say LOVED?

This evening, Sean and I were sitting on the porch, Braeden was playing with his sand table. Braeden had brought Sean a few cool rocks and went back to playing. One by one, Sean began to toss the rocks through the railing on the porch. On the third toss we heard the ear piercing shatter of glass. It was ear piercing to me anyway because I knew instantly what that sound was.

Sean looked at me with a look of "No, I just didn't"!.....

The globe was no longer on it's stand but now in the rock bed that surrounds the porch.

The margarita I was drinking eased the pain of losing a beautiful piece of art.

If you ever see something similar, please let me know. I will be on the lookout.

9 months old

My baby Miles is 9 months old. Where did all of that sweet baby time go? I am loving though that since he started crawling last week, he has become his own little man.

Braeden is loving that Miles is now crawling. Braeden will go into a room and call for Miles. Miles obliges. He is going to think he is a dog... he does carry his toys around in his mouth.

Miles weighed in at 18 lbs, 1 oz. 9 oz lighter than Braeden at the same age. They measured in at the same height at 29 inches.

He likes to hold his bottle although he has not figured out that if he turns it upside down that everything leaks out.

He has his two bottom front teeth. By the way he has been acting lately and the constant fist in his mouth, I'd say more are on the way.

He does not yet tolerate stage 3 food. The texture makes him throw up.

He loves his big brother. Braeden is the only one that can make him laugh, which is all the time. I love hearing baby giggles from the other room.

Miles sucks his thumb and poops in every diaper.

He loves his belly to be tickled and loves to give kisses.

He is learning to play patty cake.

Here is a photo of Miles at 9 months.

And a picture of Braeden at 9 months. I see resemblance but I don't think they look alike.

A July Haunting

We could not wait until October to experience a little spookieness so we went looking for some today. Our first stop Effigy Mounds National Monument, Harpers Ferry Iowa. The mounds are burial sites and are considered sacred and ceremonial sites of the American Indians. We just purchased an awesome Kelty pack so that we could tote Miles around and enjoy our summer. He was thrilled and enjoyed the hike as much as we did.

We did a two mile hike that took us up switch backs for about half a mile. Braeden just about ran the entire way. He is going to be a natural runner and will make us so proud. Sean and I on the other hand. We have not had any amount of consistent exercise in, um... years.

When we arrived at the first lookout point, we had a breathtaking view of the Mississippi River.

The photo below is of a set of round mounds.

A park sign showing the different mound shapes.

This is the large bear mound. The shape is not able to be seen from ground level, but was neat none the less.

After the bear mound we started to head back to the car. Braeden was beginning to hit the wall and needed to be carried so I put him on my back. I am carrying 15 extra pounds myself then add on another 35. I was wearing sandals, not the best decision that day. Braeden was physically tired and mentally exhausted... nap time. We were headed down the switchbacks and he was really squeezing my throat. I would say "throat" and he would burst out in a hysterical laugh. A few minutes later I would say it again, and he would have the same response. This went on and in no time at all I was cracking up at him and his laughter. Picture this, steep decline, sandals, kid on my back, both of us in hysterics and a bladder that has survived two children. We did make it down safely.

On our day out today we wanted to do something a little different too. We asked Braeden if he wanted to go to a ... cue Haunted music and visualize Braeden with big eyes and hands outstretched like claws.... Spooky Cave. He was so excited and kept asking when we were going to the spooky cave. This was like no cave I had ever been in, it was a boat ride.

In the reviews read online, people talked about how low the cave was in parts that you had to fold in half to keep from being decapitated. Yup. Their review was accurate.
The temperature in the cave is a constant 47 degrees. It was a nice break to get out of the 95 degree temps and humidity outside.
This was the first cave both for Sean and Braeden. And if I have anything to say about it, it won't be the last. We survived the tour with our heads intact and were not happy when it ended.. mainly because of the walk back to the car in the heat.

And... just because we live in Iowa, I had to throw in this photo. It is a usual sight on the road. After I took the picture and looked at it on the camera, I realized how young he looked. We passed him again, going the other direction about a half an hour later. I took a look at him, and he was about 9.

Fourth of July

We had no idea where to spend the 4th of July. It seemed like every town was having a celebration. I had seen a flyer describing the festivities in Independence. Doesn't that sound like a great place to spend the day? A few locals suggested that we head to the Mississippi River to the town of Gutenberg... so that is where we went. The park was busy with people, entertainment and food. We set up our chairs along the river so that we would be guaranteed a great spot for fireworks and grabbed some dogs for dinner. I had my first hand dipped corn dog. It was delicious. I also had the BEST FUNNEL CAKE EVER!
Braeden spent a little time in the bounce house.

The parade was about to start so we grabbed a spot on the curb. This is the first parade I had ever been to where cars were parked on the parade street. The parade had to be viewed in between cars or on the corner. As Braeden would say "That's just... ummm.. weird."
And I had never been to a parade where they throw out candy and Popsicles.

No Iowa parade is complete without a tractor...
or two...

or three...
or....


This was our view of the river as we waited for Fireworks.

Kind of hard to see in this picture but Sean caught a Firefly.

Miles was such a trooper. He was up 4 hours past bedtime and never fussed once. We grabbed the car seat from the car and he was out in five minutes. He could not hang on for the fireworks and he slept through them.... with my fingers in his ears.

As the sun set, the river's edge filled with blankets and chairs. Boats began filling the river below.. setting off their own fireworks. We bought Braeden one of those glow necklaces. He was waving it around in the dark and I snapped this photo. The lights in the background are the boats in the river.

We were about 100 meters from the launching of the fireworks. It was loud!! The show was great except for the glitch before the finale. Hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July!!