Last days of summer....kinda.

A couple weekends ago I realized that everything will be closed during the week soon; the wading pools, Adventureland, all the fun summer things we like to do. Since then, we have been soaking up every last drop of summer. Running here and there, going on playdates, shutting down Adentureland, letting the housework go (nothing new there - its kind of been a theme this summer) and living it up.

Daniel had a lot of physical therapy appointments early in the morning so since we were already up, we made the best out of it and explored parts of downtown by the river.

 

We went to Adventurleland a couple more times since it would only be open on the weekends. On the very last day it was open during the week, we ran into TJ and Erin and the kids!!

It was a bit chilly when we got there that morning so I caved in and bought sweatshirts. At least they can wear them for the next year.

Cousin Bennett, Uncle TJ, Cousins Avery and Eden and Isabelle. Iz LOVES Avery!

Sister cousins.

I picked up Isabelle from daycare early one day to have some one on one time at Adventureland. We had a ton of fun and we stayed til dark. She really liked seeing the lights on! And her favorite ride was the Sky Glide - we hadn't ridden that
before since Ethan was always with us. I bet we went back and forth on that thing at least 6 times!

I took the kids for a bike ride one day. It was a big adventure. We went from Orlondos to Cumming.  8 miles is a long ways to go for little kids. I told them we were going to a park. Good thing they put in a brand new playground in Cumming! And of course, we had to check out the Cumming Tap and have a beverage. After we were about 1.5 miles into the return ride, Isabelle tells me she can't find her little green dog that she brought. So I turn around to ride back, thinking she might have dropped it on the way. Nope. She left it there. So really that ride turned into 19miles. Pulling about 60lbs. Fun.

At the lean-to.

Having fun at the park.

Snack time

"Hey Mom, take our picture with this guy!"

Heading back to town before falling asleep.

We got out the pools a few times while it was still 'summer' for some backyard fun.

Look at that hair. Why didn't I cut it??

 

 

And even had a few pool playdates before the older kids started preschool.

Motley Crue

 The kids had some fun with the Durbin cousins too.

 

Gymnastics at Granny's

Rio, Ethan & Isabelle

 

 These last few days of cramming in all the summer fun we could handle really wiped the kids out! 

 

Sleeping arrangements

I moved Ethan's crib out of our room and into Isabelle's room. I had been wanting to do that for a while (or maybe even switch rooms so the kids and all their toys would be in the bigger bedroom and we would sleep in the smaller bedroom). I couldn't find the tape measure to see if our bed and dresser would even fit in that smaller room so I just moved his crib and called it good. We'll give this a try for now, see how it goes.

I totally prepared Isabelle for this: asked her if it was ok if Ethan moved his bed into her room, even asked her where I should put his bed. But I completely forgot to inform and prepare Ethan for this. Duh. He's not stupid and he can understand a lot....I guess I still think he's a baby. Or at least I want him to be sometimes. Isabelle was ok with this idea and Ethan was none the wiser. So last night was Ethan's first night in "his new room." They had both spent the day over at Granny's house playing with cousin Rio and we didn't get home til around 7:30. Dinner and baths were done, I figured it would be an easy-to-bed night. Nope. Ethan saw that his bed was 'missing' when we went to get his paci and I showed him that it was in Isabelle's room and he almost climbed out of my arms, screaming, "No, no, no!" So Ethan cried for a long time, Isabelle got mad because she was exhausted and wanted to go to sleep so badly. I came in to check on him a couple times and she said, "Stay in here because then he won't cry." I gave him his Woody toy and that seemed to make him happy for a while and then he finally fell asleep. He slept til 5 am and I heard him crying again. So I put him in bed with us, like I always do. I know that's the whole point of moving him but he'll get there. I know he will. Its just hard to listen to him cry because then no one is getting any sleep.

Today naptime was rough. They started out talking and playing so I moved Isabelle to the couch where she fell asleep. Ethan cried for about 1.5 hrs. By then, he was exhausted so I rocked him to sleep in about 5 minutes and put him in his crib. Then they both slept well.

Tonight is going awesome so far. I kept them up a bit later than usual because they both woke up later than normal from their naps. We read books in the living room and that was that. No crying, fighting, protesting, talking, etc....they both were happy to be climbing into bed. And its quiet. Yay!!

Before - in our room

After -  in Isabelle's room

Updates

It seems like these two have grown up so much over the summer. Here's the latest and greatest on each of them:

Isabelle - This girl loves to sing. It seems like she's always singing. Sometimes she makes up her own words to songs too. This summer, we have spent a lot of time in the car rocking out - on the way to Grandma and Grandpa's and just running around town. Isabelle knows all the words to We Are Young and Call Me Maybe. I think those are her favorites. She also likes "the Buzz Lightyear" song. (Justin Beiber - Boyfriend. Yeah, I know. Beiber...ugh. But its kinda catchy.) She loves listening to 'mom songs' but I have to watch it. I have my Ipod hooked up in the car and I didn't download the clean versions to any songs. (A lot of them were pre-parenthood.) Oops. She loves Starships by Nicki Manaj but even the clean version is naughty. Besides singing, Isabelle plays by herself a lot more now. Its fun to listen to her with her animals, telling stories and imagining things up, its funny. She has quite the imagination. She talks all the time. About anything. She is also becoming more self sufficient. Isabelle loves to dress herself now and usually doesn't need much help. She changes her clothes about 3-4 times a day too. And she must always wear a 'pretty dress.' Not sure where she gets all this girliness from (I guess I used to be girly too, once upon a time, to an extent. That's the key, to an extent.) She only has a few 'pretty dresses' so we do laundry often. And she has a whole drawer full of shorts and skirts that she isn't wearing at all anymore. Not even the skirts!! (Not even the ones Grandma and Grandma Arla spent so much time making!) I asked her the other day why she doesn't wear the skirts and she said "Because princesses wear pretty dresses." (She also told me she wants to be a princess when she grows up.) Oh my. Isabelle loves to boss around her brother. They play pretty well together, usually just running around the house. They play 'going to school' and its so cute because she makes Ethan wear her butterfly purse around his neck. One night last week, when I was at work, Isabelle was standing at the side of the bed, staring at Daniel. He got up, asked her what was going on and she ran into the kitchen and back to her room, threw a puzzle backwards over her head and on the floor. Then she went to the bathroom on her little potty chair and fell asleep on it. Daniel had to call her name a few times before she woke up and got her back to bed. Funny. I think she was sleep walking.



She has only asked to help me make cookies just once - and this was that time.

Tracing her name

"I love Adventureland!"

She found a marker...

There's so many times I find her half in - half out of bed. She cracks me up!

Ethan - He is 21 months old tomorrow! This kid is always moving. Always. He is all over the place. He doesn't sit still at the table unless he's strapped in. Even then, he's got his feet on the table, pushing himself backwards. In the tub, he's standing up and then sitting down fast so he splashes all over. He jumps in his crib, he jumps off the couches. He climbs up on our bed. He throws toys down the basement stairs. He throws toys off the deck. He gets time out for a lot of these things. The only one that I think he has stopped is jumping off the couches. (HA! As I review this post and add pics before posting it a whole year later on 9/17/13, he is still jumping off the couches.) At least when I am in charge. He is a busy boy! Ethan's speech has really taken off over the summer. Last spring, he was able to say the basics: mama, daddy, milk, hot, no, up....  now he says all kinds of things and I can understand him!! He can say: outside, slide, eat, hat (obsessed with hats) shoes, snack, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, toes, Woody, blue, yellow, down, hi, thank you, sorry. Ethan's also been saying a few words together too, like "I don't know" "There he is" or "Where are you?" and "I love you". I was completely surprised to learn that he can also identify letters and say them too. We have an ABC puzzle that he was identifying them on. Wow, I guess Leap Frog and Super Why have really paid off! He has been running up to signs or banners or what ever is around and pointing at the letters. That probably started off with Daniel's IOWA shirts. Oh yeah, he can say Iowa too. This kid amazes me. And his teachers at daycare. They couldn't believe it when he started saying the letters on one of their sweatshirts! One of the ladies asked me how he got so smart. Hmm, I don't know. Daniel takes the credit for it. He says they work on that puzzle all the time but I still think its from Super Why!  His favorite toys are his Woody doll, cars, and even the dad from Isabelle's dollhouse. I think that is hilarious! He carries him around all the time! Woody's hat has been missing for a long time. When you ask Ethan where it is, he replies in his little sweet voice, "I no know."

He cracks me up when he wears this butterfly purse.

Always moving, always eating.

Hats and Woody - 2 of his favorite things

Picnic breakfast

Just checking themselves out in the mirror

His favorite puzzle. The reason he is so darn smart. ;o)

State Fair 2012

State Fair 2012

 

Yay, we are at the fair!

We spent a ton of time in the baby animal barn.

Enough with the poses mom.

I love these cut out pictures that they have everywhere at the fair. The only problem is that I can't take pictures and hold a kid up at the same time since we didn't go with anyone, just me and the kids. So I had a stranger take this pic while I held her and this is what I got. You can't even see the picture part which is the whole point of taking the picture. 

She wanted one with her puppy holding a turkey too.

I didn't even bother asking someone to take a pic of Ethan in the standup picture.

Now Ethan is holding the calf...

 

This stranger got it right - but would have been better if it was closer. Ugh!

I think they were tall enough to stand behind this one (well, maybe not Ethan) but they wouldn't. I can't win!! ;o)

Little Hands on the Farm - not a big fan. Too many people standing in line, it didn't move fast enough, not enough to do to keep the kids interested for the amount of time we stood around between things. Ethan kept running off. Another drawback to being the only adult with 2 kids. I can't chase one and leave the other in line by herself. Someone could have been kidnapped! (I'm not paranoid, just a realist.)

 

 We cut out early and got our treat. Finally. I won't be going back until Ethan can listen and the kids are a little older and can understand some of the farm things.

 

 More cut outs!

 Dancing on the stage - she LOVED this. We were there a while...

 Talking to Sparky (I think that's his name)

 Hurry, its gonna melt! Lick it!

 At least he's not eating it from the bottom up. He's done that before.

 We ran into a friend I used to work with and her kiddos. We let the kids play for a while.

 

 

Too bad that girl was in the way, would have been a great picture!