Busy, busy!

We are having such a great time with our out of town relatives. I think my kids are really lucky. On my husband's side of the family they are the two youngest cousins. While on my side of the family they are the oldest. So, they get spoiled and babied on one side and get to be the helper on the other side. We met everyone at the pool. Caleb had a blast this time! He was more trusting and was able to use his life jacket to float and kick around the pool. Kendall made it to the third step when she thought no one was looking. She spent most of the time giggling from the deck.
Today we met up with Caroline one of their younger cousins. Kendall was a totally different girl! She played and was in and out of the lake. She really had a great time! Kendall told me that the lake was like a song on her IPOD...she was looking at the big blue sea! Perhaps we need to make it to an ocean someday, so she can see was the big blue sea really looks like. I think this must be a control issue for my little girl. She did this all on her own terms. She laid down in the water and was floating. It will be interesting to see how she handles swim lessons in a few weeks!
Both of the kids loved playing in the sand. Kendall filled her bucket and dumped it over and over. She also loved pouring water on the sand, although not as much as Caleb. He tried to make a river to the lake with bucket after bucket of water. The kids were exhausted and had a wonderful time!

Swimming or Fetch?

Today after school I took the kids over to see their cousins. Both were very excited to go swimming. I figured they would have a great time! I thought ahead and brought life jackets for the kids in hopes they would be slightly more independent. Caleb jumped off the side a few times to Shain, but mostly stayed on the steps wanting to swim all by himself. He did a great job going under water too. He hasn't mastered swimming in any form. So, even when he tried, he really didn't make it off of the steps without a lot of help

Kendall, on the other hand, hated swimming. She had a panic attack and freaked out each time I took her in the water. I tried just sitting on the steps with her, and that was even too much for her to handle. She has never liked the water. In fact, up until about 4 months ago she would throw a tantrum and become totally panicked getting her hair washed each day. She finally is doing better with that, but I guess the fear is still there. Kendall did have a blast playing fetch with her cousins. She would throw her flip flops into the water and Rachael, Shain, Piper, and Nick would dive after them. It was really nice that they included her, even though she was not swimming. Kendall loved being the center of attention!
Time really crept up on us, and it was 7:00 before we knew it! So, we took the kids out to eat. That would be 7 kids total. We went to Chili's and we had a blast. All 7 of the kids behaved beautifully. I was happily surprised! They were polite and got along well with each other. This Chili's had the kiosks which helped. There were movie trailers and games of them. All of the children took turns playing with it, and it helped keep them busy. Piper was great with my kids. She played the games with both Caleb and Kendall. Kendall has decided that Piper needs to spend the night before they go back to Florida.
It was especially nice to be able see Christian and Shain. They are leaving tomorrow to visit their Mom in California. I haven't seen these boys in a few years, and it was so nice to see how they have matured and grown. They were both so nice to their little cousins. Last night, they were very helpful around the house too. We are really going to miss them. I hope they have a wonderful time in California, and that they come and visit us again soon!

Happy Memorial Day

What a beautiful day today! We spent the entire day outside which was wonderful! We went to the splash park for the first time this season. The kids had a blast. It was so fun to see how they have grown from last year. This time last year, Kendall was terrified for the water. This year both kids loved splashing in the water.

They also had a great time playing in the huge sandbox. I get that the sandbox is meant to give the splash park a beach like feel. But, water+sand is so messy! My kids of courses wanted to bounce back and forth between the water and the sand. Which meant I spent much of my time rinsing them off. I was so proud of Caleb when there was a little boy who tried to push him away from the water when he was filling up a bucket. He used his words and told the little boy how he felt. He stood up for himself appropriately. This is such a huge thing for him. L

We also watched the Memorial Day parade. We met Christopher and the three kids walked hand in hand to the parade. It was so cute. Caleb loved the marching bands and danced along to the music. There were people passing out American Flags, so the kids enjoyed waving those as well.

Later Terry's sister and crew came over for dinner. They are visiting from out of town. It has been a few years since the cousins have seen each other. The kids were so excited and played nicely together. Kendall really liked her cousin Nick. When we took a walk, she insisted on holding his hand. She also had Nick help her get ready for bed. At one point Shane was reading bedtime stories to Caleb and Piper was reading books to Kendall. It was nice to see the big cousins helping out and being responsible for Caleb and Kendall. It was a very late night for all. Hopefully Caleb and Kendall sleep in tomorrow morning!

Rainy Days

It was a dreary and miserable day today. We had severe thunderstorms with torrential downpours. We spent the majority of the day inside because of the weather. This caused boredom to quickly ensue. Caleb decided to play with his hair. He went with the Donald Trump look. I am assuming he got this idea from my husband on a different day. But, he was very proud of this new hair style. We had to have the talk that perhaps this isn't the cutest look for him. We then fixed it and he looked adorable as always.
Later Caleb went with Terry to the doctor's office. Terry's knee has been swelling up massively at night. So, it was time to get it checked out! He is fine, it is just aggravated from the sports that he plays. While they were out, it finally stopped raining! So, Kendall and I adventured out and went puddle jumping. It is so funny going puddle jumping with Kendall because she doesn't like to get wet or dirty. After a few times, she got the hang of it and did become slightly wet. It was so nice being outside after all of the rain. I am hoping that tomorrow will bring us sunshine after two rainy days!

Scavenger Hunt

I love our park district. They always have great activities for the kids to do. This year they are having a local scavenger hunt to encourage everyone to visit the local parks. There are 12 clues you have to find the answers to and 10 parks to go to. So, I thought this would be great for the kids and we started today. First we printed out the map. I always say live and learn. Next year I will be printing out two treasure maps. It was quite coveted and neither wanted to share. It was great to see them looking at the map and trying to read it!

Our first stop was at a local farm owned by the park district. It is run as a 1930's farm. It was very neat! I didn't realize that they had drop by tours. So, we ended up getting a private tour of the farm. The kids got to hold chickens. They also saw sheep, pigs, cows, and horses. We learned how they used to keep the milk cool. We also learned that farm fresh eggs will stay good up to a month without refrigeration. I guess once it is washed this drops to 1-2 weeks.
We also saw tractors that the kids were allowed to climb on. Our guide also let us into all of the barns...even the ones usually not included on the tour because the kids were so interested. We also got a tour of a summer kitchen. We ended up staying at the farm for almost 2 hours. It was so fun!

We then made the second spot at a new nature center. It was hard to find, but fun! There were lots of animals to explore. There was also this handmade wigwam. We were able to read books in there.

After this stop it began to rain. So, we have so more scavenging to do soon. It was a great time!

Uncle Micah

I can't believe how much it has cooled off! We were sweating last week and in sweaters today. This didn't stop us from going for a bike ride and playing at the park for an hour. My brother was coming over for dinner and the kids were very excited! I figured I would get some of their excess energy out before he came over.

Dinner took longer than expected and we didn't eat until 7:00. This made for some crabby children! I felt bad for Uncle Micah! The kids were so excited to see him, but were pretty emotional. We had a yummy dinner of chicken marsala and salad.

Micah had to sit at the end of the table right between both of them. After dinner we tried to watch a movie, but the DVD player was broken. So, Micah and I ran to the store and picked up a new one. We raced in and out as quick as can be. Micah then watched a movie with them until bedtime. The kids were disappointed that he didn't spend the night. Maybe next time!

End Of Year Teacher Presents

Why oh why do I struggle with this every year! For goodness sakes, I AM a teacher. I have gotten so many presents, and I know that it is truly the thought that counts. I love seeing the excitement of the kids when I open the present with them. This year I finally came up with an idea that I actually like. Instead of a card, I had both kids pick out their favorite book to add to their teacher's classroom collection. Kendall chose Corduroy. I think her Grandma introduced this book to her. Caleb chose Puff the Magic Dragon because Miss Stephanie loves books with songs. Perfect! We wrote a thank you note on the inside cover. I then put a gift card in the book as well because their teachers deserve a night out on me after all of their hard work! Now, I just need to remember this idea next year!