Leapster again

Just got home from Target. Leapsters (the original model) were on clearance for $12.38. So, I bought two. Since Dylan's first Leapster (Leapster 2) took a "bath", I figured at that price, we could afford to replace the replacement if we need to.

I just asked him what he wants for lunch. His response, "I don't want nothing, I just want to play."

Fire House Tour

Tonight we visited the Rockton Fire House. One of our little friends, Brode, turned 3 last week, and his parents held his birthday party tonight.

Brody was quite intrigued by the old fire truck inside the window.

During the tour, Dylan was slightly more attentive than Brody. I put him up on the fire truck to take his picture and distract him from the fire man that was giving 3 year-old's waaaaaayyyyyy to much information.

Did you notice Dylan's boots? :) He wanted to wear them and I thought that was a good choice for a visit to the fire house!

This is both of the boys on the back of a fire truck. The reflective paint on the back of the truck makes it look like they are on stage!

And the reward after the tour - hats!

Rainbow

We saw a rainbow on Sunday evening. Though we can often see a full rainbow to the east out our back windows, this night it was just the bottom of the rainbow, but very vibrant.

Me: Dylan, look at the rainbow in the sky!

Dylan: Can we climb up it and slide down?

...two minutes later...

Dylan: Mom, can it talk?

Me: Can the rainbow talk?

Dylan: Yeah

Me: No....I think you've been watching too much Dora

18 months

Brody turned 18 months old on the 17th of July. We had his doctor's check-up a few days later. He weighs 24 lbs, 4 oz., and stands 32.5" tall. For a few days before his appointment, I wrote down every word he used, and the list is over 50 words long. He's a talker!

Here he is, wearing his manpri's. I just love these little capri pants on him. No idea why they were in the boys section, but they were, so he's wearing them!

Here, the boys were playing with a slinky. They played with it until both of them were crying and the slinky was so stretched out I had to throw it away.

Brody's 1st Haircut

Brody had his second "first" haircut on the 16th. The first time we went, I asked Dylan to hand me the camera, and he dropped it right on the lens...so we have no pictures and now have a new camera! That first time, she just clipped one side of his head that had stray hairs. So we are just going to consider this his first real haircut, since she trimmed all over his head.

He didn't seem to like being in the chair. He kind of moaned while he was looking at himself in the mirror.

When it was all over with and he had his sucker, he was happier!

What a lovely day

I'm off work today. It's a bit slow and they didn't need me. The boys went to daycare anyway, I had a Mom's Play Day.

First, I went to my weigh-in. Down another pound. Yay!

Next, I drove to the scrapbook store and picked out some cute and fabulous paper to use this weekend when I go to Archiver's for my monthly crop.

Then, I meandered over to Noodles & Co. and enjoyed a delicious plate of Japanese Pan Noodles. The best part of this? It's my fav dish at Noodles and it's totally within my points limit for the day!

After I drove back to Machesney Park, I went to the salon down the road and had a pedicure. Wow, what a treat. The little lady that was working my feet was starting to grimace when I realized how long it's been since I've had a pedicure...so I decided to have her paint little flowers on my toes too, because who knows when I'll get back there!

Finally, I prepared and delivered dinner (Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas) for a friend that just had a baby.

And now, I'm off to pick up my little monkey's! What a nice day.

Mama Bear is angry

Dylan asked for ice cream as a snack today. I said no and offered him some other choices, one of which he chose. We then went to Skype with my dad in the office. During our Skyping, Dylan left the room. I ended the conversation with my dad and came into the kitchen to find Dylan eating out of the ice cream container.

What?

I'm so annoyed. He heard me and blatantly ignored me. And I'm so annoyed, I can't come up with a reasonable consequence. Time-out isn't good enough. Oh no, I need a better punishment than that. But what? I don't want just a punishment, I want him to learn a lesson, such as LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheesh, sometimes I think smackin' around your kid would be so much easier than this responsible parenting stuff.

Strawberries

Dylan wasn't happy with the choices I offered him for lunch yesterday. After giving him many choices, I finally just sat down at the table to eat my own lunch while he pondered his choices. He helped himself in the fridge, and came out with a container of strawberries. And proceeded to take a bit out of each one...

He's so funny. He's just starting to let me take pictures of him again. If I ask him to do a "pretend" smile, he often will ham it up for the camera.

Dylan is such a monkey. He is sometimes a great helper and sometimes a total pain in the rear. Though he is capable of doing many things for himself these days, he insists that he needs help. I am trying to use that as a hint that he might need more attention in that particular moment than I'm giving him.

He's starting preschool in the fall. His first day is Sep. 8th. I told him his school would be starting at the end of the summer and we'd have to get him a new backpack. He told me he wants a "Harley's Davidson mortorcycle" backpack.

Back to Madison!

Later that same week, we went back to Madison with our MOMS Club. This time, it was to the zoo. We love the Madison zoo. It's great for smaller kids, plenty to do and see, and not too far from home.

Brody had fun playing on the playground

We get this same picture every time we go to the zoo. Dylan loves to climb up on this giant tortoise!

Here we are with all our MOMS Club friends that made it up to Madison. Our giant double stroller didn't fit in the picture, so we parked it off to the side!


Here we are in front of the seals!

Before we left, we rode the carousel. Dylan rode a hippo and Brody rode the Ostrich.

One of our favorite places

On Sunday we decided to go to Madison for the day. The weather was great and it seemed like an ideal day for wandering up and down State Street and enjoying the Terrace at the union.

We ate lunch at a new place on State St. called Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It sounds like they are all over the Washington D.C. area, and are very popular. After eating there, I'd say it's a great addition to the Madison area.

Brody is a good eater, and today was no exception. He ate almost an entire grilled cheese sandwich. We were ready to leave, but Brody was still eating. We let him hold on to the rest of his sandwich, and he did for the next twenty minutes until he finally threw it into the gutter.

After a nice long walk up and down State St., we hit the union for some Babcock Hall ice cream! Dylan enjoyed his Blue Moon ice cream cone. I love the way this picture turned out, with the sunburst design of the chair right behind him.

Enjoying the Terrace!




Dancing on the stage in the Rathskellar!

4th of July

On the 4th of July, we picked up Auntie Kelly at the bus station. She was here to spend five days with us!

We spent the afternoon and evening with our friends the Idstein's. The kids always have fun together, and this evening was no exception.

Auntie Kelly showed a lot of patience and played checkers with Abby. Kelly and Abby hit it off and spent most of the evening together!

Mmm, white ice cream with blue and red sprinkles!


The lighting of the cigars...


We had planned to go to the Country Club for fireworks, but instead stayed at Janine and Joe's and watched the fireworks the neighbors were shooting off. They were great! We just set up our lawn chairs on the driveway and watched fireworks on three different sides of the house.

2nd and 3rd of July

Brian was scheduled to leave town on the 4th of July, so we went to the cabin for the 2nd and 3rd of July. We packed a lot of activity into two days.

Here, Brian is doing what he does quite well - grilling dinner!

The boys love Papa's watch - it has a magic button that makes it glow in the dark!

We went out on a boat again this visit, and had a great time. No major injuries, and we brought dinner out with us. It was a really nice time. I thought this was funny - Brody stepping on the tackle box on his tiptoes to see over the edge of the boat!

On the way back in to the Marina, Dylan decided to take a little rest.

We had a lot of fun lighting sparklers, eating watermelon, listening to music and laughing together. The boys ran around like two little rugrats. They played pretty well together, something they are doing more and more these days.

I took this video of Brody on Friday morning. He was doing his morning exercise...

We had a great time and made a lot of fun memories. Though Brian ended up cancelling his trip due to the happenings at work, I had already made plans for my sister to come to town. We left the cabin on Saturday morning and arrived to pick Kelly up from the bus station five minutes before she did!