Up and Out

We picked up Sean at his hotel this afternoon and much to Nora's delight, he came back to our house to hang out. This evening we went to dinner at Graffiti Junktion in Thornton Park and again much to Nora's delight, Sean suggested we make a stop at Jeremiah's on the way home. I thought her head might explode from excitement. So, needless to say, Nora had a fabulous afternoon and evening with one of her (and her dad's) best friends. Sean heads back to California early tomorrow morning but we won't miss him long as we'll all be reunited in Ohio over 4th of July weekend! Summertime fun is heating up!!

3 of a Kind...of

No picture for yesterday...just a morning walk, some rain and clouds. Today we made it to the Y so I got a quick workout in. Both kids took naps - Nora short, Lincoln LONG and this afternoon Nora and I snuggled, played, read a little and there was some Facetiming. These three are becoming quite chummy! Cort has been pretty low key of late, but comes around to hangout with the kids from time to time during the day. Kyle was up and out waaay before sun-up this morning and didn't get home from work until waaay long after sun-down so it was a long day across the board.

Multi-tasking

After a morning of play, some fun with Sean, a lunch date at Chipotle with Kyle, a successful double nap time and dropping Sean off at his hotel (phew, that was a rainy and cry-y rush hour trip!) Nora and Lincoln did a little Facetiming with Grumps. While this looks like a couple smiley kids chatting away, what you don't see is Baby Margaret (one of Nora's dolls). She's under the blanket, "nursing". She was fussy and hungry, so Nora needed to feed her but didn't want to wait to Facetime. So, she went to her room, got a blanket and did both as though it was nothing. She never ceases to amaze me!

Grill Mates

Exactly 1 year since his last "work" visit - Sean arrived on the red eye this morning and spent the day hanging out with us! We had a breakfast (waffles, with berries and of course "spray"), the guys went hunting and gathering for dinner food at the grocery store, we went to the Y to swim, and, determined to have ribs for dinner tonight, Kyle & Sean braved the down pour and somehow managed, with the help of multiple umbrellas and lighters, to get the grill lit. Living in California and all, Sean was pretty impressed with our daily dose of drenching. After dinner Nora and I went to Jeremiah's to bring back goodies for the group while the guys settled in to watch the Cavs (uhg!). Highlight of that trip was Nora dropping her gelati and in a semi-panicked voice saying, "Help me, help me, help me!" Hilariously cute! All and all a just right day - well minus the whole Cavs game part!

Seven

What a fun age we've reached! This guy is so awesome to be around. He regularly greets us with smiles, has the grabbiest of grabby hands - it seems like nothing is out of his reach. He's an eating machine, and really the only thing that gets this guy REALLY riled up is if you don't get him his milk or food when he wants it. Otherwise - he's pretty much content to hangout, play with his feet, check out a toy, pull some hair, giggle with Nora or watch her be her goofy self. He is NOT a fan of being on his stomach - he's over to his back usually within seconds, which doesn't bode well for his crawling/scooting career. He does however LOVE to scoot around in his Go-Pod which he can now move forward and backward and is becoming very comfortable and confident on his standing rail in his room. This month he's also become a fan of the ball pit (after a rocky start) and loves to pet Cortland whenever he gets the chance. Lincoln's recent practices in self feeding have made Cort a pretty big fan of him too! He's proven himself a water loving fish-in-training from splashing in the tub to "swimming" back and forth between Kyle & I at the pool over and over he's a water baby for sure! From excited arms to rocking and swaying and his latest and greatest trick- saying "aaaaaaa" with Nora when we go over brick roads. We're having lots of fun watching this guy turn into who he's going to be, become great friends with his big sister and explore his world. I can't wait to see what he decides to do this month!

Friday Floor Day

For the past couple months I've been pretty good about washing the floors on Fridays, going into the weekend with a clean canvas for all of us - primarily Nora, Cort & Lincoln, to spill things on. It never fails that they're trashed again by Monday, but for an hour or so each Friday I bask in the scent and sight of lovely clean floors. I've gotten pretty quick at the washing part (the putting things away to actually get to the floors part usually takes a large chunk of the morning) but this morning Nora REALLY wanted insisted on helping. Not going to lie, I didn't want her "help" BUT A) A chance for her to realize it takes work to wash the floors, thus, by helping she now takes ownership and is slightly more careful with her yogurt bombs, etc. (a mom can dream!) B) Life lesson - start her young, hand over floor washing to her once she masters the technique (and keep dreaming) C) Keeps her "entertained", busy and not asking for food for at least 10 minutes. As you might guess, it actually ended up entertaining me...the video of her trying to grab and wring out her rag with those gloves on is priceless and her technique, well she doesn't have one and the plank like positions she found herself in...it was all pretty funny - well not the GIANT puddles on the cork floor part, but a towel follow behind took care of that. I wasn't totally patient but I let her help and she felt involved and proud of her work and actually didn't do too badly once she got the hang of it and stopped "painting herself in a box" as my dad taught me the first time I washed the kitchen floor. And, as predicted after about 10 minutes or so she was ready for lunch...yogurt of course! Today was Nora's last day of "inside" swimming lessons, we'll have a week off and switch to outside. Lincoln had some fun with colored ice in his little pool in the family room and Nora, Cort and I took a nice walk to close out the evening. All and all and pretty happy little Friday! Have a good weekend everyone!

Splish, Splash

We spent some time at a nearby splash pad/sprayground - whatever you want to call it, this morning. Nora and I have been going there since she was itty bitty and today was by far the most crowded I've ever seen it! Kids all over! Nora had fun playing with hovering over some littles and dancing around in the water - possibly more than she ever has there and Lincoln proved that he is 100% a water baby. He didn't care how big the spray got or how hard it was, he was happy as a clam to sit and play! And, being the opinionated little communicator he is, he made it very clear that he was really mad when it was time to change and head home. Looks like we'll be doing our fair share of water playing this summer!!