Sunny Guy!

There is an almost one year old who is pretty silly around here. Lately he's been a breath of fresh air on days that tend to drag and be full of squealing, squawking, hair pulling and wrestling! Otto is great at making everyone smile and laugh. We made it to swimming lessons today, Nora has declared that today is the last day she's sitting poolside - which honestly is fine. She'll be going to the kids area from now on. Lincoln is making a lot of progress at lessons and loving it! He's also doing pretty well sans Nuk lately...although bedtime is proving to be a bit of a challenge these days. Something about 2.5-3.5 year olds and popping back up over and over and over again! Anyway, after swim we came home and worked our way through the afternoon with a failed nap transition from the car and a tired Lincoln. We'll get it all right one of these days!

Some Kind of Sunday.

Nora was insistent on going for a bike ride this morning but Lincoln wanted nothing to do with being a passenger - he wanted to ride his bike too. So Kyle compromised and took them across the street to ride on the sidewalk. Otto tagged along too to climb and crawl all over. Meanwhile I did a little scraping and staining out front. The house painting project is still dragging along with more prep and painting to do be done! The afternoon was spent hunkered down watching HGTV and working on the 2017 family book. The kids were trapped inside too due to windy conditions and impending storms. They're soooo noisy and Nora and Lincoln just love to fight lately. Oye!

Nice Little Saturday!

Before we were able to play tonight we had some running around to do this morning and early afternoon. First stop was Pottery Barn to check out a couch for the game room...while we were picking out fabric we were totally the parents with three kids who didn't want to pick out fabric for a couch. They weren't bad but they didn't make it easy to focus and think, that's for sure! Anyway, we finally settled on a couch and ottoman, so the clock is officially ticking on the game room project! After that the hunt for new patio chairs was on and after hitting Home Depot, Lowe's and another hardware store we called it quits and Kyle ended up running back out to Home Depot to pick up our original choice in chairs so we'd have them for tonight. We spent the rest of the afternoon straitening up, nap warring with Lincoln (who never did sleep) and I worked on making snacks and this evening we had some neighbors over to hangout and enjoy the gorgeous night in the backyard. It was a lot of fun and everyone agreed we should do it more often! Nora suggested weekly haha! That might be a stretch!

Neighbortainment!

Nora had the day off of school today for a teacher work day, but after we headed to the grocery store the kids were out and Kate came over to play. She was a saint and while she was being soooo patient with all the KATE KATE KATE's and playing along with whatever ridiculousness Nora came up with I was able to get some stuff picked up meaning that we're heading into the weekend with a house that is relatively in one piece!! Nora also spurred a neighborhood hangout for tomorrow night, so we have that to look forward to this weekend!

Long Road to Lessons Night

When I found this little guy up from his very short nap and playing with his brother and sister in his room I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. He's so funny and expressive these days and those teeth!! Now that he's getting older the three of them have a ton of fun playing together and making each other laugh while they're being silly. Today was a trying one - just that Thursday feeling. Nora and Lincoln were at each other pretty much all afternoon, naps didn't happen (as you can see!) even my attempt to get Lincoln to crash out in the stroller on a walk failed. We didn't make it to the grocery store due to nap wars either! BUT, we did all make it and somehow survived lessons night! There were no meltdowns, Nora demonstrated what she's been working on - including her lack focus on one specific lesson (I think we might have something worked out for that now) and Lincoln even got to do a couple lessons on his own. He was in heaven! So despite being a draining day we made it through, picture taking was a highlight and worthwhile break in the refereeing and lessons night was a success.

Rain Drops and Drop Offs

It was a rainy stormy day from start to finish today! We didn't have a lot going on so after going through the drive through to pick Nora up from school (in the rain) we headed home and the kids ate lunch and did some painting. The one thing we did have planned though was to drop off some toys and books at the hospital. So, later in the afternoon we loaded up and went on our mission. While I debated just going through the valet line to meet up with the coordinator I decided why waste an opportunity for some out and about time on a rainy day, so into the hospital we went. Kids, stroller, goodies, the whole kitten caboodle! To begin with, Nora was a little less than keen on giving away some cool stuff that she really would have liked to keep, but she got over it pretty quickly once we got to the "Walt Disney Pavilion" portion of the lobby. The kids loved getting to meet a bunch of the child life team members I used to intern for (who of course won them over VERY quickly) and loved playing in the lobby! After they lit up all the lights, popped all the bubbles, heard all the burps and tried everything else there was to try I took them over to the rehab unit to show Nora where I used to work. (She asks me about it all the time) and they met some of the staff there. All and all we spent a little over an hour exploring the hospital, checking out the fish, the gardens and the lake and just playing around. It was nice to catch up with people I haven't seen or talked to in a long time and to get out of the house on a day that we probably would have gotten a little cabin fevery otherwise! And, seeing Nora and Lincoln kid bounce/walk through the hospital lobby brightened some days too, so I guess that's a win as well. The only thing I realized we didn't do that we totally should have was get some cookies...I really miss the cafeteria cookies, they're so good.

Lessons at Last!

At long last the day has arrived!!! After sitting on the side of the pool and watching Nora take swimming lessons for over 2 years, today it was Lincoln's turn to swim!! And let me tell you, Nora is nowhere near as patient poolside as her brother is! (She decided to take this session off) Anyway, because Lincoln is still under 3 we had to put him in private lessons at the Y, but I think it will be worth it to have him be a little more self sufficient in the water over the summer. He did really well, floated on his own and had a smile on his face pretty much the whole time. He was pretty tired by the end but managed to stay awake after for a quick trip to Target and then fell SOUND asleep on the way home. As for me, by late afternoon my patience was pretty much drained for the day. Thank heavens Kyle came home early because I had volunteering - it was perfect timing as I was in serious need of a break! Another development today is that for months now Lincoln has been saying the he'll get rid of his nuk when he starts swimming lessons...well...he hasn't had it all afternoon and evening and went to sleep nukless...I can't wait for how angry he'll be when he wakes up at 3am looking for it! Big steps for him! Oh well, Monday in the books!