Wartburg Night At the Zoo

Friday night was Wartburg night at the zoo here, and Wartburg is where Mike and I went to college. So, we talked to our friends Ross and Kristin, who also went to Wartburg, and our friends BJ and Carey (BJ went to Wartburg), and we all decided to go together. BJ and Carey ended up getting delayed at their son Charlie's doctor's appointment, so they unfortunately were not able to join us, and they were missed. But Ross and Kristin and their kids Caleb and Jenna met us there, and the 8 of us had a great time wandering around the zoo. I think Zach and Caleb probably had the best time- after seeing each other 4x a week during the school year, these two boys hadn't seen each other for over 2 weeks. They got themselves good and worn out, running all over the zoo. I also really enjoyed seeing Kristin again, because I used to see her about 4 times a week when she came to my house to pick Caleb up after school, and it was great to catch up again.

I took the camera along but only took a couple of pictures. I am so glad I had it, though, because one of those pictures was this awesome one of a peacock that walked right by us, and then I turned around and it was like he was flashing us. He didn't have his feathers up when he initially walked by us, so I'm glad I turned around!

When we finished up at the zoo I made sure to get a picture of our kids in their Wartburg orange. Maybe they're all future Knights, but if they're not, that's ok. Just as long as they don't go to Luther, anyway.

Soup, Carey, and Charlie- you were missed!

Ruining the Fun

Wednesday the weather report said it'd be sunny in the morning and then rainy starting around midday, so we were going to plan to do some inside stuff that day. But, it ended up being a really nice day. Around 10:30 or so, the boys and I decided to take the dogs for a walk to a little pond near us. As we got near the pond, Zach, who was ahead of Drew and me on his bike, said, "Mom! There's something over there!" We'd had a big storm the night before, and I'd seen small branches on the ground here and there, so I thought it might just be debris. But then it moved, and I thought, "Is that a cat creeping up on something?" We got a little closer, and I could see it was a huge turtle! I only had my phone with me, so this is the best picture I could get. I didn't want to get too close to it because I didn't want to scare it. Once we moved a little further away, we watched it walk all the way down to the water, and then we could see it floating with its head above the water. I've never seen a turtle that big anywhere around here, so it was kind of neat.

This pond/lake (it's small, so I call it a pond, but the sign by it says lake) is technically a private lake. It has town homes in a u-shape around it, but there is one whole side of the lake butts right up to a public sidewalk, a neighborhood street, and has no houses or anything along it. The boys love to throw rocks into the water, and I like to skip rocks. The rocks along the shore are actually man-made rocks- chunks of concrete that break into great skipping rocks. We go there every now and then to throw a few rocks- not once a week, but maybe every-other week or so. We don't throw tons of rocks, but we spend 5-10 minutes there. Well, we were sitting there, tossing rocks, when I heard, "Excuse me, mam?" I looked up to the street, and there was an older lady in a car stopped. I figured she was going to ask for directions or something, but she said, "Are you throwing rocks into the lake?" in a snotty, accusatory tone. I said, "Yes, we're just throwing the little ones," in a somewhat snotty, defensive tone. She said, "Well, we have to pay for new rocks here. This is a private pond." I held up a little rock and said, "We're throwing these tiny pieces!" She said, "Well, it's a private pond." Wow. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the word I was thinking of to describe her, but it rhymes with witch. I mean, seriously, lady? You're getting mad that a 5 year-old and 2 year-old are throwing tiny rocks into your private pond? Yes, we were sitting right by the "Private Lake" sign, and I know it's a private lake, but we were not by anybody's house, driveway, or anything. We were only at the part of the shore that backs up to the public sidewalk. We've done this so many times without any issues. I just couldn't believe this lady would make a stink about it. She drove off, and I said, "Let's go, boys. We can't throw rocks here anymore." That lady definitely brought the term "persnickety old woman" to mind. I was totally annoyed, and I vowed to be nice to little kids and their moms who are causing no harm when I'm an old lady.

Grandpa Kevin's 60th

On Tuesday Mike's dad turned 60. On Sunday Mike's little sister Katherine came home from college for the summer, so we decided to celebrate by getting together on Monday at a place called Big Creek and going out on a pontoon boat for a couple of hours. We got lucky with gorgeous weather that evening.

We were all excited to see Katherine and Sam again, and we're looking forward to spending some time with them this summer, if they're not too busy!

Zach and Drew enjoyed helping Grandpa drive the boat.

Drew got a little restless on the boat, but managed to stay entertained by walking around, looking for birds and alligators, and hiding out in this little cubby.

Katherine and Sam grilled us some yummy burgers, and we had some other goodies, too, as we floated around on the water.

Here's Grandpa Kevin with his 2 grandsons when we got done. Pretty cute, don't ya think?!

That was Monday. On Tuesday evening the whole gang came over after Zach's first t-ball practice for some cake and present-opening. Drew couldn't wait to help Grandpa open his Lightning McQueen wrapped present. Imagine that.

Zach's birthday is next week and his friend party is this weekend, and I wanted to practice my idea for his Jolly Roger cake, so I decided to give my technique a try on Kevin's cake. I'm glad I did, too, because I found that my plan wasn't so great, which you'll notice in the picture of Kevin's cake. It isn't real pretty. Thankfully Kevin didn't mind me using his cake as a guinea pig cake, and the decorating didn't affect the taste at all. I'm still trying to figure out just how I'll do Zach's cake, and the party is on Saturday, so I need to get it figured out tomorrow!

Grandpa Kevin enjoyed his birthday presents, which were mostly golf-themed. We all enjoyed the cake and ice cream and each other's company before everybody had to leave to beat a big storm that was rolling through. We hope you had a great birthday, Grandpa Kevin! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!

Starting the Summer Off Right

It has been such a weird weather year here. After a miserable winter with seemingly endless amounts of snow, it finally all melted in mid-March. Then we had some incredibly warm days at the end of March, before a mostly cold April and May. Then all of a sudden, this past weekend it got really hot. We jumped from highs in the mid-60s to highs in the mid to upper-80s, I think. I suppose that's no different than anywhere in the US, probably, but it was just such a big change all at once. Since it has suddenly become so warm, the boys and I have taken many opportunities to get outside.

We've all done some golfing. I had my first of three golf lessons about 2 weeks ago, so I've been more interested in getting my pitching wedge out and practicing what the golf pro wanted me to work on. Zach pretty much never needs an excuse to hit golf balls, and Drew is loving getting in on the action, too. The whole family went out to the driving range and putting green one evening last week, and it was a lot of fun. Drew made me a little nervous, but once we explained how he couldn't go forward to retrieve his balls at the driving range, he was good. He mostly liked putting (as in put, not putt) his ball into the holes on the putting green. Sometimes he even used his club for that! :-)

Here's Drew practicing with his favorite plastic club.

And Zach giving it a good whack.

Here's a little video of the boys golfing. The golfing part is short, but I think the best part is Drew's first comment to the camera.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It seems like once the snow melted, Zach started asking about setting up the swimming pool. It'd be a balmy 60 degrees and Zach would say, "I think we'll be able to get the pool out today!" I kept telling him we'd have to wait until after his birthday, but I broke my promise this week. Monday it was almost 90 degrees and humid, so we decided it was the right time to break out the pool. The boys loved it. Drew enjoyed Zach throwing buckets of cold water at his back and tummy, and Zach was happy to oblige. Drew was also thrilled to wear his new Lightning McQueen swim trunks, and Zach was happy to squirt anything he could with his little water shooter. I was happy to get some sun!

Yesterday Zach had a preschool friend over for a play date, so we went up to the park for a while and then came home for lunch and some more playing. After Drew's nap, I suggested we head back outside, and play firefighters, pretending the boys' jeep was a fire engine. Well, they loved that idea, but insisted on taking it one step further and getting in full costume first. I tried to talk them out of the costumes because of the heat, but they wouldn't hear of it. I put my foot down at wearing snow boots, though.

We got some parts from my vacuum so they could have hoses, and I'd sound the alarm and off the little firefighters would ride. Most of the fires took place at Brad and Molly's house two doors down. The boys would hop out of their fire engine and spray the fire, then drive back to our house and clean up their engine like real firefighters would do.

There was also a fire at the mailbox. Thank goodness they got it put out and all of my junk mail was not charred at all!

Here's a very shaky video of the little firefighters.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After putting out all the fires, we decided to join Molly and Cooper on a walk. Since we'd already walked/ridden bikes up to the park once that day, I gave in and let the boys ride in their jeep. Normally I don't allow the jeep for anything over a ride around the block, but I just didn't feel like arguing, and we'd all gotten plenty of exercise already, so it was fine. The boys wore their costumes the entire ride and got many happy looks from passers-by.

Today the boys and I took the dogs to the vet and then headed down to a big lake down town. We had packed Zach's bike in the car so that he could ride his bike on the trail while the dogs and I walked with Drew in the stroller. It's a 2 mile loop around the lake, so I wasn't sure how Zach would do, but he did awesome. He stopped once or twice just to talk to me and once because he needed a rest. Once we got back to the car, we got out the picnic lunch we had packed and headed over to a shady picnic table for lunch, and we were hungry! Our table was right on the beach, so it was just a short walk down to the water from there. The boys enjoyed throwing sand and sticks into the water before they decided to really go for it, and then Zach took off his shoes and socks and waded in, while Drew got down on his hands and knees and really dug his hands into the sand right at the edge of the water. They got good and sandy, that's for sure. I had brought my camera to the lake, but left it in the car, along with my cell phone, so I got no pictures of the fun day!

After a quick clean-up in the bathroom, we loaded up the car and headed out. We took a round-about way home so we could stop at DQ for a little ice cream treat, and this time I had my phone to get a good picture.

So, it's safe to say we are definitely enjoying the start to our summer and making the most of the decent temperatures. It won't be long before it's so hot and humid that it could be miserable to be outside, so I figure we better take advantage of it while we can!

Oh Brother

My whole life I've heard stories about the torture imparted upon my dad by his older brothers, especially the brother that was just above him, my late Uncle Bob. My dad was the youngest, Bob was 9 years older than him, and there are 11 years between my dad and his brother Bill, so they had a lot of size, strength, and shrewdness on him for many years. My dad has some pretty hilarious stories (for someone who wasn't the object of the torture, anyway). In more recent years I've heard stories of Mike picking on his younger brother Colin, and of my brother-in-law Will picking on his younger brother, too. Being picked upon, tricked by, and coerced into stupid things by older siblings seems to basically just be a rite of passage, especially so when it comes to brothers, I believe. And, already, at the tender ages of not-quite-five and just-over-two, I see this ringing true for my own boys.

First, there was the penis-head incident. If you missed that one, you can find it here. Then, this morning, again while I was brushing my teeth, I could hear the boys in their bathroom, and Zach was giving instructions that basically went like this- "Drew, smell my tush. Now say, 'Zach smell!'" then, "Drew, now I'll smell your tush. Drew smell!" and finally, "Drew, smell the toilet. Say, 'Toilet smell!'" And, like the good little brother, Drew was doing just what he was told to do. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time imagining two sisters doing this to each other.

Then there was the next incident, which occurred tonight. The boys were in the bathroom washing their hands before dinner, and suddenly, Drew was crying and was upset- bad sign #1. So I went to the bathroom and tried to open the door, but it was locked- bad sign #2. I had Zach open the door and asked what the problem was. Drew said, "Soap in mouth!" And Zach added, "Drew got soap in his mouth." So I said, "And how did that happen? Did he do that all on his own, Zach?" Zach replied with, "Yeah, he did it to himself." "Are you sure, Zach? Remember what happened last time you lied?" I said. Zach quickly said, "Oh, yeah. Um, I helped a little bit." Anyway, it turns out that Zach told Drew to lick his (Zach's) arm while it had soap all over it, and Drew, being young and naive, again did what his big brother told him to do. Dad, I think Uncle Bob would be proud of the skill his great-nephew Zach is showing, don't you? And this is only the beginning...

Preschool Graduation & Picnic

Zach had his preschool graduation last night. The kids have been practicing the songs for this program for quite some time, and we were not disappointed. I tried to get some video but I don't suspect any of it is very good. First of all, we weren't really all that close to the front. Mike's parents got to the church at 6:20 (graduation started at 7:15), and the closest seats they could get were about 8-10 rows back. Thank goodness they got there when they did, or we would have not seen anything at all (we weren't as early as we wanted to be). So maybe later I'll look at the video and post something if it's good, but I kind of doubt any of it is really blog-worthy. But, there are plenty of decent photos, so I'll leave you with those.

The first two songs had to do with chickens, so the kids wore these cute chicken hats they made. I think this song was "The Shaky Egg." Obviously Zach is having a pretty good time up there.

The second song was actually the chicken dance that we've probably all watched/participated in at somebody's wedding. It was cute to watch Zach do this song because he often seemed to be a split second behind the majority of the group. You can even see that in this picture as you notice most of the kids have started over with the hands opening and closing like a chicken beak while Zach is finishing out the clapping from the last round.

I don't know what song this was, but I just thought Zach looked kind of cute.

After performing a bunch of songs the kids all left and the director of the preschool gave a little speech about raising the kids, shared some funny quotes from the kids from the year, and showed us a slide show of the kids. It was all really neat and touching.

When the slide show was done, the pianist started playing "Pomp and Circumstance" and the kids started filing back in in their little caps and gowns. I was instantly reminded of a time before one of my sisters' or my own graduations, when that song came on and my mom teared up immediately. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, because the song came on and the kids started walking in, and my eyes welled up with tears. Zach's class was the last class to come in, and he was towards the end of the line, but when I finally caught a glimpse of him, so handsome and happy in his cap and gown, I couldn't help but mentally flash-forward 13 years to his high school graduation. Will he look pretty much the same? I wondered. Then it was like my mind flew back about 5 years to when he was born, and I thought, "How did we get here so quickly?" and I pictured his whole childhood just flying by.

The kids all took their seats and the director read their names as they hugged their respective teachers and took their place on the risers. Here's Zach hugging Mrs. Graen, who he definitely loved this year.

It was probably good that the last part of the program was a fun rap version of "The Wheels on the Bus," because I think a lot of the parents and family members in the crowd needed the silliness. The kids put on their glasses and it was like instant attitude. So cute.

Afterward we snapped a few more pictures. First, just Zach.

Drew had spent the whole time in the church nursery, because it was "strongly encouraged" that younger siblings be cared for in the nursery. I was glad we did that, because he'd been a pill all day (except when I got in the car that night and he said, "Awesome green pants, Mom!" That was pretty sweet and even made up for him calling me a penis-head earlier.) and I didn't want to have to entertain him and miss the program. I did walk by once just before the program started, though, and saw him sitting on a nursery attendant's lap and just rocking, which made me know he was upset in there, and that had me worried. So I was definitely ready to get him right away. Anyway, he seemed to have had an ok time in there but was definitely happy to see all of us. I think somebody took a family picture of us (maybe?), but it wasn't with our camera, which is kind of a bummer. I wish I had a picture of Mike and me with our little graduate. Anyway, here's Drew and Zach together. On the way home, Drew kept saying, "Cool blue hat, Zach!" Zach definitely agreed, as he wore the cap and gown most of the morning today.

Here's Zach with 2 of his buddies, Caleb and Logan.

By the time we got home, it was almost 9 o'clock. The boys were wired and I was wiped out. Thankfully they went right to sleep!

Today was the last official preschool function, the class picnic. Here's the whole class (though it seems like there is one girl missing, maybe) with the teachers.

Zach with his teachers, Mrs. Rich and Mrs. Graen.

All the boys in the class. Zach's best buddies are Ben, who is in the back row on the right, and Caleb, who is in the blue hat. He's also good buddies with Sam, who is in the front row on the right. The little boy in the red shirt in the back middle will be in Zach's kindergarten class next year.

And here is Zach with one of his favorite girls from preschool, Sydney. Sydney was in Zach's class last year, too, and he's always been pretty smitten with her. I actually know her aunt and uncle from college, which is kind of funny.

It's hard to believe that this chapter of our lives is over. I think Zach is ready to move on to kindergarten, but I definitely will miss the security of preschool and being at a place where he's so comfortable and so happy. I know he'll get that way at kindergarten, too, but it's just harder to imagine that really warm, fuzzy feeling at a big public school than it is at a small, private preschool. It's also hard to think that these kids, who are Zach's best buds right now, probably won't be his best friends in a few months. I guess you never know, though. I'm still friends with some of the kids I went to preschool with, and look at how old I am!

Oh yeah, and just to prove he was there, he's Drew from the picnic today, having a good old time. I think I'll blink my eyes and it'll be his preschool graduation, too, won't it?

Naughty Words

This morning I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth before getting Zach off to school when Drew came in, pointed at me, and said, "You, penis-head." At first I thought I must have misheard him, so I asked him what he said, and he said it again, plain as day- "You, penis-head."

Since Drew is just a little over 2 years-old, I did the most reasonable thing I could think of- I told him we don't call people that and then I called his almost 5 year-old brother in for some explaining. Zach swore up and down that he did not tell Drew to say that, and that "Drew just thought of it on his own." Right. I was already having a hard time not laughing about the whole thing, but I was pretty certain that my 2 year-old, though he's definitely ornery, wouldn't have come up with that one on his own. I kept at it with Zach, telling him how wrong it is to lie, how that would really upset me, how if he kept lying he might have to miss his preschool graduation and picnic. He stuck to his story, looking me in the eye pretty well. Drew was right next to me, basically leaning close and imitating me, which didn't help me keep a straight face very well. Then I asked Drew, "Drew, did Zach tell you to say penis-head?" Drew's immediate response was, "Yes," and about a split second after that came out of Drew's mouth I heard Zach mutter under his breath, "Darn." I knew I had the case closed at that point. I asked Zach what he said, and he gave me the standard "I was just talking to myself" line that he gives me anytime he says something he wishes he hadn't said aloud. I was pretty mad, even though the comedy of my 2 year-old calling me a penis-head was not lost on me. So I told Zach that he was in big trouble and he needed to go sit on the stairs while I figured out what his consequence would be. I threatened to cancel his birthday party, but that felt too harsh, so I knew I wouldn't do that. I didn't decide until after I picked him up from preschool what the consequence would actually be. I told him he would have no dessert and no T.V. watching for one whole week. I felt this would be ok because first of all, he likes both of those things, but doesn't necessarily get them every day, so it's not a huge thing, but hopefully it will be big enough to make an impression. And, I might offer Drew dessert and T.V. a little more readily than I normally do just to help drive the point home in this next week. I would have liked to have talked to Mike before deciding for sure, but I also didn't want to wait too long to put the consequence in place.

Maybe other parents don't agree with this, but I feel that with Zach as my oldest child, I can generally tell which of his preschool friends have older siblings. Those kids just seem a little more knowledgeable about things I don't necessarily want Zach to know about yet, and sometimes they use language that, while not necessarily bad, I don't really want Zach using. I'm not trying to blame or judge the older siblings or the parents for the bad stuff; I know that's just how life works. I was just telling my friend Molly yesterday how in a couple of years, Drew's friends' parents will probably be saying that about Drew- "Oh, well, you know Drew does have an older brother, so he probably learned it from him..." So basically as soon as I realized what Drew was saying to me this morning, that conversation came back to me. It's happening already, I thought, Drew is learning to say inappropriate things from Zach, and he's only 2. Ugh.

On another note, when we picked Zach of from preschool, he said, "It's frickin' nicer than you expected it to be today, isn't it, Mom?" Sigh. Again, it's not like "frickin'" is a bad word, but I just don't think I need to hear it from my 4 year-old. I told him I didn't like him saying that and that I'd rather he say something like, "It's really nice out, " or something similar. But, this one I can't blame on friends with older siblings- I think this comes straight from Mike, and maybe me, too. I don't think I say it a lot, but I may just not be realizing when/how often I do say it. Anyway, I won't be surprised if I hear it come out of Drew's mouth one of these days.