Bucket List Part Deux

Just after my Bucket List post, I read an article in a parenting magazine, "Savor the Last Drops of Summer". Basically, a list of things you should manage to do this summer. Many we did, many we did not.

So now a "Bucket List 2011" of all the things we didn't do this year:

• Visit the seashore (we did make it to a lakeshore this year)
• Lie in a hammock
• Jump off a diving board
• Make a fort
• Find a rainbow
• Stargaze
• Look for cloud formations
• Take a nap on the lawn
• Search for sea glass
• Skip rocks
• Dig for worms
• Set up a lemonade stand
• Put on a play
• Make mud pies
• Tell ghost stories
• Build a sand castle
• Learn to do a cartwheel
• Play kickball
• Do the hula
• Go on a scavenger hunt
• Build a box car

It's a good starting point at least. It seems the simple little things get missed the most!!

6 years and 2 weeks

That's how long it took.

Do you know for what??

For the first of my children to break a bone.

2 weeks after his 6th birthday, Trevor broke his right collarbone. Daddy, Blake and Izzy were present in the room when it happened. Me... I was 692 miles away on vacation in upstate New York!!! Talk about feeling helpless!!

It all started because t-ball was canceled. Although the weather seemed nice, apparently there was standing water on the field.

During the morning, a used disposable diaper had been ripped apart and the little beads that absorb the moisture were all over the floor of the boys room. So Daddy wanted to vacuum it up. He did so with all three kids in the room (kudos to him, but I think that's crazy... I would have put a movie on and left them downstairs!).

As he vacuumed he decided to clean the rest of their room, including under a chair in the corner where the cats sleep. So he moved the chair out of the corner of the room, and into the middle and the kids played on it.

(Can you figure out what happened yet??).

Both boys were on the chair (I have no idea where Izzy was)... T was sitting on it, and B climbed up the back of the chair (which is normal, but has no effect when the chair is in the corner). B climbed up... the chair tipped over... T flew out of the chair, and whacked his collarbone on the bunk bed post.

Immediately, two things were true... Trevor felt no pain and Daddy KNEW it was broken. He KNEW because he broke his twice as a kid. I later learned that his Dad broke his once so it's a requirement for the oldest son on that side of the family. On the plus side, Daddy's younger brother didn't break his, so we can hope B won't either!!

After finding Aunt Kate to come stay with B and Iz, Daddy took T to the ER. It took an x-ray, a 3-minute visit by the Dr, and a $450 ER bill to tell us what we already knew. It took $50 to get T a sling that he HATED (because it has teddy bears and balloons on it and is very babyish).

On Sunday I came home. Nothing much had changed. Monday, as recommended by the ER doc, I took him to an orthopedist to recheck it and see if anything else needed to be done. She said it was fine, nothing to worry about, sling for 4 weeks, no swimming, t-ball etc, and she'd recheck it in a month.

A few days later Aunt Kate provided a great fix for the sling....

For the most part Trev has been pretty good during this last month. But the realization that he couldn't play t-ball (3 weeks left) or swim for the week of summer camp (which started 2 days after he broke it) made him REALLY mad. Mostly because it was Blake's 'fault' that he was injured, but Blake was able to do all those activities. The other part of the problem is that it's never hurt him. It's hard to stop a 6-year-old from being active when the broken bone doesn't hurt!!!

I've tried to take pictures of the two sides, but it's very hard to see anything in pictures. At first there was a visible difference, and even now there is still a bump on the side he broke. I just hope that doesn't mean it healed wrong!!!

Tuesday is his follow up appointment with new x-rays scheduled. In the last week he's been swimming and I even let him play the last week of t-ball (lefty of course!). I'm just hoping that the x-ray shows all is well!!!

Bucket List

When summer vacation started on May 27th, I didn't ask Trev what he wanted to do this summer. In retrospect, I should have. I didn't ask Blake either, but that is probably for the best!!

Regardless, I tried to plan a fun summer that all three kids would enjoy and that would take advantage of all the free time we would have. After all, this fall brings full-time school and that restricts the activities that we can participate in (or at least, when we can participate in them).

As I look back, here's a few of the things we can check of this summer's bucket list:

• participate in soccer league (Trev)
  
• attend graduation party
• attend mommy's volleyball games (and stay up and out past bedtime!)
• go to lots of friend's birthday parties and celebrate two of our own
  
• go to new village park grand opening, play in soccer tournament, win our first game, play in the rain, and jump in huge mud puddles
• learn all about reptiles at the library
• go to lots of new parks and a bunch of old favorites
  
• go to a MLB baseball game (not the Cubs!-at the kids request)
• visit Grandpa
• learn how to make cool scientific reactions using basic household materials (vinegar, baking soda, m&m's and more) (more fun at the library)
  
• go camping and get REALLY dirty
• go strawberry picking
• make LOTS of strawberry and raspberry jam
• go to summer camp
• learn to swim (Trevor!!!!)
• practice reading
  
• spend the night at Grandma's
• go to the zoo
  
• watch at least two sets of fireworks, and set off some of our own
  
• participate in t-ball league (T & B)
• learn about dinosaurs at the library (and show off our knowledge - good job Blake!)
• attend Zoo camp and be a "Junior Zookeeper" for the day
• go to the pediatrician and not get shots (Trevor! Izzy still had to get shots!)
• survive a week with Mommy gone on vacation (they survived, but there are scars!)
• go to the movies
• go to Great America
  
• go to the farmer's market
• go to the 'skyscrapers' (what the boys call going downtown) to various museums
  
• go fishing with Grandpa
• make home-made ice cream

Whew!! Part of me wants to find pictures for lots of those items to put up here, but if I do that this post will never go up. So for the moment, I'm posting this sans pictures. Maybe once school starts again I will get better about blogging more regularly. But I'm not promising!!

Trevor's 6th Birthday (a month late!)

So we celebrated on time, have no fear, but it's taken me until now to post the pictures and story!!

The actual day started with breakfast of Trev's choice, Swedish pancakes made by Daddy, and then tball practice followed by lunch at Culvers! Then we headed home to be there in time for guests and the party!

As always Trev ends up with a backyard pool party, but the kids always seem to have a good time. We ended up with about 10 other kids here in addition to our 3, and while less than many of our regular coffee playdates, it was still plenty of kids and plenty of fun!! But we did miss those friends who couldn't join us! I think all the kids had a great time in the pool and sprinklers, and playing with the water guns and balloons.

spraying each other with the sprinkler
everyone in the pool
it's time to slip n slide

Time for water balloons
everybody run, water balloon fight!!
Izzy slept thru some of the festivities, but that was just fine with her as she wanted NOTHING to do with the pool or sprinkler!
The birthday theme this year was Space as Trev has become very interested in all things space and all 9 planets. He still considers Pluto a planet and is very offended if you dare to say there are only 8!! So Daddy made a space cake, and we had some space decorations as well as themed goody bags.

the space table cloth that the boys painted
Saturn
Neptune

T's cake with the WHOLE milky way on it, including a few extra details (click the picture to see it bigger). This is by far one of my favorite cakes of all the ones Daddy has made so far.
everyone enjoying the yummy beautiful cake!


Later in the evening, Grandma, Kate and Scary joined us for present opening and more cake. Trev was thrilled with all his presents, and the fact that most of them were Lego related!! He's easy to please in that respect these days!!

it's present time!
the fish pillow he's been wanting for MONTHS (and it's almost as big as him!)

T-ball

Many times in the past, we have asked the boys if they want to participate in various sports: swimming, soccer, t-ball. Initially, Blake has resisted them all. He now willingly takes swim lessons, but only if he's with Trevor. He's declined many chances to play soccer and t-ball, and prefers sitting on the sidelines watching. Once he said he'd play soccer and we signed him up, only to have him refuse on the first day.

Again, this spring we asked if he wanted to play t-ball, and this time he said yes. I was cautiously hopeful since the t-ball was for 4-6 year-olds, so both boys would be playing together. Not so gently, I reminded and 'encouraged' B that he was going to play t-ball and that if he did, we could go to Culver's for lunch after. After 4.5 years of parenting this kid, I've learned how to motivate him!!!

Week 1 of t-ball was in mid- June, while we were camping. Oh well.... It wasn't very expensive to sign them up, so I wasn't too upset we were missing one.

Week 2 of t-ball was canceled due to standing water on the playing field! Yes, we had a good amount of rain in mid-June but I was sad that this was the case. So we had our own t-ball practice in the backyard, and I think the boys had a good time!!

T batting
T throwing to B, who might catch it, if he takes his glove off his head!
The boys trying to catch the balls Daddy was hitting.
Daddy hitting balls to the boys


Then they had a week off for 4th of July.

Week 3 of t-ball was on Trevor's birthday. They were excited to go play, and they both ran on to the field with out an argument! They got put on teams, and got to pick their own numbers.

B trying to beat the throw to first
B getting the ball to throw out the runner
T running past the kid in front of him. He always HAS to be in front!
T taking a swing.
B getting ready to bat

Week 4 was similar to week 3. They worked on more skills and fundamentals. I am pretty impressed by the organization running this program. There are a good number of 'coaches' for the number of kids playing, they focus on basic skills and really reinforce them (good throwing stance, running the bases, how to hold the bat, etc.) and yet they do it in a really fun way so the kids are having a good time and don't realize how much they are learning and how hard they are working. I think it was money well spent.

B (blue hat) and T (red hat) playing the field.

T playing 1st and hoping someone will throw him the ball so he can get someone out!
B taking off for first after hitting the ball.

Week 5 was rained out while I was on vacation. Lucky Daddy didn't have to deal with taking them on his own while I was out of town.

So instead of t-ball finishing up this weekend, we've got 3 more weeks to go. I guess it's not a bad thing since we don't have vacation plans, but it's not exactly how I planned it! I just hope August isn't burning hot!!

I LOVE the jersey numbers they picked. I will always remember how old they were for this season of t-ball!

July....

Hmmm, it seems a month (okay, closer to 5 weeks!) have passed and I have not posted a darn thing!!! Just in case you were wondering, here's what we've been up to:

• Strawberry picking
• Making jam (strawberry and home-grown raspberry)
• Going to the strawberry festival (we ate the most DELICIOUS chocolate covered strawberries, and came home with strawberry donuts!
  
• T-ball for the boys
• Volleyball league for me
• 2 weeks of YMCA summer camp for the boys
• Library visits, including a session about Dinosaurs, a science session, and lots of book checkout and reading
• A zoo camp one morning that gave the boys a chance to be "junior zookeepers for a day"
• Trevor's 6th birthday and party
• My birthday and dinner out with my girlfriends
• A birthday party for a good friend of the boys
• Dr visits (well-checks) for Trev (6 year) and Izzy (15 month)
• Trevor's 6 year old photos
• Summer familly birthday party for Trevor, me, Aunt Kate, and cousin Melissa
• My week long vacation to New York with my Mom

And those are just the things that made the actual calendar on the wall. I'm sure there were a few trips to parks, the mall, and various other places that happened on the fly!

So that's why I haven't been blogging much lately. I'm going to try and post some photos of all that stuff, although some of them are already on Facebook. And I'm going to try to post about at least a few of the most important happenings here in the next week!!!

Camping Trip

Sunday we got back from our annual 5 day camping trip. This year we tried somewhere new, hubby's theory is that there are SO many places in this world, why would you keep going to the same ones, no matter how great they are.

So this year we headed to a state park just south of Muskegon, MI. Not too long of a drive, and we planned the trip so we avoided rush hour (for the most part!). We got there and got set up pretty easily, and the boys were super excited. Izzy was content just to watch from her stroller for the moment. We spent the next 4 days exploring, hiking, playing, swimming, and cooking over the fire!!!


One day, Daddy took both boys for a hike. When they got back the first thing Blake ran to tell me was, "Mommy, when we were hiking, we went potty in Nature!"



One afternoon, I took the boys to the beach to play. I coated each of them with sunscreen, and they came home looking pretty good. Me, I came home looking like a lobster!!! Oopsies!

We also took the time to walk down the stream which started right at the lake. We followed it down and around the bend where we found lots of trees and logs that had fallen across the stream. The boys spent a good hour crossing the trees "like animals" (on all fours) and completing "missions"! They would say to each other, "Your mission is to cross the stream without getting wet and without the other kids getting in your way. Do you accept this mission??" Apparently they've watched WAY too many spy cartoons (which ones are those anyway??).

Izzy wasn't a big fan of the dirt/sand combination that was the ground at the campsite. She would walk and play with the toys we had and was happy most of the time. BUT, if she fell down, she was NOT happy. She didn't want to touch the dirt!!! She would sit there (or lie there on her tummy!) with her hands in the air and wait for someone to get her up. And if you didn't come soon enough, she would scream for you!!!

The boys also had a great time playing with their toy dinosaurs around the campsite. They would bury the dinosaur skeletons in the sand and then be paleontologists and "discover" them, and they would let their other dinosaurs go on field trips and eat the plants ("Well they are herbivores Mom!")!

One day the boys and I took a hike to the Sand Dune Staircase. 207 steps up (and 207 back down!). But it was totally worth it!!! Even the boys agreed!

The view from the top:


Lessons learned:

• splitting the boys up to sleep in two different tents is a GREAT idea!!!
  
  
• glow sticks are good!!
  

• waiting to put them to bed until it's actually dark (which is pretty late in MI) and they are exhausted is also a GREAT idea!!!
• taking the boys away from the campsite for an hour or two in the afternoon is the best way to get Izzy to take a nap. Repeat this same thing when she goes to bed at night or she will stay up playing in her pack n play until 11:30!!!!
• 
• dessert is the best meal of the day, ESPECIALLY when it is cooked over the campfire. Marshmallows, smores, and apple pies (in the pie irons) were huge hits and all of us had seconds and thirds!!!
  
• the boys loved all the classes for kids that the DNRE offered. They learned about turtles, ladybugs, and mammals. They know what: crepuscular, diurnal, and nocturnal mean and which animals are which. Do you???

It was a great trip. The boys spent the car ride home asking when we would go camping again. I'd love to go again this summer, but I don't think Daddy's work schedule will allow it =(. We'll definitely fit one in next summer.....somewhere new of course!

Isabelle - 14 months!

It's been a while, so if nothing else, I should at least do an Izzy update.

At 14 months she:

• can crawl up the stairs, and back down, as long as you turn her around and make her start going down. Otherwise, she'll just stand at the top and scream until you pick her up!!
  
  
• will answer a yes/no question such as "do you want lunch". if she doesn't, she'll shake her head no, if she does, she'll run to the fridge! Once in her high chair, yes answers are given by convulsive shaking of the entire body and crazy leg kicks until she gets what you offered, such as a nutrigrain bar!! If she doesn't want it, she'll shake that head no until it almost falls off!!
  
  
• has started returning the love to her brothers! They will group hug/tackle her and now she fights to get loose, and then 'hugs' them back, which really means she pushes them down and falls on top of them!!! It's too cute and too funny!
  
  
• has 3 front teeth, the 4th one coming in, and has 2 molars halfway in!! She does NOT like eating while the teeth are pushing thru, but she makes up for it as soon as they are in!!
  
  
• feels that a 5-minute "power nap" is plenty during the day and if she gets one, good luck getting her to nap again for at least 2 hours!! But she does sleep 12 solid hours at night, so I'm trying to be thankful for what I do have!
  
  
• can say "Dada" "Baby" and "Mama".
  
  
• has a favorite TV show "Eebee" and if you say it to her, she'll walk over to the TV and watch it. She dances along with the songs and is way too cute!
  
  
• waves goodbye and/or goodnight when prompted.
  
  
• FINALLY has enough hair for two pigtails! TOO CUTE!
  

In case you doubted me...

Here's the video proof she can open the gate...

To Do...

Why does sleep elude me at 11:54 pm, but at 2:54 pm I was dozing on the couch as my 3 children caused havoc in my house?!?!?!?

I put my head on the pillow about an hour ago. In the three hours prior to that, and since the kids had been put to bed, I attempted to accomplish a lot of stuff. Somewhere in my brain is the belief that if I accomplish a ton of stuff during the evenings, then maybe I won't feel the need to try to get so much done during the day and instead I can just be the fun mommy who plays all the time. But in reality, I just seem to find more that I should be doing during the day.... the list never ends!!

My current projects include:

• weeding the garden and spreading the last bit of mulch that just got dumped there about 2 weeks ago
• sorting out the 30 boxes of left over STUFF in my garage after my less than successful garage sale
• completing about 8 forms for each of the boys to attend summer camp and tracking down all the required information about medical history etc....
• getting the ball rolling on packing for our camping trip, which means digging all the stuff out of storage, seeing what needs batteries, what needs replacing, and figuring out all the menus etc.

I swear I thought of more while I was "trying" to sleep. Of course, there's a bunch of other stuff flying through my head, like: remembering the items I need to buy for the potluck dinner we're going to this weekend, figuring out which kids are going where this weekend so I can move car seats, the destruction of the bathroom we just refinished AGAIN because the sink pipe was leaking and the toilet wasn't seating properly on the pipe (EWWW!). ANd my head just keeps on going.... ANd next to me, lies a snoring husband completely oblivious to all my thinking, stressing, planning, and obsessing!

The question is, now that I've gotten all this out of my head and written down somewhere safely, will I be able to go to sleep??? Or will I just think of 10 more things that I need to do/remember!!!?!?