How to Have Fun At Some Boring Adult Thing

Yup. Have fun, will travel.

(see previous post for Ty's b-day)

Birthday Boy!

Ty's birthday was yesterday and the weather cooperated nicely! He was up and at em at his usually second after sunrise. Jim let him watch some PBS on the IPad so Marie and I could get a normal amount of sleep before we all had breakfast together. Ty had a breakfast of champions - instant mac n cheese. He entertained a few phone calls at that time too to begin his day. The previous day, his daycare celebrated with him and he sported his crown from that all morning!

After breakfast, the kids got down to business of sorting out these envelopes and wrapped gifts, making short work of that. Ty was thrilled with his robot bank, truck book, dinosaurs from Uncle Wobby and Aunt Sandra, swimming toys from Grandma Tina and dinosaur mask from sissy.

Pretty much the rest of the day was spent outside. Marie and Ty played outdoors in the AM and then the Fed Ex truck arrived with another gift. Rocket Blaster!!! Thank you Uncle Jeff. That got the neighbor kid over right away the second he got home from his soccer game. Playing with that, losing the rockets in the trees, garden and on the roof of the house took up the rest of the morning, right up until nap time.

After nap, we had Ty's favorite snack of popcorn and headed to the Choo-Choo. Ty and Marie waved to half of Traverse City as they went around and around on the "Spirit of Traverse City." Ty was thrilled with himself because, "I no think it scary any more, Momma. I LIKE IT!" After a quick trip to the beach we brought home two sandy, tired kiddos. They shared some dinner and birthday cake on the back porch before bedtime. As we gave Ty his bath, Marie decided to put herself to bed. She currently has decided to sleep on her travel cot, with a sleeping bag and her huge animal pillow rather than on her bed. This way she doesn't have to make her bed in the morning, she reasons. So, she climbed into her sleeping bad, stripped down to her skin and slept until 9:30 rather than taking a bath. She woke up, crying and confused, got her teeth brushed and story read and then back into bed!

Ty went to bed after insisting that Jim sit in the hall where he could see him. Jim obliged and then Ty woke up another 4 or 5 times, each time expecting Jim to still be in the hall. Long night for both. Again, 6am, Ty is up and raring to go. Momma took the turn this AM so Daddy could get some shut-eye. Ty, at lunch time, was starting to feel it finally...

Stinker

Just Some Big-Time Cuties

These are a little old, I grant you that. But, their smiles just warm my heart so I thought that I still want to share the photos, even though Easter is past. After all, the Easter Season is 50 days long for Catholics so technically, I am fine! The celebration may continue!

When we had our snow day (WHOO HOO) a few weeks back, we decorated eggs and made bunny tails. They loved their bunny tails and wore them hopping around the house that morning. Here they are, showing off their artwork. (Cody's face is in this photo, showing how that dog is ON ME all the time).

LOOK AT THESE SMILES! Can't I bottle this moment?

A very creative colleague built this horsie for his children. They are now in college, high school and middle school so the horse has been sitting in the pasture, unridden, for a while now. The horse has been graciously given to us on loan till our kiddos outgrow it. Then it goes back to their pasture to await grandchildren. Needless to say, Ty is in complete infatuation. We didn't get it to the basement before he had to ride it. This is in the kitchen. Both kids think this is the best toy in the joint!

One more shot of those tails...

Easter 2011

We are having a joyous Easter season here in Michigan, especially now that the snow has melted. The Wednesday prior to Easter it was questionable as we awoke to almost a foot of snow in the driveway. The kiddos and I got a surprise snow day out of the deal. Part of our "work" for the day was decorating eggs and making bunny tails which Ty is sporting here.

Snow days are such a treat for me. I can understand how for the rest of the working world they are a source of anxiety and frustration but for me I get a surprise gift of a day home with my kiddos. We went to the park and made snowmen with some neighbors and then Marie went home with them for a play time. Ty and I headed home for a nap. Snow days can be exhausting, you know. I actually do try and accomplish one thing extra those days but also try to really enjoy the gift of unexpected time with my kids.

The night before Easter we had to make an executive decision on egg placement: main floor, outside??? Ahhhh...basement. Marie and Ty are so young that the whole egg hunt is still a surprise for them. We hid the eggs in the basement so we could lounge around in the morning till Jim and I felt ready to have the egg hunt. I think that was a one-shot deal and that next year they will call us on it but, hey, take it while you can.

They could NOT believe that they got candy. And that they could eat more than one piece.

Then it was time to go to church. We have not been taking Ty to church recently because it always resulted in one of us not being able to pay attention, rather spending a lot of time herding him in the lobby. We decided on Palm Sunday it was time to re-introduce him. Well, if your first experience of church is Palm Sunday mass, that is a pretty good one to start with. You get a palm frond, you are expected to wave it all around, there are dancers down the aisle and lots of music as Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem is remembered. Ty loved it. Needless to say, he was quite excited to return on Easter. Until we got there and had to sit in the overflow seating and watch the service over the monitor. "I NO WANT WATCH TV! I WANT TO GO TO CHURCH!" he announced. Major bummer but he dealt with it by falling asleep on Jim halfway through the service. Then as we left, the Easter Bunny had left a balloon tied to a bag of candy for each child to pick up on their way out. Ty slept through that too but Marie got him a bag and balloon. Sadly, Ty learned (likely not for the last time) the story of the helium balloon and what happens when you let go. But Marie shared hers so all was well in balloon-world.

You can see that it was a far cry from the snow day 5 days beforehand. Just a gorgeous day!!! Happy Easter to all of you!

Vay Cay

How is that for an unusual mermaid photo? Marie loved the mermaids at the park in Weeki Wachee! They were fascinating, breathing underwater and swimming with the turtles in the natural spring. I wanted to jump in too!

But, we were sick during our visit. So, there were lots of tears, grumpies, and out-of-sorts kiddos. Grampa and Aunty were great about trying to help out the sick kiddos with golf cart rides and popsicles. We realized how very sick Marie was when we went out for ice cream and she barely ate it...she was s-i-c-k.



The highlight of the trip was indeed the trip to see the mermaids and the river boat ride at Weeki Wachee State Park. I really want to swim in those gorgeous natural springs someday!

The two of them were great together. They played and for the most part, shared things. I was so touched by how they were patient with each other and overall, waiting for turns while the other was getting attention. One parent and two sick kids made for some waiting. They did great.



They indeed have fun and really enjoyed spending time together. I didn't lay on the beach, didn't read a ton of books and didn't stay up late partying. Yet, I loved it. I got to spend lots of time with my kids and that is truly a gift and vacation. And you can see, they enjoyed it too.

Dinosaur Robots and Brains

Nah...he really wasn't scared. After a while...

The Detroit Science Center has a great dinosaur exhibit for a few more weeks. But, to try and explain how these now-extinct creatures are massive moving display, we told the kids that they were dinosaur robots. Marie, of course, wanted the more technical explanation (someone dug up the dino bones, put them back together and figured out what the body looked like. From that, they made a robot that looks like what they think the dinosaur may have looked like). Ty was gloriously happy with just the phrase "dinosaur robots." Until the triceratops next to the oh-so-long ticket line started snorting, moving and acting all predator on us. Then, he clung to me and lost some of his enthusiasm. "Dinosaur robots are scary," he proclaimed. So we explored the rest of the science center while that churned around in his toddler brain for a while.

Fortuntately, there were lots of other things to see! Some Wayne State University med students were doing a nice presentation on the nervous system. Marie made a spinal column and a neuron out of beads and pipecleaners; Momma got a brain tattoo on her face. But then...the most exciting part...BRAINS!!!! We donned the gloves and I promise I didn't push any kids out of the way to play with the brains. Yes, actual brains. Again, Marie wanted to know how they got there so out came the sanitized explanation: sometimes when people die they agree to let others learn about human bodies by studying their body. The brains came from someone who wanted to do that. "So they cut open their head and took the brain out?" "Pretty much." After messing around with other's heads, we checked out the many other exhibits. Robots, space ships, gears, a pretend factory line and steel plant and a scale Mackinac Bridge to walk over...we did it all. We had the company of Nana Whall and her friend Mr. Sullivan to help keep us going. A great first day of Spring Break as we hung out in the D!

Recovering

This one has been ill...

(such a good monster-mommy)

And outside is still like this...

And Daddy has to work this weekend because he stayed home with the ill one during the school week...(Thank you, Daddy!)...

So, we did this...

Best use of clean sheets ever! Off to get some coffee!!!

Playtime!

Marie and Ty have been playing a TON together. It is very sweet. There is a ton of running and crashing, fights that are quickly over, laughing and yelling and goofing around. Ty basically wants to say, do and imitate everything Marie does. Marie, being the oldest, has no qualms ordering Ty around. Ty is loud and playful and creative, Marie is louder and willing to try anything and quick to help him out. One of their favorites is sitting in the play baby stroller and pushing each other around the house at an alarming rate of speed.

The other day they created this new game:

Marie builds a tower with the number blocks.

Ty waits patiently with the baby stroller.

She gets out of the way of danger and counts "1-2-3"

Ty makes short work of the tower. Repeat.

Good times!

Family Ski Day...

long underwear and layers

snow pants, hats, gloves

pack a lunch

pack the gear in the car

pack the kids in the car

drive to ski hill

unpack the lunch, gear and kids

get ski boots on kids

get kids to hill

get skis on kids...

SKI

Ty waves as he ascends the hill on the "magic carpet."

I can ski uphill faster than the magic carpet goes so I take advantage of that to get some pix.

Marie warming up. She wanted to ski with Ty but also knew that she was heading over to the chairlift.

As we got closer to the chairlift, Marie started to insist that her "legs hurt." Of course, that's because you don't want to go up the chair. "I am scared." "Yes you are. Everyone is the first time but you can do it." As we got closer we started to ask all the kids in line, "Is it hard?" the consensus was definite NO. So she bravely moved forward to the front of the line and got on the chair. Three seconds into it she laughs and says, "This is FUN!"

Yesssssss!!!!
Did it!!! Now, on to the hill.

Today we used the harness which has a handle on the back so I can lift her and two straps so I can ski behind her and steer or stop as needed. We loved the harness as it gave her freedom to ski but didn't hurt me too much. We did a few long easy runs and then called it a day.

Celebratory hot chocolate!