Month: April 2011

Wade and I spent the day cleaning out closets and working in the yard. In one of the closets we found an old notebook of Wade’s. It contained poetry from college and this was my favorite:

We spent the morning at the zoo and the boys had a great time climbing, running, and snacking. They even occasionally looked at the animals too.

Amber and I loaded the boys up for a trip to Madison today with two stops on our agenda – the Madison Children’s Museum and Nicki’s diapers.
The boys love any new place to play so the museum was a lot of fun. Alex’s favorite activity was the “pizza kitchen” (the last series of pictures). He loved to put the ingredients on the pan and then crank it through the oven.

To end a fun day Heidi, Nicki, and Amber took me out for a belated sushi birthday dinner! Yum!

It was pouring rain when I put Alex down for his nap. He’d been wanting his umbrella all day so I promised him we would jump in puddles (with the umbrella) after his nap. Alex ended up sleeping 3 hours and by then the rain had stopped and most of the puddles were gone. He was still adamant that he needed his umbrella and I did find a puddle for him to jump in.

Yup. We pretty much all still love Tabit. Wade does think she’s huge now, but that’s only in comparison to the tiny malnourished kitten we got last September. I think she’s perfect.

These boys have so much fun together:

We started the morning with a hunt for Alex’s Easter basket. The bunny left a trail of Legos to show the way:

Alex had a blast going through his basket. He especially loved the helmet and umbrella:

We made time for a family picture after church:

Then we rushed to our Easter Sunday Potluck. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping. After napping for 2.5 hours myself, I finally woke Alex up at 4:30 for a quick playtime with Abram.

We had an Easter brunch and egg hunt for the neighborhood boys. The boys had plenty of fun playing inside while we ate and “hid” the eggs:

We had three 2 year olds and one 3 year old (Phoenix, Abram, Alex, and Riley).

This was one of the few times it was obvious who was oldest. Abram was much quicker to spot the eggs and get to them. The good news is none of the boys cared how many eggs were in their basket.

The boys were quick to check out their treats and spent an amazing amount of time quietly sitting on the steps (and eating):

Moustaches take two (using the middle layer of the window stick-on cupcake)

I must confess one of my favorite birthday gifts came from Abram (my 3 year old neighbor). He got me a bubble-blowing Transformer (Bumble Bee, of course). Alex was determined to make it work like Mom, but needed a little help from Dad.

I turned 32 today! The day was pretty uneventful, but Wade and I had a nice dinner out at the Melting Pot (thanks Amber for watching Alex)! Then we came home to presents! I got the promise of two adirondack chairs, dog clippers, a zoo pass, a pitcher, enamelware plates (for summertime cook-outs), a car iPhone dock, quilted china/crystal storage, and gift cards to restaurants. I have lots of new things to keep me entertained!

Alex was a little too excited and threw his gift for me (a plate for his fish), which happened to be breakable. Oops.

Wade and I are always looking at houses – usually not seriously. We recently found one that caused a lot of thinking and discussing. We viewed the property twice and seriously talked with a realtor about selling our house. In the end, we decided now wasn’t the time to move. Since Wade and I both commented on the relief we felt after making this decision it was obviously the right one!
The could-have-been-new-house (on North Ave. in Brookfield):

I knew that snow was in the forecast, but I didn’t really believe it. Turns out the weather people were right.

Alex is becoming a pro at checking out of hotel rooms (see here).

We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon with Melissa, Chris, and Harper. Alex tried to comfort Harper when she cried, but grew tired of that game pretty quickly (and she only cried for a few minutes).

We took a few group pictures and then loaded up for our drive to Paducah.

When Alex was a newborn I wasn’t taking pictures with a nice camera. Today I got to take tons of pictures of Harper and she didn’t mind (or move) at all.

Harper has hip dysplasia and has to wear a harness (see Melissa’s post here). It doesn’t seem to bother her a bit and hopefully the harness will take care of everything.

Today was rainy outside so Alex had to be entertained inside. My favorite distraction of the day was when Wade introduced Alex to fake mustaches.

Today I finally got to meet Harper, my 18 day old niece. She is precious. She slept all day and I held her all day – perfect.

Thankfully the weather was gorgeous and Alex could play outside. He and Daddy got a lot of quality time.

I needed a picture of Alex with Harper and that got interesting. He wanted to hold her, but then refused to look at her. Finally we asked Alex to find her nose. That broke the ice and made way for a “hug”.

Then we took Harper out for her first meal. (Which is fitting since Melissa and Chris took Alex out for his first meal – see post here).

Alex and I left Milwaukee early this morning and made the trip to Gram’s house in record time. After being in the car, Alex was excited to be able to run around outside. He was fascinated with Gram’s lawn care equipment and Gram couldn’t resist buying Alex his own weed trimmer.

Alex’s favorite part may have been the safety glasses. Wade and I definitely got a kick out of them.

After dinner at El Chico (yum!!), Alex got an Easter basket from Gram and then good-night stories.

The beauty of having your best friend across the street is most of the time he comes outside the minute he sees you playing.

Alex still loves hats of all types and always wants a “helmet” when riding a bike. Don’t tell but he’s finally going to get his own in his Easter basket.

One of our house rules is no screaming in the house. I was curious how long it would take Alex to figure out he just had to go outside to scream. He figured it out this morning. He wanted to scream and I said not inside. He asked to go outside and out we went:

Today we had amazing weather – 80 degrees. The Strouds invited us for a cookout and we were happy to spend the time with good friends outside. Abram*, Riley, and Alex had a lot of fun running around and enjoying the weather.

Two of my favorite pictures from the evening:

Alex is obviously not used to wearing shorts. His poor knees took a real beating today. Amber tried to put a “monkey George” band-aid on his knee, but he wanted it off. He thought it was a sticker and shouldn’t go on his knee (Yes, that’s right. My child doesn’t know what a band-aid is. We just haven’t had the need before.)

*A disclaimer per Amber’s request. Abram dressed himself.

I carry my camera with me just about everywhere. (I’m sure you never would have guessed) Alex is also quite addicted to his and often demands to have his before I am allowed to take my picture. Today we had fun taking each other’s pictures:

After a week of craziness, I was ready to return to normal. Amber was happy to accommodate me with an outing for the boys. We spent the morning at the Bettry Brinn Children’s Museum. We haven’t been since last year and we loved it this time just as much! There were quite a few new areas full of pretend play for kids of all ages.

Alex has always enjoyed playing with his tools and “fixing”, which of course we encourage. Tonight he really wanted to help Wade with a plumbing leak.

After Wade had removed the broken piece and left the room, I happened to glance back and saw that Alex was still “fixing” with the forgotten wrench.

I have had an interesting week. Today the jury deliberated and finally agreed on a verdict. We found a young father guilty of “recklessly causing great bodily harm”. His daughter was 24 days old when the incident occurred. He admitted to the police that he was angry and frustrated (three children and neither parent had a job). He admitted that the baby was fussing and he pulled her legs. The manner in which he pulled the legs caused four fractures. The state had a doctor from Children’s Hospital testify about the injury and how they occur (only with one particular motion, never during play or an accidental drop, and require abusive force). The twelve people on our jury could not agree that the young man “intentionally caused great bodily harm”, but we all agreed he was guilty of child abuse. The judge had given us the second, lesser option of “recklessly causing great bodily harm” and we finally all agreed. It was interesting to see the system at work, but I’m glad I won’t have to serve again for at least four years.
The other interesting part of my week is the role reversal that Wade and I experienced. He stayed home all day with Alex and I was gone from 8 till 5. We both agreed that we have a greater understanding for what the other does all day and wouldn’t want to switch jobs on a permanent basis. Tomorrow I plan to play with my boy!

Wade and Amber took Alex and Abram to see the Easter bunny.

They boys seemed to settle down pretty well for the real picture:

We didn’t go to see the bunny last year, but Alex’s first trip was with Abram too.