Patio

The school year is already swamping us!  Mike is spending late nights and EARLY mornings getting things ready for school.  Though I completely understand that he wants to get stuff done and off his "thought radar", I'm missing him!  I guess the good thing for all of you is that I'm actually getting my blog entries done and posted!  I think I'm finally up-to-date.

We are nearing the end of having a beautiful, working patio.  For those of you who remember the raised, wooden decking, here are a couple of pictures of the past week's progress.

Mike pulled up all the old deck and he and Caleb started digging the dirt down a bit so it will be ready for the concrete.

We also needed this little bit fixed since the rain seems to back up against the house right here.

After the first day of construction crew coming, Caleb and I watched them finish digging dirt, tamping down the dirt, build the frame, and run the metal poles.  It was interesting (though noisy!) work.

Day two they brought in the cement mixer (one of Caleb's favorite trucks!) and poured the floors.  Once again, it was a fascinating process.

Yes, one of the workers left his water bottle in the middle of the floor!

Day five they came back and cleaned up the gritty stuff and where the concrete splashed on the house and posts.  Here is the (nearly) completed patio!  Just one more fan to install where the old patio was and arrange all the toys and furniture.  What a beautiful addition to our home.  Thanks for all of the hard work Mike and Kendall (Mike's dad!)

High Chair vs. Swing

We pulled out the high chair to get Ethan ready for his big step into "solid" food at six months.  He is loving being up where he can see everyone and Momma is loving that he can't slip sideways out of it like he does the Bumbo!  He does look pretty little in there, though!  So which is his favorite place to play?  The new high chair or the swing?  Hard to tell.

Look at all these fun toys he has to choose from (or throw on the ground!)

One breakfast Ethan sat like this the entire time.  He had to have woken up sleepy, because no toy is EVER used to rest on.  They are only meant to shake, chew, and throw!

I had time to zoom in and take another picture.  See how he didn't even move??  He definitely woke up earlier than his little body wanted to!

What a happy little man!

Since Ethan has begun to kick so hard in the swing we have to make sure he's belted in.  So we decided to raise the swing to the more vertical position and put the toy bar on.  Ethan loves it!  Though I must say, this little boy hates to recline at any angle!  He'd much rather sit straight up whether he's in the bathtub, swing, chair, or your lap.

The swing, as you remember, was left by Uncle Kyle's renters, so he let us borrow it.  It has been SUCH a blessing, though I must say that it leans to one side.  We straighten it and the next thing we know it's tilting again.  These pictures do make it look a lot more dangerous than it truly is.  No worries, Ethan is safe!

Our curious, adventurous one has been trying so hard to reach this mobile and now that the seat is tilted up, he can!  He was so proud of himself!  (Though Mike tried to get this picture a dozen times and every time Ethan heard the camera he'd put his hand down like he was "caught".  Mike had to get sneaky in order to get the shot!)

Snuggle time for Momma and Caleb.  It was a long night for Momma with Ethan up every hour and Caleb agreed to pretend to be asleep for this picture.

Laughter and Tears

I've been meaning to add this little blurb for awhile, but keep forgetting to!  My two boys definitely have the mantra of laughing with those who are laughing and crying with those who are crying down pat!  All Caleb has to do is laugh (even a fake laugh) and Ethan will think it's the funniest thing he's ever heard!!  One night Caleb tried to kiss Ethan on the cheek without being grabbed (one of Ethan's favorite things to do), so he kissed him quick and then backed up and laughed.  Ethan laughed because Caleb was laughing and then Caleb laughed because Ethan was laughing.  This went on for TWENTY minutes!

Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.  When Caleb gets really upset and begins to cry, Ethan will cry right along with him even though he doesn't know why he's crying.  If Caleb is so upset that he's throwing a temper tantrum and screaming, Ethan will get this high-pitched squeal and look at us like, "Do something to help my brother!"  Though absolutely endearing, it sure does make a bad situation worse!

Chuck E. Cheese's

Caleb was so excited when he earned a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's and out to Gringo's for lunch.  Mike and Kati asked Grandma Brandon to come over and watch Ethan so they could have some much needed one-on-one time with Caleb.   Aunt Amy was able to come with us which just added to Caleb's fun!  What a great day for him.

What kid doesn't ask to ride these ridiculous things at every grocery store?  It was great that Caleb got to ride several and they only took tokens!

This horse ride was a Kentucky Derby race and the horse actually moved a bit.  As you can see Caleb enjoyed it.

We arrived about 45 minutes after opening on a Friday and it was great!  We were the only ones in the place for a long time and it never did get crowded.  Amy went around when we first got there and collected all of the free tickets that the machines spit out when they're first turned on. 

Thanks Aunt Amy!!

Twice while we were there Chuck E. Cheese came to "gather" kids to dance this dance and then pick up free tickets that he threw out.  Caleb was SO CUTE trying to do the dance!  My musical son couldn't dance, but he learned a good portion of the song and was singing the song the rest of the day!

When Grandma Brandon asked what Caleb did one of the things he mentioned was, "Getting a picture with the REAL Chuck E. Cheese"! 

Caleb was pretending to be in Mary Poppins as he rode this ride.

I do not think the creators of this game had in mind for THREE people to play at one time trying to hit the targets!

Mike was phenomenal at this basketball game where the hoop kept moving.  He had that machine spitting out tickets left and right!  Kati preferred ski-ball though she was no where near as good!

Such concentration need to "whack a shark".

Momma and Caleb played a game of air hockey.  Not one of Caleb's favorites, so Aunt Amy and Dada took a turn during the same token time!

Like father, like son!

Mike did this "electrocution" game where you have to hang on to these metal joysticks as long as you can to rack up points.  Mike held on all the way to the top and then convinced Amy to have a try.  What a trooper!  She made it all the way to the top as well, but her poor hands were rather red afterward!

At the front there was a little blue screen where you could "be on TV".  Caleb really didn't understand what was happening and didn't really get into it and start dancing until Aunt Amy showed him how it worked!

They even had a little climbing structure with a tube slide.  What fun!

Caleb was a little short to pedal this bike and make it move up and down, so Daddy did it for him.  You should have seen those pedals fly!

After collecting the tickets they now have you feed them into a machine that counts them and gives you a receipt with your total on it.  (Let me tell you, this is WAY smarter than when I was a kid and you'd take your wad of tickets up to the prize counter!)  It even made a gulping sound like it was eating.  Just as fun as the games!

I completely forgot to take a picture of Caleb holding his prizes while we were there, so I had to have him do so another day!  Daddy suggested the CD since Caleb loves music so much (though I must tell you that with only five songs and only one that he wants to hear over and over, I almost have Homework memorized!)  Anyhow, Caleb was adamant that he had to have this bizarre rubbery chicken!  With its open mouth you can squeeze air out of it or place it over your finger and when you squeeze the bottom a fried egg squishes out and in (it's attached so you can do this over and over and over...)  Surprisingly, Caleb LOVES this chicken who has gone everywhere and done everything with Caleb lately.  Too gross!!

When all is said and done it was a fabulous outing!!  Cheaper than going to the movies and we even got worn out and have tokens left over for another time.  Caleb's already trying to plan when this will be!

Family Day

Our family is very unique in the fact that all of our birthdays fall in the month of February and all within 18 days of one another!  This if fun unless you consider the fact that we then have no one to celebrate the rest of the year.  So, we decided to create our own holiday!  The last Friday in July, right before Daddy goes back to work and school starts, is now officially "Family Day".  "What is Family Day?" you may ask.  Well, it is a day where we do something fun just the four of us, go out to eat somewhere special, exchange gifts, and spend the day enjoying each other and celebrating what a great family we have.  We started the first annual Family Day off right by decorating the house and getting ready for the festivities.

Daddy went and got us one of our favorite, special breakfasts-donuts and kolaches!  Yum!  We also ate breakfast in the living room so we could watch Mary Poppins together.  It was Caleb's first time watching the movie and he LOVED it.

Ethan was a good sport while the rest of us ate and played in his swing with his beloved football.

Sometimes he kicks so hard the whole swing shakes.  Yes, we've started belting him in now since he arches his back to reach up and touch the mobile birds.  So active!

One of the gifts Caleb picked out for Ethan was a stuffed crab.  It's name tag read "Caleb the Cute Crab" and when you squeeze one of its claws you can hear fun castanet music.  Ethan loves this toy.  Especially all the fun places to grab and chew.  Caleb thinks it especially funny when Ethan chews on one of the crab's eyeballs.

Dada and Momma got Caleb a fun lego set that he put together later that afternoon.

Though Momma and Dada got Ethan an adorable outfit to wear, he was much more excited to play (and try to chew) the tissue paper!

Ethan got Caleb a couple of books as well as a magnetic calendar so he can see what's coming up.  (Maybe he'll give his parents a little break asking us continually what we're going to do next, maybe!)

Some brotherly love!

The boys got Momma a new rug for the laundry room since our other one was disintegrating.

The boys gave Dada a new jig-saw so he can make new and fun projects.

Ah, to be content with just the packaging.  What an age to be!

Caleb enjoyed the packaging too, though not eating it.  He threw it up in the air all over the living room.

After Ethan's nap we headed over to the mall.  Neither of our boys have ever been to a mall before and it was a fun experience for both of them.  (We had to stick with an inside activity since Caleb was still getting over a VERY severe sunburn and couldn't be outside.)  Though this mall didn't really have a lot of fun stores for kids, it did have the Disney store and Build-a-Bear.  Both of which were really fun.  At lunch we ate at the food court.  Another first for Caleb, at least the first time when he remembers.  There were so many yummy choices to pick from.  We all decided to try out the Japanese food (which was yummy!)

Caleb even got a yummy drink!  A blueberry, pineapple smoothie.  Though it may not sound so good it was quite delicious!

Making wishes in the fountain was also fun.  Caleb wished for Chick-fil-A to be closer to our house so we could eat there ALL the time (I agree!) and another baby (nope!  not going to happen!)

Ethan REALLY enjoyed the mall as well!  There were so many fun things to see and so many people to look at.  He was fascinated with the food court ceiling.  Maybe it was the numbers of fan, the skylights, or the palm trees.  Whatever it was he had fun.

 Our mall has a little play area in it so kiddos can let off some energy after shopping with their parents.  The small climbing structures were really too young for Caleb, but since we had never been there before, the novelty made it fun.

What a cutie!

Back at home that evening Dada was pretending to sleep on Ethan which made Ethan giggle.  It also made Caleb laugh really hard.  And because Caleb thought it was funny Ethan thought it was even funnier!

Here's a little video of the fun!

This is Ethan's "happy laughing face".

We also spent time just playing with one another.  Here Caleb is giving Ethan a shoulder ride.  Not sure if Ethan liked the ride, or just liked grabbing Caleb's hair. 

Thank you, God for the gift of a wonderful family!  You have blessed us a hundred times over!!