Crafts with Papa H

Last night we made a spur of the moment decision to drive up and get something's from our old house and Grandma and Papa G's house.  Grandma and Papa H were kind enough to watch the kids for an hour while we loaded up.  When we got back this is what we found.

Papa H was making paper airplanes and snowflake patterns with Kayda, Dillon and occasionally even Carson.  They came home with probably eight airplanes.  I love when grandparents babysit and we come back to find them doing activities with the kids, even if it's just snuggle time.  Those bonding moments are priceless.

I forgot to add that Papa was very impressed with Kayda, she watched him make one and then was able to make one on her own, the only issue was that she wanted to fold two sides at once.

Grandma H's Creations

Last post today I promise!  Anyways.  Grandma H worked really hard to make a dress for Kayda (since Kayda LOVES them) and a vest for each of the boys.  Here are the pictures.

Gah! More Outside!

I didn't realize I had some outside pictures on the other camera and I couldn't possibly miss any pictures!!!  Having Dillon in preschool Tuesday-Thursday and Kayda at school Monday/Wednesday every other Friday has been wonderful.  It's hard in some ways, there is no consistency in the schedule but in others it has been wonderful.  While Kayda was going to school and Dillon wasn't he and Carson really started to form a bond.  Carson would follow him around everywhere and Dillon did an excellent job playing with him.  But as soon as Kayda and Dillon were together Carson was on the outs.  Now that there are two days a week with just Kayda and Carson they have really started to bond as well.  Carson adores his big sissy, she is a great big sister too.  She likes to help him eat and when he cries she'll go "It's okay Carson" in a high-pitched, just for babies, voice that adults do.  It's wonderful.  And though there are still days that the two big kids want to play on their own, it is becoming more and more frequent that he gets to play too.

Grandma and Papa G knew I was thinking of planting some fruit trees so when they found them for a really good price while out shopping they picked us up some.  For the longest time they looked like we took three sticks and stuck them in the ground! But here they are!  We didn't kill them!!!

 This is one of the cherry trees, either bing or rainier, I don't remember where I planted which.

 Here's the other cherry tree!

And the apple tree (fuji).  It has the coolest velvety leaves! (at least right now it does).  

Unfortunately we don't get to enjoy the fruit until a couple of summers from now, I've read that I'm supposed to pluck off blossoms for two years so that the roots can get really strong.  I've already had to pluck two blossoms off the first cherry tree I showed, of course it's the tree with the least foliage so it cracked me up that it's the one with flowers!

Dillon's Kindergarten Orientation

Yesterday was Dillon's kindergarten orientation.  Most of it was just information for the parents but they got to spend some time in with an actual kindergarten class.  They read a story, made rainbow fish and then sand a silly goldfish song.  Dillon was hesitant to get in on the action at first but in the end he had a great time.  He and I sat down an had an extended conversation about how kindergarten works.  Here they either go Monday, Wednesday every other Friday or Tuesday, Thursday every other Friday.  However, they offer a few classes that go Monday through Friday.  You have to enter your child's name into a lottery to get into it. I needed to know if that was something he wanted to do.  We talked about everything I could think of, the fact he wouldn't be with Mommy during the week, he would ride the bus to and from school every day with Kayda, he wouldn't see her at recess, etc.  He decided that he wanted to go the full week.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that.  It makes me sad to think I would barely see the older two during the week, that and I have no clue what to do alone with a (will be) two year old for five full days a week.  I'm not ready for Kayda to switch back to five days a week and now I may very well lose them both in the same year.  Despite my misgivings, we try really hard to make sure the kids feel like they get to make choices in their lives so his name has been entered into the lottery.  What is supposed to happen will happen I suppose, we'll find out the end of June.  Here are a few pictures from his orientation!

 Don't ask me what those kiddos are doing, the point is that Daddy was able to come down and be with Dillon on his big day!

 This little guy is pretty comfortable at this school, his preschool is right behind it and we ride our bikes here to play on the playground (Kayda is obsessed with the monkey bars).

 Coloring his fish!

Swimming like a fish for the goldfish dance!

Outside? Yes please!

The weather has been nice a lot lately.  Shorts and t-shirt sunny kind of weather.  So of course the kids have wanted to be outside.  Much to our chagrin Carson has figured out how to unlock and open the sliding glass door, I'll probably be purchasing a locking bar when we put the pool up...  Anyway, he is out there constantly; it doesn't matter to him if it's raining, cold or sunny.  Of course Kayda and Dillon have always been big fans of the great outdoors as well so I'll often see them all huddled up in the play fort or rummaging around in the sand pit that was once a shed foundation.  

 Carson has a fascination with all things noisy.  He doesn't like to listen to them unless he has the security of a grown up either snuggling him or close by.  Since moving here it has become a tradition for him to mow the lawn with Daddy.  He starts out in the backpack carrier and then this week started pushing the stroller around as if it was a lawn mower.  I think we may need to look into one of the toy lawn mowers...

 This morning is sunny and beautiful.  When I came downstairs from getting Carson, Kayda and Dillon were already outside playing.  So they got to have a breakfast picnic (a tea party according to Kayda).  They ate it all up and show no signs of returning inside.

We've actually found that since moving here our entire family is outside more.  We go on bike rides, walk to the river, walk around the neighborhood, hang out front while the kids ride bikes, hang out out back in the lawn chairs.  The is the first house we have felt a constant desire to be outside doing something.  It's wonderful! We are going to have three "beach bum" babies by the end of the summer, all natural blonde highlights and super tans!

Nicknames

Growing up I was never big on nicknames, some people called me Meg, Megs, or Meggers.  None of them ever really stuck.  I have always been Megan.  Daddy never really had a nickname either.  His given name was his name, end of story.  In our marriage we would rarely call each other anything other than our names or "Mommy" or "Daddy" for the kids.  Yet, somehow when it comes to our children there are not enough endearments.  Here is a list of all the endearments we have used for our kids throughout the years.

Sweetie

Sunshine

Munchkin

Monster

Stinker

Lovey

Lovebug

Bug

Sweetheart

Beautiful

Gummy Bear

Bugger

Buddy/Bud

Sweetie pie

Stud

Raccoon

Pixie
Gorgeous

Geez, I know there are more and yet somehow I'm drawing a blank.  This will have to be an evolving post!

Anyways, back to the point.  Even in all of that they still do not have what I would classify as "nicknames".  Kayda is Kayda, Dillon is Dillon.  But now there is a new development.  More and more frequently I am hearing Kayda and Dillon refer to Carson as "cars" not the word cars but carsss with the actual s sound, not the z sound of cars.  Daddy and I still call him Carson, but Kayda and Dillon are well on their way to giving him an actual nickname!

Thoughts from Papa H:

"When they were growing up, I used to call Brian “Bub” or Bubber”.  Not sure where that came from, but I was pretty consistent with it.

Even today I’ll occasionally catch myself wanting to call Brian “Bubber”.  And that’s always my first inclination with Dillon.

Now, I tend to call all my Grandsons, “Bud”, and my Granddaughters “Sweetie” or ”Sweets”.  But that’s more a reflection of an aging memory than a tradition!!!  J "

It's a Zipper Jama Kind of Day

Today is a very wet day.  The rain is coming down in big fat drops and it looks awfully gloomy outside.  It's the kind of day that you never really feel warm because everything looks cold!  Since no one has school today the kids are all in their zipper jamas!  I love that Kayda and Dillon still like to wear theirs!!!