Thursday, August 25, 2011

weekend

Weekends are wonderful.  Having my husband/best friend around all day long is far preferable to not.

On Friday night I snuck some photos of Bob sleeping.  When he was littler I did that all the time, but now it's pretty rare.  But I do still go in to check on him and often stare at him for a long time every night before I go to bed.  Because he will not stay this size forever, I know.  And I know also that he won't be this mine forever.  One day he'll be off living his own life instead of sleeping safely in his crib... and so I feel the strong urge to just soak up this tiny precious person whom God has entrusted to me for the short time I have, and to kiss his baby hand, and pray for his little life -- every single night.



I took a couple with the flash just to get the whole picture (note that this particular night bubbs insisted on sleeping with that foam ball).  Notice the huge difference between the photos above and those below?  Here's a free photography tip for you: turn off your flash.  Almost all the time.  Flash completely overwhelms all of the real light and makes everything look all... flashy.  You can always brighten up the photo a little with editing software if you need to.


Saturday morning we got up early thanks to bob but started the day at a nice leisurely pace.  Ate cereal for breakfast.  Played some sports outside, also thanks to Bob and his need for basketball at 8am.  He's been pretty into football lately, too.













Some aspects of living in a 4-unit house with other people's children surrounding us (7 of them to be exact) can be, as you'd imagine, a tad bit annoying.  But the good thing is that all the kiddos have toys they leave round the yard (which actually is also annoying now that i mention it)... but the point is that it works out nicely for Bob, because he gets to play with all sorts of things that aren't his.



When Bob was ready for naptime we decided to pack him up in the car and take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Saratoga to see some horse races.

We stopped for gas and water and i couldn't resist a shareable size package of peanut m&m's.  So bob got a few.  And it was very disgusting, but very funny how happy those five tiny candies made our boy.


The horse races were fun.  There was a playground that bob got to play on (he narrowly escaped death by marco polo but did survive).  Bobby loved seeing the horses race past and cheering along with the crowd; the whole thing was very exciting.



Also exciting was drinking fresh-squeezed way-too-sugary lemonade from a huge cup.  I was pretty excited about it too, until I drank enough to make me sick to my stomach.


That's it for photos, except for these cool bike racks we saw on our way out of town.


On the way back we stopped for some ice cream...




At the Dairy Bar was a much better playground, which Bob had all to himself and totally loved.






He could have stayed forever, but alas we had to go home.  A super fun Saturday, just the three of us.

On Sunday we headed out the opposite directions to spend the afternoon at Tiny Gram's.  My Aunt Suzette and cousin Mary Jo and all their kiddos were there.  We swam in the lake.  We ate good food.  We spent time with family.  And I pretty much failed at taking pictures.



I didn't even get a picture of the boys together really, except this one where bob has his back turned.  At least you can get the size comparison: damien is just three weeks older but he's a good three-quarters of a head taller.


Of course weekends must end.  But weekdays are good, too.  Because, obviously, there's no looking forward to the weekend without the week.  Sometimes the week is smooth sailing.

Yesterday was pretty darn cute.  I drove Ben to work at 6:30 so that I'd have the Jeep, got back to Gram's and crept quietly into the attic where Bobby appeared to be sleeping, and slipped back in bed.  A couple of seconds later I heard him roll over, and then, "Hey, Mom!  Hi!  Hi, Mom!" in the happiest voice imaginable.  As much as I wanted to go to back to sleep, it's not so bad getting up early when baby guy is so cheerful.  Later on we went to the pool (always a plus to the day).  Then last night Bobby was inspired to jump off the bed onto the floor (it's not far), which made him super proud of himself.  He was having so much fun he didn't want to stop, but finally I made him turn off the light, then he proceeded to freak out because he wanted to keep jumping, so I let him go for it one more time.  He climbed back onto the bed, crept to the edge, then changed his mind and climbed back down and went back to the light and said, "Bebber turn it back on."  Couldn't argue with that.  Jumping off the bed in the dark does seem a bit dangerous.

But some days are filled with a little less cuteness and a little more whining.  Today baby guy got up early and cranky, which is far worse than early and cheerful, and I woke up even crankier and more tired than he was.  Gram had a very rough day.  And Bailey was here, being super cute but refusing to nap and making messes in every room.

But... tomorrow is Friday!  And then the weekend again.

This time I think I'm going to need to sleep through the whole thing.

Monday, August 22, 2011

jumping in

Yesterday we went to my Tiny Gram's for the afternoon and got in some much-needed water time.

Swimming has definitely been Bob's and my favorite activity of the summer.  Except normally we go during the week while Ben's at work.  So it was extra fun that we could all be together.  And also I liked that my backup photographer (that would be ben) was there to get some shots of bob's awesome jump.

Our boy is so darn brave in the water it's amazing.  And that makes me hopeful that he'll keep on being brave through everything in life.

Also my face in all these pictures is absolutely ridiculous.  I'm either counting "1, 2, 3, jump!" or giving bob my super excited you-are-crazy-and-oh-so-brave look, or I'm beaming with a huge smile because my little son just makes me so happy.








That's prolly the most ridiculous face of all... I think I like that one a little better with me cropped out.







As soon as bob woke up at 7 this morning he was begging, "go swimming in lake."  Oh dear... what are we going to do when summer's over?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Happy birthday to me + last weekend's camping trip

Sunday was my birthday.  27.  Late thirties.  Yuck.  Still, it was lovely.

With choruses of "Happy birthday, momma," coming from my little one all day, how could it not be?



Went to church.  Skipped out a little early because Bob was losing it (we still haven't succeeded in getting him to stay in the nursery).

Went to the Dakota for brunch.  So so so delicious.  Omelets made to order, bacon, sausage, potatoes, belgian waffles and pancakes, breads and pastries, fresh fruit, ham and roast beef, smoked and peppered fishes, chocolate fountain... I could go on but I won't.  Bobby's at a great age for taking to restaurants nowadays, especially buffet style, because he can put down a ton of food but he still eats for free.





Tried to go to the Pow Wow and failed -- the drive was just a few minutes too long and bob fell asleep in his car seat, plus we didn't have a single dollar of cash on us and geniuses that we are didn't consider the idea that we might need some.

So we went home, and just hung out for the afternoon.  Ben and I relaxed and enjoyed watching Bobby act like a crazy midget running all over the house with every type of ball imaginable and jumping from the coffee tables to the couches.





Then we went to my mom's for dinner expertly prepared by tom, followed by cheesecake for dessert.  Mom, I've told you a hundred times, but your cheesecake is the greatest on earth.  And this was perhaps the best yet.  I think I'm going to go have the last piece for breakfast right now.


"cut it in half like grandmother"


Mmm that was so good.

Last weekend we went camping.  For the most part I don't really feel like talking about it but I do have a few pics...

saturday morning


very happy to be back on his tractor... 

... and to reunite with his pup 



chillax-in-the-tent-while-it-pours time 


blankie lover






sunday morning tiny frog on tent 

crab apples in the morning after lots of rain 




Best part of the trip: Saturday it pretty much rained all day.  (That's not the best part, but I'm getting to it.)  Chloe and Mason had been begging everyone for toad rides (that's the six-wheeler) so I finally gave in, but then the minute we drove away, it started really pouring.  We were drenched before we crossed the first field.  But since we were already wet I figured we may as well keep going, so I took them on the back trail that follows the telephone lines over the hill, then across the neighbor's fields and ours, then down to the pond.  All the while we were screaming as we raced through trees and tall grass with rain stinging our faces but we didn't even care because it was just so exciting.  And I kept screaming things like, "This is CRAZY!" just to get them more riled up and the looks of pure joy on their faces plus their cries of "You are the best auntie!" made the whole trip more than worthwhile.  And then I said (since by this point we were almost completely soaked through from head to toe anyway), "Wanna jump in the pond with all our clothes on?"  And of course they did.  So we jumped in (well, Chloe jumped, then I pushed Mason, then I jumped) and actually the water felt warm compared to how chilly we already were so we jumped in a few more times before we went to ask Grandma Kay for fresh towels and returned to the campsite to dry up.  And on the way back, of course Mason had to jump in one more time.  I sure do love those two kiddos, and I love to give them fun memories to hold onto.

chloe, bobby, mason, and "fih-fie," a fishing lure chloe gave to bob and he played with for days straight
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...