Lazy Days at Lake L'Homme Dieu

Five. Yup that's how many days we enjoyed at the lake this year. Five. Amazing. Beautiful. Days. We usually wind up bringing some pretty awful weather with us whenever we attempt to vacation at Auntie Cheryl's lake cabin. In fact last time we were there we experienced sustained winds over 40 mph for pretty much 2 days straight, even through the night. Joyful. We couldn't have asked for better weather this year.

The trip down last summer was kind of rough. Neither of the kids particularly enjoyed being in their carseats longer than an hour or two, so much of the time found Mama squished in the back seat between the itty bitties, desperately trying to keep them both from fussing/crying/threatening mutiny. This year, much more entertaining for all, well maybe not for Ky! 

Some of the highlights from this year's festivities include:

Daddy and Kyle time

Trips to the lake bring a million first time experiences to the lives of our itty bitties, not all of them pleasant. Our little mister had his first dose of heat exhaustion and was sick for one evening. Not even a brief episode of dehydration and the pukes held him back for long though. Not when there are so many pish to be caught! It's not hard to smile when you outfish every one else on the dock!

  A HUGE change from last year's reaction to catching those pish:

  Yes, the favorite wellow hat survived the previous year to make a return trip to the lake!

Babies in sun hats (kinda makes me wish we lived some where tropical, sigh)

Helping Papa man the boat.....

and scout for icebergs!

No trip to the lake would be right if we didn't have at least a little bad weather. Fortunately this year the icky stuff came at night. Auntie Cheryl decided that at 3 years old, Kyle was more than man enough to help clean up after the storm and earn his keep!

You might not guess this to be true, but being related to a dinosaur genius (a.k.a. Cousin Heidi) comes in handy at the most random times. One might think that the discovery of a small stash of dinosaur toys would delight a 3 year old boy to no end, but alas just doing the "dinoswar stomp" with his new found treasures was not enough for Kylesaurus Rex. BTW, when little boys who love to watch "Dinosaur Train" on PBS ask you to name the dinosaurs, they are not impressed when you tell them Larry, Moe, and Curly. I quickly uploaded a picture of the dinos in question to Facebook, hoping that Heidi would see it, and behold, within 1 minute the following conversation ensued:

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Itty Bitty Sports

Kyle has joined the world of big time athletes! The YMCA offers sports programs for kids 3-5 years old and this month Kyle is exploring a future career as a soccer player or a baseball player. The life lessons I learned from this experience include:

1. Even if your Daddy and Papa are both well over 6' tall, at 3 years old you still may be one of the smallest kids on the team

2. While Kyle may have unbelievable coordination and balance for his age, some other skills have much room for improvement ie: standing in line, waiting his turn (I think the coaches had to draw straws every session to see who needed to keep one hand on Kyle at all times to keep him semi restrained attentive)

3. It is possible for a child to "do their own thing" and not really interfere with any one else's fun

4. Teen age girl coaches take their jobs much more seriously than teen age boy coaches. I feel comfortable stating this as pure fact due to many (ok, mainly 2) factors. Firstly, I was a teen age girl who worked with teen age boys. And lastly, in typical teen boy fashion, 2 of the coaches not only laughed at Kyle as took laps around the gym kicking a soccer ball/running the bases while the other kids patiently waited their turns, they gave him high 5s and threw/kicked the ball back to him 95% of the time. While I failed to catch the instigators in the act, I'll leave this picture up to your interpretation.

 5. If your child is small, but super fast, takes 10 turns at hitting/kicking/throwing the ball/running the bases for every one turn the rest of the kids take, and super-cute, all 5 teen aged coaches will remember his name after the first practice.

6. Kyle's belly button either contains magical powers, or else is the residing place of the little elf that told him to run like a wild man

 At first Miss Em was not impressed with the talent displayed by this particular group of preschoolers

However after a reminder that many of these athletes were just learning the basics of the sport, she quickly turned from critic to cheerleader

The one thing I can say about Kyle is that when he plays, he gives it all he's got. Ever since he learned that running was fun, even if it is just a 3 foot sprint to get the cheerio off the floor before Emily, he has run like this:

Arms pumping, knees high and almost always with a face of pure determination!

Here is a video clip in which Kyle and his accomplices demonstrate pretty much everything mentioned above and encompasses the Spring Session 2011 of Itty Bitty Sports for little Kyle:

In the end fun was had by all. We'll see if Kyle gets to break in a whole new set of coaches next Spring.

Bike riding

When Kyle turned 2 we got him a little red wagon so we could go for walks around the neighborhood. It was the deluxe model with two seats, cup holders, and most importantly, seat belts.

He loved riding around in that thing. Of course he brought everything but the kitchen sink on our evening strolls, and once he learned he could throw things out of the wagon and Mama and Daddy would have to chase down the ball, or run back for the paint brush every time, well then the fun just exponentially multiplied. Mama loved it too, for a different reason:

After all, one of the main reasons to have children is for slave labor, right? Even though I loved the ride, letting little Kyle out of the wagon was a big mistake. Just like so many other things in life, once kids learn something new, there is no returning to the old. Once Kyle realized what it was like to walk instead of ride it was like trying to throw a cat in water any time we tried to put him in the wagon. So this year he got a bike for his birthday.

Being the fashionable 3 year old boy that he is, Kyle insisted on a helmet that would make a statement. The statement he chose is "get out of my way or I will eat you!"

We started out with some coaching.....

....a little hands on help.....

....added pure determination....

a few more instructions....

..and we have a rider!

Emily demonstrated her fashionability too, and we ended up with a picture reminiscent of one taken when Kyle was a baby

Emily 2011

Kyle 2009

Twins!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Three years ago today, at 11:12 p.m. we welcomed an 8 lb. 6 oz., 21 1/2 inch long "little" baby boy into our lives

It was this moment that changed me, made me Mama for the rest of my life. In the weeks and days leading up to your arrival we could never know how naturally you would fit right in. Within moments we couldn't remember what life was like without you.

In this moment Travis also changed, becoming Daddy for the rest of his life. You brought out a tender compassion in him that I had never seen before. Priorities changed and you gave both of us a new reason for living.

My darling boy, you are strong and brave, silly and full of laughter, learning new things every day. I always know when I say a word or a phrase that you don't understand because you repeatedly say "what, Mama?". The moment that I finally explain it in a way that you understand is clear because you simply say "oh" and continue on with whatever you were doing.

You are brilliant and inquisitive beyond all belief. Somewhere inside of you is stored an boundless energy, and you would live outside if we let you.

You get your love of being around other people from Daddy, and delight in saying "hi, guy" to the random passer by, giggling with pure happiness when they say "hi" back. You are always willing to help, and I love that you want so much to be doing what ever Mama and Daddy are doing.

We know that all too soon the day will come when you will want your space and independence, making these moments even more precious.

You are a loving big brother, accepting Emily into your life like she's always been there. Already you are her protector and her tormentor, maybe even her biggest fan, often saying "I love my Elowee" 

You own a huge piece of my heart, sweet boy, and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to love you and have your love in return. I will always be here to kiss your boo boos and while I may not be able to fix all your hurts, know that I will do what I can to help you through them.

Happy birthday Kylesaurus Rex, today we celebrate you!

Construction woes and giggles

Kyle's fascination with tractors has been ongoing since he was old enough to point and grunt "oo, oo, oooo" whenever he saw one. Our neighborhood is pretty much a construction zone with houses going up on all sides of us. Since moving in to this house Kyle has spent countless hours like this:

Both kids are very heavy sleepers (thank you Jesus!) so the various crashes, bangs and seemingly endless cacophony of living in a construction zone rarely disrupts nap time. Except for today. I have no idea what was so different about the sounds eminating from the new house next door, but Kyle would not go to sleep. Not even for a nano-second. Most of us know what if feels like to be sleep deprived, but maybe you've never thought of what it may look like. Until now. By 5:00 Kyle was bouncing rapidly between every emotion nameable including whiny and completely distraught/inconsolable to giddy. One second he was throwing himself on the floor to bury his face in his Bobo and the next he was doing things like this:

 

and then there was this:

That would be a pajama shirt on his legs and pajama pants on his head. Of course this was one of the nights when Daddy had a meeting after work and so needless to say by 8:00 both kids were in their pajamas and we were cruising the streets in the Pilot. It worked like a charm and within half an hour we were all back home, the itty bitties both off in dream land.