Splash Park

We had to get up early today and take Colson to his 9 month appointment at 8:30 (yuck).  For me, that meant getting up at 6:20 so that I could shower and get both kids up, dressed, fed and out the door by 8.  On top of that I decided we'd make a whole morning out of our trip so I had to pack up swim stuff and Colson's bottles, food, etc. for the morning.  BUT, we did it and it was so worth it!  We were at the doctor's office 5 minutes early even!  According to our pediatrician, Colson is doing great.  He is 19 lbs. 11 oz. and 28 inches long, right around the 35th-40th percentile (where he's always been).  While we were there Colson was showing off his waving and tongue clicking tricks :)  After our appointment, I took the kids to McDonalds for some breakfast and to kill some time before the splash pool opened.  Livi and I ate and talked, Colson had a bottle and it was fun just doing that!  Then we headed to Morton for "Toddler Time" in the splash pool! 

Livi had tons of fun running around the little pool and going down the slides!  Colson even woke up to join in on the fun.  He was a little unsure at first (picture tears and clinging to me like a monkey).  BUT, he warmed up to it really quickly.  I let him stand between my knees for awhile and then I sat him down and showed him how to splash and he really got into it!  I have hope for vacation now-ha!  He really had a good time too : )  Wish I had some pictures of Colson, but I couldn't leave him in the water by himself!!  We all had a great morning together and we will definitely be participating again!!

Ready for the Lake!

Our vacation is in a little less than 2 weeks and Colson is ready!

Unfortunately, he still doesn't like the pool at this point...we shall see about the lake!

Playdate fun!

We had 2 fun playdates to finish out our week!  On Thursday we were supposed to have a pool party but the weather was TERRIBLE, cold and rainy.  So we went to Monkey Joes with our friends instead.  After playing we went to Avanti's for lunch.  The kids had a good time, but our swim party would have been so much fun :(  Hopefully we can re-schedule soon!

On Friday the kids and I met Kristin and Lizzie at Bradley park.  It was FINALLY a nice day!  There were very few other kids at the park when we got there and the girls had a great time just running and playing.

This boy loves the swings!

Best Friends

After playing we went to Cold Stone to get some yummy ice cream.  When we left, Lizzie asked me if I could drop her off at her house in "hinda" :)  Too funny!  We love summer playdates and I hope the weather gets better so we can have some more summer fun outside!

9 months (+1 week)!

Colson you are 9 months old! 

You seemed to have gotten so much older this last month!  You have learned to clap and you are army crawling like a mad man.  You especially love cords and will pull yourself across the floor so fast to get to them :)  You get up on your hands and knees, but one of your legs usually gets stuck and you drop to your belly.  Pretty soon you'll really be on the move! 

Still no teeth yet, but you eat everything in sight!  Your favorite food right now is probably graham crackers-Papa gives you the ones with cinnamon and sugar, but momma just has the plain ones.  You still eat baby food for 3 meals/day, but at supper time you have a little bit of whatever we are eating.  You have around 4 bottles/day. 

You are still sleeping really good right now.  You get up anytime after 7, usually before 7:30 and you are ready for a nap by 8:30-9 most days.  You wake up around 10:30 and then we play a bit before lunch.  You are usually ready for your second nap by 1:30.  Afternoon nap is usually about an hour and a half, sometimes longer if mommy is having a lucky day!

You make lots of sounds...ga-ga, ba, and ma-ma.  When you see the dogs you kick your feet and say, ga-ga-ga!  When you throw something, you say ba!  I think you are saying ball!  You only say mama when you want something that you aren't getting, usually to be picked up :)  No "real" words yet though.

I'm not sure what you weigh right now, your 9 month doctor's appointment is next week.  You wear 6-12 month or 9 month clothes mostly.   You love to play with your toys.  The "gumball machine" and your race car track are your 2 favorite.  You have figured out to push the button on the gumball machine to make the balls come out, you are so smart.  One of your most favorite things to do is pull Alyvia's hair out...and then try to eat it!  You still love everything about Alyvia and she gets so excited when you do something new :)

Everyone we encounter always says what a happy guy you seem to be, and you really are!  We love you so much Colson!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend!  We started off Friday evening heading up to Heritage Days in town.



Livi was pumped!!  She talked  yelled all the way up to the park :)  Once we got there, she was ready to ride!

This girl is afraid of NOTHING!  Alan and I aren't sure where she got that because we can't hack any rides!

And this cutie was content to ride along in his stroller...as long as we were moving, ha!



We hung out with Mamaw and Papaw a bit, had a funnel cake (yummy!) and then headed home.  On Saturday I left early to get my hair cut and colored (finally) and then that afternoon we headed to The Warrior Dash-crazy fun!  Today was our typical, busy Sunday family day-it turned out to be a great day though.  This morning we went to my parents house for Snyder family breakfast and we had a great turnout!  We got to meet sweet baby Joseph and hang out with family.  Colson was a little crabby because he missed his morning nap.  Wish I had gotten some pictures of the little kids, but I forgot to get my camera out :(  We left there around 11 and came home because Alan's family was coming here for lunch.  Andy, Carol, Adam, Grandma Alice, Aaron, Kelly, Kinsley and baby Brenner came to our house.  It was the first time we met baby Brenner!  He slept the whole time though (good baby!) and nobody got to hold him, which was disappointing-maybe next time.   We hung around home for a couple hours in the afternoon and then went back to my parents for dinner. 

We all had a nice weekend together.  It's been a long time since we have had a weekend without work and we needed it! 

Finally, Happy Father's Day to my dad and to my husband!  My kids are lucky to have a daddy that not only loves them so much, but loves being around them and spending time with them.  He's a wonderful dad to them and they love him very much!

Warriors!!

Today Anne and I completed the "Warrior Dash".  To quote the website "Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell"!!  It was 3.25 miles of crazy running in mud, up hills, through creeks and completing crazy obstacles (most which involved lots of climbing up walls).  It was so much fun to do with Anne!  She got me to sign up in January and I started training (for the running part) in March.  I'm proud to say I've lost 10 lbs since I've started running, a feat I've never done before.  I can normally run 3 miles in just over 30 minutes now and I feel so much better about myself.  I don't love the running, but I do love how I feel after!  Back to the race...Anne, Alan, my mom, Alyvia and I left our house in the afternoon for a farm in Channahon, where the race was (Colson stayed home with Mamaw).  There were waves of participants that started every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  So many people!

Gas station off the Interstate exit welcoming us!

Livi and I before the race-she spent the whole week telling me she didn't want me to race, I still don't know why!

Before

Coming out of the woods where we just climbed up a really steep, muddy hill

The last climbing obstacle-there were so many!

Fire-jumping!

Mud crawling (me on left in front, Anne on right in pink tank top)

After

Warriors!!  Helmets and all!

The littlest warrior :)

I had so much fun!  I plan to continue running and need to find my next race to motivate me!

Swim Lessons

We signed Alyvia up for swim lessons last Thursday and she has been so excited!  Today was our first day.


All ready to go with "her swim bag"





It could have been a warmer day to go to the pool. It rained this morning and when the sun finally did come out it was only in the low 70's. 

Before lessons-wrapped in a towel already!

The water was chilly to say the least.  Liv was such a trooper though and I think her excitement kept her in the water most of the time.   Nicole, Reagan and Maggie are the teachers for the class.   Ryan, Katelynn and Haley from Punkin' Patch are in her class-so that's fun that she knows some of the kids!

She was a popsicle by the end of the 40 minutes.  She did great though and was one of 3 kids that actually seemed to enjoy the lesson.  Hopefully Thursday will be much warmer!

Summer Fun!

The kids and I had a great day!  Livi wanted to do something and this afternoon was beautiful so we took a walk to the park and to the ice cream place in town.  Livi rode her tricycle all the way!

We went to the park first and played

She's so funny!

Cutie baby boy loves to swing!

Silly girl-she climbed in and we had a hard time getting her out!

We were there about 10 minutes before Livi had to go potty so we had to go all the way back home :(  We decided to head to Polar Bear for ice cream next.  We got a chocolate cone and ate it in the park.

After ice cream we came home and tried to take naps....that part of the day could have gone better!  We had a fun day together though.  I love living in town where we can do these things, but not have to actually get in the car and go anywhere.  I'm looking forward to having a lot more of these days this summer!



"Fairy" tired