Lauren got new slippers. Her old ones were squishing her toes! She picked these out. I like them because the strap in the back will allow for quite a bit of growth. They are a size 9-11! She is an 8 1/2 right now and they are a tad big but I bet they fit her for at least 2 years. She wanted the matching robe too but I doubt she will use it much, it probably won’t fit her as long, and it was $44! Who spends that on a robe for a 3 year old? Still need to get some slippers for Carter. I’m thinking these bear slippers.

We went blueberry picking…again! We wanted to try a different farm so on a day that wasn’t a great pool day, and we were watching Lauren’s friend, we tried out The Big Apple in Wrentham. They had WAY more blueberries left on their bushes than Tangerini’s farm did.

We celebrated my birthday by going to Cracker Barrel in Wrentham. The kids LOVE rocking in the rocking chairs outside. Then, rather than going to get my present (I’ll be getting my new sneakers hopefully this weekend)…

…instead of me getting the big gift of the day, Lauren got her “big girl bed”! She had not been sleeping well in her toddler bed the past few weeks. Ever since saying “goodbye” to her bears on July 1, she has been taking a variety of stuffed animals to bed with her. In fact she began taking as many stuffed animals to bed with her that she could fit in her bed (not unlike her mother did at her age)! It was getting to the point that she wasn’t sleeping well because she kept rolling over her animals and waking up! Finally one day she came in our room crying and saying that she simply didn’t fit in her bed anymore and needed a bigger one! We had bought the headboard, foot-board, and frame when she was a baby (it matched the rest of the furniture in her room and the company was going out of business so we had to buy it then) and had been storing it in my parents’ basement. So we had them bring it over and we bought her a boxspring, mattress, sheets and comforter (as well as Carter’s coordinating comforter for his future full size bed since they share a room). Their shams are on order because, of course, she had to have their names on them! I got her the bed skirt later that week but I’m still deciding on curtains or I would have posted pictures of the finished room. I’ll post the finished room when it is finished. She is so big now!

Here she is in her crib (8 mo.), her last nap in her crib and her first night in her toddler bed (2 yrs. 3 mo.)! Carter will stay in the baby cage crib as long as I can keep him there although he is itching to get in that toddler bed! I did score the LAST coordinating toddler comforter in a PBK store in the country! Apparently they are no longer carrying them in the stores, just online, so any left in the stores were marked down to $19.99 from $59.99! I found the LAST ONE in any store at a store in NJ and they are shipping it to me! Yay!

I accidentally forgot the extra car seat in the Jetta one hot afternoon so we were not able to go t the pool. And because our back deck was being renovated, we couldn’t play in the back yard! So we ended up moving the picnic table, water table, and kiddie pool to the front yard for a swim and a picnic.

We had a play date with some of my co-workers and their kids. 7 babies were born in my school the year Carter was born! Lauren was quite the big girl at the gathering.

We took the train into Boston one morning to ride the famous Swan Boats and splash around in the Frog Pond. It was Carter’s first train ride and the kids had a blast on the train. Cousin Addison and Paul met us at the Swan Boats. Unfortunately, Paul didn’t pack a bathing suit for Addison so we had to scratch the Frog Pond for the playground at the Common. Then we got lunch and headed home. Carter fell asleep on the way back to the train station. Lauren fell asleep in the stroller on the train while watching TV on my phone!

Johnny made a HUGE pot of his chili. This is a lobster pot. When finished he divided it into individual servings. It came out to 32 servings! He should be set for about 4-6 months. It’s too spicy for me and I still have some of mine in the freezer. When I run out, he will make me a batch almost as big, just not soo spicy!

Lauren has been taking swimming lessons at Sher-Le-Mon all summer. Although she would spend hours happily splashing around in the kiddie pool, getting her in the big pool with her teacher during lessons was a battle that included tears, clinging, and me having to just pick her up and hand her over while she screamed! One day though, she was the only 1 of the 5 in her class that showed up and having that one private lesson was a huge breakthrough for her. She is now excited for her lessons, never cries, puts her whole face and head in the water to blow bubbles, jumps off the side into the pool without holding on to anyone…and is just at the cusp of doing doggie paddle and swimming underwater without the noodle or someone holding her! She is so motivated to get better at it now so I’m really sad summer is winding down. I do have her signed up for lessons at the Y starting mid-September so hopefully she won’t lose the progress she’s made and she’ll keep getting better over the winter and spring. I’m hoping for more advanced lessons next summer and swim team when she’s 5! The video is not her best work but it is a huge improvement over the tears….and the best video I got while chasing Carter!

So, that’s what we’ve been up to these last few weeks. Lauren has her last swimming lesson today. Then we start the summer wind-down and the school year gear-up.

Saturday morning was the best kind of weekend morning there is. We slept in (which for us is 7:00!) and had a lazy morning watching cartoons, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, and just hanging out. I did notice that we seemed to be down one baby bird. Seems that one of the babies learned to fly and was gone! I was a bit sad but still had two babies to watch so I was okay. I really wanted to be on the deck when they took off for the first time.

By the time we finally got moving we decided we would take a ride down to the beach in RI. We were going to go to Newport but stopped in Jamestown instead to walk around Beaver Tail. Then we went for a late lunch at Chopmist Charlie’s because Johnny wanted fried clams. The restaurant was quite yummy. Johnny really liked the clams, I had an awesome salmon BLT, and the kids had some stuff of the really nice kids menu. After walking around the water a little more after lunch, we stopped back in Narragansett and went to Brickley’s for some ice cream. They make their waffle cones fresh and they are awesome! We got home in time to take baths and put the kids to bed. Then Johnny and I watched our favorite new summer show, Boston Med, on the DVR. Great Saturday.

Early Sunday morning I went and checked on my bird friends and we were down to 1! I couldn’t believe I missed the second bird taking off! That was at 6:45AM. By the time the kids were up at 7:30 and we went to check on him again, he was gone! I missed it! Now we have an empty nest. I feel for all the parents sending their babies off to college this fall.

After breakfast we headed over to Gillette Stadium to watch the Patriots Training Camp practice. That was fun. Then we took the kids through the Patriots Experience. There were about 10 bouncy houses of various shapes for the kids to jump through. Lauren LOVES bouncy houses so I thought she’ really love this. She didn’t. The number of kids freaked her out as did the fact that most of them were bigger than her and she didn’t know any of them. So what I thought would be a blast, was a bust. Oh well, next year I bet she’ll love it as she’ll be bigger and Carter will be big enough to go in with her. After lunch and naps we headed over to SLM for a dip in the pool. It was a Family Fun day so there was a lot going on. We especially enjoyed watching the big splash contest and Lauren found 14 cents in the coin search!!!

Here are a few more pictures from our weekend:

When we arrived I put Carter in the ergo and we went exploring the farm. What a nice farm! We met a young lady who works there and she gave us a tour. She showed us all sorts of plants, the CSA pick-up (and gave me info about the fall share which I may buy into), the ice cream shop and store (where she got us a container for our berries), the chickens, rooster, and goats, the little kids’ hay maze and play area, and of course, the blueberry bushes. It was hard to peel Lauren and Carter away from the animals and play area but after playing for a bit, we headed over to the blueberries and started picking.

Most of the berries were pretty small but we sampled a few and they were nice and sweet, not too tart. Lauren quickly got the message that after sampling a FEW we had to put all of the berries we picked into our bucket and pay for them before eating them. Carter on the other hand, didn’t quite get that message. He put one in the bucket for every 5 he ate! He probably ate about a quarter of a cup of blueberries and kept saying, “Mmmmm, yummmy” with each bite! I made sure the girl who rang them up at the end added on a few ounces to make up for what Carter ate in the field! The kids had a blast running up and down the rows of blueberries, picking a few as they went. They also had fun running around the hydrangeas smelling flowers. They burnt off a lot of energy.

On our way back to the store, we stopped and played in the kids area for a little while longer. Carter kept saying, “Hi goats” and, “Hi chickens” and was loving sitting in the tractor. Lauren had a blast chasing the rooster and making friends with the couple of other kids that were there. Inside the store we paid for our blueberries and bought some fresh tomatoes for homemade sauce to go with my homemade meatballs for dinner tonight, a huge zucchini for a zucchini bread, and a huge cucumber. I was tempted to buy a dozen fresh eggs as well but I just bought some the other day at the store so I’ll buy eggs from the farm next time we run out. There is nothing better that fresh produce straight from the farm. We will be going back there quite often.

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

The longer Johnny lived out in the burbs though, the worse his allergies got so by our third spring, we were not sleeping with the windows open very often. In fact the AC goes on at the first hint of hot weather or humidity and generally stays on until we need to switch over to heat in the fall. No open windows meant we no longer heard the birds’ construction.

Last spring, seemingly overnight, a mom and dad bird built a nest and mom laid her eggs. Because it is up so high, we can’t actually see into the nest but mom sat there for weeks and hardly ever moved so we were sure there were eggs in there. It was quite an amazing sight when they hatched a few weeks later and these tiny, weird looking baby birds with no feathers, closed eyes, and huge heads and beaks appeared. Lauren LOVED checking on them every morning and so did I. In fact, several weeks after they hatched, when they finally learned to fly and left the nest, I was quite sad that they were gone. One day they were there, the next, gone…and that was that.

The empty nest remained until Lauren’s class was studying nature in March. Johnny carefully removed the nest (if you saw where it was and how that window opens, you’d be pretty impressed that he got it down in one piece and didn’t fall out the second story window while doing so), placed it in a large ziplock bag, and sent it to preschool. We were expecting the birds to return, as they have every year, around May/June to build again. Well, they started a construction project late May but must have run out of funds because they abandoned the project before it was completed! We thought we were out of luck and I was bummed because I really thought Lauren would enjoy watching the process again.

Suddenly though, in early July, they completed the project it haste (it is quite a messy nest this year) and there mama bird sat once again. I was so excited. Interestingly though, it is Carter who is most excited about the baby birds. He looks for them every time he comes in our room and likes to say, “nuh-night birdies” and “Hi birdies!” to the them before and after his nap each day. Unfortunately for us, the eggs must have hatched around the time we left for NH  and boy are they growing FAST. When we got home Saturday night, 3 babies were already just peaking over the top of the nest and were all head and beak with no feathers, and by today, they already look like they are getting ready to fly! They practically don’t FIT in the nest anymore and I’m so worried one of them will fall out! Each afternoon while the kids nap, I sit on the back deck with my book or laptop and listen and watch as they go nuts every time mom and dad return with some food. It is so interesting to watch. Soon though, they will leave. I hope I’m out there to see it this time although, whether I watch them leave or not, there will be a little hole in my heart until mama bird returns next spring to build a new nest!

I didn’t always remember to bring my camera out with me so I only have a few. These were taken either outside from the deck and zoomed in a lot on my crappy point and shoot, or through the window with a glare off the glass. The link to the video is short. Mom and Dad had come by with food so I grabbed the camera hoping to catch them feeding the babies. Unfortunately though, the camera spooked them and they didn’t come back until I put the camera away!

P.S. Shortly after publishing this I was sitting on the back deck once again (without my camera) when one parent bird returned with something in it’s mouth to feed to the babies. It was huge but due to the angle, I couldn’t really tell what it was…probably a bug of some sort. Well, as the parent gave it to the baby and flew away I noticed the baby was having a hard time swallowing it. Then I realized it was a baby toad!!! Ewwww…nature, while very interesting, can gross me out! The baby did manage to get it down although I almost lost MY lunch!

Before our trip to NH I picked up a handful of books on CD at the library, one of which was Toy Story. I thought she would recognize Woody and be interested in the story. To my surprise, she wasn’t. At first she told me it was a “boy” story and she didn’t want to hear it. When I finally convinced her to listen to it she decided she  just wanted to listen to it without looking at the book. Well, without the pictures, I think she had a hard time visualizing toys she wasn’t familiar with and had difficulty with the concept of the toys coming alive when the people are out of the room. She ended up just tuning it out after a few minutes.

When we returned home, coincidentally Toy Story had just arrived via Netflix. So Sunday evening we decided to hold our first Family Movie Night! This would be only the second full length movie Lauren has ever seen (we let her watch Finding Nemo a few weeks ago when she hadn’t napped well and was super crabby). I went and picked up our favorite pizza from Franklin Flatbreads. We spread a blanket on the living room floor, and we enjoyed a pizza picnic while watching Toy Story. After dinner, she got cozy with her sleeping bag and pillow.

Seeing the movie and having us there to help her understand the toys-coming-alive part was very helpful for Lauren. She has decided it is not just a “boy” story. She was totally transfixed and laughed out loud and asked several questions for clarification. Carter on the other hand, enjoyed making a mess with his pizza and running around the house whenever he got the urge! He only watched a total of about 15 minutes…in 30 second bursts!  There are a handful of other movies I think are appropriate for Lauren that I think I’ll add to my Netfix que although I think we’ll keep Family Movie Night to a monthly event for now. She’s currently very interested in Cinderella since we visited her at Story Land last week but I’m not ready to go fall into the trip of “Princessville” so I think we will keep it to the non-princess Disney flicks as long as possible (Fox and the Hound, Mary Poppins, Cars, etc.).

Wednesday: After a leisurely breakfast and showers, and playing with Mimi and Papa, we all headed out to play miniature golf at Pirate’s Cove. The weather was beautiful when we arrived and we had a fun front 9. Lauren enjoyed carrying her ball to the hole, placing it on the green inches away from the hole, and putting it in with one shot from about 3 inches away! Carter needed some assistance from John but had a blast hitting the ball. He hit it (or did he toss it?, I can’t recall) into the water at the second hole and had to share a ball the rest of the round! The back 9 got a little rough though as the temperature rose and the kids were hot and having a difficult time waiting their turn. The grown-ups finished up and had fun though. Papa won but Lauren and Carter walked away with the prizes of pirate hats and eye patches. Lauren wanted to wear her patch and hat non-stop for the next 24 hours!

Following mini golf, we went to grab lunch and to play at Fun Stop for a while. Then we headed back to the condo for naps. When the kids woke up, the sky was pretty dark so we headed to the indoor pool where we swam for about an hour and a half while torrential downpours, high winds, and thunder and lightening were all around us! What a beautiful indoor pool this place has! Lauren and Carter stayed in the 2 ft pool most of the time and had a blast going down the water slide. We hung out in the deeper pool a little, going under the water fall and down the bigger slide. My favorite though was the Roman Bath. It was so warm, hot even. I could have stayed in there all day! We ran home to change during a brief period of sun but it again was raining cats and dogs when we attempted to go out for dinner so we scrapped the nice restaurant for take-out pizza. Baths in the big jacuzzi tub were fun (for the kids, but not for Johnny’s back) and another night of good sleeping for the kids and Johnny…and not good sleeping for me on the couch! Great time for my insomnia to kick in!

Thursday: We had another leisurely breakfast and showers at the condo before packing up and heading out. The drive to North Conway was nice and although there was traffic, the kids slept through it so it was tolerable. We met up with Grammy and Grampy at the hotel and walked into town to get something light for lunch. We had about and hour and a half before we wanted to arrive at Story Land so we thought we’d try the alpine slide at Attitash. Well, when we got there, Lauren was not sure she wanted to try it. She watched people coming down for a while and kept going back and forth about wanting to do it and not wanting to do it. We decided not to spend the money and have her back out at the last minute so we decided to wait until next time. That way Carter will be bigger and can go too. I was glad about the decision because I was a bit nervous about her on the chair lift. Besides, next time we go up the mountain coaster will be open as well and we could make a day of it.

We arrived at Story Land just before 3:00. Carter didn’t really like Humpty Dumpty but he immediately liked the talking tree/playground structure and loved going up and down the slide all by himself! Lauren loved checking out all the story book houses. The first real ride we went on was the tea cups. We knew Lauren would love it but we were not sure how Carter would react. He wanted to sit on my lap but couldn’t so instead he kept a death grip on my leg while he belly laughed out loud throughout the ride! He loved it! Lauren loved the roller coaster again. They both loved the wooden shoe ride, the carousel, and the pirate ship. It is so funny

how Lauren totally believes that everything is so real from Cinderella to the animated crocodiles you go by in the boats. The Silver Mine freaked her out a bit and I had to carry her all the way through it! Because the park wasn’t crowded we managed to get through more that I thought we would in two and a half hours. It was both sunny and cloudy and not too hot or cold. A perfect afternoon.

Following Story Land, we had dinner at the Red Fox. Can I rave about this place for a minute? First of all, the place is HUGE. It has several rooms that were all nicely decorated and cozy feeling, and you could tell, they seated you strategically. The biggest room was for families with infants through preschool. The tables were all nicely spaced out so kids could make a mess and make noise yet not disturb other tables. And even if they did make noise, who cares, because everyone in the room had kids! There was a room that looked like it was for families with older kids, a smaller, quieter room for adult guests with a bar, and get this, a “Movie Room” with a big screen TV that just looped Finding Nemo! Any kid in the restaurant could go get cozy on the rug or chairs in there and watch the movie while they waited for a table or for their food! They even had a teenage girl doing face painting for donations to a charity right off the movie room! It was brilliant! You’d think a place like this, geared towards families with young kids and right down the street from Story Land would have a blah menu. Nope! The menu was huge, both regular American fare and more elegant options and very tasty. The prices were not cheap but not outrageous either. And the wait staff, well they work with families everyday and they were great with the kids. The drinks were not too shabby either. I would highly recommend this place. We will definitely be eating there again.

Dinner was followed by a stroll through down town North Conway and all my favorite shops like Zebs and the 5 and dime. Carter passed out in the stroller on our way back to the hotel and stayed asleep through a diaper change, PJ’s, and into the pack-n-play! Needless to say, he had no idea where he was when he woke up in the morning, poor guy! Lauren also went to sleep easily. She was so tired from a busy day that she was happy to sleep all by herself in the queen size bed! Johnny fell asleep shortly after the kids. As for me, thank God for the Kindle app for my phone! Insomnia night #4! I went to sleep around 4AM and woke up to the alarm at 6! A whopping 2 hours of sleep! For those of you that know me, you’d fear for the people around me after that many nights with so little sleep but I surprised even myself with my ability to keep my cool and remain awake and upbeat throughout the next day!

Friday: We got up early and headed out for breakfast at Glen Junction, a little restaurant with 2 model trains that do figure eights around the ceiling. Very entertaining for Carter and very yummy food to fuel you for a full day at Story Land. We got to the park right when it opened and headed around backwards, avoiding the crowds. Lauren and Carter got the traditional “driver’s licenses” and we rode the antique cars. Then Lauren wanted to go on the Bamboo Chutes, a flume ride. I happily sat that one out with Carter although they didn’t get too wet. We rode the train, the hot air balloon ride, the roller coaster and wooden shoes (again), then headed up to the whales, the turtles (my favorite), and the flying fish. Then we went to see the circus, which, for a small, 40 minute circus inside Story Land, was pretty good. I am just so impressed by acrobatics!

Since we had such a big breakfast and I was hoping to leave early enough for an early dinner, we skipped lunch and packed snacks and drinks so we wouldn’t have to buy outrageously priced food at the park. It worked out great. The kids snacked during the circus since we were sitting anyway, and Carter ended up napping in the stroller while Lauren played  the splash park. We then hit a few rides we hadn’ done yet, like the swan boats, repeated the tea cups since Carter enjoyed them so much, and stopped at the playground, and said hello to Miss Muffet’s Spider and the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe (or as Carter called it, “the boot”) to get a sticker and headed out around 3:00. We went for an early dinner at the Muddy Moose, wandered around the outlets at Settler’s Green for a bit, stopped back at the hotel for baths and then strolled back down town for ice cream. The weather was perfect, again. And I was smart enough to stop at CVS to pick up some Advil PM! We were all in bed by 9 and asleep (including me) by 10:00! I slept like a rock…finally!

Saturday: We woke up early again and headed out for breakfast at Peaches. We had never been there before and probably won’t be headed there again unless we are there sans kids! Maybe if we ate outside, or maybe if they hadn’t eaten out exclusively for days…but the kids were not well behaved, the table was cramped, and I felt like we were bothering all the other patrons. Not to mention that the menu was great for adults (very fresh ingredients, interesting specials) but there was no specific kids menu. After breakfast, we packed everything up at the hotel and headed across the Kancamagus Highway for Clarks Trading Post.

When I was a kid, you went to Clarks to see the bear show for a couple of bucks and wander around the gift shop for an hour, always walking out with some interesting items. Nowadays though, if you want to see the bears you have to dish out $17/adult ($7/kid 3-12) to get in to see the bears. Yes, you also get the train ride (with a strange Wolfman theme that I still am confused by), the acrobat show, the bumper boats, the segways, the rock wall and a few additional stores and small museums…but really the only thing appropriate for little kids is the bear show…so…needless to say, we liked the bears but thought it was not a good value unless your kids were 8 and 10, not 1 and 3!

On our way home we stopped at Andrew and Gina’s house. I used to nanny for their three kids. When I lived with them, Carina was 3 1/2 (just like Lauren), AJ was 17 months (just a bit younger than Carter), and Catya was newly conceived! Well Carina just graduated from high school and Saturday was her graduation party! Makes me feel really O-L-D! I have not seen them in a very long time. It was so nice to see them and all of their extended family that I got to know way back. And it was nice to introduce them to my kids! Carina, AJ, and Catya have really grown up to be beautiful, smart, polite kids. It was an honor to be a part of their family and an honor to be invited to help them celebrate.

When she started daycare, I looked for and bought 2 more identical bears. One to leave with her at school so she could cuddle it at nap time (eliminating the need to bring it back and forth everyday) and one extra for her to cuddle when the original needed a bath. This plan worked great until sometime around 2 1/2 years old when she, for some unexplicable reason, (after Carter was born, when she moved from her crib to her bed, we’re not sure) started sucking on the bears hand while going to sleep. After a few days of sucking on it twice a day. it started to stink! We were having to wash them several times a week. So I bought 4 more! We would bring the one from school home on Fridays, soak all seven on them in vinegar, then wash them. We did this for over a year. It was a pain in the a**. Especially when we got busy on wash day and forgot to put them in the dryer in time for bed. She truly could not go to sleep without one.

This past February at her dentist appointment I mentioned the bear situation to the dentist and was advised to get rid of them. My heart broke, for me and for her. I wasn’t ready for her to give up her lovey (it was like saying goodbye to her babyhood)! And I knew she would be crushed to have to say goodbye to her main source of comfort when we were apart. After much thought, I decided I would wait until summer vacation to say goodbye to the bears. That way, I wouldn’t stress as much about lost sleep since I wouldn’t have to get up for work. Also, she would be spending a lot more time with me and would have a constant source of comfort, even without her bears. We decided the bears would “go on vacation” on July 1 for most of the summer. We put the date on the calendar. We talked about it. We made a “quiet music” CD for her to listen to to help her stay calm when she was trying to fall asleep. We decided that when they came back from vacation in late August, they would only stay as long as she could cuddle them WITHOUT sucking on them (if she goes back to sucking them, they will move away for good ). We also decided on a special reward that she would get if she slept without her bear for 3 weeks.

July 1 arrived. She said she was ready. The first night was not as bad as I expected. She cried but quickly realized that she couldn’t hear the music if she was crying and quieted so she could hear it. She was up over an hour but eventually fell asleep. The second night was a little better. By the third night, she was fine! There have been a few times when she would wake in the middle of the night and cry when she couldn’t find her bear but was never fully awake and would go right back to sleep. There have also been a few nights where she has needed us to rub her back for a little while but we were careful not to make a habit of it. One night she was so upset she ended up sleeping in her sleeping bag on the floor in our room! But overall, in the last (almost) 3 weeks, we have had far more good nights than difficult ones. There have been a few times during the day that she has been upset and has cried for her bear but a hug from mom has done the trick!

Yesterday, as she was flipping through the Bitty Baby catalog that came in the mail this week, she reminded me that we had agreed way back that she could get the pajamas that match the pajamas that her Bitty Baby has as a reward if she learned to sleep without her bear. I had completely forgotten about that deal but she was right. I had wanted to wait a full 3 weeks before getting the reward but since we will be away on vacation ourselves later this week, we decided yesterday would be a good day to take a ride to the American Girl store and get her the reward she earned. That store is so much fun! We had as hard a time getting Carter to stop playing with the toys as we did Lauren. They had the PJ’s in her size so we bought them. It was so hard to walk out of there with just the PJ’s! I wanted to get the matching slippers, and the doctor kit, and the camping set, and a few new outfits….can you tell I loved playing with dolls as a kid?!?!

Following our trip through the store, we had dinner The Cheesecake Factory. I love that place. It was a great day! We are so proud of Lauren’s big accomplishment! Here are a few pictures from dinner and Lauren in her new jammies! Sorry the quality isn’t great. I had to take them with my phone since my regular camera battery was dead!

Having a blast at the kids school…

Monday, I took the kids to Kidz Wurld in North Attleboro. Very cool indoor play space geared towards the toddler/preschool group. Was very fun. The kids loved it. I was very impressed by the cleanliness of the place. A little pricey for 2 hours of play but worth it with an online coupon. Lauren loved climbing the climber and the train themed bouncy structure. Carter loved driving the cars, playing in the house and kitchen, and trying the open air bouncy structure. Grammy and Grampy came for a visit in the afternoon which is always a treat. Lauren loves them so much and I was grateful for the company.

Tuesday Lauren went to school so I could have a one-on-one day with Carter. It was snowy but we managed to get out and try a Gymboree class (Lauren used to go all the time but Carter had never been). He was a bit clingy at first being in a new space with new kids but warmed up by the end. He loved crawling through the barrel and the bubbles. Then we went to get a haircut. He did much better this time. No tears! And he looks so BIG now. We then went out for lunch…I LOVE spending time with just him especially since he missed out on all the one-on-one time that Lauren had as an infant.

Lauren, who switched to a new classroom a few weeks ago had a blast at school. They got to go out and play in the snow in the morning and because I didn’t want to go out to get in the snow to get her later in the afternoon, I picked her up early which is always a treat.

Wednesday the kids had a dentist appointment. Lauren’s third and Carter’s first. Lauren was a superstar. You’d never know she’s my kid since I DREAD going to the dentist. She was very excited to show Carter “how to do it”. She climbed right up in the chair, picked her toothpaste flavor and was totally calm getting her teeth cleaned. She even let the hygenist bring her into another room to get x-rays. I was so proud. Carter wasn’t quite as thrilled. He didn’t want his personal space invaded but they did manage to count his teeth and check to make sure we were brushing well and that there was no decay. They even cleaned a tooth or two. Proud to say neither kid had any cavities! We then took a walk around the outlets for some fresh air and got a chocolate covered strawberry as a treat for doing such a good job at the dentist. We made yummy blueberry muffins in the afternoon for breakfast the next day. Fun to have both kids standing on chairs at the counter to help bake. Reminds me of when I was little….making memories! In the evening, John and I went out for a bit while Grammy and Grampy babysat. A treat for all.

Today, (Thursday) Carter went to school so Lauren and I could have a one-on-one day. We had a play date scheduled with a friend (a boy who used to be in her class but who recently changed schools) which was a blast. They were very excited to see each other and played really well together. So nice that they are at an age where they can go off and play and I can sit and have coffee and chat with his mom, who I get along with really great as well. After about 2 hours of playing and running back and forth from the living room, through the kitchen, to his room, they settled into playing in the bedroom. Well, I noticed it had gotten a bit quiet in there and got a bit nervous but then heard laughing and figured all was well. Well, 30 seconds after I relaxed the little boy came running back to the kitchen laughing and I noticed he had his shirt on inside out and backwards…um….got a bit nervous about the condition Lauren’s clothes might be in. His mom asked why his shirt was like that and through his laughter, he said, “she’s naked! HAHAHAHA!” Well I ran into the room and Lauren was completely naked, lying under the covers of his bed! I was mortified! This is a little boy who I am supposed to be babysitting a few days a week this summer. What kind of family are they going to think we are if Lauren is stripping during a play date?!?! Well, after quickly getting her dressed we had an impromptu discussion about keeping clothes on for warmth and for MODESTY…HELLO! And then started cleaning up because it was time to go home for lunch! When I got home I emailed the mom to thank her for having us over and to let her know that this was NOT typical behavior. In fact, Lauren has NEVER behaved like that EVER even in the privacy of her own home! I have not heard back yet….hmmmm…

The afternoon was spent baking chocolate chip cookies and pretending that I am a normal mama with a normal kid!

Tomorrow is Friday….so sad…but both kids are going to school so that I can try to get things accomplished and save us from spending the weekend running errands and maybe do something fun as a family for a change. I always plan a day like tomorrow with a to do list that is impossible to complete but I’m going to work hard at crossing off laundry, grocery shopping, a Target run, lesson plans for the upcoming week at school, and printing Carrie’s wedding invitations. Wish me luck!

And yeah, I know I said I was updating the look of the page…and I am…when I have some free time…in other words, don’t hold your breath that it will happen before 2015!

ETA: Just heard back from the other mom…all is well…she doesn’t think my kid is some kind of exhibitionist! Phew!