Boys Weekend

Some weekend in August that seems like a lifetime ago (since so much has happened since), Mike had a well deserved few days away from family and responsibility. He took some guy friends up to our place in NH and had a fun weekend. Well, while Daddy was away, the boys and I played! I came up with some special activities for me and the boys to do to make it a special weekend for us...which also means it was an especially busy weekend for Mom. But it was fun! Here's some of what we did:

Got Some Good Snuggle Time

We started Saturday with a walking adventure. First stop was Dunkin' Donuts. When I asked Dylan what special things he wanted to do while Daddy was gone for the weekend, he said "Dunkin' Donuts, the bagel store and sleep in your room." Pretty reasonable requests so he got his wishes! While on our donut shop run I decided to grab a box o' Joe and take it across the street to the local fire station. It's always a good idea to do little nice things for the brave men and women that work to take care of us and keep us safe. It was a slow day so the nice fireman who accepted our gift also offered to show the boys the fire truck. Pretty cool!

As you can see, this was an unexpected photo op. The boys were still in their pj's\play costume.

Cade and Meow

Dylan would only agree to getting in the truck when I said I'd get in with him.

Cade tried on a hat!

The donut\coffee stop was the first mission of our morning walk. After we left the station, we continued on to Dudley Pond to see if we could spot the swan that lives there. We saw lots of ducks, beautiful still water and then....finally...the swan.

See the white blur in the middle?

I got in a good 4 mile walk (including hills and pushing 100 pound of kid\stroller), the boys enjoyed munchkins, got a good lesson in good deeds, saw animals and sat in a firetruck. Pretty awesome start.

Our afternoon activity was of the artistic type. We have some big boxes that we keep in the unfinished part of the basement and pull out every once in a while for the boys to play in. They set it up as a house and it entertains them for a while. I pulled out those big boxes into the driveway and had them "decorate" their house\buildings. We also spent some time just playing outside.

For dinner, they had skull and bones ice in their drinks.

Day 2 Started with more snuggles

We satisfied Dylan's last wish on day 2. We went by the bagel store and picked up breakfast for us and our friends. Play date at the Young's house!

Cade, Dylan, Mackenzie and Arden

We had a fun morning having breakfast, playing inside with toys and burning off some energy in their fun backyard. We only left when lunch and nap time was approaching. And since they live only a little over a mile away, I got to get in another little walk!

That afternoon\evening we had another special "project" to do - making lollipops! We picked out groups of 3 jolly ranchers, heated them up until melted and then put in our lollipop sticks. And after only a very short wait (less than 5 minutes), they were ready to enjoy!

Watching Them Melt

Yum! Lollipops!

Mike was back with us Monday morning. It's funny, the boys are getting so much older and independent that having them solo for a whole weekend isn't nearly as exhausting as it used to be. What was exhausting was having to plan\shop\set up\clean up the "special projects" I did with the boys in addition to the usual (all meals, clean up, mediate, entertain, wiping bottoms, bedtime, etc.). Made me a pretty busy lady. But it was so great to have a special weekend with just me and the little boys.

However, there was one project I had set up but did not have time to get done with the boys that weekend (my lists are always longer than real time allows). So, a couple of weekends later they finally got to do the last one - surprises in ice!

The trick to the activity is to talk to the boys about how to get the toys out and what methods to use....good problem solving. After trying a few different methods, we tried dropping them on a hard surface to release the surprises. It worked and pretty soon they had a couple of treats that I grabbed at the dollar spot at Target - dinosaurs, bouncy balls and fun bracelets.

Dinosaurs - Rawr!!

Happy Half Birthday to Cade!

My little Cade is growing and changing so much! He is over a month past his 2.5 b'day celebration and it's time for an update.

In just a little over a month he's going to start a 2 morning a week preschool program (at the same place Dylan has been going for 2 years now). I'm sure that will bring forth lots of developments in the upcoming months. BUT, it's not his first foray into classes. Due to the fact that he's a man of few words, we went ahead and got him involved in Early Intervention. We figured the resources were there for us to take so we did it. He's really loved it. He has a therapist come over every other week to the house and has "school" every Monday morning. It's a drop off play group that he's absolutely loved. The teacher adores him and gives great reports every week. On his part, he's always excited to go, carry his backpack into school, then drops it and runs to the toys without ever looking back. Only once have we had a report that he started looking for one of us before pick up time. So, going to preschool, I think, will be a breeze and a lot of fun for him.

At Good Harbor Beach

And as for his speech, he's progressing very well. He has new words every day, his enunciation has improved greatly and he "talks" all the time. We don't always understand what he has to say quite often, but that doesn't mean the boy doesn't have a lot to say. His comprehension is unbelievable so absolutely no concerns there. He loves playing the "where is" game (with body parts, finding things in pictures, etc) and pointing to what you ask for. He also very frequently calls us and then follows up with telling us something. He'll keep calling and repeating it until you correctly repeat what he is trying to say and then he will nod yes and move on. Though that scene may repeat itself a few moments later.

He loves to help. Some of his favorite things to "help" with is the laundry (he likes to help put the clothes in and push the button to start), picking up (doing this requires the right timing for you to ask and him to respond though), helping us off the couch or floor (always a fun game for him) and any other small chore he can pitch in on.

"Helping" Mom Fix Stuff in the Basement

As for potty training, we're still in the very beginning phases. He likes to occasionally sit on the potty and "push" the pee pee and poo poo out. It's pretty amusing and hard to keep a straight face when he's doing it. But, nothing's come of that yet. We tried a trial by fire potty training day to disastrous results (he helped with a lot of laundry that day) and realized he's just not quite there yet. We're fine with not pushing it since we're pretty sure he won't be going to college in diapers. Since he's generally gotten a lot more agreeable to diaper changes, they're much less excruciating than they used to be.

With His Dentist at His Very First Visit

He did such a great job following instructions and sitting still.

Cade adores his brother and mostly follows him around everywhere. Dylan loves being in charge for the most part. At this point, they definitely play together and interact well more than not. Of course, there are the occasional spats and differences over who should have a toy. But it makes a momma proud how they are there for each other, looking out for each other and are each other's best friends.

Optimus Prime\Buzz Lightyear Little Brother and Bumblebee Big Brother

In fact, Dylan loves helping Cade so much, he's taken to "helping" him get out bed in the morning. That has involved helping Cade transfer all his stuffed animals out of his crib and then waiting for an adult to come get Cade out. To my surprise one morning, I came in the room and Cade was already out of his crib!! With my jaw to the ground, Dylan proudly said, "I helped Cade out!" I tried to make him replay while I was in the room but that was a no go. So with my spying skills, I observed and caught on camera how this brotherly duo is making the crib escape together:

Cade really likes to sing. Now, given his limited vocabulary, this makes for really cute and amusing songs. For the most part he kind of just makes sounds similar to the song or fills in the words where he can (usually at the end of a line), but he watches your mouth closely when you're singing and he sings along whenever he can. One of his cutest and favorite songs for him to sing right now is this one:

We are having a super hero moment at our house. Batman and Spiderman are the current favorites of the boys....for this week at least.

So that's my Cade in a nutshell. He's still super cute, possibly even getting cuter by the day, tons of fun and full of surprises. Love my baby boy.

NH With Some Family

As per usual, we try to spend a lot of weekends in NH during the summer. When we first bought our place there 7.5 years ago, we thought of it as a ski house. We now enjoy the summer season there probably more than any other time of year. The only thing that makes these weekends even more enjoyable is sharing it with friends and family. We are gearing up for visitors the next 2 weekends. The last time we were there, 2 weeks ago, my sis in law and her family joined us for some fun.

Cade and Cousin Emily

Emily, Dylan and Patrick

Mike and the boys headed up early on Friday and were met in the afternoon by Maureen, Joe, Patrick and Emily. I, unfortunately, could not take time at that particular part of the month off so journeyed up solo to meet them late Friday night.

On Saturday, we geared up for a hike. Having done Mt. Willard with the girls in June, I was excited to share my new favorite hike with my favorite boys. The boys got to use their brand new hiking camelback backpacks. I was hoping they would be excited to carry them and they were! Bonus, now they can start carrying their own water and snacks. Super bonus - they were really stinkin' cute in them.

My Little Hikers Complete With Backpacks

Modeling Their Flames

The group trekked up to the top. My little boys were a little slower moving than the rest of the group. Emily and Patrick generally stayed towards the front of the pack and were troopers about stopping and waiting up for the rest of us.

Joe (at front), Maureen, Me (middle), Emily and Cade

Dylan Leading Emily and Cade

We took our first break at a pretty waterfall for pictures.

Maureen, Me, Cade Patrick
Dylan and EMily

What a good lookin bunch!

I had thought this would be the perfect trail for my boys. Dylan did great but Cade and his tiny little legs had a little trouble with the rocks (which I didn't think there were a ton of until I hiked with such a little guy). BUT we all made it to the top with little complaint and were rewarded with a fantastic views, nice breezes and a place to sit and snack.

Train! Cade was super excited about the choo choo.

Crawford Notch

Me, Maureen and Patrick (and some randoms in the background...it's a popular trail)

Me and My Boys (just ignore the randoms)

Love My Family!

Look who got grumpy with his picture taking turn - the big boy!

The Hickey's - Maureen, Joe, Emily and Patrick

Joe and Emily

This good lookin' trio again

Me and Patrick

Patrick is always the trooper putting up with our shenanigans.

After a long hike, we headed back to the house. This time, we skipped our usual ice cream break because the boys were snoozin' after their big morning.

My Sleepy Babies

For the rest of the day, we stayed at our condo and hung out. The big event of the night was playing Kan Jam - a fun frisbee game.

Me and Cade Watching a Game

Patrick's Smooth Moves

Cade (and Dylan) Havin' Fun

Patrick and Maureen

These Goobers After Winning a Game

The next day, we decided to go kayaking. We'd done this trip with this same group, well minus my kids, 6 years back and had a blast. The weather was super iffy but we decided to be brave and make the trip. Our local ski\kayak shop, drives you up the river, drops you off and then picks you up at a certain spot 6 miles down the river. Here's our brave gang before setting off.

Well, wouldn't you know it, we did not win on the weather gamble that day. The rain started just a short while into our trip. Hearing thunder, we had to hop out onto shore a couple of times to make sure no lightening was nearby. When the downpour didn't look as if it was going to let up, we gave up our hopes of a nice lunch and day on the river and opted to paddle as quickly as possible to our pick up point.

The day wasn't miserable though. For the most part, our whole gang stayed happy. We also got to see 3 groups of momma Loons with their babies which was super cute. Dylan had a great time laughing at Patrick and Maureen trying to navigate the river in a canoe!

When we started out, Dylan and I were in a boat together and Cade was with Mike. After one of our lightening check stops, we switched kids. And poor Cade...he was cold! I got one of our dry towels out for him to use as a blanket. It quickly got drenched but with it and snuggling with mom, he stayed comfortable....comfortable enough to fall asleep in the pouring rain! It was tough to paddle around a sleeping baby head, but I managed. And, as luck would have it, just around the river bend from our pick up point, the skies cleared and it was just lovely!

My Kayak Attire For the Day
That little blue lump in my lap is sleeping Cade.

I wanted to get a picture of us poor river rats (or "after") by the river before getting in the van back, but we were all cold and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes so I let go of that moment so everyone could get comfortable. So, not exactly the ideal day but we all kept in good spirits and it will definitely make some good stories to laugh over throughout the years.