My first school picture

Doesn't she look so cute! Our daycare is attached to a Catholic elementary school so the infant/toddler and preschool rooms get to have picture day with the K-8th graders. They have the infants sit in Bumbo chairs draped with backdrop cloth! Lyla did so good but her brother was a different story. As you can see, his first school picture is not posted. That is because he doesn't have a first school picture yet. He flipped. The teachers brought him into the school cafeteria and he started crying and clinging so they just brought him back to his room. We'll try again on picture make-up day in October but I am not holding my breath!

She's a Bow Bandit

You can almost see her grinning under her mask! She did this herself, this picture was not staged!

Run for the Chimps

Steven and Lyla participated in their first charity run today at the Kansas City Zoo. Daddy (long sleeve blue shirt on far right) ran in the 5k with mommy's co-worker Eric (fluorescent green shirt) and as a family we did the one-mile fun run/stroller walk. It was a good time had by all.

She IS Advanced!

Tonight we confirmed that Lyla really is advanced because she is trying to crawl already! She has been rolling across the room for about a week and half. She'll get started in the middle of the rug in the living room and roll across to the other side without any effort. At school today, they told me that she is a rolling fool!

When we started playing tonight I had some toys a little in front of her and she started scooting forward to reach them. By the time I got the camera she was probably getting a little tired so she is crying in the video. Earlier in the night she was really enjoying scooting to get her toys; we just waited too long to capture the good mood moment! Tommy and I were both really amazed that she was moving forward so young. She only turned five months old on Monday!

Sitting?

Our little girl is so advanced! She is sitting at five months. Well, she is sitting when propped up by her arms and belly rolls!

Daddy's Ball Game

Tommy had a game Sunday morning and I took the kids to watch. They did surprisingly well! I thought I would have to chase Steven all over the ballpark but he stayed close and actually watched through the fence for awhile. He even got to retrieve a foul ball!

Future Groundskeeper?

And the best part about it was that both kids zonked out in the car on the ride home and Steven took another long nap once we got back home. Lyla, of course, woke up when the car stopped in the driveway but she is such a good baby I didn't mind playing with her when her brother napped. Why do babies like motion so much? I was almost tempted to keep driving for awhile to keep her asleep but that wouldn't be very green!

Two Two!

Steven's birthday party at Loose Park was so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came and for all of the wonderful gifts.

Not surprising but the party theme was Thomas the Tank Engine. When we got to the park Grandpa Steve took Steven to the playground and he had a good time playing. As all of his friends started to arrive he started to get a little attached to the table. I think he thought that if he left to go play that the party might go away. I finally convinced him to go play in the sand but that didn't last long and he was back at the table!

Once again, he loved his cake and once we got home he took about a 3 hour nap. We even had to wake him up to say goodbye to his grandparents. I know, we broke a cardinal sin of parenting, but he loves his grandparents and would have been sad to miss saying goodbye.

Happy Birthday to Steven!

Today is Steven's 2nd Birthday! We brought cupcakes in to school and the kids and teachers all sang Happy Birthday to Steven. I think we might have raised our kid wrong because he had his cupcake eaten in about 2 minutes...all the other kids hadn't even made it through the frosting!

Ball Game

Tonight we had tickets to the Royals! Steven talks about "ball game" a lot right now. I think it is because Tommy is playing adult league ball and every weekend when he puts his uniform on we talk about Daddy going to the ball game.

We made it to about the fifth inning which is pretty good for a family outing to the Royals.

Steven enjoying the ball game at the Little K - he loves watching the big kids!

Poop Fest 2009

On our way back from Ark City we decided to stop in Wichita to visit the Museum of World Treasures. Really we stopped so that Tommy could eat at the brewery and fill up his jug of beer.

Anyway, the real story ... not for the faint hearted or weak stomachs ....

We turned onto K-15 and Lyla started crying, it was about time for her to eat and we decided that we wouldn't make her wait until the next town since we didn't know how far it would be so we pulled onto a gravel road. I got out, ran around the car, got her out of her car seat and yuck - put my hand in poop. No wonder she was crying - I wouldn't have wanted to sit in that blow out! It was so bad that Tommy jumped out of the car, ran to the back of the subaru, lifted the tailgate and started to throw our luggage to the side so that we had room to operate. We used approximately 25 wipes to contain the spill and searched the car up and down to find enough plastic bags to dispose of the messy clothes and diapers. All in all, Lyla did very well and tried not to squirm too much. The story gets better so continue reading.

Since we were stopped I decided to feed Lyla and Tommy was going take a walk with Steven. Side note - it had been raining that morning and we were on a muddy gravel road. As I was sitting in the car nursing Lyla, I watched Tommy holding Steven's hand walking down the middle of the road with the tree canopy above - it was truly a Hallmark moment until ... Steven got loose, ran to the edge of the road and proceeded to flop down on the ground as Tommy chased after him. Needless to say, he and his clothes were covered in mud. Since there were no more plastic bags in the car his shorts just got thrown in the back.

Then we got back on the road, went to the museum, and remembered that the poop bags were still in the back of the car! It was getting hot and we didn't want to drive home with the stink so before we went to lunch Tommy ran to the car and threw out the bags. Lunch was a fiasco but that isn't anything to write home about for our family! As we got back in the car I said "oh, we should have stopped and washed out Lyla's clothes." But we didn't because we wanted to get on the road. About 20 minutes later, Tommy said "oh crap (how ironic), I threw Lyla's clothes away." How my comment about washing the clothes didn't trigger this memory sooner we'll never know but it was probably better that the clothes were in the trash than stinking up the car!

And the story gets better...

The kids fell asleep and napped for about an hour. Steven then woke up and few minutes later I smelled the tell tale smell. Tommy wanted to wait until the next rest area but I suggested we stop at the next exit. Thank God we did.

I got Steven out of his seat, grabbed the diaper bag and walked him into the truck stop. I got to the bathroom, lifted him onto the changing station and again, put my hand in poop. It was everywhere!!!! Down his leg, on his shoes, in his shorts - everywhere. He was so sweet, though. I think he understood how bad it was and just laid there holding the bag of wipes for me. At one point a woman asked me if I needed help and I held up my hands to say stop where you are don't come any closer. She understood. Then another woman came in and said "did you step in dog poop?" No, lady, it's my kid.

This whole time Tommy was standing near the door of the truck stop wondering what happened to us. He kept looking to the car and in the store and back at the car.

I then had to have Steven stand next to me in the bathroom wearing only his shirt, diaper and socks while I cleaned up our mess. Again, he was so good. He just stood there looking up at me as if to say "I'm sorry this happened twice today, Mommy."

The best part of the whole experience was walking back out to the car. It wasn't hard to remember where we parked because we were able to follow the trail of poop back to it! I hope the lady in the bathroom stepped in some of it on her way back to her car!

Visiting Ark City

On Thursday we left for Arkansas City to attend Grandpa Clark's visitation and funeral. What a great man ... I learned so much about him. He was 87 years old and saw so much in his life. He served in World War II, worked on the Apollo rockets when he was employed at Boeing and he was the first Eagle Scout in Ark City.

Grandpa was also a Mason. I don't know much about the Masons but that they are a very honorable group of men. They had a ceremony at the cemetary for Grandpa that was very meaningful. The VFW also honored Grandpa with a gun salute and taps.

It was nice to be surrounded with family over the last few days. Grandpa left quite a legacy of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Tommy and I are very glad our kids got to meet him!

The Great-Grandchildren: Trace, Lyla, Bridget, Regan

Steven, Ava, Ryan

Ben, Maddy, and Sabrina

In Memory of Grandpa Clark