A birthday redo

While Fred's mom was here we decided to have a redo birthday party for Cordelia. Grandma Norma had come up for Cordelia's first birthday last October, but only got to see her very shortly as we passed through Fargo on our way to Minneapolis for Cordelia's surgery. I guess I hadn't thought about it until just before Grandma Norma arrived, but I realized that both grandmas would be here and it would be the perfect opportunity to get birthday pictures with the grandmas. Both boys have pictures with their grandmas on their first birthdays so I wanted Cordelia to have some too.I did not want to be in the picture. I just wanted the grandmas to be in the picture with Cordelia. But that's the difference between a 12 month old and a 19 month old. The only way I could get Cordelia to be half way decent is if I was in the picture too. And I had to be the one holding her.

A very nice family picture. I should have taken some pictures of the cake too. Cordelia got her fingers in there a few times so there were finger marks. After everyone had a piece of cake we let her dig around in it. She did get a cake to herself on her actual birthday to dig into so I didn't make an extra cake this time around. GG, Auntie Vicki, Nathan and AJ also came for the redo party and we all had a good time. Torii kept us entertained. He had a fairy wand and was putting spells on everyone, but of course the spells did not work on him.

Weekend trip to the farm

Fred's mom was here last week. The first couple of days were really nice and we got to spend time outside. Then the weekend came and it was cold and rainy. We had planned on spending time at Fort Lincoln and Buggies and Blues, but that plan was scrapped with the ugly weather. We did still go trick or treating at Fort Lincoln for Halloween in June and it really did feel like Halloween. Soccer also started last week and it was cold during practice. Thankfully by the weekend the weather warmed up and we enjoyed a nice weekend on the farm. The boys spent two days at the farm with Grandma Norma before Fred, Cordelia and I joined them on Saturday. An unusual picture with me in it. We spent most of Saturday outside and the kids were wearing me out. The kids liked to play in this hammock, but I finally spotted it empty and claimed it for a long break.
There were so many cousins at the farm on Saturday that they could easily field a baseball team. There were a lot more playing earlier, but I wasn't able to get a picture until later when only a few were left playing. It was nice that everyone could get together because it's so hard to coordinate every one's schedules. I was amazed at how much all of the cousins have grown. I think the boys really liked playing with their cousins.
Cordelia took a nap just before we had lunch. Lucky for her there was one more cheeseburger left when she got up. She sat in the grass, watched the baseball game and enjoyed her burger. She spent most of the day barefoot even though she got new shoes in Fargo.
Torii enjoying some watermelon near the barn.

On Saturday we headed into Grafton for a movie. The boys were at each other's throats and after spending a full day with ultra-clingy Cordelia, we all needed a break. I was hoping one of the nearby theatres was playing something kid friendly and thankfully Grafton had "Up". I liked the old theatre and the old ticket booth outside. They have two theatres and "Up" was playing in the theatre upstairs, which was unique. The theatre and screen were small, but we really enjoyed it. It was way cheaper than the theatres here and the popcorn was awesome. By the way, "Up" is a fantastic movie and everyone should see it.

We enjoyed all of our time with Grandma Norma while she was here. There is still a ton of pictures to post from the past week. We had so much fun so lots more to come....

You know?

Lately, Rion has ended every statement he makes with "you know." I couldn't figure out why he was saying it or where he got it from. Then I heard myself say it the other day. Since then I've caught myself saying it a lot. I guess that mystery is solved. It's funny when kids point out habits that you didn't even know you had. You know?

Outside fun

Torii never thought the water in the pool was high enough so he kept filling it up.

Fred created a mud spot in the backyard which was a big hit with the boys. Cordelia had to get in on the action as well. She didn't like it at first, but then she seemed to enjoy the mud. That is until she slipped and parked her butt in the mud.

She was smelling the flowers, but stopped as soon as the camera came out. I wanted to get some pictures of my minnow buckets repurposed as flowerpots anyway and the picture turned out cute. I need a couple more minnow buckets and then every step will be filled.

Cordelia hanging out with her too cool sunglasses.
Ok, not an outside picture, but still had to post a picture of my video game addicted boys. I can't believe how good Rion is at the Lego games. He can get through levels by himself. And he's helped me figure out things that I couldn't figure out myself. I was going to help him with the Batman game, but he's kind of taken that over by himself and is well on his way to completing it. Rion really likes to figure out how things work and likes to find the solution to problems and puzzles. He has very good problem solving skills. I guess that's why he likes the Lego games so much.

Our weekend

Yesterday the kids spent the morning with Grandpa while Grandma, Fred and I went to Lincoln for their annual rummage sales. I found some good things including clothes for the kids, a Halloween costume for Rion for next weekend, an old baseball glove, the game Sorry, and a few other little things. My best find of the day was a Leapster for $1.00. It was the old style, but after some cleanup it works just fine. I only bought it so Cordelia could have one of her own. The boys always leave theirs laying around and then she gets them. Then the boys get mad because she has their Leapster and many of the times Cordelia ends up tossing it across the room. Now she can do whatever she wants with this Leapster, I really don't care if she breaks it. It might have been the best dollar I ever spent. When we got back, Cordelia was sleeping so we played Sorry and the Operation game that Grandma picked up for the boys.

After supper last night we filled up the pool and Cordelia and Torii had a good time playing in it. Rion sat inside in his swim trunks playing his Lego Batman video game. I told him a few times that he should come outside before he missed his chance, but he kept playing his game. We were outside at least two hours and as soon as we came in, Rion was mad that he didn't get to play in the water. We are going outside again this afternoon as soon as Cordelia wakes up from her nap and Rion is going outside no matter what.

This morning I was doing some chores around the house when Torii wanted some lemonade. I poured him a glass and he went into the living room and sat down by Rion. Torii asked Rion if he would like a taste of his lemonade and Rion said "no thanks." It was so nice of Torii that I gave him a good behavior award. The award was for ice cream whenever he wanted it. He held onto the award for about an hour, which was an hour longer than I thought he would last. He turned in his award right after lunch which I thought was nice of him. And he even ate good for lunch. Here's the link for the awards that I used and where I got the idea: http://familyfun.go.com/printables/games/feature/activity-tickets/activity-tickets.html
Torii was pretty proud of his award so hopefully it helps inspire more nice acts in the future.

A couple more haikus

Summer Vacation

Day one. Boys driving me nuts

Hurry up August

A day at the zoo

Tigers, otters, monkeys, bears

Kids like the playground

Outdoor fun

These pictures are from before school let out for the summer. We spent some time at Rion's school because he got a good behavior award at home and I let him pick the playground we went to that day.I tried to get a picture of Cordelia coming down the slide, but she kept coming down feet first, belly down. I could only get her feet or the top of her head coming down. That girl has no fear.

I liked the picture of the boys' shadows on top of the play structure. I actually took a bunch of pictures of the shadows. I was fascinated by the pattern and shadows on the ground. I guess that's a hangover from a photography class I took in college.