Timmy's First Birthday

We had Timmy's birthday party a day late (pictures to follow), so on his actual birthday, we took advantage of a cool day to go to the Pumpkin Farm. It was the perfect time to do it because as the season progresses, it can be really crowded on the weekends but for this special "preview" weekend, there was almost no one there. We walked around and looked at pumpkins and gourds, bought a few to decorate for Timmy's party the next day, went on the slide, rode the giant rocking chair and finished it off with apple cider donuts...the birthday boy's favorite part!

A Taste of Fall

You know that you live in Chicago when on a Tuesday you complain of the extreme heat and humidity and on Friday, you need a jacket. This Labor Day weekend has been quite Fall like but I think that we are ready for Fall around here...as long as it doesn't get too cold too quickly. I have just started to get Cate and Timmy's clothes organized for the change in season and cool days like this are a good reminder that they will not be able to wear their summer favorites for much longer.

Cate had the perfect occasion to wear her new black and white shirtdress and leggings tonight, so although it is really too long on her, and the cute flats I bought her don't fit, we broke out some of the new, cooler weather clothes and went out for dinner for Mimi's birthday. After a yummy Mexican dinner, where Timmy flirted with everyone in the restaurant and Cate watched the baby at the next table, we came back to our house for a fire and s'mores. Fall is in the air!

She loved going through her new clothes, especially the shoes!

Timmy is a master at pointing out airplanes. He does not miss even one which means that he often looks like this when we are out!

IPhoto is really amazing. I blotted out just about all of the graham cracker that Timmy smashed and wiped into my shirt

A Book Picnic

After we took Zeke on a sweltering walk today, Cate had serious plans for us before lunch. As soon as we came in and she took her shoes off, she grabbed a blanket, spread it out on her bedroom floor, dumped one of her book baskets out and said, "Come on T, gonna do books!"

Why she wanted him there, I don't know because he is a drooling mess and all he does right now is eat books, but she used her high pitched sweet voice and kept saying, "T, you wanna come, huh? K?" Now, by high pitched sweet voice, I mean the one she uses to try to get him to do what she wants. If he is already doing something to annoy her, like playing with a toy she wants or ripping her paci out of her mouth (which he finds so hilarious), she uses a growling, animal scream.

The dynamic between them is so funny to watch, especially since Timmy is almost one and is no longer a little baby who just lies there and observes. For the most part, Cate is a little mother who calls for me at Mimi and Pop's house when Timmy is racing up the stairs unattended and who will go and find Timmy's abandoned milk cup and give it back to him. There are just those other times when Timmy is starting to act like such a little brother that she can't handle!

For his part, Timmy has entered the phase of "Uh oh," dropping everything on the floor, then hanging over his chair repeating "uh oh" a thousand times. He also LOVES balls. I think that his first real word is "ball" and I know that I am biased, but I think he's pretty good at throwing and catching his soft basketball!

When Daddy Reads the Bedtime Stories...

Tim was home just in time to read Cate her favorite bedtime story tonight. When I walked into the room to tell Cate that it was time for "ticka ticka" (her made up word for rocking in the rocking chair....), this is what I found...

Cate said, "Hi, mommy. You wanna hat too?"

The Fair

This past weekend Tim took Cate for a special trip to the Iowa State Fair. They left late on Thursday and Cate slept most of the way to Des Moines, so she was ready to see the sights with Tim and her Nana the next day. They rode tractors, and giant slides, saw cows made entirely out of butter (?) and listened to stories read by Clifford the Big Red Dog. Cate told me all about the animals that she saw and is still talking about the slide.

Play-Doh

I picked up some play-doh the other day and thought it would be a good activity for me and Cate during Timmy's nap. It's just so funny to watch what kids do with things. Cate had to separate all of the play-doh into little pieces, spread it all over the table and then pick it up in a certain order. I just wonder what is going through her little head!

Old Friends

There is something about hanging out with old friends. You can pick up right where you left off, you can let little kids tear the house apart and not get (overly) stressed, and you can sit up and talk as if you were back in college and didn't have to get up in the morning with your kids! Dan, Jamie and Norah came to visit from Arizona this past week and Tracy brought Casey up for daytime visits. The kids got along great, napped at about the same time and went to bed around the same time which was so nice. Cate and Norah became thick as thieves and although Norah left yesterday, Cate is still asking for her.

First day hanging out at the playground

Eating like big kids at their own table

A visit to the mall when the weekend turned really hot!

"Kidtown" lots of slides and different play rooms. Dan and Jamie took Cate along with them while I took Timmy to the doctor. Cate, Norah and Casey wore themselves out!

Dancing with a baby

New friends. The girls did surprisingly well sharing and playing together. They took turns and looked out for each other.

It looks like Timmy is relaxing with a cigar at the water table! He later started climbing in and sticking his face in the water. He is such a boy.

We broke out the sprinkler hose, but Casey was the only one brave enough to run through. The girls were acting like...girls.

This picture cracks me up because it looks like Casey is explaining something profound to Timmy and in the background, you can see Cate and Norah at the table. They've had enough of all this rough playing.

Here...let me fix your hat for you....

It was completely covering Norah's face which Cate found hilarious.

Believe it or not, one of the best "roommate" shots. This was after a crazy meal with the kids and lots of running around and dancing. Oh and it was about 95 degrees outside and really humid.

It was wild with so many little ones in our tiny house, but we had such a great time!

The boy really loves his food!

What should you do after you finish racing around to put the house together for Dan, Jamie and Norah to visit? You should not give Timmy spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I was so proud of myself for making (turkey) meatballs, but Timmy made what is quite possibly his biggest mess yet...and that is no small feat. These are not the most disgusting pictures, but no one really wants to see that.

He thoroughly enjoyed his dinner but he was such a mess that he was stripped at the table and bathed in the kitchen sink. I had to change the water out twice because he was just covered in sauce but don't worry because Cate was there helping, telling Timmy, "T, TT it's ok, it's a wawa (water)."

John and Maggie's Visit

My good friend, Mandi, is in Chicago for a few weeks and we finally managed to get our little ones together to "play". It was total chaos with 2 two year olds, a 10 month old and a 7 month old but we decided to take a picture of the four of them eating because someday we will think it is funny. We often talk about how Cate and John would interact if they got to spend time together but Cate was more interested in baby Maggie and John was more interested in Cate's trucks and buses. Timmy just observed the whole scene and tried to follow the big kids.

High School Reunion

This past weekend we travelled to Des Moines for Tim's 15 year high school reunion. The reunion was held at a former classmate's home and Cate and Timmy each made an appearance. Then at night we went out for Mexican food and hung out talking about high school memories until 1:30 am. Tim had a very small high school class, and to be there as the spouse who didn't know anyone, it was nice to have just a small group of people to get to know a little bit.

Nana watched Cate and Timmy for us so that we could go out at night and Cate has been talking about Nana's house all day today. The last picture has nothing to do with this weekend other than the fact that the ride home was LONG yesterday and both babies are very tired today. They both woke up from their naps in really really bad moods so I decided that a popsicle remedy was in order. Both are teething and sometimes it's just the best thing. The funny thing about the picture is that I ran inside to get something and I could hear Cate saying, "It's ok T, It's ok TT, you want s'more?" and she was sharing the drippy remains of her popsicle with him because his was gone.

Fourth of July and Cate's Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated the Fourth of July and Cate's second birthday. For the most part, it was a red, white and blue affair, but we did bring back the choo choo theme with Mrs. Benesh's amazing Thomas inspired chocolate cake. The afternoon started really hot and sticky and we were rushed inside, margaritas in hand, when the rain blew in. We made the best of it and opened Cate's gifts inside and when we were done, the rain had stopped and had also broken the heat.

Our tiki torches kept the bugs at bay and we had a relaxing afternoon and evening. I had originally said that I didn't think that Cate would go to the fireworks (which are right out our back gate), but she was having so much fun and was so good that we decided to let her go. I thought that she would be scared, but not this girl. She kept saying, "Whoa whoa!" and when it got really loud and bomb-like at the end, she got up out of her lawn chair, mouth wide open, and just clapped. I'm not sure what to make of this.

She was so excited about these balloons!

Mimi, Nana and Auntie Jenn with T...all melting in the pre-storm heat

Little Lia Bee in on the action. Note that Cate is watching her like a hawk and Timmy seems to be practicing his downward facing dog

The choo choo cake that was too cute to cut but so yummy to eat!