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!

Cate is Two!

I heard someone say the other day that when you have little kids, the days go slowly but the years go by fast. The good news is that after 9 months, we no longer have two kids under 2! Cate turned two on Thursday, the 24th and we had a really fun together.

In the morning she had her "shorty sporties" class at the park district. Tim took the day off (or most of it) to come to her class and play basketball, soccer and hula hoop with us. Then we went home to pick up little brother T and headed to the Choo Choo restaurant with Mimi and Bee Bee (aka Mrs. Benesh). Cate loves all things train at the moment and she had a blast. This tiny little diner has been around since the 50s and we got to sit at the counter, listen to oldies and have our food brought to us on the train. Cate kept yelling, "Choo choo has meeyum meeyum!" Cate shared Mimi's oreo milkshake with her and would hardly let go of the straw to come up for air. There were so many fun things for her to look at and talk about but the best part came at the end when a special birthday cupcake arrived on the train with a candle. They played happy birthday and everyone in the restaurant sang along and the waitress tooted the train whistle which Cate loved. Between the sugar and the excitement, Cate was squealing in her chair.

After naptime we got ready and went to the pool which Cate is getting used to and Timmy loved. It was his first time being in the water and he was just laughing and talking the whole time. Finally, Uncle Rusty came out on the train and went with Tim and Cate for some quick Mexican food which is her favorite. She must have had a fun day because she slept until 8 this morning and is still talking about how the choo choo brought her food. Happy Birthday, Cate!

Going to the pool with Daddy

We are so excited to go to the pool with Cate and Timmy this summer, but actually getting there can be a bit of a challenge. The "free swim" hours aren't the best for naptime/eating time and I am not sure that I can handle Cate and Timmy at the pool alone when neither of them is at all self sufficient.

So tonight, Tim raced home from Milwaukee so that he could take Cate on a special late night (until 7:30) swim. She took a great 3 hour nap today so she was up for a little extra activity. Having been briefly to the pool on Fathers' Day, Cate was more than happy to get her swimsuit on and knew that she had to wear her crocs because her feet would be "ackies" from the water afterwards. I hope that the four of us will get a chance to go this weekend!

First Day

I was going to title this post, "First Day of Summer Vacation," which it is but since I am not going back to work in the Fall, that seems kind of odd. Friday was my last day of work and even though I was sad about leaving the people that I work with and (some of) the students, today I just feel relieved that the decision is made and I am lucky enough to spend my days with Cate and Timmy.

Of course my mental to do list is out of control. I want to make homemade play-doh, walk to the library to work on my summer reading list and get some new books for the kids, organize for the millionth time every closet in the house but then I remember that 1. I have Cate and Timmy and 2. This is Chicago, so of course, on the the first day of summer vacation, it is raining. I don't think Cate and T minded though. We had our customary Taylor Swift dance party in the morning. Cate danced around and Timmy just stood at the couch and laughed at her. Then Cate kept insisting, "I want TT to sit!" This means that she wants to hold him which is always interesting but today Timmy didn't seem to mind!

A Boy

Cate always loved her exersaucer but I really don't remember her ever doing this...

Timmy no longer likes to be confined to the inside of the exersaucer; he now prefers to climb around the outside and underneath the seat. I think that this might be his favorite time of day. Cate was still taking her afternoon nap (Timmy really needs to stretch his out b/c he is ready for bed at about 5) and Timmy had free reign of the playroom. Cate is not telling him, "No T, this is my sit (chair), this is my hi (phone), this is my cook (kitchen/tools)." It's funny because as much as she is having trouble adjusting to sharing "her" toys, the first thing that she said this morning at 6:30 am was, "Hi mommy. I wanna see T...peeeeease."

Strawberry Ice Cream

This afternoon we decided to give Cate a special treat of a strawberry ice cream cone. She sat happily for about 30 minutes just eating it, talking about cars and buses, reminding me that she had a bee in her room the other night and dada got it (not in so many words, of course!), and venturing down the lawn toward the sidewalk. The girl loves her ice cream!

Timmy was about to go to bed, so Cate was trying to make him laugh and give him kisses. They were being so cute but of course, this is the best shot I got. Cate was trying to pick him up to carry him to bed...

If you look closely, you can see his two bottom teeth!

Garbage Buses

Cate is obsessed with buses. At first, she just loved them. Now, she seems to be interested in them although a bit afraid. After we see a bus, she will ask me 100 times, "Bus is bye-bye?" So this morning, Cate stood at the front window to watch the garbage trucks. I tried to tell her that they are really trucks, not buses but she continues to say, "This is a bus?" So finally I just say yes.

Of course, little brother T had to get in on the action and was so delighted to find out that he is now tall enough to peer over the ledge out the window. He just stood there and laughed and babbled. When he tried to grab for the picture frame, Cate issued her usual, "No T, no!" We are still working on the idea that although many people tell her "no, " she is not supposed to boss us or Timmy around. She is not getting the idea...at all.

Summer is Almost Here!

Since we are planning on spending a lot of time outside this summer, I decided to look for some outdoor toys at neighborhood garage sales this weekend. For baby and kid stuff that is going to be kept outside, you can't go wrong! I've been looking for a jumperoo for Timmy because he likes to be on the move, but I need him to be confined somewhere so that I can chase his sister! I found the jumperoo and a few other fun toys for our outdoor collection and while Cate and Timmy slept, we got them cleaned and ready. Cate was very excited to play with her new croquet set and drum full of musical instruments when she woke up. Timmy was happy jumping around for quite awhile. Next on the list: get the patio furniture (for big people) out of the shed!

Tulip Time 2010

Tim and Cate travelled to Pella this past weekend to celebrate Tulip Time. Timmy and I stayed home because I have missed a lot of work lately and needed to be there for a full week. Also, Auntie Jenn is graduating next weekend, so we will all be taking a road trip to Iowa City for that!

Grandma bought Cate her first pair of wooden shoes; I think that they are called, "Klompen" Grandma and Cate participated in a Dutch dance on Sat. morning on the town square. The weather wasn't very nice but they had a good time anyway!

A close up of Cate's hand painted shoes...so pretty!

Cate and Diane during the dance

Cate and Claire, Tim's cousin's daughter.

All of the girls ready for the dance to begin. Diane, Cate, Claire, Marla, Julie and Susan.

A picture with Great-Grandma Zee

Seven Months Old

Our handsome little Timmy is seven months old. Well, he was a few weeks ago, but this is the best I could do. Timmy is loving his vegetables and is starting on fruits. He is much less picky that Cate was and pretty much always finishes everything we offer him. He is very close to crawling, but so far just goes backwards and does a strange one armed push up type move. He has a really great disposition and only fusses when he's tired or hungry. He thinks that Cate is hilarious and it has been so much fun to start to see them interact!

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are the best, aren't they? Of course it used to mean lying around, doing whatever we wanted. Now it means getting up at 6:30 with Cate and Timmy and just hanging out, not having to rush out of the house. Cate loves to go to the playground so here she is waiting for Tim to finish getting ready so that she can go down the slide a million times. She was so impatient to go that she found his shoes for him and ran them over to Tim yelling, "Shoe dada shoe!" Then off they went so that I could finish getting ready while Timmy sleeps. Our big project for today is finding a little picnic table with an umbrella.

Go Cubs Go!!!!

Cate is all ready for the Cubs game tonight! She loves to wear her baseball cap just like her Daddy. She's a cute little cubs fan, isn't she?

Easter Portraits and Easter Sunday

We don't have portraits done of Cate and Timmy very often, but I really wanted to get one done of them together now that Timmy is 6 months old. Although we got great shots of each of them, I am not thrilled with the one of both of them together because by the time Cate decided to cooperate, Timmy had had enough of smiling. He was hungry and ready to be done. Oh well. It is very hard to find a time of day when a 21 month old and a 6 month old are both awake, in a good mood and fed.

This is the best of both of them.

My handsome little T. Timmy wears pajamas most of the time, so it was so much fun to see him all dressed up in his little man clothes.

Doesn't she look angelic? If I told you what was going on behind the scenes, you wouldn't think so.

Cate did not want to sit in this nice, white chair. She kept trying to drag over a red velvet chair. Not very festive for Easter!

We had a nice Easter weekend. I was off on Good Friday, so Cate, Timmy and I hung out at the playground in the morning and out in the back yard in the afternoon since the weather was so nice. We got to go to the Stettner's house on Sat. night for dinner and bunny cake decorating with the little girls and then on Sunday we just relaxed after church and a big meal at Mimi and Pop's house.

After Cate got up from her nap, she followed a trail of plastic eggs to find her Easter basket. The picture below is blurry, but she loved picking up all of the eggs and finding her basket which was full of crayons, coloring/sticker books and paint with water books.

Trouble

Cate is getting older and wiser now so this morning, while Timmy slept, I thought that I could get away with taking a quick (really quick) shower. I set her up at the bathroom sink to brush her teeth and play with the water. She stood there happily brushing, saying "choo choo" because of her Thomas the Train toothpaste for just about the whole time. I had just about rinsed all of the conditioner out of my hair when I heard, "Buh Byeee" and the door opened. So, conditioner or not, my shower was over, but I was too late. This is what I found...

She looked up at me and said, "Hi mama hi. Cookies?" Anything that she deems a treat is a cookie and because she never eats Rice Krispies, they must seem interesting to her. Oh well, at least they are easy to clean up.

Spring Break 2010!

We have had pretty nice weather this week for my Spring Break. We've been able to go for walks and go to the playground every day. We got out a little stroller for Cate's baby and she now insists on pushing it around the block instead of riding in the double stroller herself. She actually makes it really far...all the way around the block...but it makes it hard for me to take the dog, Timmy and walk along with Cate and her baby, so I have to wait until someone can go with me. The upside is that with all of that fresh air and exercise, she's been going to bed right after Timmy at about 6:45!

Timmy got to take his first ride on the swings. He sat and enjoyed the scenery but wasn't quite sure what to think. He was a little bit worn out from his dr. appt. the day before where he got his 6mo shots. He is still in the 95% for height! Clearly, he is taking after Tim!

This morning, my mom went with me to have their picture taken for Easter. I really haven't done many professional pictures at all but every once in a while it is nice. I will post some of those soon...they came out so cute and I bought WAY too many but it was worth it. I don't know how people do that every few months. I had my mom with me and I'm still ready for a nap after all of the baby wrangling, changing and smiling like a fool to get them to cooperate!