Celebration!

Thrilled to announce that after nearly 10 years of ups and downs in trying to have a family, my sister and her husband finalized the adoption of their second boy this morning. First child Will arrived via China in April, but most of you who know their ordeal know that I couldn't mention Will until T-bear was final. We are byond thrilled.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

It was National Talk Like a Pirate Day this past Saturday and our town participated in this National event for the first time. Since Eddie wants to be a pirate for Halloween there was no question that we'd be participating. The kids had a great time. We went on a pirate cruise and went 'trick or treating' to local businesses for trinkets. Den had taught Eddie to say with the Wiggles character accent, "Ahoy there, matey" and it worked like a charm. He even put out an "argh!" frequently throughout the day. It was really cute. If I ever get the videos transferred from the camcorder, I'll upload...

This is on the boat. The kids are enjoying some of the treats they were given by the businesses and were fulled loaded on sugar by the end of the day.

In other news, Eddie has had a really bad cough for about the last 8-10 days (actually technically the cough was at night, all night) so yesterday I finally took him in. It was pretty much his only symptom, but in the last 4 days he started to cough during the day and seem congested. Plus, he was starting to get woken at night by the cough, so you can imagine the good attitude he's had (about as good as his mom and dad who have been up all night the last 8-10 nights).

The doctor doubled his asthma preventative meds (pulmicort)--they were doubled last fall to the current level, asked to continue the current twice daily albuterol we give when he coughs and put him on a 5 day course of prednisone. She didn’t know if it was a cold or allergies, but the cough is really his only symptom, and Den and I both suffer from bad fall allergies, so it’s a good guess since so one else in the house is sick. The doctor said September is the worst month of the year for asthmatics. He should be starting to show signs of improvement this afternoon after nearly 24 hours of the drug. The last time he took prednisone, he was 18 months old and getting diagnosed with the asthma.

My new project...

Documenting the family on my birthday is my new project--the idea is not mine, I believe my online A Swoop and A Dart buddy provided the inspiration several months back. Everyone gets a headshot. If someone is going to be away (I'm not naming names here cause at some point it could be any of us), they have to get their photo taken on the 21st.

Getting Den and my photos were actually the most difficult because the kids wanted to pose with us.

I'm Not Ready...

I can't believe how old Josie looks. She finally has long enough hair to put in pigtails and Cookie does such a nice job. J has such a fun personality (both kids do, but J seems more carefree, which I think comes with not being the first).











And then there is Eddie, taking his first soccer lesson. Such a looooong way from the "Little Olympians" multi-sport classes I signed him up for when he was 3 and he practically refused to let go of my hand. He had a great time on Friday and proclaimed he wants to take another class tomorrow. LOVE that. Notice no shin guards? Nevermind we went to 2 stores, bought 4 pair (cause I wasn't sure how they supposed to fit) and the coach says that at this age and with them basically working skills the whole 6 weeks with the last week aiming to be a game, they didn't really need them. I plan to find out what to get and all that in the interim, but not the push I imagined. I didn't want him to be unprepared...















By the end of the class, he was starting to get the idea that he wasn't to kick the ball as far as he could, but rather to give it little kicks. The coach was great--but it's not like I'd know any better. All I know is that I liked his demeanor with the kids, Eddie responded to him and everyone seemed to have a good time. It's a UK-based coaching staff, so we get the UK accent.
















And then there is Josie... What she has there on her head is one of the 'lane-markers' to outline the field (such as it is). We raced right from soccer practice to the pre-school welcome back pizza party and still haven't slowed down this weekend.

While Mama is Away...

I had to work this morning, leaving Den with the kids and when I got home, Eddie had picked out his outfit all by himself. Can you tell? I'm guessing Eddie did Josie's hair too. Now that she has hair long enough to do something with, she is growing a respectable collection of hair do-dads and Eddie loves to play with them. Did I mention Den and the kids were making 2 dozen cookies when I walked through the door?

It's Starting!

Eddie finished his first week of preschool and all appears to have gone well. He brought home his first project--a yellow star that he cut out himself. It was really good, better than I usually do.

Eddie and Josie both love playing with the trains--they do not spend very much time put away. I know he really wants some taller bridge options (and almost bought him a toy for this purpose last xmas), but the below picture illustrates both my point and Eddie's creativity. We have this awesome 'flexi-track' and while they have used all sorts of contraptions in the past, the below struck me.

While Eddie was at preschool, Josie and I were playing in the family room and I was taking pictures of Ed's track. Josie wanted her picture as well. She looks so grown up and so different than a year ago.

But here's where she's REALLY growing up. Eddie has been wanting to sleep in the same bed and the same room as Josie (I think because several of his friends share rooms with their siblings). He offered for her to sleep in his bed at naptime and she agreed. I really didn't think it would work and envisioned a lot of up and down the stairs before she would ultimately end up in her crib. Low and behold, aside from needing to bring her a paci, she went right to sleep! Guess it's time to start looking at big kid beds for Eddie more seriously.

First Day of Preschool 2009

Eddie had his first day of preschool today. I tried to make a bit of a big deal of it, but not too big. He wanted blueberry muffins for b-fast, so Cookie made them with the kids. Our one tradition consists of a picture of the student holding a sign. Thanks to Aunt B. for that idea. I offered to take Eddie to lunch, just him and me to celebrate, but he said he wanted to go home to Cookie and Josie. (he had wanted Cookie to pick him up so Josie could visit his classroom, but it was raining too much for her to walk there and back).

He was pretty darn excited and aside from a momentary hesitency at the classroom door, went right in. There are 16 kids in his class this year. 8 of them are from the class last year. There were 11 in his class last year. He is in the 'yellow' class this year, complete with yellow door. He keeps asking about when show and tell will start and when he'll be able to eat lunch at preschool. They have the first two weeks shortened days and then wait on show n tell until later in Sept. He is itching to do show and tell. Wonder what he will want to bring.






















Josie and Eddie were super cuddly this morning, Josie wanting to go with Eddie, and both talking about missng each other. I couldn't believe how sweetly they were hugging each other given that it can end in a swat or pinch to each other. I just love this picture of the two of them.



In other news, Den found out at 4pm yesterday that he was needed to go to Ohio of all places (where we just spent 5 days). Could have saved his company lots of money by just driving there from the City we were in. Oh well.

Ohio

In much need of some relaxation, we headed to G'parents Ohio, where the kids always have a good time. We hadn't been since Christmas, and remarkably, Eddie remembered g'ma's blue door. All the light switches are at a level even Josie can reach and the windows are huge and down low, as these that go onto the screened porch.

We didn't do a whole lot besides visit Swensons, visit with friends and here was our big outing -- picking organic raspberries at a nearby farm. The kids had a great time and we actually got 6 pints, 1 was eaten on site and the rest were consumed in the 3+ days we were there. On ice cream, as a snack, as a meal, etc.

The two week volcano...

Cookie announced she and the kids were going to make a volcano. I don't remember doing this as a science project as a kid, so I was pretty excited. Cookie had the kids help with every step, from cutting the newspaper to mixing the paste and applying and painting.

Course sometimes she got more cooperation than others. It had to sit and dry in between steps, so it actually took 2 weeks to do, but on Wednesday, before we left town for the weekend, Cookie, along with 5 other neighborhood kids and our 2 made the volcano erupt multiple times in multiple colors.
Apparently it was quite the hit.