The Competition Continues

Today was Emmit's 6th month check up. He did very well considering he was in the car a lot, had shots and smiled for his 6th month pictures! Anyways, here are his stats compared to his big bro at 6th months:

Gerrit: Emmit:

27" long 26.6" long

19 lb 18 lb 3 oz

17.4" head 18.11" head

Emmit is tapering down to the 50%ile except for his head...Adam says, maybe its big because he has more brains than his big brother! Only time will tell!

Brotherly Love

Gerrit enjoys entertaining his brother (once in a while):

Emmit loves the attention Gerrit gives him:

Gerrit's other 'brother' Luke spent the day with us. At 8 am Gerrit was asking if Luker was here yet (I had told him that Luke was going to come over today if he was bored). Luckily, I needed a staple gun so I called Luke around 10 and he came over for the day. Gerrit was in 7th heaven! They wrestled, played tackle, had lunch together and then played in the pool for hours.

Scuba Farmer

I picked up a scuba mask and snorkle for our upcoming trip. Gerrit found it:

Guess he's ready for the oceans he might find riding thru the fields.

I laughed so hard when I saw him like this:

(note the eyes and how the mask isn't on properly!)

Finally

they give me solid food!

We've had rice cereal in the house for over 2 weeks now and finally got around to giving it to Emmit. Dinner has been hectic around here lately but tonight was low key as we just had burgers outside with Dave and Paul.

Gerrit felt he needed to help (surprised?) by holding Emmit's head. Then he wanted to feed Emmit. I think Emmit enjoyed the solids despite a little choking. And to finish off his dinner with a sippy cup of cold water! Not sure how much water he drank, but he sure liked chewing on it!

Big Helper

Adam went for a trail ride with Dave D. this afternoon. Just as they were hitting the trail, it started to rain - hard! So you can imagine what they looked like when they returned!

Moving Up in the World

Gerrit is so spoiled by Luke and Paul. They had an extra scooter that they decided Gerrit needed. He loves to ride the one at their house so today we took this one home.

Not quite ready to use the back wheel break, the grass is an easier way to stop:

Look at that balance!

Now if only he was a bit stronger when it comes to breaking on his big bike, those training wheels would be off!

Forgetting Anything?

This is often how you'd find Ella this weekend:

And when Erika asked if they were forgetting anything, Max responded "ya, Emmit"!

Good thing we will see them in less than a week!

Just Chillin'

Saturday we decided to hang around home. The guys went golfing again in the morning and the 2 neighbor girls (granddaughters) were over by 9 to play. The girls played all day together. Ella even had lunch at their grandparents' house! They exchanged addresses so hopefully they can become pen pals. Ella was very disappointed to learn that they couldn't stop at the girls' home in Rochester on their way back to MI. Guess that means Ella will have to come back soon! Following lunch we got the pool out and Gary brought over the slip n' slide.

Erika and I left to go shopping in Red Wing and the rest hung outside. Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:

Max and Adam played a lot of HORSE while Jeff protected Emmit from the basketball. Ella and the girls were back and forth between homes, Gerrit played in the water a ton, and Mia rode bike.

For dinner we went to Hellyer's for a potluck picnic. Jeff and Erika met more of our friends, the girls played with Abby and some other girls from church and Max played capture the flag with Luke, Paul and a few other boys. Jeff was able to taste many of Brian's home brews through out the evening as well. The party came to a halt when the thunder and lightening began (for the 2nd night in a row).

Home after 9 pm, quick tubbies for the little ones and off to bed. This was the first night all vacation in which we did not have to fight at least 1 kid to get back to bed! They should all sleep well tonight and take good naps tomorrow as well!

A Day (Edited Sat am)

Today I brought the boys to daycare as they needed a low key day and I needed some time off. Gerrit was not going to last long today due to late nights and no naps. Erika wanted to shop in Grand Ave. in St. Paul which was easier without the kids. So Jeff kept his 3 and went to a movie while we shopped. It was a nice stress free afternoon. We met up with Jeff and the kids for ice cream and parted ways. They headed to friends in Minneapolis and I headed home. I havn't talked to them yet but I know they had some major storms hit the area they were visiting - so much for sailing on Lake Harriet! We had the sirens go off in Z-town but only got a little rain. (We headed to the basement with the boys and watched radar before putting them to bed for the night.)

Turns out Jeff, Erika and the kids had dinner in the dark! The power went out just as they were ready to eat. They enjoyed conversation in the dark and the kids played capture the flag inside!

Pool vs Golf

The guys went golfing and the rest of us went to the pool. Gerrit was upset he wasn't able to go golfing but I think he enjoyed his day at the pool a bit more than he would've golfing:

Emmit took a short nap while on duty!

Gerrit really took to floating and putting his face in the water, I think because he watched his 'fish' cousin Mia. Gerrit also liked the slide which was perfect for the little kids and me (I didn't have to stand in line for the big slides).

Ella helped watch the 'fish' and took Emmit in periodically too. He's still warming up to the water.

We met up with the guys for dinner in Red Wing before heading home.

I should've taken a few pictures of the rest of the evening as it was spent in the yard: Jeff, Adam and Max playing 21 and HORSE and the rest of the kids running around with the neighbor's 2 grand daughters. Erika and I enjoyed a drink and tried to relax a bit after a long day with the kids. We were hoping for an early bed time but I think it was close to 10pm before they were in bed! (This was day 2 of a late night!)

Emmit's Fun

Emmit has been enjoying the extra attention from his cousins, especially Ella. She has been a big help and does not even mind his crying! Max likes to play with him too, as long as he isn't crying.

Mia is missing from this photo - she was with Gerrit.

MOA

Wednesday we headed to Mall of America for the day. Jeff took the kids to Nickelodeon for the rides while Erika and I shopped. Well, I didn't get to shop as much as I would've liked because Gerrit wouldn't go on the rides until I joined him. Here is a glimpse at our day:

I love the one of Gerrit crying by Lenny - he was very scared of him and most of the characters. The only one he got close to and even gave her a hug was Kai Lan. Once I went on a ride with Gerrit, he was ok - so I thought. He went on the bumper cars next and you can see how well that turned out! They stopped the ride so he could get out! I went on most rides with him and he started to enjoy himself. (He was running on little sleep which didn't help.) Max, Ella, and Mia loved the rides and did not want to shop. Erika did some serious power shopping when I had to leave her to tend to Gerrit. We finished the day by going to REI and then dinner on the way home. It was a quiet ride home.

On the Move

While cleaning today I left the living room where Emmit was playing on his blanket and went to do something in the kitchen. When I came back, I found him here:

Guess this means we have to watch all the little stuff on the floor now!

Swimmin' in the Rain

We went to Lake City only to arrive and it started to rain. (We took Luke and his friend Maddie too.) That didn't stop the kids from swimming! I sat in my bathing suit by the pool and got wet even though I didn't go in the pool! Gerrit loved the mask and even tried out the snorkel.

Emmit stayed in the condo with Deb as she was doing some sewing. He had fun laying next to Max when Nikki and the kids came.

It was a nice chance to get out of the house and enjoy the big pool.

Covered Bridge Festival 2010

Was busy around town this weekend. The traffic is bad by our house this summer due to the bridge being out and then you add the festival and it was hoppin!

Sat. I ran the 5k in town while Adam went for a bike ride so there are no pictures of me running. (Anne watched the boys for us.) Following our workouts we took care of some things around the house and Adam got in a round of golf. The start of the parade was fast approaching and thankfully Dahlen's thought of a quick dinner. So they came over and we had a quick dinner and headed to the parade.

1st row: a festival coming to Z-town this fall, our post parade waiting for the fireworks spread, the seating area to watch the fire works, Luke in the parade with his baseball team, Adam and the boys at the parade.

2nd row: Adam and Emmit, the boys watching the parade waiting for people to throw candy, Gerrit ready with his bag to keep his candy, Gerrit, Olivia, and Abby, Gerrit.

Row 3: Gerrit enjoying the view of the parade, various parade participants

Row 4: Band judge (we sat near the judging area for the marching bands. I never knew there was a competition involved in parades. These 3 guys were more fun to watch than the parade itself! They were so animated, talked with their hands, and dictated notes of some sort into the tape player. I learned something new and was entertained at the same time!) The ZM marching band, Gerrit, the gang watching the parade, same picture as in the top left, guess I didn't have 20 pictures to fill up the collage!

Following the parade everyone came back to our house and we hung out till dark and watched the fire works thru the trees. We are so thankful we have a nice driveway to hang out, shoot hoops and have a party! Gerrit watched his first fireworks display too. Emmit was in bed right after the parade. A late nite for all, but fun.

Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Emmit sleeping during the storm tonight.

He looked so peaceful laying 1/2 on his tummy snuggling up to his little blanket while outside it was blowing, raining, lightening, thundering - you name it!

Its the little things in life that are worth taking the time to slow down and cherish...

Edge of the Storm

The view from our front porch at the end of tonight's storm:

I used my handy dandy tripod Adam gave me. It works slick. I didn't take the time to really get myself aligned, hence the odd angles. I needed to act quick before the sunset was gone. Oh, to have been on Lake MI (Michigan side) to see a storm like this. Nothing beats watching the storm come over the big lake! And then to see the sunset over the lake while watching the lightening in the north! Amazing, I miss those days.

I Learned My Lesson

We closed all the windows tonight due to the storm coming through the area. Gerrit's room is pretty warm so when I went to close his window, I said I'd leave the door open (felt bad that it would get too warm in there). He liked the idea and said he'd stay in bed.

Fast forward 5 min....

I walk through the living room to find 'bank' at the bottom of the stairs and think to myself why is bank down here and why hasn't Gerrit called for it....

I look up and see Gerrit sitting on the steps smiling at me.

I told him he needed to go back to bed and his response:

"That is why you close the door".

So now his door is closed and locked and the air turned on. Good night!

Tubby Times 2

Gerrit wanted to take a tubby with Emmit.

This is the best I can do until Emmit can sit up confidently on his own:

Gerrit 'torturing' (or at least annoying) Emmit:

Look, no tears:

Perks

It's my own fault for teaching Gerrit a perk of being a boy:

Look - no hands!

When bored, pick the 'weeds'

A few weeks ago, Gerrit had to go to the bathroom and he was all wet from the pool. So, he went in the hostas which he refers to as 'weeds'. I thought he forgot about the whole thing until the next time he was in the pool and needed to go...so he went in the weeds. He even told me he didn't need to go to the bathroom before leaving for golf because he could just "go in the weeds" when he had to go!

Someday he'll want to kill me for taking the pictures but I couldn't resist!

VACATION!

We've had a lot of rain lately so the pool has been in the garage. Now that I'm off, we can finally get it back out and enjoy it.

While Gerrit enjoyed his new pool toys (footballs), Emmit enjoyed being outside too:

Watching his big brother tires him out!

Less is More

My gardening philosophy when planting seeds:

A few is good...

A lot is better...

Well, that doesn't work when growing radishes:

I learned (from my parents) that one seed = 1 radish. Makes sense but somehow I thought I was going to get a bunch like you find at the grocery store. So I planted 4 'plants' thinking I'd get 4 bundles. Little did I know that I was to get only 4 radishes...It had been about 21 days so I pulled them up to find the above. Guess dad was right - thin them out or plant an itty bitty seed 1 in. apart. Lesson learned - new radishes are on their way.

Weekend Update

Adam took Gerrit golfing again this weekend. (I don't know who likes it more - Adam or Gerrit.) It was a bit rainy but no one complained about it. I wish I could go along and listen to them because I think their conversations must be pretty funny. Adam told me at one point Gerrit was mad at Adam and threw his club. He then proceeded to respond to Adam by saying:

"I'm not talking to you".

Where does he learn this stuff? He even told Adam that one of his shots was a bad one. I asked if it really was a bad shot and Adam said it was. So the kid is learning. If only he would stay out of the line of sight of the one hitting, he would master the etiquette of golf!

Tonight we watched Luker's baseball game. Gerrit sat and watched the game for a long time (longer than most 3 year olds). When we got home I brought Emmit inside and Adam asked where Gerrit was. I said take a guess....

Every time Gerrit watches a sport, he need to play it. So yes, Gerrit was outside playing baseball when we got home. He now wants baseball pants like Luke. Yesterday it was soccer in the basement during the World Cup. (He even tried hitting the soccer ball off his head like he saw on TV.)

We really don't push him into playing anything or with anything. He does it all on his own. I love watching him reenact what sport he sees on TV. And this is why we don't watch WWF - although today at baptism brunch for Max Rockne, Paul was helping Gerrit do butt slams on Luke. Luckily it was time to eat so that came to an end, even though he walked around the house saying 'butt slam'!

Emmit's weekend? He spent his time chewing on lots of things, rolling over some, taking a few good naps and was a perfect gentleman to anyone who gave him attention. He's showing great interest in food so we might have to break out the rice cereal now that I'm done working.

Bribe

Let me tell you about this wonderful little 3 year old of a son we have:

Cell phone rings and Gerrit wants to answer it. (Its Adam so I let him)

He starts talking to Adam and I run to the bathroom. I come back and they are still talking so I ask to talk to dad.

Gerrit says 'no'.

I walk towards him to get the phone and he runs away from me - around the dining room table. [Whichever way I go, he runs the opposite] I can hear Adam telling Gerrit to give me the phone and that he wants to talk to mom.

Gerrit says 'no'.

I finally tell Adam to hang up and call the land line and I'll answer that phone. In the meantime I try to get Gerrit to give me the phone and he says:

"put a kids' show on {cartoon} and I'll give you the phone".

Yep, there you have it, our 3 year old is bribing his mother!

A Raincoat at Bedtime?

Lately, Adam has put the boys to bed so I can get a quick run in and tonight was one of those nights.

Gerrit likes to think of excuses or things he needs to prolong bedtime. Usually one request is a drink of water. Little did I know that the other night he spit water out onto his bedroom floor instead of swallowing it. Tonight he took it one step further: when I returned home, Adam stood up and his pants were wet....

Yep, Gerrit threw his glass of water at Adam!

Guess bedtime just got shorter - no more drinks of water! (plus, it'll give us a head start in potty training at night which we are far from starting!)

Edited: I asked Gerrit this morning if he threw water on daddy last night? His response:
"No, I dumped it on his belly."

Persistent Dare Devil

Last night the boys went to bed at their normal time. Emmit fell asleep right away (as usual). Gerrit had other plans than sleeping. He needed everything under the sun from us and when he couldn't think of anything else to ask for, he scaled the gates - yes, plural GATES! We have to put 2 baby gates up to keep him in his bedroom (can't lock the door b/c its old and won't lock). He did this 4 times! We were in the middle of watching a movie so we ended up letting his stay up and watch the end of it (bought it on demand so we couldn't pause it). He enjoyed chips and watching Rugby at 10pm! When the movie ended, it was time to feed Emmit. So I took care of him and Adam tucked Gerrit in for the umpteenth time tonight. He didn't tuck him before he removed the latch lock from the bathroom and put it on the outside of Gerrit's door. Nothing like using the drill at 10:15 at night! It was a quick and simple fix for us - and a very cruel trick in Gerrit's eyes. A few minutes of crying and he gave up and went to bed. What seemed so funny to him was not going to be funny in the morning when he needed to get up! Surprisingly he wasn't too bad for us and Julie said he was OK for her too. (He did fall asleep mid morning.)

And the Rugby - he was imitating it once he understood the basic concept. He went for his football (big one that looks like a rugby ball) and set up his uprights (from football) to play his own game. He came charging at me a few times too! It amazes me how fast he picks up on things from watching! Guess we better be careful what we do too!

Tonight should be interesting as we will no longer need the gates. I'm looking forward to that!

JPGA

(Click on to enlarge)

Watch out Junior PGA - here comes Gerrit!

Adam took Gerrit golfing this afternoon at the same course as last weekend. Gerrit had been waiting all weekend to go to the golf course. He had to wait till his blister healed before he could go. It didn't bother him until the 9th hole when it started to bleed. Guess we will need to get him a golf glove - for the wrong hand seeing he has his hands backwards for a righty. He did better with his putter too on the green. Adam said he did well until the end when he got tired. He started throwing Adam's ball on the greens! I think this might be a typical Sunday afternoon event for them.

What did Emmit and I do? We took naps! (I can get use to that Sunday afternoon event too!)

Playing Together

Gerrit decided to play with his cars by Emmit this afternoon.

Emmit quickly used his new trick of rolling over to get his hands on the cars.

Gerrit didn't mind which I'm sure won't last long.

This was the first time they 'played' together.

I can only hope it goes this well all the time (hope is the key word).

Still Breathing

This may look weird, but this is often how Emmit will look when he's sleeping...yes, he's still breathing so don't bother him.

The Mermaid

Gerrit put his pants on (all by himself) so he could go outside.

He didn't make it across the living room w/o falling.

Still working on getting those clothes on right!

Milestone

Emmit woke up in the middle of the night (not needing to eat), so I nudged Adam to put his pacifier back in seeing I wasn't needed. Adam came back a few minutes later and said that Emmit had rolled over! Yep, he's mobile now. I was beginning to wonder because Gerrit rolled over at 4 months and Emmit is now 5 and hadn't yet. Now I can quit worrying about that and on to the next thing.

I confirmed Emmit's new trick today after school. I put him on his blanket and he rolled over right away and looked like he was trying to crawl (a long ways away from that - I hope!). He wasn't liking the tummy position for very long so I rolled him back over.

Fun to see the new tricks he can do!

[Oh, and he didn't scream thru his whole bath tonight! He's growing up!]

Gerrit's milestone: getting a blister on his hand from golfing tonight. Glad he likes the foam golf balls he picked out - he no longer insists on using real ones. I sprung for the expensive ones but they are cheaper than having to replace an antique window in the church!

Memorial Weekend 2010

Here is a glimpse of our Memorial Day weekend. Top right: Adam having dinner with Gerrit and the 2 granddaughters of the neighbors. Lexi and Bea (Bay-ah) visit their grandparents quite often and lately the 3 kids have played together outside quite well. The girls are not exposed to sports much so playing at our house consists of mostly sports and playing in their grandparents' yard consists of pretend (they have a playhouse). They enjoy riding bikes/scooters together too. It is nice for Gerrit to have a few 'friends' in the neighborhood.

The 2 photos of the Great Dane crack me up. Dahlen's dog sat Maddie over night and said we had to bring Gerrit over to see the 'horse'. He was a bit intimidated by her, but she is very mild mannered. It is funny to see her set her face on the table w/o stretching! We tried to get Gerrit to 'ride' her but he didn't like it.

Emmit was sporting Luker's hat while we visited them and met Maddie. Love the one of him smiling!

The pool pictures are from Lake City at Wilkinson's from Mon. afternoon. We enjoyed lunch with the neighbors at the block party next door and then headed to the pool (the beans were a big hit - thanks mom). Gerrit is getting his 'sea legs' back. He enjoys hanging out along the wall now instead of just the steps. He won't jump in to us like he did last year, but it won't be long. I think I'll sign him up for swim lessons and see how he likes the structure and being with strangers (he can be quite shy).

Emmit didn't mind the water. I was a bit hesitant to put him in because he HATES the tub. He didn't mind it as long as he was not splashed in the face. However, there is a picture of him getting splashed by Gerrit - guess he better get use to that. I guess there is hope that he might like his bath, or at least not scram bloody murder the whole time.

As much as I missed being at Sandy Pines on opening weekend (felt a bit homesick when talking to Mom), we had a nice weekend with our friends too.