Something Had to Give

With Adam out of town for work these past few days, I had to give up something as I took on the role of single parenthood. So the blog has been neglected. Adam is home and so I can resume some of my other duties and give him back some of his duties. :)

Emmit has been all over the floor these days...not officially crawling using his hands and knees, rather he gets around any way he can, usually military style. He is close to using his hands and knees but then resorts to flopping on his tummy and moving accordingly.

He happened to find Gerrit's indoor golf club on the floor and was entertained by it for a long time (Opa would be proud).

On a side note...Emmit got croup while Adam was gone! Just lovely!! Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could've been thanks to Emmit's awesome Aunt Erika. I detected he had croup Fri. night when the barking seal cough began. Luckily it didn't keep either of us up too much Friday night. I called Erika and explained our night as well as some other symptoms I had noticed. She called Target and they allowed her to call a prescription in across state lines! Yipee. She saved us a potential trip the ER Sat. night. And with Adam gone, I really did not want to go to the ER! Saturday, Emmit slept a lot and snuggled with me (which I didn't mind). I sent Gerrit off to Dahlen's as they were going to spend the afternoon at Rockne's and seeing Emmit was contagious, it was best we stayed away. Thankfully the meds did the trick and Emmit is back to his old self again. We all have colds now, but that is better than a barking seal in the house!

Mother Nature Wished Us a Happy Anniversary!

So for our anniversary, Mother Nature gave Adam and I chance to spend the day together dealing with the basement. How thoughtful!

Last night we were blessed with 2 thunderstorms that gave us over 3 inches or rain.

This morning Adam checked our usual spot that would show signs of water in the basement before getting ready for work. Good thing he checked because we did have some water which is normal and nothing too alarming. The problem this time is that it kept coming! So, Adam woke me up and we started vacuuming and moving things off the floor just in case it got out of control - which it did. Let's just say, Adam did not make it to work today and now my basement looks like this:

My living room looks like this:

And my dining room looks like this:

So this afternoon I looked at this:

Adam is now off to WI with the guys doing Dairland Dare tomorrow and will return on Sunday. He didn't leave until everything was under control with the house and was even debating whether he should go because more rain is expected tonight. He has put in too many long hours in the saddle this summer not to go so he went. While Gerrit was hanging out with Luke, Pam joined Emmit and I on what turned out to be quite the adventure to Roch. to look at flooring.*

We decided while everything was in a disarray, we might as well tear the carpet up and put something down that was a bit more water resistant in case this were to happen again (before we install another sump pump next spring).

After talking to Pam, we decided to follow their lead and do as they did in their old house: heated industrial tiles.

*The Rochester Adventure:

It started raining on our way to Roch. which was fine. It was coming down pretty hard when we got to Home Depot so we stayed in the car a bit longer and chatted. Finally we realized it wasn't going to let up so we ran for it. The closest door was the exit which we thought you could also enter but when we got there, it wouldn't open. Pam ran to the entrance and came through the store to let me in. Only when she got to the exit, it still wouldn't open. She tried prying it with her hands and I was about to make a run for it to the entrance, when it opened (she unlocked it). As we started walking into the store we realized there was no one around, NO ONE! The one clerk by the door approached us and told us there was a tornado warning and that if we wanted to shop in the store, we had to go to the severe weather area until the warning was lifted. He directed us to the back of the store and away we went, laughing! We had no idea there was a tornado warning but now understood why we hadn't seen a single person walking around! Once in the back of the store, we stood in a room where the rest of the customers were as well as some employees. It wasn't crowded and was quite funny from our perspective. The staff offered us bottled water and snacks while we waited. I called Adam to find out if the rain was hitting Z-town and luckily it wasn't. So all was calm back home while we were 10 miles from a tornado! We passed the time by trying to find radar on Pam's Ipod touch and made jokes about being stuck in the store so close to the flooring section but were not allowed to go to it until the all clear. Finally after 25 min. we were given the go ahead to continue our shopping...

Cheap Entertainment

Its been a busy few days around here as Uncle Travis moved to town (well, nearby town). He'll be working at the bike shop in Rochester that we go to on a regular basis. He moved into his place but has been over to our house getting a few extra pieces of furniture from us and our friends while he still had his U-Haul. One item he brought with him was this:

He gave it to Gerrit and it happens to be just like the one he plays with at Oma and Opa's house. Gerrit was pretty excited to have his very own table top hockey game (and all the pieces are there too!).

Tonight Gerrit was inside and outside after dinner. I was tending to the dishes etc and went to check on him as he was outside for a long time and this is what I saw:

How cute is this? He sat for close to an hour in the yard watching the volunteer fire fighters practice some of their much used skills. He was offered a ride in the truck when they were finished but he was too scared. He did get to see inside the truck before they left. Maybe next year.

Soccer Camp Recap

This is how Gerrit looked on Monday...

The warm up game of "What time is it Mr. Wolf?"

Gerrit was caught last night and had to be a wolf. I love the picture of him 'sleeping'. The top left picture Gerrit is still shy and scared of the wolf (red shirt, Tuesday). The bottom left is Gerrit up close to the wolf on Thursday.

Not paying attention to the directions:

Not quite sure what this look is all about, he would put his shirt in his mouth (nervous?):

Soccer bowling:

Emmit was eyeing Gerrit's water bottle one night:

How Emmit kept himself entertained while having to sit through soccer camp:

In action, no longer scared:

Look at my pinny!

A PE teacher's worst nightmare - sitting on a ball! I'll have to work with him on this one.

Gerrit in his surfer pose. (The little girl in the left by her dad never figured out camp. She wouldn't go on the field w/o him and often preferred to sit and watch the babies.)

The surfer was caught and turned into a crab:

Much needed drink break:

Look at those toe touches!

Freeze tag: Gerrit learning how to spread his legs to make room for someone to unfreeze him.

Scrimmaging (and almost going to fall)

Receiving his certificate from coaches Joey and Tom.

We think Gerrit had a great time. Not sure if he'll be a soccer player as he showed aspects of football while scrimmaging, but it was good for him to try something new. (He would push kids out of the way during the scrimmage last night. We told him he couldn't do that and his response was they were blocking the ball and he couldn't get to it!)

One of my favorite parts of camp was listening to the coaches. I learned a few games I wouldn't have thought to put soccer skills in to them (which I can use now that I'm teaching a little elem. PE this year). But my favorite was their British accents!

"Little Kicks" Makes Big Stride

Soccer camp continues....what's missing from this picture?

MOM!

Yep, I didn't have to be on the field at all Wednesday!

Here's a difference too:

Each night they start with a little song about bananas and at the end they are suppose to 'go bananas' to get them hyped up for camp. Gerrit is in the white shirt - sitting during the 'go bananas' part on Wednesday (still) but Thursday night he was into it! He even joined in many of the other little games that required chanting, counting etc.

({PS their age group is called 'little kicks'}

What a Difference a Day Makes

Gerrit started soccer camp on Monday night.

Based on how well things went at VBS, we took a trip out to the soccer fields Monday morning to watch and see what he would be doing at night. I thought he'd feel better knowing what he would be doing ahead of time. We then realized that all the kids had shin guards so our trip to Rochester included a stop at Dick's to get Gerrit some too (my reasoning these days includes: Emmit can wear them too some day). Luckily they were on clearance! And being an anal mom, I had to get him dark socks - I don't want to scrub grass stains out of white socks! Then I realized his shin guards and socks were not going to fit into his tennis shoes...luckily Gerrit has his 'football' shoes he got for Christmas. They are a bit big but seeing he has so much that needs to go in the shoes, I figured he could handle it. He was ready for camp at 2:30 and it didn't start until 5! So he patiently waited with his gear on for a few hours.

Unfortunately his enthusiasm dwindled once he stepped on the field. This is how he looked most of the time (note: I was able to move from his side a few times to get some pictures).

He was more interested in this area of the field:

I wouldn't let him leave the field to play on the sand hill. I tried to bribe him and tell him if he played and let me leave the field, he could play on the hill. Didn't work so much. Of course when camp was over, he was more than happy to kick the ball around with dad!

Tuesday I was going solo with Gerrit and didn't want to deal with Emmit and having to stand on the field again (although Gerrit said I could sit this time). So I left Emmit behind at Dahlen's (which was good b/c it was soo hot). And this is how Gerrit looked on day 2:

I'm pretty excited to see how he does tonight. He's come a long ways and seeing he is the youngest one out there we are pretty proud of our little shy guy.

Rub a Dub Dub

2 boys in the tub!

We decided to try Emmit in the tub and not in his baby tub. He is sitting up so well these days that we thought he could graduate to the next level. Plus, both boys fit better in the tub this way! He did ok, a little squirrmy when he was getting his hair washed which caused him to go under, but nothing major. It sure makes bath time easier for everyone!