Helping Hands

Adam and Gerrit were busy last week moving Hostas and planting Cedum. Dahlen's gave us the little wheel barrel which has come in handy. Gerrit loves to help out and does a pretty good job too. He needs to work on where he dumps the soil. (He does not call it dirt - its soil - can you tell his father has taught him this???) Emmit tried to help out by trying to lift the big wheel barrel and learned real fast he couldn't. Gerrit showed him how to move the little one and Emmit liked being able to 'help' too. We are happy with the switch and now I'm excited to finish things up with planting the flowers and adding some color around the yard!

Happy Mother's Day

I had a lovely mother's day this year. I know understand why when I asked my mom when I was little why there was not a 'kids' day' like there is 'mother's day' and her response was: 'it's kids' day, every day!' :)

I wouldn't change being a mother and love my 2 boys more than they will ever know. Gerrit showed me the card that was from Emmit and him and the decided to open it himself. Once he looked at it he handed it to me to see - how thoughtful of him!

We had a nice brunch at church after the service, I was able to get laundry put away that had been piling up (without a kid in toe -- which was the key here), and even a nap. I let Adam ride w/ Dave to Red Wing so we could pick him up and enjoy dinner out! How nice of me!

The boys surprised me with a new camera bag - one I've been seeing out there on the web and had been eying for some time - a Jo Tote! So now my camera bag looks more like a purse and it has extra space for purse like things so I have 1 less bag to take with me!

I took the picture of the tulips to show Opa how beautiful they look! I was hoping they would open up in time for Easter, but of course with the spring we were having, I was lucky they opened up at all! They survived a few frosts as well as snow and they look great! (Opa planted them for me one fall.)

 

So far, the boys have not messed with them either. I see Emmit eyeing them but, he has learned the word 'no'! 

Opa - thanks for making the yard look beautiful!

The Softer Side

This is what I was in my bed the other night:

 

I couldn't resist getting a photo. I loved how he had his animals and doll sitting just so w/ the pillow and how his lego car was on his chest!

I had to get a close up of Gerrit's doll showing how he had put his blanket on him and tucked him in (ya, the doll's eyes are a bit scary, so look fast).

 I guess Gerrit does have a soft side to him - it may be towards his doll and animals and not his brother, but at least I know it is there!
It's a matter of channeling it in the right direction...

A Lesson in Statitstics

Gerrit's stats from his well visit were normal. He is now 3 feet, 5 in tall and weighs a whopping 37 pounds. Basically he is average in weight and a bit tall for his age. So far so good.

Emmit's stats proved that the last well visit's stats are 'outliers'. I laughed when Adam called them that, only because I remember teaching outliers, and now I have a real life example! Too bad I'm not teaching math these days. We are thankful that Emmit's 12 month stats are outliers and he seems more on track. He is now:

30.7" tall 

and 

23 lbs 5 oz.

He continues to show steady progress in his growth and even though he has 2 outliers for weight and head circumference he is back on track. In comparison, Gerrit at this age (granted Emmit's well visit was slightly later than normal because we waited to have both boys checked at the same time):

 

By looking at these photos, it is obvious Gerrit was a chunky baby and had darker/thicker hair. (I have not given Emmit a 'hair cut' yet and whereas Gerrit had plenty by this age.) However, their stats are similar (even though Emmit had a month extra to catch up) - Gerrit was:

31.8" tall

and

23 lbs, 3 oz

Even though Gerrit was a bigger baby than Emmit, Emmit has fire inside! He is starting to defend himself which will teach Gerrit that he can't push/shove/kick without there being paybacks. Emmit definitely knows what he wants and will do a good job of communicating this even if he doesn't have the vocab. His grunts, screams, and pointing takes him far!

Trip to the Big City

Here are a few pictures from our outing on Good Friday. Oma and Opa joined the boys and myself for a day in the cities. We went shopping (Gerrit got his golf bag), had a yummy lunch at Punch, and even found a few minutes to spend at the toy store.

Opa was in charge of Emmit at the toy store...He found a great spot of him - sit him at the train table:

While we waited at the doctor's, Emmit enjoyed the fish tank:

Gerrit had to put on a 'funny dress' for his well check up. He wasn't too excited to wear it (and I don't know why he had to wear it) but was too busy playing with mom's new Ipod touch to care.

We went to the Covered Bridge for dinner. Here is Gerrit looking so old!

[All pictures from this post were taken with my touch - which is why some look "grainy".]

Happy Easter, Happy Birthday!

Easter weekend began with Oma and Opa arriving Wednesday night. Thursday, Oma and Opa watched the boys and at night we colored eggs with Luke. 

Friday, we headed to the cities to shop and the boys had well visits. (I'll post stats from the dr. later)

Saturday was the annual egg hunt at a nearby church. This is the church where Gerrit will attend preschool in the fall. Just like last year, Gerrit was timid when it was time to look for eggs and Emmit didn't quite know what was going on. Oma and Opa helped them out. Adam was battling a cold, so he would have preferred staying home, but was a trooper and joined us. Once the boys found their eggs, Gerrit opened them to find the prizes inside. Opa told Gerrit to blow on the egg when he couldn't get it opened (left, top photo).

 

I guess when you wake up 4, you act like you are 15! This is what Gerrit did with the pillows when I tried to wake him up for church.

Easter started off early with breakfast at church followed by a beautiful service. At least I think it was, I was pretty busy trying to keep Emmit from screaming (his new way to communicating). 
Following the service, we took a few pictures up front by the Easter garden. Adam didn't feel like getting a family photo and turns out, we did not get one at all! He promised Mother's day we'd get one. Gerrit's little head is peeking over the pulpit in the top right photo.


{Gerrit looks like he played in dirt but it really is chocolate muffin he ground his knees in at breakfast!}

We had our own little egg hunt in the yard before lunch. Gerrit was not shy at all this time around! Emmit wasn't sure whether he could touch the grass and eventually gave in because he wanted the egg. Gerrit helped Emmit out by finding all the eggs in the yard and putting some in his bucket. Emmit enjoyed the eggs so much, he continued to play with them inside - even after he got his Easter basket full of toys! Guess all he needed was a few plastic eggs.

The table looked great before dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the guests when everyone was seated! Travis, Dahlen's, and Bill and Tricia (friends Adam stayed with in France) joined us for dinner. I must admit, dinner tasted pretty good! I even made Tiramisu which even Nick said tasted good!

We took a few pictures outside before Gerrit was allowed to change his clothes. He had his picture taken with Opa and his new golf bag. {Friday Opa and Gerrit went to Dick's Sporting Goods looking for golf tees and a chair for Emmit and Gerrit walked out sportin' the new bag! That's what we get for letting the 2 of them in the store by themselves!}

We ended the day with Gerrit's birthday celebration. He had recieved a few gifts all weekend which helped keep him happy until the 'big day'. He was a bit surprised by the size of the stack of gifts that were all for him! He wanted a football helmet shaped cake...so I attempted and it sort of looked like one. It coordinated with his football birthday shirt. He loved all of his gifts and I learned that in the future, assemble the Playmobil gifts before giving them to him - it was hard for him to wait until it was put together! 

Adam had to leave because he had a meeting 6 hours away on Monday so he missed out on the cake celebration with Langley's. Dave, Pam and Logan stopped by for leftovers and cake which was a great way to end the day. 

I was jealous of ZM because they did not have school on Monday and I could've used a day a to relax. Luckily Oma and Opa were around on Monday so I did not have to play single mother.

Gerrit loved having a day at home to play with his new gifts, and go golfing with Opa, Luke and Paul. Reality set in when I had to wake him Tuesday to return to our normal schedule.

Spring Has Sprung?

With the weather starting to get nice, we have been outside a lot.  Part of me is bummed that I can't get stuff done inside but then I remember, all that house stuff will get done - in due time. 

Surprised to see the golf stuff out? 

Nope! 

Surprised to see Gerrit having the proper grip - yep. 

Look fast, because he does not do that often.

Surprised to see the basketballs?

Nope!

Emmit gets upset when he does not get the ball he wants - its usually the men's size that he wants (which is the biggest basketball!).

With the hoop lowered, Gerrit is pretty consistant at making baskets. Adam is not a fan of the lower hoop so he made Gerrit a deal and brought out the 'indoor' hoop (Gerrit's Fisher Price hoop) outside so they each have their own!

It has been fun watching Emmit discover the outside world. For a while he would not leave the cement and would grunt and point when the ball went on the grass. I love watching him copy Gerrit - or try to copy him.

I was battling a nasty cold last week which I so kindly gave to the boys. So now we are back to wiping drippy noses and praying that croup doesn't come back in the middle of the night.
We need warm weather to stick around long enough to open the windows and air out the house! Too bad we are looking at getting more snow this week!