Catching Up

We have been really busy with summer baseball games two days a week and visiting Grandma H almost daily in the rehab facility.  She is doing well with her daily rehab and likes for us to come and visit...especially Collin.  Since she had been there, I am getting a LOT more hugs and kisses from Collin.  I don't know if it's a coincidence or if it's because he is scared for her.  He does talk about death and dying so I know she is on his mind.

Last weekend was full of running around.  We did have Timmy and Leah spend the night to help Mimi so she can work whatever she needs to and to give Aunt Lisa a break so she can focus on Tyson....or sleep.  Aunt Lisa brought the kids over Saturday afternoon and stayed a lot longer than we expected.  We really enjoyed her visit.  Tyson was fun to hold and was awake most of the time.  Aunt Lisa got another reminder that she needs to bring a change of clothes for herself too when she is out of the house.  She was feeding Tyson on the couch when he had a blowout.  She was soaked.  She finished feeding him and then changed into a pair of Daddy's shorts.  She handed my Tyson to go change and he threw up all over the couch we just cleaned up.  A reminder of how much work infants are.  Fortunately, we have a leather couch that cleans up quickly.

Collin did great holding Tyson. 

Leah loves holding her brother.  That's the first thing she does when she comes home.

Great picture of the kids

The kids got along great.  For the most part, boys let Leah play with them.  Even when they were playing the Wii game, they let her take a turn.  She did want to play by herself a few times and also color.  I drew her name and she colored in the letters.

Leah and Collin playing Wii

In the morning, Leah ordered pancakes for breakfast.  Too cute because she remembered last time they spent the night that I made pancakes for all of them.  She ate three of them which I thought was a lot for her.  When Aunt Lisa came to pick the kids up, they did not want to leave.  Guess they had a good time.  We will have to do that again soon.

This weekend, Collin had Jacob spend the night with him.  His mommy needed a night out but decided to stay home to watch a movie instead.  They boys have known each other since they were 22 months old...so they are good friends but also act like brothers and fight at times.  This time, they got along well and compromised when deciding what to do or play with next.  I liked seeing how both of them are maturing and learning to play with each other.  In the morning, I made pancakes like I did last weekend.  The recipe I used was really good and I was looking forward to trying it again.  The boys then played Wii waiting for Jacob's mom to come get him.  It got quite after a while and I looked around for them.  They were not in the playroom, Collin's room, the Wii room or outside.  I had no idea where they could be.  I know I did not hear the door open because I was in the office working.  I then went back to Collin's room and looked under the bed.  I don't know why I thought to do that...but there they were.  All of the animals and pillows were underneath there too.  They were both playing on the iPad separately and being REALLY quite.  I left them there because they looked too cute.

After Jacob left, I had to get us outside because the weather was GREAT for August.  It was 18 degrees cooler than it usually was AND low humidity.  I thought we should go to the zoo...and so did everyone else in the city.  Fortunately, I found a place to park not far from the entrance.  Walking in, Collin asked for a map to show me around.  He asked what I wanted to see and I said we should stay to the right because we always go left...and miss the right side.  I could tell that he had zoo camp for two different weeks this summer because he was my personal tour guide.  He showed me the birds and told me stories about them...that sounded like he was repeating what his zoo counselor told him.  He even told me if they were boy or girl birds.  We saw a stork which I had no idea the zoo had.  What an UGLY bird.  Collin really liked it and wanted his picture taken in front of it.

Trying to figure out where we should go first

First of several stork pictures.  He kept posing and wanting me to take pictures.

Here is where we are on the map

We walked through the BUGZ exhibit which was outside.  It included gigantic, fake insects and information about each of the bugs.  Again, Tour Guide Collin told me about most of the bugs including watching out for the one that sprayed water at the people walking by. 

Had to pose in front of the giant soccer ball

Help us!!!!

We spent the rest of the time in the children's section. I have not been to the petting zoo with him since he was 3 or so.  They had changed it around quite a bit so I enjoyed walking around to see the new exhibits.  After 2 1/2 hours, I was ready to go back home...and he was not.  I spent another 30 minutes trying to get him to head to the front of the zoo and walk to the car.

Acting like one of the animals in an exhibit

One of the many times he had to rest on the way out

We went to our neighbors, the Jureks, for dinner and watch a little of a movie before coming home.  After bath, Collin was sitting in the office while I was cleaning up the kitchen.  I wondered what he was doing in there and being so quite.  He came out and showed me a note he wrote.  After reading it, I knew he had a great day.  What a sweet little boy.

"Holmes, I love you, Love Collin, Mom"