Farms & Friends

I just might have to agree with Will: Kelly & Steve need to get a llama for their farm! :)

Over the weekend, Will and I went to visit Country Lane Tree Farm for a tour. We saw LOTS of animals including ponies, cows, goats, donkeys, llamas, an el paca, pigs, deer and even a reindeer! We saw a pot-belly pig (which Will continues to call a "hot-bolly pig"), and a huge assortment of birds. There were turkeys and geese, ducks and chickens, peacocks and pheasants. Will got to feed most of the animals pieces of bread. And he even got to see a bunch of baby animals.

Checking out the birdhouses


Surrounded by birds!


This chicken's pretty feather arrangement earned the nickname "church lady" because it looks like a fancy hat.


Goats


The brown guy in the front is an el paca.


The llama family. The little one on the left is the new baby - just a week and a half old! He's still drinking mommy's milk so no bread for him yet. The daddy llama kept stepping in front to get the bread first, like "I know my kid's cute, but show some love to the whole family!" :)

Will likes the baby llama. So cute!


Feeding cows


The cows all anxiously await Will's bread.


Deer


A straw maze in the barn, followed by a twirling slide at the end.


Petting the cat


After the tour, we got to just roam around and go back to our favorites again.




Miss Piggy Sue


Back at home, Will's riding his own Pony and saying "giddy-up!" Craig asks him "Are you a cowboy?" Obviously unaware that COWboy is a term for someone who rides horses, Will said "No, daddy, I'm a PIGboy!" Later that day he announced he was a "SNAKEboy" and a "FISHYboy" as well. :)


After a morning at the farm, Will took a nap and then went out with daddy to a car show at Fallen Timbers. Lucky boy! He had a fun-filled day.

On Sunday evening, we had our friends Tim & Angie over for dinner with their little girl Addy. Addy is 18 months and just ADORABLE! I fixed spaghetti & meatballs (one of Will's favorites) and we had a yummy feast. Will and Addy were both behaving out of character in the beginning. Will - very territorial of EVERYTHING Addy looked at and also very demanding of attention by singing his ABC's probably 150 times at an unneccessary decible. Addy - quiet and shy as she scoped the place out, but then very sweet and personable as she warmed up to her new environment. I swear the two of them were doing everything possible to avoid our cameras though! They did NOT want pictures taken. But we managed to snap a few anyway and they seemed to be good buddies just in time for us to say goodbye.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was mostly uneventful. It was nice to have an extra day home with the kids, but Craig was gone the entire day on Sunday and Will started coming down with a cold. So we mostly hung around the house.

Saturday was the first Ohio State game vs Navy. So we all got dressed up in our scarlet and gray to get in the spirit.

Our little buckeyes. Sophie is having a tomboy day completely dressed in her brother's old clothes. :)




The game was during Will's nap time, so Sophie got to be the one to hang with dad while he watched the game. Look at her expression - she's like "I don't know dad, they look like they're holding back. It just doesn't seem like they're playing to potential today."

After Will's nap, we took the kids to Maumee Bay to walk the boardwalk and check out the nature center and beach.

At the nature center, Will checks out a red fox:

Snakes:


Some turtles:


A walk on the boardwalk:


And the beach:


Will likes it when the waves touch his toes:










Back at home, Will's checking out a caterpillar on the ground. I've really been making a point to show him lots of things outside and talk to him about nature. He's a true BOY and loves the little critters. We look for spiders in their webs in the early morning and at dusk, we checked out the locust shells stuck to the trees, picked up some buckeyes from the tree out front. We also got to see some really cool-looking spider webs one morning on the way out the door. There were a ton of them between the deck spindles and they were glistening and covered in dew. It was really cool to see and I wish I had taken a picture then. We've talked about fog and rain and noticed the first leaves changing colors across the street. I like making time to show him these things because he gets so fascinated by it all and it's a good learning experience.



Over the weekend, Craig purchased a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee... yes, we are dorks with matching his-and-hers vehicles now. :) He sold his truck the week before and cut his monthly payment in half. He found the Jeep on e-bay from a guy in Myrtle Beach, SC but it was going to cost him $850 to ship it. So instead he bought an $85 one-way flight to Myrtle Beach and drove the Jeep 900 miles home... all in one day. Wes drove him to the airport at 6 a.m. on Sunday and Craig made it home at 2:30 a.m. on Monday.

As a thank you for the ride, I invited Wes and Casey and the girls over for breakfast when Wes returned from Detroit. We had a "pajama playdate" for the girls and Will got to play with his buddy "Dub" (Wes).

BFF's Sophia, Stella & Mya


Girl Talk





Wes was "hiding" upright in the tunnel and Will thought that was hilarious. So here they're playing peek-a-boo with Casey.


Now we're just grateful for a short week at work!

Will-isms

"Kids say the darndest things..."

I mentioned previously that I've been jotting little notes of funny things Will says and does. It's faster than a full journal entry and I'm more likely to keep up with it. So here's a sampling:

1) (July) We're eating spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I cut up his meatball and he looked at me and said "meatball broken!" with a sad tone and expression.
2) (August) I'm pumping on the couch and Will's singing "Happy Birthday" (sounds like "Hatta Birt-day") to every animal, pet, and random object he can think of. Looks at me, then at the milk collection containers I'm holding on my chest... and sings "Hatta Birt-day Sophie's milk!"
3) Saturday morning and Will spotted some cookies on the kitchen counter.
Will: "I want a cookie!"
Me: "We don't eat cookies for breakfast. You can have one after lunch."
Will: "I want to eat lunch!"
4) Reading his "Big Brother" book and Will sees the character coloring with crayons. Points to picture and says "He's crayon-ing." :)
5) Loves to sing songs - we sing all the time. One of his favorites: "Ring aroun' da rosy... hocka-pulla-fosey".
6) Over dinner, Will's talking about various sports.
Will: "I wanna' play basketball"
Craig: "You want to play basketball?"
Will: "I wanna' play hoops!"
Craig: "Okay"
Will: "I wanna' dunk it"
Craig: "Can you really dunk it?"
Will: "No, it's broken."
Craig: "What's broken?"
Will: "My dunk-it's broken"
(LOL)
7) (This week - Tuesday night) I'm putting Sophie to bed and standing in her darkened room with the door only open about 5". I'm singing a song called "May there always be sunshine" - it was written by a guy I saw speak at a conference (Jim Gill) for children's music, movement and play. Will loves it because you encourage the child to fill in whatever they can think of that they want there to "always be". So the first verse goes:
"May there always be sunshine.
May there always be blue skies.
May there always be momma.
May there always be me."
Will was walking by and overheard me singing, so he peaked his little head in the doorway and sang "May there always be daddy. May there always be Will."
I told Craig about that later that evening and he just about melted.

Sophie's 4 month check-up

Craig took Sophia to her 4 month well check with the pediatrician last Tuesday (August 25th). All went well. She's 14#3oz and 25 1/2". Not surprisingly, her weight gain has come down from that 95th percentile. Genetically, I couldn't see her continuing along that growth line. She's now between the 50-75th percentile, though still surprisingly tall for her age at the 90th. I'm not crazy about how they measure length - it doesn't seem very accurate to me. So perhaps she's not quite as tall as they measured?

Sophie got the 2nd series of the same shots from her 2 month appointment, so 3 more pokes. Craig said she did very well. Developmentally, she's on track and the doctor said we could introduce cereal now if we wanted. I plan to wait till she's 6 months though, when her digestive tract has matured a bit more and she's able to sit up better to eat from a spoon. She sure has started to notice and follow with her eyes whenever I'm eating or drinking something if she happens to be in my arms though now. So it'll be fun to see how she responds to that new adventure soon. I'm just excited that she'll turn 6 months in the fall when all the squashes and sweet potatoes and apples are in season - perfect first foods when they're cheapest and at their prime!

Speaking of sitting up, we're working on it! She already likes her Bumbo seat. But on Sunday, we practiced sitting on the floor with the Boppy pillow around her for support.

And here's Sophie "reading" her God Made Me book (bedtime book):

Here's another picture that looks very similar to one I took of Will as a baby. Very intrigued by the water coming out of the faucet. :) Isn't it funny to imagine how fascinating the world must be to babies when everything is new to them?

And do you notice a change in this bath picture?? No more hammock! Sophie's now sitting right in the water leaning against the infant seat.

Why are hooded towels so stinkin' cute?

Here's a few cute pictures of Will that are just too cute not to add.
Craig had him try on my glasses. :)


Our little librarian.


So cute, I can't even stand it.

Doing Stuff

I am not a sit-around-and-watch-TV kind of person. First of all, I don't have the time. And secondly, if I did, I'd rather being doing something more fun out and about. One of things I want for my children is to see and do lots of "stuff" in their lives. Toys are overrated. Kids usually lose interest in them before the first set of batteries die and I don't have space in my house for that much crap. I'd rather penny-pinch on toys and create a fun activity out of a common household item or something free. It's much more fun when a child has to use his or her imagination anyway.

Instead of having THINGS, I want my kids to have memorable experiences. I would love to show my kids the world, but I also put a lot of value in the simple trips and activities. Coming off of a 12-week maternity leave and no vacation time in my bank, I don't see a lot of traveling in our near future. So I'm trying to make the most out of weekends and allotting enough family time to DO STUFF! With fall around the corner, I've got lots of ideas and high hopes for some fun family activities.

A week and a half ago, we took Will over to the Riedeman farm to see the animals as well as to see the progress on Kelly & Steve's new house. "Papa" took Will for a ride on the tractor and he got to feed all the animals and collect a few chicken eggs too. I didn't take many pictures because we were too busy videoing a "Will Movie" (as Will likes to call them).

But here's the 3 Riedeman boys, all wearing their hats backwards:

And here's Will with Steve's dog, Sam:


On Tuesday evening last week, Craig took Will to see a car show in Genoa and get some ice cream. While the boys were out looking at cars, Sophie and I had a girls' night at home. The kids are still too young to really play together so it's nice to have one-on-one time with each of them when we can arrange it. So Sophie and I babbled and read books, sat on the porch and walked around outside. I put her feet in the grass and let her touch the trees. It was nice to be able to just sit and enjoy her at a quieter, slower pace than when Will's around.

"Hey mom! Want to see my trick?"


"Ooh! Did you see that? I rolled over!"


Cute. Cute.


Poor Sophie got her momma's ears. Guess she'll wear her hair long too. :) She sure liked it when I put the play tray on the Bumbo seat for her to be able to play with toys sitting up.

Then Thursday night, we took the kids downtown to a Mud Hens game.

Here's Will and his buddy Griffin posing with Muddy the Mud Hen (or "Munny Munny Hen" as Will called him). I set him down on the other side of Muddy for the picture and he slowly moved to stand beside Griff instead. :)


Muddy held his hand out for Will to give him five... and Will warily tapped his hand.

Mmm! Burger!


Will & Griff watching the game.




Two kids, two arms, no problem... just no more kids! :)





Sophie fell asleep in the Ergo for the game.






On Saturday morning, Will and I went to the Farmers Market in town while Sophie stayed home with Craig. Will got to pick out some sweet corn and tomatoes and cucumber. He also saw some of Aunt Kelly's co-workers and some really big dogs! Following the market trip, we went to a new playground that he's never been to.








When we got home, Sophie was all smiles as usual:


And she and I hit the road to do some shopping without the boys.

She's a good little shopping buddy! She just sat peacefully in the carrier and watched me buy her clothes. :) We found some cute stuff for fall!

Sunday we were hoping to get out to Maumee Bay with the kids, but Craig's fantasy football league draft took too long and so Sophie and I just went over to Casey's for the first time in forever to have a playdate with Mya & Stella.

Is this August weather?


And Sunday evening, Will helped me peel the corn we bought for dinner. We had grilled chicken and black bean salsa to go with. Mmm!