All in a day's play

Dane said to daddy, "Take my training wheels off daddy, I'm a big boy now." So he did! And here is also Drake using the pedals; no more flintstoning it for Drakie!

So, ever wonder what I do all day when I'm home with our little ones and there's dishes in the sink and laundry to be folded and tumble weed of dog hair on our stairs? Here's the not-so-short version:

After hashbrowns, bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast we sent daddy off to work and went for a walk. Dane has been asking to fly his new kite, so we walked to a neighbor's field and after getting permission we attempted to fly it. The whole time walking there he kept saying "It's a good day to fly a kite mommy." And it was: cool morning, with sun and a few clouds, not too humid...oh, and NO wind! I got it up about 10 feet above our head a few times, but not for longer than 15 seconds. I bribed them to walk home by offering smoothies when we get there. I let each one choose a fruit to add to the smoothies I make; Dane chose banana and Drake chose blue berries...not too weird of a combination. I have made some odd ones in the past. Once Drake wanted to put corn in it and Dane thought that was a splendid idea as well. I'm pretty good at redirecting and suggested a yellow fruit instead.

After our smoothie and a picnic lunch it was starting to get hot. We came inside and they asked if they could play with the box and packaging popcorn in the box that I had from a delivery the previous day...I figured what the heck...


And they both did a great job at cleaning up before naps.

After naps and a snack I put together their easels...Here's where I get aggravated at myself. I thought the previous picture was funny and wanted to download it and look at it full-size. I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera; the pictures from the rest of the night are GONE...and I had some good ones. I didn't realize it until I went to download the rest of them.
So here's the picture of their first paintings without them actually doing it or posing with them afterwards.

Dane and I also made a cake and then he read 2 books to Drake and sang the ABC's and Old MacDonald to him. He held his hand and sat with him and then came out of his room to get his own books read to him before bed. I have great pictures saved in air space that I'd love to share. Next time I'll remember the memory card!

All in a days PLAY, nite nite *smile*

Appendectomy-surgical removal of the appendix

Quick update-
Tuesday I got a call from Andy telling me he arrived at someone's house to do counseling, but left right away and drove himself to the hospital...after a CAT Scan and MRI they put him in an ambulance and drove him to another hospital to do an emergency appendectomy. I called our pastor as I packed the boys and hurried to meet him. We got there as he was being prepped for the surgery. He left for surgery and we (Dane, Drake and myself) cried and then wiped our tears and played hide and seek in the waiting room. We had the place to ourself so we could run, play and eat the picnic I brought without bothering others.

2 hours later the surgeon came out and said all is well; his appendix was swollen, not ruptured and we could see him in a few minutes. Andy greeted us with a smile (and oxygen mask which scared Drake and made Dane a little leary). His nurse took the mask of so Andy could talk and the boys could touch the air coming out of the tube.

We then headed home and, once again more tears from us 3 who didn't want to leave Daddy behind. This morning I spoke with pastor Duane and after Andy ate lunch we picked him up. He's got some vicadin so he's doing okay. He's asleep in the bonus room now and hopes to be back to work Monday.

I'll tell more when I know more.

The 1st round of parties

The last 10 days have been a blur of family visiting, leaving, staying, eating, opening gifts and leaving again...Here's the short version, kind of. My niece, Natalie, stayed with us 2 weekends ago. Dane and I took her to Six Flags and then afterwards came home to a bonfire with smores and outside movie night. Sunday my brother, Danny, from California arrived. My dad came and picked up Natalie, but before leaving we had a large BBQ at our house with some of Dad and Danny's friends from "back in the day" when they had a house in St. Louis. So 13 people came and 12 left. Danny stayed for the week.

I guess you could say he enjoys riding bikes...that's actually funny because he races professionally and one day while he was here he went for an afternoon ride and it was 70 miles...I'll repeat 70 miles...I complain about driving 70 miles. So anyway, he took Dane on a bike ride. It was probably only a couple miles, but Dane got to show him the creek and horses in our subdivision. After that ride he followed Uncle Danny around the house because they then became buddies.

Drakie and T-Bone didn't get to go as much as they wanted to :(



Danny also took the boys to pick out their birthday gifts and Dane helped wrap them...that was rediculous, but they were definitely easy for them to open. Dane opened 2 of his throughout the week and then one on Friday during Drake's birthday party...

Which leads nicely into Drake's 2nd birthday party. Friday we rented a pavillion and BBQ'd. Drake scored with lots of fun light-up cars and helicopters and books and a painting easel from grandma. He wouldn't eat his cake...he did however eat the home-maid icecream we made at the park.



He fell off of a picnic table reaching for one of his toys:

And we found out Rich and Heather (and Arabella) are expecting a baby in 5 months! yaa congratulations!

Saturday we hosted Andy's family reunion. We barely got home and unpacked from the birthday party before we had to wake up the next moring and get ready for everyone to arrive. We were exhausted, but had a great time. And I didn't take one single picture...I couldn't find the camera...It was in one of the birthday bags from the previous night. I did notice however several people were taking pictures, and lots of them. Aunt Mary brought a cd of pictures turned into a movie that Andy projected outside on our garage door while we all enjoyed smores and the bonfire. It was a nice end to a great day.

Wait, the weekend isn't over yet. We crashed after everyone left and woke up early to be at the St. Louis Zoo. Drake participated in "Animal Antics". He got to hold, pet and feed different animals and then ended the hour with a craft: He finger-painted a large cardboard butterfly. Warning...several pictures...I couldn't pick just a couple because he was excited to see and touch all of the little critters.







Today is Monday. And for MY birthday, since Andy's at work, the boys and I went to Six Flags until about 1:30 when they both couldn't even ride the train because they were so tired and we came home. They are just now waking up, 4 hours later, which is how I've been able to up-date all of you.

Are you wondering what's next? I'll try to keep it short:

Thursday - Drake's actual birthday and I fly out that night to Virginia to celebrate my sister's 50th birthday.
I return Monday and celebrate Andy's 40th birthday the following weekend. And then the following weekend we celebrate Dane's 4th birthday...but wait, we're not done. The next weekend is our wedding anniversary...
I'll try to write before all that's passed so you don't have a novel to read...just books in a series.

Crazy July

Here's what happens when Drake and Dane use my cupcake sprinkles (with my permission, because I checked the lid and it was on tight. What could possibly happen right!) as rattles running around the house. And here's the fun they had "cleaning" up the thousands of pink, red and white hearts. Everyone needs a good sugar high before bed. wink wink

I'm still finding those little hearts in crevices

I can breath now...it's August....ya right...we have 4 birthdays all within 22 days!

So more about that later. Here's what we did in July following our trip to Chicago. The next 2 weekends we went to Jefferson City. One is our annual trip when we go visit our dear friends and the other was a wedding reception for Emily and Jude.



Then both boys were in swimming lessions. Drake was enrolled for 2 weeks and then Dane had his the following 2 weeks. I didn't get any pictures of Drake because I had to be in the water with him. Dane on the other hand loved having his picture taken and insisted on wearing his sunglasses like his instructor.




Also, in the middle of the swimming lessons we had vacation bible school (Power Lab)at our church. I was in charge of games for the preschoolers and Dane went to his own class and Drake went to childcare. it was 5 nights from 5-8:30pm...Long week, but so much fun. We learned so many songs and dances to them and then the following Sunday we performed our moves during church. It was absolutely the most amazing experience I have been involved in at our church. It was time consuming to prepare and draining at the end of the night, but I LOVED it and can't wait for next year to do it all again. We got the music sound-track from our church and the boys and I perfom for Andy almost daily.

I'll save last weekend for another entry...entirely too much to include in this one. And here's one last cute pic of the boys not beating each other...I say that only half jokingly. *smile*