Corn Maze and Family Fun...last saturday

 

 



I'm terrible at keeping this updated. 



Guess who's turning 1 on Wednesday...

Playground and Preschool

The playground is done!  Jeremy worked super hard (and long) last Tuesday and finished the clubhouse, swing set, and slide.

Unfortunately, Abraham hasn't been able to play on it much because he hasn't been feeling well.  Hopefully that will end soon.

He headed off to preschool today!

 

 

 

Anna keeps growing and me moving.  She finally has a tooth.  She is crawling on her hands and knees now.  She pulls herself up and cruises using walls and furniture.  She has started to let go and take a few steps. 

Playground Progress

 

 

 

Jeremy moved all the mulch in one day!  He kind of had too since it was supposed to rain the next morning and we had plans to go to Knoebels with Rachel, Jesse, Cora and Owen in the afternoon.  Now we just have to wait for the equipment to be delivered. We have the climbing dome and airplane teeter totter.  The swing set/slide is the big delivery.   Abraham is looking forward to having Daddy put everything together.  We just hope the weather cooperates after all the parts arrive. 

 

 



Yesterday, we dropped Caitlyn off at Spruce Lake Wilderness Camp for a week of fun!  Caitlyn was at our house for two weeks.  In that time we had pedicures, went on a few walks, did a few challenges (see facebook),  went to Chuck E Cheese, two malls, and a few restaurants.  She spent several hours in her room here watching YouTube videos and a few hours doing some chores to earn money for her much coveted Vera Bradley backpack.  She however, left with $0.00 because she spent what she earned on headphones and earbuds.  We hope she had fun and will come back and stay next year too!

We went to Knoebels on Friday.  It was hot, but it really didn't feel as hot as you would expect because of the shade and a breeze.  We met Heather, Justin, and Rose there.  Here are a few pictures from when we went on the Train.

Abraham went on several new grown up rides including the Frogger (Jeremy took a video, I'll try to remember to post it..the poor boy looks so scared and looks like he's going to fall off!).  He went with me and Caitlyn on the Sklooosh.  He wasn't sure about it, but in the end, I think he thought it was fun to get wet.  We dried off by going on the kiddie coaster.  I am one lucky person to go on the coaster with, because I always end up first in line for the next one..in other words..First car!!  I asked Brahm if he wanted the first car or not, and he said car number 3, so that's what we chose. 

After dropping Caitlyn off at camp, Jeremy and I took the kids on a backpack ride to the tree house and the retreat center.  Abraham had fun seeing both.  He played on the playground in the retreat center and said he wanted to go back again to go swimming some time.  In a few years, we will have to make it a family trip to go camping there.  We aren't brave enough or hard core enough to try with an infant. 

Since the kids took a late nap on the way home from camp, we stayed up an played a little.  This is a picture of Brahm playing "Jenga blocks."  He makes maps/roads out of them.  If you look closely in this picture, you will see a map of Route 80, the Turnpike, the road to Grammy's house, the road to Grandmom's house, and our driveway/our house (look for the three red blocks for our roof).

This summer's project is building ourselves a playground.  In typical Jeremy fashion, this will not be a small one.  I didn't think to take a picture of the first part of the process: staking it out/killing the grass but here are some other pictures.

This is after the landscapers leveled the ground, put down landscaping sheet, and framed it with railroad ties.

This is what was delivered today.  Three tons of rubber mulch.  Yes, Three tons.

This is what Jeremy is doing today:  moving the mulch to the playground.  He is almost done the first flat in this picture.

Caitlyn has been staying with us since Emily's wedding.  (Sorry, I was in the wedding and Jeremy was in charge of two children..I have no pictures to share.)  Due to a mix up, we only brought half of Caitlyn's bags up with us.  Luckily, Glen had off this week and is an awesome brother/uncle and came to visit Monday missing bag in hand.  Monday also happened to be Glen's birthday.  We celebrated by going to Chuck E. Cheese, Red Robin, and Target. 

Tuesday, Caitlyn and I went to the spa to get pedicures and have some girl time while Jeremy babysat the kids.  (He actually made it family naptime, which rarely happens anymore.)

Wednesday Jeremy started his work of nights so our adventures became routine.  We did take a walk on Friday.  And Saturday we went to meet Jennie at her house and walked to Rita's. 

Anna has mastered her army crawl.  None of Brahm's toys or puzzles are safe from her anymore.  This includes his motorized trains.  Anna gets very exciting when she sees the trains moving and catches them very quickly.  She also started to babble.  She was "talking" with vowels sounds, but now she has started to say "ba ba ba ba". Brahm didn't say "dada" until he was after one, so hopefully, that one is next for Anna.


Abraham skipped over the terrible twos and is in the Threes.  He likes to exert his free will.  It's exhausting and frustrating. 

There are no pictures of Brahm because he keeps moving when I try to take them.

Nothing to see here (pictures, that is)

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  If you want to see photos of what we did this week, look on facebook or instagram. 

This week was pretty fun!

 On Wednesday, we picked up our new van!  Jeremy, ever the bargain hunter, found us a good deal on a new Honda Odyssey.  It's longer than our Borrego is, so I'm getting used to it, but I think I'll really like how much we can pack in it!  I am aware that I am now kicked out of the Cool Mom's Club.  Oh well, I was never that cool to begin with.

 Thursday, Grandpop and Grammy came for lunch.  Abraham had a good time playing Candyland and puzzles with his grandparents.  By the end of the visit, Anna had warmed up to both of them too so they were able to take turns holding her. 

On Friday morning we packed up the van to go to Emily's wedding!  While Jeremy was organizing everything, Anna decided she would learn to crawl.  She does an army crawl/left foot combination-but surprisingly, she goes straight!  We drove down and spent the afternoon with my Aunt Kathy since we were spending the night at her house.  Her granddaughter Leslie (Abraham and Anna's second cousin) was there so we played until it was time for Emily's rehearsal.  Sleeping in one room went better than I expected.

Saturday was the wedding!  Except for one meltdown while waiting for family pictures (because the kids were so hot), they did so well!  Now Aunt Emmy is married.  :)  Abraham had a great time at the reception.  He made sure to get Cora invited so they were able to play and eat dinner together.  Jeremy brought in Abraham's Thomas take and play train set, which was a big hit.  It gave the kids lots of fun things to do since the dance music was lacking. 

After the wedding, we brought Caitlyn back to our house to spend a few weeks with us.  Today was spent at church and buying a few things that Caitlyn will need for her stay.  After dinner we broke out the Wuggle Pets that Jeremy bought on clearance.  Brahm was looking forward to "playing Wuggle pets" with Caitlyn for the past month.  He wants to do it again tomorrow.  Good thing the refill packs were on clearance too.

Jeremy has nicely surprised me with a video to include.  Here is Brahm and Cora running around at the reception. 

New tricks

Anna has some new tricks! She has started waving.  She is so cute. Yesterday, she was waving at Brahm's trains as they were going by her.  She also has started playing peek a boo.  She doesn't clap her hands together but does bang two toys so it's basically the same movement.  She is working hard on her bottom teeth. We see them but they haven't broken through yet.  I'm guessing that will be on Friday night when we are supposed to be getting our beauty sleep for Emily's wedding!

That is the way to....Craigslist

Lately, Abraham has become interested (read: obsessed) with where roads lead.  When he is reading a story,  and sees a road or a track, he asks us, where it goes.  If it's a Thomas book, I usually say Misty Island or the station and if it's a regular book I say "home" or something.  If we are driving, I can usually give generic answers like "Grammy's house, Grandma's house, or Kidswork" depending on the direction. 

Well, yesterday we were going to the Hazelton mall.  Brahm asked where a road leads and Jeremy replied, "That's the way to where Daddy got your [Noah's] ark bed."  Brahm said, "That's the way to Craigslist!"

Anna keeps growing.  She still hasn't figured out crawling but always finds a way to get to the toys she wants to play with. She really likes to take apart the puzzles that Brahm puts together.  Ahh, sibling love. 

A Long Overdue Post

It has been 6 months since I last posted in this blog!  (Sorry, Heather!)  I always think I should update Abraham and Anna's fan base with exciting adventuress, but then I usually post them to Facebook instead and I don't want to double post things. 

Well, an update: Anna is now 8 months old!  She moves around the room with a combination of stretching, spinning, and rolling.  She would LOVE to learn to crawl, but she's too impatient to learn.  She ends up frustrated and just rolls to what she wants.  Jeremy is trying to teach her to walk instead.  She has started to take steps when you are holding your hands.  She stands when you place her on furniture.  She thinks about cruising, but hasn't started yet.  She doesn't pull her self up on furniture yet, but does in the bathtub since there is a handle at the perfect level.  She is eating a combination of puree and finger foods, with much preference for the finger foods.  She ate half of a hot dog roll at the camp reunion today.  She loves drinking out of an open cup and does well with a sippy cup too.  She started asking me to sleep train her a few weeks ago by waking up hourly.  She is much better at naps (much to Abraham's delight) and sleeps until about 5am at night.  It's a little early for me, but better than hourly visits.  She still has no teeth. 

She loves her Aunt Emmy, here is a picture of the two of them at the Staff Reunion today. 

 

 

Abraham is such a little boy! Since I last wrote he turned 3 and (dare I write it) seems to be potty trained!  We registered him for Preschool this fall.  He is going to Bible School at the same church this week.  I'm hoping that some of the same kids will be in his class so he can have familiar faces come fall.  We are busy with weekly activities with Brahm.  Mondays are Toddler Time at the Library, Tuesdays are Occupation Therapy at Kidswork, Wednesdays Brahm goes to a "Roll with me" gymnastics.  And throw in some double stroller and backpack rides to the park, we are a busy family!

 

Abraham's Occupation Therapy is going fantastic! Proof?

 

This picture:

 

Abraham's occupation delay is a result of ( we think) a few things: balance,  a "vestibular issue", left side weakness, and possible his vision.  We actually aren't sure. But when we started OT last October, he wasn't climbing the stairs independently, wasn't jumping, and would constantly want us to hold his hand when we were outside on uneven ground.  He hated the swing.  He wasn't secure on it and didn't want it to swing at all.  Even a few weeks ago he wanted to get off right away. But today...he wanted to go on the swing A LOT!  And he swung fairly high!  I am so proud of him!  He also climbs the ladder to his bunk beds independently and has started to try to jump.  (He can on a trampoline holding on to something, but not just on the floor or off of a ledge).  We are so proud of his improvement.

We joined a CSA this year.  We have a partial share this year, so we get 6-9 items weekly.   Last weeks was:

 











 

 

 

Do you see how almost every thing was green and leafy?  Yeah, so the bunches weren't labeled.  So I tried to google image to match the names ( Komatsuna, Tatsoi, Radishes, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Chinese Cabbage) with the leaves.  It didn't work.  So I just made whatever I wanted with whatever vegetable it was.  I mean green and leafy taste basically the same when sautéed right? 

Who Nu?

Abraham has been learning signs as apart of his Occupational Therapy. He asked for a cookie so I asked him to sign "cookie, please, thank you"  He did so I gave him a homemade chocolate chip. He looks up, almost tearfully says, "wanted a who nu cookie." 

What a crazy kid!