Visiting the Man in Red

Yesterday, we kicked off the holiday season with a trip out to a Christmas train exhibit at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. I'd always wanted to go out there to explore, but never had. Kevin found this event, and he apparently knew that Santa would be there (which I did not know until we got there). It was a rainy morning, but Lewis was happy to watch the trains (inside) for over an hour while we waited for Santa to arrive.

 There he is!

We both wondered how close Lewis would get--I took the kids to an event a few weeks ago, and Lew wanted nothing to do with Santa. I honestly think it was because that Santa was wearing brown boots. Lewis commented that Santa was supposed to be wearing black boots, so I think he thought the guy was an impostor. ;)

 

 Alas, he walked right up to him all by himself this time!

 Lenore was not a fan! 

S: What would you like for Christmas? L: A digger. S: A yellow one? L: Yes.

I was so proud of how clearly he spoke to Santa. 

Christmas 2014

This was our first year to stay home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, in the 12 years we have been together. Our 'usual' routine was to drive up to my parents' house a few days before Christmas, do Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family and Christmas morning at my parents' house. Then we would pack up and drive (2 1/2 hours, if no stops) to our house to drop off and reload gifts, and then spend the afternoon/evening at Kevin's parents' house. All that running around clearly is too much with two little kids. It was too much for me before we had kids, too, but we didn't do anything about it--it's nice to start traditions of our own. I think it worked out well, even though we missed getting together with my side of the family. We did get to see them a few weeks before at Thanksgiving dinner, though. 

We made an Italian meal for Christmas Eve and went to the Episcopal church where Lewis goes to school. I thought taking both kids to the service would be a nightmare, but Lewis was pretty well-behaved, and Lenore slept through the whole thing (she sleeps a lot!). :) It was neat to see some of the same traditions at this church as at my parents' church--I might have started crying during the candlelit-singing of Silent Night at the end of the service, thinking of my family doing the same thing, missing my sister (we used to sing like maniacs, especially on Christmas Eve), etc. I felt very close to them, even though we weren't with them.

Here is video Kevin took of Lewis walking in to see what Santa brought for him on Christmas morning:

A Construction Train!

He wanted to set it up and play with it immediately, so we did that before opening his other presents (from Kevin and I and my parents).

We went over to Kevin's parents' house later that afternoon to have lunch and open more gifts. Overall, it was a nice day. Much more relaxing than in years past.

A few days later, from Kevin's phone:

Sibling Hugs!

Snuggle Time!

There are probably 50 other pictures similar to these on Kevin's phone. :) Lewis likes to hold his sister, a lot. Life is very full and busy and pretty wonderful right now.

Trunk or Treat/Halloween 2014

When I asked Lewis what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, he first said a tractor. I asked him again a few days later, and he said a plane, specifically a blue airplane. I gave him a few more days to make sure he wasn't changing his mind, and then I got to work on researching ideas. I came across this design and decided to recreate the look as best as I could. He found one of his toy planes the other day, and he has since been saying that he's a fighter jet, so I guess we'll go with that for now.

The whole thing probably cost less than $20, plus about 5-6 hours of work on my part. I save boxes, so those were free, of course, and I got the blue duct tape at Dollar Tree (I used about 1 1/2 rolls of blue) and used just a little bit of black and gray that I already had on hand for the propeller and wheels (and attached those with zip ties). Other than some heavy duty scissors, it was pretty simple to put together (though I had to stretch some brain muscles to make the cuts at the correct-ish angles). I was going to make a hat until I found this one on eBay for only $6 with no shipping. I found the bomber jacket at a consignment sale, also for $6, I think. It's a bit small (2/3T), but we made it work. I also spent a few dollars on some strap material I strung through the top of the box to hold the plane up on his shoulders.

I love it, and I think Lewis was happy with how it turned out:

 Ready to fly

Blurry, but that's a this-is-awesome face. :)

Whee!

We went to Trunk or Treat last night at his school--the first hour was pizza, and the second hour was trick-or-treating. Walking up the stairs took a little hand-holding, and he fell forward (once) and backward (once) and needed help returning to standing (which made me crack up). Otherwise, he managed pretty well! We took off the plane through dinner and for him to run around with his buddies, of course.

 This was his 'touch down' while we were waiting in line

 Snacking, post-pizza and pre-candy

 Trick-or-Treat!

He's asked if he can go again, so hopefully we aren't in the hospital with a baby on Halloween! :)

 He accidentally bumped a few kiddos with his wings, but just gently. He also ran into doorways getting in/out of school, which was pretty funny.

Caaaandy!!!

4th of July Fun

4th of July was a very busy day for us! We woke up and drove up to New Castle to drop off the dogs, and then we headed out to two cookouts (first was with family, second with friends). When we got back to my parents' house late that evening, we set off some fireworks (which Lew was pretty scared of) and called it a day. The rest of our weekend was much more laid back and relaxing and unseasonably cool, which was lovely. 

First, pictures from the 1st cookout at Paula and Tim's house. Lewis and Mathilda played so (unbelievably) well together the whole time. They are sweeties to one another. Mathilda introduced her doll to Lewis as Cinderella, and I think that confused him--he was calling Mathilda, Cinderella, most of the afternoon. :) Close enough.

 Lew likes to grab the corn hole bags and run them right up to the hole to toss them in.

If people were really playing, he also likes to just grab them randomly off the boards, which most people (understandably) don't appreciate. :) 

 Playing chase

 Buddies :)

 Visiting the Greyhounds (that one is Ozzy, I think)

My aunt and uncle have four of them, plus Dietgard brought hers over.

 Checking out Uncle Jim's Mustang with the other guys :)

Next, it was onto Don and Brenda's house for more food and swimming and cows and gator rides:

 Lew spent most of his pool time floating around, asking to be pushed around.

He didn't seem as interested in swimming that day (maybe because it was a little cool outside)--rather, he wanted to see the cows (THERE ARE BABY COWS!) and play with the other kids.

There is a toy tractor that he was pedaling around, and then the real Gator came out and Lewis' day was made. Will took a bunch of kids and I on the first ride around the property, and then I switched with another mom while Lewis rode around with them a second time. We went down to see the cows (3 adults and 2 babies), visited the neighbors' chickens, and went to see a huge, freshly cut hay bale.

Beyond excited :)

I had Lewis on one knee and sweet Cora on the other at first, but then Lew decided he wanted to ride in the back instead. I still got to ride with Cora who was such a sweetheart.

This is her big sister, Avery, who is also such a sweet girl:

The look on Avery's face KILLS me. :) Like, 'Boy, what on Earth are you doing?'

Hahaha and then Lewis' face here!! It's too much.

I'm crying from laughing so hard. Phew!

We thought we might make it home in time to see the big fireworks show in town, but we took longer getting back than expected. Gramma Pat had bought some fireworks, so we set those off in the street. I'm not sure how Lew would have done at the big show, but he was not a fan of the little show we had in the street:

His reaction to the first one started out as excitement but quickly went to 'All done, I want to go inside' as the pops and booms happened.

He went inside and watched mostly out of the window, but he did come back out for a few (short) minutes towards the end. He had no interest in sparklers, either. No, thank you! Maybe next year.

Memorial Day Weekend

We seem to go through phases where we have no plans (with others) at all, and other times we are really busy. Memorial Day weekend was certainly a busy one--we went up to Indianapolis on Saturday for a baby shower, graduation party, impromptu surprise birthday dinner, and a movie. Then Sunday we had a pool party to attend and had to miss another baby shower back here at home. 

While Saturday was completely exhausting (but fun), Sunday was nice and relaxing. We had a great time and saw a bunch of people over the course of the weekend, so that's always nice:

The Runyons hosted the pool party, and we had a great meal and nice afternoon in the pool. Lewis, Kevin, and I had all had allergy problems the week prior, and Sunday (at the party), Lewis' seemed to turn to something more. He was pretty puny and ended up taking a 2-hour nap during the party. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday, and it turned out he had an ear infection, poor buddy. :( And Kevin had a sinus infection. Antibiotics for everyone! I made it through the whole ordeal with just some allergy headaches, thankfully.

After Lewis woke up and before others were leaving, Don (the host) wanted to get a picture of all of the kids (plus a few adults):

 15 kids, in total!

I think the oldest is Lily (10), and the youngest is little Eliza (1 month).

Lewis had perked up a little after his nap, so we went down to watch the cows eat their dinner. The one in the middle was pretty sweet, but the other two were not so nice.

 Lew thought they were pretty neat, but he kept his distance. He wouldn't pet them, but he wanted me to hold him up to their eye level so he could get a good look. He did crouch down at the fence line to watch one eating grass by our toes.

  GATOR! John Deere!

Probably the highlight of Lew's day. :)

Kevin took a couple of pictures of us driving, hence the action shot. :)

We only did one lap through the yard, and he was 'all done.'

Mother's Day Weekend

On Saturday morning, Lewis and I headed out to the forest where I used to work for a Woodland Tea Party. A former co-worker/friend had planned it, so I thought it would be fun for Lewis and I to have a special Mama/Lew date. It was pouring rain overnight and into the morning, but we headed on out (and the rain eventually did stop):

Ready for Tea (and moreso, cookies)

 Listening to instructions before the hike (in some light rain)

 A box turtle in the middle of the trail

 At first avoiding puddles, but that would soon change :)

I think the rain or the walking-while-taking-a-picture made this so crazy/trippy/blurry. You'll notice there's no sign of the rest of the group in front of us. About 5 minutes into the hike, I could tell it was going to be too much for Lew to handle. They stopped a lot and talked about wildflowers (which was great for mothers and other non-toddler types, of course), but I wanted to slip away and go back to the building. We stuck with it and made it out, pretty much unscathed (just a little frazzled for Mama).

Just as we were exiting the woods and heading back to the building, Lew found a pretty sweet puddle to do some stomping in:

 Have your fun, buddy.

We then detoured to the car to change into the back-up jeans I'd packed. :) In addition to the water here, he'd slipped a couple of times on the trail and gotten a muddy booty and muddy knees.

Ready for tea (he looks less than enthused, but I think it was because we were seated with strangers). I'd been trying to keep him away from the dessert table from the moment we arrived. The tables were pretty formal (read: lots of breakable items), so I had to clear away an area for him: 

Going in for a cookie.

He didn't end up eating most of the treats, unfortunately (he wanted to go and play). They were delicious--they were from a local, natural bakery (Cake Flour) and the tea was from Hillbilly Tea here in town.

While he was playing, Christa (my friend) found him and got him started on a little gift for the mothers. They made a photo mat with various leaves and other bits from the woods: 

It's drying up already, but it's a sweet little memento.

(They took our picture and printed it for us, too.)

After finishing his craft, I realized he'd had an accident, so I decided we would head out a little early. I was also having trouble getting him to stay in one place and walk carefully (again, lots of breakables!). He'd had some late nights leading up to that morning, so it all seemed to culminate in a very fussy Lewis by the end of it. Overall, though it was a nice event, and I'm glad we went.

Along with the late nights, he has been waking up earrrrly the past week or two (which has improved the last few mornings, thanks to some earlier bedtimes). This was my wake-up crew on Mother's Day at like 6:45am. :) The dogs were there all night--the child thought they could use some extra snuggles:

 The crazy iPhone flashes in the dark made Lew's eyes close.

Looks like Lewis and Kevin did some snuggling while I was away that day, too: 

 My two favorite boys :)

And one dirty foot

On Sunday morning, I got up and made a big breakfast for Kevin, Lewis, and me (because I wanted to...Kevin offered). Kevin took Lewis to see Grandma Sharon while I stayed at the house and almost finished the season of Sex and the City I've been binge-watching (for like the 3rd time). :) I then went and met Sharon and Kevin's aunt and cousins for lunch and a movie. When I got home, Kevin was starting dinner--he made steak, twice-baked potato casserole (one of my favorite foods ever), Caesar salad, and a peanut butter/Butterfinger pie. What a guy! It was such a nice day.  

[Sorry I didn't get to see you, Mom!! Of course the day would have been better if we'd been able to spend some time with you, but hopefully next year.]