Grandma B's Birthday Extravanganza

The last leg of our vacation was a first for our family of 3- camping! Grandma B turned 60 on the 24th. We came up with several ideas of how to celebrate and decided to camp out in Herbster, WI. She owns a piece of and on Lake Superior. After a little bit of weed wacking by Pete, we were ready to set up shop with our tent.

Here are a collection of "tips" I have compiled for camping with small kiddos...

- it's the little things. We had many things on hand just in case, but Jack was fascinated by water, sticks, and rocks. And using strange objects to drink water!

- bring the pack n play- particularly if your kiddo sleeps in one regularly, it was familiar and made bedtime much easier!

- have your uncles present at all times to entertain little ones- they were very patient and very fun

- a weed walker is critical for a piece of land you are trying to turn into a camp site. We would have lost our kiddo in the grass.

- after kiddo is in bed, kick back and enjoy the view

New Favorite Game

This week we are on vacation in Presque Isle, WI. Jack has a new favorite game- Hide and Seek. He only has one hiding place so it's a very predictable game. We will save the strategy lesson for a different trip...

Where's Jack??

Aha!

Gets me every time.

Best Pals

Jack and North have known each other since their moms (and dads) were in birth class together! Jack is about 8 weeksolder than  North who was born in late January of 2012. It has been fun watching them go from babies to toddlers and how they adjust to each phase. I know there is a picture somewhere of the two of them laying next to each other at 1 month (North) and 3 months... I will try to track that down!

We were able to spend a couple of days together and the kids had a blast! They can now say each others names and "attempt" to share. (And by share I mean it was a learning experience for all on what we will need to keep working on...)

Best buds.

My Veggie Loving Kiddo

Morning conversation with Jack...

Mom: Jack, are you hungry?

Jack: (nods his head) mm-hmmm

Mom: What do you want to have have?

Jack: (pause...thinking...) Brocki 

Mom: Broccoli for breakfast? What about eggs or toast or pancakes?

Jack: Brocki.

Mom: Honey, I do not even know if we have any broccoli. How about a banana?

Jack: No. Brocki. Up. (Pointing to a pan. Up= cook it up)

And here's Jacks breakfast. Thank goodness we had some! He ate every bite.

Beginning of the End of Summer

This week, I sort of start school. I have to go in for 3 days of literacy training and on Friday have orientation for the district. Of course, I have all next week off and do not resume in service days until the 28th but I will be thinking, breathing, and planning until then.

This week started off with a bang as well! We have been SUPER healthy around here all summer and sure enough, Jack came down with what seemed to be a cold about 10 days ago. His dry cough turned a little ugly and he had a fever off and on. I called this past Monday thinking we should make sure this isn't turning into something (but sort of feeling like they would tell me "it's a virus...wait it out"). Our new doctor looked at Jack, made sure his ears were clear, listened to his lungs, did a throat swab, walked out, then in with "good" news and "bad" news. I totally thought she would say "the good news is there is no infection, the bad news is we just have to wait it out".

I was wrong.

"The good news is he has strep- so we can treat that with meds. The bad news is, he has strep".

Great.

So, Jack has taken this as an opportunity to eat many popsicles and is on the mend.

I am not sure I am ready for fall yet! This week seems crazy and it's not even the real deal yet. I had forgotten during my relaxing summer off the hustle of the  morning, the chaos of getting home and making dinner, and getting Jack into bed!  I think it's a blessing that I do have these four days as a reminder of how organized I have to be!! Fall: you have won points this week during the practice game but I will be at full strength come the 28th!!

I do love being a teacher but i live when 3:30pm rolls around and i am on my way to pick up Jack. It sure is a great motivator to see this happy face at the end of the day :)