Sunday at Grandma and Nanno's

Sunday we went to my grandparent's house, or Grandma and Nanno as we call them.  My sisters, my dad, one of my aunts and uncles and a couple of my cousins were all there.  A small group by our standards, but sometimes that makes it more fun.  Here is a list of some fun things that happened.

1.  Joel and Vince got to enjoy playing with the laundry chute.  A right of passage at my grandparents.
2.  Joel ate and loved my Grandma's salad.  It is a home made dressing with plenty of garlic and vinegar.  I was surprised he ate it.  He smelled liked garlic the next day!
3.  Brad took the boys in the backyard and taught Vince to tackle people.
4.  Vince asked several people to go outside so he could tackle them.  My sister's boyfriend lasted the longest outside with Vince.
5.  I played on the treadmill with the kids and they took turns riding to the end and falling off.  A favorite activity of my sisters and me when we were little.
6.  Nanno continued the tradition of giving money to the grandchildren/great-grandchildren before they went home.  Joel and Vince each received a silver dollar!  Vince put it right into his piggy bank.
7.  We went to Rainbow Ice Cream and enjoyed a rainbow cone after our visit.  5 different flavors piled high...delicious and Vince loved it!  Joel was sleeping.

There is nothing quite like going to the house your grandparents have lived in at least as long as you have been alive and watching your kids enjoy the same things you did when you were little.  I am truly blessed to have both sets of my grandparents around for my children to get to know!

Brett and the Bully

Monday we watched my cousin's son, Brett.  He is Joel's age and I was really excited to have him over for the day.  Usually it is Vince who gets to play with kids his own age and Joel just tags along.  I thought it would be fun for Joel to have someone his age to play with and good for Vince to play the role of big, helpful brother.  It didn't quite go as I had imagined.  For starters it was rainy so we were stuck inside all day.  Then I discovered that Joel is a bully and has no intention of sharing me or any toy he remotely likes with anyone.  Brett was so sweet and if Joel wanted something he just gave it to him or ran away, he did not want any trouble.  Even when Brett would run away Joel would chase him down and sometimes grab him by the back of the shirt.  At first I thought I would just let them work it out, but I quickly realized that wasn't an option. 

Playing together and flooding the kitchen...I needed to wash the floor anyway

While Joel was off playing with Vince I read a book to Brett.  Joel saw me do this and started yelling at Brett and crawled up on the couch and grabbed ahold of me and said "mine."  Another time Brett was happily sitting on the couch playing with toys and books minding his own business and Joel climbed up on the couch by him.  I thought Joel was going to be nice and he sat right next to Brett and wasn't squealing at him, and then Joel stole Brett's pacifier and held it up in the air so Brett couldn't get it.  I quickly intervened but I am sure Brett was already wondering what he did wrong to be forced to play with this bully all day.

Playing together

Vince said he looked like Daddy!

 It wasn't like that all day.  We had a dance party and I got all the boys to dance around the living room and my boys also spend a good amount of time doing laps around the dining room table.  At this point Brett probably just thought we were crazy!  Brett loved our dog Bristol and spent a lot of time playing with her and following her around.  He also enjoyed watching my boys and then mimicking their movements.  Joel moved a chair to reach something on the counter and two seconds later Brett was pushing a chair to the other side of the counter to look around.  Vince was using soapy water from the sink and giving himself a goatee and then Brett followed suit, except I think he may have gotten some soap in his mouth because he made a really funny face.

Right before Brett put bubbles on his face

During lunch Brett was sitting at a little table with Vince and Joel was in a highchair.  Brett would eat some food, walk over to Joel give him a little food, take a little of Joel's food and go back to the table to start the process over.  Then when Vince was done eating Brett started working on Vince's food and also shared it with Joel.  When Brett's dad came to pick him up, the boys were just waking up from their naps.  Joel was suddenly shy and super sweet when Brett was in Andy's arms.  

Joel isn't as tough when he is in a highchair

Brett I am sorry your cousin is a bully.  Maybe if you guys spend more time together he will learn to share or you can just wait to play again until he is 3 and easier to reason with.  Either way we hope you were able to have some fun at our house and that you come back again or we can come to your house and you can yell at Joel for playing with your toys!

A Telescope

Today my house was filled with 3 little boys!  We were watching my cousin's son, Brett, who is Joel's age.  We had just built a pirate ship in the living room, when Vince decided he needed a telescope.  The pirate ship was really a tent made out of blankets but Vince wanted it to be a pirate ship and Joel and Brett are not old enough to argue the details.  All summer Vince has been wanting telescopes so lately I have been saving toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls for him.  I didn't want to drag all 3 boys upstairs to get the toilet paper rolls out of my bathroom so I told Vince he could go get them by himself.  My exact words were "Vince there are 2 telescopes upstairs in my bathroom on the back of the toilet.  Please bring them both downstairs so everyone can have one."  There was a third one in the downstairs bathroom and I was trying to avoid any arguments over toys.  Vince went upstairs and took longer than I thought he should have, but it was a lot of directions for him to follow and he is easily distracted.  He came downstairs with 1 telescope and I figured if that was the only misunderstanding and he didn't get up there and yell for me to come help I would just be happy with the results.  After all the kids went down for a nap I was upstairs and I noticed toilet paper on the floor by the toilet.

Notice the 2 empty toilet paper rolls still on the toilet.

I am guessing Vince didn't notice the 2 empty toilet paper rolls on the back of the toilet and took it upon himself to unroll the toilet paper that was on the holder.  I should have been upset but it was only half a roll and it was just funny.  I never did say anything to Vince, he was just so proud when he came downstairs with his telescope all by himself I didn't have the heart to reprimand him when he woke up from his nap.  At least he confirmed once again that he is a good problem solver!

Farm Visitors

This week my cousin's wife (Molly) and their son (Noah) and Molly's mom met they boys and I in one of our fields for some tractor and combine rides.  We had tried earlier in the week but it rained and then right before we were supposed to meet them Brad told me that one of our semi trucks broke and we were short a truck.  It didn't occur to me until the boys and I got to the field that the truck that broke down was the one hauling grain from the field to the farm and not from the farm to Chicago.   The combine couldn't harvest much more because both grain carts and the combine were full of corn and just waiting to load it all into a couple semi trucks.

Noah and Vince in the tractor

Joel trying to figure out if he can climb up the combine ladder

Uncle Bob helping Noah and Vince

For awhile the boys were all happy climbing in and out of the tractor and walking in the field where the combine had already been looking for corn cobs.  I kept hoping that one of our other trucks would be back from Chicago soon because I didn't want the boys to be disappointed.  I ended up just driving the boys around the field in the tractor so they could have a ride.  Vince and Noah didn't really care we were doing anything productive, they just wanted a ride.  Just about the time our ride was over Bob drove the combine over by us and parked it and let the boys check it out!  Vince and Noah wanted to drive it themselves and between the two of them probably could have figured it out, fortunately for us they didn't know where the key was to turn it on.  Before too long a couple semi trucks came and emptied the grain carts.  Uncle Bob was nice enough to take Vince and Noah in the combine for a ride without any extra adult supervision!  Which was great because I am pretty sure the boys would have made Molly or I sit on the floor because they had already claimed the buddy seat and had Uncle Bob put the seat belt on them.  They lasted for a relatively long time before I got a phone call that they were getting a little tired of riding along.  I was really proud of them for sitting still for so long, they are two very active boys, but the combine can be a little mesmerizing.  It was a great morning spending time with cousins!

Dumping grain into the pit

Craig loading a truck...it was a little dusty

Trucks waiting to be loaded and unloaded

After our time in the field we stopped at the farm on the way home to see Brad.  He has been working long hours and the boys (and I ) don't get to see him very often, which is part of harvest but it doesn't mean any of us like it.  Since we have a lot of trucks hired in to haul grain right now it keeps Brad on his toes knowing who is coming and going.  We were there for a little over an hour and I don't think Brad hardly stopped moving and if he did it was because he was talking on the phone or using the moisture tester to check the moisture of the corn getting hauled into and out of the grain setup.  Vince loved the commotion and was having fun helping with the moisture tester.  He was not very happy when I told him it was time to go, but I assured him that we would be back and that there was a lot of corn to still be harvested.

Vince in the control room eating his lunch and waiting to run another sample

Vince and Brad checking out the corn sample

Brad checking a sample of corn from a truck

Heifer Hay Day

Last weekend our church had a fall festival day complete with food, games, hayride, petting zoo, honey bee display, etc to raise money for Heifer International.  We call it Heifer Hay Day.  The weather for it was perfect and we had a great turn out!  Friends of ours who had recently moved away were back in town and we were able to spend time with them at the Hay Day.  Vince was thrilled to see his best friend Brooke and her sister.  There were lots of hugs and yelling when they saw each other.  Of course I was pretty excited to see Brooke's mom and the girls too!  Vince still doesn't understand that they have moved away and still expects to see them at church every Sunday.

Below are some pictures from our day of fun!  Vince loved the honey bee booth and stood and listened to the man talking about the bees for awhile.  Joel loved the animals in the petting zoo and just running all around checking everything out.

Joel herding sheep

Joel loved the chicken..the chicken tolerated it!

Vince smoking out the bees

Picking out pumpkins

Vince and Brooke checking out all the bees

Little but mighty Joel

Joel has always been strong, but it has become more apparent lately and on top of that he is an avid climber and very determined to conquer any obstacle that gets in his way.  Once he puts his mind to something he is going to do it no matter what.  You can tell him no, distract him temporarily with something else, it doesn’t matter he will try and do it anyway.   Most of the time he is very quiet about it and he is fast, so by the time you realize you have an escapee he is long gone.  He challenges the baby gates at home on a regular basis and some of the ones that are pressure mounted he knows if he tries long enough he can move them.  He has also been climbing even more lately.  We have had to move bookshelves and a chair to block the radiators so he can’t crawl on top of the radiators.  Our dining room chairs all are living on top of the dining room table.  The chairs for Vince’s small table live on top of the table or counter because Joel uses them to either dance on the table and help himself to snacks in the cabinet or to reach other objects in the kitchen he isn’t allowed to have.  The other day he took a four wheeler toy, rolled it over to the speakers and used it to help him reach the Wii console.  At my mother in law's house the night we left for vacation we were waiting to leave for Indiana, he climbed on top of the piano stool that spins, and began to crawl up the piano.  The sad part is we were just sitting on the other side of the room and when we realized he wasn’t just going to play the piano we both jumped up and ran over and he already had his feet where the music goes and was heading for the top!  Diane says he is the first grandchild (he is number 8) to scale the piano. He also can climb under the baby gate to the stairs at her house, luckily he does a pretty good job going down them on his belly. 

He thinks it is funny to fall down when we are walking

Joel likes to do anything and everything he sees Vince do.  The same night as the piano incident Vince had turned a container that was holding blocks upside down and had arranged the couch cushions just right so he could jump on to the big pile.  Well after Joel saw this he had to give it a try!  He did a really good job.  As I watched him do it several times I thought to myself, perhaps a better parent would put an end to the activity all together, but it just looked like so much fun and they were enjoying themselves and actually sharing with each other I just didn’t have the heart to stop them.  Plus it had been a long day, it was late and I was exhausted.

Riding with Daddy...one of his favorite things to do

Joel also has perfected the art of alligator rolling out of his carseat when I am trying to strap him in!  After 2 failed attempts on my part a few weeks ago I made Brad do it.  Joel was so mad that I walked away he didn’t even try it on Brad!  Joel does the same thing when you are changing his diaper so dreaming up things to distract him while I am changing him has become a new hobby for me. 

Attacking the camera

 Joel is starting to say more and more but his everyday vocabulary consists mostly of “NO!”, “Please”, “Thank you” and “Mine!.”   Which covers almost everything and when you don’t know what he wants he will grab your finger and bring you to it.  It is starting to make things a little easier knowing what he wants.  We are discovering everyday that the key to Joel is to keep him moving, because he will find something to get into if he isn’t busy.  Another thing he has realized lately is when things are funny.  He just laughs uncontrollably, which makes me laugh, which then makes him laugh harder, and me laugh harder and  it is just so much fun.  As tough as Joel can be he is still a cuddle bug and a momma's boy and that is ok with me.  The kisses he gives out of the blue are still my favorite and they just melt my heart!  I love that kid so much even when he runs me ragged!

Tired from an afternoon of riding

Outgoing Vincent!

From an early age Vincent has always been outgoing.  His first real word was “Hi” and he would say it to everyone.  When we went grocery shopping anyone that we passed in an aisle he would say hi to.  Then if they didn’t say hi back he would just keep saying it over and over again and get louder each time hoping for a response.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.  I still don't understand why people couldn't say "hi" back to him.

Vincent playing in the yard

I thought that was just going to be a phase he went thru, but he is still the same way.  To him no one is a stranger they are all his friends.  If he sees other kids somewhere he will walk right up and say hi and introduce himself, usually they just stare at him and the parents start talking to him.  When he sees someone and starts to run off I will tell him to stay close and ask him what he is doing.  His response is typically something along the lines of “ I want to go see my friends” .  I will say, but you don’t know them and he says “but they are my friends”.  When we were at dinner on vacation he politely thanked the waitress for his booster seat and drink.   On the way out we walked past someone whose hand was up because he was telling a story and Vince gave him a high five.  At the farm progress show he walked up to several kids/families and started talking.  He is definitely making me more outgoing!  Later he was giving high fives to people passing by the bleachers at one booth, and started conversations with several people at the dairy farm.  While we were camping a group of people that looked like they could be grandpaents came by on their scooters and Vince started waving and talking to them.  They all proceed to stop (there was 6 of them) and all started talking to Vince and us.  He is like our little ambassador and goes around making friends for us.  It makes Brad and I laugh because we are not that outgoing, but we hope Vince stays that way and hopefully Joel, Brad and I can learn a little from him.

The Letter

On the way to Awana Club last night Vince told me that he had a very important letter to mail.  He didn't even have a real piece of paper or a real letter it was an imaginary letter.  I told him that we would put it in the mailbox in the morning.  He was having none of it, he wanted to go to the post office.  I told him we could go tomorrow but that the post office was closed for the night.  Vince asked for my phone and (pretend) called the post office and had a 2 sided conversation with the (pretend) person at the post office.  Vince told me they would be open after Awana Club.  I forgot about the letter and on the way home as we were driving thru town Vince reminded me.  I drove down to the post office (which was closed of course because it was 8:30pm) and told Vince it was closed, but I could put the letter in the mailbox outside the post office if he wanted me to.  Vince agreed and I walked over to the mailbox and mailed the imaginary letter.  Vince said "Thank you."

One mile outside of town Vince started crying hysterically because I mailed his letter and he wanted it back!  I was so confused and annoyed.  I went along with the game thinking it would be fun for him and make him happy and now he was crying so hard in the backseat of the truck he could hardly breathe.  He wanted to turn around and get his letter back NOW!  I kept driving home thinking he would get over it, no such luck but it also is only a 4 mile drive.  The poor kid was a mess.  I suggested we call Daddy and ask him to stop and get the letter on the way home.  Vince said that would work so I called Brad.  Brad has been spending his day managing trucks and grain.  Getting ahold of him anytime between 7am-10pm is difficult unless you are one of the drivers or part of the harvest crew.  Thankfully he answered but he was busy so I had to make it quick.  I asked if he could pick up Vince's letter at the post office on his way home and that it was a pretend letter.  Brad agreed even though he was confused!  Vince got on the phone and told Brad the letter was red and then Brad was even more confused.  Last night when Brad got home I explained the whole story to him!

This morning Vince was sort of awake before Brad left, so I asked Brad to give Vince the letter (so I could avoid any meltdowns over it  today).  Brad was wondering if he needed an actual envelope or what exactly he was giving Vince.  I told him it was imaginary and just to pretend to hand him something.  Vince was thrilled!  I love that he has a vivid imagination but playing along with his imagination can be exhausting!

Homework

There comes a time in every child's life when they try to convince their parents to do their homework for them.  For Vince that was today!

Vince riding over Labor Day Weekend...he looks incident doesn't he?

Vince is doing Awana Club through a local church and it just started last week.  I told him he was able to go to school because he is doing so well with potty training.  The rest of the story is that last Monday night my friend told me about the program at her church that was starting the next day.  It sounded like a great program, it is relatively close to home, is at a convenient time for me and gives Vince an opportunity to be with other kids.  Plus it is less than 5 minutes from the grocery store, so I get to go shopping with only 1 helper instead of 2! 

When we showed up for registration I had no idea what to expect, but Vince was given a vest (that he will earn badges for) and a workbook.  Today we decided to work on the workbook in preparation for Awana Club.  We had to read a story, color a picture in the book, memorize a couple verses and answer a question together.  When it was time to work on the picture Vince kept trying to get me to color the picture for him.  "Mommy you do it, I not doing a good job." "Mommy I not good at this, you should do it."  "How about you just color the apples and I will do the tree."   All very good attempts and at first I did color the giraffe's legs for him, but then I stopped because I realized what was transpiring.

photo by Chiavario Photography

As I relayed all of this to Brad tonight, Brad just shook his head and laughed.  We both agreed we have a long road ahead of us if Vince is already trying to get us to do his work.  Maybe after a few failed attempts he will stop trying...doubtful but it is possible!  It is more likely that he will just move on to getting his siblings to do his work while he supervises.

A nice Friday night dinner!

Friday night we were having dinner with my in laws.  Brad and I had picked up some food while we were running errands and the kids were at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Vince asked me if I wanted to play a game and I asked him what game.  I have learned that is always a good idea before instantly agreeing.  He wanted to pretend we were bad worms.  When asked what bad worms do he responded "eat people."  I fake screamed and told him not to eat me and ran away from him.  About 5 minutes later I was pushing Joel in a swing (yes, in the house) and I felt teeth sink into my leg, right next to my knee.  I screamed for real which made both the boys and my father in law laugh!  I told Vince we only pretend to eat people, we don't actually try to eat people.  He said ok and pretended to eat my leg.  I said "why don't you eat my feet" feeling pretty safe since we just had the talk about pretending to bite 2 seconds earlier.  Then I felt teeth on my toes and screamed again and this time everyone laughed.  I told Vince that I was done playing bad worms.  So he climbed on my lap and without my knowledge grabbed my glass of milk. He went to take a sip at the same time I was readjusting myself in the chair.  You guess it...it went up all over his face and spilled part of the glass of milk all over him before I even knew what was going on.  All I could do was laugh...I think we were even for the biting incident!

Maisy's surgery

At the beginning of July our dog, Maisy, tore her cruciate ligament.  The cruciate ligament in a ligament in the knee and prevents front to back movement of the joint.  I don't know how she did it but when I got home from church with the boys on a Sunday she was laying around, which is not normal for her.  A friend of mine, Wendy,  from vet school was at my house and asked me what happened to my dog.  I told her I didn't know what she was talking about and that is when Wendy told me that Maisy wasn't using her back leg.  I told Wendy I would look at her after I got the boys lunch.  It turns out that I didn't need to because Wendy told me she already examined her and it was a torn cruciate ligament.  I was not thrilled with that diagnosis, but it is what it is.  Later that day Wendy visited with another friend from vet school, Erin, and told Erin about my dog.  It turns out that Erin was well versed in the procedure that Maisy needed to stabilize her joint!  It is nice to have such wonderful friends.

Last fall

Fast forward about 2 months.  I took Maisy to Erin's clinic to have her leg operated on and also learn the procedure at the same time.  It was great to see Erin!  I haven't seen her in over a year and she did a wonderful job teaching and giving little practical pointers about the surgery, plus her staff was great!  I am excited to have more knowledge about the procedure and can't wait to practice.  The night of the surgery I was so excited that it went well it was all I really wanted to talked about.  Unfortunately the kids didn't really care and Brad didn't get home until late.  When Brad did get home he was nice enough to humor me and listen to every detail of the surgery and the trip, all of which I am sure bored him to tears.

Surgery leg/incision...her leg looks funny shaved!

It has only been 48 hours since Maisy's surgery and so far she is doing great!  She does have 6 weeks of total recovery that involves a lot of cage rest and no wrestling with the kids or our other dog, Bristol.  Hopefully the next 6 weeks go by quickly because Bristol is not happy that her sister can't come out and play!

Out of her kennel to eat dinner and take her medicine

Beer and El Toro's

On our vacation we had planned to stop and do grocery shopping when we got close to Land between the Lakes.  We mostly had everything we needed, but there were a few items that we still needed to pick up.  Since I can't have alcohol right now I wasn't that concerned about having some adult beverages around but Brad was looking to enjoying a few around the campfire.  While we were grocery shopping we tried to get some beer, but it turned out a lot of counties around that area are dry.  When we were on the lake and had phone service Brad was able to look up a liquor store to stop at on the way to the Bison and Elk park, but I was still doubtful.  At a small intersection out in the country there were two stores, an ice cream store and a liquor store.  It was a very small building, but it was the busiest business I had seen since we had been down there.  There were cars pulling out front getting loaded up and gone again.  Brad was in the store for may 10 minutes at the most and I saw at least 6 cars pull up and leave in that time.  I am guessing this was the only liquor store around!  Unfortunately for Brad that was our last night camping so most of the beer ended up in our fridge.

Brad knows that I love El Toro's, it is a restaurant in Champaign where I went to college.  I just love their chicken tacos and we hadn't eaten there in at least 4 years!  Anyway, on the ride home we figured we would make it to Champaign by 8:30 pm, which is a little late for dinner but I was willing to wait.  Don't worry I fed the kids before that, excessive whining on a car trip is not something I enjoy!  Brad knew he could get the motor home in their parking lot and so I looked up the phone number for their Neil St. location online.  I then discovered that you could just order and pay online and have it ready at the time you wanted.  It sounded like a good option, so I did it! When we pulled into the parking lot we discovered that it was no longer El Toro's but a different Mexican restaurant.  After a little research we discovered that El Toro's moved about a mile north.  Doesn't sound like a big deal, but the new location was where there were one way streets and very small parking lots, not a spot for a big motor home.  I was disappointed, not only did I not get my food, but we had already paid for it!  Brad quickly decided to unhook our truck, which we were pulling behind us, and drive to get our food.  It was raining outside and it is a bit of work to unhook the truck and hook it back up.  About 20 minutes later we were sitting in a Mexican restaurant's parking lot eating food from El Toro's!  I was thrilled, but I couldn't believe dinner ended up being that much work.  I love my husband!

Harvest around the main farm

Yesterday morning I arrived at the farm to see a line of semi trucks all the way up the drive way!  There were people everywhere...in grain carts, waiting near the shop, working on the combine and by the grain set up.  We are hauling the grain about an 1 hour away to a wet mill, so it takes a lot of trucks to keep up and they were just getting geared up to start hauling. Usually when we harvest around home it is just our trucks hauling to the grain set up at the farm and that is it, so this was new for me to see so many people I didn't know around.   Brad was taking moisture samples from the corn and make sure everybody was loaded correctly.  Bob was getting a few things ready on the combine and Diane and the boys were inspecting the cab of the combine.  Vince was really excited to get to ride in the combine and asked me if I wanted to sit on the floor with Grandma.  I was worried Grandma was really going to sit on the floor, but Bob got her a stool to sit on and then Vince determined the stool was a better spot to see what was going on.  So, Grandma ended up with the buddy seat.

Trucks lined up

Getting the combine ready for the day

Grandma Diane and the boys in the combine

 The moisture in the corn is still rather high around 30% and Brad is trying to blend it with our corn from last year that is dry.  If the moisture is too high (over 25%) then the load will get rejected.  Where we are hauling the corn they don't send the drivers with load tickets saying how the corn moisture level and test weight were.  Brad has to wait to see that information online and it hasn't been posting for about 12 hours after the load was delivered,  so it is a bit of a game and requires that Brad stay on top of things and constantly monitor the moisture of the corn.  It has caused a little bit of stress in his life, but before you feel too sorry for him keep in mind that when he set these contracts he knew there would be a few headaches.

Brad adjusting the amount of new and old crop that is mixing

Grain cart turning around to head back to the field

I love being around all the action during harvest.  It is just fun to see everyone working together and usually everything runs so smoothly.  It is teamwork in action and it is fun to be apart of.  My favorite harvest was when I spend most of the fall in a grain cart, it was a blast!  Yesterday I told Brad I wanted to run the moisture tester for him and I honestly did until I remembered that I had Joel with me.  I am pretty sure he wouldn't last very long helping me with that job.  Maybe I will get to do a guest appearance in a grain cart this fall!

Joel in the control room...good thing there is door protecting the buttons

Joel figuring out the moisture tester

Sleepover

Yesterday Vince woke up from his nap and told me that he wanted to sleepover at Grandma Diane's house.  I told him that he got to in a couple weeks and he said that he and Joel really wanted to sleepover there that night.  I tried to talk him into a different night, but he was determined.  I called Grandma and she said sure, even though I told her our vehicle with the carseats was at her house and she would have to come pick up the boys.  I had tried to convince him that he would have more fun with Grandma if Joel stayed with me.  He kept telling me "No, we are brothers we need to stay together, I need to protect him."  We finally agreed that I would pick Joel up and take him with me to do errands in the morning so he could stay and play at Grandma's by himself.

When Grandma got to our house Vince and Joel were so excited!  As I was helping them all to the car Vince kept saying "Bye Mommy" and not wanting we to walk to the car.  I think he was worried I was going to Grandma's too.  As I was getting the boys in their car seats Vince told me "Don't worry Mommy I will protect Joel so he doesn't get squished like a bug!"  There is a lot of farm equipment and trucks in and out of the farm and I tell the kids when we are there that they need to stay close to me.  When Vince asks why I tell him I don't want him to get squished like a bug.  It turns out he is actually listening to me!

Brad worked until late, so I had the house to myself for a few hours.  It was pretty quiet and nice!  I wasn't as productive as I wanted to be but I did get to watch tv uninterrupted and sleep in a little.

Thanks Grandma Diane!

LBL Part 2: A day at the lake

Several months ago I suggested to Brad that I take off Labor day weekend and we camping and trail riding at a nearby state park.  Brad agreed but said that if I was going to take so much time off work we should go somewhere farther and probably without the horses.  I was hesitant about not going with the horses because usually when we camp we take them.  While planning for our vacation we researched and changed our locations numerous times.  We talked about going to Tennessee, Michigan, the Ozarks, and then changed our mind between the 3 for over a month.  It wasn’t until a week before we left that we decided to go to Land between the Lakes.  While we were talking about different places I kept telling Brad that all I wanted to do was relax and rent a boat for a day.  Anything beyond that was icing on the cake.

On day 3 of being in Kentucky we rented a pontoon boat and headed out on Lake Barkley.  I was a little worried about how the boys would do, mostly Joel, but they were excellent!  Vince is slightly scared of the water, he is getting better, and I knew he would never attempt to jump into the water but Joel loves the water and loves to climb so I was worried.  The pontoon was perfect because the boys could walk back and forth and no area was restricted.  We packed a cooler full of food and drinks and everyone was happy.

Going fishing!

Helping Daddy Drive

We anchored in a few different areas of the lake and fished and swam for awhile.  The water was a perfect temperature, but unfortunately Brad and they boys didn’t catch any fish.  The first time in the water the boys both clung to me like they were going to drown if they weren't choking me.  As time went on they both relaxed.  We had Vince swimming (with his life jacket on) holding onto a noodle and not holding on to us!  He also was jumping off the boat into the water and onto me and then climbing up the ladder to do it again.  Joel was floating on his back with his life jacket and also like to be held out so he could kick his legs and move his arms.  Brad even helped him jump off the boat to me a couple times, he didn’t seem to enjoy that as much but he never cried.

Brad and Joel swimming

Mommy and her boys

When we were trying to get back in the boat so we could return it on time the boys were in the boat with Brad and hanging out at the top of the ladder.  Every time I would climb up they would push me off the ladder, I would make a big fuss and fall into the water, and they would laugh uncontrollably.  After about 10 minutes and several warnings to stop I grabbed Vince and pulled him into the water with me.  He didn’t seem to mind that much.  Then Joel was upset because he wanted to do it too, so I grabbed Joel and pulled him into the water with me. 

Attempting a self portrait of me and Vince

Vince, Brad and the barge

the barge

It was such a relaxing day on the boat with just the 4 of us!  There was hardly anyone else on the lake.  The boys even took a nap for an hour or so while Brad and I cruised around the lake.  It was so wonderful and I am so glad we did it!

Brad and Vince

Joel found the food

We finished off the day with a trip to the Elk and Bison Park...after a long quest for beer for Brad.  A whole blog post in and of itself...stay tuned!

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