When the Cats Away...

John had a bachelor party to go to for a long weekend a couple weeks ago, and what better time for Uncle Tony, Aunt Dawn the Great, and Aunt Kate to come visit?!  Spice up our weekend and extra hands to help me with Dad gone!  They arrived Wednesday night and we spent some time on the patio, loving being outside!

 Everyone stayed at our house and Rudy loved waking up everyone in the mornings.  It was like a nonstop par-tay around here!  Miss Peachie also turned 5 months old!  Rudy couldn't stand to not be part of the action and even needed a sticker for himself... 

We walked to the park (even Rufus got to come!) and had a great time playing on the playground there.  Rudy even found a new friend (a "do-do").

 One evening LeeAnn watched the kids for us so we could go out for dinner and drinks... it was a GREAT time and so much fun to be with my dad (behind the camera), mom, brother, aunts and cousins!

We went and visited George, Julia and Dottie -- Rudy had fun running with George, playing with all of their cats (all FOUR of them... it was like a mini zoo!), and working in the garden.  

 While we were there, we also did a little photo searching and found this picture of Julia at about the same age as Avery... quite a resemblance!!

We had a lot of dance parties.  Lots and lots of groovin'! ... even at Target... when you hear the music, you can't help but move!

 We watched the Preakness on Saturday.  Kurt brought over burgers and the signature drink of the Preakness (Black Eyed Susans) for us all to enjoy.   We were so hopeful to see Orb win!  Unfortunately, this will not be a Triple Crown year :(  

Rudy was really getting into the race, though! 

 And some miscellaneous pictures of Miss Avery and our guests :)

 We had a GREAT weekend... the sun was shining, some of our favorites were in town, and it was nonstop fun!  

We were sad to see them leave, but had fun sending them off on the train.  Rudy got to go with and was so excited to see the choo-choo train!  

But boy did we all miss Dad!  It was the longest John had ever been away from home and it was really wearing on Rudy.  He woke up every morning asking for him and seemed really confused why he wasn't coming home ever.  One morning he sat and talked to Kate with his arms extended, shaking his head, scrunching his face, "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Dad, blah, blah, Dad, blah blah blah, Dad!"  Three nights away was just too long!!  

And our nonstop party goes on... to be continued...  

  

Making This House Our Home

We are working through our "to-do" list but it is quite a list!  And there are not enough hours in a day or hands on our bodies to do it all... as much as we try.

Here are just a couple of our recent projects that we were able to put a big 'ole check-mark next to!

I put together this wall of stuff... doesn't seem like much, right?  Well it took me three weeks to make everything and get it all hung.  And to fill a white wall with stuff makes me so happy!

I painted the picture frames, decoupaged the "R" and "A", ordered prints, and rounded up Rudy's artwork to display.

And pictured below the wall is a beautiful table and chairs recently refinished by none other than one-and-only craft master, Gran.  That would have taken me years to do and she was able to knock it out in about a week.  The table and chairs were my grandparents first table and chairs many many years ago.  I was lucky enough to end up with them a few years ago and my mom painted them white and recovered the cushions (a trip to the fabric store that John will not forget...might have been his first and last... whoever knew picking out fabrics could be so difficult?! :))  However... spray "clear" coat added by my dad gone bad...and after about 6 months they looked like they had been in a smoker's home for 50+ years.  So Mom stripped them, yet again, and John and I LOVE the new look.  Much better than we were hoping for!  And what a perfect spot for them!

Rudy's a fan :)

I can't believe I don't have a better "before" picture.  I am really slacking.  But here is a piece of the structure that was left for us when we bought our house...pretty run down and left to rot (hey, pretty much like the entire house!) 

But after John got to work on it, it's better than I could have imagined!  (Like most things John does)

A little TLC and elbow grease goes a long way!  Dad power washed the whole thing, John stained it to match the color of our house (eventually!), replaced boards, built new pieces, and put it all together... oh and I did the shopping :)

 Ray and John built a new ladder 

 ...and rock wall.

 John surprised me by painting and hanging up the clubhouse sign on Mother's Day.

 John also built a half picnic table and bench underneath the clubhouse.

What a great place for our kids to play! 

Rudy seems to like it so far!

Two projects down...only about 498 left to go.  But what else would we be doing?!

Keeping Busy

We sure know how to stay busy around here.  Between music class, swim lessons, basketball games, parties and more, there is hardly a dull moment!  So here goes... the last few weeks in pictures...

We got back into gear going to music class (now it's officially over for the summer though).  At first Rudy was a little shy, but the second night back, he was incredible.  Incredibly good.  I was so proud of him.  At the beginning of class as kids are coming in, the teacher has a basket of instruments out on a blanket for the kids to play with.  Rudy went around and handed out toys to each kid and then when it was time to put them away, he gladly went along.  Then he helped the teacher pick up the blanket (grunting while doing so, as if it was so heavy).  Throughout class the teacher gets out different instruments to pass out or for the kids to "come and get" and Rudy runs right up with the other kids and then when he turns around to find his "grown-up," he smiles so big when he sees me and comes running over.  It is such a sweet moment for me :)  He interacts great and follows along with the class.  The other "grown-ups" can't help but get a kick out of him, too.  His enthusiasm especially.  For example, the kids all go to the "listening mat" and the teacher plays animal sounds or noises and they listen to what animal or noise they hear (one day was a construction site and a guy next to me said, "surprised we don't hear a beer opening"  hillllllarious).  Rudy lights up, opens his mouth, eyes wide, points to the CD player...his typical full of excitement self.  His enthusiasm for life in general is undeniable.  I hope that never goes away.  

We also started Rudy in swim lessons a few weeks ago.  John had to work for his first lesson, so it was just me and Rudy.  We walked into the pool room and it was soooo crowded, hot/muggy, loud, and a lot going on.  Rudy was terrified.  He did not want me to put him down and he absolutely did not want to take his shirt and shoes off and no way was he getting in that pool.  After lots of coaxing, we were able to get in and join the class, but he kept a tight grip.  He loosened up and I was able to get some laughs out of him, but it wasn't easy folks!

So the next week John and I both went and I took Avery, too.  We arrived extra early so Rudy and John could play together in the pool and get warmed up.  It was night and day.  Rudy had a blast!  He was splashing, blowing bubbles, jumping in (to John's arms), playing with the toys, hamming it up with the instructor, etc.  I like to think it wasn't me, he just needed a chance to get used to the place..  :)

Pointing to Mom and Avery

 Blowing bubbles

 Jumping in!

 One of the "exercises" is to throw a floating ball a few feet in front, then "swim" to get it.  The kids reach for the toy and parents encourage and hold them in a "swimming" position.  Rudy does great with this because he loves throwing balls and going and getting them...and repeat...and repeat...and repeat...

 A group shot of the class in a circle playing hokey pokey

 Brrrrr....

And Miss Avery just watched contently

For a few weeks we were also lucky enough to get to go watch Riley play basketball until their season ended.  Rudy LOVED it.  He followed the ball so closely, clapped and cheered whenever someone shot a basket (Riley's team or the opponent, he hasn't quite figured out the difference yet). And each night he swiped Riley's ball on the way out and wouldn't let it go until we took it back to his house.  The night we got home from the first game, Rudy was on a basketball high.  He would not stop shooting hoops, had to have his basketball pajamas, and had to snuggle with his basketball blanket while watching Air Bud (just the basketball part)...not that that is much different than any other night!

These pictures crack me up... at first look I thought, "My little boy is not looking so little anymore.. he's such a little man."  But then I see his blankie resting in the corner nearby and I feel better...

We still get together with Nolan and Nora as much as we can and Jenna and I finally remembered to take a couple quick pictures of the kids together ...what a group!

A random shot of Miss Avery... just because :)

Poor Peachie is a good sport, thank goodness.  Rudy likes to have Avery involved in whatever he is doing... and he wanted Avery to ride the car (have I ever mentioned how busy and demanding Rudy is??)

Gran and I were killing time one afternoon and stopped into Farm and Home and much to Rudy's delight and our surprise, they sell baby chickens there.  It gave me such heebie jeebies...but Rudy was pretty interested, to say the least.  We kept having to go back and check them out.

Rudy must have a thing for our feathered friends because duck sightings are all the craze right now.  One night we came home and ducks were at our house even!  John and Rudy chased them through our yard and the neighbors...  

We spent one morning at the park to feed the ducks (the weather had been pretty inconsistent, hence the winter gear from the waist up and summer gear from the waist down!).

 Such a ham :)

And speaking of hams... look at those precious baby arms and thighs... doesn't get much cuter :)

 I don't know that I will ever not melt at the sight of one of my sleeping babies

We also celebrated Uncle Kurt the Great's birthday at Gran and Papa's recently.  Rudy was a big fan of the cake, of course :)

And Gran and Rudy planted their own greenhouse.  Rudy really wasn't sure what he was doing, but it kept him occupied for 3 minutes!

We have been enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.  It seems like we could be outside all day, because what else have we got to do?  But two kids with two schedules makes it difficult some days.  We have about a couple hour window a couple times a day to not be house-bound.  

I don't think this could happen again no matter how hard I tried...

Our neighbors have a fountain like ours...only theirs is up and running.  It's a favorite spot of Rudy's to stop by and visit when we are out.

 And we took our first family walk the other night with Avery sitting up like a big girl in the stroller!  It blows my mind how quickly she is growing up! 

 Duck sighting!

 Followed by dinner outside...can't beat it!

At a recent trip to visit Dad at work, Rudy ran around like he owned the place.  He wanted to drive every truck there and was bouncing from one to the other... 

Avery can't get away without a sink-bath picture on the blog! :)

I am working through weaning Avery off of breastmilk.  My production has slowed down tremendously, but I'm ok with that.  Between all I have stocked up and what I still can pump in a day, she still gets about half and half of formula and breastmilk.  I'm thinking at about 6 months old she will be on all formula.  I started by gradually switching out one of her feedings with a bottle mixture of formula and breastmilk (first just 2 ounce of formula, and now we are up to about 4 ounces and the rest breaskmilk).  I am down to just nursing her once a day, the first feeding.  She usually wakes up right before Rudy, so I feed her in her room and then we go and get Rudy out of his crib.  It works out nicely.  Since starting her on bottles, her sleep schedule has been so much more consistent and I love it!  She sleeps all night and takes a good 2-hour nap in the afternoon.  She sleeps off and on in the morning, depending on what we are doing.  And its been so nice being able to have other people help out with her since anyone can give her a bottle.

For about a couple weeks now I have been so lucky to be able to get both kids to sleep in the afternoon at the same time.  It is the greatest thing ever.  I love having even just an hour to myself during the day. It makes such a difference in my mood and energy level if I can get that.  Fingers-crossed, we can keep this trend up!

Avery now has TWO bottom teeth, and has had them for a few weeks now (I'm just way behind on updating).  What a difference these kids are.  Rudy had been through tubes of Orajel, we tried every teething toy imaginable, etc, to try and get the poor kid some relief.  Avery just wakes up with teeth like its no big deal.  They are somewhat visible in this picture, but I'm working on a better shot :)

My new goal is to pick a day once a week to blog...because I feel so unorganized when I start to type and I have more to share than time or energy to get to (and then maybe it won't take an hour for you to read through one post!).  So hopefully, this is the last picture/info/random dump of stuff for awhile!