Random pics, moments

This has been an interesting week. The weather has been wacky, we got Miles 3 year pics taken, we had a playdate/brunch, tumbling class, and we are finally getting our upstairs bathroom redone. The upstairs shower finally works! And it doesn't leak! Once the bathroom is finished I'll post pictures. I forgot to take before pictures, but just imagine a poorly designed tiny bathroom in early eighties decor. Miles has had fun watching the work get done, and asking about every tool and piece of material he sees. He calls the man we hired "working man," as if that is his name.

Earlier this week, Q was in his carseat when Miles leaned over, grabbed his cheeks, and said "cutie, cutie, cutie." After I had my chuckle I asked him where he learned this, he replied, "Grandma." To the two Grandmas - I think you know which one of you he is referring to, you know, the one Miles called "Grandma grab my cheeks" for several days before you came to visit in August.

I have taken a few pics this week that I haven't had a chance to post,


Here is Miles helping Mike put new knobs on the cabinets.


Quincy getting some tummy time and working on his neck muscles

Miles joining Quincy for tummy time, then them both taking a rest

And finally, Quincy's favorite awkward position when he is in his bouncy seat, swing or carseat. And before anyone tells me to put one of those head support things in there to help, I have, it doesn't make a bit of difference, and yes, I have put a double head rest in there as well, and a rolled up blanket, and anything else I could think of. This child just has no neck and likes to prove it all the time!

A bright spot yesterday

Well, it seems yesterday didn't turn out as bad as it started. Yesterday evening Quincy smiled his first real smile! Early in the evening he smiled at Miles, then a bit later he gave me a big beautiful smile! He has given a few more little smiles this morning. And his smiles are just so precious.

And this morning, Miles asked if we were going to tumbling class again today, and he sounded excited, until i told him no. He really wanted to go. I'm not holding out too much hope for next week quite yet.

Tumbling class

Well, Miles had his first tumbling class this morning. He was very excited about going to tumbling class. This did not turn out to be a fun morning for me. The morning started out well, we actually left the house when I planned, had time to go to McDs for drive thru mocha coffee, and got to the civic center with plenty of time to find the right room and be about 10 minutes early for class. Well, then we waited 15 minutes, at which time it did not seem as if the current class was ending anytime soon, but, that is okay, since Miles had to go potty. We trekked to the other end of the building, got into to a stall, onto a toilet, and Miles somehow missed and covered himself, his shorts, underwear & socks. Luckily he missed his shirt and sneakers, since those were the only things I did not have clean changes for in the diaper bag. Okay, clean up, change and hurry back through the building to class, the other class is still going on. Well, there were only a few of us waiting for the 9:30 class, and then we found out that the 9:30 class had been changed to a 9 class, and we had missed it. Well, really we were late for it and sat through most of it not knowing that it was OUR class. Apparently they had told all but 3 or 4 of us that the time had changed. But, there was another class at 10 for younger kids that the teacher let us go to for this week. Good, right? Not really. Miles was the only child that did not want to participate at all. He ran away for part of it and cried for much of it. And through it all he kept saying I can't do that, which in Miles talk means he doesn't want to do it. He did finally do some stuff at the end when it was time to use the equipment. So we leave on a positive note, right? Wrong. As we are leaving he fell down on the sidewalk and scraped his knee, enough to get a little blood. He seemed to recover pretty well from it, until we were in the van and I asked if he liked tumbling class. He said no because he got booboo's on his knees. I am hoping next week goes better, otherwise this is going to be a long 8 weeks.

A positive is that Quincy ate shortly before we left the house, and then slept until right before we got in the van to leave.

And now the orchestra...

Miles has apparently learned to play the theme to Psycho:





The local university was hosting a fun day for the community yesterday, and had a lot of activities going on for all ages. One was an orchestra professor with several string instruments for kids to play. They had several small violins that are geared towards young children. She showed Miles how to hold the violin and 'play' it. I'm not sure I have ever seen a bigger grin on his face.

Junior Band Member

Well, it is marching band/football season again, last night was the first home football game for Mike's school. Miles has been asking to go to 'Daddy's football game' all summer, and was super excited to go see the band and the game. He was in awe when he saw real football players coming out of the locker rooms, and he even saw a football payer carrying a football - that was very exciting for him. Last year he spent most of the time at games watching the game. Last night he played with the band much more than he watched the game. He jumped right in and made himself part of the band.


Here he is supervising the warm-up:

Sitting with the band in the stands:
Cheering on the team:
Playing the flute:
And the drums:

My new shopper

Miles got a gift card as a birthday present from his Aunt and Uncle. So, over the weekend, we took Miles to Toys R Us, and let him pick out something for his present, and let him pay for it with his gift card. He went straight to the train section, and although he looked at all the train stuff, he kept going back to a new airplane set that goes along with the train set he has. So this is what he asked to get. He seemed to like giving the cashier his gift card, and the whole process of picking out and paying for something he wanted, but he didn't seem to to show a ton of interest in the paying part.

Apparently, he was paying attention. He found a gift card yesterday that we had received for Quincy. He brought it over to me and asked to go to the store and buy another plane with the card. I told him that was Quincy's gift card, and he did not seem deterred by that, he just wanted to go buy another plane. And the shopping bug has bitten him.

Fortunately, he likes to put any money he gets either into his piggy bank or to feed the animals at the zoo. So he is learning to save and give to charity. But, in order to feed his piggy bank, he takes money from anywhere in the house that he finds it, including Mike's nightstand and my wallet. And he still has no clue that the gift cards are money. For that matter, he doesn't know that money isn't just another toy.

Brothers

Nothing too exciting this week. Miles had his three year well check appointment, and we went to the park and zoo the same day. But other than that, a pretty quiet week. Quincy has started spending more time on a blanket on the floor, he really likes to have some tummy time every day. And Miles generally wants to join him for a few minutes. I swear Quincy is trying to get himself up into a crawling position, he works very hard trying to get up onto his hands and knees, and gets frustrated when he doesn't get there. His leg muscles are getting stronger, he now likes to push off my legs with his legs, and there is some good strength in there. His neck muscles are getting stronger each day, still fairly wobbly at times, but he can swivel his head around to look at different things in the room, at times. Here are a couple of pics of the boys.

Happy 3rd Birthday Miles!

Miles is 3 years old today! He has grown up so quickly, and everyday we see him grow some more. He had a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party on Saturday. His friends came to help him celebrate, and family was here to celebrate as well. They all had fun playing together, and exploring his new toys. Miles still talks about his Thomas birthday party, and he still wants the decorations up.

He insisted on having party hats - whenever we talked about his birthday party, the two things he always asked for was a birthday cake and a birthday party hat. Here he is in his party hat, although he was the only kid that wore one - but he was happy in it!


Here is Miles, Brandon & Austin playing with the Cars racing track that Miles got as a present from Grandma D. The boys played with this non-stop after it was opened!

A family weekend

Mike's family came down to visit for the weekend, to meet Quincy and to help celebrate Miles' 3rd birthday. Everyone enjoyed holding Quincy - especially Ally!

Miles loved having his cousins here at his house. He loved playing with them and even shared his toys quite well. He did not want to go to bed, and kept coming back downstairs each night, then waking up super early each morning asking to come down and play. He didn't want anyone to leave.

Justin likes to play music, which was just fine with Miles, he just grabbed another instrument and played along with him.Miles got some new train stuff for birthday presents, and the boys had fun putting the tracks together and playing with the trains.

Here is Grandpa D getting some rare quiet time with Quincy
And all the kids, before us mean adults made them separate and go back to their own homes

It was great having you all down to visit. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Happy 40th Anniversary

Mom and Dad - Wow, 40 years! It is hard to imagine just how long 40 years is, and I'm sure that it feels like it has just gone by too fast for you two. Thinking back on how much you have done and the places you have been in the past 40 years, you have truly been there and done that. You have served your country, traveled the world, gone to college, raised a family, and so much more. You gave us kids an amazing upbringing, taught us how to be adults, how to work hard, and how to have fun. There has been so much laughter in our family, thanks to you guys.

You have worked hard to have a good marriage, sure there have been some fights along the way, but there has been a lot of love, passion, humor and respect as well. You have grown into the couple that you are now.

I am proud that you are my parents, and I can only hope to have a life and marriage as long and full as you have had.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad.