I started back to work last week, and we thankfully had my mom in town to help with the kids (and the housework)!  It was such a relief.  I worked full days on Monday and Tuesday, a half day on-site and half at home Wednesday and Thursday, and then Friday morning I had my follow-up ultrasound then ended up working at home while the kids were napping that afternoon also.

Saturday we all went to the fair with my sisters and my mom.  We lasted until about 3:30 before Mom and I were too tired to go any further and the kids were starting to fade.  Sunday and Monday were about getting things done around the house and getting ready for the week.  Check out all the photos on Flickr!

Tuesday started our “regular” school-year schedule (at least until Christmas break).  I had made little signs for Mac to show the days of the week and a picture for where he’d be and/or who would be at our house.  We do have a consistent schedule, but when you don’t know how to use a calendar or understand how the days of the week work, I thought it might be confusing for him that one day he goes to preschool, then he’s home but Lisa is here, then he’s home with me for two days before going back to preschool again.  Maybe I underestimate him, but I got the pictures ready anyway.  Jeremy and I talked to him about it Monday night, how every day will be a little different, and he can look at these pictures to remember.  We went over what the next day would bring – at home with Lisa – but when I tucked him in bed and asked again, he didn’t remember until I showed him the picture and reminded him.  Jeremy said the next morning he pulled out the picture to remind him again, but instead Mac pulled them all out, put the preschool one on top and said that’s where he would be going!  Well, by the end of the week he seems to be getting it, and I can only hope it’s a little easier on him with the pictures than without.

And Baby Vivian.  My goodness this girl is learning at lightning speed!  This past week she finally mastered the sign for “more” and she’s working more on “help.”  She knows she needs to show us “please” to get just about anything she wants, so that one she knows very well and uses often!  She still has that shrieking scream, especially when she wants something, but we’re trying very hard to encourage words instead.  She understands a LOT of what we say.  After just a few times of having her sit in the “Mickey chair” to put her shoes on, she will now get her shoes, and sometimes socks, and sit down while we put them on.  She knows when we talk about going upstairs or outside, or when we’re going to eat.  She’s totally attached to her buddies (all of them, not just one, thank goodness), and unfortunately her nuks.  We’ve had to put the nuks up on the dresser in their room because she was able to reach into her crib and get them whenever she wanted!  When we have a relaxing morning where Mac gets to watch a show, when the TV goes on, many times she climbs on the couch and gets her blanket just like Mac does.  She does her own chores (putting her laundry down the chute) too, just like Mac has done for 2 years.  Just weeks after we were starting to look for more baby gates because the girl was climbing over and getting into everything, we have adjusted without them.  She’s much better now about getting off furniture and down steps “the safe way” so we worry less about walking away for just a moment.  Last night I gave her a kiddie fork to see what she’d do and showed her how to pick up a piece of watermelon.  Wow, was she ever happy when she got it!  And she showed Daddy after a little more practice – you could just see in her eyes she knew this was a big deal.  What a ham – I caught some video today:

Mac continues to improve his big brother skills.  The other day, he tried to shove Vivian out of a room she wasn’t supposed to be in, which she did NOT like.  I reminded him, no pushing, and then proceeded to show him a better way – take her hand and walk her out.  While she was not agreeable at the time, later that day, he wanted Vivian to go downstairs, but she was playing on the porch.  Well, what do you know, he went over to her, took her hand, and said, “c’mon Vivian, we go downstairs.”  He used to scream when she’d turn the TV off while he was watching.  Now he just gets up and turns it back on, or better yet, turns it back on with the remote!  Today when she was close to the TV, he went to the toys and said, “Vivian, you play with my ‘puter.”  Good idea, bud, distract her with a toy she loves!  They are only glimpses, but those glimpses are being seen more and more often.  There is much less screaming, pushing and hitting, and occasionally there is playing – dare I say – together!  Don’t get me wrong.  He still tackles her for no reason, pushes her aside and hits toys out of her hands.  But it’s less often these days.

For me, this has been a very long week, even with only four days of work.  Tuesday was my first full day on-site working since before last Christmas when my schedule changed to on-site mornings only.  Wednesday and Thursday were work-at-home days, where I have quite a bit of adjusting to do so that my days are both productive AND time spent with my children.  Wednesday I had to make two trips into work with both kids in tow.  That was not easy, so I’ll try to keep that to a minimum until Vivian is more manageable in that situation.  She does NOT like to just sit still, while I could plop Mac in front of a computer with a Thomas game and he’d be pretty much set.  Yesterday was Mac’s first day of preschool, so I started late but worked a full day after that.  I’ll be on-site full days Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, and the rest of my hours are worked from home.

And Jeremy?  That poor guy is in his toughest time of year.  He’ll be home very little, mostly just to sleep, over the next couple weeks – and that’s on a good day.  So that means a little more pressure on me, but I’ve gotten pretty used to this time of year and have the experience of the summer with the kids, so I’m not too worried about it.  We just put our feet on the ground each morning and go!  I know he feels badly, but it is all for the good of our family and we do our part at home to make it easier for him where we can.

He really couldn’t wait to go to “train preschool.”  We’ve been in the room maybe twice – once at preschool round-up and once for back-to-school night.  He only remembers playing with trains and has wanted to go back ever since.  On Tuesday when we started using little signs I had made to help him to know what he’d be doing each day when I went back to work, Jeremy said he looked at them all and put the preschool one out and said he wanted to go to preschool that day.  How disappointing to learn he had to wait three more days!

But today was the day.  We all got up early, got dressed and fed, and headed out to school.

Mac carried his own backpack, found his own name on his cubby, and hung up his backpack there.

We arrived early, but he could hardly wait to get in that room.  Jeremy was trying desperately to get a picture of him walking in the room, but instead he was pulling us – c’mon, c’mon!

We played for a little while, waited for another little boy’s crying to stop, and then it was time to say good-bye.  We got hugs and kisses, and away we went.  I’m not even sure if he would have noticed we were leaving if not for saying good-bye!  I worked at that campus for the morning, totally selfishly, so I could peak in on him and see what he was doing.  Not how he was doing - I knew he’d be fine, and I really don’t want him to understand yet that I work there, because in reality I won’t always be at that building while he’s there, as much as I’d like to.  And it wasn’t nearly as hard for me as one might have expected.  In fact, since I’m used to having to leave him to go to work, it was almost a better situation to know I could look in and see what he was up to – I LOVE to watch him play and learn and have not gotten to do that before.  I peeked in once, and they were playing with play-doh, and later he was having snack.

When Lisa picked him and her daughter up, with Vivian in tow, they proceeded to the lunch room where she volunteered to work hot lunch on Fridays.  Apparently all the kids ate well (once they found a good seating arrangement for Vivian), then they headed back home for naptime.  That didn’t go as well, but Mac did finally fall asleep right about the time I got home, and Vivian fell asleep after another couple of hours.  What a day!!  He slept over two hours, pretty normal, but I went to check on him when he woke up, and he wasn’t ready to get up – he spent almost another HOUR in his bed.  I think the day might have caught up with him!

I asked Mac a few times what he did in preschool.  He seems to remember things in spurts, so you can’t just ask him once.  At one point he told me he needed Thomas and James and Percy – I gather he either wanted them and they didn’t have them out today, or another kid was playing with them and he didn’t have a turn, not sure.  Then he said he painted.  I asked, with a brush?  ”No, with my hand, I pushed the paint.”  Interesting.  And I asked about snack time – milk, water, raisins and goldfish.  Yum!  I asked if they read any books.  He said yes, then he started telling me this story…  He was so animated!  He said it was about a pink elephant pig.  Hmmm, really?!  Yes, and “what happened to his NOSE?!  It went CRASH into a tree, and it SQUEEZED <something else about the tree>.”   All with hand gestures.  I was almost laughing but so enjoying watching him relive this story.  I couldn’t imagine such a book.  A pink elephant pig?  I’m not a reader, my friends, but that seemed kinda silly.  So if you know me, where did I go… Google.  And sure enough, after a few searches (pink elephant pig nose, elephant pig children’s book…), “nose pig children’s book” brought me to my answer.  Here’s the book his teacher read at preschool today:

I showed him the picture, and he said yes, his teacher read that book.  ”Mommy, you read it?”  Hmmm, had to explain that what we were looking at was just a picture, not the book.  ”Mommy, you read picture?”  Sorry, honey…  I can’t wait to read that book next week – you can bet I’m stopping in for a look!

I LOVE that he can tell me what he did in school.  I LOVE that he had a great day!  I sure hope he wants to go back on Monday.  What do you think?

Early July:
Vivian decided, after three months or so of being able to take steps on her own, that walking really IS the preferred mode of transportation. It would seem that this little walking thing has also got her brother taking notice, as he seems to be encouraging her at times to chase him! She is starting to learn her signs, but it seems like every time she learns a new one, the others go away. She doesn’t have any words, but she definitely wants to communicate, so I’m hoping it will all come soon.

Mac is maturing into a wonderful little boy. In addition to making his first step in using the potty, he continues to do well using his manners. He likes to do just about anything “all by mine-self” and is so proud of himself when he does! Each day he is more interactive and tolerant of his sister, and he is much better these days at sharing and taking turns. Last night as we were having ice cream sandwiches, and I was sharing mine with Vivian, HE wanted to share HIS too! I could hardly believe it. He also has wanted to have her sit on his lap a few times in the last week or so… strange. We still have our moments of tantrums and power struggles, but he is so much fun, and I’m really enjoying our time together this summer. (I have to admit we’re both probably getting a little spoiled!)

I have been feeling good and making the most of summer this year. Short of feeling tired and a bit of nausea here and there, I’d have to say I’ve sailed through the first trimester of this pregnancy without too much trouble. Hopefully that will continue! We finally get to see the doctor at the end of next week. So far I’ve only seen nurses and the physician’s assistant because my doctor was booked. I’m anxious to find out if she’s got any travel plans that last week of December… And in a few more weeks we’ll have our Level 2 ultrasound. Everything goes so fast!

Late July/Early August:
The gates and play yards at our house have been on the move!  In late July, I took down the “sibling saver,” as I called it, in the basement so that I could work on teaching the kids to play together in peace.  It’s been a challenge, but I’m glad I did it.  Mac is learning (slowly and stubbornly) that he needs to take turns, and that all of the toys he wants are not “his.”  With Vivian climbing more, that meant much less productivity for me while the kids were awake.  She was climbing on the furniture quickly, and we still struggle to get her to sit down once she’s up there.  Factor in Mac’s reactions if she takes a toy he wants, and, well, as I said, I can’t leave them alone to get anything done.

Vivian’s other teeth are finally coming in – the middle on top and the next out from the middle on bottom.  I even noticed one of her back teeth on her top left pushing through.

We’ve gone out a lot more this summer, and it’s been very enjoyable.  In late July, we even went to Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store in St. Paul for story time and to play with the trains they have there – SIX train tables!  Mac has shown signs of what appears to be normal preschooler play behavior both there and at the Lego store at MOA.  He will try to hoard the toys he doesn’t want other kids to play with!  He brings me a handful of toys and wants me to hold them – I said, no, if you are not playing with them, then we need to let the other kids have a turn.  He didn’t like it but really needs to learn or preschool will be a rude awakening!

Mac has mastered using the peddles to ride his “bicycle” (really a tricycle) on the patio in the back yard, both forward and backward.  He rarely runs down his sister.  As with many other things, he is very possessive of it and doesn’t want Vivian to ride it (or touch it, for that matter).  She is “allowed” to ride the little scooter or his Cozy Coupe car.  Lucky girl, right?

Mid-August:
The gates made another huge transition last week.  We took down the play yard in the living room that was blocking Vivian from Mac’s play/drawing table, lamps and cords and moved everything out of the way.  Why?  Because the little bugger watched her brother enough times and started to climb over it!

Let me give you a little timeline for how quickly this girl catches on…

Aug. 10: I convinced Mac (and trusted him enough) to hold Vivian going down the slide.  This was her first time down the slide without me going down with her, and maybe her 5th time overall.

We didn’t have any trips to the park in the next 4 days.

Aug. 15, morning: Vivian climbed the stairs at the park as she has done before but this time started to turn around to go down the slide by herself, feet first on her tummy (like she would go the “safe way” down the steps).  The video I got was at the smaller park where (go figure) there are no steps but ladders – boy was she frustrated!  I picked her up and put her on the platform to go down the slide.

Aug. 15, afternoon: Playing in the back yard in the afternoon, she gave our ladder a try.  Yep, you guessed it – she made it to the top and proceeded down the slide with a big grin on her face.  Eeks!

I’m sure I’m forgetting a multitude of developments and anecdotes.  Well, I’ll try to do better, but that’s about all I can promise!  Hopefully after seeing how busy we are, you’ll forgive me.  ;)  I’ve done much more of taking photos and video with my phone and uploading directly to Flickr, so if you check out our photostream or feed there, you’ll catch the latest action even when I don’t have time to sit down and blog.

We packed up our van and Rav for our trip to the cabin that Roxi rented for the week. We left around 9:45 for our hour-and-a-half ride to just outside of Melrose on Little Birch Lake. Jeremy’s cousin Robin and her daughter Paige rode with me and the kids, and Jeremy went ahead with the boat to meet the owner and get all the instructions. When we arrived, we had a little tour – wow, more of a vacation home than a cabin! This place is AMAZING! We got the kids their lunch, and then I went with Jeremy to get the boat on the water so we could park it in the shore station for the week. Since he had to take the boat, I had to drive the trailer back by myself – I’ve never driven it before! I did fine, though; it wasn’t so hard without the boat. Jeremy and I have talked a lot about the fact that I really should know how to drive it so we can launch the boat at the lakes in the cities more efficiently. Well, first lesson complete!

Then it was time to clean up the kids and get their beds ready for nap (and hope they adjusted and slept). Mac helped unpack his bear and blanket and find his nuks, and he crawled right in, thank goodness. Vivian laid right down too, and they both took a good nap – a HUGE relief for the first day of a week’s vacation! Then we unpacked some more stuff and had our own lunch, and waited for Roxi to arrive. One of Jeremy’s uncle’s arrived who was also staying the week, and another uncle who lives in the area stopped by too for a short visit. Roxi arrived, the kids woke up, and the rest of the evening was a whirlwind of settling in, with one short late afternoon boat ride for Jeremy, Robin, Paige, Mac and me.

I cleaned up dinner and then was able to work on one of the two projects I brought with me – to sort pictures for Mac’s 1st year photo album and write in both his and Vivian’s to note dates and events. I got the pictures sorted and into Mac’s album that night. It sure felt good to accomplish a project that’s been sitting around for three years!

– Monday, August 1 –

Rain. Thunderstorms. Bummer first full day at the cabin. It’s not so bad after you’ve had a full day outside and maybe should stay out of the sun for a day, but what a bummer for the first day! But we made it work. The kids were pretty happy playing inside and watching movies. There’s so much space in the basement (it was just finished) that we could really let Mac and Paige go play down there without much supervision, and they played pretty nicely too!

Robin, Mark and Paige went to visit Great-Grandma Flossie in Sauk Centre and brought back a picture-sorting project of their own from her house that they worked on in the afternoon and evening. At nap-time, Jeremy and I took the grocery list and went “into town” to get that stuff, after a little tour of Jeremy’s old haunts – his grandparents on his dad’s side had a cabin on Big Birch Lake, and his mom’s parents lived, and he went to school for a year or two, in Melrose. By the time we returned, the kids were up and it was another whirlwind until bedtime.

After the kids went to bed, I finished getting Mac’s album written, and then Robin, Jeremy, Roxi and I played my favorite game – Phase 10. It went down to the very last hand, we were all on Phase 10, which hardly ever happens, and I ended up winning!! It was a late night but so fun!

– Tuesday, August 2 –

It was still raining through the morning, so we had a quiet morning inside. Later in the morning, Robin, Mark and Paige went golfing. It started clearing up around 10, so by 11, Jeremy and I took Mac out for a little boat ride before lunch. He really seemed to like it, and Jeremy even let him take the wheel for a bit. And I also got some practice behind the wheel on this nice big lake. Roxi stayed with Vivian while she had a little morning “attitude-adjustment” nap. Then it was lunch time and naps for the kids with Roxi while Jeremy and I got some rest and relaxation out on the lake on our big floating island.   We were out there for a couple hours, and when we returned, the kids were still sleeping!

I think it might have been five years since I’ve felt so relaxed for this extended period of time, more than just a few hours or even a weekend. It’s been terrific for all of us!

Great-Grandma came back with Robin and stayed for a visit through dinner, and they brought more pictures to sort through. Jeremy’s cousin Jody and her son came by too to have dinner and play.

After the kids’ bedtime, it was game time again for the grown-ups, this time we had a round of Rummikub, but we were quickly aware of how late we had stayed up the night before and cut it shorter than we had planned, but I won again!

– Wednesday, August 3 –

Is it Wednesday already?! It’s a beautiful sunny day at the lake… let’s get outside! We got the kids ready and loaded up with sunscreen and headed down to the water. We got them into our big floating island, but Vivian was not happy, so I brought her in. She continued to whine, though, so I put her in bed for another attitude adjustment. I had planned to go out on the patio for some quiet blogging time, but as I got situated, up came Jeremy with the other kids… but after some play time outside, it was time for lunch, and Jeremy graciously took care of all of it while I continued to sit outside in the sun and catch up on my narrative of our week and some other events I still hadn’t blogged. He even brought me a sandwich and chips so I could stay in the sun and eat! I did that until I got too warm and then moved to the nice cool house while Vivian finished her lunch. Jeremy and Roxi went into town on some errands while (I thought) the kids would nap. Vivian finally went to sleep at 3:15 for almost an hour before Mac woke her up, and Mac never did nap. We gave them an early dinner and bedtime, then almost had a quiet dinner without too many interruptions. Rick, Mathew and Wendy arrived in the evening after the kids were in bed. We had a campfire and s’mores, and moved inside when the bugs got bad (even with long sleeves, long pants and bug spray!). We had a rousing game of Phase 10 where I started out ahead and ended up in dead last. I still love that game!

The kids really had been doing well, but it started going downhill today. We had some issues with Mac this morning trying to get used to playing with other kids and having lots of people giving him directions and choices. It can be difficult being in a big group. Ironically, today was probably the best weather day but the worst kid behavior day we’ve had. The relaxation is gone for me, for now, until we get back on track. They did sleep well at night, thank goodness!

– Thursday, August 4 –

We again had some struggles with Mac at breakfast time, but he recovered quickly this time. Roxi stayed with Vivian while we took Mac, Mathew and Wendy out on the boat. We moved to a different lake, Big Birch, where Jeremy’s grandparents (Elferings) had a cabin. Jeremy and Mathew spent a lot of time on that lake when they were little, and Jeremy has wanted to go back and show me around for a long time. It was great to see the two of them reminisce! Mac did really well too, and also learned a little something about the ease of tinkling as a boy when there’s no potty… yep, right off the side of the boat! After more than two hours, we headed back to the cabin for lunch and naptime, which this time went very well, thank goodness. Vivian had actually fallen asleep during her lunch and continued to sleep when I put Mac down.  They both got a better than 3-hour nap! I got a few minutes in there too after eating my lunch while Jeremy took the boat out again for the next arrivals – Ryan & his family.

He took them tubing, and they even tried a bit of skiing. After that, it was back to a whirlwind of dinner preparations, eating, and visiting.  Mac warmed up fairly quickly to Ryan, another 3-year-old in the family, and they played a bit before Mac’s bedtime. The kids went down pretty well, and the adults enjoyed a short (due to bugs) campfire, some s’mores, and another short game of Phase 10 before an earlier bedtime to prepare for an early waking to golf.

– Friday, August 5 –

Today was our big golfing day. Mac even got to come along and ride in the cart, and he did mostly ok. We just had one meltdown on one hole when I wouldn’t let him take all of my yellow golf balls. Jeremy and I had a decent game playing 2-man scramble, but you could certainly tell neither of us had played for 2 years. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun out on the course with Mac, Roxi and Jody. Another foursome was ahead of us playing 18 holes. We left after our 9 and headed back to the cabin for lunch and naps. Mat and Wendy graciously watched Vivian while we golfed, and she apparently did quite well. She was sleeping when we returned.

After lunch, Sue and Bob arrived with Callie and Great-Grandma, and Mac went down for his nap (Jeremy joined him). I tried to join them too, but Vivian woke up, so I got up with her until Roxi took over. Jeremy and Mac got up soon after I laid down, and then I think I slept for a bit. Kim and Chris arrived with the twins, and then it was time for dinner after a quick shower for me. After dinner, we had another campfire until the bugs got bad again. Then after the kids’ bedtime we all convened on the porch for some good visiting time. By this time almost all the cousins had arrived, so there were many stories and lots of laughs!

– Saturday, August 6 –

Bring on the party! Today was the big Bruggeman reunion. We ended up with a huge crowd and a rainy morning. We had a big breakfast then an even bigger lunch, with lots of catching up happening in every corner.   Great-Grandma had brought some heavy whipping cream to make butter with the little kids (and the big kids had a turn too) – it was yummy!! Mac played with some of the little cousins in between spurts of rain. Surprisingly, the kids both had good naps, which made for a very good day. The rain let up after lunch and the butter-making, so Jeremy got the boat running to pull lots of brave little tubers. I stayed in the house with Vivian, since she woke soon after Mac went to bed. After an hour-and-a-half or so, Roxi took over for me so that I could help Jeremy on the boat while he pulled Reagan on the tube one last time. By then Mac was coming down to the water and wanted to swim, so I got out with him. Jeremy took one more crew for a ride before putting away the boat for the night. Mac and I started out in our big island float, but he really wanted to swim in the lake. I agreed, and swam out to the swimming platform about four times with him, up and down the ladder, back and forth, and when Jeremy was done docking the boat, he joined us for a couple of jumps (I wouldn’t let Mac jump for me because I didn’t have a life-jacket on and couldn’t touch the bottom out there). Then it was time to head in for the mass exodus of relatives heading out. That process took about an hour between packing up, taking pictures with Great-Grandma, and lots of goodbyes.   Jeremy and I finally settled in to have some dinner with Mac and started to get our stuff packed up too. In the process, it rained a bit, and we saw a beautiful rainbow over the lake! We had another fire and then another big 2-table game of Phase 10, up late trying to squeeze out every ounce of our vacation before our departure day.

There are lots more pictures on Flickr of our fabulous week – there was no way I could fit them all here!

I told him our plans before breakfast, as I have most of our summer days together: “Today after breakfast we’re going to get your hair cut.” In the past, his response to anything about a haircut for him was a clear, “no,” so many times I didn’t talk about it beforehand. Either way, as soon as we’d get to the storefront, he made a b-line in the opposite direction! Today was different. As I told him the plan, he said, “ok.”

We had a nice breakfast, and he got into the car nicely. I was telling him in the car that if he sat nice and didn’t kick and scream, that Jenny could be done really fast, but he said, “no, careful.”

“Ok,” I told him, “If you sit nice then Jenny can be careful. Are you going to sit nice, no kicking and screaming? If you sit nice, and there’s no kicking and screaming and no crying, we’ll go have an ice cream cone after your haircut.” We had this same discussion a few times in the car. He was agreeable each time, but that’s happened before…

So we went into the mall, and we went through a department store first, as usual. He wanted to run in the big aisle of the store, which is usually ok, but he forgot to look where he was going and ran into a display case head first! “Uh oh,” I thought, this does not bode well for our next task…

He calmed down, and we kept on our walk to Kids Hair. He did NOT turn around when he saw it! He walked in and started to sit down at the coloring table, but I stopped him because they were ready for him. He went to pick up a dinosaur toy, and I asked him if he wanted to take that with him for his haircut. He did. No crying yet…

He climbed up nicely into the chair. No crying.

He let Jenny put the apron on. No crying.

At this point, I was just holding my breath waiting for it to turn sour.

She sprayed his hair to get it wet. No crying.

She started cutting. No crying.

She kept cutting. No crying.

Ok, who is this kid, and where’s my Mac?

She finished cutting. No crying.

She pulled out the razor for around his ears and neck and did those spots. No crying.

What?!

That’s it. She’s done. There was no kicking, no screaming, no crying. He got brushed off. I didn’t have a drop of sweat or a piece of hair on me. Success!

Let’s go get those ice cream cones!!

On Saturday, Kevin & Marla went to visit Kevin’s brothers and sisters, so we used the day to get some things done around the house. Sunday we all met up at Como Zoo and had a great time looking at the animals – we even caught the Sparky show! It was hot, but the kids did really well. We bought some ride points for Mac at Como Town, and he got to ride the train, the bumper cars (a new favorite after the Richfield 4th Carnival) and play in the splash zone and playground. After that, we walked over to the park for a picnic lunch then headed home for nap time. After nap, Kevin, Marla, Mathew and Wendy were back for a dinner prepared by Jeremy, and then we had some more visit time in the evening.

On Monday we were hoping to get out on the boat, but it wasn’t working yet. Then we had hoped that we could go see some trains at Bandana square, but that was closed on Mondays! I looked up the Science Museum, which coincidentally had a “preschool playground” day on Mondays with special hands-on “make-and-take” activities for preschoolers. Perfect! We met Kevin & Marla there, and we all had a great time at the exhibits, and Mac enjoyed his activities as well as making carbon atoms with Oma & Opa! Again we returned home for lunch and naptime, and everyone came over for a visit later in the afternoon. This time Kevin prepared dinner, and then before we knew it, our visit was over.

The boys enjoyed playing with the trains and tracks… and by “boys” I mean the BIG boys!

We of course had the traditional coloring of the Easter eggs in preparation for the hunt. Mac was much more independent this year.

Our wonderful neighbor gave us their playset they were no longer using…

Vivian got into the spirit also with a few moves inside the house!

She also got some practice time on that walking…

Spring finally started to show its signs, and Mac and I worked on getting the bird feeders filled up and ready for customers

Mac loves (LOVES) to play in the water, and sometimes we give in and allow him to spend some extra time at the sink.  This day he started picking up the dishes and the dish wand and started washing the few little dishes in the sink.

And recently Mac has been much more interactive with Vivian and wanting to help with her.  While he can’t really help with cutting her food, he did want to serve it to her and frequently offers her food from his plate (that he doesn’t want).