Feels Like Summer:)

Hello! I feel like I have posted lately about the activities that we are doing but not on how our kiddos have been changing and their development! So, that needs to be rectified. 

Collin is starting to blossom, I think:) He has had a few words (uh, oh, da-da, various car/truck/tractor sounds, etc.) but now we are getting a "hi" and lot of "crac-ker" (his word for food. Everything is a cracker), "all-done" and many others that we've heard maybe just once, but I think will be popping up more soon. He can make three animal sounds, his first was a monkey, second was a duck and now after staying at Mom and Dad's last weekend, he tries to moo like a cow. Though it comes out as a "mmmm. Boo" :) 

He just started smiling for the camera and actually will walk over to a camera and start smiling at it - going to be a ham?!! He will also say, "cheese!" So cute. And I think with the praise that we are giving Collin when he smiles, Kate is getting a normal smile back in her repertoire:) Yay, bonus! 

Collin has started blowing kisses, something we usually do at night or nap to anyone who is around. He is waving bye-bye almost every time, it was very spotty before. He is pretty cuddly, and definitely needs cuddle time after nap...okay! His appetite seems to be better lately, he is certainly eating more and I think he is eating more of a variety of things. He is still weird about many commonly-loved toddler foods! But I'll take what I can get. He has a few different smiles - a kind of cheesy one, one that wrinkles his nose and and big one when he is laughing. He loves to do something he is not supposed to, he'll climb up on the couch and walk around, when I say "sit down," he will and then the second I start walking away/back up, he smiles and stands back up, waiting for me to come back and then he drops down and giggles. It's cute but I can see where this is leading...

The interactions between these two is certainly evolving as well. Collin is growing and asserting himself much more. Unfortunately for Kate, the way he often displays his displeasure or need for attention is through biting or pinching. Ugh. But they have even more time when they are playing nicely, enjoying something together, Kate sometimes develops some patience and tries to teach him something. Collin will look up at her all the time with this look in his eyes like he is observing her and soaking it all in:) Still my all time favorite (and I'm guessing all parents) is watching them make each other laugh. They really crack each other up sometimes, best sound/moment in the world. There are times when Kate is mad that Collin is wanting to join her or play with her, but very often lately, she gets upset when he doesn't want to play with her. Or when he wants to cuddle with Mommy and not her.

Building some duplos together

The big news for Kate recently is that she attended three weeks of summer school (4K Prep) at New Lisbon Elementary. Did I write about this already? She will start 4K (preschool) in the fall and they do a little summer session to help everyone acclimate. I'm not sure if Kate needed it, but I enjoyed it! I love the teachers she'll have, I am now familiar with the school and feel like my trauma will be decreased because of the summer session:) 

They didn't do much, it was just a couple hours in the morning, mostly playing, always an art project, songs, play outside and a free lunch. She had a locker and always went in smiling and left me begging for a goodbye. It was a big class, there were 36 kids signed up for the summer school, so she will probably have a good-sized class. One of my soccer kids was in her class, Evan came up to me every time I came to pick up Kate and said hi, so sweet:) 

Eating in the cafeteria! She always ate most of her lunch

Her locker:)

I did successfully make some strawberry freezer jam the other day! I was just determined to accomplish it this year and so we tried a very large batch:) I picked one flat of very ripe strawberries and I struggled with the exact recipe and method and finally just followed what was on the pectin that I purchased (a low/no sugar pectin). 

It all went pretty well! It passed the taste day the next day and I have quite a bit, so no buying jam for awhile -yeah! 

We had a very special weekend last weekend! Our friends, Angie and Ryan had wanted to see Decorah (we talk about it quite a bit:) and we also wanted to do a little escape without our children (four between the two families). So we arranged for grandparents to watch the kiddos and we had a wonderful trip to Decorah!! We had meals without interruption or screaming, we showered and got ready from start to finish with no interruption, we ate ice cream without needing 40 napkins, we spent the afternoon outside at Toppling Goliath without any sunscreen...we were BORN FREE......!!!! :) 

It wasn't long, but it was just a really wonderful little break. And we hit up most of Decorah's highlights. Beer at Toppling Goliath, dessert at Whippy Dip, shopping at the Hatchery, coffee from Java Johns, overnight at the Hotel Winn, dinner at Rubiayat, walked a bit of the trail, drove through Phelps and Luther...and we had tour guide Dave to give us the skinny on it all:) The conversation never stopped and we had positive updates from the grandparents scattered throughout the day - a success! 

When we returned to Mom and Dad's, we got the skinny on the kids' fun weekend! This just happened to be the same weekend as Laura Days in Burr Oak, so Mom took them to the parade and then to the museum, where Kate scored some loot:) It was a hot day, so when they returned they played in the sprinkler outside. Dad and Andy were working on a project (of course!) they were hauling rock and prepping for some concrete that will be poured this week for a patio off the south side of the house. The kids listened to the cows going crazy and practiced their "mooing" :) Kate made some delicious brownies with Mom...all the wonderful things you must do at Gma and Gpa's, right?

Parade!

Love her new bonnet! 

Well, today is the last day of June, it has been a very summery month, I think! Here is the link to the photo album, click here!