I Believe I Can Fly…

But I can't.

Sunday morning we went to the nature preserve near us so I could run and the boys could walk and explore. After my run, Ben and I decided to have a race. While Ben and I were up ahead, Neil decided to test his flying ability. He was sitting in the front seat of the stroller and just jumped off. So, he landed face first onto the pavement. He has a goose egg on his forehead and we think his nose might be broken (not sure it, didn't bleed much). Two lessons were learned today: Neil now knows he can't fly; and Brian now knows to always strap the boys in the stroller's front seat.

More presents

Today after MOPS we were surprised with a package for Neil from Aunt Donna & Uncle Dan. The boys had great fun playing hockey with their new net. Luckily assembly was a breeze, cause assembly is not mamas department. Of course they prefer the cool Blackhawk's sticks that were included instead of the plain ones.










This sticker is all I need to ship him off right?

Neil's 2nd Birthday

For Neil's birthday he got to open presents before dinner. It's always good to have something new to amuse the boys before dinnertime, not that they eat dinner, but they act like they're hungry. I hoping Neil gets the hang of present opening by Christmas, otherwise Ben is going to be very busy. And yes, that is pink polka dot paper you see in the picture, other presents featured baby shower and craft shipping paper. Why I have two boys and not little boy wrapping paper is somewhat of a mystery to me every birthday.

Neil was blessed with two contributions to his college fund. (Busia refers to this as his 'running away money'. I like to think of it as my ticket to freedom.) He also received a gator golf game, cool cars book, green antique car, sponge bob car, and a race car ramp. Ben thought all of the gifts were good.

After dinner we had train birthday cake. Our gift to Neil was letting him have some cake, even though he didn't finish his dinner. Ben did finish his dinner so he got two pieces. Busia and Papa called the help us sing Happy Birthday and Sto Lat.

Neil got two birthday cards this year. We had a good laugh cause they happened to be the same elephant card.

Halloween

As a parent I'm finally starting to get use to the fact that nothing will go as you expect it. Today we finally finished the pink eye drops and except for a few rattley coughs the boys are better. I, on the other hand, have begun my typical sinus infection battle that follows every illness I get.


Anyway I think were all okay enough to do the typical Halloween stuff – until lunch. This is when Neil began a melt-down of a monster proportion. Turns out his two-year molars are trying to come in again and he's is miserable. So at 4 o'clock when our neighborhood start trick-or-treating he was still napping. Ben and Brian got to go around the block and collect some candy. Ben did pretty good, only one item had peanuts which will be good for mom's waistline. Neil finally woke up and we managed to get the fireman coat on him, but not the hat and not the smile.


Before lunch (and the melt-down) the boys did have fun opening gifts from great-grandma and cards from grandma.

Catalog baby

Each year when my photographer friend comes to take our family photo she comments on how our kids could be 'catalog babies', since they are so willing to smile for the camera. Now I know it's true. Ben's cuter don't you think?

Sick again

Well, just like the rest of the country were sick too. Brian seems to be staying healthy, but the rest of us are suffering with some degree of the flu. Ben is the worst since he is battling pink eye too. We will have to give him eye drops for the next 5 days. Friends of ours mentioned that their toddler went through numerous rounds of pink eye too. Their family doctor said it's from one of two things, picking your butt or picking your nose. Ben has been up to the later. Hopefully our stern explanation will stick with him and he will finally get away from this vile habit.

Time Away!!!

Norm and Joan came to town this weekend and were gracious enough to watch the boys for us while we went away to recharge our batteries. Brian and I went to Galena, IL/Dubuque, IA. We stayed in Dubuque (only 15 miles from Galena). While we were away we were able to go to a nice restaurant called Pepper Sprout. The chef was a very talented lady, the food was really good, as was the wine, but oddly enough the desserts were not impressive so we went down the block for that. Brian's was in a beer glass, mine involved chocolate and ice cream.



On Saturday we went kayaking in the afternoon. To bad the sun went away, but it was still a comfortable temperature. Besides we were infinitely more comfortable than the guy who launched with us, who managed to tip his kayak (Wasn't really aware this was possible since they are far less tippy than a canoe.) on entering and ended up waist deep in the river. We had lots of fun but it took a few reminders from Brian as to how to do it. I kept doing 360° every time a came out of a rapids area. They were rapids in the slightest sense really just swifter and bumpier than the rest of the river. We also got to see a blue heron come flying down the river and he was calm enough for us to cruise by and get a picture.

We also managed to do a little shopping in the trinkets and trash stores. And Brian played the craps table at the Diamond Jo's casino three times. The first two were better than the third, but he was able to leave Iowa with there money so all is good.

Here's some of our pics.