You call that a knife?

Thank goodness for daycare. Jane is teaching them the correct way to use knives and let them cut up a cantaloupe today.

The backpack

Nolan is the first kid up in our house the majority of the time. During the week he'll sneak out of his room to try and surprise me when I'm prepping breakfast. I always hear him, but I let him think I don't. This morning I heard the door open and was expecting him. It took longer than usual for him to get to the kitchen, and I could hear a rustling sound along the way. He finally got to the kitchen and said hi to me, and when I looked he was proudly wearing his new spiderman backpack that we picked up for him for preschool. I told him how awesome he looked and he asked if he could put food in it. I explained to him that we didn't put food in backpacks. He looked at me and said, "you're right, Mom. Food goes in lunchboxes."

Hungry, hungry Kale

Kale is a pretty picky eater. He usually eats one good meal a day, and then picks at his food for the other meals - and asks for snacks in between. This morning I made eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. Kale was being an especially slow eater, so in order for him to get moving I told him I would wrap up his plate with 1/2 of his eggs, 1 slice of turkey bacon and a half of pear and he could take it to Jane's house. Jane texted me about an hour and a half later to let me know that Kale had just stopped eating breakfast, which included the food I brought from home for him, 3 bunches of grapes, celery with peanut butter, two bowls of cereal and a half of a bagel. Jane said she told him that he needed to give his tummy a rest and he could have more later, and he proceeded to ask if he could have meatballs for lunch. Jane texted me again after lunch to let me know he ate 3 meatballs, 1 crescent roll, 2 carrots from the garden (about 3 inches long) and 3/4 cup of fruit salad. He finally told Jane he was full after all of that. When I picked the kids up Jane told me he ate 1/2 of an apple for snack, and to top it off he ate a good dinner for Adam, too. He must be growing, because he NEVER eats like that!

Finger painting

Adam thought it would be fun for the kids to do some finger painting. He didn't bargain for Nolan literally painting his fingers!

Nolan's favorite tunes

I've introduced the boys to some music I thought they'd like. I played a current favorite of theirs on the way home from Jane's today - Impression That I Get by the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Nolan was trying to describe his other favorite song so I would play it, and he kept saying "you know, mom, not the Help Me song or Beer Money, the other one." I finally got it - Dynamite by Taio Cruz!

Growing up

I attended our very first preschool parent orientation today. It was a jam packed hour with little time to ask questions! I was feeling good about everything until I left to go pick up the boys, and realized that my normal routine of picking them both up at the same time will be changing soon. People always say that you blink and your kids are grown up. I'm starting to realize that!

Baby names

I asked the boys if they had any ideas for baby names. Nolan piped up and said "we should name it Bob!"

Where's the toy?

Adam took the boys down to the U of M today for a research study for Nolan. At the end of the study the research assistant offered Nolan the choice of a t-shirt or a $10 gift card to Target to buy a toy. Nolan picked the gift card. Adam said the look on his face was priceless when the guy handed Nolan the gift card and Nolan asked him "where's the toy?" Good to know he doesn't quite get the concept of gift cards yet! Adam stopped at Target and after checking out all the toys Nolan picked out a 2 pack of bey blades, one for him and one for Kale. Adam said he was so proud Nolan wanted to share that he even pitched in a little money so Nolan could buy it. Such a thoughtful kid!

You ought to be in pictures

What a surprise to open the Fall Community Education book and see a picture of Adam and Kale that was taken last year at pajama night!

Carver county fair time

Adam took Nolan to the Carver county fair for the first time. I stayed back with Kale because he was battling a cold. Nolan came home with so many fun stories - the tractor pull, cotton candy, animals, and rides. The cotton candy was by far his favorite! Adam also had Nolan sign up to win a prize at the snowmobile association booth - and Nolan actually won! His name was drawn for a pair of movie tickets. Sometime in the next month we're going to take the boys to their first movie theater experience, hopefully to see the movie Planes.

Paperwork

We received all the paperwork to sign Nolan up for preschool and Adventure Club today. Holy overwhelming! People had warned me about this, but I guess I wasn't ready for it. We have an entire school year calendar we need to manage now. Granted, it's not much, but between Adam's travel schedule for work and the baby coming in 3 months it feels like a lot!

Night to Unite

We hung out with our neighbors tonight for Night to Unite. It was busy, with a fire engine, a police car and the Hennepin County prison transport van stopping by. Kale was much more interested than Nolan in checking everything out, until it came time to climb in the prison van. Nolan was one of the first kids in. I tried to tell them that this would be the first and only time they could be in this van, but they just laughed at me!

Camping fun

We spent the weekend at Baker park for our annual friend camping weekend. We didn't have daycare this week so I was going to be home with the boys on Friday - so decided to test my luck and head out a night early, knowing it would just be me and boys staying over because Adam had to work the next day. Adam got us all set up and was on his way home by 9 on Thursday night. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went! The next few days were a bit more challenging (more with Kale than Nolan), but overall we had a great time - swimming, playing at the park, riding bikes (Adam and the boys only!), and spending time with our friends and their families.

One level up

While we were on vacation Nolan got to ride around on Lola's bike. He really took a liking to it because it was the next size up from the bike he's been riding. After a little looking we took the dive and bought Nolan his next big boy bike. We didn't get quite the reaction that we were hoping for, but Nolan has always been a little more understated!