More Mankato madness

While Adam was busy hunting ducks in North Dakato, the boys and I spent a fun day in Mankato, first at the MSU homecoming carnival and then at a hayride at a local state park. The boys were really good. Luckily Brian was there to take the boys on the rides. Christianne even pitched in and went on the bumper cars with Kale! Nolan went on the spinning dragon ride with Brian. Right before they got on a boy threw up right in front of them. Nolan wasn't even phased and still went on the ride!

The boys loved drinking hot chocolate and doing the crafts before the hayride. Kale has been busy learning how to spell his name. I was surprised when he wrote a K and an A on his wood necklace with a sharpie, all on his own. He was so proud of himself! The woman on the hayride shared some interesting facts about the trail we were on - how it used to be an old river bed. Nolan retained that information and shared it with Adam when he got home from his trip. That kid has a fantastic memory! The highlight for both of the boys was finding the fairy gold on the candle lit path. As much as I look a good shiny rock, I don't like them scattered all over our cars and house!

After church on Sunday, we drove up to Foley to spend the day with my grandma. Kale was so tired he slept all the way there! We enjoyed a nice dinner and watched the Vikings game. Grandpa Tom and Grandma Paula stopped by, too. The boys love playing with the toys at my grandma's house. My dad took them outside after the game and Kale was showing him all the statues in my grandma's garden - a bunny, and butterfly and God! It was actually a statue of St. Francis, but Kale insisted it was God. He then went on to share that 2 mans live in his heart - Jesus and God.

Field trip fun

Nolan had his first field trip today, to the Minnetonka Apple Orchard.  Adam got to chaperon the event. Nolan rode the bus from the school to the Mound transit station, where all the parent's got on the bus. Nolan introduced his dad to his friends. Adam said he asked him what there names were and he said he didn't know.  Apparently that comes later in the year!  They had beautiful weather - so nice, in fact, that the kids had to stay away from anything that attracted the bees, because they were out in full force.  On the way back to school Nolan wanted to sit in the back of the bus, where it was extra bouncy.  I asked Nolan what his favorite part of the field trip was and he told me the donut.  Not surprising - he is our good eater!

You're making me grumpy, mom

On the way home from Jane’s house Kale was being a little crabby. He started talking back to me so I got after him. His response – “Mom, you’re making me grumpy.” His attitude improved once we got home, when he Nolan could play outside. I told them to play in the garage while I made dinner. After a little while it got really quiet. I peeked through the door to see what was going on and I couldn’t see either of them. I called their names and asked what they were doing. Nolan responded that they were “pretending to drink beer” by the new stand up freezer. I explained that they need to pretend to drink juice, milk or water, but not beer.

Superman

At preschool pick up today, Nolan once again told me that he had been crying on the playground. I asked him why and he said it was because he missed me and his dad again. I asked one of the assistants about it and she said he told her he was sad because he didn't know who was picking him up. I asked him if he was crying more than normal and she said no, and told me what a nice boy he is. It's not fun to hear about your kid missing you during the day, but it makes it a little better knowing he is making a good impression with the school! Adam and I agreed we need to do a better job of telling Nolan who is picking him up every day. We'll see how the next few weeks go, and if we have to put a picture reminder in his backpack we will!

After I picked up Nolan we went to pick up Kale at daycare. I had to park on the street, and as Kale and I were walking back up to the mini van he stopped to talk to Nolan on the curb side of the road. I told him to wait for me and we could walk around the van together, but instead he bolted in front of me, looked down the street, saw a bright yellow truck and decided to put his hand out in a super hero move, like he was going to stop the truck. I forgot to mention he was wearing his new superman shirt. I got after him and got him in to the van. The man in the yellow truck slowed down and said "he must really think he's superman". How embarassing.

K and A

Kale is learning how to spell his name at daycare. He is busy mastering his K and A, and is doing quite a nice job!

Kale's 3 year pictures and Nolan and the bucket

We had Kale’s 3 year pictures today. Talk about rockin it! He was the most well behaved little boy and listed to everything the photographer told him to do. Plus he was super excited to wear his new goldy shirt for some of the pictures.

After we got home from pictures Nolan still wasn’t feeling 100%. He was in the bathroom when he started yelling for me. I went in there and he was crying because he was now sick on the other end. He kept telling me it hurt. Again, I felt horrible for him. He took a fantastic nap and seemed to be on the upswing, until dinner time, when his tummy started to hurt again. I made him take a bucket to bed with him. Apparently I didn’t do a real good job of explaining what to do with it, because when I checked on him later that night this is what I found:

The sleepover that wasn't meant to be

Kale and Nolan were so excited for their daycare sleepover tonight. I was excited, too, because Adam’s been gone all week and I was looking forward to a much needed break to run errands and relax, kid free. That all changed at 8:45 pm, when I got the call that Nolan had gotten sick. I picked him about 10 minutes later. Kale greeted me at the door and told me that he wasn’t ready to go yet – whew! I told him he could stay and Nolan was coming home with me. I told Jane this was the first time Nolan has ever been sick, and she said he had no idea what to do. As soon as it started he started yelling “I need to go home to my mom!”. Poor kid. Luckily he didn’t get sick anymore that night, and the two of us had a nice sleepover together at home.