Audrey is a mess!

Audrey is turning into the type of kid who could use a bath every hour... if there's dirt to find, she'll find it! I'm amazed at how easily she turns into a huge mess. Conner was the complete opposite at this age - if he got a speck of dirt on his hand, it had to be wiped off. Aud, however, goes straight to the mud/puddles/dirt and then runs her dirty hands through her hair. Lovely.

We had some lasagna-type stuff for dinner the other night, and she's refusing to let anyone help her now with eating. Not only that, but she wants a fork or spoon to eat with (and often will only take an adult one - those plastic kids' forks just don't make her happy!). So it doesn't take very long for her to become covered in food (she's eating a lot of meals topless right now). These are from Wednesday:

She's saying "cheese"... something new she's saying when she sees a camera.

The new sitter

Yesterday was the kids' first day with the new babysitter, Angela. It sounds like everything went great! Audrey took 2 naps and ate a ton at lunch (she made some mac & cheese, which Audrey loves!). I'd gotten Conner a few new little cars (one of which is a monster truck, so he was pretty excited) to take with him because Angela's only had girls and really doesn't have any "boy" toys. He actually ended up taking a nap on her couch - where was that all summer?! She said she laid the girls (there's another little girl named Georgia who's 2) down after lunch and told Conner she'd turn on a movie for him. Several minutes later he was sleeping! Angela said he slept for over an hour and a half (and he did a pretty good job of going to bed last night, too!). Conner told me she was "really nice" and he had a good day. Aud just said "uh huh" any time I asked her if she had fun.

Hopefully this will keep up! Conner starts school on Tuesday, so he'll only be there until right after lunch. Speaking of which, I haven't heard what time the bus will get there - I called the transportation department today and left a message. Hopefully they'll call back!

My first day of school

Well, I'm 6/7 of the way through my first day of school (almost - it's still 6th period... we're on a different schedule today, so I think I have 15 minutes left). So far, so good. The weather is cooperating a bit - I'm not actively sweating right now! That's probably a first for the first day of school! I saw on the news last night that last year's (record) temperature for yesterday was 101... yep, we were probably here!

Mom came down last night, so the kids are staying home with Weyla Kate today and tomorrow. It puts off their first day with the new sitter, Angela, and means that they'll only be there 2 or 3 days this week - probably a good thing to help them get used to a schedule. I'd gotten up and gotten ready this morning, and when I passed by Aud's room on my way downstairs, I saw her sitting up in her crib. I guess she's already on the school schedule! She was pretty excited to see me in her doorway. ("Hey!")

We didn't do too much this weekend. Saturday all four of us went out to do a little shopping - Old Navy was having a sale on their jeans ($12 for adult, $7 for kids) so we all got a few pairs. Eric and I also cut out the carpet right in front of the back door and laid some tile - it looks nice and will hopefully be nicer when it's rainy or snowy! It still needs grouted, but I was impressed that we got it all done Saturday afternoon/evening! Yesterday was spent cleaning out the garage, washing the van - the kids enjoyed running through the hose, and giving haircuts to the boys (then Aud climbed up in the chair like she wanted one, too!). Nothing too exciting.

This is from yesterday; they both enjoy giving hugs! Notice Sydney's nose in the left side of the picture - she must've thought somebody had food. On that note, we think Callie has learned how to get into our cereal cabinet (it's one of those corner cabinets that turns). Both Saturday and Sunday we got home to find a torn-up box of cereal on the floor. I'm positive I closed it! Eric thinks Callie's the only one smart enough (as opposed to Syd) to figure it out.

Our last day at Coney

We just got back from our last afternoon at Coney Island. Instead of going in the morning (like we usually do - it opens at 10), I let Audrey take a good morning nap before we went. She woke up in time for lunch, then we headed down to the pool after lunch.

It was so different being there today! I'm not sure if it's because of the later time (the morning people at Coney are somewhat fanatical about being there) or because a lot of the kids are back in school, but it was definitely a sparser crowd. We had a ton of room around us in the water for the kids to play. . . Conner was loving it! We spent some time at the "island" in the middle with Conner swimming back and forth, but what amazed me most was how comfortable Audrey was in the water! The summer started with her not even wanting to get in (and she wasn't walking, which didn't help) and today she kept sitting down next to me in the water. She also threw a ball, then would go get it (a few feet, anyway). I can't wait to see what she'll do next summer!

Conner fell asleep on the way home, and I knew he wouldn't stay asleep or want to go take a nap once we got here, so I just left him in the van. The doors are open and he can unbuckle himself (I didn't unbuckle him because I thought he might fall out)... hopefully he won't freak out too much when he wakes up!

Audrey

Here's Aud wearing the cutest pj's ever: For a few days, she was saying "lease" (please) when we prompted her to, but now she's just doing the sign for it. It's awfully cute, but I wish she was still saying it, too! (She's also saying "uh-huh" instead of nodding like she used to.)

She finally discovered the trampoline out back... now we've created a monster!

Our day at King's Island

Today was the day that Conner and I took our trip to King's Island. We got there around 11:00 after dropping Audrey off with Papa Doug and Weyla Marge. It didn't start out great - the Scooby Doo ride had a line outside the building (that had me worried!) but the bumper car line wasn't too bad. We then waited a little while for the Beastie (I can never remember the name of it now) but after that, the lines went down dramatically.

Conner and I both wore our bathing suits, so after the first 3 rides, I let him run through a water path (I have no idea what it's called [I just looked it up and it's called SpongeBob's Bikini Bottom Bash] - it's basically just a bunch of sprinklers that get the kids soaking wet) and we took a break for lunch. After a detour up the Eiffel Tower (only a third the height of the real one but still very tall!) we made our way to the train that runs over to Boomerang Bay, the water park.

It amazes me how much Conner loves the water - and he's doing such a good job of swimming! It's a shame that he won't have much opportunity to swim in the next 8 months, but I do plan on taking him to lessons that are held at the high school pool (I definitely need to check on dates for those!). We spent a couple of hours over at the water park - in the "little" pool, the big wavepool, at a kids play place, and on a water slide. Finally, we made our way back (via the train) to the dry part of the park, where we proceeded to get wet on the log ride, stopped for some blue ice cream, then finished up with some kiddie rides. We were both definitely ready to leave after our full day - and it turns out that it was after 4:00 when we made it to the car.

We had a great day together! And definitely a tiring one. Conner fell asleep on the way back to pick up Audrey (I actually left him in the van while I went inside to get her - I opened his door so he wouldn't get too hot!). It turns out that she'd taken a long morning nap, but had never fallen asleep in the afternoon. So both kids were wiped out when we got home. Aud went to bed a little before 7... she slept for a while but woke up crying and is currently playing with some toys as Eric and I watch the Olympic coverage for tonight. She seems to have calmed down, so I think it's time to try again!

So, tomorrow's our last day of summer vacation. I told Conner on the way today that I have to go back to school on Thursday. He was like, "Aw. I'll miss you!" It was sweet. I really can't complain about the timing - I know a lot of schools have already started, and I think we were supposed to already have started before they re-did our schedule near the end of the year.

So, anyway, it's after 9:00 right now. Both kids are awake (though both are now in their beds... except Conner's laying on the floor with some pillows) even though they're both super tired. I'm tired, have sore feet from walking around the pavement without shoes on at the water park, and have some sunburn showing up - I probably should've put sunblock on me while I put it on Conner! Oh well. There's only one more day of summer.

Only a few more days!

I'm to the point where I have a lot of things I still would like to do this summer and not much time to do them! Nothing spectacular - a trip to King's Island with Conner, a trip to the zoo with both kids, as many days at Coney Island as possible. . . and yet I have 6 weekdays left. I also need to go into school one day (just one morning, probably) and get stuff organized - I hate doing that during the short time they give us during our work (half) day!

We went to Coney this morning for a while - not too long, because the water was cold! Walking in, I saw that the Zoom Flume (a water slide) only has a height requirement of 36"... and Conner's about 41" now! I wish I'd seen that earlier this summer, but oh well. We met our friends Amber and Brendan and played in the water for a little bit, then Amber watched Aud for me while Conner and I tried out the slide. I went down first and waited for him at the bottom - he came down awfully serious, but said he had a great time!

Both kids slept for a while this afternoon (yay!), then after dinner I got Audrey in bed and took a trip to Walmart for some groceries. As I drove up the driveway on my way home, I noticed that the house looked dark, but it's also hard to see any lights on when we're in the family room. Dragging in all of my bags, the whole downstairs was dark, so I figured that Eric and Conner were down in the basement. A few minutes later, Eric called from upstairs saying goodnight; he said that Conner was in bed, too. Eric's got a long day of work tomorrow (probably 7 AM to 1 AM or so) so I know he was planning on going to bed early, but it was so weird to be home at 8:40 and have no one else in the house up! I've since heard Conner up there banging around in his room, but he hasn't called down yet, so that's good.

I was up until after 1:00 this morning watching the mens gymnastics at the Olympics, then was joined by a little boy around 6:00 who'd wet his bed, so I'm tired. I'm hoping to get to bed semi-early tonight, but I think the womens gymnastics team event is tonight, so it could be another late one! I don't know how long they last (isn't it normally about 2 weeks?), but if the Olympics overlap school very much I'm going to be in trouble!

And just because I hate a post without pictures. . . I took these yesterday morning as the kids were playing. I think Audrey is the goofiest little kid I've ever met (I don't remember Conner being so silly!).

Aud's first Reds game

The four of us met Doug & Marge for dinner last night, then we all headed down to the ball park - Great American Ball Park. It wasn't so much for the game, but they were doing fireworks afterwards. Eric had gone to a game a couple of weeks ago (when we were at the cottage) with Andy and said that he was pleasantly surprised by the fireworks. Seeing as how Conner ony remembers the not-so-great ones from the 4th of July, it seemed like a good opportunity to see some more.
We had a good time at the game. The weather was picture perfect - sunny but not hot, and it cooled down nicely when the sun went down. Attendance was sparse, so we had our pick of seats. We ended up in the first row of the upper deck along the 3rd base line (but down in the outfield). Conner spent some time playing on the steps with some cars I'd brought, and Audrey was able to make her way back and forth through all of the adults. She enjoyed climbing up on the rail and watching the game below. I have to admit that not too much baseball was seen by some of us. . .

The fireworks after the game were great, and pretty long, too. They were set to music that was pumped throughout the stadium; a nice crowd stayed to watch despite the outcome of the game (a 9 - 5 Reds loss in 10 innings). It was after 11:00 when we got to the car and after 12:00 by the time we got home - the kids were wiped out! I think the adults were, too.

I had book club this morning, then we met with the potential new babysitter at noon. I think she'll work out nicely as long as we agree on the money - we didn't have a chance to talk about it because another family showed up. I hate having to find a new babysitter, but I got a call from the New Richmond Transportation Department on Thursday and found out that Conner can't get the bus from Shannan's. The area that she lives in will attend morning preschool, but our area attends afternoon. Talk about putting a crimp in my plans! I was stressing on Thursday about it, but found an "ad" for this lady on a website called cincymoms. I e-mailed her, she called back, and we set up this time today to meet. She seems super nice, has a beautiful new house, and lives in the right part of the district (so Conner could even get the bus there next year when he goes to kindergarten). Hopefully this will work out!

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe it's August already! And while I'm ready for Conner to start school, I'm not ready to start! I have inservice on the 21st and 22nd, then the first real day of school is the 25th. New Richmond starts on the 18th - that is sooo early! I think we start a little later to hopefully avoid some of the heat; the district learned from giving us a "heat day" last year!

We've had a lazy couple of days. Eric's got some sort of bug and has been camped on one couch or another for the past 2 days. He's achy and feverish and hopefully will get over it soon!

I took Conner to Coney Island yesterday - we had a great time. We swam for a while in the pool, then rode some rides, then went back to the pool. He just about fell asleep in the Jeep on the way home (which is not an easy thing to do!). Today we just hung out here, but got the baby pool out and played in it for a bit (filled it in the morning and let it warm up until late afternoon - it was still cold!). We let him stay up late watching a movie last night, then he didn't take a nap this afternoon, so he was beat. It was one of those nights where he kept asking if it was bedtime yet... finally we said yes! I haven't heard him playing upstairs at all.

I've been trying to get a good picture of the two kids together - I haven't had one for months. I think I finally got one today. What do you think?
Conner got a postcard in the mail yesterday from his new preschool teacher - Ms. O. It was a picture of her along with a cute little message about not being able to wait until school starts. He was very excited, and put it up on the fridge with a magnet. There's an open house in a few weeks so we can meet her and see the room.

Audrey's "jumping" now:

Conner brought out the Tigger rocker a few weeks ago, and it's a big hit with the girl. I thought I'd posted this video when I took it, but I don't think I actually did! So this is from July 16th.. it's dark and hard to see faces, but you get the idea.

Audrey's been doing a lot of "dis" and "dat" the past couple of days ("this" and "that"). I guess the words are just going to come when she's ready!