July 4th Week

What a busy holiday week this has been. Everything has been a little off-schedule and topsy turvy, but it's been a lot of fun. We went the Blossom Music center on Tuesday night to enjoy some patriotic music from the Cleveland orchestra and fireworks after the concert. It's an outdoor affair with thousands of people picnicking together while listening to the music. We went with Nathan's parents, Josh and, of course, Libby and Caleb. Both kids behaved surprisingly well, since the whole thing started just around bed time for them. Libby enjoyed using Papa's binoculars to see the orchestra, clapping along to the music, and playing musical laps with all of us, while Caleb preferred to crawl around, eat macaroni salad and yell whenever he felt lead. Caleb finally fell asleep in his stroller around 9 PM with his little ears corked with foam ear plugs to help drown out the racket that was to follow. Libby LOVED the fireworks. She enjoyed the brilliant colors and the earth shaking explosions so much that she hasn't stopped talking about them since. She keeps telling us that she wants to go for a ride and see the "fiderwooks" again. Caleb miraculously slept the entire time. We saw his little feet twitch a few times under the blanket that covered his stroller during the grand finale, but other than that, there were no complaints from him. He did stay awake for the ride home, though. We live maybe a 15 minute drive from Blossom in normal traffic, but it took almost an hour and a half to get home just after midnight. What a traffic snarl! About 5 minutes into the ride home, Libby announced that she needed to go potty. She managed to hold it all the way home! What a big girl! On a side note, she is managing to stay dry for almost all of her naps and for most of her nights, as well. We are very proud of her!
Josh came home with us Tuesday night and spent the day with us on Wednesday. He and Nathan played Xbox games almost all day. Then Thursday, it was back to work. Nathan worked all day while I did a little tiny bit of cleaning and worked on a few projects. Then when he got home, I went to my house cleaning job. I had a lot of work to do at her house, so I didn't make it home until 11 PM that night. Friday was a long day at work for both of us. We had a quick dinner and then went to bed to get ready for Saturday. I worked on Saturday morning while Nathan cleaned up and packed to go to his parents' home for the afternoon. As soon as I arrived home, we jumped in the car and headed down to Canton.
When we arrived in Canton, on Saturday afternoon, Mom, Dad, Zack, Josh, Dan, Joy, and Samuel were all in the pool. We put on our swim suits and joined them in the pool. Caleb enjoyed his first dip ever. He squawked at first, but then seemed to get a kick out of it. We got a few pictures of him sharing the float with his cousin Samuel. Libby swam around until we made her get out for her nap and then went in again later in the evening. On Sunday, we drove down again and enjoyed another relaxing day with everyone by the pool. It was swelteringly hot, and the pool was so refreshing - even with the water at 88 degrees!
We had a great weekend (Click here for pictures), but we are looking forward to settling back into somewhat of a routine. This Friday (July 13th) will be our 5th wedding anniversary! We are planning to enjoy a nice quiet weekend at home with Caleb and Libby to celebrate with us. Maybe we'll even splurge and go out to Wendy's to commemorate our first meal together after we got engaged.

Settling Into Summer

Lately, we've been getting into a pretty good routine around here. Nathan goes to work, and I clean the house while the kids mess it up again behind me. Occasionally, I get Libby to do something constructive and actually help me with the work. I took some pictures of her helping me the other day. She ran the vacuum, mopped the kitchen floor, dusted and washed dishes. What a big helper! Click here for more pictures of Libby helping.

Caleb is crawling farther and faster every day. He had his first mishap with the stairs the other day. He decided to try to give Grandma a heart attack while she was watching him and while I was at work. He went into silent mode as he sneaked behind her into the kitchen and then went bumpety-bump down the first three stairs to the basement landing. He came out relatively unscathed - only a small bruise on the bridge of his nose. He has learned nothing from his experience, apparently, as he tried to do it again the very next day. This time we just caught him trying to dive off the edge of the bed and, having been foiled in this attempt at self destruction, he barreled full steam ahead toward the hall stairs where we had to head him off again. Sometimes, as I watch these children constantly injuring themselves, I am amazed that the human race survives childhood at all and continues to thrive. Survival of the fittest, eh? I think not.

We are down to the final two kittens from the group of 11 that we took in a month ago. These two should be gone soon. They are the smallest of the litter and need another week or so to grow before they are adopted. Libby has developed a particular affinity for little Scrat (named after the ill-fated squirrel on Ice Age) and drags him all over the house with her. I caught her putting him to bed in her bed the other day. She was covering him with blankets while she was admonishing him to stay in bed and to not go "pee-pee" in the bed. Poor little Scrat.

This past weekend has been a fun one. We went down to Grandma and Papa's house on Saturday. When we arrived, Papa was mowing and Grandma was at a bridal shower. We played with the kids inside for a while and then put on our swim suits and headed for the pool. Caleb had to take a nap and missed out on the swimming again. Libby hasn't been swimming in almost a month, but she did really well! She took turns wearing a life jacket, arm floaties, and a special Nemo floatation suit that Papa bought her. She had a great time paddling, kicking and splashing. She even went under a few times and loved it. What a little fish!

Josh came up Saturday evening and spent the night. He went to church with us on Sunday morning as well. On the way home from church, Caleb fell soundly asleep and didn't wake up when I got him out of his car seat. He's never been this sleepy before. We took a picture of him zonked on my shoulder. We also got a few shots of Libby tossing her Bun-bun up on the mantle and modeling her pretty blue dress with a dress for Bun-bun to match hers.

Finally, we trekked upstairs with both little rascals in tow and got them ready for bed. I read Libby her bedtime stories in Caleb's room for a change, and they played together for a few minutes before we separated them and put them to bed. Caleb promptly loaded his clean diaper and warranted another change. Some things never change, or rather, never change themselves. :)

Click here for more pictures of Caleb and Libby from the past week.