Really, it's Labor Day Weekend already!?

Well I started to post this last week and you see how far I got. Anyway, we went camping Labor day weekend and here's the post...

I can not believe it's Labor Day weekend! Last weekend we went camping - probably our last trip of the summer. We spent the weekend with Rick, Mindy and the girls. On Monday, our friend Paul and his two boys came out for a few days. By Tuesday, I had had enough camping and came home (which was planned) and the boys stayed until Wednesday. It was very strange to be home by myself Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. There were a couple cute stories. Paul's oldest, Maximus is 5. Drew kept calling him Maxin. At one point he told me he didn't love me anymore, he liked the guys cuz Maxin (who he'd met once before) is his best friend.
We also got Drew some swimming wings so he could work on his floating. He did really well with them. Much better than the life jacket which is too confining for learning how to swim. He'd float to where his chin would be in the water, then kick a few times and jump back up. Pretty good I thought. Looking forward to next year where I hope we can get the swimming mastered.
We also went 'sploring on a one mile loop through the woods. Since Michigan has gotten blasted by the EAB there were hundreds of dead trees and plenty near the path. Paul introduced us to tree tipping and the boys had a blast. They would walk up to the dead trees and tip them away from the path to give the squirrels ramps and fun things to do and keep them from falling on the path. We were amazed at how many more trees were in such bad shape after just having done the same path in June. Massive piles of bark were on the path. Some of the trees were so bad you could touch them and they would disintegrate.
We also learned that camping during the week is the way to go. Every weekend we've been at Sugarloaf it is packed. They may have one site open. But come Sunday when we stayed and everyone left, it felt like a ghost town. Drew also went to Haley's for the night so Mike & I were alone camping and felt very strange to be sitting in a large area with no one around and no munchkins asking when we can go exploring, swimming, to the park, for a bike ride etc. We had a nice relaxing evening but it was strange.

It's mooky mom, I was about to cry!

There are a few words Drew has problems with. Waps = wasp, girections = directions and mooky= spooky. So the other day we are playing Lego Star Wars and there's some dramatic music playing as you battle the dark side. Drew started growing concerned and asked - what is that, mom? several times. I finally realized he was talking about the music and I brushed it off as no big deal. He says, OHHH! I thought it was mooky and I was about to cry! I'm a silly goose!
When we were out at the lake he saw the shadows from the floats in the water and thought those were mooky too. oy vey!

Na na na na hey hey hey

I'm not exactly sure where he learned it, but he says it was at school...Drew's latest song...na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye! over and over and over. Well except I'm pretty sure he's leaving out one of the hey's but you get the idea. He's been doing it for the last week or so but this morning had to be the funniest. Drew & Mike were in the shower singing away but Mike was substituting Hello for Goodbye and Drew kept correcting him. Finally Mike said it right and Drew said loudly, That's it! Now you've got it! I knew you could do it dad!! I burst out laughing in the kitchen but I don't think they heard me since they were still singing in the shower.
So to wrap up the songs Drew likes to sing with dad in the shower....
Singin' in the shower...la ti da ti da....
Come on in, baby take your clothes off
The na na na na song - I have no clue what the title really is!

Happy Wednesday Ya'll!

Peewee soccer here we come...

Yesterday I actually remembered to look through the Ann Arbor Rec & Ed guide to see what they offer for Preschoolers. It was pretty limited - Art, Dance & Soccer. I was hoping for some kind of fall ball (baseball that is) but it wasn't offered. So when I got home last night I asked Drew if he knew what soccer was. His answer - no, with a perplexed face. So I told him he has a soccer ball and little yellow net and that is soccer. A light bulb seemed to turn on. Then I asked him if he'd like to play soccer and sign up for a class. YAY! Yes, I want to play. Can we go right now? Then the hard part...explaining to a 3 1/2 yr old (official age yesterday) that I had to sign him up on the computer but it doesn't start for another month. He insisted I sign him up last night even though registration wasn't opened. He also insisted we leave to go play. After much conversation, he finally agreed to "let" me wait to sign him up today and wait a month to play. First thing this morning he asks again, can we go to soccer? At least I know I made the right decision to ask. $69 for 5 weeks of class and the scary thing is I'm sure this is the cheapest of what's to come in sports for my little man who is always full of energy! Can't wait to take some pics at the first class.

Weekend updates

I don't have a clue where the weekend went, well I guess I do but it sure did go quickly. On Friday we had a picnic at the park with the families from daycare. It was a really nice evening. The kids played and we took a walk through the woods to a bog - pictures to follow sometime in the next few weeks. Saturday we did some shopping and had our first bowling meeting. I'm not quite ready for bowling to start but I guess it's not going to wait for me. On Sunday we finally finished Drew's new bedroom. Painting is done and border is up, now we just need to put in the furniture. I had planned to do it last night but we were just plain tuckered out. I'm guessing we probably won't move him until Labor Day weekend. We are camping next weekend so this week will be filled with all the preps of 5 days of camping. I'm tired just thinking about it. He's really excited about it. It's a sports theme of course. We bought some removable stickers for the walls too. Drew had a blast putting them up. The whole time he kept saying, this is looking really good mom. I'll post some of those pics too, of course assuming I remember to take them.
Happy Monday, ya'll.

Oh are we testing these days...

So my cute little man has been testing quite a bit these days. We went for a walk on Sunday and Drew & Mike found walking sticks which made it back to the house. Now when Drew goes outside he picks up the stick to use it like a light saber or see what he can touch with it. Of course we told him not to do it by the car, which was met with resistance. And of course, next thing you know he accidentally hits the car with it and looks up with huge eyes and remorse and a blurt, Sorry, Mom, it was an accident! And of course, I say with great exasperation - that's why we told you not to hold the stick to close to the car!
Also, Ryan has also been here for almost two weeks, so Drew's been getting an ear full of teenspeak and it's starting to show. Also testing and irritating us to no end! 'nuff said.
The best/worst one this week (so far) was last night. I'm trying to get pj's on and it's been talked about for a good 3 minutes at this point. Yep, I'm tired and frustrated and just wishing that pj's didn't have to be a production and maybe just once he would do what I asked at nightime and put on the stinkin' pjs without help, which I KNOW he's more than capable of doing. (I know he's done it at least a handful of times in the past year :) ) And yes, I can hear you now - why don't you make him do it? My reason, I was tired and didn't feel like a struggle. bad parent 101 = real parent 101. Not a perfect person and not trying to be. I digress - back to the story. So- we're to the pull-up and Drew says, now all we have left is the frickin' diaper mom! What??!?? All we have is this frickin' diaper! No, Drew you don't say frickin'. (even tho mom says frickin' a lot). What mom, frickin' diaper? Yes, don't say that. Why can't I say frickin' diaper? Because I said...but mom it's just a fric...DREW! If you say that one more time, I WILL NOT TURN ON CALLIOU! Do you understand me? OK mom, I won't say fr...um, that word.

Finally uploaded lake pics

Well I finally uploaded the lake pics. You can view them through the Picasa web link on the right. And we finally got the wireless working at home too. All it took was 40 minutes of websurfing, 1 attempt by me to call AT&T - which was a ridiculous maze of voice commands - and 1 quick call by Mike using the same voice commands Yep, Mike fixed our wireless problem, hard to believe! Also, speaking of technology - if anyone is looking to switch to AT&T Uverse and you have a problem with the tv freezing up, call for a tech to come back out. Both ours and our neighbors house were wired backward at the box and causing problems. My brother also had freezing problems with his cable and switched back to Comcast, but I bet anything he had the same problem with the wiring. Now that it's switched, we've had great pics and no problems.

Mom, Jilli can whistle!

Last week, after mastering the art of snapping, I must have been whistling because out of nowhere he tells me Jillian from school can whistle. Wow, that's cool. But mom, I can't whistle yet. I tell him he'll get it one of these days, maybe when he's older. So he's been practicing, and practicing but it sounds pretty much like blowing. Then finally last night we hear what sounds to be a little whistling between the blowing. Of course he was so excited he had to do it again and again. It's only a matter of time now before he gets the whistling and snapping combo!

Olympic Style

We were watching the Olympics a few nights ago and it was Women's Gymnastics. We were all in awe of the jumps and stunts and a few times a gasp with the girls coming so close to the white line. I think that helped Drew get even more in to it because next thing you know he jumps down on the floor and starts a somersault. He stops and thinks for a minute, we could see he was thinking, no, that's not a big enough trick, I need to do something bigger. Then he starts jumping around, swirling, kicking out his legs, throwing out his arms, it was hilarious! I really wished we had the camcorder out but it was almost 9pm and I didn't want it to draw out bedtime any more than it already had. He was very proud of his tricks and talents.

I'm sorry mom

It's just amazing how talking can make such a difference. I realize that quite a bit when Mike & Drew get frustrated with each other, esp. playing a game, but neither knows what the others strategy is and end up working against each other. That seems to have gotten better lately. Anyway, last night I was trying to get Drew's pj's on and he's jumping all over the bed, running in to me, hanging on my shirt trying to jump in to his shorts and I kept saying Drew, Drew blah blah whatever. Then I said, dude I'm really getting frustrated and upset because you are not listening to me and I'm tired of this. Literally mid jump he stops, looks at me and says, Sorry, Mom! And WALKS up to me and gives me a big hug. ahhhh! Just when I think I'm talking to myself the best little boy comes out and shows me otherwise. I have to say this has been the best week of the third year yet! Somebody find some wood to knock on for me, 'k?

What a weekend!

What a great weekend we had! We took work off Friday to go out to our friend Aaron's parents lake house for the weekend. The weather was perfect, sunny, 80s and a nice breeze. I've attempted to post this 4 times but keep getting interrupted. So I'll make it brief and and in the cute things when I can actually think of them.

1. Drew went tubing for the first time. The first time was with Aaron's 11 yr old cousin Rachel. The second time was with our friends 6 yr old daughter Katelyn. See a trend...yep, older girls!
2. Went on two speed boat trips.
3. Went on two pontoon boat trips.
4. Took a ride with dad around the lake on the Sea Doo. (Drew called it a Wee Doo).
5. Had a blast on a new float we bought that holds 4 adults with a mesh bottom so the kids can be in the water without sitting in muck and rocks. That was the big hit of the weekend with the kids. They all loved to jump around from seat to seat. Pics will (hopefully) be posted later this week.

It was one of the best weekends we've had in a long time. Lots of kids in and out at the lake kept Drew occupied and self sufficient. He loved the water and all the action. Hardly needed us other than making him eat and sleep. Didn't nap for all three days and went to sleep within minutes of putting his head on the pillow. He was so tired he fell asleep in the car within 5 minutes of leaving the lake. It was a good weekend!