Labor Day Weekend

It was a nice quiet Labor Day weekend here.  My parents came Friday so Dean and I got to go to see a movie and get some dinner.  Patrick mangaed to pick up Ryan's runny nose, so he was a bit under the weather for a day - but he bounced back quickly.


Hopefully Gizmo won't catch the cold next, since her and Patrick are swapping spit.

 

 I love how Patrick sucks his thumb (always the left one) and holds it with his right hand.  There are even times he'll caress his own hand.  The boys were watching their new favorite show, Imagination Movers.

Lately when we've been going on walks, Ryan will run through people's sprinklers.  This seemed odd to me since he never cared much for the spraypark.  So we finally pulled out our sprinkler this weekend and he loved it.  Makes me wish we'd done this weeks ago.  Paddy Daulton on the other hand, preferred to be held, or to stand further away from it.

Patrick is more at home playing with his birthday present - the sand table.

Back to School

The first day of school has come again!  Ryan seemed ready to go this morning, until the bus pulled up, then he was a little unsure.  I'm willing to bet he'll fall right back into his old routine by the time they pull out of the subdivision though! 

 And here comes Miss Kay to take him away!

Patrick's Perspective

Top 'o the mornin' to ya!  For those of you who don't recognize this voice, it's me, Patrick.  My close ones call me Paddy Daulton - thus I've adopted an Irish dilect.  Me mums been busy this summer now that me brudda is finished with the summer school and hasn't had a moment to post.  But thanks to me Lucky Charms, I get a chance.


Me brudda, Ryan, ore long await had some success on the loo.  So we got to go to the pool to celebrate.

You also missed me birthday.  Yep, I am now one year wise.  I didn't wake up in the best mood, but some silly play time with me Meemee put me in better spirits.

I got to see plenty o me friends and family the week we were in Dixon.  I got me a nice wagon/scooter for gettin' around.  Silly mum puttin' a bow on me head.

Ahh the cake.  I don't yet know if I care for the taste, but it sure was fun to squish in me fingers.

Mum and I did swim lessons earlier this summer.  A mum of another lil' girl in the class was to send the pictures she took to me mum, but never did.  So sadly, no pictures of Paddy Daulton at swimming.  Here's Ryan wit his helper, Elizabeth.  Ryan could be a stubborn lad, but Elizabeth found out she could get him to do more if he was allowed to do "blast offs" as a reward.

A high five success after blowin' bubbles in the water.

The last bit o fun we had was going to hear a concert at Ravinia.  It was a family favorite, Laurie Berkner.  There were thousands o kiddies there.  A bit too loud for me brudda, so he wore his earphones.

Me dad is a funny man.

Me mum and me sound sensitive brudda.

A lil kiss for me dad, it's like kissin' the Blarney Stone - nice and smooth!

Playtime

It's been busy platime here this summer.  We had a few days where it was too hot to get outside, so we pulled out every toy in the house (at least it seemed that way)! 

 Patrick is probably a few weeks away from walking, but here he's attempting a few steps with the walking toy.

Ryan finishes summer school this week.  Here he is posing wearing a visor he decorated at school.

 To be a Bears Fan or a Packers Fan, we'll let the kids make those decisions on their own.  However, it is not up for debate, they will be Cubs Fans!!!

Dare I say we might be able to retire the John Deere tractor?  Ryan has taken an interest in pushing Patrick in the stroller and for the most part he does a wonderful job - as long as we avoid hills!

Adjust your volume, you may go deaf but here's a 30 second video of me trying to get Patrick to imitate my sneeze. He does first in the beginning and once in the end.

Our next update with be via Patrick's Perspective - afterall, he'll be the big 0-1!!!!

Santa's Village and Ryan's Last Day

We had a fabulous weekend!  The weather allowed us to be outside quite a bit and boy were we ready - especially after the storms on Friday that kept us indoors.  Ryan attended a friend's 4th birthday party on Saturday, complete with petting zoo (that he really enjoyed).  Sunday we decided to cash in a Groupon I had bought for Santa's Village.  I'd never been there and was pleasantly surprised.  It was perfect for Ryan's age group.  Even Patrick was able to enjoy some of the rides.

And we started this week with Ryan's last day of school (until June 11th when summer school starts).  He's wearing the jacket on his first day and the green shirt on his last. 

Little Stoeber boys like . . .

Had some cute pictures to share.  Who am I kidding, I think all the pictures are cute. 


The slide

Patrick's first time down the slide at the park.  It may be a little while longer before he can go down on his own, but for now he doesn't mind a helping hand.


Reading

Ryan has always loved books and now baby brother is following in those footsteps.  I must admit, my heart sings a little bit each time I see either one of them engaged in a book.



The Play Table

Our friend, Joanne, got us this toy when Ryan was littler.  Patrick is now starting to pull up to a stand and is ready for it now.  Unfortunately the hard part is pulling Ryan away from it to allow Patrick playtime (it has lights and music)!


Making this face.

This isn't one of those "snap the camera and see what I got" shots.  Patrick makes this face often during mealtimes.  I'll take this face anyday over the other one he makes at mealtimes, the "raspberry blowing" aka the "I'm showering mommy with the food she just fed me" face.



Journal Time

Ryan's class would write in their journal each day at school.  He has taken to calling the Magna Doodle his journal.  While he usually draws lines or numbers on it, on this day he came to me and told me he drew Ryan.  So I had to take a picture of his first self portrait.  I'm glad to see he didn't give himself the "Lendman nose" but did draw a bit of a smile.

Daytona Vacation 2012

 Our 2012 Daytona vacation has come and gone.  The blog software has changed and I'm not up to speed on it yet, so this time around, you'll be getting abbreviated captions.  Above is one of several attempts at a family photo.  But in addtion to the difficult task of having 2 little ones look and smile at the camera, we were battling the sun in our eyes.  Trust me, I'm not complaining, there were plenty of cloudy days, so I'm fortunate for the sunny ones we had.

 Meemee and "Super Stoeber"

 We found a cute little park by where my mom and dad's friends live.  They didn't have a set of big swings, so Ryan and Patrick were both in the baby ones.

 Patrick and Dean having a nice conversation over dinner.

 Ryan and Dean playing Memory on the tablet.

 Ryan giving the "thumbs up" to the beach.

 Meemee and Papa Bernie were nice enough to watch the boys one day while Dean and I went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and again one night for us to have an early Anniversary dinner.  Here are the boys cuddling in their pjs during one of those times away.

I wish this picture didn't turn out blurry.  Both boys were in baby blue shirts and their eyes and smiles just popped. 
It was a nice, but short vacation.  The boys did awesome on both plane rides and we all slept fairly well in one room together.  Thanks Meemee and Papa Bernie for a nice vacation - hope you're enjoying yourselves on the extended version!