Indy 500

This past weekend we had a get away to Indianapolis for the Indy 500.  I was really excited about going to the race.  Part of the package included tickets to Carb Day, which is held on the Friday before the race.  I can't really go into the details of Carb Day (we will tell you when you are older kids!), but it was one big party.  Poison was the afternoon concert, but we found the people watching to be much more entertaining!  We were able to walk all around the in-field, by the garages and pit row.  Words can't describe the size of this sporting complex - it is enormous.

We had the entire day on Saturday to do whatever we wanted.  We headed downtown and watched some of the parade.  It didn't really feel right not having the kids at a parade with us, especially since they would have loved it.  We stopped at the Chocolate Cafe and got some wonderful treats.  We did a little shopping and then decided to take in a movie and then eat some more!  I kind of feel like we ate our way through the entire weekend!  We enjoyed another night in the hot tub and played some cards.

Sunday was race day.  We had seen the last few laps of a 100 mile race on Carb Day and it was awesome.  They ended up finishing 4 cars wide and the winner won by a hair!  It was pretty exciting.  You really can't describe the speed or sound of an Indy car, you just have to experience it.  I even took my headphones off for a few laps just to really appreciate the noise.  On Friday the  stands were fairy empty and you could feel the noise vibrate off the metal bleachers.  On Sunday, with a full race crowd you felt the noise in your body.  The track is 2.5 miles around and it is just huge.  My friend's first comment was "Whoa, I didn't realize we wouldn't be able to see the other end!"  My comment was, "I have never been to a sporting event where you could park for free and bring your own cooler in!"  Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) has 250,000 permanent seats, but then there is all of the grassy in-field (Snake Pit), the driver's crews, the support staff/workers, medical, etc... there were a lot of people, yet it was all very organized.  Jim Nabors was there to sing "Back Home in Indiana" however, Florence Hendeson who was scheduled to sing "God Bless America" was a no show.  We aren't sure what happened to her.  They had a fly over during the national anthem which was really cool and they did a really nice job honoring all of the armed forces.

Protecting the ears!

The  green glag dropped at noon and we put our earplugs/head phones on and we were off to the races...for real this time!  Two records were broke.  One, a new average fastest speed and secondly, the number of lead changes....72!! There was quite a bit of action.  We were in the North Vista, which was right in the middle of turn 3 and 4.  The majority of the passing was happening around turn 1, but thanks to the video boards we didn't miss the action.  There were only 4 crashes, unfortunately the last one happened with 3 laps to go and the race finished under yellow.  Which was kind of a disappointment because it was setting up to be an awesome finish.  In the end Tony Kanan took home the milk.  It was his time, as he had finished in the top 5 several times but had never won.  The crowd seemed pleased :)  We trekked back to the car and navigated through traffic quite well.  The boys decided our trip would not be complete without a stop to the Beef House.  I am sorry to say, I had the salad bar...I felt like I had been on full feed and could not possibly look at a hunk of beef.  It was a really fun weekend and we lucked out on the weather.  Carb Day was a gorgeous spring day.  Saturday was a little cool, but dry until the evening.  There was a chance of rain on race day, but it held off until about an hour after the race ended.  It was cool.  We all wore coats the entire race, except for the last ten laps when the sun shone and we all shucked a layer.  However, we all agreed we would take a 60 degree day over 90+ in the sun.  Kids, I promise we will take you to the Indy 500 someday, it is a must see, but you have to be older!

Last Day of Pre-School

Wow - you don't think your kids can change that much in 9 months of school, but here is the proof!  Our little girl is growing up!  I think she grew two inches too!

Last week Elizabeth finished her first year of pre-school.  The plan was to have the last day in the park, but mother nature had other plans - rain of course!  The teachers did a great job of setting up games in the recreational room and the kids had a great time.  Grant even got to participate in the fun.  Miss Laura was her teacher this year.  Unfortunately, Miss Laura had a family emergency the last week of school and was unable to finish the year with us.  Miss Laura was wonderful and I regret that I never got a picture of her and Elizabeth together.   I am starting the "Oh the Places You Will Go" book for the kids and will ask their teachers to write on a different page each year of their schooling.  I am still hopeful that Miss Laura will be able to do this for me!  We will also be heading to ChuckEcheese's in the near future to celebrate that Elizabeth had all "green lights" for the year.  Each day the teacher sends home a report with a stop light and Elizabeth had greens all year for good behavior.

Elizabeth had a great year and is off to a wonderful academic and social start!  It is hard to believe that I was the one crying last September when I dropped her off.  She was ready to go and it was time, but still so hard for me to think about.  Mainly, because I start thinking about what comes after these precious pre-school years...real school!  My friend who has kids in similar age to mine said it perfect "if we could just freeze time right now. " No more diapers, naps are becoming more optional, they are becoming more independent and in turn we get to have so much fun with them right now because we have to time to dedicate to just fun.  We can travel during the week and not worry about them missing school and in so many ways (minus the meltdowns) it just seems like such a pefect age...for all of us!  But as I am always reminded, it is a good thing that they are growing up, it means they are healthy and it is what is supposed to happen.  Here are a few pictures from the festivities of the last day.

Veil, Ashlyn, Elizabeth & Julianna

Elizabeth with Miss Holly

On the obstacle course

You Don't Win Them All

I was distracted when I wrote my Mother's Day post and failed to give a shout out to my own mother, who I deeply admire.  However, today I was reminded of just how much I love her.  She always tells me what I need to hear and today I needed her.

A picture is worth a thousand words right?  Well this picture actually isn't even from today, but perfectly depicts the phase Grant is in.  This is the classic Grant Pout.  He crosses his arm and puckers his lips out.  Sometimes failing on the ground or crying is also involved, but when confined to the carseat we just get a lovely "no."  On this particular day I had an early meeting for Grant's speech stuff. As a treat to the kids I took them to McDonalds for breakfast before Elizabeth's school started.  He had just finished his burrito and we had time to play.  Elizabeth crawls all over the playland.  Grant has only made it to the top once and I had to retrieve him that time, so I don't ever really encourage him.  Today I looked up and he was proudly at the top.  I truly believe he is trying so hard to keep up with his big sister.  He was smiling and the two of them crawled around for awhile.  Elizabeth would descend but Grant stayed up.  It was approaching departure and I told them it was time to come down.  Elizabeth promptly comes down and I look up and there sits Grant.  "Help me."  I stayed cool, calm and collected for the next ten minutes as I tried to coax him down.  Elizabeth tried to get him down.  At one point I even told her just to pull on him, but he had a death grip on the edge and wouldn't move.  Of course there is a lot of crying throughout all of this.  I am starting to loose my cool.  Elizabeth is going to be late for school and he will not listen to any sort of reasoning.  Let me share with you what I am wearing...you guessed it, a skirt.  It's going to be 90 degrees today and I was dressed for the heat.  An older gentleman had brought his granddaughter for breakfast and is witnessing all of this.  I know there is no way I can crawl up to the top without giving grandpa quite the show, but after 15 minutes (ok, maybe it wasn't that long, but it felt that long!) I gave up and started my climb as ladylike as possible.  I think Grant was quite surprised to see me at the top.  It didn't take long for us to get down and I carried him out with no shoes on and any mother could have read the look on my face.  I informed him when we got to the car that I hoped he enjoyed his playland experience because it would be his last one for a VERY, VERY, VERY long time.  In my family we refer to this as David's ShowBiz Experience (like ChuckECheese), where he refused to get out of the ball pit and Dad swore he would never take us back and we really never went back.  Of course Elizabeth found this news unsettling, but as an older sister who received a similar punishment from her brother not behaving, I survived and she will too.

Next on the agenda was to get Elizabeth to school and Grant ready for swim lessons.  We successfully got EB dropped off and then Grant was ready for battle again.  We came home and he had gone to the bathroom so he came out with only his undies on. I gave him the choice of putting his shorts back on or we could go ahead and change into his trunks, his response "nothing."  Ok, perfect.  It is important to give strong willed children choices, I gave him a choice, why won't he make a good choice!!! I give us both a few moments to cool off and try again, "shorts or trunks?"  Again, "nothing!"  Pops is on his way to pick him up for swimming so I wrestle him to the ground to get his shorts on.  Fun times here.  Again more crying.  Thankfully a big red truck drove by that I was able to distract him with and he stopped crying.  Pops pulls in and I say "Good Luck!"  We hadn't had a successful swim lesson yet and by successful I mean without tears.  Apparently, he got them all out this morning because he called me after lessons and he made it through without any tears and even went under water twice.  YES!! I will take this one and put it in the win column.  Yay for Grant and yay for Kenny Pops!

How does my mother play into all of this you are wondering?  I whined to her about this less than perfect morning and she listened and she listened some more.  She empathized and sympathized with me and then she told me exactly what I needed to hear.  "Alison, be grateful your son can climb to the top of the playland.  You don't have to take him back for a long time, but you have good kids and you are a good mom and it will get better. It is a phase and this too shall pass." Oh the wisdom of a mother. When you are in the trenches you can't always see your way out, but leave it to mom to help you see the light.  Thanks Mom!

Mother's Day

I truly feel like the luckiest mom in the world and I had a wonderful Mother's Day!  Even though I rolled my eyes the previous day at lunch because we were seated a huge corner booth and both children insisted on sitting right on top of me - I wouldn't trade those moments for anything!  I must give my husband a big shout out, because of all of his hard work I am able to do what I love everyday, which is be a full-time mom.  Some days are easier than others, but when we have good days we have awesome days and those far outweigh the bad.  

This particular Sunday started with Grant waking up at 6:15.  Brandon promptly escorted him downstairs and Elizabeth wasn't far behind.  I lounged around in bed until 7:30 (late by my mommy standards!) and then was greeted with gifts.  Daddy had taken them shopping one night when I was gone.  The kids had picked out new pajamas for me.  Elizabeth found monkey printed pj pants that match her nightgown (what are the chances?!).  My mom had secretly been working on a few little crafty projects with the kids too.  We headed to church, where the Sunday School kids did a little program for the mothers.  Grant is not actually in Sunday School, but he had gone with me a few weeks ago and enjoyed the music portion so much that the other teachers told me it was ok if he wanted to participate in the program as well.  He was thrilled and did a pretty job keeping up with the movements.  I positioned him to stand right next to Elizabeth, so he would feel more comfortable.  In one of the songs they hug the kids standing next to them and they hugged each other every time (precious!).  We stayed for church and Grant said the funniest thing.  We were getting ready to go up for communion and he asked if he could have "chips" (referring to the bread).  I told him no, he had to wait until he was older and then he asked if could have the "juice!"  Apparently to a two year old, communion is just snacks for adults!  I love it that he is talking so much now and we are getting the funny, quirky verbal Grant!  Short side bar....he had his speech evaluation for the school district and he DIDN'T qualify.  Woohoo!  The therapist thought he had made enough progress and would continue to do so over the summer so we are going tomorrow to sign discharge papers.  He will continue with Early Intervention through his birthday, but then be done.  If I feel he needs to be re-screened we can do that in the fall.  I always thought he would have a "light bulb" moment with his speech, but it has been more like a dimmer switch, but we are getting brighter! Way to go Grant!

We had a lazy afternoon and then headed over to my parent's to celebrate.  The boys made us an awesome seafood dinner and mom had made a rhubarb cobbler with fresh rhubarb she had brought home from my grandma's.  (It was delicious Grandma! Wish we could have shared it with you!)

We finished with a walk/Powerwheels Jeep ride and that was our Sunday.  I went to bed feeling very blessed indeed.  Now, if I could just slow things down a bit so I could savor it even more!  Elizabeth and Grant: thank you for being YOU everyday, I am so proud to be your mother!

First Tee-Ball Game

It's a lot of fun to take pictures through the fence!

Today was Elizabeth's first T-ball game.  Their shirts say "Tee-Ball" (not really sure which is correct).  It was a perfect Sunday afternoon for a game.  Team 7, is now known as the blue team!  Everyone bats each inning.  They play 3 innings or 45 minutes, whichever comes first.  We got in 2 innings today.  Elizabeth had fun.  No dandelion picking yet, but they were all in the infield!  

The line-up was passed out

I promise she was wearing shorts under that shirt!

Love this picture!  Daddy was asking her if she knew where to go next...she correctly pointed to 3rd!

She held this pose the entire time playing defense.   The last hit of the game a ball finally rolled her way!

Always a smile for the camera!

Swing batter batter, swing!

A "low-five" for the coach!

Grant ate snacks and really wanted to take a nap

Spring

We are so desperate for dry warm weather!  In the meantime here is a little bit of what we have done to occupy our time.  Since we have had lots of rain (record amounts) the kids have really enjoyed examining all of the worms!

Since the kids have rain boots, why not let them play in the puddles.  Or in this case, the pond that formed in our backyard after the non-stop rain!

Brandon and I attended the St.Jude Gala and enjoyed an adults night out and came home with tickets to the Indy 500!

Grant continues to do swim lessons, although this week's lesson did not go well.  I am not sure what is going on with our little man, but we are going through a rough patch.  He gets very upset about very small things (well small things to us, probably not to him!) and it takes him a long time to calm down.  Long story short, he watched this week's swim lesson from the side lines.  Hopefully next week will be better.

The kids started soccer this week.  I had the start time wrong (we were a few minutes late - oooppps!), but it was freezing cold, so it was ok that we were outside for a little less time!  They play at the same time, but are divided into groups by age.  This week I hung with Grant and he did great.  No meltdowns and he wasn't super clingy.  He looked up at me many times looking for a high-five or a thumbs up (which I was very happy to give!).  Brandon watched Elizabeth and she had a lot of fun too.   They both have friends in their group so that added to the fun.  Fingers crossed for warmer weather next week!

Elizabeth has her first T-ball practice this weekend.  Brandon is going to take her.  I can't wait to hear how that goes!

A few funny things the kids have said this week...

Elizabeth: "Mommy, why do we celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas?"
Me: "Because that is when he was born, the same reason we celebrate your birthday in August, that is when you were born"
Elizabeth: "So the Easter Bunny's birthday is on Easter?"
Me: "I have no idea when the Easter Bunny's birthday is.  We celebrate Easter because Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, remember that from Sunday School?"
Elizabeth: "oh, ok"

Me: "Grant your room smells" (and not a good smell, it really stunk!)
Grant: "Hot Dog tooted"
Hot Dog is his stuffed dog! I love that he is starting to verbalize so much more...I think we might have a funny one on our hands!

The Circus!

Mimi invited us to go to the circus that was in town this week.  We really weren't sure what to expect.  She joked that this might be like the balloon festival (see http://2littlechiefs.blogspot.com/2011/07/balloons-in-park.html)  I promised we would tell everyone it was wonderful no matter what!  Luckily, I didn't have to fib, it was good.  The kids were really into it.  At one point Robin asked me if Grant was OK because his mouth was hanging open.  "Yep, he is fine, he is just trying to figure out how he can do this trick at home!"  It was a Chinese man balancing vases on his head.  I kid you not, last night he comes downstairs balancing a box lid on his head!  The only con of the experience was the weather.  We have had a couple of beautiful spring days, but spring being, well spring, those days didn't last.  We have entered back into a cold snap and we were COLD at the circus.  Elizabeth commented at dinner, "I didn't want to say I was cold because I didn't want to have to leave!"  The circus was in an outdoor show arena.  It was covered, but the wind was whipping through the sides and keeping a nice chill on everyone.  The kids had a blast and that's all that really matters.  Thanks Mimi for the adventure!