Adventures in Atlanta

I took the boys to Atlanta for 11 days and Greg joined us for the last 4.  The weather was (mostly) beautiful and the boys were much better behaved at Grandma and Grandpa's than last time (when Cameron would tackle Nate anytime his brother glanced at him and neither wanted to nap regularly).  However, getting there proved to be quite the adventure.

We left our house at around 5:15 am on a snowy Friday to catch our 7:30am flight to Atlanta.  Despite the slow and slippery drive, we got to the airport just fine.  We even ran into Greg's cousin Kelly and her family at the airport as they were on the way to Disney.  We were about to board the plane when I realized that I left the car seat in the terminal.  Young kids require a lot of stuff when traveling and it was bound to happen that I would forget something, but that was an expensive (and challenging) thing to forget.  Fortunately a nice airport employee found the car seat behind the ticket counter in the gate area we had been in (different from the gate area for our flight) after looking two times in the terminal for me.  Apparently somebody found it and put it back there for safekeeping.  What could have been an awful start to our trip was resolved with only some anxiety on my part!

Once on the plane, I broke out breakfast - leftover pancakes.  Because of our early flight time, the boys were able to wait until we were on the plane to eat.  I like to have them eat while we are taking off and landing to help keep their ears open.  However, because of the weather we had to get our plane de-iced so we didn't actually take off for an hour and a half after our scheduled time.  Ugh.  One of the reasons I'm brave enough to take the boys on an airplane by myself is that the flight to Atlanta is non-stop and only 2 hours long.  By the time we finally took off, we would have nearly been to Atlanta on our scheduled timeline.  But the boys were hanging in there and were fascinated by the pinkish liquid running down the windows as they de-iced our plane.

We finally took off for Atlanta around 9am.  Before we took off, I talked to my parents and my mom mentioned storms were moving into the Atlanta area.  So not surprisingly, when we got near Atlanta we ended up in a holding pattern north of the city.  Ironically enough, we were probably flying over my parents' house as they are north of the city.  Then because the storms still had not passed and we were running low on fuel, we had to land in Chattanooga, TN for a refueling.  While refueling, a mechanical issue was discovered so now not only did we need to wait for refueling, we needed to wait for a mechanic to look at and fix the mechanical issue.  Ugh.

After sitting on the plane in Chattanooga for about an hour and a half, we were allowed to deboard the plane thanks to recent FAA rule changes about how long passengers can stay in a plane on the tarmac.  Chattonooga is a small airport and does not typically have passenger jets of our size land there so we had to actually walk down a ramp from our plane and across the tarmac to the gate.  The boys loved that!

We finally made it to Atlanta 13 hours after leaving our house.  I was very grateful and proud that my kids did not melt down.  In fact, several passengers complimented me on their behavior (wish I could take full credit, but they were troopers!)  I am known for packing way too much food when I travel, but this was one of the times it paid off.

Once in Atlanta, we had a relaxing time.  Cameron missed a week of preschool and the unit they were studying was on fish so we did some fish related activities to "make up" his missed school (well what really happened is we went to the fish hatchery in my parents' neighborhood and that inspired me to do other fish themed activities - some of which were a bit of a stretch).  When we got home, Cameron (with my help) wrote about his fish themed vacation:

"While on vacation at my grandma and grandpa’s in Georgia, I got to do a lot with fish too.  I made this picture of fish by gluing tissue paper on to represent the fishes’ scales.  I did this after going to a fish hatchery full of brown trout and rainbow trout.  These fish will eventually be released into the Chattahoochee River and other streams and lakes in Georgia.  We fed them little pellets made of fish meal and high protein feed.  The fish would jump and splash to get at the food.  There were some fish over a foot long and weighing more than 10 pounds!  We also went to an Asian grocery store and saw live crabs, lobsters, eel, flounder, and other edible sea creatures.  I even tried some lobster that my grandma made and really liked it.  Those were just some of the highlights of my vacation." 
He attached his story to a picture he made of fish.

A few other highlights of our trip included:

- The train set in grandma and grandpa's basement.  Oh boy did they have fun playing with it!  And thank you so much to the Burie's who brought over their old train set that they don't use anymore so now Cameron and Nathan can play trains here at home whenever they want.  And they want to a lot!

 -  Not sure this is a "high"light, but while everybody back home in Wisconsin was digging out from the 4th Friday in a row of snow, we were huddled in my parent's basement riding out a nasty storm that spawned several tornadoes in Georgia.  My mom and I were out on the porch with the intention of bringing the chairs inside when the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard scared the bejeebers out of us.  I ran inside knowing that Cameron would be spooked since I had just put him to bed about 10 mins before.  Sure enough, he was already out of his bedroom looking for anyone to comfort him.  Poor guy.  The sirens went off shortly thereafter.  Fortunately my parents city was spared and it was just a long hour of waiting it out.  Nathan slept through most of it and Cameron talked through most of it (maybe his nerves?).  

- The boys tried some new foods.  Both enjoyed the pork belly we had a ramen restaurant.  Yes, there is a restaurant that features ramen, but it is not your college student Top Ramen.  It is a really rich, decadent broth made from simmering pork belly.  They also had the delicious pork belly appetizer that the boys devoured.  Cameron also woofed down a bunch of lobster at dinner one night.  He can be a picky eater, but he seems to really like seafood.  Shrimp and lobster are his two favorites right now. 

I will apologize again for my delay.  I start my entries on time, but then it takes me weeks to finish them so they are old news by the time I get them posted!

Kristi and the boys

Jingle Bells Part 2 - the Pictures

Cameron's Grinch Impression

Nate Claus

The boys made a gingerbread house w/ Aunt Kali & this was Nate's side - note the gingerbread man stuck on top of the other two gingerbread people.   I thought his decorating was too cute!

Jingle Bells

I know I have some catching up to do, so here is the first in hopefully a few entries to highlight the past several months:


As can be expected with a 3-year old and 20-month old, Christmas is a mix of excitement, chaos, meltdowns, and that magical feeling of anticipation.  And that was just Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve found us at Great Grandma Kruepke's house with about 50 other people.  The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins and of course got excited when it was their turn to receive gifts from Great Grandma as well as their gift exchange person.  However, it became a late night for them and we paid the price on Christmas day...


This was the first Christmas where Nathan was an active participant in the gift opening.  Cameron tore through his stocking and then "helped" Nathan go through his.  This was one of the few times where Cameron was more impetuous than Nathan.  Interestingly enough, the highlight of the stockings were the little boxes of raisins they each received.


We asked Santa to bring each boy only 3 gifts to represent how Jesus received 3 gifts from the wisemen.  No, the boys did not get gold, frankincense, and myrrh like Jesus.  Instead they each got a puzzle (a very popular toy in our household - more on that when I blog about our trip to Atlanta), a pair of slippers and a Tonka truck.  One of the last gifts opened was from us to Nathan.  We were very excited about it because for the weeks leading up to Christmas, Nathan would constantly talk about Cookie Monster.  Greg found a singing Cookie Monster doll on Amazon for a great price so it was a last minute purchase.  Nate started opening the gift and we figured he would be really excited.  Wrong!  As soon as he saw it was Cookie Monster, he dropped it and ran off crying and screaming and for the rest of the day would run away and cry if he saw Cookie Monster.  Not what we expected, but it definitely was the one thing I will remember about this Christmas!  It took several days, but he did eventually warm up to the doll and will actually push it's belly to sing the song.



Christmas definitely is a much different experience once you have kids old enough to understand it.  All the hiding of gifts, wrapping them at night (we fortunately wrapped them over several nights so we didn't have to stay up late on Christmas Eve doing massive amounts of wrapping), helping the kids write letters to Santa and his reindeer, answering questions about Santa and how he fits down the chimney, etc.  It's a lot of work, but it sure is worth it when you see the kids' eyes light up on Christmas Day.


Pictures and maybe even a video of Nathan opening his Cookie Monster doll will be posted later...

Trick or Treat Pic

Thank you Jill for the picture you took of the boys during Trick or Treat.  The boys enjoyed themselves on Halloween.  We went to our old neighborhood to say hi to our old neighbors.  We also stopped at one of the high school sitter's house who lived near our old house.  We went home via the Burie's house where the boys picked out fun toys and goodies and then we stopped at our new next door neighbor's house.  The boys adore Al & Joanne, a sweet retired couple.  Then Cameron and I went across the street to meet a new neighbor.  It was a busy, but fun, night!

Follow the Leader

First, I have to admit the boys were much better at keeping up on the blogging. Oops. Maybe I will get my act together this winter.  

Nathan engaged in two of his favorite pastimes - reading and playing with the Burie girls

Let's see, since our last post, we have settled into our new house and met many of the neighbors, including the family with two kids who will be in the same grade as ours! The boys have adjusted to sharing a room and rarely have to be separated at night for making too much noise.  We still keep them separate at nap time because it's such a limited window.  We hosted and attended several playdates. Now that we are only about 5 minutes away from the Burie family, we see them more regularly.  We also had Halloween with Cameron as Tigger and Nathan as a lion. Somehow I don't think I got any pictures of the two. We also hosted both Greg and Kristi's families for Thanksgiving. It was a treat to have Uncle Tom and Aunt Kali fly out as they don't get to visit too often. And of course there was Christmas - but more about that in a separate post.

Cameron looking at the moon at Space Night

CAMERON
Cameron has really been enjoying preschool. He is pretty good about telling me what they had for snack (frequently crackers and juice/chocolate milk - ugh - we brought in hard-boiled eggs one week and apparently it was odd enough that it made the preschool newsletter), who got in trouble or didn't listen, and a little about the day's actual activities. I can usually tell when he used the bathroom as he comes out of school with his pants on backwards at least 60% of the time. Too cute, but I'm so proud he can dress himself - even if it is backwards. He has done really well with potty training and has not had any accidents at preschool (knock on wood) and usually his only accidents at home are at nap time. Even those are few and far between (knock on wood again!)

I can also tell Cameron is listening to his teacher Mr. Boris as he brings all sorts of new words and ideas home. One day he came home and put his blankie (who he called baby on this particular day and I was soon going to find out why) in a cowboy hat and put both in a laundry basket. He then started pushing the laundry basket around saying he was saving his baby from the soldiers and putting it in the river. Recognizing this was Cameron's version of the story of Baby Moses, I asked what baby's name was and of course Cameron answered "Moses". I knew they had talked about Moses in preschool that day because his teacher sends out a newsletter letting us know what they are discussing during Jesus time among other activities going on in the class. Too cute!

Playing in the leaves

Cameron talks A LOT. He is now in the "Why?" phase but boy does he retain information. He will remember any promise you make and call you out on it if you don't deliver on time.

Stripping during a playdate to go "swimming"

He also is quite a goofball. One day during a playdate at our house, he decided to strip down for no reason and run around. This was a first and I'm not sure if it was because he had such a large audience and felt comfortable with them. He says it was because he wanted to go swimming in the lake (a blanket on the floor).

Some favorites include playing with Nathan, anything related to the movie Cars, raisins, watching movies with Natalie (one of our high school babysitters), trucks, and puzzles.

One thing I can say about Cameron is he is overall a very easy child.  And I'm not the only one that says that, multiple daycare teachers also said it (our regular sitter was in a car accident in September so the boys were in daycare the past few months - fortunately she is recovering and doing much better).  He is pretty go with the flow, travels well, is curious in a good way (not a mischevious way), and as I like to say, he's so easy that I would be comfortable taking him on a trip to Europe.  Bummer that's not actually happening, but I think it would be manageable.  Because of his demeanor, Cameron gets to experience more one-on-one excursions than Nathan.  He and I attended Space Night at his preschool and used Mr. Boris' telescope to look at the moon.  We sometimes go on dinner or lunch dates.  One of my favorite summertime activities is to take one of the kids (or both, but it's nice having one at a time once in a while) to the farmer's market and then out to a cafe for a snack (and latte for me) after.

NATHAN

Playing with his sock puppet

Nathan, on the other hand, is at the age where he is very opinionated, but still doesn't have the patience and/or ability to listen and respond appropriately. Hopefully as he gets older, he will be like his brother in this area :)  Despite that challenge (which Cameron had when he was Nate's age), Nathan is a pretty mellow kid.

Love smoothies!

Nathan also loves to talk. He has such a large vocabulary and uses two and three word sentences, his favorite being "More " Other words in his vocabulary include "tower" (which he loves to build using his cup, bowl and any thing else near him at the breakfast table), "blankie" (yes he has the same lovey has his big bro), "brother" (which is what he calls Cameron), "grandpa" (but still not daddy on a regular basis though he at least says it once in a while now), "football", Go Badgers or Go Packers (whenever he sees a football game on TV or a picture of a football player) and of course "No" and "mine".

After a year of 8 teeth, Nathan finally got more teeth this month. If I recall correctly, he has one molar fully in, one about half in and one that is getting close to breaking through. These past few months have had a lot of gnawing on fingers, waking up cranky, and an occasional fever.

Nathan loves to do whatever big brother does. That includes the nice and the naughty. They both are very good about saying Thank You. In fact, Nate will keep saying it until you say "Your Welcome" back. They also both love to climb - especially between the sofa and the big chair in our family room.

Other interests of Nate's include eating, eating more, eating again, and coloring. He is extremely impatient when it comes to waiting for food. He will either pull on your leg and whine while you are cooking or go stand by his chair, play with the buckles, and then start whining once he has finished playing with the buckles.

He is also starting to show interests in puzzles and he loves to read. Often times both boys will grab a book and sit in their chairs and read.  I think Nathan is our future athlete though.  He loves playing with balls.  Throwing, quasi-catching (probably already a bit more coordinated in catching than big brother), kicking - it doesn't matter.  And he sure loves watching the Packers (Go Packers!)

Playing in the big chair

OTHER NEWS
The other big news from our household is I (Kristi) gave my notice at work. Yesterday was my last day in the office. After weighing my options and calculating the cost of working downtown I realized I could make the same teaching a few classes a year at Carroll or Marian while staying home with the boys. It was a tough decision to make as I really enjoyed my time at the Small Business Development Center and will miss the interaction with my team, but ultimately I think (and hope) it is the right decision for me and the boys and I am looking forward to having more time with the kiddos.

Hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday season - we will post a separate Christmas update soon!

Love,
Cameron and Nathan

Picking pumpkins at Cozy Nook Farm

How Quickly Summer Goes

The boys are both resting after a busy morning of playing with balls, trucks, blocks, and anything else they could get their hands on.  So I am filling in once again.

In front of our first house full of memories

Our biggest change has been our recent move.  We found a place with more land (over an acre) in the town of Waukesha, so about 15 mins from where we previously lived.  The boys have adapted much better than expected (and much better than me quite frankly, but I'm getting there).  It probably helps that they now have a lot more room to run around, a bigger yard that has a playset (or little park as Cameron calls it), a playroom full of toys, and lots more little kids around.

Because moving wasn't a big enough project to tackle, I also invited my friend from high school, Tim, and his family to stay with us a week after we made the move.  It was great incentive to get a few rooms usable and it is only fair - we visited them shortly before they moved from Indiana to Michigan so what goes around comes around!  It was wonderful to see old friends again but more on their visit later.


CAMERON

Cameron is becoming quite a goofball.  He told his first knock-knock joke Wednesday:
C: Knock-knock
Me:
Who's there?
C:
Orange
Me:
Orange who?
C:
Orange cupcake

I'm guessing this joke originated because I have told him the classic banana knock-knock joke that ends with Orange ya glad I didn't say banana.


Cameron loves to talk.  Whenever we are in the car, he is sure to point out everything he sees.  He also is very inquisitive.  Yes, many of his questions are still "Why?".  But he also asks things like "Why isn't it working?" and  "What's that?"   It's so neat to see the learning process in action.  As part of his curiosity, he is constantly trying to fix things around the house with daddy.  He also loves to help cook.  His favorite things to do while cooking, other than taste test pancakes, is to pour the measured ingredients into the bowl, stir them together, and also to use the onion chopper. 

To help him prepare for preschool, we worked really hard on the potty training over the past month.  Thanks to Liam and Quinn's visit (Tim's boys), Cameron immediately stopped arguing about sitting on the toilet.  In fact, we started putting him in underwear right after their visit.  There were a few accidents, but he made lots of progress in a short amount of time thanks to a new (really a gently used, but well cleaned) Elmo potty chair to encourage his independence and motivate him to do it himself (the one thing that really motivates Cameron) and some nuts & dried fruits (probably the other thing that really motivates him - foods he likes). 


NATHAN

Nate is quite the talker.  He now says ball (in fact one day he told me to get ball - nothing like taking orders from a little one!), window, hiding, bread, water (pronounced wah-wah), broccoli, baby, smoothie, and blankie among other words.  Yes, he is also attached to his blankie, though not quite as much as big brother yet.  His love of talking combined with Cameron's love of talking makes for way-too-social bedtimes.  The boys share a room in the new house so that they can have a separate play room.  We have to keep them separate at nap time and many nights at bedtime, after an hour and half of socializing, we end up moving one of them out for the night.  The first week or so, Nate would fall asleep before we put Cameron to bed.  However, he started waiting up for Cameron because for several weeks he was is rarely asleep when it was Cameron's bedtime.  Now once again he is falling asleep before Cameron goes to bed.  It's sweet they get along so well in the same room, but also frustrating that they both keep talking well past their bedtimes.  And now Cameron's latest hijinx in the morning is he climbs into Nate's crib.  That has replaced his previous favorite morning escapade of emptying every accessible drawer, basket, etc into Nate's crib. 

Nathan is also very opinionated and sensitive.  Every little thing sets him off and the tears come spilling out.  I'm sure it doesn't help that his big brother constantly is picking on him (grabbing toys from him, touching him when he is already crying, even hitting or kicking him and worse of all what happened last month - biting him).  Fortunately it has gotten better since we have moved.  I know some of it is just the natural sibling relationship, but some of it is extremely frustrating when it is the same misbehavior over and over during the day.  When they do play together nicely though, it is the most wonderful thing to watch!

Cameron better watch out though as Nate is catching up in size!  He is just one size smaller than Cameron (Nate is 12/18 months and Cameron is 18 months/2T).  At his last doctor's appointment in mid-July, Nathan measured 50% on height and about 10-25% on weight.  If I find my slip from that appointment, I will update with actual numbers.  Poor guy - you can tell he is the second child as I am much less on top of everything with him.

Finally, Nate's biggest accomplishment these past few months is learning to walk.  He took a step a couple months ago while at the doctor's office, but didn't show much interest again until last month.  Around the second week of August, he really started taking off and gaining confidence.  Now he walks almost everywhere and crawls very rarely.  In fact, this morning Nathan was "chasing" me around the house going "are you?" (for where are you) - his version of either tag or hide and seek.  It was too cute!  He is still not keen on shoes, but is complaining less now about them.  The first day we made him wear shoes, he wailed the whole time he had them on.  Now he only tries to take them off in the car, but without screaming.  I guess that's an improvement.

Seeing as there will be an update on Cameron's first day of preschool and his birthday coming sooner rather than later (or so I hope), I will sign off.  Plus I can't remember anything else from these past several months.  It's all a blur and a good lesson to me to update this blog much more regularly!

Love, 
Cameron & Nathan (via their mom)

Pics from February & March

Until we slow down enough to write an update, here are some pictures to hold all 5 of our fans over.

Love,

Cameron & Nathan

RIDING OUR PONY - Pony needs a name so submit your suggestions and we'll pick our favorite.

CAMERON



Enjoying popcorn at my first ever movie night - Toy Story 3





All that play makes me a tired boy!

 










Mr Fix-It

NATHAN







It's stuck and I can't get it off!







What?  I can't hear you.


















MAMA and HER BOYS