Ten On Tuesday

1. Rowan remains sick and hating life. This has been the case since I went back to work with only a few days here and there that he didn't have some sort of illness going on. Those days were usually filled with trying to cut through four to five teeth at a time so he has been miserable for months now. That's probably what I hate most about daycare is that no matter what people send their sick kids and then it becomes a round robin of germs. He now has yet another round of antibiotics, steroids (for his terrible cough), and eye drops for what appears to be pretty bad allergies as well. I'm concerned he might have my lungs. He has been terribly pathetic for the past two days and Zach is staying home with him tomorrow. Here is our sad little Superman in some 18 months shorts that are unbelievably huge on him.

2. Last Thursday Zane and I had a morning of fun, just him and I. He was really excited about going to the dentist, or probably more accurately excited that Rowan had to go to daycare and he didn't. When Rowan was leaving with dad Zane said, "Rowan are you sad that you have to go to school and I don't?" Really rubbing it in. Zane did amazing at the dentist and was rewarded with a toy from the toy basket and a free tshirt. We were done by 8:30am and then had to waste time until lunch for the ultimate reward, white 'mac n roni' as Zane calls it. I cannot put into words how excited Zane was about the white mac and cheese at Panera Bread. It was the best day ever, though I hated that Rowan had to spend half the day at daycare. Such is life! Here is the play by play.... so cute!

Very excited about the chair that is like a spaceship,

 less excited and becoming more quiet once they put the bib on and got out the equipment,

 he sat perfectly still and loved the sunglasses he got to wear during his cleaning,

 and finally he was so proud of himself and loved all his prizes! Yes, the pirate eye patch was his choice from the toy basket.

3. The Richard's came over for a BBQ/play date Saturday evening. I really hate the wind here, have I mentioned that? I want to spend all day everyday outside during the months of April and May, but it's so bleeding windy this becomes a problem. We stuck it out and played outside while Zach grilled but had to come inside to eat as a storm front was obviously coming in. We got out the kids little chairs, which Ro loved. He loves just sitting and watching people, so this miniature chair was just up his alley.

Look at that gut!

4. After we got home from our fun baseball experience Sunday we enjoyed the beautiful, though still  terribly windy, weather outside. The boys were still in their matching red shirts and blue shorts which made for much cuter pictures.

I'm not sure what Zane's rational for bringing towels outside was, but they ended up being 'beds' and were lots of fun.

 Chasing brother! The beds also doubled as capes, obviously.

 Little Peanut starting to not feel so hot, laid here for quite awhile.

5. I obviously changed out of Cardinals red too soon and look very silly in a blue shirt.... not ok.
Rowan had a huge mouth full of chocolate chip cookie so had other things to worry about besides daddy trying to take our picture.

6. I tried to recreate the picture of them laying on their backs, side by side, in the grass from when Rowan was a little baby. Of course Rowan was having none of this, what with the chocolate chip cookie to eat, but I did get a really good picture of Zane. He has quite the big kid face now.

 

 Last April, where he still kind of had a baby face. Oh what a difference a year makes.

7. Rowan has been promoted to a booster seat at the table recently. This was after he kept trying to climb up into a chair and eat with us. The high chair takes up a lot of room so I welcomed the change. He is doing very well with it, not throwing his whole plate on the ground immediately, though it does end up there sometimes. He is also using a fork more and doing surprisingly good with that as well. I think the fact that he is so little makes me think he is still a little baby, but sadly he really isn't. Oh and he loves scrambled eggs as much as his brother now.

 

Fun side note, here was Rowan last April, not even able to roll over yet.

8. Since I am incapable of not planting something in the Spring, though it never works, we have planted a few things yet again. This year we planted carrots in a clear plastic container in hopes of being able to see the carrot grow. Mom bought me tomato, pepper, and squash plants, all planted in pots. We shall see if they are more successful than the ones we planted every year in St. Louis. I have also dug up a little spot in our yard (there isn't any grass in our yard, just weeds, so not a big deal) and I'm hoping to plant broccoli and beets out there. We shall see how it goes. Here are the boys planting our tomato plant last night. It was raining so we had to move to the garage.

Rowan, always the helper, threw the tomato plant in the pot a few times, just a little bit too early.

 Yes, Rowan has as screw driver, didn't realize that until after I had taken the picture.

9. Grandma also, so kindly, bought Zane two new board games. I had been meaning to get him some games since he is always asking to play a game and we don't have any little kid ones. Now we have Chutes and Ladder and Minion Operation. I have been wonderfully surprised at how well he has done with both and for how long he stays interested in them. We did take the batteries out of Operation since the buzzing got kind of scary and very discouraging. He stays with it and can get all the little pieces out, but definitely touches the sides in the process. Here are Zach and Zane having a game night last night and Zane in his new Batman shirt very focused on practicing his "Dr Skills" today.

 I personally love the conversations he has with the Minion. "You ate things that not good for your body, so we have to get them out. It be ok, sit very still."

10. The other big news is that on Sunday Zane will be participating (well really the whole family will be participating) in OKC's Little Dudes Dash. This is a 1.2 mile race where the boys dress like super heros and the girls dress like princesses (princess run) and run/walk with their parents. We will be the Superman team and all having Superman T-shirts for the event. Rowan's shirt came with a tiny cape, Zane has his fancy silk one, and Zach & I will be borrowing capes from the Richard's clan so we can all be in the spirit of things. Zane and I went on a training run/walk this evening, which went well but his leg injury from this weekend is still bothering him. You gotta train through the pain son. He is very excited about getting a medal and I think it should be world of fun. We all tried on our t-shirts and practiced "flying" this afternoon. Well not Rowan, because he still feels miserable.

He's singing his Super Hero theme music in this picture. It's a very dramatic piece if you can't tell.

 Here is our sad little Superman, hopefully he is feeling better by then. And crossing my fingers that the rest of us don't get sick.

 Me and my blue eyed boy! Love this picture.

Their First Taste of Baseball

Growing up my dad was always a baseball fan, having been the best third baseman to ever dawn a Pioneer High School uniform (his words not mine). But dad never really watched baseball on TV. I knew he had been a Cardinals fan growing up, listening to Jack Buck on the radio and my Grandpa Dotter was always watching baseball in the den, but that was really all the more that baseball was in my life growing up. I think we probably watched the World Series in October, but were never highly invested in it. So to say I was a baseball fan growing up would be a stretch. I didn't go to my first Major League game until I was 21 for heaven's sake.

So moving to St. Louis and becoming part of Cardinal Nation was a big adjustment for me. One that I initially tried to resist, but quickly fell in love with the city and how much the Cardinals are part of everyone's daily lives there. I was thrown into the deep end of baseball when we got married. We got married in August of 2006, in October of 2006 the Cardinals won the World Series for the first time in Zach's life. Knowing what I know now, that is a huge deal. And they have since won another one, because they are obviously the best team in baseball!!!  At the time I was annoyed by how many games we had to watch, but winning the World Series the first year I was real fan helped me get on board with how much fun baseball can be.

From then on the Cardinals were the background of our life at home in St. Louis. On the weekends, from April till hopefully October, there would be a Cardinals game either on in the afternoon or evening. We rarely sat down and watched it in great detail, but it would be on while we worked outside, in the garage, or around the house. You'd check in with the score, see how things were going, and continue on with life, thus the beauty of baseball. I can do all sorts of things and not have missed anything in a baseball game. There was always a game on in stores and restaurants so you always knew what was happening and felt like part of the city. We were actually watching a game right up until it was time to push when I was in labor with Zane. I mean there was a game going on, so might as well watch while we waited.

Zach on the other hand has always been a die hard Cardinals fan. He watched them growing up, went to games with his family and Adam's family. He loves baseball and has been dying to share his love with Zane. We never took Zane to an actual Cardinals game because that is a huge amount of money to waste on a three year old with the attention span of a gnat. But Zane is a huge Cardinals fan with all the gear, a puffy finger, a Fred Bird the Red Bird pillow pet that goes to school with him everyday, and sings Take Me Out to the Ballgame complete with root root root for the Cardinals!

 Here is Zane the night the Cardinals won a World Series for the first time in his life, 16 months old!

Ever since Zane's new found obsession with the song Take me Out the Ballgame he has wanted to go to a baseball game. OKC has solved our problem of not wanting to spend tons of money on tickets to see baseball with their minor league team the OKC Redhawks. They have a lovely stadium with a playground behind the outfield and great, cheap, seats all around. Yesterday we finally pulled ourselves together, dawned our Cardinal Red, and hit up a Redhawks afternoon game with Aunt Abbey, Maggie, and Brendan. It took a lot of explaining to Zane that we weren't watching the actual Cardinals, who are in St. Louis, but this team was a red bird so our Cardinal shirts would work for them as well. I don't know that we saved a lot of money, since we bought all the food things you have to have for a real baseball experience. Hot dogs, peanuts, pretzels with cheese, Cracker Jackets, ice cream in a little baseball helmet, and a snow cone. (So yeah not a cheap adventure, but oh so much fun!)

 The Richards crew enjoying their snow cones.

 Brendan was very nice and shared a lot of his snow cone with Little Ro, the beggar.

Zane did watch some, not a lot, but some actual baseball. We learned who the pitcher was, how many bases there are, and how the players have to run around them to score, the basics. His attention span was pretty well shot by the end of the third inning but we powered through a little big longer, learning how to crack peanuts, a much needed skill for baseball games. Rowan had a blast, walking up and down our isle, eating whatever anyone was willing to give him. He looked out over the field, clapped with everyone, and over all was a real champion baseball fan! I think Maggie and Brendan probably could have sat and watched a few more innings, but were also not opposed to getting ice cream and heading to the bouncy houses and playground behind the outfield.

We forgot Zane's glove at home, which we had fully intended on taking, but Zane was ready to catch any balls coming his way.

 

 Very serious baseball fan

  

 Cheering for the home team!

  

Zane finally figuring out how to crack a peanut and enjoying the fruits of his labor. Still a work in progress, but he's getting it. Rowan on the other hand I'm pretty sure ate a lot of peanut shells, but it's ok!

Zane managed to sustain another leg injury on his previously injured leg, which was quite traumatic and he couldn't walk very well when we left, but he has since reported that he had lots of fun and wants to go back. Next time we should just get the super cheap seats, on the grass, behind the outfield, where the playground equipment is. Zach and I usually sat in the bleachers at Busch anyway, so not bad seats at all. I'm so glad we went and it was lots of fun watching Zane take in the whole experience. I know Zach is anxiously awaiting the day we can actually take our boys back to St. Louis for a real Cardinals game. But that is a ways away, so until then I think we become huge OKC Redhawks fans!!!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Well after my glowing post about the best case scenerio happening on Friday, things didn't pan out quite too lovely for Easter. By Sunday Zach and Zane had the stomach bug and I got to have that lovely experience Sunday night into Monday. We've all survived now, but did have to miss the Blakley Farm Easter Egg hunt and hopefully didn't get everyone else in the family sick in the mean time. I hear Aunt Abbey held back some eggs for us so maybe we can have a hunt this weekend in our backyard.

 

2. Saturday morning we went to the Myriad Garden Easter egg hunt, which was highly anticlamatic. I'm glad we didn't get there early at all because our five minutes of build up was way to much for the maybe four eggs Zane actually got to find. There was clearly not enough eggs and way too many kids. They did have people throwing candy around on the ground after all the eggs were gone, so kids could have something to pick up, but I feel like you should just start with more eggs. And to the parents of the kids whose baskets were over flowing, share the wealth people. Ro didn't get any eggs, except a pitty egg some nice man put on a chair for him, so he could at least pretend to find one. The Easter bunny was there but Zane was, "just a little shy" and didn't actually want to talk to him. After the "hunt" and pizza we headed to the farm for more Easter fun. 

 

Ready for the hunt!

 I love this picture of Zane showing Rowan all the candy he had found. Rowan did love his basket and kept a tight grip on it all morning, even though he didn't really have anything to put in it.

 These two are quite a pair. I loved Maggies gorgeous Easter dresses!

 

3. At the farm we flew kites in the crazy wind. The minion kite did amazingly well, Yoda blow up kite I got for Brendan not so much. Rowan struggled to stay standing in the wind, but did manage to stomp around in the wheat field a little with the other grandkids.

 

  

4. There were two trees and all sorts of plants to help Grandma plant. Zane sustained two injuries to his hands upon arrival which meant lots of bandaige changes all weekend. But he had lots of fun digging in the dirt and playing in the gardens with his cousins. Maggie and Zane seemed to have a blast together at the farm swinging, riding bikes, and generally running around crazy.

 

 Zane and Maggie's no shirt party, brought on by spraying each other with the hose, of course.

 

5. In adorable news Zane has started pushing Rowan on swings and actually doing it quite well. He started this on our daily trips to our neighborhood park, but this weekend was the first time I got a good picture of it. It's so adorable to see him being such a great big brother. 

 I don't know that Rowan is really sure about this, but it actually goes surprisingly well.

6. Saturday night was Easter Vigil at Bison, the church where I went growing up. This includes the Creation Story, which always makes me cry. It's so moving and adorable watching all the little kids. I dont' support the whole thing not starting until 8p.m. though. This meant that the boys were exhausted before we even left, making taking pictures of them in their matching outfits all but impossible. We made it through the creation story, with Zane taking up a lilly and a star. Zane was that adorable kid who peaked his head out from behind the taller boys and waved with great delight when found Zach and I in the crowd. So cute and he didn't appear to be scared by the whole experience. After the creation story the boys and I went outside to check out all the statues of angels, Mary, and the shrine. 

 Literally took probably fifty pictures trying to get a good family shot or one of the boys but none of them turned out very good. The one of Ro below is the best by far.

 

7. The Easter Bunny came on Sunday morning and did not disappoint. There was lots of chocolate, bubbles, books, balls, and all sorts of fun. Zane, unlike myself as a child, dug right into his hug chocolate bunny. I use to savor my bunny for weeks. I had to cut Zane off after the head so he would eat breakfast. Turns out I don't think he was feeling well all day as he really didn't eat much of anything else Sunday and threw up all over my car on the way home. Rowan was slightly confused by the Easter basket, but did enjoy some chocolate and his ball. 

 

 

 

8. This years new Easter tradition was cascarone, which are eggs filled with confetti that you throw at things and then confetti goes everywhere. What could be more fun than that?? It was quite celebratory and the kids loved it!

 

 

 The very festive yard was the end result of all our fun!

 

8. Thanks to my illness Sunday  night the eye doctor situation has been post poned yet again. I am on my last pair of contacts so this is starting to become a crisis. Thursday Zane has his much anticipated trip to then dentist then he will be my buddy at my eye doctor appointment, and hopefully we can get him registered for swim lessons that day as well. We missed the early sign up date with me being sick. Here's hoping there is still a spot. God knows he won't forget that I told him he was going to take swim lessons. That kid remembers everything. 

 

9. Also in the midst of the illnesses and vomit clean up I managed to wash Zach's cellphone, which was still in the pocket of his shorts. So he got to (had to) buy a knew phone yesterday. Life is so expensive, and frustrating, but I guess we'll write that up as a little life tuition. Sigh...

10. Lastly, this could be my favorite shot of the whole weekend, because it sums out how different my two boys are. Rowan sat in this chair, on mom's porch, for a solid twenty minutes. He was doing absolutely nothing, besides hanging out with Aunt Abbey, Aunt Kari, and myself. I went inside a few times and every time I came back out there was Rowan just big chilling in the Adirondack chair, munching on some crackers. I don't think Zane has ever set still for that long in his entire life. Love it!!
 

 The look on his face always cracks me up to, like he is saying "mom what is the big deal, I'm just chilling in a chair, why are you taking a picture?" Love my little peanut, maybe he does have some traits from his namesake after all.

Hope everyone had a safe, happy Easter, healthier than our family! We missed all the Korenak clan. I'm sure Korenak Easter at Val and Julie's was a blast, wish we could be in two places at once!