Memorial Day Weekend Adventures

(warning: this is a long blog) This past weekend we went to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for a camping and hiking trip with Steve's sister Carri and her family. We camped two nights and hiked the "Falling Water" trail on Saturday. Our day hike, with 4 children and 1 5-month pregnant lady, took us 11 hours!!!! (By the way...we found out on Wednesday before leaving for our trip that Zach is expecting a little BROTHER at the end of September, he is beside himself with joy!-not really he still has no clue what is happening to mommy's belly) The kids were held back by the slow adults and they didn't complain the entire day. We were very impressed! Zach spent the day in the child carrier eating snacks, singing and napping. Every time Steve stopped to wait for others, Zach would tell him to keep hiking up the mountain! Steve said that he has never had such a wiggly and kicky backpack for a hiking trip.

These pictures are in chronological order of our trip. Please note that the mountain in the background of the first photo is the mountain that we all climbed! The trail was only 3.2 miles to the summit of 4,700 feet but it was a grueling hike and I still can't believe that we all made it to the top! It was too cold on the summit to stay and enjoy the view for very long, but we made it none-the-less, and then began the climb back down to camp...

at the trail head (before)

crossing the streams

YES! That's snow once we got close to alpine zone!

The summit!

That's how far we hiked.

Zach hiked the last little bit.

At the trail head (after)

An excavator in our backyard!

Yesterday an excavator came to visit for 2.5 hours, making our morning anything but routine!! Watching Zach's awe as this heavy piece of machinery was unloaded and then operated a few feet away from us, was a privilege. It was a chilly morning but I don't believe Zach felt the cold at all. The man operating the excavator was wonderful with both of us and didn't mind us watching and even offered Zach the opportunity to climb on and sit in the driver's seat. Zach was much too intimated to accept this offer for the first 2 hours but as the work was finishing he climbed up and 'drove'!! Today is sure to be much less exciting for our two-year-old boy!

The Shed

One chainsaw...
Two sledgehammers...
Three hours...
Four men...
Five women (2 pregnant)...
Ten pizzas...
Twelve children... and
The SHED IS GONE!!!!

Easter

Toddler gym

Here are a few pictures of the toddler gym program we participated in this winter. Daddy was our teacher at the start of the program but Zach still managed to have fun when daddy changed jobs and wasn't there anymore. Once again Zach amazed me with what is important to him in life...each week I would say that we were going to the gym to play with balls and the parachute etc. and all he'd talk about is the tiny little sticker he would get at the end!

Cookies

Zach was very cooperative when taking care of mommy's need for cookies!! I couldn't get him to smile for any pictures because he was too intent on licking every bite!

Birthday party!

Please forgive me for having been absent from blogging for 2 whole months. I have barely kept up with food and laundry for the past 14 weeks but thankfully I think the first trimester blahs are done. I won't bore you with long, witty comments on these next few blogs as I just try to catch you up on what Zach has been doing while I've been on the couch...
In February, Zach (and mommy and daddy) went to our first kid birthday party. The party was geared for much older children so I thought Zach looked especially little sitting at the table next to all the big kids. His favorite part by far was the cake and was momentarily disappointed when it didn't come with ice cream! (When we told him we were going to a birthday party he immediately said, "cake...ice cream"?)

The party was held at a very exciting bounce house with 8 of the largest and most elaborate "bounce houses" I have ever seen (or even thought would exist). Zach's favorite ride was the push lawn mower that he walked around between the houses!

Reading to baby

Just thought I'd share this cute little moment with you all...Zach pulled 'baby' and a book into his lap and he proceeded to "read" to baby from the book. You might be able to tell in one of the pictures that baby is pointing to pictures and asking, "what's zis?". Zach was wonderful about answering all of his questions!

Snow

This past week it snowed!!! We received an entire inch that stayed on the ground for almost 24 hours before melting. I thought it would be a great afternoon activity for Zach and I to go and explore in our backyard... once we were all bundled up and outside a very sad little boy reluctantly came out with me for our fun adventure! Things looked bleak initially but I persevered and Zach finally decided that he wanted to swing. (No snowmen, snowballs or making footsteps through the snow.) Once on the swing things improved but he kept asking for his glasses. (He never wears sunglasses but I have them in the car and attempt to protect his eyes during the summer months.) Well he asked for them and I said that we weren't getting his glasses, assuming he was just trying out a new request that struck his fancy. Then he asked again, and again, and again! Finally I got the message!! Zach wanted his sunglasses! (I know brilliant, right?!?) So into the house I went to get the keys, back out to the car to get the glasses, and back to swing to give them to Zach--he then swung very happily in full snowgear and sunglasses for some time before we returned to the less dramatic indoors.

Baseball, shaving and other manly things...

Zach is slowly turning into a Daddy's boy! This delights me since it is a welcome reprieve from being the sole tolerated comforter, feeder and entertainer. I can still sometimes pinch hit as entertainer but mostly daddy is a lot more fun! The highlight of the day is when daddy comes home to wrestle, run and "take shots" with the basketball.

Our male bonding began the other morning when Zach was left alone, for mere moments, with a small container of yogurt... we came back to find the yogurt covering the table and Zach's face. He innocently looked up at us and started rubbing his yogurty face and said, "shave".

Zach is also becoming more interested in playing sports with Steve. He has been learning how to "catch" with a glove (both with daddy's and his own), he has been hitting the soccer ball off the tee (this is the only ball Zach will tolerate having on the tee), and he loves to shoot baskets with daddy! (Oddly enough he never asks me to shoot baskets with him.) Steve can barely get in the door when Zach has already dragged out their sports gear for the evening.

"Other manly things" refers to new body parts Zach likes to identify. Thankfully, right now, this is taking place in the privacy of our home during bath time. But I just know one day soon this new found knowledge will be blurted out in the middle of church or in line at the grocery store. yippee.

ABCs

Part of my motivation in maintaining a blog is so that I can remember little stories and events from Zach's growing up. With that said please bear with me as I share and brag about new Zach moments...
At the beginning of December, Zach became very interested in the alphabet. (Anyone who has spent any time with Zach recently knows that he is on a continual ABC loop, this includes going through the grocery store, waiting at the doctor's office and coming out from a sound sleep!) It started out that he would recite them verbally while rapidly opening and closing his hand (his attempt at signing his ABCs). Then he began singing and signing a different version of the alphabet that he got off his "Signing Time" video. That version gives the letter and then a few words that begin with the letter. (It is so adorable when he signs the various words for each letter, of course I speak as his mother) All of these 'tricks' have been fun to watch develop but I began to realize he was doing more than just memorizing a cute song when, at the library in the middle of December, he held up a magnetic letter and said, "M"! I stood there in dumb shock looking at him, doubting what he had actually said until a mother next to me asked, "Did he just say 'm'?!?" Since then Zach points to letters in books and on signs and then identifies them. He has started to ask, "what's this?" for the ones he doesn't know. I have no idea why Zach has a sudden interest and apparently a sudden knowledge of the ABCs but I am enjoying watching it all develop. (plus I encourage him to sing the song because it really is so cute!)

The day after...

It is very difficult to make the day after Christmas special for a little two-year-old boy! (Which is why we really celebrate in June) However, I am unable to completely ignore the fact that it is his birthday. With so much involved in getting ready for Christmas I didn't think of making Zach a cake until the morning of his birthday! We were scheduled to go celebrate Christmas at my grandmother's house for brunch and the afternoon, so at 9am I decided to make a applesauce spice cake for the big day! Unfortunately I rushed to release the cake from the bundt pan so when I turned it out onto the cooling rack the entire thing crumbled. In an attempt to rescue the messy but delicious cake I dumped the 'crumbles' onto a pie plate and covered it in brown butter frosting...only there wasn't enough frosting. The result to my last minute effort was very pathetic, a ugly ex-bundt applesauce spice cake with frosting (please enjoy the photo), Zach thought it was wonderful!

Merry Christmas!

We have had a busy month preparing for Christmas. With Christmas comes Zach's official birthday and we are in the full throes of being two-years-old. I'm exhausted more from Zach's growing independence than all the shopping, wrapping, decorating and baking combined! Most days I can count on Zach not wanting to put his coat on, not wanting to take his coat off, refusing to eat, being hungry to eat, not wanting his shoes on and being traumatized when mama has the audacity to take them off.

Aside from the challenging bits, Zach has been a delight to watch develop. He is repeating everything he hears ('oh be careful little mouth what you say') and he is playing more and more pretend. He frequently has a 'hot cup of tea' at his table or he brings you lovely green wooden cookies on a plate. He has also started to pretend to play the piano. Every flat surface in our home has been turned into a piano. Zach 'plays' the wall, bed, stool and table and accompanies himself with loud singing-it is a delightful sight to behold!

Our first Christmas at home started early and concluded quickly as Zach's favorite part was unwrapping the presents. He didn't appear to be concerned with what was in the boxes as much as ripping the paper and bows off. Each bow he removed he labeled as a flower and then tossed into the pile. While opening one of my gifts I said, "great!" upon seeing the present inside. From that point on, as soon as the wrapping paper was gone and the lid to the box opened Zach would say, "great!" for each present.

Zach's Christmas consisted of all his favorite things; trucks, trains, pretend food, Kipper and books, however, the one item that won his heart immediately is the one we didn't buy...a friend's hand-me-down electric keyboard piano! I think I will miss the pretend one.