September Saturdays :: Rooting for the Royals

9/21
In early September Will chose a Royals game as his second reward for a month of patch wearing. After consulting with both the Royals' calendar and TJ's travel schedule we were left with 2 possible games, one of which was Sunday. Will had to wait an additional 2 weeks before he received his reward, but he was willing to wait. He's always liked baseball, but this season he turned into a fan.

It was "Fan Appreciation Night," and the first 10,000 people got free blankets. Of course we got there early. We hung out in the kid zone for about an hour before we headed to our seats at the start of the game. It was a packed house, probably the highest attended game our family has ever been to. At the time the Royals still had an outside chance at the wildcard spot, so there was a spirit of optimism in the air.

Riding the carousel

Love those fountains

Will really enjoyed himself on the playground. Climbing is serious business.

There was a live 80s cover band that we danced to for awhile. Some drunk Rangers fans really liked TJ's moves.

Both Will and Lauren got up to bat at the "Little K."

Lauren

Will

By the time the game actually started I was ready to sit down. Early runs by the Rangers put a damper on the crowd's enthusiasm. Refusing to rest before we went to the baseball game put a damper on Will's enthusiasm. We still had fun.

Lauren surprised us all and had a was happy for the entire four hour excursion. Except for when I wouldn't let her eat a piece of hot dog the little boy sitting behind us dropped. Nobody's perfect.

It was fun having my dad with us too.

2013 :: week 39

Will decided he wanted a glass of water Sunday afternoon, so he got our water pitcher out of the fridge. Some of the water spilled and instead of telling me about it he got out the broom and started to mop it up. While doing this he slipped and fell. He insisted he needed ice to help the bump on the back of his head.

Monday we got out and enjoyed the beautiful weather by spending some time at the neighborhood park. 

Lauren loves Caillou. Lucky for her, we've got several books around the house thanks to Will's former obsession with Caillou. Unlucky for me, the books make it impossible to escape him. Tuesday she insisted on bringing a Caillou book along for our morning walk.

Our neighborhood library offers several storytimes. Lately we've been attending the Wednesday evening family session. Kids are encouraged to come in their pajamas. Will and Lauren really love it.

Lauren is crazy. She pulls out every clip I put in her hair, but when hair gets in her face (which it does all the time, I am trying to grow her bangs out) she just lifts it up with her hand.

Will has been asking me if we could go to the mall and ride on the carousel all week. We finally got around to it Friday evening. Will and TJ rode in the tea cup while Lauren and I watched. They had a fun time spinning.

We had a full schedule of fun outside activities planned for this morning. So when it rained all morning we were left with a not a lot to do. We ended up having a pretty low-key day. When a picture of your kid playing angry birds on the kindle and your husband on the computer surrounded by piles of laundry is the only picture you took that day, you know it was a pretty prosaic day.

visitors from the west

At the end of August Melanie's high school BFF got married. Melanie and Andrew came to town to be part of the wedding party and Jill arranged a visit to the homeland to coincide with the time the Staritas were in town. Almost a reunion with 10/13 of the family in town.

Will was pretty excited to hang out with the Staritas Andrew. :)

So excited to show off his school he can't look at the camera.

As per usual, we spent a lot of time at the pool.

Pool rats like us are rewarded for our excessive devotion to the pool with seriously discounted prices at the snack bar. The only snacks we bought all year. Which leads me to the next thing we did a lot of while the Utahans were in town--eating.

Oklahoma Joe's

Eating BBQ sauce with a spoon

Mom stocks up on Blue Bell when Jill's in town

While the rest of the family was at the aforementioned wedding, Jill joined us as we took in a Royals game. It was really hot.

Will really got into the game. He still talks about how the Royals are gonna beat the Nationals (the team they played that evening).

Our kids are really lucky to have so many fun aunts and uncles on both sides of the family.

Melanie brought a set of orchestra figurines that she was gifted at a white elephant exchange and Will loves them. Andrew listened to countless "jokes," (torture for all who have endured Will's jokes), taught him to play Nintendo, and let Will follow him around for hours.

Jill entertained Lauren while the boys were getting their hair cut, watched the kids for me so I could get some time to myself, and wowed Will with the fact that their names rhyme.

The days after everyone left were brutal. Not only were the kids used to extra adult attention, TJ went to DC and I didn't feel well. Writing this post made me anxious for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the next time we get to spend a lot of time with family.

4 EYES

Will recently had a follow-up to his July eye appointment where we learned he has a lazy eye.

The good, the bad and the neutral:

:: The patching is working and the vision in his right (less dominant) eye has improved!

:: He gets to wear glasses in hopes of helping his eyes focus correctly.

:: He still needs to keep wearing the patch for an additional 3 to 6 months to prevent his eye from reverting back.

Wearing the glasses

We're now about 10 days into the glasses-wearing-phase and the honeymoon is o v e r. Initially Will was quite excited about wearing glasses. He had fun trying them on and picking out his frames and case. But once the reality of wearing them ALL.THE.TIME. hit him things went south. We've already had to take the frames in to be repaired. I feel like I have a third child. I know that sounds dramatic, but I am constantly having to check to make sure Will is still wearing them, and when he isn't (most of the time) I have to locate them because he never seems to remember where they came off. Punishing him for taking them off isn't very effective because he really hates wearing them and agrees to put them on, only to take them off again as soon as I am distracted. When they are actually on, he spends a majority of the time peeking over the top. It's a bit of a hard sell because he can see fine without them. As far as I understand it, the glasses are to help his eyes focus correctly. We have good days and bad days with the glasses, and clearly today was a bad day.

 Picking out frames

 Looking over the top

 Taking the glasses off and putting their well-being in danger

Tonight Will asked me if he could get new glasses without the glass. Such a hipster. I'm grateful that his main objection to the glasses is that it is harder to see out of them, not that he doesn't like them.

September Saturdays :: KC

9/14
We spent most of our morning and early afternoon making a few stops around Kansas City. First we had to find branch of our credit union that was open on Saturday. Then we had to head to the K to buy Royals tickets for the following Saturday (to get the best deal you had to drive buy your tickets AT the stadium). Google maps told us to take a back road between our two destinations that, as it turned out, was gated off with a hand painted "Private Property" sign. Our ensuing debate over how to get where we were going led Will to ask us "What are you guys DOING up there!?" in a very exasperated voice. Eventually we found our way and all was well.

Post errands we headed to the Power & Light District for some Family Fun, carnival style.

After lunching at the BK Whopper Bar we hit the street. As usual the kids enjoyed the musica. Will liked the the instruments and Lauren danced her little heart out.

We only let the kids participate in free activities. Luckily there was a fun art tent with chalk, spray paint, tempera paints, and face paints.

 Lauren doesn't like grates and I don't blame her.

 Chalk she likes.

 Drawing a beard. What is it with men and facial hair?

Unlike the previous Saturday the weather was idyllic. 

September Saturdays :: Spinach Festival

Saturday has been our favorite day lately because it is just about the only time we've gotten to spend time together as a family. Anthony has been really busy with work, traveling to DC or upstate NY each week this month. I guess you could say the last quarter of the fiscal year is his "busy season." So Saturdays have taken on extra significance with TJ gone during the week.

9/7
A few weeks ago we hit up the Lenexa Spinach Festival. It was our 3rd time attending, but I neglected to blog about it last year. It was a hot, hot day. Naturally the thing Will would want to do most of all was "fish" in the hot sun.

Despite our patience, we didn't catch anything. Will intermittently throwing rocks in the water may have had something to do with it.

One of the things that makes the Spinach Festival so fun is the variety of free activities for kids. There was a Home Depot building workshop, painting station for finished Home Depot craft, photobooth, craft station for making a frame for photobooth pictures, fishing, bounce houses, wheel of fortune, fishing and 5 minute massages. Well, the massages were enjoyed by the adults.

On top of everything else there was live music playing too (always a plus for Will). My favorite memory from the day was when the masseuse asked me if "the hubby enjoyed easy listening" while Anthony sang along to a Paul Simon song. The band played a variety of hits. Will got the "Na na na na na na naaaah" (P!ink) stuck in his head and still sings it regularly, which he likes to mix up with "tonight's gonna be a good, good niiiight" (Black-Eye Peas).

As the heat rose my interest in picture taking waned. We later checked and it had been close to 100 degrees while we out. We ran into several friends and opted meet them at Red Robin for lunch instead of dining at the festival. Maybe not the most "shopping local" decision, but when you've got hot, grumpy kids, an AC becomes priority.

Can't go to a Spinach Festival without meeting Popeye and Olive Oyl.

 

2012 // 2013

Photobooth comparison

2013 :: week 38

 Anthony has introduced the kids to his go-to snack of choice:  graham crackers and milk.

Lauren is a little songbird. She loves playing the piano. She spends a fair amount of time each day pounding away at the keys and singing.

It rained most of the day Tuesday. By the time evening rolled around we were going a bit stir crazy. Luckily there was a brief respite and we were able to squeeze in a quick park visit. The picture almost captures the humidity that was in the air.

Will loves apples, but he won't eat the peel. He always ends up with a stack of peels that he generously offers to me when he's done.

Thursday evening it was my turn to host book club. We read the book The Forgotten Garden. I had to make a character map to keep everything straight. Despite the crazy rain and almost losing power, we had a fun discussion. I always look forward to book club.

TJ and I headed out for dinner Friday night. I hired a babysitter earlier in the week so we could enjoy some kid free time after Anthony's week in upstate New York. Unfortunately, I got a really bad headache and we were had to cut our night out short. It was fun to celebrate the 8th anniversary of our first date by trying out the new dipping sauces at Red Robin. Campfire and Ranch are still our favorites.

Saturday we headed to the K in hopes of watching the Royals inch closer to their first playoff berth in 28 years. Didn't turn out that way, but we still had fun.