A Day at Gramps & Grandma Blanchard's House

Monday, Brycen was lucky enough to spend the entire day with Grandma Blanchard!  I asked her to write some of the fun things they did together down and here they are:

Hi Sharon,   Just a quick note about our day.

Brycen never made a PEEP all night long. 

Brycen woke up about 6:30 and immediately went looking for the horses.   We played a little while and ate breakfast with gramps. He had a piece of toast and some cereal.  Then we got dressed and went to town to water the hanging baskets on Main Street.  He got to ride on a golf cart from the park to Main Street.  I had him flip the switch that turned on the motor that pumped the water thru a watering wand.  He did a great job and was very good about sitting in the seat.  Lots of people came by to talk to us, and at first he was a little bit quiet, but then he would usually start jabbering to them.   We had 18 baskets to water and each one took a couple minutes.  We saw at least 5 trains while we were uptown, so he got to SEE them up close, and HEAR them.   When we were less than a block away, the train's whistle was super loud and scared him BRIEFLY.   We took the golf cart back to the park and then drove across the park to the playground.  There was a 3 year old girl, Madeline, and a 5 year old boy, Gabe, playing there with their mother, Bee Kaplan.  The kids played together nicely and we stayed about a half hour or so.  Brycen especially like the rocking animals.  Then we drove up to the library, went in and picked out a couple puzzles and several books.   Caillou  and Berenstain Bears.  He refused to tell Kristi how old he was...although he did tell Bob Yilek earlier.  On the way home we saw a big truck cutting down a tree, and then we stopped to look at four horses in a small pasture.  We didn't go up to the fence, but watched them from the road.  When we got home we stayed outside and fed grass to the horses.  They didn't like the asparagus or the garden lettuce we tried to feed them, so we just kept pulling out grass.  When we went inside we went down in the basement and Brycen played with play-doh and Dan's Bumper to Bumper cars and trucks.  We lined them up, and crashed them, and talked about how some of them were alike and how they were different. 

We had leftover pizza, salad,  and applesauce for lunch.  Then we read about 4 books and Brycen took a nap for about 2 hours.  When he woke up I heard his little voice saying, "Grandma, Grandma."     After nap we had a little juice and a little snack, and some milk.  He played with playdoh some more, and some of his toys.  Then we went back outside to hang up some laundry and the horses came back, so we fed them more grass and petted them.   Brycen kept talking about how SHY the brown horse was.  Finally we came inside and got ready to go to the pool.
I wasn't sure how he would react to the BP pool, but I wanted to try it out and see if he liked it.   

There were several people there I knew with their grandkids, or kids.   We walked into the water and Brycen was excited to try to get Grandma wet.   He crawled into the TRAIN and slid down the mini slide (inside the train) a couple times.  I "caught him"  as he came out the end.   But, his favorite thing to do was to hit at or try to smash the 4  "water spouts."   He just giggled and laughed and tried to splash me.  Several other kids were very nice to Brycen and played with him, or gave him hugs.   We walked over into the deeper water and he kicked his feet, put his face in the water and blew bubbles, but the whistle blew and we had to get out for 10 min.   So when we got back in the water, he wanted to play in the shallow end, and we stayed there until we left.  We were there about an hour altogether, and he didn't want to leave.   He "made friends" with several kids about his age or a little older/younger, and one boy, Ty,  who was about 9, was especially happy to play with him.

When we got home from the pool he looked for the horses and of course, they came again.  I think they recognize his little voice!

Then on the way home to Swisher Brycen spotted lots of cows, horses, etc. and he SANG all kinds of songs.  He giggled and laughed and entertained us! 

I forgot...he went potty 3 times (pooped 2 times) on his potty.  Had one BM in his diaper in the afternoon while we were outside.  (my fault)  He was such a good helper and a good eater and we had a great time....probably the best day I've had in years & years!   I loved it!

Thanks for letting me have him for the day.   

You can certainly tell he has a wonderful Mommy!  (& Daddy).    

Brycen helping Gramps fill up the bird feeder

Father's Day Weekend

Our family had an absolutely wonderful Father's Day weekend!  Saturday morning started off with a nice long bike ride from Ely to Cedar Rapids.  It's the first time this summer we've taken the time to ride this trail. Brycen had a great time riding along.  We saw birds, horses, rabbits and other bikers on the trail.  The cool morning was just the perfect temperature for riding bikes.

 

Saturday night we had our friends Cody & Angie and their two kids, Mason & Avery over for some fun.  The boys had fun riding their bikes on the driveway, playing with bubbles, playing catch with a baseball and a Frisbee all before suppertime.  The weather was perfect for being outside playing in t-shirts and shorts. After they left, Brycen got to push his bedtime by about an hour.  He played with the neighbor girls on their trampoline and by the crick that goes through our backyards.  He sure adores our neighbors and has fun with them!

The Daddy long leg spider we saw on Father's Day after a walk to pick flowers

Sunday was Father's Day!  Brycen made a great impression by delivering freshly made chocolate chip muffins and his card to Dad in bed.  Dad also got to sleep in a little bit... a treat!  We went to church and Brycen was a good boy again.  Besides the lack of whispering, he feels right at home.  When we got home, Brycen & I went for a walk to pick some flowers in the ditch up the road for Dad.  

After nap time, we loaded up the fishing gear and hit the road to Hannen Lake for a little fishing fun.  Brycen was very interested in the worms (naturally) but did very well fishing.  We were there for just about 2 hours and he's learning patience a little bit at a time.  We were unsuccessful with catching any fish, but watched the dragonflys, kids swimming at the beach, the occasional turtle pop its head up, and a few fish that were jumping out of the water.  

After our fishing fun, we took the short drive down the road to Gramps & Grandma Blanchard's house for supper.  Brycen immediately noticed that the horses were up close to the house and before much was said, he was running outside to feed them some grass.  We ate outside on the deck for supper and Brycen roamed the yard, helping Gramps fill the bird feeders, pick a few ripe cherries off the tree, and play with the dirt in Grandma's garden.  By the time bath time came around, he'd had a full day of being a busy little boy outside.  

Brycen got to stay the night at their house and spend Monday with Grandma Blanchard.  

Brycen's first time fishing.  

Checking out the night crawlers

Visiting Dad at the lot

Brycen is listening to Dad's music in the ear bud.  Pretty cool!

Thursday night, Burke was working on laying insulation board in the basement at the lot and Brycen & I stopped by after supper to visit him.  Brycen has had a lot of fun so far around the construction at the lot and I took a video of him goofing off making lots of "explosion" sound effects.  He's been making a lot of sound effects lately and it's partly because his imagination is starting to run WILD!

We're hoping to have the concrete poured any day now so we can finally move forward with the building process.

Here's the video:

Taking care of Tiger

Our neighbors have been on vacation for the past week in Colorado so Brycen & I have been in charge of taking care of their house while they were gone for a week.  We've been collecting their mail and feeding both their cat and their beta fish.  Tiger is a very skiddish cat, unlike the common cuddly, always-in-your-face house cats.

We've had a good time going over and feeding the fish, (Brycen would do well taking care of a fish) but Tiger has yet to be seen when Brycen is there.  Is this a sign that Tiger doesn't like Brycen?

They came home late on Thursday and he had a great time doing "tiger chores." We're really going to miss our great neighbors and friends!

Because a little bug went... Kachoo!

A few weeks ago, I was going through my cedar chest to see if I could find my softball glove and ended up packing up a few boxes of the contents.  I ran across about 8 books I had kept from my parent's house (sorry Mom & Dad) that were my favorites when I was little.  I have wonderful memories of my Dad reading to me at night and sharing his love of the Dr. Seuss books and many others.

A few books were beyond Brycen and will be saved for a later date, but I was so excited to read Brycen some of the books from my childhood.  A few that I immediately read the next night were "Because a little bug went Kachoo," "The Spooky Old Tree," and "Miss Gator's School house."  I had already purchased "Otto" for Brycen at Christmas time so I kept that one with the stash.  (That is why you're unable to find the Otto book at home Dad!)

Brycen has recently fell in love with the Bernstein Bears books and the Spooky Old Tree was a big hit with him. The three little bears, one with a light, one with a stick, and one with a rope.  His favorite parts are when the bears have the shivers!

Another favorite right now is "Because a little bug went Kachoo."  He is strong into the questioning phase of life with many why, when, where, what does that mean conversations and this book is the cure!  Every part of the book is a chain reaction to something so he asks why once, maybe, but the story tells all of the answers.  :)  A little relief to all the questions.

Brycen just loves books and it's incredible to see how quickly he picks up on the story and can tell you all about it.  He just recently started "reading" to us at home, too.  He will tell you what he remembers about the story based on the pictures.  He will also point out very small details on the book that mean nothing to the story but grab his attention.

His imagination has really been growing.  As I put him to bed last night he told me that he saw a shadow moving and that it was a monster.  I attempted to shut his curtains to create a completely dark room and told him there are no monsters.  I'm not sure where the monsters came from, but I hope he grows out of it quickly!

When Brycen grows up...

Last night Brycen and I went to yet another in-home daycare, ran some errands, and made our way home.  He got to play outside for a little bit, but was disappointed when he had to come in for supper... food is way down low on the totem pole when the weather is nice to be outside.

As we were finishing up supper, Brycen asked if we could call somebody on my phone.  I asked who... suggesting Grandpa & Grandma Fara, Gramps & Grandmpa Blanchard, Uncle Ross... who?  His response was (Great) Grandpa & Donna.  It must have been a "God-incidence" because we haven't spoken to Grandpa Dave & Donna in a while.  For some reason, it was meant that we called them.  Brycen was shy at first on the phone, (surprise, surprise!) but had a good conversation with them.

At one point Donna asked what Brycen had been up to or something that prompted him to say the words, "I'm going to shoot baskets when I grow up."  Clear as day... I'd never heard him say that.  I laughed and asked if he was going to play football... nope.  I asked if he was going to be a wrestler and wrestle when he grew up... nope.  Apparently Brycen will be shooting baskets when he grows up.  For a 27 month old to say that it really shocked me.

We all know that his Mama will enjoy it because I love shooting baskets!

Happy Monday!

A quick "Happy Monday" to everyone out there.  Here's a smile and a wave from one of the most handsome little boys...