September - School, Swimming, and Sunshine!

Colten has been very busy at school this month!  They just finished a unit on dinosaurs and even watched their class volcano explode - too cool!  Colten also has been working hard on printing his letters and numbers.  He has made great progress already but still struggles with letter size and staying on the lines and that number 5 really gives him difficulty.  He always compares his to ours, not realizing that we all have had YEARS of practice.  Hang in there, Colten! With your determination, you will master it before you know it!

He also started staying for lunch one day every week.  I wanted him to get used to eating both hot and cold lunches at school since next year he will be in kindergarten all day.  He was so excited for his lunch box and to stay with his friends, especially because he would get to eat with Kayleigh even though she is not in his class this year.  Miss Mary said that he was too cute on the first lunch day.  I guess he thought it was still part of class and he wanted to do things just right so he kept asking her, "What should I eat next?" after he finished each part of his lunch (bologna and mustard sandwich, grapes, carrots and ranch dip, and a juice box).  This month he is also going to try hot pizza lunches!  Yum! Yum!

Olivia, Kayleigh, and Colten ready for school and lunchtime!

Colten also has been continuing his swim lessons at the Y and is still loving it and doing sooooooo well!  For the first two sessions, I left Ryan home with Daddy but I noticed that some moms were in the really shallow area with their young toddlers and I found out that while Colten is in his lesson, I can take Ryan in to play as well!  Needless to say, Ryan was thrilled this past weekend and had a blast on the play-gym in the water.  The first time he went down the slide he went under and then didn't want to try it again, but I reassured him that I would hold his hand and then he loved it and went again and again and again.  In fact, he even went down the larger tube slide 3 times as well!  He had so much fun but of course didn't want to leave even when Colten's lesson was over.

After Colten's lesson, his teacher stopped Tom and told him that we may have a future swim team member on our hands.  She said that he is very concerned about his technique already and that he pays attention to his form while swimming.  Who knows what he will pursue, but it was a great compliment and he does LOVE it!

After swim class, we were off to our annual trip to White House Farms for pumpkin and apple fun!  We had planned to go the previous weekend, but Colten experienced his first school sickness with a fever and cough and runny nose.  But in the end, it worked out even better because the weather was perfect!  When we first arrived, we took our annual horse-drawn hayride through the apple orchid.

Tom and Jerry were our guides!

Then we were off to explore the petting zoo, playground, inflatable caterpillar, and lake.  Colten loved climbing around in the inflatable caterpillar but Ryan seemed too young; there was a rope ladder to climb in order to get to the top of the slide that led to the exit and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to make it up or that other kids would not have the patience to let him try.  He was so sad though as he peeked through the windows to watch Colten.  So I took Ryan over to the lake, bought some fish food, and let him feed the fish.  He loved it and laughed away. 

Mommy, Colten, and Ryan in the pumpkin cut-outs

Ryan and Colten with Bonnie the farm dog

And then it was off to the pumpkin patch to choose this year's pumpkins!  I desperately wanted a cute photo of the boys together, but no luck.  I got a few good individual shots though.  In the end both boys chose pumpkins they could respectively carry (at least for a moment) and ones that are covered in bumps.  Gotta love it!

"I found mine, Mom!"

"Me too!"  I love his face as he tries to lift it!

I was really hoping to get a great photo of Ryan that I could use on his upcoming birthday invitation, so I tried one last time on a pumpkin bale of hay...but no luck.

Cute but you can see the exhaustion - Ryan powered through without a nap that day!

And I tried one last time for a cute photo of the boys together...no luck once again.

So much for 'hug your brother' - try choke-hold I guess - oh to have 2 boys : )

But in case you are wondering, I eventually got the cute photo for Ryan's birthday invitation the next day!  Check it out!

And a few other random pics -

Ryan loves any and every ball - so much in fact that he climbed right into his basket of balls!

Ryan and his pal Lady!

Looking at his truck book in the tent

Two bat-boys thanks to McDonald's Happy Meals!

We hope everyone has a fun start to fall!  Let the countdown to Halloween begin!

Fairs and Firsts

To end the summer, we headed to the Canfield Fair for some good old-fashioned fair fun over Labor Day weekend!  As usual, it was VERY hot, but we had a blast anyway - eating fattening fair foods, checking out the baby animals at Old McDonald's Farm, playing silly games and winning even sillier prizes! 
Our annual pictures with the fair pumpkin -

Check out their matching "County Fair" shirts!  (This time it was at least somewhat unplanned though - I had one from Colten when he was little and then Braden passed a larger size down to Colten so it was perfect!)

We love our cut-outs! - Colten at the YSU tent as Pete the Penguin!

On our way to a pizza stand, Colten and I spotted this dart game that had a sign reading "kids win every time!" so after lunch we headed back to let Colten try his luck.  The man running the game was so nice to Colten; he was only supposed to get three tries, but after his third miss, the man said "I never saw that" as he handed him another dart.  He let Colten throw until he popped a balloon!  And Colten was so excited because he actually won his little blue stuffed dog then! 

And then we were off to KiddyLand!  Unfortunately by this time we were all very hot and Ryan was very tired so we played a game and opted out of rides.  There is always next year - plus Ryan will be able to ride everything with Colten by then too.

The boys had to pick a duck and then they won a prize; Ryan just wanted to play in the water though!  Colten chose a blue race car, and Ryan chose - you guessed it - a ball (which he proceeded to throw into the water as well - it was time to head home!)

We had a so much fun!  But as much as I always enjoy the fair, a part of me dreads it because it truly marks the end of summer and the start of school...

This year, Colten and I both began on the same day so I sadly wasn't able to be with him on his first day of his second year of preschool.  Luckily Grandma is the next best thing to mom, and he still had her and Ryan of course.  In fact, Grandpa was even able to see him for a moment as he arrived at school.  I missed him but was super glad that he was excited and that he had a great day!  In fact, his teacher from last year moved up with the students, so he already knows her and most all of the kids.  Sadly, Kayleigh is not in his class this year, but they still see each other during gym and when they stay for lunch.  Regardless, I know that he misses her.  She truly is his best friend; they have literally known each other since her birth and will hopefully always have a special place in each other's hearts. 

I always try to make his first day of school a bit of a celebration, so even though I couldn't take him out to lunch this year after school, we celebrated later with a HUGE cookie cake from Sam's Club! 

Last year Colten went to school three days a week, but this year I chose to send him all five.  It is still only for half of the day but I wanted to begin transitioning him for kindergarten when he will go all five days and all day.  I was a bit worried that he would complain about not being home with Grandma and Ryan, but so far he just seems to be really enjoying himself and all that he is learning.  It is hard to believe but even in comparison to last year, he is doing so much more and learning like crazy!  I am so proud of him already!

And Ryan and Grandma are enjoying their bonding time as well - even though Ryan does miss Colten.  He has never known life without his big brother so when Colten is not around Ryan may enjoy playing with his toys but you can tell he misses his companion.  In fact one day Grandma said it was time to go pick Colten up from school; Ryan smiled and said "Colten. Happy!"  Too cute if I do say so myself. 

Anyone who knows Ryan knows that he is OBSESSED with balls so we took the boys to the first Fitch home football game of the season.  Even though the game didn't begin until after Ryan's usual bedtime, they still had a blast and did not want to leave.  As soon as Ryan saw the players, he was yelling "football" and "helmet!"  We left at half-time because it was getting too late, but both boys want to go to another game! 

From that point on, Ryan was obsessed with helmets and kept trying to put mini helmets on his head.  While I was shopping that weekend, I found a clearance softball helmet at Wal-Mart and couldn't pass it up.  Check Ryan out!  He loves it!

And one last note that melted my heart.  Today after school, I was sitting with Colten and Ryan as they ate.  Ryan turned to me, gave me a hug, and said "love you."  I couldn't believe it!  It was completely unprompted for one, and Ryan rarely says that anyway.  More often than not, if we say "I love you," he says "bye-bye" because he associates it with us leaving him to sleep or so we can go to work, etc.  I love the boys so much!  They continue to surprise me everyday!

Summer 2013 (is over already...)

Loving gummies and the USA in 4th of July gear!

So much for hoping to update at least once a month...now summer is already over...and I can't believe it.  We got out of school in mid-May and everyone talked of how long summer would be, but as usual summer went so quickly, too quickly - probably because I love being home with my two boys so much and wish I could be home all year round with them.  Here are the highlights of our summer!
Father's Day Pirates Game - Take Two -  Since our plans got rained out on Father's Day, we tried again a few weeks later, and had a blast despite the fact that it rained AGAIN!  I joked that we were going to the game regardless of the weather this time, so Papa came prepared with umbrellas and ponchos for everyone!  Before the game, we ate a local bar, and Colten was his usual silly self!

The McCutcheon Men (and Colten as a mustard-ketchup robot)

Grandma and Grandpa

Inside the stadium

Papa came prepared for the rain, and boy would we have needed that gear if we hadn't been lucky enough to score seats under the roof.  We weren't lucky enough to all get seats right next to each other, but at least we all stayed dry during the hour + rain delay.  So the boys only got to see 1.5 innings of the game and a long delay, but we all had a blast regardless!

A Vaca to Presque Isle - Colten began asking to go to the beach in early winter, so we knew that we had to take a trip there over the summer.  Since Daddy is back in college, we had to stay pretty close to home.  Of all these years living here, none of us had ever visited Presque Isle but had heard great things about it so we decided to take the boys to the beach there.  And boy are we happy that we did; in fact, I think it will become an annual trip!  We had so much fun, and it was only an hour and a half from home!  I can't believe we hadn't explored this gem sooner.
We headed up early on our first day of vacation and went straight to the beach - beach 11 to be exact.  It was perfect - calm, shallow water and only a handful of other families with whom to share the beach.

Colten and Ryan - hand-in-hand

Playing in the sand

Ryan dumping water and sand all over himself

Sara's Diner - This is the counter where we ordered.

After the beach, we stopped at Sara's Diner for lunch.  What a cool place!  I even felt a little bit like I was in the movie Shag! 

They are known for their ice cream, particularly the orange (which is what Colten has too hidden behind all of those sprinkles!)

Colten and Ryan outside of Sara's

Posing in a classic car cut-out

We ate at Cracker Barrel for breakfast one morning, and I just loved this highchair!

I think the boys enjoyed playing on the luggage cart just as much as they did the beach!

Colten had us bury him in the sand multiple times each day that we went to the beach!

Bringing water up from Lake Erie.

We were out quite a ways in the lake, and Colten practiced swimming back without his swimmies!

I love the joy on Ryan's face here as he plays in the water!

The McCutcheon Family!

While we were in town, we wanted to try eateries that were unique to the area.  So one night we stopped at Pufferbelly's.  It was one of the original firehouses that had been converted into a restaurant - so cool to see and such yummy food, too!

 

 After a long day of fun...

Ryan cleaned-up and ready to sleep

Another night we stopped at Boston's Bar and Grill and while the food was fabulous, our experience there was the worst restaurant experience I have ever had...thanks to Ryan.  In all fairness, he did not get a nap, and it was WAY past his bedtime, but we still needed to eat.  First, Ryan screamed at the sight of his highchair, so we tried a booster seat.  He initially seemed happy with that but then would not sit still to say the least.  When his food arrived, my usually fabulous eater, just wanted to play with and throw his food around and on me while screaming.  In the end, Tom and I had them box our food up just about when it arrived.  We headed back to the hotel, and I put Ryan to sleep.  Because we just had one room, Daddy, Colten and I had to huddle near the bathroom after I put Ryan in the pack-n-play so that he wouldn't see us and would actually go to sleep.  Needless to say, that is where Tom and I ate our dinner.  What an experience!  And what great memories now!

At Boston's - in a booster before dinner interesting...

On our last morning there, a cold front had come through and it was freezing.  Okay, it was in the 50's but it felt really cold and we had had plans to go on a lagoon ride and to check out the lighthouses.  I knew it would feel even colder closer to the lake so we headed to Walmart in hopes of finding sweatshirts.  And while they didn't have much, we were lucky enough to find something to keep us warm.  So we headed to Tim Horton's for special treats; Colten had never had a whole donut before, let alone for breakfast.  But he loved it!

Enjoying a double chocolate donut for breakfast!

Then we were off to the lagoon ride!

Ready to go!  And they even let Colten ring the bell to announce the boarding of the pontoon!

Enjoying the ride!

Looking for turtles

Ryan and Mommy - I was just happy he sat still for the most part.  The tour guide told me that I could let him walk around, but I know my boy and know that he would have gone right in the water!

Colten got to drive the pontoon for bit!

After the lagoon ride, we headed over to see one of the lighthouses.

I love this photo of Colten on a huge piece of driftwood.

Because we spent all of our beach time on Beach 11, I was happy to show the boys the real Lake Erie that I remember from vacations with my grandparents - the crashing waves, the dead fish on the beach, the shells to collect along the shore, and the sounds and smells that cannot be described in words.  

 

 We had such a fabulous trip and hope to go back every year now!  Every day we learned of more and more that we wanted to do so next year will bring more adventures!

10 Year Wedding Anniversary -  Tom and I also celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary!  I can't believe it! We have been together for 15 years (including our dating years), but it has gone so quickly; in fact, I can barely remember our life together prior to having the boys.  We had such a wonderful day together.  It began by taking the boys to the Summer Festival of the Arts at YSU.  We go every year and love it - the book sale, the art for sale, the ethnic foods, the kids crafts and activities, the entertainment - everything.

Daddy and Ryan waiting while Colten makes his craft

"All finished with my masterpiece!"

Trying is hand at paint spinning

After a fun afternoon with the boys, Tom and I headed out for a special night.  Grandma and Grandpa kept Colten and Ryan overnight so we had the whole night to ourselves - whatever would we do?  We started with a really nice dinner at Whitefire, followed by ice cream at Handle's (and we actually got to eat it without wiping dripping ice cream from children's faces and hands), and then we were off to Lowe's to buy a new facet for the kitchen (romantic, I know, but ours was leaking), and we ended our outing with a fun game of putt-putt!  We had a blast!  I wasn't anything extravagant but it was perfect.  We even got to watch a movie when we got home - Bridesmaids - that we both had yet to watch if that tells you anything!  Happy Anniversary, Tom!  Love you!

A Visit with Uncle Mike - Shortly after our trip to Presque Isle, we headed down to visit Uncle Mike in Columbus.  Every time we visit, I always try to pack so much into our stay, so this time Grandma and I headed down early with the boys and Daddy and Grandpa followed on the weekend.  We started our fun by stopping at Red Robin to eat lunch and then a trip to the Disney Store.  Later that night, we headed to the Moss Family home for dinner with KC, Greg, Braden, Ella, Aunt Joyce, Uncle Frank, Chris, and Liz.  It was so great to visit with everyone and watch the kids play together.  Thanks for hosting us!

Ryan and Uncle Mike!  It was the first time he heard Ryan call him "Mike" on his own!

On Friday, Uncle Mike took the day off and we all headed to the zoo (of course my mom and I had already spent the day at Easton the day before!)  We were all excited to see the dinosaurs!

Check out their matching dino outfits!  (I won't be able to do that much longer, but while I can...)

"Look out, Uncle Mike!"

Getting ready for the dino ride

On the boat ride though dino land!

The ride was so cool, complete with a huge variety of dinos and even some that spit (water) at us as we passed by.

The kids loved posing on all of the animal statues.

On Saturday, Tom, Uncle Mike, Colten and I headed to the Dublin Irish Festival!  One of the local TV stations took our photo against a green screen and imposed the Big Bang Theory cast - so fun!

We also found a park there where Colten, Daddy, and Uncle Mike played.

a modern merry-go-round - I was dizzy just watching!

We enjoyed great food (and some of us enjoyed some beer) and we even purchased a copy of the original McCutcheon Crest with a brief history of our family name.  And Colten had fun bouncing in kiddy land and making lots of crafts from a hat to a bookmark and scratch and color wand!

Colten showing off his creations!

 Shortly after the festival, we headed to the local splash pad where the boys (and Uncle Mike) had a blast!  Ryan was obsessed with this water gun but eventually ran through the water a bit too!

 

Colten was much more adventurous this time, even trying to stand under the buckets!

 

 

Leading Ryan through 'the car wash'!

 Before heading home on Sunday, we stopped at Schimdt's for a yummy lunch and their famous cream puffs - oh how I wish I could just taste one!

 

 Chase made the journey home with Grandma and Grandpa because Uncle Mike was headed off on a business trip.  No one prompted Ryan to do this so I'm not sure what made him think of it, but every time he saw Chase at Grandma and Grandpa's house, he would climb on him and yell "Ride!"  I guess he thought that Chase was his very own live horse like the Lucky toy horse he rides at their house!  Chase was such a great sport as you can see!

 

Other Colten and Ryan Updates -
We initially set up the sand and water table, but quickly converted it to a water table after Ryan insisted on eating and eating and eating sand.  Then Colten and Ryan decided that it was their own personal pool and would climb in it to sit and even stand - silly boys!  But they had more fun than I ever imagined every time they played in it!

Colten and Ryan in their matching Monsters U pjs

The first time Ryan uses a real toothbrush - I got tired of him biting me when I used the finger brush

Heading to Mackenzie's first birthday party - a Hawaiian theme.  The boys are actually wearing authentic Hawaiian outfits that Uncle Mike had as a little boy!

At the party - even if we were one of the few who actually dressed the part!

This summer Ryan also decided that he was done sitting in his highchair at home.  One more for breakfast he insisted on sitting at Colten's little yellow table in the living room, so I obliged.  Of course I knew that wouldn't fly with Colten once he was awake so I cleaned off the other red table in the basement and now both boys have their own tables where they can enjoy some meals.

1st time eating at his own red table!

And the first time he is using a booster to eat at the dining room table with the family!

Other than that our summer was filled with swimming - at least when the weather allowed!  Colten took swim lessons at the YMCA all summer and made more progress than I ever could have imagined!  My goal was to help him learn to swim without swimmies, and boy did he accomplish that and more.  He started out as a Pike, using floatation devices to help him swim and learning how to jump in.  It took him most of that three week class to jump voluntarily without holding anyone's hands, but once he jumped, he never looked back!  While I was thrilled with his progress, I wasn't sure that the classes were helping him learn how to swim so I wasn't going to sign him back up.  However, Colten loved going and asked if he could keep swimming.  Since he was so interested, we signed back up as a Pike and I am so happy that we did!  By the end of session two, he was swimming by himself!  During this session, the teachers divided the class into two, one with stronger swimmers and one with those less comfortable.  Luckily Colten went with the stronger swimmers, even though he was the weakest of those in that group.  However, this pushed him to make up ground, and he sure did.  By the end of that session, he had passed Pike and even tested out of the next Eel group.  Regardless, I kept him with the Eels for the last summer session just to be sure he felt comfortable and had good breath control.  By the end of that session, he had swam a lap unassisted and even learned to dive for dive sticks!  I am so proud of Colten and am glad he has found something that he really loves.  Initially he said that he didn't want to sign up again, that he wanted to take a break for a while; however, on the last day of class and ever since he keeps asking when we are going back to swim class so we are signing up again tomorrow as a Ray! I have some swimming photos below but all are from early summer.

Colten and Kayleigh ready to swim!

Playing in the water

Trying out his goggles

Big jump!

Into the water he goes!

And while I can't capture this with photos, I am also so proud of Ryan who is talking more and more each day!  Colten didn't talk until well after he was 2, but not Ry-bug.  He repeats or at least tries to repeat just about everything he hears!  And right now his two favorite things are Elmo and balls of any sort; in fact those are two of his favorite words as well!!!
I had a fabulous summer with my two boys and know I will shed quite a few tears in the coming days when I  have to adjust to leaving them again.  It's back to the grind for a while...