Our Very Fun, Busy First Weekend of Summer Vacation!

School ended on Wednesday, then Teacher Work Day was Thursday, and the End of the Year Party was on Thursday night. Friday started my first day of summer vacation. It also started the first day of Dave's new schedule of having weekends off!

We started our weekend fun on Friday afternoon by taking the boat out on the lake for a bit. It was nice because there were only 2 other boats out. We, actually I should say I, am a slow boat kind of person. We take slow laps around the lake, then float for a bit. It was absolutely beautiful out and was so peaceful.

Daddy and Dane hanging out

Friday evening we grilled brats for dinner, then headed down to Troy and Vicki's house to hang out for a bit. Some of our other friends came over as well and we had fun watching the kids play and hanging out. Dane is always so entertained when we hang out with other kids. He loves to watch them play. He actually stayed up past 7:30!

Saturday morning we headed up to St. Louis. We had some errands to run and then we headed to Des Pres Pool for Trey's 5th Birthday Party!

Can't believe our little buddy is 5!

All of his friends gathered around to sing Happy Birthday!
Dane loves Trey! He loves to pat him on the head!

He also gives him big hugs!

Daddy was trying to keep Dane entertained while he waited for his piece of birthday cake!

Loved the birthday cake!

After eating cake it was time to hit the pool.

They had an inside wave pool and then a big outdoor area.

Aunt Kara and Claire trying out the indoor pool

Dane and Daddy headed outside.

Dane loves the pool.

He especially likes it when Daddy lays down and he can splash around on him.

Claire seemed to like the pool a bit more when she was near Dane.

Mommy and Dane

Dane loved swimming and it totally wore him out. He fell asleep before we even left the parking lot and then slept for a while at Mama and Papa's house.

Sunday morning we went for a long walk and then got ready to hang out with our friends again. We took the boat out and met Troy and Vicki and their boys and Tasha and Andy and their little girl on the lake.

Dane fell asleep and took a long nap on the boat.

All three boats were parked together so the guys jumped in and swam a bit.

Tyler and Dave going for a little swim

Dane woke up from his nap and loved to watch everyone swim in the lake.

With four kids under the age of 3 we didn't stay out real long. We headed back to Troy and Vicki's so the kids could play. Dane climbed onto Tyler's little motorized four wheeler. At first Dave pulled the handle bars for him and he rode around the backyard and loved it!

Next thing I know I look over and Dane is pulling the handle bars on his own and riding around. He rode very slowly, which was good, and Dave followed him around. He was having such a good time!

He loved this little four wheeler.

He also entertained himself by pushing around this wheelbarrow.

Troy grilled pork steaks and hotdogs for dinner and we made mac and cheese, baked beans, macaroni salad, and corn on the cobb. Dane really loved his mac and cheese.

It didn't take long for the boys to ditch their spoons and start using their hands!

After they both thoroughly enjoyed their dinners we put them in the tub

and got their pjs on them.

Dane didn't make it much past 7:30 tonight and he was sound asleep.

He seemed to have a blast with his little friends this weekend.

Things I LOVE!

One of my friends has a great blog! She blogs everyday, and not only does she always have a ton of pictures, and great stories about her family, but gives great advise as well. Quite a while ago she started an entry called. "Show Us Your Life Fridays". She has a theme every week for her readers to get involved. She has had organization tips, cleaning tips, vacation spots, and a ton of other themes. I have never participated in her theme posts, but love to read them and get ideas. She will seriously have 200-300 links on her blog from other readers.

Well this week her theme is Things That You Love/Make You Happy. I felt like I could definitely participate! Some of these things are obvious and some of them are just simple things!

A Few Things That I LOVE/Make Me HAPPY!

• Clearly these 2 make me so happy!

• My Entire Family
• The fact that my mom and several of my sisters are off work alot during the summer so we are planning many trips!
• Diet Mountain Dew Fountain Drinks!
• Weather when you don't have to wear a coat!
• A Clean House
• Being at the pool or on the boat on a warm, sunny, summer day.
• Days when Dave and I are both off work
• Our neighborhood- Lots of friends, kids for Dane to grow up with, taking a walk and everyone waving and saying hi, the beautiful scenery
• Great friends
• Listening to Dane talk and laugh
• Holding a freshly bathed and lotioned baby in his PJs.
• A phone call or an email from a good friend
• Girls Night Out (I need one soon!)

From 3 Months to 10 Months

Dane and I came in from our evening walk last night and he crawled around the basement for a few minutes. We don't spend much time down there. Right now it is just so busy after work in order to get dinner made, cleaned up, and then get things ready for the next day that it is just easier to be upstairs most of the time. I have started to move some of his toys downstairs in hopes that we will spend some mornings down there this summer.

Dane crawled over to his jumper and pulled up on it. I picked him up and put him in it to see if that was what he wanted. He started jumping and pulling on the banana and leaves hanging from it. He has never been able to reach those before!

As I was transferring the pictures to the computer I thought I had some of Dane in his jumper when he was younger.

Taken when Dane was 3 months old-October 27th

The back of the seat was practically laying on his head he was so small!
Taken at 10 months, May 24th-We have raised the seat up a notch now

He is so silly. He was watching Baby Einstein on TV

but wouldn't turn his chair around he just kept trying to look backwards over the seat!

My Clean House

I LOVE a clean house. Dave actually teases me sometimes because if I have a lot to do he says he can watch me come into the living room and use my finger to check the tables to see if they need dusting. If certain things aren't done before I get in bed I can't sleep. Since I want to spend all of my free time with Dane after work I have learned that I have to get up early to clean and stay up late cleaning.

This is how my bathroom usually looks.

It is bleached almost daily!

While I get ready Dane used to sit in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom and play with his basket of toys and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

He must be bored with his basket of toys. By the time I finished getting ready this morning this is how my bathroom looked. I really don't take that long to get ready either. That strong little guy pulled the hamper over. He pulled all of the clothes out of the hamper. He was banging the lid of the hamper on the floor. A one point he tried crawling inside the hamper, but got his little toes caught in the openings on the side and I had to rescue him. He found an empty Pampers box that I had kept to pack some clothes in and threw all of his toys in it and pushed it around. He got my basket of washclothes from under the sink and threw them all over.

Notice the wastebasket that I had to move to the top of the toilet.

There is hardly ever anything it,

but I just threw away this week's newspaper and he tried eating it!

Maybe I need to go to the store

and pick up some more toys for the little guy!

Either that or go by a new blow dryer that dries ALOT faster!

Miss Sue

Being a teacher you talk to a lot of parents and other teachers about childcare. You definitely hear who is good and who is not so good in childcare. Last March I started looking for childcare. It was the day after my ultrasound so I was 20 weeks and obviously in Ste. Gen that is too late. I called about 10 people who were on the "ones to get" list. Of course they had no openings. I started to stress. A week later I was standing by the copy machine at school. Another teacher asked me if I had found childcare for my baby. I told her no and then told her how stressed out I was about it. A parent of one of my former students walked in at that point and asked if I was looking for childcare. She said she knew the perfect person. I knew this mom was a very good mom and would only want the best for her children. She said she would email me the name and phone number. I thanked her, but still stressed because up to this point nothing had come through. The next day I got the email with the name and number. I went to the teacher that teaches next door to me. Jesika is a great, trusting friend who grew up in Ste. Gen and knows everyone. I asked if she had heard of Sue Basler. Her response was, "Are you kidding? She is amazing. I have been trying to get my kids into her since Sam (her oldest, who is in 6th grade now) was born." That made me feel good. I took my class to the library and asked the librarian about Sue. I got the same response, "She is wonderful!" This encounter happened between me and several other people throughout the day. So, I went and called Sue. She was so kind on the phone and excitedly said yes, she would have a spot for my sweet baby boy!

So on Thursday, October 1st, I took Dane to daycare for the first time. I was so sad and worried about leaving him that day. I remember that drive to Miss Sue's house and I kept thinking how am I ever going to make it to school. I am sure Sue remembers that day as well. Actually, her daughter, who is a freshman in college, was on her way out the door for class and I am sure she remembers me on the day! I bet Miss Sue was thinking, "What kind of mother have I got on my hands?"

Dane his first week of daycare- 2 1/2 months old

Well this year has been absolutely amazing. First, anytime, anyone in Ste Gen asked me who kept Dane and I told them Miss Sue I would get a big sigh and then, "oh, you are soooo lucky to have her." That always made me feel so good. When I would wake up Dane and tell him he was going to Miss Sue's house he would get a big smile on his face. He would always flash her a smile as soon as he saw her in the morning. I would get text messages telling me how my little guy was doing during the day and a picture on my phone every now and then from her. She always said he was really good and happy for her. Miss Sue and I would chit chat every morning and afternoon and she made me feel like such a great mom.

Well Miss Sue's only daughter is going away to college in August. So as much as she loves hanging out with little ones all day Miss Sue thought it might be time for a change for her as well. Miss Sue is such a people person so she will do great working at the Pharmacy in town.


So sadly yesterday was Dane's last day at Miss Sue's. We are all sure going to miss her. We go to the Pharmacy in town often for prescriptions and because they have great little gifts there so we will stop and say hi. Miss Sue's birthday is the day after Dane's so we will also have to get together for a birthday celebration for the two of them.

Dane's last day at Miss Sue's- 10 months old

Of course I now know about the shortage of great childcare providers in Ste. Gen so immediately upon hearing Miss Sue's news I started calling. I called many, many people....no luck. It was especially hard because we were not only looking for childcare, but we were coming from Miss Sue. Jesika even told me, "Now, just be ready because not all sitters text you during the day to tell you about your child." When I was calling people I wanted to ask, "Do you know Miss Sue? Are you as patient, kind, nurturing, and loving as she is?" Oh, it was so hard!

We just try to remind ourselves everyday how very, very lucky we were to have Dane spend this first year in daycare with Miss Sue....she spoiled us all.

Dane is 10 months old today!

Dane is 10 months old today! This past month has flown by. Dane is a very, very, busy boy! We have been having so much fun! He is crawling everywhere! He loves to crawl in the bathroom and hang out while I get ready. He loves my walk in closet with the big mirror! He loves to close any doors he finds open!

Mommy put his Leapfrog table in the small opening

between the couch and the bookcase,

but he quickly learned that he could just crawl right under it.....

to get to the dinning room.

One day after we got home from the store I noticed that he was pushing a Pampers box around. I got out his little push toy and he goes all around pushing his little car. He recently learned he could push the dinning room chairs. It entertains him while I make supper. The problem is that when Dave and I sit in the chairs he tries to push them and then cries and gets so upset when he can't! He also hasn't learned how to turn himself around when he is pushing something, so when he gets to a wall there is usually a major frustration meltdown!

Dane hung out with several people this month. Aunt Katie came down and stayed with him while Dave and I went to a concert. Mykayla, a girl in the neighborhood, watched him while Dave and I went to the End of the Year Recognition dinner for the school district. Jesika picked him up from daycare, took him to her house, fed him, changed him, and brought him back to me at the awards ceremony at school. She said he was perfect, but she knows now that there will not be a 5th Greminger child! This coming Monday and Tuesday he will hang out with another friend while I finish up my last few days of school! We are so thankful for those that care for our sweet baby boy!

Dane is eating lots of table food and has abandoned the bottle except for breakfast and bedtime. He drinks his formula from his sippy cup!

Dane went to his first "friend" birthday party for Aiden Deters. He swam in the big pool at the community center.

I can't believe that in two short months Dane will be 1 year old! These past 10 months have been more fun than I imagined!

Birthday Celebrations

Sunday evening the family gathered at Mama and Papa's house to celebrate Aunt Amy, Aunt Katie, and Tom's birthdays. We had BBQ for dinner, then had cake and ice cream!

Aunt Amy's Birthday is May 19th

Tom's birthday was May 4th and Aunt Katie's is May 20th
Dane got Aunt Katie a special birthday card since she is his Godmother.

Dane shared ice cream cake with Daddy.

Dave had me come get him because he was eating too much!

Claire LOVED her cake and ice cream!

Trey and Delaney made a tunnel and they were trying to get Dane to crawl through it.

Trey showing Dane what to do.

I didn't get a picture, but he DID finally crawl through and they were so excited!

Daddy, Dane, and Trey hanging out

We really enjoy our almost monthly birthday celebrations. There are only three months that we do not get to celebrate....maybe one day someone will fill those months!

Eating!

Meal time here has been quite an experience lately. At Dane's 9 month appointment Dr. Andersen said it was time to start some table food. Dane has some favorites: bananas, yogurt, applesauce, pancakes, and his all time favorite is still his Gerber Puffs and Veggie, Cinnamon Maple, or Cheese Crunchies. He has also had Spinach and Cheese Ravioli, Beef Ravioli, and Mac and Cheese.

Cute even when messy!

Seems to enjoy his mess!

Today Dane did not take a nap at daycare, even after getting up at 5:20 this morning! He napped when we got home, so it was a bit later when he was eating dinner. He was a little cranky, so I just decided to feed him myself. He ate a few bites of Spinach and Cheese Ravioli, but then wanted no more. He ate a big bowl of Applesauce, then had some water from his sippy cup. I tried more ravioli and he didn't want any part of it. I cleaned him up and then tried to hold him and keep him happy while I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. As I am buttering the bread he is lunging for it. I gave him a couple bits and he ate it right up. I then got out the cheese and he lunged for that as well. I quickly made him a cheese sandwich. I put him back in the highchair and he happily ate the cheese sandwich. He then saw a banana on the counter and started kicking his little legs so I sliced that up. I then gave him a couple of veggie crunchies and he finished off those, then drank his entire sippy cup of water. WOW! Spinach and Cheese Ravioli, applesauce, bananas, cheese sandwich, and veggie crunchies! I was afraid my little guy would explode! He obviously just wants to eat without mommy feeding him and wants something that isn't so mushy!