Our Weekend

Saturday night Dave and I went to the Buckmasters Banquet in Steeleville, IL. We left Saturday around noon and took Dane up to Kirkwood. He was so happy and was playing with his blanket on the ride up.
Aunt Amy and Uncle Darnel were going to keep Dane for a bit in the afternoon and then Dane was going to spend the night at Mama and Papa's house. We got to Aunt Amy and Uncle Darnel's house and Trey and Delaney were so excited they were waiting by the door for Dane. Of course, Dane had just fallen asleep right before we got there. We laid him on the couch and Trey and Delaney sat right next to him.

Dane hung out with his Uncle Darnel and from what I heard

he cried when Darnel had to leave for a bit to run to Target with Taylor.

The Frosts have so many toys.

Dane always has a ball at their house.

Aunt Amy, Uncle Darnel, and the kids went over to Mama and Papa's in the evening. Dane loved the mostachelli they had for dinner.

He spent some time playing with a 12 pack of Diet Mountain Dew.

Once again Dane was glued to his Papa this weekend. When we called to say we were on our way up on Sunday morning Dane was taking his morning nap on Papa.

Aunt Amy, Uncle Darnel, and Mama and Papa-

Thank you so, so much for keeping our little guy!


Friday we got our Family Pictures that we had taken last weekend.

It is funny that when I say I have 4 sisters and 1 brother

people can't believe I come from such a big family.

It keeps growing!

The 6 kids!

6 Kids and Mom and Dad

6 kids and their spouses

The Whole Gang

Mom and Dad, 6 kids, their spouses, and 5 grandchildren, soon to be 6!

My Sweet Boy!

A few tidbits from our week so far...

• Dane is sooo sweet to the little 7 month old at the daycare. He will bring her toys and will sit next to her and touch her arm and rub her back. Tracey says he is like her little protector! So sweet!
• Dane has a little buddy, Simon, at daycare.
• When I pick Dane up from daycare I always hear, "He was great today... and he ate like a champ... He has had pot roast, carrots, potatoes, cantaloupe, graham crackers, fresh peaches, homemade pizza, homemade cinnamon rolls.....no matter what Tracey fixes, he will eat it!
• Dane is learning to sign from Tracey...right now we are working on "more"
• Dane only has had juice a couple of times. He drinks milk at all of his meals and drinks water a lot. He gets juice at daycare for snack. He LOVES it! In fact he likes it so much that he finishes his cup and starts drinking from everyone else's sippy cup.
• This past weekend Papa let Dane drink from his cup. Now everytime I have a cup the little man wants a drink from it. We had a snack of goldfish and juice before the bath tonight. He was drinking from his sippy cup. He saw me walk over with a cup and he threw down the sippy cup and was lunging for my cup...only problem was I had Diet Mountain Dew in mine!
• I love watching Dane in the evenings. Almost every night he does something new. He is picking up so much from daycare.

Watching the Cardinals Game tonight

When he hears anyone clap, he claps as well!

I walked into the living room tonight
and I see Dane standing up on his little dinosaur
that Uncle T.J. and Aunt Ashley gave him.
Just look at that little face he gives me when I told him to get down!

Our Busy, Fun Weekend!

Friday night we went to the first Ste. Gen football game.

It was a scrimmage with four teams, but

we had a good time and it got us excited for football season.

We headed home about 7:00 to meet Katie and Tom who were coming down to spend the night with us. We played with Dane a bit, then put him to bed, and had bbq for dinner.

Saturday morning Aunt Katie, Dane, and I went for a walk before the guys got up. When we got home we got ready to head out for the day. We took Dane up the street to his babysitter's house and the four of us went to Copper Mine Saloon for lunch and then to the Crown Valley Brewery.

We hung out until about 2:00, then headed back to Lake Forest

to pick up Dane and have some boat time.

Tom and Dane hanging out on the boat

Tom tubing!

Aunt Katie and Dane

Dane sleeping on Mommy's shoulder during the boat ride.

Dane enjoyed playing on the air mattress in the basement.

Saturday evening Aunt Katie and Tom left about 6:00 and we packed up and headed out shortly after them. We spent the night and Mama and Papa's Saturday night. Sunday morning we went down to Forest Park to have the picture taken that we had gotten our parents for their 40th wedding anniversary. Our first appointment had gotten rained out.

Dane was taking a little morning nap before the photo shoot!

The kids enjoyed walking around.

Dane had fun with his cousins.

One of the many pictures the photographer took!

(Dave got a quick one on his cell phone)

We had quite a crew....mom, dad, all six of us, 5 spouses, and 5 grandchildren!

We can't wait to see our pictures in just about a week!

After pictures everyone headed to mom and dad's house for lunch. July was so, so busy that we decided to combine the July and August birthday celebrations.

Claire and Dane eating lunch.

Pulled pork, watermelon, pasta salad, and jello salad....it was all so good!

Delaney loves to play with Dane and she is always such a big help!

Hanging out

Dane and Trey have so much fun together.

Dane loves, loves, loves his Papa.

He will follow him around with his arms up so Papa will pick him up.

When Papa sits down Dane will crawl up in his lap and hug on him for a bit, usually chew on his shirt a little, climb down for a few minutes to play, and then head right back to Papa's lap.

Dane got a hold of Papa's favorite cup.

He shared quite a bit of Papa's drink with him.

Wow...7 birthday cakes!

We celebrated Ashley's (July 6th), Taylor's (August 17th), Dane's (again, July 21st), Dave's (July 28th), Steve's (shares his birthday with Dane, July 21st), Kara (August 17th), and John's (August 12th) birthdays!

Daddy gave Dane some icing.

Dane loved the cake and ice cream.

Silly boys!

Dane was riding around on his new little Dino from Uncle T.J. and Aunt Ashley.

A great weekend with family!

School Nights...Yuck!

Well we are back into the school night routine. I hate having to rush around in the evenings....figure out what to have for dinner, then make it, papers to grade, house to straighten up, dishes to do, outfits to iron, and really all I want to do is hang out with my two favorite people.

I am sooooo excited about the new plan in our house, which makes my nights so much easier and more enjoyable. We have planned out all of our meals for the next two weeks. Last weekend one of our big events was to make our grocery list based on what we were having for dinner the next two weeks and go shopping. We spent so much LESS than we ever do at the grocery store. I was amazed! There are several things that I can put together after Dane goes to bed and it takes me a lot less time because I am not trying to entertain him while I do it. I just made up tomorrow night's dinner and it took me 10 minutes! Now all I have to do when I walk in tomorrow night is preheat the oven and cook it for 30 minutes! It is so nice! I am hoping I can keep it up.

This should be motivation enough for me.

A sweet, freshly bathed, lotioned, baby boy to read a bedtime story to!

Our Last Few Days

After having Teachers' Meetings Tuesday and Wednesday I had the day off on Thursday before school started Friday. Dave and I decided to take Dane to the Magic House to play. They have an area for 24 months and under. I took him there in June with my sister and he really liked it. I thought he would enjoy it even more now that he can walk.

Mommy and Dane at the Magic House

Dane liked to watch other kids as much as he liked playing.
Dane loves to play ball. There was a ball pit and he loved it!

Playing in the boat

We visited the gift shop on our way out.

Dane loves monkeys.

He picked up this monkey and was loving on it......

so I had to get it for him!

We played many games of "Where's Dane" this weekend.

Dane hides behind the pillow.

He will smile and laugh so hard when he pulls the pillow away!

As I put Dane to bed tonight I told him that tomorrow starts the real deal.

The first full week of work and daycare.

Quite honestly, the past few weeks have been so crazy busy that things might actually calm down a bit now that we are back in our routine.

*****Just a note that the pictures from the Magic House were taken on my cell phone. Things have been so hectic that I actually forgot my camera when we went to the Magic House Thursday and today when we spent the day building sandcastles on the beach.......I usually have 2 cameras with me! Hard to believe!

First Day of Daycare for the School Year

Today was Dane's first day of daycare and my first day back to school.

He was so happy this morning and I was so glad!

He played for a bit with his Pooh Bear before we left.

Dane started a new daycare today. It is still a home daycare, which we really wanted. Miss Tracey seems wonderful. The main play area at Tracey's is painted a bright yellow with so many neat toys to play with. There is also a neat outside area set up.

What a difference a couple of months makes! When school got out in May I was still making 2 bottles to take to daycare everyday and also taking yogurt and veggies or fruit. This morning I got up and dressed, then woke Dane up about 6:30. We headed out the door at 6:50 and I kept thinking I was forgetting something because all I had was him! He will eat breakfast at daycare so it is so nice not have to worry about that every morning and he doesn't take the bottle anymore!

Instead of dropping him off 5 minutes from home and driving 15 minutes into work I now have him with me all the way into Ste Gen. Now that he faces forward in the car he is always checking things out. He was so amazed when I went to get a soda. You drive right through the building and the sides are lined with freezers of drinks. He was looking all over! I then drop him off and have just a 5 minute drive to school.

When I took him in he grabbed on to my pants leg and looked around. There were several little ones there and a couple of older ones were there for the next few days until school starts. Miss Tracey must have told them he was coming because they all said, "Dane's here." A couple of little ones walked up to check him out. He looked around a minute, gave everyone a big smile, and walked on in. I gave him a kiss and said goodbye and he didn't even turn back!

There is a teacher from school whose little ones also go to Tracey. When I got to the All District Back to School Meeting someone said, "Andrea was looking for you." I stressed because she was pulling up when I was pulling out of Tracey's and I thought she would tell me Dane was screaming or something. She said he was so cute, just checking things out, and hanging out with all of the kids!

He seemed to have a very good day and the best part of all was that when I came in to get him he turned the corner and saw me and came running down the hall with a big smile on his face and he gave me the biggest hug.

Dane must have worked up an appetite at daycare.

He ate a good amount of Lasagna and peas for dinner.

After dinner we played in the basement.

Dane hopped right in a basket and hung out a bit.
After his bath he shared some Raspberry Yogurt with Mommy.

Dane is now sleeping soundly.

One day down......................