Love, Love, Love

It has been a beautiful week with sunny days and cool nights. I asked the kids what they wanted to do for dinner and Peter came up with a picnic at Farmer's Park. That's exactly what we did.

FP3 from garrick holey on Vimeo.

We are SO blessed.

Strawberry delivery

Over my birthday weekend, Garrick was up north doing the bike race that he does each year, so we of course went south to the beach.

We also went strawberry picking, which I thought it seemed late in the year to pick, but there were lots of berries ready to pick, and then picked out some chocolate covered strawberries to bring to GQ in her new home.

 Lainey was our main concern, but she managed just fine. She plopped her booty down in a row and found plenty of berries to eat, and eat and eat.

 The big kids worked  hard, picking as many for the basket as they ate themselves.

The girls, still eating.

 And then we had a nice visit with Grandma in her new home and shared our treats that we brought. Everyone had a good laugh over Lainey and her stained face and shirt!

Sweet sweater for a sweet babe

It is no secret that I have been knitting cardigans for Lainey like the next ice age is on its way. My favorite one that I have made for her (twice) is Granny's Favorite.I have big plans for this fall's sweater wardrobe, she will not be cold!

The first time I knit it I used Capra from Knit Picks which is a cashmere blend and it felt AMAZING on her. But it did pill quite a bit and that was disappointing. I knew the next time I made it I would use something sturdier especially because of the amount of wear that it would get. I picked a cotton wool blend, Solstice, that I thought would be lighter weight for summer

Mama's Day

This year we took some time to go hiking at Great River Bluff State Park with the kids and then went with a lunch to a new park - to us- in Homer. Peter especially loved the hiking and kept asking if we could go sliding all of the way down the bluff into the river. He also loved looking down on the river valley and seeing the barges and trains running on the tracks. He said it looked just like a model railroad.

Lainey had the best time at the park playing. There was a small slide that she must have gone up and down 20 times on her own, usually head first.

Homer park. from garrick holey on Vimeo.

After dinner, we took a bike ride around town, went to see how high the river was and Peter rode in and out of the water for a while and then we came home and made brownies before bed time.

Biking and Running

A lot of time this spring has been spent out running with the kids. Peter is much faster than I am this year and aside from a few days with a bad attitude (and days early in the spring that were super windy), he has had a lot of fun riding ahead of me this year. Our deal is that if we go fast enough that there is time to stop and play at the park of his choice both while I load up the bike and stroller and after that.

Lainey and Emi still love to go for stroller rides. Thankfully. I did upgrade to a double BOB jogging stroller this year to give them a little more room, I felt they were getting pretty cramped inside of the Chariot, and to be honest, was looking forward to a new toy!

Emi's thing this spring that she has started to do is go down all of the slides at any park. Even the big red ones at the Lake Park. She also loves to swing and go on the merry go rounds at the park. Additionally, there are a lot of questions while we run, "who is that? why are they walking? who is that kid? why are the ducks there? where are the baby ducks? why is there a bridge? WHAT IF THE BRIDGE FELL DOWN?" and so on. Sometimes, I put in my headphones... not always though!

Lainey loves the stroller, sees it and climbs up into it. She and Emi giggle in the stroller for most of the time and I can't think of a single time that she has cried running this year. At the park, she runs for the swings and the slides.

Skills that Lainey Has

Here is a small compilation of skills that Lainey has mastered.

 Rocking Horse

 Climbing up to the very top of the rocket ship at the park. No toddler playground for this one. 

 Sliding. See note above. 

 Climbing into "the roost" with the big kids.

Scooting around sitting on her wheelie bug. (I think I actually took this picture to document her wearing TOMS for the first time.) 

Celebrating with Friends

We also did some celebrating with friends!
Julia has the same birthday as Lainey (for those of you keeping track--- yes, Shana and Emi share one as well), so we took a day trip to LARK toys with some friends for toys, carousel rides and burgers!

And then we had another little celebration with all of the knitting babies.

Happy Birthday to Lainey

Took her picture on the turtle. Officially a Winonan now!

Lainey's first birthday was a full weekend! We spent the day going to the Owl festival, having cake at our house and spending time at the fountain park.

When Lainey turned one, she was crawling very quickly, pushing laundry baskets and toys and getting rides in bigger toys from her siblings. She loves to eat (fruits, veggies, and whatever we are eating for dinner/lunch/breakfast), have her bottles and especially play with her big sister Emelia. In the afternoons, she will wake up and Emi will run upstairs and crawl in her crib with her to play for a while. She is my sleeper- she will go to bed at 7 and some mornings she will wake up after 8am if she is able. When I go in to wake her up, she is always scruched in the corner of her crib and lifts her head up quickly with squinty eyes. Then she jumps to her feet and gives a big smile-- time to play!!

She is a climber. Loves to climb the stairs and to climb up on her little slide and go down it on her own. Lainey is tough- she can crash over and over and doesn't cry much.  You love to go for stroller rides as well. As soon as we go out to the garage and pull the stroller out to go for a walk or a run, you start to laugh and kick. I know this summer you will be hauling it out on your own.

You do make your wants known though. If you don't have a cup of milk at dinner you yell until you get one and when you are done, you have taken to throwing your food on the floor. (Scout thanks you). 

You are our sweet baby. Everyone in the family is sweet on you and you have brought out the mommy in Emelia and a patient big brother in Peter. When you start to knock over his buildings, he will bring you off to the side and build you your own little one to wreck. You love to wave hello and bye bye  and especially love to give big sloppy open mouthed kisses- then you giggle.

Children's Museum

We go on spurts of visiting the Children's Museum in LaCrosse a lot and then taking some time off. The kids still get excited each time that we go and our time is spent doing different things as they grow up.

This winter their favorite things to do were:

Lainey: Climb. On Everything. And anything. She also loved driving the boats and cars. 

Emi: Play in the Kwik Trip and make pretend pizzas. She loves pumping gas into the cars and taking "orders" and putting them in the ovens. 

Peter: The train tables and he was also up for the challenge of the rock wall this year. He consistently made it up to the ledge in that picture which is even with the first floor of the building. The wall starts in the basement. 

Valentine's Day

I don't get into the hype of many extra holidays, but for some reason, we have hooked onto Valentine's day and enjoy it! We did a lot of talking about love- how we love, who we love, why we love eachother... aside from the usual answers- I love granma and granpa-- Emi did tell me and Peter one night, "I love Peteh because he is ma best Friend!" which was especially sweet. And the general consensus was that we all love Lainey- She isn't causing too much trouble (yet).

 We decorated cookies with Mike and Julie .

 Made Valentines Cards.

And dressed up for school. (past years)

Lainey's First Christmas

This wasn't Lainey's happiest day, she was working on a cold and some serious teeth; but we wanted to be sure to get a cute picture or two of her with the tree and the lights.Of course, Emi had to hop in for a picture and see what Lainey was doing with the lights.

Babies and Planes

I took Lainey on her first plane ride to visit Kimberly and her new baby, Quinn this weekend. She was amazing on the plane, amazing at Kim's house and not so amazing the first time she saw the BABY getting a bottle. I would say she officially had her first TANTRUM! Crying, head back, roling on the floor. She LOVES bottles- I guess that is all that we can say about that...

We realized that each of the kid's first plane trips involved a trip to see Kimberly in some way.

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Grinch 1 and Grinch 2

Airport fun before the plane arrived

It was a great visit- time outside in the sun, time with good friends and time alone with Lainey. This trip made me feel that a trip alone with each kid, once a year, on a rotating basis, would be a fun thing to do- maybe not across the country- but a day or two to spend time and reconnect- something I would like to try and do.