Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Up, up and away go the balloons!

After two years of attempting to watch the Jamesville Balloon Fest from afar, we finally, finally saw balloons!  We did an early bath night, got all settled in jammies and brought a picnic dinner to the east side of the lake.   All through dinner, the sky was empty.  Nicholas was incredibly bummed, since the weather seemed iffy all evening.  He scanned that skyline for any potential sign of a hot air balloon like it was his assignment!


After two years of repeatedly reading Nicholas' favorite book about Curious George going in a hot air balloon, William spotted his first balloon.




Nicholas was thoroughly impressed with the whole idea of people going in balloons.  Some of them even went right over our car and we could hear the burner.


Hopefully next year, we'll have the guts to tackle the festival and see the action close up.  I know the boys would love it.

Just Like Brother

June 16th
Every now and then, there's a few moments of quiet in the house.  This afternoon, Nicholas came across some old Christmas toy flyers and searched for items for his birthday wish list (yes, he knows the date of his birthday, knows that its after summer and even after Halloween....but between you and I, he has no clue what that all means as far as the passage of time).

It was so cute to hear him talking to himself about the toys....what he liked about each item, questions he'd mumble to himself like, "I wonder if that needs batteries?  Is that a remote?"


William looked on for a while only to dash over to my pile of magazines and grab his own reading material.


He plopped himself in the chair and babbled away to a upside down magazine.


Construction Site Detour

June 10th
On our weekly trip to Target's Pharmacy, we passed a foundation being poured in the neighborhood.  Nicholas screeched in excitement, "Mommy, stop the car!  I HAVE to check this out!"  Needless to say, we ended up staying for an hour and 20 minutes...

Nicholas is totally into all the construction vehicles... their proper names, knowing all about their functions and is desperately trying to figure out why they come in so many different colors.  (I think he suspects there's some sort of secret code that's hidden within the paint schemes.)


Loving everything his brother is interested in, William was game for the adventure too!


Nicholas begged to take over the camera, after accusing me I wasn't taking good pictures of the cement mixer trucks.  He's becoming quite the photog...




After numerous persuasions as to why the boys needed to be out of their carseats, I gave in...


and had one happy co-pilot!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The "Haap Buth!" Performance

June 12th
As William's birthday extravaganza continues on three weeks past his special day, his singing skills to himself are only getting more adorable with each repetition.  This morning, he requested a cupcake for breakfast...but before diving in to the goodness, a repeat performance of his "Haap Buth" (happy birthday) was in order.

Haap buth daaaay


....to me.


Haap buth to me...


"Hmm hmm...buthhh to

ME!!!


"Haap buth to me.  YEAH!!!"

Traffic Jam

June 16th
In the middle of a chaotic day filled with medical stress and appointments for William, Nicholas quietly played with his vehicles.  I caught him categorizing each vehicle by purpose, as he was sorting out a neat line of construction site vehicles he "needed for his latest project job on the job site."

As I was late to rush William off to the doctor, capturing this moment of Nicholas just being a carefree kid truly made my day.

"Happy Birthday dear Grammmmy...."

June 15th
We had a beautiful spring evening to celebrate Grammy's 55th birthday.  We had a picnic dinner at a favorite park along the Seneca River. Nicholas and Gram explored around the river's edge... 

with Nicholas tossing in any natural treasures along the way.



William has been in Poppie-withdrawal as Poppie continues his intense knee replacement rehab.  Little William was in heaven as Poppie pushed him timelessly on the swing...


 and was always there to met him at the bottom of the playground equipment.


We have one excited boy awaiting boating season!


Our highlight of the night was clearly singing time.  William and Nicholas belted out their unique version of "Happy Birthday"...topped with their big blows.


Of course, we had to repeat the process one more time, since Mommy forgot the other number five candle.

Happy birthday to our very special, most loving Grammy!  You mean so very much to us all!

Garlic Toast Master

 June 14th

I was so proud of Nicholas.  He loves Mommy's homemade garlic toast and was pumped to learn how to prepare it.  He cut his own butter pad, melted it in the microwave, added the garlic, spread the mixture on the bread and even added some "chopped grass" (also known as parsley).  Of course, he stood in front of the toaster oven with his hands over his ears for the entire 3 minutes worrying about the "ding" at the end....

but boy was he proud of himself!

~ my future toaster chef ~

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

What faces!

Nicholas' smerk


William's pout


Planting Seeds

April 28th
It's amazing how significant pictures can bring back memories of the captured moments.  When I initially looked back at these pictures, I immediately recalled that day. I had shared with Nicholas that we were planting our seeds that afternoon when he first got home from school.  A couple rough hours later, no nap from the little tike...and that plan had been deleted in my mind....but not Nicholas'.  He had been looking forward to planting our three packets of tiny seeds ever since we bought them the week before.

The minutes leading up to these pictures involved two crying boys and a mommy questioning her own sanity for even considering bringing a bag of potting soil indoors (knowing we'd be back to tears if we went outside again where the problems initially started).  Seeing how excited the little ones were for the activity, I talked myself into keeping it neat....

As it turned out, the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves.


William seemed to understand way more than I would have ever expected from a 23-month old.  He was particularly careful scooping the dirt and knew exactly when his container was filled to the top.


A couple loving sprinkles from Nicholas to make our beans grow with love...




Easy does it, William.



Let's just say we planted plenty of  seeds!

Much-needed bathes followed as well as a half hour of an unexpected television time while Mommy cleaned up the HUGE mess.  This situation reminded me that sometimes, children reinvent your day for you.

Nicholas: Game Inventor

May 5th
After making muffins one day, Nicholas disappeared with my remaining muffin liners.  A few minutes later, he returned looking for William and I to come play his new game - "Easter Egg Mix-Up Colors."  He explained you have to dip your "egg" (ball) in each color cup and then find the right spot to match it based on the sound it makes or if you cracked it.
Confused, are you?

Come on.....just another complex idea from the mind of my little genius.  Someday, I'm sure he will discover or invent something we all needed, but just didn't realize it....

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Frozen Treats & Crazy Shades

May 20, 2011
Woohoo! 
Our first frozen treats enjoyed outside for the season!

For about two days, William enjoyed frozen yogurt. 
Unfortunately, the fascination ended as randomly as it started.


Warning:  this is just the beginning of pictures of the Relyea boys in ridiculously silly shades. 
Don't say I didn't warn you.




This afternoon was the first time William was on a big boy swing all by himself.  He belly laughed like you wouldn't believe.



~ he could swing all day ~



~ nothing better than bare feet in the grass ~