Autumn at the Cottage

We headed to the cottage this past weekend.  It was gorgeous out and so autumnal!  The kids and I went to the park and played in the leaves.  I got some cute pictures. 

 Everyone is doing fine here.  Otis still loves school, Ingrid is now no longer crying for hours about going to school.  She still has some issues but mostly she's fine.  She has a field trip this week, they're taking the city bus to a farmer's market.  Sounds fun!  She's beyond excited about it. 

And now it's OCTOBER?!  In ten days I get to fly BY MYSELF to Denver to visit a good friend.  I am so excited it's ridiculous.  I'm gonna get trashy magazines and sit by myself on a plane and have a whole weekend of not being a mom.  Awesome!

SO Glad I'm Me, or, I LOVE My Life!

 I've been thinking of all the troubles I had when I was younger, feeling lost and like I just didn't know what to DO with myself.  Where did I want to live?  What did I want to go to school for?  What would I do with my life?  Now in my mid 30s I can honestly say I'm glad I ended up where I am.  I live in a cool neighborhood in a pretty great city, I'm married to a funny scientist, we have two amazing kids that make me happy about 99% of the time, I get to sell vintage kid's clothes and sew stuff.  I have it pretty good.

This past week has been HOT.  We got a cheap Slip'n'slide at Target and used it for hours at a time.  I even slid down it, it was fun!  The kids got a real big kick out of that, I'm glad there is no video evidence of it.

We've stuck to our no TV in the morning routine, well mostly.  Sometimes I have to take a shower and that is the easiest way to ensure I get all the shampoo out of my hair AND shave both legs.  I had cut out 4" squares from a whole bunch of my scraps to make a scrappy quilt or two.  Ingrid found the pile and has been having fun putting together her own quilt.  I cannot wait to teach this girl how to use the sewing machine!  She will be a natural I bet.

And we've been just plain silly stuck in the house with it being in the 90s.  We go out right away in the morning, try to get some play time outside.  Then it gets too hot to breathe, so we go in and cool down.  Again after naptime we try to get outside, but dang, it's been like 80% humidity the past week.  Uncomfortable.  And yes, I realize how funny that is that we midwesterners complain about how COLD it is and how much snow we have and then a few months later complain about how HOT it is and how much humidity we have.  I sometimes wonder why anyone lives here...

 This weekend we went to the cottage.  We brought friends, it was fun.  The kids all played, we went swimming in the lake, and this morning Brendan took each of the kids on a kayak ride.  The cottage got a face lift last month, doesn't it look nice?  It used to be white, I really like the creamy tan though.  And lastly, look at that picture of Brendan's dad and uncle!  Bob is the one on the right.  He looks just like what Brendan looked like at that age!  I love how there are just random old things at the cottage, you just never know what you'll find when you go searching through the drawers looking for clean sheets...

My Weekend Alone. And then Labor Day Crazies.

Saturday morning Brendan took both kids with him to the cottage.  I stayed home.  I seriously felt like this:

I had SO MUCH FUN being by myself.  I went to the bathroom alone, I finished my own food without anyone coming up asking for a bite.  I cleaned my house and it stayed clean.  It was amazing.  I rearranged furniture in the living room and Ingrid's room.  I made the kids new buntings for their rooms.  I came to the realization that I will never paint Ingrid's room, so I may as well just deal with the green since her stuff goes.

 My days were so relaxing.  I could read, watch whatever TV I wanted.  I went to the antique shop, I had dinner and drinks with a friend, I took naps whenever I wanted.  It was so nice to catch up on me.  I hate when people talk "me time" but for real, after dealing with kids nonstop for days on end, it was really quite nice to remember I used to love reading on the couch in a cleaned living room, and that a bowl of Ben and Jerry's is a nice way to end the day.  (Okay, I admit, there was no bowl, it was right out of the carton...)

And then they came home.  I was immediately put back into my place as mom, doer/cleaner/helper/fixer.  No more relaxer.  They are so lucky they are cute, they don't even know!  We had friends over for Labor Day and cooked out and ran around in a sprinkler and tried to stay cool on the hot humid day.  It was super fun.  Otis did not want me taking pictures, but I thought this was a good representation of how crabby he can be.  He was yelling at me not to take his picture.  HA!

And now we have one more day until Ingrid starts school and we have no more slow paced mornings, where we have to be out the door by 7:30 instead of getting to lay around in our pjs.  Bummer.

4th of July

Too hot to be clever.  My brain is melting.

Yesterday we went to the cottage.  We melted there, too.  Went swimming.  Went boating.  Drank beer from a keg.  Ate ice cream sandwiches.  Played with cousins.  Sweat. 

Then we came home to sleep in air conditioning.  Ha!  Jokes on me, the A/C was broken.  I opened up the windows, turned on all the fans and tried to stay comfortable.  All night was horrible, just laying in bed made me sweat.  Otis woke up and was drenched.  He spent the night in my room and then proceeded to wake up all cheerful and ready to go at 4:30am.  Again. So we went outside and spent a lovely morning with our new neighbor friends while waiting for the repairman to come. 

Then I found a magical light switch that manually turns on and off the air conditioning.  It's about two feet off the floor, perfect for a little man to turn on and off.  Mainly, off.  Air conditioning not broken, just turned off!  Relief that I didn't have to shell out hundreds of dollars to get ours fixed, pissed that it was a simple fix I could've done LAST NIGHT.  Lesson learned!

The house was up to 96 degrees, it's taken a few hours but it's finally down to 80, which seems like the Arctic compared to what it had been!  Screw this heat, I'm done with it!

Father's Day

This year we got together with my side of the family for Father's Day.  My sister took the ferry across Lake Michigan and we drove down to the cottage to meet up with my brothers and their families.  It was super fun, because as always, Ingrid loves her cousins!  I love it, because as always, someone else is always watching my kids so I finally get to sit with a margarita and relax!

not very sure of aunt coco yet

oh man, those eyes!

balancing!

naked grape eating with grampa carl

sink bath

You'll notice I have no pictures of my kids with their dad on this father's day weekend.  That is because he spent lots of time with them without me, where I couldn't nose my way in with my stupid camera and say "wait, do that again!  Now look over here!  Ingrid, smile, what are you making that face for?"  No, instead they got to go on a father/daughter kayak ride, go the park, go swimming in the lake, and not have mom bothering them with documenting life.

So let me just say that I am proud of the dad Brendan is.  He loves to play with the kids, even after a long day at work he is happy to come home and wrestle, play ball, or watch the Simpsons with his kids.  Otis' eyes just light up when he sees his Dada walk through the door.  I am lucky to have such a good husband and baby daddy.

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent our weekend at the cottage.  It was super hot.  We didn't do much, went to the park, the beach, got hot dogs in Lake Geneva.  It would have been really relaxing had the kids cooperated.  Which they did not.  Otis was a complete nut job, grunting at everything and pointing like he just needed something so bad.  When you would grab something and ask him "is this it?" he'd hit it out of your hands and cry.  It was exhausting. 

Who, me?

Ingrid played and played and played and then crashed. 

She wanted to take a bath one night so she hopped up in the sink.  I can't believe she still fits in there!

We came home this morning and did laundry, weeded the garden, which has lots of sprouts from our green bean and carrot seeds!  Then we went to our friend's house for some backyard grill action.  I can't believe we've had so much summer already and it's just Memorial Day!

Cottage Time!!

On Sunday we made our first trip of the year to the cottage.  I love that we have a place like this to get away from the city for a day or a weekend.  We packed some food for lunch, a couple games and diapers for Otis, and took off. 

We had to measure the kids on the door.  Otis has grown a whole foot in the past year!  And, as always, it's fun to see the marks from the past.  Grandpa as a two year old in 1947, Daddy as a two year old in 1980.  And Ingrid as a two year old in 2008.  Family history on this door!

The kids had fun just hanging out, getting into the croquet set, coloring, and going to the parks.  It rained a bit so we made some muddy sand castles in the sandbox.  Fun!

Yesterday we had a great morning, too.  We took a nice long walk along Lake Michigan with the dog and enjoyed the sun and the sparkly lake.  Have I mentioned how awesome it is living three blocks from Lake Michigan?  Our walks are gorgeous, and the view from the park is amazing.



Labor Day

We took another trip to the cottage this weekend to see Brendan's cousin and his family.  It was COLD!  I loved it!  The kids played, I sat around and read the Help, we all enjoyed each others company.  Another lovely weekend with family. Ingrid loves her other set of cousins. 

Otis was awesome and just sat there playing with toys, watching all the big kids run around.  He got a tooth (finally) so his tongue is constantly running over it.  He looks so silly.

And now this week is another short one, as we've decided to leave Friday to go join Brendan's parents up in Door County for another camping trip!  So three days of finishing up laundry, packing, and sending out Etsy orders.  Yay!

The Cottage

We had a lovely weekend at the cottage.  It was sunny and gorgeous, the kids were in good moods, Brendan and I were having a great time.  We went to parks, the beach, the backyard.  It was so quiet and peaceful.

Ingrid went on her first kayak ride!  She liked it okay, but was a little uncomfortable so the ride wasn't long.  Brendan will make a kayaker out of her before too long, though.

Otis had fun eating grass.

He started clapping this weekend!  Tried to get a video but of course the camera was kaput.  That stupid thing never works when you want it to!

Ingrid had fun doing all sorts of things, including play dough, swimming, and naked peanut butter and jelly eating. 

Last year we had to drive six or seven hours to get there, I am SO glad it's now a 45 minute drive!!

The Week Our Roof Got Redone

Ho boy, this week has been a doozy.  We have had roofers here all week, from 7:30am until sometimes 7pm.  Making noise, a huge mess, listening to the most god awful music at full blast. 

Monday we escaped and headed to the cottage for the day.  It was glorious.  The sun was shining, we went swimming, we ate lunch, we played at the park. 

Tuesday we signed up Ingrid for school (crossing fingers the wait list at our first choice school dwindles away to nothing so we get in soon!) then took a walk to the park.  Another sunny beautiful day we couldn't spend in our own backyard because there is a dumpster full of dangerous roofing materials there.  I stepped on a nail while going to throw the garbage out and am now deathly afraid of what will be left over after they leave...

Wednesday we met with friends at the park.  The kids ran around, the moms drank coffee.  Then we went to Target and spent a fortune and forgot the two things we had gone for.  How does that always happen??  We got new bedding for Ingrid's bed.  Target clearance section, how I love you.  A whole bed set for $30!  Not too shabby.

Yesterday was the best day of all.  We packed snacks and took a nice long walk.  There's a trail that goes along the lake but higher, so you look down on the beach and trees.  Then there's a cross back that goes down to the beach and a trail right by the lake.  It is a good hour long walk through nature and with awesome views of the lake and city.  I wish I'd had my camera, it was so sparkly yesterday!  Otis took a nap while we walked, Ingrid at a snack and just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  We ended up at the park, where we played happily until Ingrid got knocked on her ass...twice...because she walked right behind a girl on a swing.  How many times have I told her you have to walk around the swings?  And how many times has she gotten knocked down?  I felt bad, she really took a hit.  But she's tough, she just popped back up, cried a few tears, and went back to playing.  After the park we went to throw rocks in the water, and as I had my back turned to sit Otis down, Ingrid ran in the lake with all her clothes on.  Hmmm, guess we're going swimming today!  She took off her pants and shoes and just played in the water while I tried to get Otis to stop eating rocks and sand.  We just had the best morning, enjoying being outside, away from the noise, horrible grammar and swearing of the roofers. 

Today should be the last day.  Here's hoping.  And when we buy a house, if it needs a new roof, we're getting it done before we move in. 

Family

This weekend my family came into town.  We stayed at the cottage and Ingrid got tons of cousin time.  We were joking that if we were the Duggars, we'd still be ten kids short!  Nine kids is plenty, thank you very much!
Otis had fun bathing in the sink.  Ingrid did this when she was a baby, too.  I just love sink baths!

Ingrid colored with her cousins.  They got along super well, and my nephew just loved Otis!  He was all over him! 

The reason we all got together was for my mom's birthday.  We had a little party for her at my brother's house, and I got this picture of her blowing out her candles.  With a lot of help from her grandkids!

We had a good time just hanging out, playing, swimming, going to the park, and being sleep deprived.  With all the beds the cottage had, for some reason there was always a scramble to figure out who was sleeping where!  Otis had no problems, though, even sleep deprived he was a happy kid.  And those are lipstick marks, not bruises.  Gramma has done this to all the grandkids!  I wish I had all the pictures of various babies with Gramma kisses all over them!

We ended up leaving a day early, though, since it was so overwhelming for Ingrid.  She was ready to get back to her house and sleep in her own bed.  Or was that me?  I love my family but there are so many of us, it's hard to spend too much time together! 

Our Busy 4th Weekend

Brendan doesn't have a lot of extended family, and those he does have live far away.  But each year they get together at the cottage for the 4th of July.  For some reason we haven't gone in a long time, but this year we made sure we did.  I'm so glad we did!  We had a blast.

Ingrid was in love with the kids.  Brendan's cousin has four kids and their youngest is six.  Calvin and Ingrid had fun chasing each other around the house.  Over and over and over.  Never lost its charm.

Otis was awesome and slept wherever.  He took a nap in a bed one day, he fell asleep outside another day.  All that fresh air and activity wore both kids out and they slept like logs. 

We did lots of swimming.  We did lots of hanging out in the backyard.

Otis practiced sitting.

The weather was perfect.

And when we came home we took baths and put on new summer pjs and lit sparklers. 

I'm exhausted and I still have four loads of laundry to do.  Back to reality.