First Home Park - Waverly, IA

We were supposed to get Lincoln's one-year portraits done at JCPenney this afternoon, but 3 hours before our appointment he fell and conked his head and sported a nice purple bruise in the middle of his forehead.  So I rescheduled for later in the week.  Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to take the kids to a park.  Today we went to First Home Park in Waverly.  We have been there before because it is located just on the other side of the hospital and is within easy walking distance of our house.

I'm not sure of the origin of the name, but First Home is a small neighborhood park close to the high school.  The play equipment is new and designed for ages 5-12.  Emily still likes climbing the rock steps and going down the slides.  She likes the "dinosaur bones", too.  Lincoln likes spinning the barrel and going down the slide with Mommy.  There are some swings and a basketball hoop, too.  There must be quite a few elementary-aged kids in the neighborhood because they are usually congregated there.  It was a bit confusing today because there apparently was another Emily and another Megan among them!

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Lincoln's 1st Birthday Party

We had Lincoln's 1st birthday party today.  All the grandparents joined us for church and lunch.  After giving Lincoln a chance to take a bit of an afternoon nap we did presents and cake.  Here are the highlights in pictures and captions...

Lincoln with his proud grandparents

Dave & Cheryl Lorenzen                                 Terry & Bette Boote

Lincoln opening presents

If you want to laugh out loud, check out the video in the May video player at the bottom of the blog and listen for Emily's "helpful hints" on the fine art of unwrapping gifts.  She actually did surprisingly well at keeping her hands off.  It would have taken Lincoln all afternoon to unwrap things, so she eventually got to help.

Helping Daddy put together the Little People Racin' Ramps Garage

Books & Toys

The beautiful cross-stitch picture for his room made by Grandma Lorenzen

Lincoln's cake (nothing super fancy)

Both of my kids have disappointed me in the "messy cake face" department.  At least Lincoln touched his cake.  He actually just enjoyed pounding it with a spoon.

   

He never actually tasted any of it.  I cut some up to try and encourage him.

But he settled for just apple juice.  Oh well.

A new tradition: the birthday crown

I found this at Factory Card & Party Outlet (a.k.a. "The Birthday Party Store") and thought it would be a fun tradition for the birthday kid to wear.  Emily has been begging to wear it all the time.

Operation Kitchen Nook: Phase 1

We have a breakfast nook in our kitchen with awesome windows and nice views.  We do all our eating there since we decommissioned the formal dining room and are currently using it as a temporary office/play space.  When we eventually gut and remodel the kitchen the nook will hopefully be turned into a first floor laundry/mud room.  In the meantime, it could use a little sprucing up.  Enter Operation Kitchen Nook. 

The first task was to recover the hideous kitchen chairs.  The chairs themselves are great.  They came from the basement of my Grandpa & Grandma Vander Kooi.  I refinished one as a 4-H project in junior high.  At that time I recovered the seat in some gaudy floral fabric that looked nice for a single project chair.  When I got married my Grandma Boote chipped in and helped make sure three more chairs in the set got refinished.  (There is still a 5th chair plus a captain's chair in our basement waiting for someone to love them someday.)  At that time I found some nice, dark blue upholstery fabric to recover the seats.  It looked great in our first house and soon again in the Dutch-themed kitchen in our Denver house. 

However, seven years and two kids later, they were disgusting.  Seriously, I think if anyone knew what had spilled on them just in the last 3 years they wouldn't have sat on them. :op 

Anyway, I found some spiffy new reddish vinyl material for 50% off and learned a little lesson on forms of batting/padding.  Ten dollars worth of materials, a staple gun and an afternoon nap period later we have brand new chairs that look tons better and are WASHABLE! :o)

Next up is Phase 2: Curtains

Mother's Day

Who knew I'd have to dig through closets trying to find warm enough clothes on a frosty Mother's Day morning!  Attempts at a photo with both kids didn't really work out.  I think they're conspiring in the first picture to make sure at least one of them is not looking at the camera during each shot.

Emily was proud of the cute card she helped pick out and "sign".  A week ago she drew this picture and said it was "Mommy & Emily".  How sweet!  However, I wonder what kind of hair-do she was envisioning for me when she drew it...

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Mover & Shaker

Lincoln is so close to walking.  He is getting more comfortable and daring with standing on his own every day.  Just because he can't technically walk, it doesn't stop him from getting into things.  These are some pictures of some of his favorite targets...

New bike

I have become much more educated about kids' bikes in the last week or so.  After some trial & error and various research efforts Emily finally has a real bike!  It's actually a 16" boys bike, but she doesn't care or know the difference.  As you can see, she's pretty proud. :o)  I didn't realize that it was such a big transition from pedaling a tricycle (which she's very good at) to pedaling a bicycle with training wheels.  After some practice sessions this afternoon Emily is starting to catch on.  We're still going to have to work on braking to slow down on slopes.  Thankfully, there are 4 blocks of very flat, brand new sidewalk (except for the one big tree bump in front of our house) with sloped entrances running down our street.  And the hospital parking lot is across the street.  However, I don't think we'll ever be attempting the hill going around the hospital.  That is best left for a time when Mom is not there to see! ;o)  We're still working on properly fitting a helmet.  We'll probably also get some kind of basket to make it a little more fun and "girlie".  I already know this bike will get a lot of miles put on it!

Balloon note

Note to self: The next time you think a Mylar helium balloon for $.99 is a good deal, remember that two for $1.98 is an even better one. ;o)

Watermelon

I was excited to cut open the first watermelon of the season this week.  Although the color and texture were quite good, I was disappointed in the flavor.  Apparently Lincoln is not as picky.  He LOVES watermelon as he does all fruit.  I swear that the only thing he actually eats some days is fruit.  Thank goodness for summer!

For the record, he ate almost every piece of watermelon on his tray as an afternoon snack.  That kid can pack it in when he wants to!  The only problem is that Emily doesn't eat it at all and Austin doesn't eat it much.  A whole watermelon takes up a LOT of room in the fridge, too.  I'm either going to have to suck it up and buy cut watermelons at a higher price or find a friend to share.  Any volunteers?!?

Happy Retirement!

After 30 years of working in the schools as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Early Literacy Interventionist, my mom is officially retiring.  Yesterday was her last day with kids, and after a couple more days of finishing up paperwork (it's a sad commentary on the current state of the educational system when you have to spend more time filling out paperwork than actually working with kids) she will be done.  We are especially excited because that means more possibilities for her to come visit us or us visit her during the middle of the week!  My sisters put together a nice surprise retirement party for her at school.  Some pictures are below...

I am so proud of my mom for all her years of hard work helping kids and their families.  I know she made a huge difference in a lot of lives.  It was definitely stressful and frustrating for her at times, but I know there were a lot of victories, too.  She will be greatly missed!

Hickory Heights Park - Waverly, IA

For some reason Lincoln decided to wake up at 6:15am this morning and then not take a morning nap.  So by 10:30am I decided it would be a good idea to check out another park in Waverly!  Today's selection was Hickory Heights Park in the very northwest corner of Waverly.  It probably wasn't the best choice considering the brisk (and chilly) NW wind with absolutely nothing to stop it, but it was still fun.

Hickory Heights is a nice neighborhood park, but very hard for an outsider to get to.  There is no parking lot or even real street access.  By following one little wooden sign nailed to a telephone pole, driving up to a dead end facing a corn field and taking a left on a bumpy, grassy, rutted path squeezed between a fence and tall evergreens we found it.  I discovered a narrow cement "road" squeezed between two houses that sort of gets you access from the south side.  Anyway, there are some swings, an old-fashioned metal slide, a small basketball court, a newer Gametime playground designed for ages 5-12 and plenty of open grass.  Emily loved the slide.  So did George (a.k.a. "Lizzy"). ;o)  Lincoln did, too.  We were only there for about 20 minutes, but it was a good breath of fresh air and will hopefully lead to a long afternoon nap!

Below is my newest widget.  I'm compiling my own Google map of the parks in Waverly.  I will post it when appropriate.  Sometimes you can't zoom in very close with the satellite view.  The map is interactive and can be manipulated by clicking on it.

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