What a Weekend!

It's gonna be another doozy of a recap...but it's just from the weekend. I guess I've been making up for some lost time with my camera recently. :)

So, I didn't post pictures Friday of our time with Kelli and Connor...but here are my boys and Connor having a small snack before we left for Costco. Sorry, Kel, I know pictures aren't your favorite thing but it's really all I have:


Easton and Connor holding hands as they walk away:


The boys have been "practicing" with Baby Dupa quite a bit. I think Dalton's going to be a great big brother just like Easton is. He's got the hang of holding Dupa:


And loving on Dupa...


While Easton helped Jason whip up some dinner Friday night, Dalton and I played a fun game on the couch:




Easton wanted in on the pictures:


Saturday we went out to breakfast as a family. Mimi's Cafe. Easton ate a ton of food. We were impressed. Afterwards we ran a couple of errands before coming home. Towards the end of quiet/nap time, Jason started on the lawn and that usually ends with me shaving his head for the coming week. Dalton was long overdue for a buzz too and Easton didn't want to be left out so we all gathered on the front porch with clippers while the boys took turns in my barber chair. Then they all had a shower and emerged looking quite sharp:


Since the boys had showered and wouldn't be needing a nightly bath just a few hours later, we used some gift cards from Gramoo to grab some ice cream at Cold Stone after dinner. Yum yum!

Sunday morning we had church as usual. Both boys did really well for drop off again. I've been promising snacks in the car after church if they do a good job. And for the second week they both did great! So, they got some Costco animal crackers (Tigger and Pooh and Eeyore and such) and water:


Jason and I did really well at church too so we hit up Starbucks for a treat for ourselves for our drive down to Gramoo's. In the car I took a picture of what Dalton made at church. I just love it:


We got to Gramoo's where we were dropping Dalton off. Easton's NICU Reunion was at the Children's Hospital semi-nearby Gramoo's house so we took D there rather than her coming up our way just to have us go down her way. :) Dalton was excited to have Gramoo and Lauren to himself for a bit, I think. However, Easton didn't have a clue what to do without his best buddy:

"I miss Dalton" was the first thing he said upon getting into the car with just Jason and I. He doesn't get to have outings without Dalton so much, however Dalton is used to E being at school.

We tried to find a suitable replacement:


He was very quiet on the drive to the hospital but quickly forgot all about little Bubbs when we got to the reunion. We weren't sure what to expect as we hadn't gone to a reunion before. That's also why we left Dalton behind...we just weren't sure how kids would do. However, it was just a total fun fest and Easton had a blast. I was sure I'd cry at some point, and sure enough, as soon as we walked in I see this...

It's exactly what they took Easton away from us on, when we'd said goodbye not knowing if he'd survive the transport and if we'd ever see him again. Oh, how far he's come!!! So that made me all teary and then I moved on. There was too much fun stuff. Like, Dinger, the mascot for the Rockies was there and Easton ran right up for some fun:


Dinger had E laughing hysterically, hitting him with his tail and such. Good times.

Posing for some fun pictures:




They had little stations set up with all kinds of activities and games. Like, make a handprint paper plate...


...and a tricycle obstacle course. Being that it's a children's hospital of course they had the kids wear helmets. But the funny thing was, since they were all sharing helmets the kids also had to wear a surgical cap on their heads to boot:


They had some stuff to climb and balance on like you might find in physical therapy:


Part of that P.T. obstacle course involved some poor volunteer dragging all the kids around on scooter boards:


Eastie made a Froot Loop bracelet:




Played some games...


Made "sunglasses" that we're calling his "Super E" mask:




And got his little face painted:




Lunch was next. I wasn't sure what they had planned for lunch so I made sure to pack some stuff Easton likes. Well, we were super excited to see mac and cheese catered from our favorite Noodles joint. However, while we were in the line (getting Panda Express for Jason and I) they ran out of mac and cheese. :( No matter, I had yogurt and cheese and stuff for E. Except pregnancy brain had me forget to throw an ice pack in his lunch box and the dairy stuff was spoiled (I packed it even before church). Big bummer! So he had some crackers and trail mix before diving into his cookie and cupcake.


During lunch they showed a "Then and Now" slideshow featuring the attendees:

It definitely got a little misty in our area as the slideshow came on and the music playing was what Jason and I consider our wedding song...that Hawaiian "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Bruddah Iz. This particular reunion only had the graduates from 2003-2006 and it was cool to see how far so many of them have come, from their pictures.

After that things were pretty much over. Easton stopped to play another game or two while I went to fetch his handprint plate that had been drying:


As we were leaving I said, "Let's go get your brother that we miss so much" and he said, "I'm not sad anymore!!!"


Even though Dalton would've loved it and it would've been appropriate to take him, we really liked having that two-on-one time with just Easton. Since the NICU was just his thing we'd like to keep it that way. We hope to go again next year with just E.

It's not like we made a ton of friends in the NICU, either patients or staff, no one would remember us. We were some of the lucky ones as far as Children's Hospital admissions go...but it's set up as more of a celebration and then my friend Ember was explaining to me that it's also a way to boost morale in the staff...and there were lots of staff walking around, not that they recognized anyone, just to see wow, look at how great all these kids are doing...kids we helped fix. Not everyone walks out of there with a baby and that's hard on the staff too. Ember said she's heard these kinds of things are a great way to prevent burn-out in the staff. We just thought it was fun! :)

In the car I noticed I had a voice mail...from my mom explaining they were in a tornado watch and to be careful. They were "hunkering down" in the basement. However, from where we were in a different part of town, sure it looked rainy over her house and all but tornadoes? Seemed silly.

We got there, though, and found literal golf ball sized hail in her yard...this is one of the smaller balls:


Easton got a much bigger one and put it in a cup, wish you could see it:


We found Gramoo, Lauren, and Diddles in the basement. D had to miss his nap in order to have fun with Gramoo so he was pretty worn out.


A quick round of Mr. Game Show and then we were off...


Dalton fell asleep right away during our drive home. Easton wasn't too far behind. I helped J get the boys into the house and said goodbye and went right back out the door to pick up Ember. We were carpooling for a Mom's Night Out. I make a fantastic designated driver right now...and for the next 3 months. :)

We got to the restaurant and met 3 other mom friends. One mom wasn't going to make it because she lives near my mom...and indeed there had been a tornado that touched down! From the news story, "A twister reportedly touched down nearby at 1:49 p.m. Sunday and crossed through the area on an eight- to 10-mile-long path for about 30 minutes". It tore through a restaurant at a shopping center not far from my mom's at all. I was glad they were hiding in the basement once I heard all that. I guess when we left at 2:30 and saw the skies, all was indeed better but sheesh! Scary!

Our mom's night out was a good time. We always split our checks into separate tabs and the waiter had two of our names and then switched to "pink shirt" "blue shirt" and "lucky". Guess who was "Lucky"? Guess who has no idea why??? Strange. But the waiter did tell me I was tiny (pregnant-wise). So I gave him a 62% tip (my bill was only 3.22 since I was drinking water and ordered an appetizer off the happy hour menu). Some of the mom's had to get going because they needed to put their kids to bed. I didn't understand. I thought it was Mom's Night Off/Out but whatever. Ember and I got in the car and I drove her home. We pulled in at 7:30 and looked at each other going, "It's too early...you wanna go to Starbucks?" If I'm getting a night out, I'm making the most of it! So we did that for a bit instead and I came home at 9:00 more like I'd planned. The kids were sound asleep and Jason was able to give me an entertaining report of what went on in my absence. It was mostly great till bathtime when Dalton soaked the floor with bath water (a known "no-no") while Jason rounded up some p.j.'s for them. Easton wasn't participating but he was laughing in encouragement so Daddy wasn't too pleased with either of them and had to use some firm, diappointed tones. When I got the boys out of their beds this morning that story about the water was the first thing both of them said to me. I'm thinking Jason got his point across. :)

We went out for our usual doughnuts this morning followed by a trip to registration at E's school. It's crazy to think about but this time next year I'll be registering Dalton for preschool. And again the following year for Pre-K. And again the following year for Wabie's preschool! Wild!

We came home after that and did a bunch of nothing...writing 1st day of school and "no school" days on the calendars, laundry, watching Hi-5... And then Easton invented a rappelling game that he can only play with my direct supervision and spotting. First he climbs up this wall along the stairs:


Then he'd somehow rigged our couch throw blanket to stay put when he puts weight on it so he'd rappel over the side and down the wall:




I only let him do it a few times and Dalton had a pretend turn too:


Then it was time for lunch and they're in their rooms now.

Whew! We're done. Keyboard class for E this afternoon. Wish him luck! We haven't a clue what to expect. :)