Working with kids

Had to take this picture to Aunt Nicole :) I swear, Buckeye clothing is the softest most comfy apparel! I think every Buckeye shirt we have, including ones Nicole bought me and Ryan, are soooo soft! I wanted to cuddle Mason all day long :) 

Wanting to remember the days working from home with the kiddos :) I didn't do this nearly as much as most people during COVID, but I did it for a couple weeks this summer when I returned from maternity leave. Shannon wasn't open until school started, so I had Mason at home with me for a few weeks. It went okay, but it was definitely hard! Addison is fine, she's easy, but Mason was a different story. But Addy wanting to play with and entertain her brother warms my heart every time. 

Addison will now say "I have to get some work done first" or "I can't right now I need to work" in an exasperated voice when we ask her to do something. Ha! 

 

I was pretty excited when she took a liking to Amelia Bedelia! Grandpa Ron read lots of Amelia Bedelia to me. She doesn't quite get the irony yet, but I explain it and then she laughs. They are longer books than we are used to reading but that's okay :) This girl is totally into reading right now! We read books over and over and over again. Then she has them memorized and reads them to "her class" or her dolls. Its so funny to watch her read to the class as she calls out the naughty kids - ha! She loves to play teacher right now too. She is definitely our rule follower, so she has to explain to her class what all the rules are in a firm voice. I hope her desire to follow rules and love for books continues! 

Our little basketball player! 

Mismatch Day

Addison was pretty excited about mismatch day....... although I'm not sure she knew it was mismatch day! She was just excited that I let her wear a sweatshirt. This girl LOVES hoods and pockets. I opened the drawer and let her pick bottoms to wear. And she wore the mismatch socks of Makena's. 

Another windy day to fly her kite! I never thought we would play with this kite as much as we do. And I can't believe we haven't broke it yet with as many times as it has nose-dived to the ground or hit the house. 

Usually I'm the one to wear Mason around the house, but Ryan came into the office wearing him one day. Mason doesn't mind the carrier and it's easier to get a few things done (like vacuuming) while wearing him. Bad part is, he chews on the carrier! The thing is soaked pretty quick. He kicks his legs like crazy and more than once has kicked the cupboards/counters. It doesn't seem to hurt though, ha! 

We love our ISU jammies! 

 

The Ice Cream Truck

This was a BIG day in the Lents house. Now usually, I like to build the excite for "big days" but this was not planned. We have this little ice cream truck that drives around Bondurant and plays Christmas music. Thing is, no one where it goes or when. Ha! It's been posted on the community Facebook page and no one had any answers. Although Ryan figured out this summer that he always heard it on Sundays :) 

Well, one Sunday night, we were taking bathes from being outside all day. As Addison was getting dressed, Ryan yells up the stairs that he heard the truck. We hadn't had a treat that day and thought it was as good as any to visit the Ice Cream Truck. So we hurried to get jammies on and Ryan ran outside to stop him. Ha! 

Thankfully the neighbors got out and stopped him. Addison was pretty excited!! Although I'm not sure if she was more excited to see the neighbors (friends from school) or the ice cream truck. Of course, she picked out a Bomb Pop...... which we have in the freezer. UGH! We did convince her to get the Jolly Rancher version, so I felt a little better about it. Ryan was actually probably more excited than Addison, he got the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. These were two happy campers!! Addison's bomb pop was so big, we did convince her to put half of it back in the freezer for the next day. And she did not forget :) First thing she asked for when she got home! 
 

3 months!

Well I'm almost 3 months behind as this little dude turns 6 months next week - Gah!! Lol. Oh what a happy little boy. We got through those ridiculous weeks of crying when he was a newborn and now it's all smiles! 

Except for his GQ-like serious pose. 

Seriously can't believe I got a smile while this kid was on his tummy. He hates it! Addy didn't love it, but she liked it more than him. 

 And the hand to his mouth. He kept his fists clenched so tight and was always sucking on them, I would find lint in his hands. Gross! Mom-fail, figured out I needed to wash his hands every once in a while. haha! 

Three months went by so fast. That meant maternity leave was over. :( I was pretty sad, I really didn't want to go to back to work. I feel like I miss so much being gone so much and working nights and weekends. And when I am home, I feel like I'm always cleaning or answering the question "what are we eating for dinner?" Such is life of a mom!! Mason and I had a good time on maternity leave, especially when Addy was home on Fridays with us. We had lots of walks, some runs, and lots of hanging out and enjoying each other. This leave was a little different than when I had Addison..... I wasn't taking classes! A little more relaxing :) 

School Shopping

School shopping looked a little different this year for most kids. COVID made it a little harder! Addison needed a backpack that fit a folder (insert eye roll as of course nothing we had was big enough!). So I was on the hunt for a cheap backpack for preschool. I saw that Walmart had some for $9 and that was the best deal I found. And of course you needed $50 online to get free shipping. And I wanted her to have the joy of picking out her backpack. They had Paw Patrol, Frozen, Trolls, and PJ Masks. So I took her into Walmart, despite all my COVID anxiety. This might have been the first time she had been allowed to go out, I can't remember. It was one of the first anyways.  

She picked out the Trolls backpack, no hesitation. She was pretty excited. She did a party dance in front of all the backpacks. I enjoyed it :) Meanwhile, Ryan was driving around with a crying baby! We went through the self check out and she scanned it and got her receipt. It's been almost two months and she still loves that backpack and we have only had to glue it once (knock on wood). 

 

She was trying to hold him but it didn't last long. She always says he's too squirmy. 

Grandma Rita and Grandpa Ron! Grandpa Ron has asked to hold the little guy a few times (much to my surprise). You have some pretty cool grandparents dude. 

Who Wore It Better?

We went to Colorado back when Conner was a toddler. The whole family was together in a big house in a the mountains, it was a great time! I don't remember exactly how it happened, but Conner ended up wearing Makena's swimming suit :) Grandpa Ron was not happy about it - ha! So when I saw this swimming suit in the hand-me-down tub, I laughed. So I tried to make Addison re-enact Conner's picture. Then I sent it to Conner! He was such a cute little boy :) 

Little dude doesn't look thrilled about the bumbo. I realized that I hadn't been working on the bumbo with Mason as early as I had with Addison, so we thought we better get going! 

It's October now and about 35 degrees, I miss swim days!! I'm looking forward to next year when maybe Mason will join Addison in the shark pool :) 

 As usual, she hops out of the pool every 5 minutes to run over and talk to Mason. She may not even make it 5 minutes :) 

Getting a shoulder ride

Addison asked to feed him. Look at his eyes - ha! 

A cozy weekend morning! Addison gets to watch her iPad some mornings and this day we told her she had to let Mason watch. She thought it was a great idea. 

 She thought this was pretty funny, giving Mason a ride on her shoulders. She does this with her dolls all the time. Funny part is, she doesn't really like riding on Ryan's shoulders that much! She likes when Ryan puts Mason on her shoulders. Look how tight she is gripping his ankles, she isn't going to let him fall, haha! 

Pride Rock

Each July, I take a picture of Addison with the pride rock in Bondurant at the Legion. 

This year was a little different..... we added Mason to the photo! He was 2 months old and we were trying to make her hold him, unsupported. Ha! She wasn't too thrilled and kept telling us she couldn't do it. But we made her. Ryan was right outside the camera view to rush in - haha. I think our photos turned out pretty darn good! 

It was fun for us this year as Addison is starting to grasp the idea of celebrating America. I said it before, but I was really happy that her school spent time talking about it. 

This time we remembered our swimsuit when we went into Ankeny to play at the park on a Friday. She had a good time at the splash pad! 

 Mom and Mason just hanging out. Enjoying the last days of maternity leave. 

Popsicles!

I was going for a run one day and this one guilted me into taking her. Whew. Pushing 34 pounds in a stroller was HARD. Especially when it's not like I'm running 5 miles easily, 2 miles was still a struggle! I had one major rule. She could not talk to me unless I had stopped to walk. Ha! She will talk non-stop while I run and ask me questions. And she will repeat the questions until I answer. She did great following my one rule. She only talked to me once while I was running and that was to ask for water :) 

I think she's good enough now on her scooter or balance bike that we could go together. I will have to try that. 

I took her into Fareway with me one night. She saw the Bomb pops in the freezer section and started doing a happy dance. It was so funny, I had to buy them. She was so excited! She had had them at her little school and apparently loved them. 

Happy Boy! 

 

All squeaky clean!! He likes his baths. Addison has started to prefer showers. Six months ago she wouldn't take a shower for anything! 

Easy Bake Oven

Addison is one lucky girl...... she got an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday (it was a late gift but that is a nice treat) from her Aunt Nicole, Uncle Landon, Brayden & Nolan. I was pretty excited too. Ha! Lisa had one growing up and we loved making treats! I thought it was so cool and Lisa was so lucky. 

We were supposed to make little bit size chocolate chip cookies. They ended up being a little pan of chocolate chip bars - ha! 

She was pretty excited and tried to watch it cook. 

We were supposed to use the fudge and make little sandwiches but Addy and Ryan decided they wanted to dip their cookies in the fudge instead. Addy was pretty excited and thought the cookies were pretty yummy! She was ready to make the rest of her recipes that night, but we made her wait. 

I had done dishes and washed Mason's pacifiers. For some reason, Addison asked if she could try one. She thought it was pretty silly. 

Ryan was pretty excited about the box the Easy Bake Oven came in. He gave Addy some markers and told her to make an airplane. So she did. She was pretty funny as she talked to her passengers. 

Touch a Truck

So Addison stayed home with me & Mason on Fridays this summer. I had big plans to do all sorts of fun things..... but then COVID. So we did a few fun things instead. I had no issues with parks and was waiting for them to open. I just didn't want to be around a ton of people. And we use hand sanitizer so I was comfortable. We went to the park were she played soccer and they have a splash pad. We hadn't planned to go to this park and didn't have a swimsuit. So she was pretty timid to get in the water even though it was 95 degrees out! 

I took some clothes to Duckworth, Addison was so excited. They have a kid-sized door and she LOVES it and asks to go there. Way to go Duckworth marketing, you got the kid hooked! 

We went home and she napped for a little while, then we headed to the Fire Station. They had their Touch-a-Truck event. We have never one in the past because they have it at 2pm in the afternoon because apparently moms aren't supposed to work. Clearly I get frustrated that so many fun kid events are during the day - ha! 

She was super tired and hot and didn't talk much. But apparently she had fun because it's been almost 3 months and she still talks about it! She refused to let me take pictures, this was all I got.  We saw firetrucks, police cars, crime lab trucks, bomb squad trucks, garbage trucks, recycling trucks, semi's, diggers, and a septic truck. I'm glad we got to go to this event this year!