Girls' Night Out

I was so excited to have the chance to go on a Girls' Night Out recently with some friends from small group. After a yummy dinner at Eden Cafe, we went to Merlot to Masterpiece, one of those painting class places. Though I was mainly just excited for a chance to get out of the house for a few hours (especially since it came right after Matt was out of town for 3 days), I was a little skeptical about how I, the non-artist, would do at painting.

Here we are before the painting class started -- Katy, Aliceson, Julie, Martha, Sarah, and me

 The man leading the class, Matt, did a great job of working us through each step little by little and giving us some time to socialize in between.

 Soon, the paintings started to take shape.

 Before I knew it, I was all done.and I don't think it turned out half bad. I was really impressed by the process and am already thinking of who I can take to do another painting class (Mom, Amy, and Sarah ... maybe at Christmas time if they have a place like this in ABQ??). What a relaxing evening out! (The guys went out the next weekend to grab a burger at a steakhouse and play pool and shuffleboard. No photos to show for it, though :)).

Ian's Growing Up ...

 As preschool quickly approaches, Matt and I have talked often about just how grown-up Ian is seeming. Granted, perhaps part of it is just that he has a little brother, and the maturity difference between a 1- and 4-year-old is (obviously) quite different. Of course, he'll still have the occasional temper tantrum or major meltdown that will remind us that, yes, he is only four. Most of the time, though, he's a self-sufficient little boy that loves learning new things and helping out however he can!

Ian asked if we could play with water balloons on one recent hot afternoon. He was able to fill up the balloons all by himself, though he needed help tying them off at the end.

Ian's interest in writing continues to be strong. He will offer to write messages or notes to others. Here, he stands by a sign that he wrote for Daddy after Matt had been in Chicago for a few days for a development training for school. He also has written birthday cards to others and notes to tell Daddy where we are, like "We went to the pool." He also continues to love painting. Here is a picture of fireworks that he painted for Matt with colored sweetened condensed milk. (What a fun idea ... thanks, Aliceson!)

 A recent interest in playing music started when Kim was trying to help Ian make productive noises on the xylophone (instead of just banging!).Together, we wrote color-coded "music" to some songs Ian knew. Ian grinned from ear to ear when he played a song he could recognize! He concentrates very hard while playing to make sure he keeps his place. We still need to work on timing, as expected, but he's doing a very good job. He has also "composed" his own songs and likes to play back what he has written.

 Here are three of the songs he can play.








Last week, we invited Ian's future Pre-K teacher, Mrs. Miller, over for dinner. Ian helped make most of the dinner, and he was VERY excited to show her his room, his toys, and pictures (on the computer) of our recent trip.

 Mrs. Miller seems like she'll be a wonderful teacher -- patient, gentle, and enthusiastic. She has had 25 years of experience working with preschoolers! What a track record!

 Ian doesn't seem particularly nervous or particularly excited about preschool. He knows it's coming up (it's on his calendar and we talk about it daily). He will ask occasional questions about it and enjoys reading books from the library about preschool. I think that he'll overall do very well. I go back and forth with my feelings. I know that he'll only be gone 3 mornings a week, but I feel wistful and sad thinking that the era of "do whatever we want, when we want" freedom is quickly ending. I'll miss those mornings with my sweet oldest boy, and I can't help but feel like I haven't "done enough" to prepare him for this new stage. On the other hand, I'm excited about the new experiences that Ian will have -- and even for the new challenges he'll face that I can't replicate at home. I'm looking forward to having time with JUST Ryan those mornings and I'm already dreaming of the things we can do together, just the two of us. For this girl who hates change, new things are always bittersweet!

And because I never posted about it, back at the end of June, our church hosted Vacation Bible School. This was Ian's first year to be able to go, and he did GREAT. Here he is with his teacher, Ms. Kimmy.

 Here he is at the entrance to "Kingdom Rock" on crazy hat day. He chose to wear a winter stocking cap "so I can look like Uncle Jon."

 on the throne ...

 The final day of VBS was crazy hair day, so we attempted to spike it all up!

For days after VBS (and still now even ), Ian asked to listen to the VBS songs so that he could do the actions. In fact, VBS choreography occupied quite a bit of our driving time on our vacation. Here, Ian does the motions to three of the songs for Grandpa and Grandma while we are at Camp Cilca.

Final Trip Stop: Camp CILCA (Cantrall, Illinois)

Our last stop was Camp CILCA in Cantrall, Illinois (near Springfield), the location for Matt's family reunion. Every year Matt's aunt, uncle, and their immediate family gather at CILCA. Every few years, the extended Schleicher/Dahn family joins in. What a treat to see so many people in one place!

(Random sidenote ... I lost the CD of compiled pics from everyone's camera. So, this post contains pictures from just our camera. I'll likely do another post with the CILCA events that I missed after my dear sister comes to my rescue and sends me another CD. :))

Of course, the best part about Camp CILCA was simply the chance to play and catch up with family members! Our boys were excited to spend time with their double cousins, Jaden and Cody! Getting to play with all of Jaden and Cody's toys was certainly an added benefit as well! Plus, Grandma and Grandpa brought quite an assortment of fun activities for the boys from their house.

As expected, the one-year-olds tended to play side-by-side each other, though they did have some interaction with each other :)

One of their favorite shared toys seemed to be this Cars push toy that Jaden and Cody brought from Montana. Ian enjoyed pushing either twin (here, Cody).

Aunt Amy was able to give super fun, fast rides ...

... though the funniest was when Jaden and /or Cody started pushing Ian! What strong boys! :)

Grandpa and Grandma spent lots of time playing with our boys, too! Ian was excited to teach them how his kids' Sequence game works.

 They both got right down on the floor to build with blocks with the boys,

to push trucks and cars,

 ... or to roll a ball!

During our time at camp, Ryan was a little hesitant about letting others hold him at times, but here he's doing just great with Uncle Jason (and is seeming to enjoy whatever snack Uncle Jason gave him to munch on!) He must've known some experienced parenting hands when he felt them!

One morning, Aunt Amy had the fun idea of tracing Ian's shadow while he was doing all sorts of crazy moves. His shadows looked so funny!

Ian wanted to trace Aunt Amy's silly positions, too.

Ian loved having various relatives read him some stories before rest or bedtime. (Nate and Karissa were pretty excited about hearing Uncle Jason read books, too!)

Grandma took a turn one day,

and Uncle Jon was up another day. (Don't these thoughtful relatives spoil our boys like crazy?!?)

We loved time with our extended family, too. Matt's cousins' boys (here, Joel and Jordan) were so kind to let Ian watch their Wii games. Ian was entranced! Sometimes, he actually played, though mainly he just held one of the Wii remotes and thought that he was really playing. :)

 Aunt Mary had some fun activities planned for her grandkids, and she always invited Ian to participate as well. Here, Chloe, Ian, Kayla, Karissa, Joel, and Nate place their hands on the knitted washcloth that they most wanted. (Aunt Mary was busy knitting lots of beautiful designs!)

In addition to just talking, eating, and playing lots of board games and card games, we also had some "planned" activities. One morning, the guys got up early to play golf together. They had a great time, though some heavy rain prevented them from finishing a few holes. (Here's a pic from when they returned ... a little damp but happy!)

The Dahn clan planned a fun baseball game for the kids. I don't think Ian had ever played an actual baseball game! He got the hang of hitting the ball, which he has practiced a lot at home.

But once he hit the ball, he was a little confused about what he needed to do. By the second or third at-bat, he had the hang of running bases and was thrilled by the cheering section of aunts, uncles, and Daddy's cousins.

 Here, second cousin Erin, a VERY good athlete, gives Ian some encouragement and guidance!

 Each afternoon we were there, we headed down to the small lake on the camp property. The cool water felt especially nice since the weather was so hot! Since the water was a little (okay ... a lot!) murky, Ian didn't want to swim (since that involves keeping his eyes open). He found plenty of other fun things to do in the water, like getting Daddy and Uncle Jon to throw him up in the air.

 He also tried out a canoe with Daddy (not pictured) and a paddleboat with Momma (yes, he WAS able to reach the pedals and actually manuever our boat on his own).

Ryan thought that getting in the water was okay,

but he much preferred just digging in the "beach" sand alongside Ian.

One morning, the Schleicher boys wanted to play tennis together. So, we all drove to a nearby park. While the guys played (sorry, no pics), the little cousins got plenty of time together on the playground! Grandma pushed Ryan on the swings while Ian was busy watching a tree chipper take down some trees.

Here, the littlest boys swing together,

with help from their big cousin/brother!

Of course, we had to get a "cousin train" picture!

Aunt Amy was also sweet enough to play in Ian's "castle" for a while.

On our last evening together, the Dahns invited us to participate in their annual rocket balloon launch. All of the kids worked hard to inflate their balloons

and then would release their balloons into the air. The balloons did "rocket" really high, and the kids would run super fast to try to catch the balloons before they landed on the ground.

Ryan liked the balloons, too.

All in all, it was a wonderful time at Camp Cilca. We had a wonderful time connecting with our extended family.

the Dahn clan -- Kris & Cliff, Mark & Julie, Jenn & Mike, Uncle Doug & Aunt Mary Lou, Kim & Greg
Nate, Kayla, Chloe, Great Grandma Schleicher, Karissa, Jordan, Erin, Joel

the James clan -- Lonny & Sandra (and baby), Great Grandma Schleicher, Aunt Carol & Uncle Doug

We had a wonderful time playing with and loving on our nephews (and, yet again, being in awe of how our siblings happily and seemingly easily juggle life with twin toddlers!! WOW!)

Our boys had a wonderful time being spoiled by grandparents (and Great-Grandma)

Thanks for the cute matching tiger t-shirts and jean shorts, Grandma and Grandpa!

and playing with aunts and uncles.

We love you, dear family, and thank God for you!