Our Family Vacation

So, we just got back this past Sunday from a great trip to St. Louis. We headed out early Thursday morning and drove straight to Six Flags near St. Louis. Nana rode with Alex, Ellie, and I, and Papa drove Matt, Ben and Greg. Good thing Matt actually read the directions that I had Yahoo mapped, because at the top, it SAID it was sending us to Six Flags, but where it was ending us with the directions was in the center of St. Louis!!! Nowhere NEAR Six Flags by the way. So, he called right away and got the correct directions. Good job Matt!
The big boys had a great time there, the little ones only lasted a couple of hours, so I left with them and headed to the hotel to check in. We just hung out that night and then on Friday, we went to the zoo. It was a nice zoo, comparable to Henry Doorly I think, but it was so stinkin hot, most of the animals were inside or hiding in caves or something. A fun time altogether though. The kids and I experienced Dippin' Dots ice cream for the first time. Very interesting...
So Friday night Matt and Papa went to a Cardinals vs. Dodgers game. Poor Papa had to sit in St. Louis next to his son wearing Dodgers gear. I think Matt said he got heckled a bit. Good for them! So while they were there, Nana and I wrangled up the monkeys and took them to the Magic House Children's Museum in St. Louis. They had a GREAT time. We were there for about 2 hours, and I think we could have stayed for at least 2 more, but it was getting late for the little ones. They had that electricity ball that you touch and it makes your hair stand up. Well, my sons later informed me that they found out that they had hair on their bodies that they didn't know was there, in places that they didn't WANT to know was there! Thanks boys, little too much info!
Saturday was a trip to downtown St. Louis for some fine dining, visiting the St. Louis Arch (very cool, but no, we did not go up), and then all the big boys headed to the day baseball game. Nana and I took Alex and Ellie and trucked our booties about 20 million miles in the 100+degree heat (just up the street according to Papa!) to see Union Station. There were several times when I thought I was going to lose Nana on the walk. You know she was looking pretty rough when a security guard stopped us and told us it was only $5 to take a cab, and we should seriously consider it! Well, we opted to push on and we made it! It was pretty cool at Union Station, and Nana and I had our caricatures drawn...funny stuff. We also stopped at the Fudgery for some delicious fudge, which was made with lots of singing by the workers and crowd participation.
Saturday night was wind down night. Papa took Ben and Greg swimming at the hotel while the rest of us relaxed, and I tried to get everything together for our morning departure. We headed home early Sunday morning. Overall, the kids did pretty well driving. Although the last hour or so on the way home was ROUGH for Alex and Ellie (and for myself and Nana). They were worn out! But I think they had fun, or at least I hope they did!
Now it's back to real life. School starts next week. Football started last week for Ben. They didn't have enough players for the fall baseball team, so he decided to try football again. I think he's enjoying it so far, although he has told me that the pads are a pain! Greg will start soccer soon. They are smart and don't practice in the 100 degree heat, unlike the psycho footballers!
Alex wears his Sportacus costume every day and is as hyper as ever. I think I can officially say he is potty trained. No accidents for quite some time. Ellie has finally tackled crawling and is pretty sure that she can walk all by herself sometimes (she can't). She's also quite the drama queen. She lets us know very loudly if she thinks whatever happened to her should hurt. She's finally getting her two front top teeth, and has three of her bottom teeth. She's eating all kinds of table foods now and thinks she's pretty hot stuff.

I think that's all for now. I'll post pics soon.
Take care,
Lisa

Ellie's Birthday Party

Well, we celebrated Ellie's first birthday in Omaha at Erin and Kevin's house on August 4th, and it was a blast! They have an above ground swimming pool, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for swimming! It was, however, too hot for the silly folks who didn't bring their swimsuits! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

As for Miss Ellie, she totally dug (into) her cake! See photos for details. Apparently her foot wanted to get in on the cake action too! So anyway, we had a Backyardigans themed party because she really seems to like the colors and songs of that toddler cartoon. Yes, I know, it's sad that my not yet one year old has a favorite cartoon already. What are you gonna do... We grilled out and Uncle Todd smoked a brisket (thank you Todd), and had salads and chips galore.

Today, August 16th, is actually her birthday. We are going to take it easy, just have a little cake and a couple of presents. Today is also Class Assignment day for the boys, where we go find out who their teachers are and sign them up for activites, etc. etc., so thankfully Simi is going to watch Alex and Ellie for me! So that will be her big excitement for the day!

Have a good day!

Lisa

It's About Time...!!!

Ok, so Alex is FINALLY potty trained! Yeah! He hasn't had any daytime accidents in 3 weeks, and no nighttime accidents for about 1 week now. It only took him about 3 weeks to figure it out, and let me tell you, it was a very, very, very long 3 weeks for me! I almost gave up. But then the thought of changing his big ol stinky booty diapers gave me the strength to endure. And now I sure am glad that I did. I think we might even be almost ready to put away the little potty chair too! I think he's moved on to the "big poopin' chair", as he calls it. We are so proud of him!

As for Miss Ellie, she is FINALLY completely weaned to the bottle. Yes, I know, I said I would never be able to breastfeed for that long, but, uh, yeah. So anyway, she is digging it and so am I. She is also loving trying all kinds of new foods, particularly whatever happens to be in my hand. I think her favorites so far are pasta sauce and mozzerella cheese...good combination! She also likes yogurt and chocolate chip cookies quite a bit. She's sleeping pretty well through the night now...knock on wood...only gets up once or twice. Yes, sadly, that is really good for my Ellie. Used to be every two hours or so.
She's still not crawling or walking, but she is finally trying to get up on her hands and knees. She actually is really good at scooting on her booty while she is sitting. She gets around most of the living room that way! It's pretty funny. And she can scoot backwards on her belly. But she is standing at things all by herself, and sometimes lets go to stand alone for a second. She'll also take steps if she's holding my hands.

So, lots of exciting milestones for my babies this month. It's so awesome, but kind of sad too. They grow up so fast, and lots of days, I can't wait for the next milestone. Some days I want them to stay little. No, this does not mean that I will want more!

As far as the big ones go, they are into the full swing of summer and starting to talk about going back to school. They are enjoying playing outside with the neighbors, doing a little swimming, playing video games, and watching movies. They also have been practicing their handwriting and math (thanks to Auntie Jennifer), and have been given some chores that they have to complete every day. They are not so fond of this, but we are trying to teach them a little responsibility.
Ben is going to be playing fall baseball on a team that Matt has put together, and we aren't sure if Greg will be playing baseball or soccer. He's "getting bored of soccer", he says, and would like to try baseball again, even though he didn't like it last year. We'll let you know how that works out!

Well, that's all the excitement around here I think.
Talk soon,
Lisa

Happy Birthday Corky #2!

O.K., so guess whos birthday it was this weekend. Thats right, the cake in the picture with a little girl on it, turned 1 year(s) old. It is a Cave tradition that when a baby has its first birthday, they get their own cake. No spoon, no fork, no mommy to feed you, just your hands.

Ellie looked on with utter disgust as Ry pollished of most of the mini delite. The rest of us laughed knowing her day is comming, soon!

Ry (above) is trying to wash down the slab of cake she munched!

I was very impressed with the turn out for the party. I guess when you advertise swimming, B-B-Q, Beer and Cake, you better. Jo-Jo brought the triplets, Tim and Barb came with Grandma, Grandpa and Patty. Jason Cave and Stephanie Foxhoven made an appearance and of course Nana and Papa would never miss it. There were a few others that came and went. Papa was a "pool bully" as usual and Tim had a love affair with a pink water noodle (had to be there for that to make sense).

(left to right) Ben, Ellie, Greg, Pool Bully, Ray Gun & Ry

It was a quick trip home for the K.C. Caves, but a fun one. It is always nice to see the Dean girls and I suppose Kevin and Erin. Mom and Dad tried to bribe us back with the purchase of a new "pillow top" bed for the spare room. It worked, thanks again Mom.

The day finished with a bang! Literally. We set off over $200 in fireworks at the end of the day. Kevin and Erins neighbor let me use his portable propane torch. That was cool. I was able to light 2 and 3 fireworks at a time. I was almost incinerated twice but overall a good time. Thanks again to Erin and Kevin for a great time and to Mom and Dad for the room and board. Who knows, we had such a good time maybe we will see if we can rent the "Dean Family Expierence" for Ellie's Birthday. Something tells me Erin's price would be pretty cheap. Love you all!



I'm Out....... MJC

They're Back

So, the two knuckleheads are back from their tour of the lower west coast. Sea World, Disneyland, Las Vegas, San Diego Beach and not to forget Hotel De' Butler. Scot and Jennifer have decided after spending a week with Ben and Greg, that maybe "Rent-a-Kid" is the way to go. Scot is going to have a vasectomy and Jennifer is going to have here tubes tied. Just to be sure they are still going to use birth control. O.K., O.K. As Alex would say, "I am just kidding".

To be honest I don't know who had more fun. Scot, Jennifer and Kim, or Ben and Greg. I will never be able to thank the Butlers and Ms. Block enough for taking my two oldest sons on the trip of a lifetime. That is something they will never forget. 1. They flew on an airplane for the very first time. 2. They swam in the ocean for the very first time. They went to Disneyland for the first time. Sea world etc. etc.. etc... I do not trust my children's care to very many people, especially not 2,000 miles away, but those three are exceptional people. Thank You.

(left) Is that David Hasselhoff

(right) That is definitely NOT David Hasselhoff

So we missed them quite a bit. I didn't realize how much I liked having them around until they were gone. Alex went through withdrawals. I was gone as well for 3 days in Chicago on business. Lisa didn't know what to do. Its O.K. though, Lisa had Sportacus to keep her safe. I am awfully proud of my boys. They may be knuckleheads but they are OUR knuckleheads and I wouldn't want them any other way. We were told that the Stewardess and people around them complimented about how "well behaved" and what "good boys" they were. Of course I instantly knew that they mixed up my boys with some other kids, but then I realized, they are good boys. So after Scot, Jennifer and Kimberly spoiled them rotten, we got'em back. They have changed a lot in just that short time. Ben now eats his salad with no dressing. Greg wants a motorcycle. They both are now excellent Texas Hold em players. (I am thinking of entering them in the World Series of Poker) Finally let me say that me and my boys are blessed to have such a great family, both on my side and Lisa's. Nana, Papa, Grandma Marry, Grandpa Pete, all the aunts and uncles love our kids so much it is exceptional. It is no secret that Ben and Greg were not born into the Block family, but you would never know it. I have never seen a family welcome someone elses children as their own as much as the Blocks do. Pete and Mary, you have raised some exceptional children who surround themselves with exceptional spouses.

All I can say is Thank You! I hope you all know how much I love you and how proud I am to be a part of this family.
(from left to right) Kim, Ben, Scot, Greg, Jennifer

They're Ba-aack!!

Ok, so the kids are back and into the full swing of regular old ordinary life. They had a great time on vacation, but I can't really tell you everything they did because when we picked them up, they were both talking a mile a minute...at the same time. I think going on every roller coaster in sight pretty much sums up what they did all week! Unfortunately, Greg was not quite as enthused about the coasters as Ben was. However, they also got to see a cool show in Vegas, and Jennifer made them a super duper cool breakfast one morning (refer to pic), and they roasted hot dogs and marshmellows at the swanky Buttler Resort (Jennifer and Scott's backyard), and they went swimming at Kimmy's ritzy club pool!

So, Ben is back into baseball. The first couple games he played after vacation, Matt decided that Ben had left his brain in California. We had it FedExed back, and he was in prime condition at his next game. Last night, however, not so much. Oh well, he's got lots of time to practice.

Greg's soccer is over with now. He had a pretty good season. Now he's ready to move on to golf apparently. Hmmmm, not so much.

Alex is still very much in the first stages of potty training. We went to Sioux City for my sister Chris's bridal shower last weekend, so I didn't do so well getting him to the bathroom on time. Auntie Karla actually really helped in getting him there though. Thanks Karla. We hope you move here! So anyway, I'm trying to get him (and myself) back into the groove. This is NOT fun. Is there some potty training camp I can send him to?

Ellie still is not crawling...I think she will skip this altogether. She wants to walk, and she does pretty well holding our hands. I did hear that the longer they take to crawl, the smarter they are! :-) What do you think? She's trying to pull herself up on things, and she can stand by herself at the couch or her play table. She talks all the time, and mimics me when I holler at the boys. We've started listening to the B-I-N-G-O song, and she LOVES it. She starts clapping as soon as the song starts. And she thinks that all of her big brothers are a hoot! And she loves watching herself on video. I have taken some videos of her on my digital camera and uploaded them to my computer. When she gets fussy, I put them on and she instantly stops fussing and just gets a huge smile on her face. It's too much! Oh, and Nana, she is a true Italian...besides the brown hair and brown eyes, she LOVES pasta sauce!!

Well, while I was in Sioux City, Matt and Ben tackled some home improvement projects. He replaced the bottom step of our porch, tore off the rails and spindles on the porch, stained the porch, trimmed out the bottom of the two posts that are left on the porch, replaced the doorbell and address numbers, and painted the shutters to match the door. It's looking pretty good. It's a work in progress right now, but when it's all done, I think it will look awesome.

Well, I think that's all I have for now.
Love ya
Lisa

They'll Be Home Soon!

Ok, so it's been 4 whole days without Ben and Greg, and as peaceful as it has been, we really do miss them, a LOT. I don't know what to do with myself, what with not running to baseball and soccer, helping with homework, etc., etc. And poor Alex, every time we get in the van, he asks if we are going to go get Ben and Greg. And he had a double whammy because Matt had to go to Chicago on a business trip from Sunday afternoon until today.

But from what I've heard, the boys are having a GREAT time! They have gone on roller coasters galore, seen some shows, gone swimming, watched cartoons...and the list goes on and on. Jennifer, Scott, and Kim are some pretty cool aunts and uncle. So when the boys get home, I suspect they are going to be awefully bored!

Next big exciting news...I am attempting to potty train Alex. He's doing really pretty well. No accidents today yet. He only had two accidents yesterday, our first day. He's kind of funny. If I ask him too often if he has to go, he pretends that he's sleeping. So I keep bugging him and he says, "SHHHHHHH mom I'm slee-eeeeeppinngggg!" Or he just says "no thanks mom". And sometimes, he just dribbles in the toilet and he says "oops, almost". If that's too much info, sorry, but it's pretty cute when he says it. So anyway, that's what's up with Alex right now.
Ellie is starting to try to crawl and pull herself up, but she just can't quite get it. I'm sure it'll happen all too soon. I'm perfectly fine with putting her on the floor to play and being able to find her in the generally same spot if I step away. And she fake laughs when we fake laugh at her. And she's eating cheerios and fruit loops all the time now...LOVES them. Drinking out of a sippy cup sometimes. She's growing up so fast!

And as for me, well, I'm pretty proud of myself right now. I painted the front door and replaced the dead bold and door knob all by myself while Matt was gone...and yes it all works! It took me forever, but I got it done! I'm not sure if I like the color yet or not. The house is gray, and the door was hunter green (well it used to be hunter green, but it was so splotchy and sun faded) so I painted it a really dark gray.

So, I think that is all for now. Again, I'll post pics from the boys' vacation when I get them.
Love to you all,
Lisa