Family time and inventions

Again, another month has gone by. It's been a busy one, seeing lots and lots of extended family, which is awesome. We made the long trip down to Flat Rock, NC a few weeks ago, and were so pleased with the good travelers our kids proved to be. Jason had several hotel points that he had saved up, so we were spoiled with nice hotels on the way there and coming back. Indianapolis was our first stop (found a nice playground and "people-watched"), then Bowling Green (Mammoth Cave!), then Knoxville (super-cool zoo), then five nights with my family at Bonclarken in Flat Rock. My cousin Michelle got married, and we left the following day, staying in Cincinnati on the way back (visited Jason's cousin and family). It was a wonderful ten days of vacation and memories and family. Even Levi didn't mind the car rides, stroller rides, or belly rides. :)

We had a few days to straighten up the house before we welcomed members of Jason's family for the following nine days. We enjoyed watching Ethan's tennis class, Caty's gymnastics, going strawberry picking, and our first time at Bay Beach riding the rides.

Now it's back to the five of us for the time being, and the house is screaming for organization and the cherry tree is getting closer to picking time every day. Jason is desperately hoping for a softball game tonight since the last several have either been rained out, or we've been gone, or he's been injured. I think he'll get his wish.

Levi finally got the rest of his vaccines yesterday afternoon, and he sure was mad around dinner time! I guess this may be his usual response. There's not too much new to report on him - he's a happy, healthy little boy who is starting to find his giggle voice! He is finally sleeping longer at night - two nights ago he did a six hour stretch, and last night was a seven hour stretch! Could this be the week where we get a full night's sleep? I hope so! He's 12 weeks now, this could be it!

Ethan and Caty have been constant companions for the last couple of month, and I am so proud of how well they get along. I don't know when the last time was that I heard arguing (with each other), and they are always inviting the other one to join in on their play. Ethan's latest thing the past week has been "inventing" food dishes. He finds a selection of ingredients, mixes them in a bowl (which always includes water), and asking us to taste his creation. So far, he's 0 for 4. But now, he'll write down his ingredients when he's away from the kitchen, and when we're together and I have the graciousness to lend him the ingredients, he'll follow his recipe. Yesterday's recipe looked like this: (I wish I could scan them in, they're much cuter in his handwriting)

BAKiNG POWDeR
WOtR
hes (cheese)
SUGAR
SALT
jAM
VANILA
BAtR
BARRES
LiCWID
MiLK
PeNAt BAtR
10 MiNiS
Then he adds a picture of a spoon sporadically to show we need to mix it, then a picture of an oven for baking.

The recipe for today looks like this:
WOtR
EGS
tAMAtOS
tAMAtO JOS
hES
BAKiNG SODA
SOSiJ

It is entertaining reading his creations, but some days I have a hard time giving up my food for stuff we aren't going to eat. We haven't made today's "invention", and I think we probably won't. Maybe I should include him in my dinner prep so he has some idea of the things that go well together.

Well, the kids took good naps today. It looks like we'll all be heading out to the softball game later. Signing out for now.