Divide and Conquer, Part II

Yesterday was such a great day for both Tavin and I as well as for Doug and Koen.  I have broken up into two parts to keep all the good times straight...


Tavin & Mommy:
Tavin and I had a fabulous day.  We took our time starting our day and played in the playroom for awhile before heading out on foot to run some errands and have some fun out of the house.  We are on a hunt to find blue tall kitchen trash bags.  I know, so random.  We used to buy them at Walmart or Target, but no one seems to have them anymore.  Well, in the last few days we've checked every retailer around us and they are not available.  Anyways, after a few of those stops, we headed to the library.  Tavin and I picked out some books and read some too.  Then Tavin did a puppet show for me.  

After the puppet show we headed back out on a few more stops (still no trash bags).  Then we went to the playground.  Again Tavin loved just having my attention and kept himself very busy.  He had a new accomplishment as well.  He can now climb the wall all by himself, no help needed at all!  He was so proud of himself.  I taught him how to say, "I did it!," at the top.  Here he is working his way up...

And then the "I did it!" face at the top!

Yet another shot of the proud climber on another trip up the wall.

Tavin was again very tired after all the one-on-one time with me (I must be more fun than I thought!).  He took an awesome nap and I enjoyed the peaceful, long down time.  Here are some pictures of the artwork I've been creating for the office the last two days while I've had these long afternoon breaks with no Koen to entertain.  It was a fun project, definitely time-consuming, but thankfully I'm happy with the results.  I think it might be the craftiest thing I've done yet.  Just to explain the pictures, these are canvases that I painted with a solid color (day 1) and then I painted different bits of nature I've been collecting with the off-setting colors from the background and then pressed them on to the canvases to leave their impressions (day 2).  It took a lot of experimenting to figure out how best to leave the impressions and it was frustrating for a perfectionist because there was no guarantee that when I did it on the canvas it would look the way it did on my practice paper.  Thankfully, everything worked out fine and although there are imperfections and some areas I had to touch up free-hand (that was a risk!), I'm happy with the finished product.

Tavin and I had a quick visit from a friend (Miss Kylie, or "Ky Ky") for about an hour after his nap.  She liked my art project which made me feel more confident about it.  Tavin actually also enjoyed some craft time while I made dinner.  Look at the concentration!

Tavin is really into making small scribbles right now.  He actually by mistake drew a figure-eight and something that looked like a capital A too.  He's so cute because as he draws these intricate designs he names them all..."Mommy, Daddy, Da-din, Brah-Bah, Abbie."  


After dinner Tavin and I played some basketball in the backyard, then I gave him a quick refreshing bath and our little date weekend was over.  What a special time.  I'm so thankful for this special one-on-one time with my dear Tavin.  


Koen & Daddy:
There is less text in this portion since I wasn't there.  I'll let the pictures tell most of the days' events.  I'm starting with Friday afternoon/evening as I received some great pictures from PopPop Saturday morning.


Koen received some fishing gear for his birthday present.  Friday afternoon included some training with the rod and equipment.  Koen was so excited about his new things and the opportunity to learn to fish!

With Koen happy and busy with Nana & PopPop, he got to work on washing the van (much needed, especially after all the road work in the Burgh this week).

Koen also got to ride his bike with Nana.  They really packed it in on evening 1.  No wonder Koen ate such a great dinner and then he slept hard that night!

So on Saturday morning, the plan was to go out to breakfast at Cafe 101 in Boiling Springs and then visit Children's Lake for a morning of fishing with Koen's uncles and cousins.  A really special morning that all the boys could be together.  Here's Koen and Nana at breakfast.  Doug just raved about this place.  I hope I get to go sometime too.

Koen enjoyed getting to feed the geese while he waited for the cousins to arrive.

Now for the fishing photos...

Koen did very well with the fishing.  Apparently he caught 5 fish!  I would've loved to see his excited face when he reeled them in.  Very exciting.  I love that he's learning about fishing.  Doug has always enjoyed it and with two boys, I'm sure it will prove to be a fun pastime for our family (I will have to always bring a book, I'm not very patient with the waiting for the fish to bite).  For lunch Nana had packed a picnic and they grilled out burgers, dogs, etc.  Then in the afternoon after the fishing was wrapped up, some of the cousins headed back with Koen to Nana & PopPop's for more play in the backyard.  I can't believe that Koen could keep up all afternoon.  He's really becoming such a big boy.  Doug said his attitude was great.  He really is growing up!  Doug and Koen left around 5pm and got home at 8:30pm.  Koen went straight to bed.  He and I just read one book.  It was so obvious that he was exhausted because after laying him down we realized his monitor was mixed up, so I had to go into his room and change the channel on the monitor.  I figured he'd pop up and wonder what I was doing, but literally within 10 minutes of being laid down he was out so cold that he didn't wake up when I came in.  I couldn't believe it, just a testament to his adventurous day!  Thanks so much to Nana & PopPop for taking such good care of my boys and all the extra fun you built in with coordinating the lovely meals, time with Doug's brothers and Koen's cousins.  This was a fantastic visit.  Koen can't stop talking about it!