The Algeras

The weather is starting to get more and more summerlike here! The kids love it. Sara doesn't like to come inside at all. We ate lunch at her picnic table and read books on the backyard chairs. She did come in for a short nap.

David is just discovering the fun of outdoors. He mostly likes to tackle Sara, point at birds and just yell a lot at everything.

We unpacked our new tent last night. It's great, especially since it only cost ten dollars! It's very roomy and the kids love playing in it. Hopefully they will like our camping trips this summer. We're hoping to go up to Sleeping Bear Dunes in July. Sara has been telling Dave all about camping and how fun it is. I don't know how much she remembers or is making up, but it's really cute.

Another cute Sara thing I have to get written down: when ever she doesn't want to do something she says "That's OK, I'll be all right." Example; Mom says "You need to put your jacket and shoes on to go outside." "No, Mommy, that's OK, I'll be all right." She never wins, but she'll keep trying. She'd run naked if I let her.

We had a very summery night tonight. Sara discovered sweet corn on the cob for dinner. She loved eating from the ear. Then Dad and kids ran outside while I cleaned up. We listened to the Tigers game on the radio and then Ben went out to work on the boat. David is still up, he feels a little warm and has a nasty cough starting. Hopefully this is nothing...he'll just need a little mommying for the next day or so.

It was a great day for playing outside! Sara flew her kite and was very excited about it. I got it flying and then handed her the string. "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" David was pretty excited about it too. We heard lots of "guy guy guy"ing. That's his excited noise, accompanied by much pointing and waving.

Sara heard the ice cream truck while we were out there. She loves the "music truck" She hears it, runs out into the yard looking for it and yells "here boy, here boy!" Did you know that trucks come when they're called just like dogs? She never begs for ice cream and I'm not sure she even knows you can get ice cream from it. She just likes the tunes, and the fact that the driver says hello to her on the speaker.

We played some hopscotch after David went in for his nap. She does get it but after a few times through she just started skipping and running. Watch and see!

David is getting so close to crawling! He gets his little butt up in the air, balancing on his hands and feet. Ben calls it his plank position. Sara calls it his good pushups. "Good pushups, good job Davey. Work it out!" Just this afternoon he got up on all fours and moved his hand forward before face planting. I think he's getting it. Go Davey, work it out! He really wants to be moving so he can get into stuff. I hear lots of guy guying when he gets to junk mail or the letter blocks. I hope he figures it out soon

It's Tulip Time! And that means time to dress the kids up and head downtown for pictures, dancers and elephant ears. Sara loves getting into her dancing dress and going to smell the flowers. Four tourist ladies had taken the kids pictures within 15 minutes of getting them out of the stroller. This just confirms our belief that we have the cutest kids ever :) They were happy and happy to pose for Daddy. This picture of Sara is similar to a pose from last year; I can't believe how much she's grown! She's turning into a little lady. David just liked flashing those dimples and watching dogs and people.

We went to Froggy's for dinner. Sara really enjoyed her hot dog, eaten plain. David tried a few fries, but found them hard to chew with only two teeth. That didn't stop him from gumming and drooling until he got it down. We visited the junk food carts for elephant ears for dessert. Such a healthy meal! Sara loves elephant ears, we had to spell them until we were ready to buy one.

We stopped at Sandcastle to find Sara a kite. She's so excited! I hope the wind picks up a little so we can fly it. Last night was pretty calm but Ben still took it out for her and ran around to make it fly. She's very excited, even though we could not find a pink shark kite to name Bruce after the Finding Nemo shark. (Remember, fish are friends, not food!)

We ran into Uncle Paul and Aunt Donna, Phil, Paula and Lawrence while waiting for the Dutch Dancing in Centennial Park. Sara sat by Aunt Donna while Ben and I took turns rocking a tired boy. Lawrence looked so cute all dressed up, but he and Sara were beyond the mood to pose by that time.

It's a cloudy day today, but the wind is picking up a little. We might go to the park and try to fly that kite!

Watch Sara run her race! It's an action shot, so forgive the crazy angles; Ben did his best following a randomly moving target!

Sara ran a real race today! She did one lap around the indoor track at Calvin's new fieldhouse for the Family Fun Run. She got her own race number and race shirt and thought that she was the biggest girl ever. "I got a shirt and a number! I'm a real racer. I'm like Daddy!" She got to pick up her race packet and then we walked around campus to see what had changed since we were there. Ben and I graduated 9 years ago, can you believe it? The new fieldhouse is amazing. It's huge! We showed David and Sara where Mom and Dad lived and ate and went to school. Sara was impressed. David just blew gazoos.

There were games for the kids before their race, and Sara loved the parachute game. She ran under it and did her jellybean dance. Thanks for teaching her that, Grandma! When the race actually started she had a hard time focusing on running in a straight line, but eventually figured it out and finished about 5 kids from the back of the pack. Hopefully she'll fix that by the time she runs for the Calvin track team :) Ben got some cute video of her racing, I have it up on Facebook.

David and Sara were both very talkative on the drive home. They make each other laugh when they ride in their car seats. Our trip was a little longer since we got a flat tire just before the Zeeland exit. Ben worked his amazing manly skills to fix it before the kids even got too upset. We ate lunch, then Ben went to get the tire replaced. I got a nap in with the kids and Ben got to work on his boat for a while while a big spring storm rolled through. Dave must have been really tired because he didn't react to the thunder at all.

It's still rainy and rumbling outside. David is sleeping and Sara is snuggling Daddy in her heart pjs. Thanks for the hand-me-down, Allison! "These are my heart pjs, from Asilon!" Silly kid.

It was a summer like day today - warm and sunny. We took the kids to the Meijer Gardens. They had a great time. It was amazingly crowded in the butterfly conservatory and the childrens garden so we spent most of our time in the Farm Garden and the Woodland Shade Garden. Sara did get a chance to play tea party in the tree house and sail a toy boat, though. David got to splash his feet in the Great Lakes. The water was a little cold, so he would pull his foot out as soon as he stuck it in, pause for a minute and then put his foot back in and giggle. Both kids enjoyed sitting on the farmhouse porch and rocking. Sara loves the farm, especially the old barn. She ran all over in her new racing shoes and cried when we started to head back to the entrance. "No, I stay by butterflies and tea party all day! Please!" Both kids fell asleep soon after we started driving home. I'll update Flickr soon so you can check out the cuteness.

After we left the gardens we went to pick up the plywood for Ben's canoe. We made it to Johnson's Workbench minutes before they closed. Ben got his wood and is very excited to start building. Go check out his boatbuilding blog!

Ben here...

I'm just typing as she talks/sings:

"playing the piano da da da in my hiding spot....I am playing the ladybug song Laaaaddddy buuuuuggg da da da....the ladybug goes flit flit, the dolphin goes splashy splash in the salty sea la la la la..."

"I play like Beethoven"

" I need some lemonade for my throat to keep going now"

"all night long I sing at the zoo, play with me la la la goo goo goo..."

"I will bring my lemonade in here, no, that's really silly"

"Oh Mommy, I will not spill, that would be naughty!"

Dave is singing now too - "agaaaaa gaaaa maaaaa maaaa"

Unintelligible singing to the tune of Rock a Bye Baby

"I take a picture of you, Mommy, because you are pretty! Cheese for me! That's cute"

"How do I turn this off? Silly camera. Want to fix it Mom?"

" Battery is dead? I know where to find more Mom. Here you go!"

"My camera is not a real one , I want real one to work!"

"Oh can we have lunch? Banana and cheese with milk?"

"Oh the sun came out to make me happy! It is far away up in the sky but it will make me warm"

"My lunch! Thank you, so good cheese. Carrots are good for my eyes!"

I might continue this later, but for now we have to eat some so good lunch.

David is now a champion speed roller! He thinks it's a lot of fun, too. Lots of giggles and squeals when he gets moving. He rolled from the couch to the kitchen table this morning when I was upstairs getting Sara moving. But the funniest thing was when he got himself stuck under the couch while I was getting Sara on the potty. There he sat, chatting away on his tummy and chewing his thumb with his whole body except for his head under the couch. I got a big dimply grin when I came to save him.

We went to the library today so Ben and I could get a break from Ping Pong Pig and Gladys Goes Out to Lunch. We replaced them with Big Al and Cock a Doodle Quack Quack. Sara loves the library because she can do puzzles and say hi to the turtles. She likes to carry her own books and hand them over to be checked out herself. While I was picking through the new book shelf she sat in the chairs and read her books to herself in a whisper after I told her she had to be quiet in the library. I can't believe how well behaved she is when we go out to do errands. Now that I've written that she'll probably hit her two year old stride, but I'm just so proud of her.

Sara got her hair cut today and thinks she is a very beautiful girlie. She was so solemn sitting in the chair that she looked like a whole different girl than my little chatterbox. But she gave a grin at the end when we told her what a pretty girl she was. She chattered away about her most beautiful bangs in the car. "What you think David? I pretty?"

Right now I'm hearing singing from upstairs. I thought I had two sleeping children, but apparently not. Ben went up to listen at her door. She's in bed but the lights are on. Ben couldn't tell what she was singing but she sounded happy so we're ignoring her for the moment. It's hard, she's so cute! I bought a night light shaped like a little lampshade for her and she thinks it's the best part of her room. "Thank you Mommy, it is my own little light for bedtime! It will make it nice!"

David did well with his first night and full day in his helmet. He really does seem to be forgetting about it and going about his business. His teeth seem to be bugging him the most. Drool and chew, drool and chew. But all with a smile!

Ben and I are watching The Biggest Loser and getting a little nighttime clean up done. I suppose I should go check on Sara since I don't hear anymore chattering. It was a busy but very fun day!

10:44 update: I checked on Sara; she turned her lights off and tucked herself back into bed. Her books were off the shelf and stacked at the foot of the bed and she had her junk mail catalogs in bed with her. I think she just wasn't quite ready to sleep when we put her to bed!

So here's a picture of sad little Dude. He did not have such a good therapy appointment today. All he wanted to do was hug Mommy and suck his thumb but Mommy and his therapist wanted him to roll and bounce. He did OK for a bit and then melted into a sobbing heap. He gets the biggest tears rolling down his little fat cheeks. We cuddled a bit and then headed to Ellen's house where he slept all morning except for one eating break. When he woke up he was much happier and played all afternoon. He's learned how to roll to get wherever he wants and rolled all the way across Sara's room so he could play in the pile of laundry. Ben said he probably would have headed down the hall but he stopped him because he was afraid he'd go down the stairs.

Sara had a fun day playing with Andrew. They both love to play catch, color and read books. They both get the giggles when you read The Pigeon Has Feelings Too! You're looking at one happy bird! Happy, happy happy!! She has also been singing the Butterfly Song. It involves the word butterfly, lots of garbled singing and arm waving. She wanted Ben to sing it with her but he was mystified by the lyrics.

Sara funny of the day: While enjoying her chicken and broccoli, she stopped suddenly and said "Excuse me!" We asked why. She grinned and let out a very loud burp. "That's why! I'm excused!" It seems some more manners education may be necessary.

Sara was so excited today: we went back to see the butterflies! And Grandma and Grandpa came along! How could it get any better? When we pulled into the Gardens she started laughing and pointing "we are at the butterflies! How super fun! To the butterflies!" She grabbed Grandma's hand and headed for the door while we slow people got David out of the car and bundled into his stroller. She got her own guidebook and walked through the conservatory saying "I will find that one in my book now" and then pointing to a completely random picture. She lasted a little over an hour before she wanted to run and have a snack.

I love this picture of David and Sara. David looked around and giggled when a few butterflies came over by him. There were a lot more out than there were two weeks ago. He was content to take it in while being held by whoever's arms were the least tired. He's getting big!

In other David news, he has figured out how to go from sitting to tummy so that he can scoot over to toys. Today the favorite target was his Jack in the box. The giggles he gives when he succeeds are so cute! He did well with his helmet training today - 2 hours on then 1 hour off. He didn't seem to mind the on/off process as much as yesterday.

This afternoon turned into a beautiful spring day. David and I took a nap while Ben and Sara worked in the yard. Sara is so glad to be able to be outside. We took a walk after dinner and she wanted out of the stroller to "run fast myself!" She probably ran half a mile and we were walking pretty fast to keep up with her. It's so fun to watch her toddler run ahead of us, waving her arms, yelling and giggling. She fell once and immediatly announced "I'm OK! I'll keep running!" David rode in the stroller looking at all the barking dogs and chewing at his teething toy. Poor guy. He really seems to relax in the stroller so I'm glad we can get out more often now. I bet that he will love the beach as much as Sara does! We don't dare say the word beach to her unless we really are going out there.

After the walk we did baths and bedtime. Both kids went to sleep right at their bedtimes, all worn out. We're hoping for a good night from the teething one!

March has been a busy busy month so far. These are my favorite shots of David with his big and sometimes naughty grin. Last week I got that Dutch costume for Tulip Time - isn't he the cutest little Dutchman? I think the hat is the best part.

We had a short stretch of really warm weather and the kids lived outside for a couple of days. It makes for good sleep at night, or it would if David was not teething. Sara loves running around and playing catch. She tried to teach David but "Davey is not a very good catcher."

David also started his helmet therapy for the flat spot on the back of his head. We got it fitted today and he is on a getting used to it schedule. By Tuesday he will be wearing it 23 hours per day and will wear it for 4-6 months. Hopefully that will round him out nicely. He is also getting some physical therapy mainly for his neck, shoulder and arm muscles. He is doing very well with that and started rolling over and scooting for toys this afternoon! Way to go Dave! The therapy wears him out so he has been eating ravenously and sleeping as well as his teeth will let him. We'll do this for 6 weeks and I think he'll be up to speed by then. Having mastered rolling, we are now working on getting up on his hands and knees. Soon he'll be running with Sara! He's such a good little dude about the whole process.

Ben made supper tonight by going to Village Inn. Mmmmmm, pepperoni and green pepper hand tossed crust pizza. Sara loves it as much as we do. Dave grabbed for it but was denied. I do let him eat soft table foods like potato, applesauce, yogurt or Cheerios. Every now and then I catch Sara trying to feed him her lunch. I should let him try chewing some toast or crackers and see how he does with it. I remember being so nervous when Mom fed Sara a graham cracker at 8 months old. Now I just let Sara hand him one to see what he would do. Mostly, he just made a big drooly mess but he seemed to like it!

Both kids went to bed with no protest tonight and I think I'm going to follow their lead and curl up with a book. Ben got a sailing adventure story from the library (can't think of the title at the moment) and I've gotten into it. A quiet house is a nice change from the way things usually are.

Sorry these pictures are a little late. We took the kids to "Night of the Butterflies" at the Meijer Gardens last Thursday. We all had a great time! Sara loved the butterflies that "come on my nose!" One flew in her face and her night was made. She had her own flashlight and ran around "finding just another one, Mommy!" There were snacks and a drum band that let the kids play on the drums. Sara got her picture taken with "fluttery bugs" and got a ladybug tattoo. David rode in the stroller giggling and babbling. We finished off the night with a tram ride highlighted by David's major stinky diaper. We were glad it was warm enough to have the windows open our our fellow passengers might have tossed us off the train!

That's what Sara asked me today - "Is it warm time yet, Mom? I have my sunhat, we need to go to beach and swim. I will get Mommy's sunhat too!" So here we are, wearing our sun hats and ready for the beach. Except that it is 20 degrees outside, definitly not warm time yet. My hat is the one I wore paddling the Upper Delaware River and hiking through the Grand Canyon and I get the urge to wander adventurously whenever I put it on.


We had a good Saturday even though David is still coughing and sneezing. Sara has learned how to wipe his nose with a Kleenex. "You sneezy, Davey, I clean your nose!" He prefers my gentle wipe to Sara's face scrubbing. We had to ask her to just wipe her dolly's nose for now.

Dave officially has a tooth now! It is just poking out on his bottom gum. He doesn't really like people sticking their fingers in there to check it out, but he doesn't have enough teeth to bite back yet! It's time for me to start buying Tylenol in bulk again. I'll try to get a picture sometime soon when he's in a better mood. He still looks pretty miserable and just needed to cuddle today. However, he did sleep ALL NIGHT LONG!!! last night! I woke up at 6:30 feeling far to rested. I'm 95% sure he slept all night, I have a nagging feeling that I did get up and just don't remember. Ben thinks I'm losing it, but I have perfected the art of feeding David without really becoming concious. It is a little scary now that I think about it. But how else can you survive the sleepless baby days?

Both kids went to bed early tonight and Ben is out playing broomball. I'm sitting in an unnaturally quiet house sipping my hot chocolate and blogging. What a nice break. Just typing that sentence made me feel relaxed. I'm internet planning some wishful thinking vacations - Grand Canyon hikes, canoe trips, tropical locations... I can dream! This may be related to the hat coming out of the closet today! Hopefully the kids will be good outdoors loving troopers and we can haul them all over the National Parks. Ben will promise to read the maps correctly and I will promise not to spill the food. It will be fun!

David was a sick toot today. Look at that drooly, snotty, teary face! He tried hard to play and be happy but really just wanted to be held and cuddled. He's also cutting his first tooth and not to happy about it. After lots of love and Tylenol he's finally sleeping. Of course, its thundering so hard that the windows are shaking so that may not last so long. I'm just waiting to hear "Mommy, Mommy!" or "wah wah wah!"

We had a laid back day since neither Ben or I had to work. I got the grocery shopping done and Ben and Sara got to Menards. Sara loves riding with Daddy in his truck to do errands. And when she got back she yelled "Mommy, I'm home!" I quoted some Princess Bride to her the other day and now she likes to say "Have fun storming the castle!" when ever Ben or I leave. Oops!

We're really proud of Sara tonight, though! She went on the potty again and got a toy ice cream cone for telling me she had to go! Way to go Sara!

Sara had a "super fun!" day today! Ben is home for his week of "vacation" so we decided to do something fun this morning. We got off to a leisurely start and then headed out to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. I was afraid Sara might be a little too young to appreciate it but she had a great time exploring the place. Her favorite thing was the big whale skeleton, or "big fish bones." It brought back memories for me of the old museam on Jefferson! They even kept some of the "Michigan habitat" dioramas - remember those from school field trip days? Sara loved driving the little tractor, trying to lift the big rock, seeing the old GR street and riding the bicycle and the streetcar. She got a bookmark from the print shop and cards from the furniture exhibit. David rode in the stroller and was happy for over two hours, so he must have enjoyed it too. He giggled and looked around. Both kids loved their carousel ride and were ready for a nap by the time we left.

We had a relaxing afternoon and Ben did laundry for me! It was necessary because of the huge blowout David achieved while sitting on my lap. Ben heard it from across the room. Sara giggled "David tooted out loud!" And I got to clean up the smears of poop and the diaper full of poop in a blast pattern. Ben was so proud of his little man.

We went to 8th St Grille to round out this red letter day. We decided to make this the fun day since I'm working much of the rest of the week. Sara enjoyed her grilled cheese and sneaking sips of my iced tea. "Mommy's juice" was so much better than her water!

Nate and Ellen and the kids came over to return Ben's bike tonight. Sara jumped up and down on the couch when she saw Allison and Andrew getting out of the truck. The kids enjoyed ripping around and then having a cookie snack. It was good to see you all! You can go visit Ellen's new blog by clicking on the link for "The Pastoors" Maybe my advertising here will get her to start posting!

The kids are sleeping now and Ben is getting ready to watch 24. I'm enjoying my clean kitchen and messing around on the computer. It's been fun! I hope you enjoy my slideshow that I set up ALL BY MYSELF. No Ben instructions needed. I feel like a big girl now :)