Lauren's talents

Lauren was in the mood to show off all of her talents today so I grabbed my camera and started recording the action. In the first clip, she displays her own version of crawling - probably not as easy as the "real" thing, but it gets her where she wants to go (sorry it is sideways, but I couldn't figure out how to rotate it - just tilt your head and you'll be good to go).



This next clip she is "crawling" into her favorite room in the house - the kitchen (I was making lunch so I'm sure she smelled the food and had to get close). She also takes the time to show off her mouth clicking and waving bye-bye skills - is this kid talented or what?

Our little bully

I've been working from the house the past few days and remembered almost instantly why I quit my job in the first place - I hardly got to see my kids. Even though I'm working from home, I still spend considerably less time with the kids and feel bad about it, but this is a temporary thing and it brings in some extra money so I can't complain. Now, onto more important things . .

So it seems we have a "little bully" in the Quast household. Not only does Lauren grab, pull, and tug at things, she also grabs, pulls, and tugs at Ryan, Marley, and anyone else who gets in her way. The other day Marley was playing with a toy and two seconds later she is screaming. I assume Ryan has grabbed the toy from her (like he has done in the past), but when I look to see what has happened, it is Lauren who has a little smirk on her face and is contently playing on the floor with her new toy. Shortly after that, Ryan was "wrestling" with Lauren and pretty soon he starts screaming . . . Lauren is scratching at his face and grabbing his hair - what a little turd! Since then, she she bitten my shoulder too many times to count, pulls my hair whenever she feels like it, and does a pinch/grab when she wants me to put her down if I'm holding her. Seriously, she is a little abuser! To top it off, she has bruises on her knees (from crawling everywhere, including the tile floor), rug burns on her elbows (again, from her modified crawl), and has had numerous scratches, bumps, and bruises on her head from either dropping toys on it, or going head first into anything she runs into - with all of these, she definitely looks the part of a bully. I'm hoping this is just a phase - it is kind of embarrassing to say that your 8 month old is beating up her 3 year old brother. Lucky for Lauren, Ryan is too sweet to hit her back - maybe she could learn some of his kindness in the future.

I got a bike!

My cousin, Bridget and her son, Jack came to visit us yesterday. And much to Ryan's delight, Jack had a surprise for him. Ryan would ask, "what do you think it is Mom?" I would just respond with the normal, "you'll have to wait and see." Well, Ryan did wait, and when Jack showed him his surprise - a bike (Jack's old bike, he has a bigger one now) he was thrilled. He of course wanted to jump on and ride right away so we took a quick stroll around the cul-de-sac and then put it away until Daddy got home so he could tell him all about his new bike. Bridget and Jack could only stay for a couple of hours, but the boys manged to get in some running, biking, and racing all in a short period of time. There were a couple times throughout the day Ryan would just be laughing hysterically at something Jack did so when I put him to bed last night and we talked about our day, he said, "Jack is funny mom" - I thought it was pretty cute. Oh, one other funny story about yesterday, when I told Ryan Jack was coming, he asked if he could slap him. I thought that was kind of weird so I asked why he would want to do that and his response was a simple one, "because we slap Jacks, not Kings and Queens." I laughed because we have been playing a lot of "Slap Jack" lately and apparently in Ryan's world, a Jack is a Jack regardless of whether the Jack is a boy or a card. Here are a couple of action shots of the boys playing cars and Lauren wondering why she can't get in on the action.

More about Lauren now . . . she is cutting two more teeth on the top, she is drooling like crazy, and will bite your shoulder whenever you hold her - sounds fun doesn't it? Actually, she has been a pretty good kid through it all. You would hardly know she is getting some more teeth other than the biting and drooling, she just doesn't seem to be bothered by it as much as Ryan was when he was a baby. She is also moving like crazy - she does a modified army crawl that gets her pretty much anywhere she wants to go. Once she has reached her destination, she grabs and pulls at everything. The other day she went for Trav's guitar and I managed to grab it just before it would have fallen right on her head - close call! She also got her first mini-black eye. She was playing on the floor with some toy and managed it drop it right over her head and onto her face. The toy was a solid toy so it left a little color below her left eye. I of course jumped up the minute I saw this, Lauren just looked at me, screamed once, and went on playing - typical. She is eating (or should I say still eating) everything we give her. The minute she senses food is near, she starts doing her little whimper/scream until she gets whatever it is we are eating. Her newest thing now is to pull down her crib bumper in the morning when she wakes up. In the last week, she has managed to break three of the ties off the bumper so when we go to get her, she looks like this . . .

I'm pretty sure that is a safety hazard so the bumper might be coming off pretty soon or maybe I'll just flip it around and let her work on the other ties before I take it out - we'll see. And her final accomplishment, she has learned how to wave bye-bye and she loves it. Whenever she does it, a huge smile comes across her face and her little arm (or arms if she is doing the double wave) start going. It is so fun to see her constantly changing and learning new things.

Everything is good in the Quast household and to top it off, it is Friday and we are headed to Grandma and Grandpa Quast's for a weekend of fun as the town is celebrating with it's annual "Eggstavaganza Days" - should be good times.

National Night Out

Last night we had our neighborhood "National Night Out" gathering. Like last year, it was well attended and very fun for the kids (and adults). I learned from last year that Ryan wouldn't be sitting down at all once we got outside with so many kids to play with so I fed him before we went out. The rest of us enjoyed some good food from everyone in the neighborhood. There were a couple of contests for the kids and lots of outdoor activities to keep them busy. Lauren enjoyed her time by being passed around, but finally settled in Cheryl's (neighbor) arms and slept for the majority of the time. With Lauren fast asleep and Ryan off running with the other kids, Trav and I got to kick back and relax with a couple of beers and some good conversation. We met a couple more of our neighbors around the corner who have young children as well so hopefully in the future we can get the kids together. The night was topped off with a visit from a local police officer who was kind enough to let the kids climb all over her squad car. There was more than one parent who thought we should close the back doors and let the kids go to jail, but in the end, we decided to open the doors and let the kids stay. The night was a great way to get to know more people in the area. Trav and I always say how lucky we are to have found such a great neighborhood, events like this just confirm it. Here are a couple of shots from the night.

Golf is not his sport

After picking Ryan up from Grandma and Grandpa Quast's house, we headed to St. Peter to visit the other grandparents and got ready for another busy weekend. Ryan passed out in the car and proceeded to sleep for the next three hours so while the rest of us spent some time cooling off in the pool. Friday night was pretty low-key as we had a big day planned for Saturday. Saturday morning Grandpa, Auntie, Ryan and myself headed to the driving range for Ryan's first real experience with his golf clubs. I wouldn't say he is a great golfer by any means, but he sure looks cute trying and he will teach anyone how to swing, "backwards and forwards" - piece of cake. Too bad his technique didn't have the greatest results. I'm pretty sure he used the same ball the majority of the time we were there as it never went too far so he would just go and grab it and use it again. It kept him busy and gave the rest of us more balls to hit.

After the driving range, we headed to the meat market to load up on some goodies while we were in town. Ryan was lucky enough to get some candy from one of the ladies at the store and a beef stick for the ride home - not a bad trip is you ask me. After the meat market we spent the majority of the afternoon in the pool. Lauren learned how to surf on the kick board and also did some wave riding - yes, she is very advanced for her age - can't walk, but can surf. Ryan on the other hand decided to take it easy. At one point he was laying on one of the air mattresses and pretty soon I see his head sort of fall to the side. I take a closer look and notice he is out cold. Apparently all the running in the morning tuckered him out. I wasn't too keen on letting him sleep on the air mattress, but after a brief discussion with Grandma and a towel being placed over him, I gave in and joined in on the fun by catching a quick nap next to him. Laying on an air mattress while gently being pushed around the pool by the breeze makes for some good sleeping.

After some corn on the cob (one of Ryan's favorite foods), it was time for a bath and bed. By 8:00pm he was out. Lauren on the other hand, would not settle down and was up until close to 9pm before I finally put her in the playpen and let her get herself to bed - I was too tired myself to try anything else to get her to sleep. Sunday started with a walk/run, an afternoon movie, some play time with the neighbor boys, another quick bath (the neighbor boys and real "boys" who like to play in the dirt and dig up bugs), and then we were headed back home. Another busy weekend over with. This summer is going by was too fast. Less than a month and Ryan will start preschool - where did all the time go?

By the way, minus the not wanting to sleep incident on Saturday night, Lauren was her normal, good-natured little self. I sometimes feel bad not writing a lot about her yet, but her life isn't as exciting as Ryan's life is right now - her time will come though.

County Fair

Ryan spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa Quast on Thursday and Friday. Thursday night was spent at the county fair checking out the animals and catching a few rides. This was the first time Ryan has been on any fair rides and they said he had a blast. The roller coaster was by far his favorite ride - so much so that he had to go on it 3 times! Here are some pictures from the fair.
After a busy night on Thursday, the fun started up again on Friday with a trip to the pool. Apparently Ryan liked it as he was not ready to leave when I got there to pick him up - no surprise though, I wouldn't want to leave all the fun to drive in a car either. It was the beginning of another busy weekend for Ryan as he went straight from Grandma and Grandpa Quast's house to Grandma and Grandpd Loken's house - the kid is in high demand. I wish everyone wanted to see me that much!

This kid can dance!

One of Ryan's favorite things to do is dance. He absolutely loves going to weddings, not for the wedding itself (he could care less about that) but for the dancing. He can hardly wait to get the food eaten and the first couple of dances done so he can take over the floor. Well, it seems he still has a little dance fever in him from the wedding he went to this past weekend. While I was making lunch the other day, I was playing some music and Ryan started busting out in dance. So I of course had to stop making lunch and catch some of his moves on video. Here it is - he seems to have added some new signature moves lately as I haven't even seen some of these before - enjoy!

PS turn off the ipod music to hear the video