How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Reo had last week off of school (yay!) and was also getting ready to start a new job (YAY!!), so the stars aligned and we had 5 straight days of uninterrupted family time last week.  And we enjoyed every second of it.  Well, I did.  And Holden did.  I am pretty sure Reo was really ready to go back to work after hanging out with the two of us non-stop for so long.

Here's a glimpse at some of the ways we wasted away those vacation days:

Little boy's dream come true:  Riding the train to the arcade.  Life doesn't get much better than this when you are Holden.

Unless maybe you also get to play Playstation with Dad.

There were French Toast breakfasts...

And after bedtime nostalgic movie nights for the grownups..

And we explored an awesome park, where Holden became more fascinated by whether or not certain birds were or were not "pooping" than by anything that the playground had to offer.



Not Pictured:

Eating out about a million times more than was probably necessary.

Local Celebrity sighting (Bob Harmon, of grocery store fame, for those who were curious).

Diaper changes done only by Reo the whole long weekend ( I know, right?  He is way more than I deserve.)

It was back to business for Reo today, but Holden and I kept the party going by having a long overdue lunch and shopping date with a friend.    It's a hard life.

What's New With Two

A post for all the Holden fans out there.  If you are not a Holden fan, feel free to skip this one.  Then again, if you are not a Holden fan, you probably quit my blog a long time ago.
Holden is two and a half now, and it is quite clear that the best part of two and a half year olds (besides the tantrums, which are awesome) is the funny things they say.  Here are some gems as of late...

Best Caught Being Naughty Moment--
Reo:  Holden, did you spit your drink all over the floor?
Holden:  Yes.
Reo:  Why did you do that?
Holden:  Well, there is just one reason that I can't really think about right now.

Best Bedtime Stall Tactic--
"After bath, I am going to go to Sea World and Kindergarten!"

Best Break Your Heart Moment--
Holden:  I need something to make me feel better.
Me:  What do you need?
Holden:  Some medicine.
Me:  What hurts?
Holden:  My Feelings.

Best Diet Coke Related Moment--
Yelling into the opening of a vending machine:  "Can I please get a large Diet Coke please?"

Best Cat's in the Cradle Moment--
Holden:  I am going to Disneyland when I am three. 
Reo:  With who?
Holden: Mommy, and Grandma and Grandpa.
Reo:  Can I come too?
Holden:  No, you will be at school.

Best Example of My Parenting Fails--
Holden:  "Seriously, Holden?  Are you kidding me right now?" (to himself, after doing something that he was not satisfied with)

Best One Liners--
"First things first..."
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"Is this mine, yes or no?"
"I think I will just stand here and be happy."

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff? 

My Thoughts on Indiana

1. No offense, Indiana, as I am sure you are a delightful place to live, but as far as visiting goes, you are pretty much dullsville.  Since tourist attractions not involving racecars or steakhouses were not abundant, I made do with my own personal tourist attractions (meaning: Utah doesn't have them yet)-- H&M, Trader Joes, and Panera Bread (3 times, by the way, we are hardcore like that.)  We also got doughnuts at pretty much the best--if not scariest--doughnut shop ever. 

That's Reo chowing down...Okay, so I guess maybe Indiana isn't SO dullsville, since it contains so many of my favorites.

2.  Another plus?  While strolling through the local Borders, what should I stumble across but this...

That is my sister, Emily Wing Smith's, brand new book, called Back When You Were Easier To Love.  Clearly I thought this was pretty fancy. and I recommend you stumble across it yourself at your local bookstore.  Or Amazon... I told you, fancy.

3. The speed limit in Indiana seemed to max out at 55 miles per hour.  This irritated Reo to no end.  Regardless of the fact that we were usually being led astray by a faulty GPS, through major construction zones, usually while raining, driving the bohemeth the 18 year old boy at the rental car place thought it would be funny to give us, and we really had no business going any faster than 55 MPH anyways, he would have none of it...

Also, if we had been going faster, we wouldn't have seen this random/inappropriate license plate.

4.  I will say, Indiana, you can throw a mean graduation celebration, making all the other craziness well worth it.

Reo was so excited to graduate he turned into some sort of cross between The Flash and a vampire in the Twilight movies while getting his diploma...Hopefully the professional photographer fared a little better than I did.

5. Despite the fact that I can count on no hands the amount of time longer than 4 hours that Holden and I have spent apart in about 2 years, he didn't miss me at all (most likely because he had an entire household of aunts, uncles and grandparents catering to his every whim).  This enabled me to not feel one bit of guilt at leaving him behind and soaking up all the Reo-time I could (we even saw a movie, the first we saw in the theatre together since Wall-E.  That's 2008, people.)  I forgot how easy it is to kill a whole day when you aren't running on a two year old's schedule.

Oh, and before you get too excited for me, the graduation celebration was a bit premature for the Manning household, as Reo still has an entire quarter of school left.  But the end is in sight and soon I will get to remember what Reo looks like in the daylight!

Easter Stuff

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Easter could possibly be my favorite holiday. Here's why.

1. Dying Easter Eggs is just plain fun. And I am a fan of the hard boiled egg, so it doesn't even bother me to eat them afterwords.

2. Holden had no complaints about the process.

3. And I had no complaints about his chubby little hands that remind me just how little he still is. Nor did I have complaints about the awesome mess-free (in theory) stamping egg dying kit I found instead of those terror inducing cups of dye.

4. Easter candy is clearly the best candy ever (obviously). And your kid has to go find it in his cute pajamas (or his nasty sweatpants and a tee shirt because I was behind on laundry), which makes it that much more fun!

5. There are toys, but not too many.

6. Supposedly, the weather is getting nice enough to play outside with family (don't be fooled, it was wickedly cold in this picture.)

7. I get to play dress up on this little one, although I was solidly unimpressed with my options this year. Holden was solidly unimpressed with the photo shoot that followed, as indicated by his facial expressions that range from deer in headlights, to indifferent, to just plain over it.

8. And finally, I get to experience my annual Easter dessert fail. Seriously. I should not be allowed to bake on Easter. Or make cake pretty much ever.

Stage Parents

Fact:  Reo is a ginormous hockey fan.

Fact: Reo wants to pass this on to his child.

Fact:  Apparently this means Holden must learn how to ice skate as soon as possible.  For instance, the second Holden took his first steps, Reo had grand visions of taking him skating.  I was able to hold him off for another year and a half after that, but the time has come.  So even though Holden's teeny tiny feet were still too small for the smallest ice skates they had, skating we went.  Well, skating THEY went.  Let's not get crazy, I was just there for the pictures.  

I was slightly concerned (AKA almost positive) that Holden would not quite feel the instant love Reo was hoping for, but Reo claimed he understood and would in no way have his feelings hurt if it didn't go according to plan.

As I expected, Holden was a little apprehensive at first...

      

And slightly more so when he saw the empty ice just for him (what can I say? We have friends in high places).

Turns out, he is a fan!   What's not to like, though?  Getting pushed around the ice with little to no effort on your part sounds pretty good to me (well, except for the ice part.  Again, let's not get crazy).

They are both being stoic about it in the photo, but I think both Holden and Reo were thrilled with the way things turned out.
 

As was I, because it means that all my Toddlers and Tiaras nightmares were unnecessary.





No Vacancy

Holden's crowd of bedtime buddies is getting a little excessive.    It may not look like much, but there are 6 big stuffed animals, 4 mini stuffed animals, 2 tiny plastic Elmos, 2 pillows and one wooden hockey playing figure named "daddy." And don't try to put him in bed without a single one of those friends, because it won't happen.  This is the bain of my existance when it comes to those stupid 2 inch high Elmos. 

Add to that my 32 pound kid, his blanket and at least 3 books and you have a problem.
I see a transition to a big kid bed in the near future. 
Heck, I see a transition to a king sized bed in the near future. 
Either that or we are going to have to initiate some Bachelor style rose ceremonies around here....I seriously hope those Elmos get cut on the first night.

Indoorsy

Springtime weather is very hit or miss.  Mostly miss, if you ask me.  Although on nice days we have been spending major time soaking up the sun, most of our time is still spent indoors.  Here's a little bit of what we've been up to during the not so pleasant days.

Sharing our playdoh.

Practicing the air drums.

Stacking up our books before reading them--and getting all OCD when they don't stack the way we want them to.

Trying out our new "grill"--unfortunately I did not get a close up of the dollar signs on the teeth.

More makeshift drumming while in desperate need of a haircut.

And most recently, when we woke up to snow this morning, making these yummy muffins

and practicing our model poses while watching general conference on our temporary floor bed after a certain 2 year old announced--"sorry for peeing on the couch!"  (Trust me, you don't want to know more.)

Okay, so really this post was mostly to do something with all the random pictures that have accumulated on my camera over the last little while, but lucky for you, my kid is cute so all the pictures are not at all excessive, right?...Right??