Crafty Boys

A popular hobby in our house lately! :) This time I can finally reveal a project Josh has been working on for a year or so...give or take some months. It seems like forever. He's been building.... a MARIMBA! Yes, a marimba! It's about 90% done-he has a little shaving left to fix some notes and needs a cover for it but otherwise it's up and getting played on by everyone. We have it in Nate's playroom (needless to say we've been doing some re-organizing to accomodate it!)



Also new in Nate's playroom-I got around to making a "craft line" for Nate's new crafts to be displayed on.



I was so glad to get that idea from a friend-it's an easy and wonderful way to display Nate's projects, otherwise they would be just sitting in a pile somewhere.

Well I'm not going to lie-the last few weeks have been long and busy. Now that Nate's naps have 90% gone out the window (super bummer!) that's left us with twelve hour days to fill up with activities. The boy isn't one to stay sitting for very long! God bless my gym-for an awesome price I've been totally taking advantage of having Nate go there for two hours. I work out for about an hour or so and then chill out for 30-45mins. It has worked out very well for us the last few weeks.

The long days have made us much more anxious for our little break this upcoming weekend-finally! Our trip to California is almost here! So is my half-marathon. I was so thrilled today to have run about twelve miles or so, the longest I've ever run and my last time to run a long distance before the actual race. I'm looking forward to race day. It seems like I've been training forever. While I'm looking forward to the race I'm also looking forward to taking a bit of a running break afterwards. My body deserves a little bit of a rest :) I wouldn't mind doing some classes at the gym instead-I've just been so focused on running,running,running.

Nate just turned two and a half. Wow that was fast. I can't believe in six more months I will be throwing him a 3rd birthday party! He's such a smarty pants, smarter by the day. He's started to learn letters and now he can almost count to ten! (though one-five and one-three are the most popular counting he does) As a typical two year old, he's trying to command mommy and daddy around. "Come on", "Don't touch". He enjoys helping us around the house with laundry,dishes, feeding pets, watering,and getting the mail/newspaper.Nate also likes to take off/put on his own clothes, but isn't ready yet for potty training. On the plus side, he is now playing with the toilet again, he just isn't ready to sit on it.

Now that evenings are one of the most relaxing parts of the day, I'm off to enjoy some deserved Dreyers dibbs :)

Our Newest Addition

We have another member to add to the Kucenski clan-our betta male fish Charlie! Nate and I were originally shopping at PetsMart for Lily and browsed the fish. I've always wanted to try having a fish and Nate was smiling and oogling at them so I thought,why not? After talking to an employee it seemed easy enough to take care of. Charlie is sitting comfortably on our table in the kitchen-a)where he can get some light and b)a little entertainment while Nate eats isn't a bad thing!
Charlie
We had our second craft class today. We both really enjoy it (and it's nice to pay someone to bring supplies and have the ideas!)


I know Nate is going to have thousands of pieces of art through the years but for now we're having so much fun doing them that I can't resist posting pictures :) I hope to create something that I can post all his pieces of art in his playroom.

I'm happy to announce that we are all on the mend from being sick again,hooray! I caught Josh's cough bug over the weekend but thanks to some extra sleep I'm feeling better. I really hope we stay healthy-these last few weeks it has always been something!

Busy...Part 2 :)

More firestation pictures!

In front of the firetruck


Picture with firefighter Jason (darn,it turned out blurry!)

What a great,nice group of firemen. It was cool to see how everything worked, they got new helmets in today that they let the kids wear. Nate was scared so I pretty much held him the whole time. He walked out with a smiley face though with his new coloring book,pencils and pencil holder :) We'll definately have to go again. It was neat in particular to see their slide and pole that they go down. We even got a demonstration!

Pretty seriously this time...Nate's naps are dwindling down. In particular because he's been a happier boy lately in the afternoons without them, so he's hinting he may not need them. At least that means an earlier bedtime on our part, but regardless he's still up at the same time each morning.

Can't believe that our California trip is in a matter of days. I'm super ready for some fun at Disneyland but not so much for my half marathon yet. The last few weeks things have come up that have prevented me from training as much as I'd like...so hopefully I'll be able to buckle down these last few weeks!

Time for dinner-more fun another time!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We haven't been bored these last ten days or so. All of us got sick and when Nate wasn't napping (most everyday but one or two) we kept busy so he didn't have time to think about his molars. I think they're done giving him trouble for the moment so that's good. Few more pictures to share!

To start off, Nate and I went to our local mall to try and win tickets to see "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"-it's on Broadway now and will be making a stop in our area in November. The mall had a promotional visit from the Grinch himself-he read the story twice to the kids and the first 150 people in line got tickets to see the show. Surprisingly, Nate and I got some! I'm amazed because we never seem to be in time for anything. Of all things though I'm so glad we were in time for this-me being a big Christmas fan and so excited to take Nate to see the show. Warning: the Grinch is kinda scary looking...(but Nate didn't mind,thankfully!)

Just yesterday Nate started an Eric Carle craft class. Each week there is a different book/theme from that author that we make a craft based upon. Yesterday the theme was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". Naturally we made a caterpillar :)

Today we made a visit to a local firestation. I don't ever remember touring one, or it's been a very long time so I was looking forward to it. It lasted almost 45 minutes and we got to see pretty much everything!We saw their kitchen,bedrooms,two different trucks...lots of fun!

Nate lounging in one of their many Laz-A-Boys in their game room.


Sitting in one of the firetrucks.

May-July 2010 Summer Pictures

Enjoy! :)

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Toddler Teething

Grrrrr. Darn teeth. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we see the dentist and he talked about Nate needing his last set of molars-I think they're coming in. That could possibly explain why Nate hasn't been napping much (take today for example: he did fall asleep for a short bit but woke up screaming with his hands in his mouth). Nate's also been waking up at night-once-but is able to go back asleep without much assistance (just maybe some nice back rubbing for a few seconds from mommy and daddy). There was one point where for a month we were giving Nate Motrin around the clock-maybe we're heading back that way. Unfortunately for us too-now that Motrin has been taken off the shelves-I need to find something that "tastes just as good". The generic I bought Nate DETESTS. Giving him medicine by myself sure isn't fun-sticky mess,Nate throwing himself every which way to avoid it. Ugh. My poor boy.

Other than that, we're doing good. We just celebrated Josh's birthday last weekend with a surprise night away at Firesky Resort and Spa in Scottsdale. We had a great time. We made a stop at our favorite cupcake shop, swam pretty much all weekend at the resort and went out for dinner. Hubby and I enjoyed free wine and sangria provided by the resort too. Nate enjoyed our comfy beds.

We're thinking about making another camping trip next weekend-some of Josh's co-workers are heading up north to the Payson/Heber area and invited us along. Considering I see the high is around 80 degrees, I think that sounds pretty inviting! We're having 100 degree weather but with 70% humidity :P Very sticky. I'm looking forward to being in California in another month to enjoy another break from our weather!

Pictures to come after more summer adventures! ;)

One More...

Picture, that is :)


Yummy marshmellows!

Poor hubby was enthustiastic at the beginning of the trip but thought in the future trips would be better with me along. It was a bit difficult to drive and take care of Nate without stopping for a few hours-I can only imagine. I've never spent more than an hour at most with Nate in the car at one time by myself so hubby is brave in my book! Even if it means another camping trip, I'll go along and suck it up. I'll just need to sleep with some bear spray literally in my hands :)

Nate just saw the dentist today-all's well. He hasn't gotten his last set of molars in though...and the dentist went on to say that they are "quite painful and the pain can last for up to three months". I'm sure I sank in my chair when he said that. Nate's been playing with his mouth a little bit lately so I wondered if he didn't have all his teeth yet.

Can't believe my little boy is just about two and a half years old. I'm back to thinking that naps are on the way out...especially lately when he's only taken one or two during the course of a week! Exhausted mommy,the weather being 115 outside doesn't help either. It's a shame our winter season isn't for another four months!

Lake Havasu Camping

It happened-Josh,Nate and our pup went camping! Josh woke up all giddy Saturday morning and got everything ready to go-by 7am I was on my own! Josh has always wanted to visit Lake Havasu and has a friend who lives there so that's where they went-what a brave hubby, traveling for three and a half hours by himself with the doggie and a toddler. Nate did good on the way there. Once they arrived they got the tent ready and went swimming in the lake-which also has a little beach area? They had little waves crashing into rocks. They had a good time visiting with Josh's friend and swimmming some more, ending the night with some good ol' marshmellows over the fire. They went to go to sleep but got uncomfortable with the warm weather so they started the drive home at 10:30 that night. Unfortunately Nate didn't have a good experience coming home-he was terribly tired and doesn't sleep well in a car seat so he was grumpy when he wasn't taking small cat naps. On the positive side, as soon as they arrived home everyone fell asleep and didn't wake up until 9am! Here are a few pictures of their excursion :


Lily enjoying the shade



The lake at sunset



Enjoying the water

...continuous Summer Fun :)

My last post didn't allow me to post as many pictures as I wanted-so here's Part 2 from yesterday!

Summer Fun

A week ago we took Nate to the circus-he had so much fun! It was more enjoyable for Josh and I to see how amused he was. We had an awesome view and had to indulge in some cotton candy while we were watching ;) Nate especially loved all the animals and the acrobats, he would wave his hands around as the acrobats did all their gymnastic type twirling around.







We've had a pretty low-key, relaxing holiday weekend. We've loved having Josh home an extra day to spend time with. We did some BBQing both with my family and Josh's, as well as some fun time in the pool!



We're thinking about taking Nate up north to go camping-we've done a few trial runs in the backyard with the tent and Nate seems to love it! He'd stare at the stars until he was tired enough to fall asleep. Josh has some co-workers possibly camping in September so he wanted to see how Nate would do. I'm not sure if I'm going to join them-not because I'm a diva when it comes to electricity,water and shelter, but because I have a bit of a phobia. We'll see, it would be nice for the boys to get a break from our 112 degree heat for a day though!

So just this past weekend Nate has learned the word "no". We'll ask him something and he'll say it. Or even if we just announce something, like "It's time for bed" he said "no" the other night. Ugh. He's back into another not eating much and not sleeping very well stage too. We also discovered this weekend that Nate has a mild allergy to bites-unfortunately he sat on an ant hill outside and got a few bites and swelled up. The area actually gets quite puffy, so I gave him Benadryl and put ointment on. I felt so bad for him, having to swat all the ants off and uncover his bites he got. What a trooper though-he tries hard to keep a straight face in spite of whatever is going on.

I'm slowly gaining my cardio fitness back-two months left until my half marathon!

Time for dinner and relaxing on the last few hours of our long weekend-hope everyone had a fun 4th!

Back In the Groove

Whew. The last week has been a bit tiring getting back into the routine of things. We were happy to find Nate taking his nap earlier in the day (that is, if he still takes it-two days a week or so he doesn't) but bummed that he has now been starting the day when the sun comes up pretty much (5-6am). The days when he didn't sleep last week were L-O-N-G!

On another positive note-while we were gone Nate basically weaned himself off of the pacifier!! Hooray! We weren't trying to but he never quite acted like he truly wanted it when he was with my parents so they didn't give it to him. He doesn't even need it at night (I thought that was going to be the scariest part of weaning-he totally has loved to have it when he sleeps and usually couldn't fall asleep without the sucking). No problem now though! I'm so happy that something for once seemed easy to do. I thought the pacifier was going to be harder than potty training! Hmmmm, not the case. Nate still doesn't want to have anything to do with sitting on a toilet of any sort.

Nate's been doing pretty well in his bed. I do think he enjoys having all the space for sure. He's taken a few tumbles out of bed, but that probably isn't anything unusual for kids to do for their first time without a railing. Josh and I just thought that he'd learn where his boundaries were, at some point he'd have to learn. We're now entering week two of the twin bed and he's been doing better.


We had a relaxing Father's Day weekend. We took hubby out to breakfast the day before, the morning of I made Josh a sausage and vegetable frittata for breakfast and Nate gave him a hand made card and a clay print of his hand all painted. My parents made one of Josh's favorite meals that evening. The only part that wasn't good about the day was the six hours Josh spent on his computer after Nate had done something to it (oopsies). Man it just isn't always possible to know what they're doing every second.

I took Nate for his first movie theater experience to see Toy Story 3 yesterday-you know, he did pretty well for the most part. Our snacks helped with that. But then when he noticed we had the whole row of seats to ourselves...he took off to sit in each one to test them out. I wasn't too concerned with him doing that since there wasn't many people in the theater, but once he wanted to go down the stairs and go in other rows then I took him out. We only missed the last 10 minutes or so of the movie, and this was after we sat through previews and a short Pixar movie before the actual movie started. Maybe things would have gone a little better if Josh had been with me. I'll probably wait until Nate is more around three before trying again.

We're taking Nate for another new experience this weekend-the circus! I'm really trying to be hopeful that he'll enjoy that. He loves animals and there should be constant entertainment to keep him interested. I bought lower level seats in hopes the closer view would help. I'm looking forward to it!

Since Nate is napping I'm going to take advantage of the time to get more accomplished. Toodles!

Europe!

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Bonjour! We just got home from our grand trip to both Paris, France and Rome, Italy. Time went by both fast and slow...:) We kept pretty busy (just see the pictures above!) but as time went on we definately missed Nate and Lily more and more each day. The trip was totally worth the long flights and everything along with it! We had such a wonderful time. I enjoyed both places but loved Paris a bit more without a doubt. There was more to do, cooler weather, nicer people, easier routes/transportation to get around...and the best croissants ever!! I'm going through horrible withdrawls. I was so happy to have an "all you can eat" type breakfast each morning in Paris-I took full advantage and ate as many pastries as I could stuff in!

The time change was odd to us-especially in Paris-the sun didn't go down until 10-10:30pm. Seven hours later and it was back up again. It was just all a bit different to us,Melotonin certainly helped me out. I enjoyed getting to sit at cafe's and people watch. Our favorite activity in Paris (is a tie) between a lunch cruise on the Seine and a day excursion we took to Giverny to see Claude Monet's garden/Versailles. Our awesome, three course, leisurely, lunch cruise took us around on the river to a lot of major sights-it was so relaxing to view everything from the water with a nice lunch, sitting down, listening to a violinist play at the same time. The day excursion out of town was just beautiful and such a nice break from riding around on city metros :) (we took a nice coach bus instead)

We had a good time in Rome also. We planned the time there really well-we got through all the hot spots within a few days and still had time for a day excursion to Naples and Pompei. The gelato and cheese there were delicious-the weather, however, felt like 80 some degrees with 80 some humidity! Our last day was especially warm. The sun was blazing. We used metros to get around the city also (this is really one of the most popular ways to get around-that or honking mopeds!) Favorite activity in Rome was getting to explore the Coliseum-it was just so neat to see in person and read about all the gladiator stories and other events that went on there. In the general area there are other ruins too. We missed seeing the Pope by a day, darn.

Nate did really well with us gone-he still took naps, slept through the night and kept busy during the day. In fact, his schedule was looking like ours some days! I'm sure he (as well as my family) enjoyed getting to spend some extra time together. It's nice to see some different faces I suppose :) Lily also did well-she stayed with my sister who has a dog so at least she had a companion to play with, a first for her whenever we've left her. I think we're all glad to be back together though! The vendors and beggers in Europe begin to get annoying after a bit. It's especially nice to come home to a peaceful house too-the walls of our hotels are so thin, and our hotel in Paris had us situated by a road and sidewalk so we could hear loud voices and traffic. Home sweet home.Well...we're waiting on one more piece of luggage to make it home yet. Our connection to Phoenix coming back was pretty tight so the luggage missed the plane and went somewhere different somehow. Luckily we have most of our souvenirs but no clothes. Should be getting it tomorrow...

I've come home to an even bigger toddler than what I left behind I think-Nate looks like he grew a few inches while we were gone! So much so that we've decided to buy Nate a twin bed-well, a twin mattress since we have a frame already. Nate slept in a twin bed at my parents and did well-I'm starting to think that he would be more comfortable in a bigger space. He's a thrasher just like his mommy :) I'll wake up if I feel like I don't have room to move.

We hope all the daddy's out there have a great Father's Day this next weekend! I don't have any idea what we'll be up to yet, we haven't gotten that far. Time for some shut eye!

Just Peachy

This was taken a week ago at a local farm during a peach festival. You could pick your own peaches, purchase peach pie, peach cinnamon rolls, peach anything! We got up bright and early to head over there before it got too busy and too warm. If it wasn't going to be triple digit weather in the summer I think Nate would love to have the job of picking all the peaches off of the trees-we had a hard time pulling him away from the orchard.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Sedona. We hiked, walked around and ate some lunch. Nate did so well considering all the sitting in the car and at the restaurant, despite only having a catnap. I thought he might sleep in this morning from the busy day yesterday/not getting as much sleep but he was up bright and early at 6am-it's like a timer going off! Since the sun rises sooner I think he's been getting up earlier. Hopefully one of the million phases :)

We have ONE more week until our "second honeymoon", hehe. That's what we're calling it. We'll have a busy week of cleaning house, buying everything we'll need and packing everything up. More than anything I'm pretty excited but I will definately miss Nate a ton. It's never a winning situation-we get upset one day and can't wait until they're gone and the next we can't live without them :) Once I can get over the initial first 18 hours of the trip (sitting at the airport and the plane rides) I should be busy enough to not think about it. We'll each be having fun in our own different ways!

Much to do-back in mid June ;)