That's Not Fair!.......

....Or in Colby's words "ahhhh!! ahhhh!!! ahhhh!!!!!!!!"

Lately Colby has been wanting everything Maddy has. He followed her around the house crying yesterday as she was eating a popsicle (BTW - he has never even had a popsicle before, but was still mad she was eating something and he was not ;-)).

This morning when we were leaving to take Maddy to school, he insisted on bringing his backpack as well.

After I pack Maddy's lunch in the morning he has to make sure he gets to carry her lunch box around for a little while before she gets it.

It is kind of cute in some ways, but I see that I am now going to have to re-think how I do things around here a little bit. Not sure I was ready to deal with "fairness" issues yet, but here we go! A little scary in the fact that Colby is only 1 1/2 and already knows when he may be being 'deprived' of something!

Labor Day at the Zoo --

We went to the Des Moines Zoo over Labor Day weekend with Katie, Rob and RJ. It was a great time and the kids loved it! Somehow the zoo becomes so much more exciting when you have your cousin there with you ;-)


Maddy and RJ riding a camel:


Rob, Katie, Maddy and RJ feeding the fish:


Colby LOVED the goats...


...and the goats LOVED Colby (he wouldn't quit feeding them ;-))


Here, have some more....(I don't think Colby is afraid of ANYTHING -- Maddy was way more hesitant to feed animals at his age if she even did it at all!)


So Fun!!:


Maddy and me on the bridge in the rainforest area (I usually never walk across the bridge w/Maddy as I always have the stroller (she thought this was pretty cool) -- so many more options when Jeremy is with us! ;-))

Book Worm

Maddy has turned into quite the book worm lately -- We practiced on her reading all summer (she was really into it) and it has really been coming along great. It's almost like something clicked for her recently and she is reading like crazy. She has several easy reader books, but also has Colby's books to practice with. She has always loved books since the time she was little, so it's really neat to see how that is still the case!

The great news for me is that Colby really enjoys having books read to him so it has become a win/win situation for all of us!! Maddy has a willing listener at a moment's notice and Colby has a built-in book reader!

Colby's First Day of PMO

Colby had his first day of Parent's Morning Out this morning --- He did really well and didn't cry at all when I left, which I was pretty shocked about! He did cry a couple of times during the morning, but they were able to calm him down and overall he did really good! I am very relieved and I know he will really like being able to have his own thing to do and kids his age to play with.

I asked him if he had fun when I picked him up and he nodded his head with a big smile on his face, so I think that means he likes it ;-)

In the kitchen before we left; he's mad because he wants the camera and I won't let him have it ;-):


Jumping right in once we got to his room:

School Days....Sick Days

Okay, so I feel bad for not posting on Maddy's first day of school, but better late than never, right??? She is loving Kindergarten so far and Colby and I are adjusting to not having her home. It was a strange almost unsettling feeling the first week, but it has gotten much easier and I really like having some one-on-one time with Colby. He is going to a Parents' Morning Out program on Tuesday mornings; his first day is tomorrow, so hopefully that will go well. It is for 2 hrs., which will be about perfect for me to get some errands done and Colby to be able to play with some other kids his age.

Last week both Colby and Maddy were sick, so we had a long week. Colby got sick on Monday with a fever that lasted until Friday and also throwing up through-out the week. Maddy got sick Wed. night and started throwing up and missed both Thursday and Friday of school. By the weekend, everyone was doing much better, so hopefully we got all of the sickness out of here for a little while!!!

Maddy is a pretty easy sick person as she will lay around and watch movies and knows how to throw up in a bowl (unless she gets sick in the middle of the night and throws up all over her bed, which is what happened last week ;-)). Colby, on the other hand, is a different story. He felt pretty cruddy and wanted me to hold him, standing up of course, most of the time. My back took a good beating last week ;-)

Needless to say, this week has started off so much better than last and I'm looking forward to getting out and doing some fun things with the kids this week!!

First day of school:


Sitting in her "desk" at school:


Getting off the bus on her first day; she looks so small compared to that big bus!:


Not feeling good.....Maddy spent a lot of time on the couch last week:


Eating toast strips on my bed...For some reason I could only get Colby to eat them if Maddy was:

Back To School To Do's.....

This past weekend, we asked Maddy if there was anything she really wanted to do before school started and she came up with 3 things. Pool, Chuckie Cheese and Rainbow (indoor play place). Since the pool's last day open was Sunday, we all went ahead and went swimming. It was really fun watching Maddy practice her swimming as she recently just picked this up. She still needs to work on her distance but has come so far in just one summer!!! Colby just ran around like crazy, as usual, and had a great time!!!

We went to Chuckie Cheese this morning and Maddy and Colby had fun playing games and running around. 2 things checked off her list!! Tomorrow the plan was to hit up Rainbow, where they have a bunch of indoor play structures for the kids to play on. Maddy got sick and threw up tonight, though, so tomorrow's plan may be a 'wait-and-see'. Hopefully she is not coming down with something --- As long as she is better by Wednesday for her first day! ;-)

We also told Maddy she could pick out what she wanted to have for dinner tomorrow night since it was her last night before school starts. She picked hot dogs and grapes ;-) Easy enough!!

One more day of freedom before the routine and structure sets in!!!! Hopefully it won't be a sick day spent at home! :-(

St. Jude Bike-A-Thon

Last night Maddy participated in a bike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's hospital. Her friend Elise is fighting a malignant brain stem tumor and her family decided to host this bike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's where Elise had her treatments done. It was a big success and Maddy raised over $600 with donations from family and friends!!!! Thank You to everyone who donated!!!!! We are waiting to hear the grand total raised for 'Team Lambert' but online pledges alone were over $4,000!!!
It was so much fun with a big obstacle course for the kids to ride their bikes through, clowns, face painting, food and a visit from Cy!!

Maddy and Elise:


All the kids:


Maddy riding her bike -- she took this VERY seriously and rode so fast the whole time; I told her to take it easy a little, but she was determined ;-):


Colby on his tricycle:


Maddy and Cy:


Family pic: