Happy Labor Day!

This weekend was Labor Day, and we had a wonderful super-extra long weekend! We all drove up to the Catskills on Thursday night, and Daddy worked from home on Friday. That made it so that the rest of us could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Ruane in their mountain house, and made it so that we had three full days of weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) without driving! It was great.


Aidan helped Grandpa drive fertilizer pellets into the ground for the trees in the orchard with a heavy hammer, helped Grandma make Beignets, helped feed Marguerite & Nadir's chickens, played with Cooper (& Kevin & Sarah), threw more rocks in the stream (I think he is, with Grandpa's help, changing the course of that stream!), watched Finding Nemo, gave a few piano concerts with Daddy, played on the Boiceville playground, and generally had a grand old time. :)


Kiana cuddled and "talked" with everyone, started her own piano playing adventures, soaked up the different and wonderful place to be, and fell in love with Kevin & Sarah's dog, Cooper (she didn't even mind when he licked her hand!).


All of us were happy to get away from the City for a while, relax in the green mountains, and enjoy some down time. We especially loved Grandma's home-made blackberry pies that she made from her own blackberries! :) On Monday, we drove home during the morning nap time slot, and both kids slept all the way home (hooray!). Then, we had a relaxing afternoon at the parks, and had a fun dinner with our friends Christa/Mark/John/Oliver - a wonderful way to end the weekend!


In other news this week:


AIDAN:
On Tuesday, while Aidan and Mommy and Kiana were cuddling after school, Aidan snuggled up with both of us with an endearing smile and asked, first, to Kiana: "How is this little munch doing?" Then he pointed at himself: "How is this big 3 year old munch doing?" Then he looked at me: "How is this 30 year old much doing?" :) (!)


On Monday, he also asked me about how a baby got "in" and "out" of my tummy! I wasn't quite prepared for that conversation, so I told him that Mommy and Daddy had a "special hug" to put the baby in my tummy. Then I told him more specifically about how the baby came out, and told him all about Kiana's birth story: how he went to sleep and Dorota came over to stay with him while Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital; and how the doctors there helped Kiana come out, and how Laurie and Dorota were home when he woke up in the morning, and they took him to playschool; and then Daddy picked him up from playschool and took him on the train to the hospital to meet Kiana the next day. :)


KIANA:
This week, Mommy took Kiana to playgroup for the first time! She had been taking a wonderful 2-3 hour nap every morning until this week, but last weekend, we ran into Troy, who asked us to come. I told him that we would certainly come once her nap schedule changed, but until then, I had to take advantage of the free time at home! She must have heard me, because she changed up her schedule all week and was awake in the mornings. So, we went to playgroup! I haven't gone since Aidan was really little, so it was fun to go again. At least it's something to look forward to, even if the morning nap doesn't always happen anymore!