Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Playing with Mommy's Shoes...

...and having so much fun!

First he was playing in my tennis shoes:



Then he moved on to my flip-flops:






Monday, June 29, 2009

Alex loves...

...his fake "Crocs"!

We got Alex a pair of fake Crocs a few months ago and he is finally able to wear them. He loves them because he can put them on and take them off all by himself. Often times, he puts them on the wrong feet, but what matters is that he is doing it by himself! He would wear them everywhere, if we would let them.

Today, he decided to put them with his socks and his diaper! He was so proud of himself - he looked so silly!

Here are a few pictures of our son making quite the fashion statement:





Sunday, June 28, 2009

Swimming - June 28, 2009

Another great day spent in the swimming pool in Enterprise! Alex was all about his goggles today - he wore them most of the day!

Here are some fun pictures from today:

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Swimming - June 27, 2009

Today was our first full day at home in Enterprise. We took Alex out to the pool after naptime and he had a great time! He loved the swimming vest that he got him - it gives him a lot more freedom than the float he had to be in last year!

I took a few pictures with the camera today - here a some of the better ones:

Friday, June 26, 2009

Swingset Fun

Here is a slideshow of our first day playing on the swingset in Enterprise. Alex had a BLAST and LOVED his swingset! Within the first few minutes, he learned how to climb up the ladder and "rock" wall. This child really has NO fear - something that I love about him and something that scares the crap out of me!

Enjoy the pictures :)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Nothing cuter than...

...Alex in his goggles IN the bathtub!

We decided to let him try his goggles on in the bathtub last night before we spent time in the pool next week. Larry snapped this picture with his cell phone and I think it turned out absolutely adorable!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Four-Wheeler Fun

Tonight after dinner, we decided to take Alex on a walk in his wagon around the neighborhood. Once we had walked a little bit, it started raining on us, so we turned around and came back to the house. By the time we got back home, the rain had tapered off. We let Alex drive his four-wheeler up around. He had a blast! He is finally getting the hang of it! The last time he rode it, he kept dragging his feet on the ground and Larry would have to stop him and put his feet where the are supposed to go. This time, he actually kept his feet up - we did figure out we would have to work on steering now though!

He had a great time riding his four-wheeler around and I got a bunch of great pictures from it! Here are some from our time outside! Enjoy!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

I will write a more detailed post about our Father's Day in the coming days!

Here are some pictures of Alex from Father's Day! Enjoy!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I promise to write a more detailed post of Larry's birthday in the next few days. Things have been crazy around here lately :)

I know that mostly everyone comes for the pictures anyway, so here are a few (okay, quite a few) pictures of Alex devouring Larry's birthday cake and ice cream! Enjoy!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Jim!



Happy Birthday, Grandpa Jim!

Today is Grandpa Jim’s birthday! He would have been 52 years old…WOW! We sent him two balloons (one from Alex and one from Larry and I), sang him “Happy Birthday” (well, Alex and I did before Larry got home from work) and had a cake in his honor. Alex brought tears to my eyes tonight after we let the balloons go – he waved at them and said “bye-bye”! I can’t get over how much he is growing up and I can’t wait until he understands why we send up balloons and who we are sending them to!

Normally on anniversaries and special occasions, I try to write a post about my parents, who they were and what they mean to me. I usually try to write eloquent words, giving everyone an insight into my life with my Mom and Dad. I like to focus on the amazing people they were, rather than focus on the fact that they aren’t here. I try to write posts that celebrate their lives. But, today, I just can’t do all of that!

Today, I am a daughter that just misses her Dad. Today, I am a child that wants to sing my Dad “Happy Birthday!” Today, I just want to share a piece of cake with my dad and I want him to laugh at how crazy his grandson is shoving icing into his mouth. Today, I want to be able to call my Dad and hear about what his co-workers did to celebrate his birthday. Today, I want to hear the joy in his voice when I call him. Today, I am trying to remember who he was and celebrate that, but I am finding that so very hard! Today, I just want him to be here – plain and simple.

I’m sad today! I don’t often admit that, so it is hard for me! I’m sad that they are no longer here. I’m sad that they don’t know their grandson and he will never know them. I’m sad that all I am left with is memories. I’m sad that I don’t get to celebrate anymore birthdays, anniversaries or holidays with them. I’m sad that I can’t pick up the phone to call them and ask them for advice. I’m sad that all I am left with is sending a balloon to heaven for their birthdays. I’m sad that my dad isn’t here to celebrate all of Larry’s accomplishments – he would be so proud of him! I’m sad that he isn’t here to see Alex grow up – oh how excited they were to be grandparents! I’m sad that I am sad (does that even make sense?). I’m just sad!

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you and miss you more than I ever thought possible! I miss you – the sound of your voice, your hugs and your advice! Through my sadness today, I am trying to celebrate you and the life you lived – you deserve that! I hope you are having an amazing birthday in heaven and celebrating in style! Thank you for being the very best dad in the world, but most importantly thank you for being MY dad!

Here are some pictures from today – eating cake and sending balloons up to heaven! Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

20 Months Old...

Our little man is 20 months old…I just can’t believe it! It feels like just yesterday I was holding our brand-new baby in my arms! I sit here today marveling at how much he has grown and how much he continues to grow.

I figured that today, on his 20-month birthday, would be a good opportunity to update everyone on all that he is doing and saying! He amazes me everyday with all that he is learning – he really is like a sponge, soaking up everything…all the time!

*Alex has two speeds…fast and faster! He is always on the move and always going full-throttle! He doesn’t know how to slow down, but he wouldn’t be Alex if he was still!

*He is saying so many new words and it seems like he is saying a new one everyday. On his list of frequently said words are:
-Go – and many variations of it, including “Let’s go”, “Go Away”, “Go, Go, Go”
-Hi and Bye (sometimes “Goodbye” and sometimes “Bye-Good”
-Dog and Kitty
-Here
-Hot (simultaneously blowing on food that he thinks is hot)
-Daddy – mostly to Daddy, but EVERYONE is Daddy though! I can come down the
stairs and he shouts “Daddy” – we laugh every time he does it, so now I think
he just does it because he thinks he is a comedian!
-Mommy – a word that just melts my heart
-Rascal
-Milk, Cup and Juice
-Please and More
-Yes, Yeah and Yay
-No and Nope
-Play
-Diaper and Potty
-Mouth, Eyes, Nose, Ears and Toes
-Cracker and Cookie
-Car and Truck

*He answers us “Yes” when we ask him if he want to do something and he does. He answers us “No” if he doesn’t want to do whatever we have asked of him! It is showing us that he does understand what we are asking him. He is also following direction very well. For instance, he will go and get his cup when I ask him to, or he will put away a toy when I tell him to.

*Alex LOVES to feed the dogs their dinner (see post on June 10 for pictures). Every night he waits by the pantry door and gets so excited when we tell him it is time to feed to dogs.

*He can tell us the noises that several different animals make and point them out in his little animal book. It is absolutely hilarious to hear him make the noises – I promise to try to get a video of him making the noises soon! He can successfully make the noises of and point out: a kitty, a dog, an elephant, a lion (by far his favorite), a tiger, a bird, a pig, a mouse, a bear, a frog, a duck and a monkey (his second favorite).

*He can point out his ears, nose, mouth, eyes, belly button and toes. He can also point them out on Larry and I!

*Saturday, I started to teach him the alphabet (we are learning by cookies shaped like the letters)! So far, he can recognize and say A, F, K, M, O.

*He is still a terribly picky eater. I swear, this child could live on macaroni and cheese and hot dogs!

*He has a cute little habit of putting on his batting helmet whenever he rides his Little Einstein’s Rocket ride-on toy!

*We are slowly working on potty-training! We are more interested in getting him used to the potty and what he is supposed to do on it, rather than trying to “make” him use it all the time! He is doing good and does realize what he is supposed to do on it.

*He gives kisses out randomly…and it is the sweetest thing EVER! He will pucker up his little lips and say MUAH!

*He is a creature of habit! When Daddy comes home from work, we wait by the window looking for his car, wait on him to come up the stairs and he leads Daddy upstairs to change out of his work clothes! He loves his routine!

*Alex is a dancing fool! Whenever he hears music, he will put up on of his arms (not quite sure why) and start be-bopping to the music. It is so funny to see him dancing…and it ALWAYS puts a smile on my face!

*We have a naptime and nighttime routine that he loves. We read him a story, give our hugs and kisses and tell him that we love him and goodnight. He waves us goodbye and then settles in for sleep! He takes a nap around 1 pm for about 2 hours and goes to bed for the night around 7:30 pm.

*He loves playing with the dogs. We are still trying to teach him to be nice and to not be so rough – he is getting it, but it is a slow process!

*Most nights, he shares his dinner with the dogs. Don’t worry though, he is VERY fair. He makes sure to throw down three pieces of whatever he is eating – he doesn’t like to leave anyone out! The dogs now wait at his high chair for his handouts!

*We have started implementing “time-out”. He knows when he does something wrong and starts to head to the “time-out” chair. He only has to sit in the chair for a minute and a half (the time correlates with his age).

*When he doesn’t get what he wants, he has started to throw himself down on the ground and cry! He looks so pitiful when he does it. I try my hardest not to acknowledge him until he calms down (I don’t want to encourage his behavior or condone it), but sometimes he is so funny that I can’t help but laugh!

*He loves to be outside! He loves running around, playing at the playground, going for wagon rides, riding his battery-powered four-wheeler and running through the sprinklers at the Sprayground! If he is outside…he is a happy boy!

*He has been trying to put on his clothes. Sometimes, the shirt is where the pants go and the pants are on his head, but he is trying and showing interest in doing it himself. He loves to put his own shoes on – he has a hard time with tennis shoes, but he is great with his sandals and Crocs! He has been known to put on my shoes or Larry’s shoes, which is quite entertaining!

Oh goodness, there is so much more, but I think this is enough of a “brag” post for now! All in all, our little man is growing up, meeting milestones and amazing us everyday. He is the light of our life and the sunshine on our darkest days! Even when he drives us crazy, we couldn’t imagine our life without him!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Whip Cream...

We might have started a bad thing ;)

Alex loves whip cream out of a can! Yesterday, I thought I would see what he thought about it, putting just a tad bit on his finger! Shortly after that, Larry came up to me and wanted me to put some in his mouth...so I did! Alex thought it was so funny and started opening his mouth for me to put some in there. He was also making the "shh" noise of the can. I could not stop laughing at him, which made him start laughing!

Tonight, Larry gave him a little more whip cream...straight out of the can! I got a few pictures of it - I love that I was able to capture this moment on camera!









Saturday, June 13, 2009

Sprayground...with Daddy!

Today was a nice day outside, so Larry and I decided to take Alex to the Sprayground again! We met up with Stephanie, Matt, Bella and Austin - thinking it would be fun for all of the kids to run around together!

Alex loved having his Daddy there with him and was so excited to show him the Sprayground. As soon as we pulled up, he started saying "YAY, YAY!" - Larry thought it was hilarious that after only being there twice, he knew exactly where we were!

Here are some pictures from our Saturday at the Sprayground! Enjoy!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Sprayground...again!

I took Alex to the Sprayground again today! I told you all that we would be returning soon! In fact, I think we might be going on Saturday with Larry (so he can experience the Sprayground with Alex also)!

We did have a little problem today though! Alex has really been into scooping up water in a cup during bathtime and pouring it on himself (or one of us). Today at the Sprayground, he took his bucket, filled it up and starting pouring it on little kids that were near him. One of the kids that he dumped water on was a girl a little younger than him. Her mom was not pleased and let me know! I told her that I was sorry - he just thought he was playing! It was one of those moments that was pretty funny...had it not have happened in public!

This time I took pictures with a real camera, instead of my cell phone!

Here is a slideshow of our time at the Sprayground:

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Painting Fun

I let Alex color with paint markers today while I was making dinner! It was fun and messy! I loved seeing his little mind get creative and watching how it translated to paper! Luckily, the paints are washable because he had paint all over his hands, on his belly and on his face - it was definitely a bath night!

He had a great time and colored Daddy a beautiful picture! When Larry got home from work, I told Alex to go get his picture to give to Daddy. He did and he was so proud of himself!

Maybe our little man will get the drawing gene that I am so desperately lacking!

Oh, you might notice that he is still using both hands to color with! He is displaying signs of being both a lefty and a righty. I'm anxious to see what hand he actually ends up using! We have a few people in my family that use their left hands and of course Larry is a lefty, so it is a very good possibility that he may wind up being left-handed!

Here are a few pictures:

Feeding the Dogs

Larry has started to let Alex "help" him feed the dogs at dinner time. Alex looks forward to it each day. So much so that during the day, he often goes to the closet where we keep the food, tries to open it and tells me "dog".

He has gotten quite good at scooping up the food, carrying it in the cup and dumping it in each of the dog bowls! Larry has taught him how to use two hands to carry the cup so he doesn't spill the food (something he was doing when he first started) and he is so stinkin' cute carrying that little cup and concentrating so hard! When he does drop some food, he goes over to it and picks up each individual piece and puts it in the bowl. Sometimes he just amazes me with everything he is learning ;)

Tonight, I got a few pictures of him feeding the dogs.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Sprayground

I took Alex to the Sprayground today.

I know, I know...you all are wondering: what is the Sprayground?

The Sprayground is a local play area that has a variety of "water activities" for children. It has a rainbow arch that sprays water, buckets that dump water, vertical sprayers and a few other things. The ground is rubber, so it easy on little feet! Every Monday and Thursday, the Sprayground has "toddler time" from 10:45 am until 11:45 am. Toddler time is open for children 4 and under, which is great because the smaller kids don't have to "fight" the bigger kids for sprinkler time! Another great thing, it is only $2!

Alex and I decided to try out the Sprayground and he LOVED it! He had such a great time running in all the sprinklers. At first, he was a little unsure of the water spraying up from the ground and buckets of water falling on his head, but once he got used to the idea he loved running in and out of the water! Unfortunately, we are working on sharing, so he got caught a couple of times stealing buckets, toys and balls from other kids...fortunately, however, I only had to tell him "NO!" a few times and he was quick to return all of the stolen items! I will have to go buy some before our next trip!

It is a really neat water area and we will definitely be returning soon. In fact, I think we may be going on Thursday for the next toddler time!

I took a few pictures with my cell phone camera today. I had every intention on taking pictures with our camera, but there was just no way to keep an eye on him and take pictures! Enjoy the pictures :)

Trying to figure out if he likes it our not:


Going in:


Running around...and loving it:


Filing up a "stolen" water bucket:

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Sunday Funday

Today, the weather was absolutely beautiful! Larry and I decided to take advantage of it and took Alex to the park. Well, we actually took him to two different parks - the first was one that we had heard about and we spotted the second on the way to the first! The second park was by far the best one that we have been to in the area - it is part of an elementary school though. There were no signs saying we couldn't be there (the only sign we saw said that we couldn't bring animals), so we figured we would take Alex!

After we got home from the parks, Alex took a nice two hour nap. Larry was nice enough to stay home with him (he had homework, so he really didn't have much of a choice), while I ran some errands (getting a pedicure and tanning...you know, the REALLY important things)!

I got home a few minutes after Alex woke up from his nap and Larry and I decided to open up the pool/sprinkler that we had gotten for him last week at Target. He absolutely LOVED it! It was so much fun to see him slipping, laughing and having a blast!

We had a great day outside and I got some great new pictures. Here are two new slide shows with pictures from our day!

Fun at the park(s):


Pool/Sprinkler Fun:
(the pictures are blurry because I forgot to put the camera on the correct setting...sorry)

Friday, June 5, 2009

5 Years Ago Today...

...I got to dress up like a a princess...


...I walked down the aisle with my Daddy...


...into the loving arms of this man...


...we said our vows...


...and became husband and wife...



...we had an AMAZING reception - where we had our first dance...


...ate some delicious cake...


...toasted our love, our families and our friends...


...ate a green bean...


...and posed for a few candid shots together...



But most importantly, 5 years ago today, I married my best friend and my love! June 5, 2004, I began my life as a wife. I look back on the memories of the past five years and there is no one else that I would rather have standing by my side through all of it! Life has certainly dealt us situations we could never have dreamed of, but together we have overcome every obstacle that life has thrown at us! And because of that, our marriage is so much stronger than I could have ever imagined!

I had my fairy tale wedding on June 5, 2004, but I have been living my happily ever after ever since then!

Here are some pictures from our special day! Enjoy!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Naptime...

...is Mommy's favorite time of the day! Is that okay to admit?!

Not only is it the only "quiet time" that I have throughout the day, but our little man is so darn cute when he is sleeping!

I snapped a few pictures of him during naptime last week that I just love :) Enjoy!