Father's Day 2009

A couple of weeks before Father's Day, I took you and Aiden (with Grandma's help) to The Painted Pig to make a platter for him. I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted but soon after arriving decided on a Razorback themed-platter that he can use for grilling. The store employees helped capture Aiden's foot prints and your hand print and then you helped me make the red & black dots on the outer perimeter of the platter. Before it was finished, both you and Aiden were getting restless so I quickly painted the black stripes and had the store finish it off with the razorback and "Go Hogs Go". I was super excited about this gift because I knew there was no way in a million years Daddy would ever be able to guess what it was and sure enough, I was right. When we gave him his gifts on Father's Day morning, he lifted the package and thought it was a picture--too funny! You and Aiden are truly blessed to have such a great person as your father! When you are older you will be able to recognize all of his good qualities and realize how lucky you are.

Lunch with Aunt Dana

Aunt Dana invited us (you, me & Aiden) to have lunch with her, Danielle & Jack. We had never met Jack before so I scheduled a vacation day from work and had planned on spending a portion of the day with them. Those plans soon came to a screeching halt when I picked you up from daycare on Thursday. It was waterday at school and instead of playing you were "resting" under the giant umbrella with Ms. Whitney. She said you came up to her and said you were hot and needed to rest. I didn't think much of it--after all, we're in the dog days of summer and it doesn't take long to get hot out there. However, when I got you home, I noticed you were sort of pale and you weren't wanting to play--you just wanted to lay on the couch. I started wondering if maybe you had gotten overheated so I turned to my trusty friend, the internet, and began looking stuff up. When I took your temperature, it was 103.7 and it stayed within that range until the next morning. I decided to take you to the doctor since the weekend was upon us. Unfortunately, your regular doctor was out so we had to see another one. After running some tests, she concluded it was a viral fever--this was no stranger to us as you've had that same diagnosis a few times now.

Since you weren't sick but still running fever, I couldn't take you to daycare on Friday. We still got to have lunch as planned at The Olive Garden. Although you didn't eat much of anything and you were pretty quiet around Aunt Dana, Yell (as you call Danielle) and "my Jack" (you were very possessive of him once we left), you have been talking about them a lot lately. I just wish we lived closer to each other--she was my absolute favorite aunt growing up and I know if you were given the chance, she would be just as special to you as she is to me. Here are some pics of our visit......

Playtime with Callie

The McCools came over a couple of weekends ago to grill out. You and Callie had so much fun playing with your big "color pad"......

First Swim of the Season

Daddy got our pool ready for the summer Memorial Day weekend but we weren't able to swim in it until the next weekend. With this being your third summer to enjoy the pool, you've got a lot more confidence in yourself, and we do too! You enjoy laying on my raft more than anything, although you did give us a scare and went a little too far on the edge of the raft and fell in. Thankfully, you held your breath so you didn't choke on any of the water. You were so proud of yourself--after calming myself down (I was about to have a heart attack, but thankfully Daddy got you out quick), I was proud of you, too. Here are a couple of pics I took....

Museum of Discovery

I enrolled you to be a part of the Summer Reading Club at our local library and as part of the kick-off event, we were invited to join in on the fun with all the other boys and girls at the Museum of Discovery on June 13th. The time frame was 10:00-12:00 but we decided to skip the actual event and take a leisurely attitude about it. We figured it would be too crowded and with it being so close to lunch time, we were sure you & Aiden would have meltdowns. So we decided to have lunch at Carino's and afterwards we headed for the museum. We were there for a couple of hours and you had an absolute blast!!! You were super excited about all the fun stuff you could do! It was also your first time to ride in an elevator--we let you push the button on our way back down to the first floor and you pushed the "alarm" button--it was so funny!! You thought you were going to get in trouble and the look on your face cracked us up!! We'll definitely have to go back. You wore yourself out because you took over a 2 hour nap when we got home. Here are some pictures of our fun time!

Possible New Blog Address

Aiden's blog renewal is about to expire (www.aidenray.net). I haven't decided if I'm going to renew it. I'm contemplating other alternatives--something that will provide me more flexibility in the blog design/layout...the ability to access it better than the current blog would be a benefit, too. Whatever I decide to do, I would like for those of you that are a "regular" visitor to his site to be able to continue visiting his site. If you are interested in this, please email me at deven@allianceproductions.com. Once I figure out what direction we're going, I'll provide you with the details.

H-A-R-L-E-E

On the way to school this morning you spelled your name all by yourself!!! We've been practicing this all week on the way to school each morning and today you spelled it!! I am so proud of you.

At 2 1/2 you're already amazing us with your intelligence. You can tell me your full name, Aiden's name, mine, Daddy & Grandma's names. You know you live in Sherwood. You know how old you are, show me how old you are with your fingers and even know how old you and Aiden will be on your birthdays. You constantly point something out and tell me what color it is.

You can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, ABC song, I'm a little teapot, You are my Sunshine (which I need to post a video of tonight), Rock-a-bye baby, Patty Cake, Where is Pinky and I'm probably forgetting a few.

You haven't had an accident in about 3 weeks so I'd say you're pretty much potty-trained--you still wear pullups at night.

You can "read" a couple of your books and your favorite to read is "David Goes to School" except you call him Baby David, for some reason. I have a video of you reading that book, too, that I need to upload tonight.

You are such a joy to be around!! Listening to your thoughts sometime really remind me of how smart you are!!

Memorial Day: Part 3

Grilling with the McCools

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we had planned to grill-out at our house with Aunt B, Uncle J and Cal-Cal. Daddy was so determined to grill out that he didn't care that it was pouring for the majority of the day. While we had planned to eat around noon, we didn't eat until much, much later because once Daddy & Uncle J get together they talk more than a bunch of women and seem to forget about food. :-) You didn't seem to mind, though, because like Mommy, you snacked throughout the afternoon. You really enjoyed having Cal-Cal over to play with and the three of you played really well together. You are definitely the ring leader, though and can be quite bossy at times. It was funny because at one point you wanted a snack so I gave you some gummy candy and you even shared with Cal-Cal but hand fed her. She would open her mouth and you would put a piece in. It was too cute--although we did have to remind you to slow down because you would put one after the other in her mouth. As an added bonus "E" (aka Eden) came over too and you really enjoyed playing with her as well! Needless to say at the end of the day you were exhausted and fell asleep as soon as I shut your door. Here are some pics of our fun times....

Memorial Day: Part 2

Visit from Aunt Pennie & Drake

Aunt Pennie & Drake stopped by for a little bit on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Aunt P definitely spoils you because she brings you surprises almost every time she stops by. The surprise this time was some bubbles and a bubble blowing "gun" (note to self: still need to buy batteries for this). You had so much fun playing outside with her and the bubbles. Here are some photos I was able to capture during her visit.

Memorial Day: Part 1

Library Play-date with Drew

This year's Memorial Day weekend was jam packed with fun. One of our activities was meeting Ms. Martha & Drew at the library for a playdate on Saturday. You two absolutely adore each other and it's so sweet to watch you interact. Here are some pics I was able to get of you two.