Summerfest

Last night we walked to Summerfest to watch the fireworks and sit in the grass with friends.  The weather was perfect and there were no mosquitos only fireflies in the air.  We weren't sure how Calan was going to react to the noise but he was a trooper.  He sat perfectly still in Daddy's lap for the entire show.

Hungry Hippo

Animal abuse? 
- maybe.  
But his laugh is so cute how could we stop?

Lamb & Rice

Only the best for our dogs.
They are hand feed on a daily basis.
Courtesy of Calan.

Spiderman

Our little boy is scaling EVERYTHING.  He climbs chairs, drawers & we just caught him in the window on his stool.

Big Brother

Calan is so excited about becoming a BIG BROTHER. (or at least we hope he is!)

Memorial Day Parade

We took Calan to his first parade yesterday.  Weren't sure how he was going to react to the loud noises...  He cried 5 times -but not because he was scared- every time a marching band went by he couldn't take his eyes off of them.  Once they were out of sight he would start to cry!  There were so many people that we had to stand until it started to rain.  Once everyone started to get wet the curb cleared and we were able to sit on it with our feet in the street.  A perfect view of the marching bands.

Rubber duckie

This can't be as funny as he is making it out to be.

swim season

has begun.  We were able to take a quick swim before Great-Grandpa's birthday party.  Calan has been swimming before but was a little too young to enjoy it.  Yesterday he had a blast.

Dedication

We decided to have Calan dedicated at GCC on May 8th during the annual Baby Dedication Ceremony.  His Papa & Donna, LeAnne, Andrew & Karen all joined us that day to celebrate.  Blake, Tammy, Karen & Bob were also there.
We publicly committed to teach Calan God's Word, to pray & teach him to pray, to seek scriptural guidance in the way we live & parent & to commit to trust God's promises made to us & our child in His Word.  With God's help, we will do these things.  
Over 100 children were dedicated in the church that Saturday.  It was a beautiful thing to be surrounded by such love.  

a 1st

Today I had the privilege to re-roll a roll of toilet paper.

Mother's Day

My 1st Mother's Day arrived!  "Calan" got me the prettiest roses ever.  The day wasn't all sweet & relaxing like expected but we do have a brand new water heater thanks to Cody's -um- expertise in water heater installation.  The bottom of ours apparently rusted out :)

THe CuLPRiT

Calan had his 1st sting on Saturday. :(  Not by a bee but a Yellowjacket which is actually a wasp.  Yellowjackets have a lance-like stinger with small barbs and typically sting repeatedly.  Not this unlucky fellow, though.  Calan squished him with one forceful step & it was lights out.

Sunday

We spent time at Papa Bob's Sunday.  Calan took his first tractor ride & got to pet the cows again.

9 months today!

Do tricks

We've been working on Cito's clapping skills.

One sided conversation

The baby proofing went very well last weekend.  The dog dishes in the kitchen are the only current problem - so I thought.


Calan was playing in his bedroom very quietly.  I kept popping my head in to check & all was well.  I was able to return emails, pick-up toys & clean the bathroom while he was occupied.  He came crawling into the bedroom...

"Calan, show Mama where you got the dirt from..."

"Oh there it is!  Thank you for playing so quietly while I got some things done.  Now let's clean the toilet again today." (I just read that explaining what you are doing helps babies develop language skills)

finally

Here are some pics from our Arkansas trip.

Cute...

or not so much?  Cito is so independent & knows exactly what he wants to do.  I'm not sure how the baby proofing is going to go this weekend.  Our parenting style may be too lax but this is only realized when I'm watching a video of his mischief & think -I caught him doing something, went to get the camera & then encouraged it.  I guess that it's time to take control before he is a teenager & walking all over us.

What a blur

We have been nonstop for what feels like a month.  Everything is unpacked, washed & put away from vacation.  The house is back to normal but in DESPERATE need of baby proofing.  It's our goal for this coming weekend.  Calan is into everything.  There is a continuous pile of dirt next to the plant in the living room that he can't seem to keep his hands out of.  Outlets & cords are his toy of choice and my curtain-cupboard-doors just aren't currently making sense.  Yard sale toys are plentiful but just as overwhelming as imaginable when there doesn't seem to be enough places to keep them.  He is growing out of clothes left & right but I can't seem to part with them just incase the next baby is a boy too.  We have upgraded to a larger bottle within the past day or two because five ounces aren't quite enough anymore.  On the day he turned 8 months he went from reaching and rolling to instant crawling.  Just this morning he was quietly "playing" but when I peeked around the corner he was unscrewing the knob that secures his baby gate at the top of the stairs.  I think that he has unplugged something in every room - lamps, his swing, night lights, fish tank....  He can pull himself up on everything from curtains to tables to the ottoman at the end of our bed.  There is still no sleeping through the night & this past Saturday he was up 4 times.  The johnny-jump-up continues to be a swing that he refuses to jump in.  Our basement looks like a kids consignment shop and he isn't even a year old. So all & all life is good. 

Calan is very much enjoying his vacation.  We spent the day window shopping, eating lunch with Karla's church group and looking at houses.  Cody & I were taking pics of water coming out the ground when he realized that he was standing on an ant hill with some very angry ants.  

R Kansas

DISTANCE: 739.33 miles (plus).
The 'plus' is accounting for the 3 times Cody took unexpected long-cuts as we call them.


Cito literally slept for 10 1/2 hours of the trip!


We left this morning at 5am exactly & arrived a little after 5pm.