Today, we had a very special playgroup at Ella's house for her 2nd birthday. Ms. Jen had lots of fun things planned for us to do! First, I got to play with Ella's new cars from the Cars movie. She had all the characters! Then, we went outside and made ladybugs. That's what we're doing in this picture. Ms. Jen inspires Mommy to be more creative with my art projects. Then we played with sidewalk chalk. After that, we sang the birthday song and ate cupcakes with ladybugs on them. I really enjoyed mine after Ms. Jen gave me a fork-it helped me avoid the sticky frosting on my fingers. I also had a great time playing in Ella's sandbox. There were so many fun pictures of our time together, but I'm only including one this time. You can see more adventures on Ella's blog. Happy Birthday, Ella! Thanks for including us in your special day!
Happy Birthday, Ella!
Bigger Than I Thought
My mom and dad thought that I'd be able to use my car seat until I hit the 40 lb. mark, which is just a few pounds away. They were wrong! I'm too tall for my car seat. My shoulders are too tall for the straps, and my head is too high to be protected above the seat. Oops! So, they're looking for a booster seat for me. For those of you without little kids, that's a seat that helps the car's grownup seatbelt work better on a little body.
Do any of the little buddies out there who are just a little bit older have ideas about good booster seats? You can leave a comment here or email my mom. My mom and dad are looking for suggestions at a good price. I'll let you know what we decide!
First Squash of the Season
Yesterday, we had our first dinner provided by Daddy's garden. We've had a few strawberries along the way, but these were our first veggies. When Daddy and Mommy told me that these were from Daddy's garden, I asked for strawberries instead. Unfortunately, there weren't any ready. We all enjoyed the squash even though they were not strawberries!
More About Camping
We had planned to take this road to our campsite. As you can see, we didn't make it past this spot, so we turned around and chose a campsite with a lot less snow.
Here I am on our first day, still dressed in shorts, but enjoying the patches of snow. It was pretty warm during the day, but pretty chilly at night. Don't worry, I was snuggled into our warmest sleeping bag and didn't even notice the weather.
This lake was a short drive from our campsite.
Isn't God's creation beautiful?
I still love to ride on my dad's back in the backpack. I really like hiking!
When can we go camping again?
Camping Adventures!
We were also surprised by how cold it got at night, and since I developed a very runny nose, we decided to come home on the afternoon of the second day instead of sleeping in the tent for one more night. We had a wonderful time, though, and we all hope to go camping at the same place again.
This is a video of me enjoying my favorite camping pastime. If you weren't sure already, this clip will probably confirm for you that I'm a lefty. I'll post some more pictures of our adventures later today.
While Daddy Was Gone
This picture of our family room will show you that Daddy has been on a business trip this week. When he's gone, Mommy and I stay very busy. Usually, that means that Mommy paints while I sleep. Recently, Mommy has painted a bathroom, Daddy's office, and the playroom, and this week, she did the family room. Here it is-a big change! The only room she has left to paint is the master bedroom. She's starting to plan the curtains she's going to make, too. There are lots of other ways to stay busy, but this is how Mommy does it. Silly mommy! It's a good thing Daddy's coming home tonight.
Time with Trains
Today, I introduced Ella and Jared to one of my favorite places! We went to see the trains and brought the mommies along, too. You can read about some of our adventures on Ella's blog. Ms. Amy drove her "big, big truck" and I got to sit all the way in the back behind Jared and Ella. See me back there?
We had a great morning running around together. We even had a picnic lunch. Thanks, Ms. Amy and Ms. Jen, for bringing Jared and Ella and having a big adventure with us!
New Friends
Today, Mommy and I had some new friends over. Here we are eating graham crackers outside. First there's me, then Michael who will be 4 in August, and Megan, who will be 2 in September. We had fun playing except for when I forgot to share my trains. Mommy and Ms. Jayne, their mommy, chatted while we played. Thanks for visiting, new friends!
Artichoke Adventures
On Saturday, Ella's family and our family took a trip to the Artichoke Festival. We had never gone before, and it's always more fun to try new things with friends! Ms. Jen did a great job on Ella's blog telling the story of the day, so I'll just add a few more pictures.
This was my favorite part: the display of old cars. Daddy even got me out and showed me what was under the hoods of some of the cars. Here are Ella and I watching the world go by.
Here are the booths with all the artichoke food. We tried everything except for the cupcakes.
They must have known that we were coming and made sure that we had a playground...I think Ella liked the swings best.
Daddy took me down my first bouncy slide...twice! I LOVED it!
My family!
A Sneak Preview
Time for Mommy and Time for Me
We have settled out of our church search and settled into a little church here. And that's fine with me! As much as I like visiting new nurseries and playing with new toys, I'd rather know what to expect each Sunday. Our new little church has a time for moms a couple of times a month, which also means that I get time to play with the kids. Today, the kids' grandmas watched the kids while the moms had breakfast together. I had a great time! Mommy had a nice time, too, but I think it really made her miss our friends who are far away. We're both thankful for new friends here. I almost forgot to mention that we took a bike ride to church this morning. What could be better?
Treat of the Day
Today, I got a special treat from Grandma. She gave me a Thomas box, and inside there were four tiny race cars-the tiniest I've ever seen! Yippeeeee!
At the Library
After my nap today, Mommy and I took a walk to the library. I told Mommy that I wanted to look at some books about trains, but first I had to work some puzzles. You can see that I stood up on the stools to be tall. After I was done with puzzles, the nice librarian showed us the train books in the nonfiction and fiction sections. We got to bring them all home! We even got to bring home a couple of DVDs and some music! We had a great time at the library, and I can't wait to go back again.
Morning with Ella
This morning, I got to play at Ella's house. We had a great time! She has lots of toys for playing pretend. If you want to see our adventures, you can click here. Ella helped me learn how to take care of baby dolls and let me pet her dog, Lily. She even shared a lunch of pizza bagels with me. Thanks for having me over, Ella!
My Room
I realized that I hadn't shown you the parts of my big boy room yet. Here they are!
Here is my big boy bed with my vehicle sheets. I'm the fourth kid to sleep in it, and I haven't ever fallen out. As you can see, Lightning McQueen likes to drive on it, and Boz and the bunny like to stay here all the time. At my request, Boz is wearing plastic pants, just like me.
Here is the wall straight across from my door. You can see all the pictures of my little buddies there above my toybox. Grandpa made my shelves and gave me some of the vehicles up there. My name puzzle is from Grandma. The window helps me see the garbage truck when it's on my street.
This is the wall on the left as you walk in. Mommy brought my name from my room at our old house and hung it here. This window has my airplanes on it from Caleb, my picture from Nathan, my cross from Graham, and my tractor from Lou & Lionel.
This is the wall that also had my door on it. This is my changing table. Mommy says I won't always need it, but I sure don't plan on quitting wearing diapers anytime soon.
This wall is to the right when you walk in. The little pictures are from our neighbors in our old neighborhood, and the big tractor picture is from Great Grandma. I got to put up my playhouse when Mommy packed my crib away. I never thought I'd want to give up my crib, but I'm sure glad I did!
And, a last little surprise, my fan with airplanes on it, near the ceiling that used to be pink. Thanks to all my family and friends for giving me such a great room for a big boy!
A Long Post About Saturday's Adventures
On Saturday, we had a big day worth telling about, even though it was a couple of days ago. Mommy and Daddy and I took a trip so that Mommy and Ms. Sarah could help at a fund raiser. The camp where they worked together more than ten years ago is turning 40, so lots of people are trying to fix it up.
While Mommy and Ms. Sarah spent time chatting and helping, Daddy and I went hiking. We had a great day!
Here is what it looked like where we hiked.
I even got to do some hiking of my own outside of the backpack.
Mommy said that I must have had a good time because I got really dirty.
Isn't it beautiful out here?
After hiking, our whole family met up back at Ms. Sarah's house, which meant we got to see her family. That includes my big buddy Paul and his daddy, Mr. Todd. Paul is a fun playmate and was very kind about sharing his toys with me. He gave a great tour of his house, too. This was our first time at Paul's house, even though we met when I was a baby. Like most of my buddies' mommies, Paul's mommy is going to welcome a new baby to the family this summer. So, be on the lookout for lots of little buddies soon!
Here, we're playing with Paul's trains.
And here we are playing in Paul's play kitchen that his grandparents made for him. It's the neatest one I've ever seen!
After lots of playing, we ate a yummy pizza dinner together and said goodbye to Paul and his parents. We said goodbye after my bedtime and still had a couple of hours to drive home, so I was up really late. It was all worth it. We're so thankful to live near enough to Paul to visit! Thanks for the fun, everybody!
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day, everybody!
Today, Daddy made special breakfast burritos for Mommy and gave her our gift: snowshoes. That may not seem like a very motherly gift, but Mommy was happy. If you think back to our last trip to the snow, you'll remember that even though the weather was not super cold anymore, there was still lots of snow to sink into. The people with snowshoes had a lot easier hike than Mommy and Daddy. So, next fall, Mommy and Daddy can hike with Mommy's new snowshoes. I wonder, will I still fit in the backpack? And, is this a subtle hint that Daddy wants companion snowshoes for Father's Day? Hmmmm...
Happy Mother's Day especially to my grandma and great-grandma who are far away, and my grandma and great-grandma who are nearby. I love you!
This One's for the Little Buddies
Hello, little buddies! I want to recommend a movie to you. It's on Ella's Blog, and if you click here, you can see it. In this movie, Ella and her dad are reading the Gorilla Book, one of my favorites. Here's a picture of me watching this great movie and doing the actions in the book along with Ella. I hope you like it!
Glasses, Part 3
Yesterday, I got my glasses. When Mommy and I got to the glasses place, Uncle Todd was there. He knows all about wearing glasses, so he decided to help me learn how to do it.
This is the case they gave me to hold my new glasses. It pops open when you push the button.
My glasses made me so cool, just like Uncle Todd, that I had to give him "KNUCKLES!" just like Uncle Jake and Aunt Laura taught me to.
My glasses helped me read car magazines with Uncle Todd while Mommy paid for the glasses.
My glasses helped me see my shoes and the floor better. As you can see by the shoes in the background, Daddy came to see my new glasses, too.
After we left the office, I had to run around and see my new world.
I wanted to stand here and watch the cars go by, but Mommy and Daddy said it was time to go. We had to stop by and show my glasses to everyone we could think of on the way home yesterday.
Today, Great Grandma came over and brought me some treasures like this new book. She has glasses, too. We decided to read on our new couch.
And here I am with my new "friends" that she gave to me. Miss Jenny, this part is for you, because I know you wanted to see our new furniture. I call this my couch, even though Mommy and Daddy call it a chair and a half.
Thanks to everyone who has been asking how I've been doing with my new glasses. I'm doing a good job wearing them all day except at naptime. I have asked Mommy to take them off a few times, but she always reminds me that I need to wear them so that I can see better. I got a little scared today because I was crying and couldn't reach my eyes to wipe them, but I learned that it's OK to take your glasses off to wipe your eyes.
I'm going back to the ophthalmologist in three months to make sure my prescription on my glasses is accurate enough. Isaac's grandpa is an optometrist, and he helped us find a new ophthalmologist who actually likes little kids, unlike the one we went to last week who was supposed to like kids but really didn't after all. Mommy and Daddy are hoping I'll forget that experience by August. I'll do the best I can!
