Tuesday, March 25, 2014

My Little Love, 10 months old!

These pictures were taken by our front door on Sunday, March 16. He turned 10 months old on March 18! 
Dallin is our guy smiley with six teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom). He loves playing with water, drums, balls and cars. He hates drinking from a bottle and getting his diaper changed. He eats any food we give him, especially if it's sweet. His knew favorite sound is screaming, and he mostly does it when he's either very happy or very mad. Dallin is a people person. He hates to be left alone for even a moment. He gives the best cuddles and slobber kisses, especially to his mama. He crawls, climbs, and walks along furniture with extreme determination to get whatever knew gadget he sees. He giggles at his big brother, squeals for his daddy and babbles to his mommy. 
We are completely enamored by this little Love!
 
 
 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Photo Journal March 8-14

Whoa. I am finally blogging about something that happened during the same month that I am typing this up! Applause please.

We had a Hawaiian Party at our church to help satisfy our yearning for warm weather. It was really fun and I led some dancing activities with the kids/youth.
Dallin is eating more and more. He got really messy from this meal, but I can't remember what it was, probly chicken devan.
We get packages from amazon almost every day. This one was our big diaper/wipes order. It kept the boys entertained for a day.
We have gotten some warm days, so I've taken advantage of them. One morning, we woke up to gorgious sunshine and squirrels and DEER outside chilling in the sunlight. I didn't waste any time. After Dallin's morning nap, I popped the boys in the car and went straight to the Nature Center because I knew we would see some fun creatures there.
We saw tons of birds and this funny squirrel that clung to the side of the building and shimmied his way to the bird feeders. Also, the deer in our backyard stayed in the little tree grove literally from dawn until dusk. Never seen that before! I guess when the deer stay out all day to enjoy the warmth, that just goes to show how harsh of a winter it's been.
The warmth was short lived. Next day was super cold again and I think it snowed. So we rode our bikes in the kitchen (too messy in the garage from all the melting mud and snow). Dallin loves sitting on the tricycle and stays on really well while we push him around. Unfortunately, the little baby bike doesn't interest Dallin. So the boys have to take turns and neither of them like that.
We made a bunch of St Patrick's Day crafts. On this day, I asked Tanner what we should do for project time, and he said, "make a shirt and hat!" So we made leprechaun clothes for him to wear.
He only wore it long enough for me to take these pictures. You can tell from his facial expressions that paper-bag clothing was NOT what he had in mind.
Dallin loves his little pusher toy and is getting really good at it- and anything else he can push around the house.
This live plant was a bad idea. Dallin kept eating the dirt. We finally got rid of it yesterday.
We started a babysitting swap with the Taylor family. Tanner goes to their house for a couple hours one week, then their little one comes to our house the next. At our house, the boys got very entertained by the toy for Catch Phrase (a game for youth and adults). Tanner thinks its a CD player- notice he put on his headphones? They all danced to the beeping as though it were music and giggled everytime it stopped with the buzz.
During another project time, we made faces in our notebooks with the cut-outs that we found in the Arby's kid's meal bag.
Reading Time in our home library.
This scene makes me happy.
Dallin loves his chair.
The boys have been wearing long sleeves and pants for months (obviously). And we only bath a couple times a week cuz of the cold. So I easily forget how cute they look when you can see their baby fat and rolls. I think Dallin put on some weight during this time.
BIG BOY BED! I forgot to post that Tanner got his big boy bed in mid-end of January! He was SO excited, jumping up and down on it chanting, "I love my big boy bed! I love my big boy bed!" It's a twin bed mattress directly on the ground. We plan to get a bunk bed when Dallin is also big enough for a big boy bed. 
Tanner stays in it every time we put him to sleep! And now instead of coming into our room at 2:00am every night, he only comes to our bed 50% of the time.
We did dinner and shopping in Rochester. We ate at an Indian Restaurant, which was a nice change from our limited selection in Austin. Everyone, including baby, loved the food! Then we did a bunch of errands at Costco and other places that aren't in our town. It was a fun afternoon and evening.
Tanner was really excited when he saw this high chair. When we said it was for Dallin, Tanner insisted that it was for him. I guess he was right.
I can't wait to eat here again!!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Is it over yet?

On March 4 (almost sure that was the date), we got 9 inches of snow during the night. 
That pretty much pushed us to our limit with snow!
Tanner is dwarfed by the snow piles. Keep in mind this is the product of snow storms over the course of 3+ months.
Getting the mail. Can you see the top of that car driving by? Can you see Jeremy's head? But wait, where's the mailbox? Jeremy had to un-burry it. Our friends actually canceled their mail for a week because they couldn't find their mailbox.
Also, I learned that for streets and parking lots that don't have enough room to shovel the snow they get a giant truck that sucks up the snow and dumps it into another truck driving alongside it. Then they haul the snow to a discrete part of town. I saw the pile. It was massive, my guess is five stories high.
Our Backyard
 In this shot, I tried showing how over by the shed our garden and fence is completely buried. The garden fence is 3 feet tall and completely gone. That seemingly tiny brown gate next to the shed is on a 12 inch platform. Also notice the snow through the pillars of the patio deck. The deck is 1.5 feet off the ground. The bunnies that live under there had to dig tunnels to get out.
 Turns out, icicles are a sign of warmth, not cold. This is our first set of icicles for the winter. They formed because it got warm enough for the snow to start melting. The little ornament thing is a homemade bird-feeder. We've made lots of those. The birds kept devouring them so fast that I started just throwing bird seed all over the patio and driveway. The poor birds are so hungry!
Luckily, after this 9 inch dump hit, we've had really warm temps (35-45 degrees) during the days. The snow has been melting like crazy. All the roads were slushy, then puddly and now they are completely dry--first time since before Christmas! On Friday, in the car Tanner yelled out, "Mom! I can see the ground!!" It's kind of weird, we've gotten so much snow, but hardly any chance to really play in it because of the extreme cold. Jeremy and I wanted to go cross country skiing yesterday, but there is hardly any snow left to do it!
The hope of spring is in the air!