A B C D E F G...

Well I guess I continued my tradition of NOT taking a single picture of big events.  This is the second year in a row that I forgot to even get the camera out on Christmas day.  I didn't even think about it until the next day.  We thought about re-creating Christmas and taking some pictures and no one would ever know but then we took the tree down in a hurry and we were out of wrapping paper.  So there went that idea.  I did take lots of video and thought about putting that on here.  But it was about 30 minutes worth of Cason opening presents from family members back in Iowa and Alabama and playing with some of the gifts.  That would be pretty boring to watch unless you were the one who gave him the gift.  So instead, I edited the videos and sent to each person who gave him the gift.  I am thinking that for the blog, I will just take pictures of him playing with some of his gifts and put those on here.  I'll have to work on that this week so be patient with me...

About a month ago, I noticed that Cason was really interested in letters.  If I was wearing a sweatshirt with letters on it, he would freak out and point to them all over and over again and have me say what each letter was.  So we went to the store and got some ABC books and have been reading those.  Two weeks ago, we went to JC Penney and when I got him out of his car seat, he freaked out and kept saying "p, p, p, p".  I looked where he was looking and he was talking about the p in the JC Penney sign.  Then he started pointing out the letters he knew wherever he saw them.  He has shown me "d" on  a Do Not Enter sign, a "b" on a store name at the mall, an "m" on the back door mat, etc.  Right now he knows A, B, C, D, F, M, P, S, and T.  I think that is all.  He will both point them out and pick them out of a lineup.   So that is what this video is of.

I forgot some pictures

I wanted to post some recent pictures yesterday but blogger kept freezing up on me so I forgot. This first one is from the day after Thanksgiving. We took Chris, Nicholas, and Natalie down to the stockyards. As we were walking back to the car, we saw these pony rides so we let the kids ride. This is Cason's first pony ride. I was surprised he didn't freak out. He smiled at Kelly every time we went by.



A month or so ago, we went to the park in the neighborhood next to us (since our neighborhood still hasn't built the playground they promised us 2 and a half years ago). We took some old hamburger buns to feed the ducks. Cason likes to observe animals but doesn't usually like to get near them (like at petting farms, he loves dogs and cats!). So we were pretty surprised when he enjoyed feeding the ducks.





And I just thought this last one was cute. He was sitting on some teeter totter like thing. But he looks more like he is riding a bull at the rodeo.

It's been awhile

Sorry, it has been a long time since I posted anything. We have been very busy around here! Here are a few recent videos of things that made me laugh. They are not that funny because as soon as I get out the camera, he stops hamming it up.

Kelly's brother, nephew, and niece came to visit us for Thanksgiving. Natalie had a container of Ice Breaker Sours that she was eating and she left the empty container here. We let Cason have it because he loves trash. He kept pretending to put one in his mouth and even chew. It was hilarious but as soon as we got the camera out, he pretty much stopped doing it.



Cason loves putting our shoes on but gets so frustrated when he tries to walk and the shoes fall off. So the other day, Kelly tied the laces up around his ankles so they would stay on.



Cason knows a lot of body parts: hair, head, ears, mouth, tongue, teeth, fingers, hand, belly button, knees, feet, and toes. Yet for whatever reason, he has refused to point to his eyes or nose. He will point to OUR eyes and noses but never his own. Then today when I asked him where his eyes were, he just kept blinking them for about a minute straight and then pointed to them. We were rolling with laughter. But when I finally grabbed the video camera he stopped blinking so much.



Take care! I will try to post more this month now that I'm done with all my projects.

Look What I Made!

Alright, Kelly and my dad helped but I'm taking most of the credit. We got a 5 foot piece of pine and cut it in half. Then Kelly sanded it and they put hinges on it. The hinges are just so that we can fold it up and store it easier in the future. Then I got to work decorating it. Can you tell what it is?



Here is a closer look:





It's a growth chart! I was inspired by some I saw on ebay that were selling for $55 plus shipping. I think we made this for around $20. I'm really proud of it.

As I said before, my dad was in town last weekend. We put him to work helping us with a few little projects. We also went to Cabelas (I claim that it's so Cason can look at the fish and all the animals but it's really just so I can get some fudge!) and to the park.

I can go down the tunnel slide all by myself!



That's not how you're supposed to swing, who taught you that?



This is like the balance beam at gymnastics. Did I tell you he has been going to gymnastics?



This cracks me up. This is one of those bridges made out of rubber that kids are supposed to bounce on. Cason thought it was great fun to sit on it while Kelly or I bounced him. It was so funny to watch. You should go grab a 1 year old and head to your nearest park to try it out yourselves!



Up close: whoa Mom!



And this morning I learned what it would be like to wrestle an octopus as I tried to put Cason in his car seat. Let's just say he is a spirited child and has been showing me his strong will this week!

That is all for now. Did you know that there is a new flavor of Wheat Thins out? Cream Cheese and Chives, they are very good. Must. Stop. Eating.

Shameless Brag

When Cason was a baby, I wanted to teach him sign language. He never really seemed interested so I stopped around 9 months because I figured I would rather that he just learn how to talk. About a month ago, he started signing "more" one day out of the blue. It took me a couple days to convince myself that he really knew what the sign meant and that he was using it appropriately. I don't know where he got that since I hadn't signed "more" in quite a few months. But I took it as a sign that he wanted to communicate and since he doesn't talk, sign language sounded good to us. Now instead of pointing and grunting, he signs what he wants. It also cut out a lot of tantrums because we almost always know what he wants. That first week, he picked up at least 5 signs.

His favorite sign by far is "fan". He is obsessed with all fans; ceiling fans, box fans, the fans in the bathroom we use when we shower. At church on Sunday, he freaked out because the fan that blows the a/c kept shutting on and off and he wanted it to stay on! He points out all fans to me at home, at stores, when we go for walks and he hears the fan on an a/c running. His other obsession is airplanes. No, Kelly didn't cultivate that one! He will sign "airplane" whenever he sees a plane, hears one (which is quite often as we live near an airport), or we talk about them. Oh, and he loves birds too.

I tried to get them on tape yesterday but he was a busy boy and didn't want to stop to play my games. I got about half of his signs on tape and about half of the body parts he knows. My favorite part of the video is his impression of my hairdryer. He is obsessed with my hairdryer and asks to play with it several times throughout each day. I love that his impression has audio AND visual aspects.

I have to explain the part at the end of the tape too. When he was a baby, we would say "give Daddy (or Mommy) kisses" but then we would just go ahead and kiss him on the forehead. We didn't actually wait for him to kiss us. So now he thinks that leaning his forehead into anyone is giving them a kiss. We think it's cute and funny so we haven't corrected him. Plus we have no idea how to correct that.

Uh oh...

I have always looked forward to all of Cason's milestones. Every single one. Until now. The one we have been dreading has arrived. Cason can open doors! He did it for the first time on Monday and by today he is a pro. I can only imagine the kind of mayhem he will cause now...

Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we met Cason's buddies at the pumpkin patch and all the boys had a blast! We almost had the entire place to ourselves, which was great. The pumpkin patch had all kinds of neat things for little kids and we didn't even do it all. Cason was very into everything and screamed every time we moved on to the next thing (I had to wake him up from his nap to get there on time and he wasn't very happy about it!) Here are quite a few pictures from our afternoon because I had a hard time narrowing it down.









Checking out the big tractor wheel.



Cason and Harrison loved this little bench.



Collin, Harrison, and Cason riding tractors.



Collin preferred to push the tractor.

Mean Parents

This video is from when Cason was 6 months old. He has this little soft toy that looks like a prehistoric fish and when you pull the tail, it vibrates. He used to think it was a pretty funny toy as you can see.



I put all his baby toys away several months ago but today we were a little bored so I pulled them out for him to dig through. Kelly got this one out and Cason was not so excited about it. It was pretty funny so we had to get it on video.



We're such mean parents. Then to top off my meanness, I put the fish in the cupboard where the trash is, in hopes that he will stay out of there when we forget to lock it!

To prove I'm not totally heartless, we've been having a lot of fun around here. The weather is finally tolerable and last week we were at one park or another almost every day. This week, I put sand in his water table which he loves.



We have also started coloring with markers and crayons, and even painting!

Football Season is Here!

Kelly has been eagerly awaiting this day for months! My how time flies, check out this picture from last season:



And these are from today:











Go Cowboys!

Picture Overload From Seattle

We got back from Seattle on Tuesday night. We had a great vacation! We spent most of the week at my aunt and uncle's house just hanging out. My uncle Henry spoiled me with my favorite thing -- sugar! Not a day went by that we didn't have homemade ice cream, brownies, Oreos, etc. My aunt Nickie was an awesome hostess who made us feel right at home. We also played a lot of cards and I proved that cards is NOT my game!

It was great to see my cousin Amanda whom I haven't seen since 1991 and her two little girls Elizabeth and Ashlyn. Ashlyn is only 6 days older than Cason. We went to an awesome children's museum in Everett, shopped, and grilled out a lot. Kelly and I also escaped one morning and drove out to Deception Pass.





Practicing for college?



The kids all LOVED playing in the fountain.



Cousins Alex, Ashlyn, Elizabeth, and Cason. Aren't they all so cute?!



I love this picture of Cason and Ashlyn hating the sprinkler!



Elizabeth playing with the jets in the hot tub.



Such a big boy on the slides.



Cason loves to dig, I could hardly peel him away from this "fossil" area where he got to rake rubber chips.

Guess where we are!

We arrived in Seattle yesterday morning!  It is a bit chilly here but a very welcome change for us. Yesterday we walked around downtown quite a bit and then met up with my cousin Ryan, his wife Carol, and Jacob who just turned 3.  It was so good to see them.  We took the boys to a park, drove around, and went out to dinner.

 

It is fun to hide in the closet at the hotel!

This afternoon we are heading up north to my aunt and uncle's house.  We can't wait to see them!

For Aunt Brenda

This post is for Aunt Brenda (Kelly's sister-in-law). While we were in Kansas City, Brenda tried to teach Cason how to blow kisses. Cason only likes to do something if it's his idea so I think he stored this new trick in his mind and tried to bring it out today like he had thought it up himself!



Things have been rather messy around here because Cason insists on having his own spoon at meals. He is getting the hang of using it now though. The hardest part for him was figuring out that he couldn't turn it upside down or all the food would fall off. Meals certainly take longer now and there is more cleaning up for me to do! This is Cason showing off his skills with his cottage cheese tonight.

Monkey Cake for a Monkey Boy

Last night we had a few friends over to grill out and we decided to celebrate Cason's birthday. I made him a monkey cake because he likes to climb on us and LOVES bananas.



Cason ate a little frosting but mostly just threw cake on the floor and made a mess. I thought he would be more excited about the cake and eat some of it but he doesn't seem to have a sweet tooth. He must take after his daddy because I devoured two pieces!