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!