Baby Steps

On Monday afternoon when I picked Kyler up from daycare, we got home and started playing like we normally do. I was sitting on the couch right next to where Kyler's toys are. I watched as he pulled himself up to a standing position using his toy bin for assistance; he had been doing for quite some time now. Then all of a sudden he decided that he wanted to WALK towards me. He took two Frankenstein-like steps towards me. Once I realized what he was doing I cheered and clapped for him, he stopped to clap for himself and then continued with three more steps in my direction.

My baby is walking!


Practicing walking around the house

Savin' it for later!

When Kyler was eating his dinner last night, I turned around only to find that he was stashing a piece of his cracker in his ear for later!


We all got a good laugh out of this one! What can I say? Our kid likes to eat!

Date Day!

Friday is the one day that Josh has off from his master's classes and Kyler can go to day care. So Josh and I decided that we needed a "date day." This morning we took Kyler to Diane's so that we could spend the entire day together. All week I had been pondering what we could do with a day all to ourselves, and I came up with this elaborate plan.

After dropping my car off to get its oil changed, we grabbed our bikes and headed out to the Poudre River Trail. This paved trail follows the Cache La Poudre River from Greeley to Windsor. It was such a serene and relaxing ride. We rode about 10 miles into the small town of Windsor where we stopped at Loodles Coffee Shop and had a snack. I had been wanting to stop there since last April (2008) when I had met the owner/children's author and illustrator at one of my reading council meetings, and now I finally had an excuse. Once we were finished up with our treats we hopped back on our bikes, sore asses and all, and rode the 10 miles back to Greeley. We had a quick lunch, a Target run, and then we went to a movie (something that Josh and I hadn't done for who knows how long). We watched The Proposal. It was the perfect movie for date day - a cute little romantic comedy about marriage.

Now I am just finishing up a nice cold beer - what a perfect ending to the perfect day! Cheers!

Sharing the wealth!

Today Kyler had some friends over to play in his "Water Park". All of the kids absolutely loved it! We all played in the water for awhile, then we had a picnic lunch. It was a fabulous day - thanks Angy, Lanie, Kim, Abby, and Luke!

Loving the ball popper!

Lovely Lanie!

Luke and Kyler

Our picnic lunch - we just threw them back into the pool to wash them off when they were finished!

Happy Birthday U.S.A.!

This morning we got up bright and early (not that that is anything unusual thanks to Kyler's schedule of a 6:30 wake-up time) and headed down to the Greeley Stampede Independence Day Parade. This has been our tradition since Josh and I were in college at UNC together. Even though it was during Kyler's morning nap time, we took a risk. Kyler absolutely LOVED it! He loved watching all of the other spectators, waving at the pretty girls riding their horses, dancing to the music played by the numerous marching bands (maybe he will be a band geek like his daddy was), and seeing the neatly decorated floats sail by.

Taking it all in!

Hanging out with Mommy.

Sitting with Daddy.

Just two minutes into the car ride home and Kyler is pooped out from all of the excitement!

Once we were home Josh barbecued up a nice lunch of bratwursts, and then we had a nice afternoon family nap time. Unfortunately Kyler was unable to stay awake for the evening fireworks display (he usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00), but maybe next year!

Learning from Lucy

Kyler simply adores is furry, four-legged friend! Lucy and he have a bond that is purely unexplainable. Kyler is tolerated so well by Lucy. She lets him pet her, chase her, climb all over her, and even kiss her whenever he wants. One of Kyler's favorite things to do is to chase her around, and then when he finally catches up to her he will sit with his mouth open eagerly awaiting a full on dog kiss with tongue action and all. And, of course, Lucy's favorite thing to do is sit patiently at the foot of Kyler's highchair ready to pounce of the first piece of food that he drops. They absolutely LOVE each other!

Playing together

Well, loving on each other is not the only thing Lucy and Kyler like to do. Tonight while I was cleaning up from dinner, Lucy was in her usual spot licking the leftover food off of the plates as I strategically place them one by one into the dishwasher. Then, Mommy's Little Helper, Kyler came along and observantly watched as I loaded the plates into the dishwasher and as Lucy licked them clean. Then all of a sudden he stopped watching and sprang into action. He pulled himself up onto the door of the washer and started to lick one of the plates! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I was laughing so hard that it took me a minute to pull him off and tell him that it was naughty! It is so amazing that Kyler is not only learning from the people that surround him, but he is also learning from his furry four-legged friends too! I can't wait until she teaches him to go through the doggie door!

Happy for Hooters!

As I was looking though the photos from our vacation, I came across this one and thought that it needed some explaining.

One of my stepdad's favorite places to eat is Hooters, so we took him there on our last day in D.C. as an early Father's Day/thanks for the hospitality dinner. While we were waiting for our food to come, Kyler was getting kind of antsy so we decided that we wanted to see what he would do with one of the lemons from my drink. He put it into his mouth and, as expected, he made quite the sour face. The manager was eating with his parents at the table directly across from us and witnessed the whole lemon episode. He came over to our table and asked if he could take a picture of Kyler. We gladly obliged, and then he proceeded to say that Kyler was the cutest kid that he has seen in there in awhile. As he was finishing up his compliment he walked over to the t-shirt sales area and came back with one the perfect size for Kyler. Kyler had gotten a free t-shirt because of his looks! I wish that my looks got me free stuff!

Ahhh...Summer!

As I have mentioned many times before, summer is definitely my FAVORITE season! Now that we are back from vacation, our visitors are gone, and Kyler's birthday is over, I feel like I can just sit back, relax and "soak up the sun!" This week is the first week that it has really felt like summer to me. Not only because it has been really hot here, but also because we don't really have an agenda to follow. It is really nice - Kyler and I just do what we want when we want! Too bad Josh is stuck in class all day Monday through Thursday work his tail off in his master's program.

Playing in my "Water Park"

Making messes!

Playing with all my new toys!

Pool Playdate with Lanie

I am looking forward to the rest of summer so that Kyler and I can continue to do what we want when we want! We'll just pretend that I am a stay-at-home mommy and life will be great!