Happy First Birthday Grady!

Today we had another birthday party. Our friend Grady turned one! We joined him at his house to help celebrate. Here's Grady having his first taste of cake. Big sister Noelle is keeping a close eye on him!

Here's Dylan and Owen enjoying their cake and ice cream.

Dylan and Scott enjoyed playing soccer with everyone. Dylan loved kicking the soccer ball into the goal. Maybe we have a future David Beckham on our hands! (Or at least maybe a college scholarship???!!!)

Happy Birthday Mark!

After our adventure with the train at St. Louis Mills Mall, we headed to Mark's train birthday party! (Mark is Dylan's cousin.) It was a day full of fun trains! The birthday party was at this cute little toy train store called The Whittle Shortline Railroad. Downstairs is the toy train store where you can buy anything that has to do with trains. Upstairs they had a room for lunch and cake, and then a separate 'play' room. The play room had a ginourmous train table and a million train cars so all the kids could play. Dylan loved it. Here's the birthday boy, Mark, while we were singing happy birthday.

Here's Dylan enjoying his cupcake. Well, the frosting anyways...he doesn't usually eat the actual cake part.

Playing with the trains and smiling at dad.

Playing with trains is very serious business.

Thanks for sharing your b-day with us Mark! It was a lot of fun!

Trains!

Dylan has been very into "Choo Choo's" lately. When we were in Chicago with the Warfel family, the boys all had an opportunity to ride a little train, but Dylan chickened out. He's been looking at the picture of Braden riding the train and saying "I ride choo choo." I told him maybe next time we go to Chicago, but we got lucky yesterday. We had to run to St. Louis Mills mall to pick up some shoes for Scott and they had one of those indoor trains. Dylan was so excited to ride it. He got to ring the bell and everything! Here we are coming around the track. It was hard for Scott to take pictures b/c the glass panes (well, plastic panes) blocked our faces.

Here's a side view. Dylan loved riding the train! I'm so glad he's getting bigger and isn't as scared of doing new things. (You know, as long as mommy is right there with him...)

Apparently I'm raising a BOY!!!

Despite my best efforts to keep Dylan as my sweet little boy, he is turning into a gross boy! The other day he figured out how to burp on purpose and thought it was the funniest thing. He had a case of the giggles for almost an hour. Tonight he has figured out how to fart on purpose. Not only is farting apparently hilarious, but somewhere he learned that it's even funnier to back his butt up to mommy and fart on her! I love the sound of him laughing, but does it really have to be over farting on mommy???? I guess I'll take whatever puts a smile on his face, for now. The first time we start these games in public though, I think I'll be changing my mind very quickly! Boys are so gross! Where do they learn this stuff???!!!

Ozarks!

We were able to sneak in one last weekend at the lake this summer. Sadly, Scott and I only made it down twice this year...Dylan went 3 times (thanks Mama & Papa!) You'd think we were busy moving into a new house or something. :) I was so proud of Dylan this weekend though. He was very nervous (okay sometimes screaming/crying) when it came to trying the unfamiliar like swimming in the lake and riding the jet ski. (Contrary to popular belief though, fear is NOT genetic...) But, once he tried it, he loved it! Here he is before and after he decided he liked swimming in the big lake. Check out that sad face!

And the happy face!

I love this picture. It looks like Dylan and Mama are having a very serious heart to heart moment. Notice his death grip in all the pictures though. The grip eventually loosened up and he even practiced kicking and blowing bubbles in the water. (Yes, I know the lake tested positive for e-coli. Doesn't it test positive for something bad almost every year?)

Here's a couple of pictures of Scott and Dylan riding the jet ski. I couldn't decide which one to post, so you guys get to see both. Again, Dylan was nervous about riding it at first, but then ended up loving it. Every time Scott would come in to dock the jet ski, Dylan would say "Ride." and point towards the lake. Scott didn't take him out of the cove, but Dylan thought it was pretty neat. Just wait until your big enough to hit some real waves kiddo! (in like 20 years, right???!!! Maybe fear is genetic...HA!) I thought I was pretty brave for letting him ride (and sticking around to watch him ride) the jet ski!

On Sunday some friends of Kathy & Terry's stopped by with their two boys for a boat ride and a late lunch. Here's everyone coming back from the boat ride. My personal nurse suggested that I avoided the bumpy boat ride in my condition, especially since the lake is so busy on Labor Day Weekend. (Did I mention that my personal nurse is my sister in law, Heidi, who just had an adorable baby and might be experiencing a bit of cabin fever not to mention time/sleep deprivation??? Don't worry, I told her it wasn't really Labor Day just yet. :) )

Dylan is 2 1/2!

You should all know by now that I am a little bit of a psycho picture person. I almost always have my camera in my purse and I enjoy taking Dylan (and future monkeys) for professional pictures as well. I warned Scott when we first decided to have kids. The first year I take them every month for pictures, the second year every 3 months and the 3rd year every 6 months. After that I get their birthday and Christmas. (Although, both boys will have birthdays very close to Christmas, so I might have to get in a fun summer photo shoot!) Anyhow, Dylan is officially 2 1/2 this month, so we went to get his pictures taken. My favorite place so far is Picture People, but they are certainly not the cheapest. (We never go without a coupon, and we never buy into their packages.) We've tried JC Penny's but I wasn't too fond of the results. This time we went to Kiddie Kandids inside Babies R Us. I like the results and the photographer was VERY patient with Dylan for the hour long photo session. (He threw two all out fits while we were there...I mean laying on the ground, kicking and screaming fits.) But, their studio was up on a stage. It took Dylan a long time to warm up to being on the stage for the pictures. Plus, he kept tripping over the back drop thing. So, that wasn't my favorite. I could see where it would be good for a baby that doesn't move around. Anyone have any suggestions for a good, reasonably priced portrait studio?

He was so proud he reached the top step of the ladder. He kept saying "Mommy, up high!" He must have climbed that ladder like 30 times!

Never mind that the glove is on the wrong hand, and he's holding a soccer ball instead of a baseball. He's smiling, take the picture!

Our fun new neighborhood!

We've only been in this house since June 25th, and already we've attending our second function at the neighborhood clubhouse! (The only thing we ever got in the old neighborhood was threatening letters from the trustees...they sent general letters out to the whole neighborhood, not just us!) Tonight we had neighborhood safety night. I knew there was going to be a fire truck and an ambulance and thought it would be perfect for Dylan. He recently started to get very excited when we see big trucks. Turns out, he prefers to see them from a distance. He wouldn't climb into any of the trucks, but he still had fun. Not only did we get to see big trucks, but they also had free snow cones, hot dogs, a balloon man, and a hand printing station (for child identification sheets) for the kids. Here's Dylan and Scott by the firetruck.
And by the ambulance.

Here Dylan is ordering his snow cone. He actually got 2 to share with mommy & daddy! What a nice, thoughtful kid!

Waiting very patiently for his penguin balloon.

Excited about his penguin balloon, but not willing to cooperate for a picture! He was running towards me so it's a little blurry!