My Ever Growing Boy!

My kiddo is just over 3 months away from turning 2! This just can't be possible, right!? Wasn't he JUST this tiny?



Now he's our very active toddler. I mean, the kid doesn't stop until he falls asleep!

He's curious about anything and everything.

He's a very good helper for the most part. He helps me pick up toys and organize. He totally gets that from me.

He loves to read. His very favorites are his "Little Pookie" books. I can recite both of them. He also enjoys asking us to read the same ones over and over again. Tonight he climbed up on my lap with his "Nini" book (aka...his Illini book). He had already heard it four times today so I told him to pick another book. Instead he sat on the floor and looked through it, then climbed up into my lap, gave me a kiss and then handed me the book again. He won. I am a sucker.

The kid would live outside if we would let him. Like I've said before, Jacob and I are not outdoor people. I'm learning to be more of one just for Daniel, but only when the weather is nice. Thankfully it's been a mild summer. Plus I love taking pictures outside, so I can mess around with my hobby and it makes it more enjoyable for me too.











I get bored doing the same stuff so I try to mix it up a little. Sometimes we play at home. Sometimes we go to our favorite playground. Then we explored the lake. Yesterday I took him to the other park. He even got to feed the ducks thanks to another couple there with their grandson. I think we'll go do that again this week!

He has a new obsession with fire trucks. It's to the point that any time he hears a siren..."Fire truck?" Any time a truck, van, car or any other vehicle drives by, "Fire truck?" The fire station is just down the street from us, so I walked him down there the other night and we looked at them. He was thrilled! I'm thinking one day we'll go in and I'll ask if he can look at one up close. :)

He's also obsessed with letters and numbers. He thinks all numbers are "One!" though. He gets what letters are but doesn't correctly identify them. Actually, he does know the letter Y. (Thanks to my work shirt!) But he'll point to letters, "N. S. O. P." Haha! I love that he's trying to learn though!

He went potty twice last week! He hasn't gone since, but that's okay. We'll work on it. It was still pretty exciting and we were really proud of him!

Daniel Tiger is the just about the best thing ever in Daniel's world. We know all the songs from every episode. He knows each character. The funny thing is he calls Daniel, "Bear" At night he says goodnight to Bear and Laina (Daniel and Miss Elaina). It's so stinking cute. I'm thrilled that they're coming out with a line of toys next month. Perfect for birthday and Christmas!

Anyway...he is the cutest kiddo in the whole world! Of course, he has his naughty side too. Our biggest struggle lately is transitioning from one thing to the next. I think he had 10 meltdowns today as I tried to get him to do things. It's frustrating, but it will pass. I had a bad day on Tuesday with him. He wasn't listening to me. Then we went grocery shopping and he kept pulling things off the shelves and throwing them into the cart. Then he'd take stuff that I put in the cart and throw it out. I about blew a gasket when we got home and he started screaming because I was feeding him lunch. Heaven forbid! Thankfully Jacob pointed out what a complete spaz I was being later when I was still grumpy. It helped me out and I calmed down. Just wasn't my day! I'm working on patience! Oh, life with a toddler (I suppose that can apply to any age!)

I do love being his mommy though. I told him that tonight and said, "Do you know that?" He giggled and went, "Mmm hmm!" He's awesome.

Jacob goes back to school this week, so Daniel and I will get back into our school year routine again. Hopefully we'll get to the park a few times. Jacob and his dad are going to a Cardinals Game on Saturday, so I'm planning to go to my favorite consignment store and then maybe Daniel and I will find a new park. Excited for a fun Mommy and Bubby Day!

The Bad and the Good

The last couple of weeks have been kind of crazy! I always mean to blog, but when you fall so far behind it's always hard to know where to start!

Like I talked about in my last post, on our way home from our trip my car had started leaking oil. Like massive amounts of it. I was pretty well convinced that my car was a goner. I figured it could be fixed, but the car is old and I wasn't really planning to spend a ton of money to fix it. Thankfully that only cost us about $100!

When we got home, we also discovered that our air conditioner was broken! After calling our normal place and having them give me the run around, I called another local company and I'm so glad I did! They were awesome! We ended up having a brand new air conditioner and furnace installed this past week. It was a scary price tag, but ultimately the right decision. This will make selling our house that much easier when the time comes. Our old furnace was about 45 years old and the air conditioner wasn't far behind. Quite honestly other than our mortgage I've never financed anything in my life. I always save and pay with cash. It's how we bought Jacob's car and our roof. (See...being very frugal has it's perks!). This time we had to finance though. Once again, I was nervous, but we'll be able to put a decent chunk down. Phew! The air works amazingly well! We LOVE it! Although, with this great weather we're having it's not needed right now!

And since things always seem to happen in 3's, Jacob's car didn't want to miss an opportunity to cost us about $500 in repairs! Not to mention it needs new tires too! Holy moly. Hoping now that everything is fixed we can catch a looooong break.

We've still managed to have plenty of fun too, as the summer is winding down.

We went to Villa Grove 2 weekends ago for Rachel's graduation party. We spent the night and had lots of fun!







That little boy was awake from 7:00am until 8:00pm. No nap and he was still going strong! I couldn't believe it. He had a blast running up and down the halls at the church and playing in the nursery too.

He also learned to say Uncle Micah's name that weekend! He's working on Aunt Rachel's. It basically comes out as "Cel" right now. Ha! It's weird teaching him to say "my" name. Another new word from the weekend was, "cupcake".

He was only in it for the frosting.



Before we came home, Daniel got to help Grandpa out in his garden by digging up potatoes!



Then over the weekend we went to Springfield. Went to Kohls to get Jacob some pants for work and also got some clothes on clearance for Daniel for next summer! Then we hit up Olive Garden for some never ending pasta. I'd say it was a hit. Little man ate soup, salad, pasta and an entire breadstick!





Then we hit up Dick's Sporting Goods. I printed off a $10 eGiftcard from a Facebook promotion. Everything is super expensive though but we ended up finding Daniel a soft Cardinals bat and ball for his birthday and only paid $5 for it! He was cracking us up though. When we got home he grabbed it and ran away yelling, "Mine!" Silly boy.

On Sunday, Pa came over to visit for the afternoon. We played outside, went to the playground and then out for his birthday and even got some ice cream before heading home again.







And then on Monday, Grandma and Aunt Sarah came for a visit. The little booger will not say Grandma or Ma, even though we know he can and knows who both of them are. He kept asking for Pa and then at supper I pointed at Brenda and asked who she was. He either didn't answer or said Pa. Then I pointed to Sarah and asked who she was, to which he replies, "MA!!" Such. A. Booger. Brenda and I were cracking up though! We went to Krieger's for supper that night. Lot's of eating out...but lots of delicious foods!





Lot's of fun! Today Daniel got to go to school with Daddy and hang out with him while he's getting his class ready. He apparently had tons of fun! He's going to be a very confused little boy next week when Daddy isn't here in the mornings!

One last picture for good measure because I love it!

Our Family Vacation!

No way can I write about EVERYTHING from our vacation, but a recap with pictures seems legit.

We began our 10 day journey by traveling to my parents house. We originally planned to stay overnight, but left a day early to spend a little more time. This actually turned into 3 nights instead of 2 because our brother--in-law ended up in the hospital with a blood clot in  his leg!

We hung out at my parents and Daniel enjoyed the sprinkler...until I put his swim trunks on. Then he decided he didn't care for it. He let Pa take him through once though.



Also, while we were there we had supper at Texas Roadhouse. Mmm...rolls. Had Orange Leaf. Mmm....fro yo. Plus Jacob and I got to go see the Fast and the Furious at the Collins Rd. Theater! Yay for a cheap movie and popcorn. Mmm...popcorn. :)

Monday we headed up to Minnesota. Once again I have to comment on what an awesome little traveler we have!

That evening Daniel enjoyed exploring.





The next day, Aunt Rachel made some "super bubbles" and we went to the park and lake.







It's all fun and games until it's time to go!



On Wednesday we hit up the zoo! Wasn't prepare to wake up to chilly weather, but it warmed up as the day went on and we really enjoyed it!

So stinking cute!





We even found Daniel Tiger! He would look at him and say, "RAWR!!!"





We were so happy that we got to go up to Minnesota and see where Rachel and Micah live! Daniel enjoyed there place as well and did a pretty good job sleeping somewhere new too!

Had to prove we actually did get to see Uncle Micah now and then, even though he was still in quite a bit of pain.



We set back off for Iowa on Thursday morning. Car loaded and driver's mirror duct taped on. Rachel may or may not have hit it with her car. Haha! It was fun giving her crap about it. :)

Daniel was excited to see his Pa again (and Grandma too!). I got caught back up on laundry and we just hung out. Then Friday afternoon we were off again! This time we were all headed to Chariton to visit Grandma T.

Grandma of course was prepared for her 2 great grandsons and had balls and sand out for them when we got there!



He also loved the "park" across the street! (The school playground). We spent many hours over there playing as kids.

He face planted off this slide twice and both times got up, brushed himself off and carried on. So proud!



Saturday was just a fun day all around. It was filled with:

Piano playing



Ice cream eating:



"Peep Mobile" making



Bubble Blowing:



Family Picture Taking:









And hotel fun:





Sunday we said our good-byes after a yummy breakfast made by my Grandma! It was a long uneventful trip home until a red oil pressure light came on an hour from home.

Since we've been home my car has been repaired...after leaking massive amounts of oil. In fact I left a nice oil trail all down the street taking it for repairs. Oh...and our air conditioner broke. We're taking the plunge and having a whole new air conditioner and furnace installed next week. It's scary spending so much, but our furnace is (no joke) about 45 years old. The air was VERY old too. Hopefully this will help in selling the house later!

Alright...this still got long. I've got to post again next week. I have so much to write about our little man! We're off on another mini adventure this weekend!