Strawberry Picking

For Memorial Day we went strawberry picking in North Carolina. There are plenty of places that are more local, but we wanted an excuse to see some of the countryside around us. It got really hot, so we were glad we got there early. I just kept reminding my pregnant belly that squatting was good and if there was shade, we wouldn't have strawberries to pick.

So here, for your viewing pleasure we present "If You Give a Boy a Strawberry"

If you give a boy a strawberry

He will eat it

Then he will want another, which he will pick

And show you

Then he will want some more

So the question becomes, what will we do with all these strawberries?

Easter

It's a long time coming, but in my attempt to catch up on some of our family fun, here are some pictures of our Easter. It started out with egg dying.

In a fit of wisdom, I dressed The Captain in my hair dying shirt. He loved it, surprisingly, and had to wear it for the next two days. Good thing it makes good pajamas. He loved sticking stickers on the eggs (and himself).

We made quite a few with some great colors.

After much practicing with clothes pins in the lawn, we were ready for an egg hunt on Sunday.

We used plastic eggs because, well, he's a toddler. They did have really cute Noah's Ark, pre-stuffed eggs at Walmart that The Captain really liked. He did really well with some good Daddy coaching.

Then Daddy went through the stash and demonstrated how to open the eggs.

How to: Become a Dad

I wanted to add a surprise to my Father's Day for Johnny since he told me what he wanted (socks and a tie) and that's what I got him. I felt bad it wasn't more exciting, though G's pick for the tie was pretty awesome (pink. He's on a pink kick recently. Must be all the new baby stuff.) So, I decided to take some pictures of my little guy, a future father, in the hopes that the stars would align and I'd get something good enough to print out as a 5x7 for Johnny's office. No such luck. But we still got some cute ones. So, here's G presenting how to become a dad:

First you put on the shirt

Then comes the tie

Last the shoes

Happy Father's Day

Career Opportunities

There are many fun personality traits that emerge in todderhood with language and expression and all. We think it's fun to keep a list of potential careers for The Captain based on his interests and skills at this stage:

• marathon runner. This boy can run. It might be his favorite thing to do. In fact, once Daddy gets home the night is pretty much devoted to getting "Daddy runt" and "set, go". He might be able to run 26 miles without any training right now.


• valet parker. He loves playing with his cars. He does crash them together, but most frequently he parks them all facing the same way in a line, then moves them around and parks them a different way.
• waiter. He will take away trash and deliver people their plates or drinks or whatever before he sits down to eat. He's also very concerned that everyone gets a drink and always offers us more when we are finished.


• hairdresser. He has sat on my lap and styled my hair for 15 mins. before and now when I carry him and he puts his head on my shoulder he always puts his fingers in my hair and plays with it. It's very sweet.
• construction manager. I think it's hard to go for more than 10 minutes without hearing "big truck" at our house. Any noise is a big truck. Every time we go in the car we have to see a big truck. He likes them all, but dump truck is big right now, probably because he can actually say it.

Can't say any of them are glamorous and will materialize, but they're fun for now.

Toddlerhood begins!

Okay, so The Captain has been 2 for awhile, but it's never too late to share pictures. (And some things we love about him.) The poor kid got sick right after we got back from our trip to Utah, hence the pjs in the pictures. This was definitely the happiest he was all week. And this was about the best smile I could get.

The great thing about toddlers is that I could rewrap all the awesome presents that he got in Utah and he totally didn't notice! He rather enjoyed the wrapping paper.

He did get some new toys . . . car books

puzzles

train set

which then was combined with the car books

We had a yummy dinner, which G wasn't really interested in, so we let him eat with special birthday utensils.

And the yummy birthday cake.

The 2's have been really fun so far. G is really good about playing by himself. It only took 2 years for him to not need me around every minute. I know he's only going to need me less and less in up coming years, which is why I still love his spontaneous and frequent hugs. He's learned so many new words recently. Johnny and I are constantly surprised by things he knows. We say a word once, he says it for days afterwards. Some of our favorites are:

-counting, his version is too, fee, eight, nine

-all affirmatives: yes (which has just the slightest of lisps. Very hard to imitate), hooray, otay, and huh huh

-and just recently he has started confusing the 'n' sound at the end of words with a 't', creating such gems as: runt (run), and mite (mine)

-which brings us to one of his favorite things--running. This boy could and has run for hours. Too bad he's also very sweaty. We pretty much take a bath every day in the summertime.

He hates getting water dumped on his head, but he does like baths.

He's a very good helper, he picks up many things for me when I drop them, he helps me hang up and take down and sort laundry, he throws things in the garbage, and he listens very well to instructions.

He's very observant and will notice things before I do.

He loves his specific jobs like putting his diapers in the diaper pail, putting his clothes in the laundry, getting down and putting up the scriptures, and turning on the lamp for Family Home Evening. He gets very mad when I try to do them.

And now he's giving himself more jobs like putting away the clean silverware and putting silverware on the table for meals.

He loves helping to cook, especially dumping.

And he's a great napper and sleeper (most nights).

He's been so good I'm a little scared to have another. But at least he'll be a good big brother.

More Utah Trip

So, the whole reason for our trip was to go here

to see a wedding

So G dressed up like Dapper Dan

and despite the cold, just wanted everyone to walk with him every where.

I wish I could say I was more help for this event, but sadly I think I missed many opportunities. I didn't get to cook anything for the reception, due to a mix-up I ended up at the temple when I should have been babysitting, I didn't even have my recommend so I couldn't go to the ceremony anyway, and then I tried to make it all up by running the kitchen. Which I'm happy to say, may have been sufficient repentance. I had a lot of fun coming up with jobs for all my nieces and nephews who were very eager to help.

We were all very tired the next day, which was bad since we were having a party for G's birthday. Mostly what was bad was the weather, very cold and rainy. So thank you! to everyone who not only braved the cold but brought presents!! G loved (and still does) everything he got. I wanted to have the party at Wheeler Farm because G loves animals, and the cold did not stop him or his cousins from running around having fun.

The race began

Then the ducks got involved

Tractor!

I think the best part of the whole thing for G was running down this ramp.

Utah Trip

So in my attempt to catch up on a bit of blogging (or three months worth) here's a look at our trip to Utah this March. I will post a part two when my laptop again reconnects to the central hard drive and all my pictures. While you wait for what may be sporadic posting, take heart, grandparents, that G's 2 year books are being shipped to me right now, and from me to you. Hopefully that will take the edge off.

G had a great time bonding with his grandparents. This is because unlike real parents, grandparents get to make everything other than their grandkids unimportant. They can put off housekeeping and making elaborate dinners for a day, or a few hours, and just focus on playing. This means I get to see a side of my parents that didn't exist during my childhood. Not that I'm complaining. As a parent, I totally see the necessity of letting the children entertain themselves. Anyway, here's the G Man playing with Cousin P and Grandpa.

It must have been a rare and warm afternoon. I think there were only two or three in the two weeks we were around.

Grandpa graciously volunteered to watch the kiddos while he sent the women to the spa. I'm not sure he realized what he was getting into.

Now that I remember from my childhood.

This picture is not nearly as frightening as it looks. Sweet G was just finishing giving his cousin a hug. He is not trying to push him over. I promise.

My sister and I decided to pack up the kids and hit the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum on St. Patrick's Day because she had discount passes. Turns out she didn't need them since it was get-in-free day for all parks and zoos in Utah! Which, while awesome, was problematic, since it was St. Patrick's Day. So we spent the day trying to keep track of two green boys amid a sea of green children and parents. I'm not sure any of the pictures truly capture the overwhelmingness of the green, but I was sure grateful P was wearing red pants and G was only minimally green.

He's a very responsible driver.

As much fun as sending the balls down the Planko-like board was, I think G liked lining them up more.

More to come.