A look into our world

Well, if you thought my last post about stacking blocks was impressive...wait til you see this! Mommy said this one is almost unbelievable. She helped me get started with the first two blocks on the book to make it more sturdy, but then I did the rest by myself. Yep, I sure did.
This is what I look like most of the time while stacking blocks - tongue out and concentrating hard!
My great big tower!

On Thursday Mommy and I went over to my cousin Jamey's house to eat lunch and play for a little bit. We got to see my new cousin Jack again - he's very cute and small. I let Mommy play with Jack while I played with Jamey. We went outside, and Jamey showed me how to play baseball. He's really good at hitting the ball off the tee. Sometimes he accidentally hits the tee, but when his dad reminds him to only hit the ball and not the tee, he concentrates for a minute, swings, and only hits the ball! He's really good at it. Then we got to play with Jamey's water table! We splashed about half of the water out and onto us :) I love splashing, and Jamey does too, so we had a great time. Mom caught me mid-splash...After we got all cleaned up from the water table, we came back inside and played in Jamey's room for a few minutes before naptime. Jamey has a big basketball hoop in his room, and I found a little red ball and dunked it right in there! Thanks for having me over to play, Jamey! I sure had fun and hope to do it again soon.

On another note, I'm getting my one-year-old molars, and it's not really the most fun thing in the whole world. The two top ones have come in pretty good, and the two bottom ones are just poking through. Starting yesterday, I have a really bad runny nose and some congestion and drainage, which causes me to cough too. And on top of that, I'm drooling all over the place like nobody's buisness. I've pretty much been my busy, normal, happy self (except for at dinner time, when I become super-duper picky and don't really want to eat the things I'm supposed to eat). Mommy says we have some fun things going on early this next week, so if I could hurry up and get better, that'd be great. Jeez, Mommy, like I can just choose to get better - you think I like being all snotty and drooly?!? I sure hope to get better soon. The picture below is of me riding my bike this morning. I sure have loved my bike this week. I love to get on and off by myself, and push it around from the back, and tip it over, and back up, and scoot myself around on it (my feet can't quite reach the pedals yet). It's pretty much the coolest bike ever!

This morning during playtime I wanted to stack blocks. It's one of my favorite things to do these days, and I'm quite good at it! This first picture is of a tower of blocks that I stacked all by myself - no help from Mommy. She was quite impressed that the top block stayed still on those little blocks under it. It was a strong tower!

Showing Bella how to stack blocks...she's a good student; she just watches and learns.
So proud of my accomplishment!

What a fun weekend I had! On Saturday, my friend Hudson had his 1-year-old birthday party. It was so much fun because our whole community group was there, and that was the first time we'd all been together since the new babies, Alex and McKenzie, were born. Now everyone has a baby in our group - lots of friends for me to play with! Here we all are below; my friend Noah and his mommy and daddy had to leave early, so they weren't able to be in the picture. But it was fun to see them and catch up! Noah is going to be a big brother in several months, so there will be even more babies next year. Since I'm the oldest in the group, everyone says Mommy and Dad started a trend. We all think it was a pretty good trend :)
After the party I took my nap, then we went to church that night cause Dad was up in the Saturday Night service. I had lots of fun playing with my teachers and friends at church. Then when I got home, I had a special surprise - Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere were at my house! They are here to meet my new cousin Jack and help take care of him and my cousin Jamey for a week or so, and they came a few days early to play with me. We sure had a fun weekend! Lots more pictures are on Grandma Lou's camera, so we need to get those to share with you. For now, here are a few we had on our camera.

On Sunday I woke up from my nap a little early, and even though I wanted to get out of my crib, I wasn't quite ready to really wake up yet. So, Grandpa was lucky and got some great snuggles from me!
Yesterday while Mommy and Dad went to work, I got to play with Grandma and Grandpa all day long! We had so much fun. We went over to Jamey and Jack's house for lunch, and Jamey and I played great together. We had our lunch together first, and we shared some of our fruit with each other. Then we rode bikes and tractors up and down the hall, chasing each other. I sure like playing with Jamey. I think we might go over to play some more this week!
Then last night we hung out on the porch for awhile. I really love walking around and throwing my golf ball. Walking around outside might just be one of my favorite things to do these days. The t-shirt I'm wearing is from Monterey, California - Papa and M'laine got it for me when they went there a few weeks ago - it fits great and looks super cool- thanks so much Papa and M'laine!
Taking a quick break in my lawn chair.

A few months ago when Papa and M'laine were here, they got me a pool for our backyard. Today, in this 100 degree weather, Mommy and I thought it'd be a great day to try my pool out! It was so much fun. Mommy blew up my pool, filled it up with water from the hose, and put some of my bath toys in there. Then we both jumped in!
I love splashing in the pool!
Bella even got herself a little drink when she got too hot.
I think we're gonna be getting in that pool more often now! Thanks Papa and M'laine! Being in the pool and the sun tired me out - I'm heading for my blankie and crib!

This past weekend we went up to Kansas City with Uncle Tim, Auntie Sarah, and Alex. We had a great time! Here we are at the Cheesecake Factory waiting for our table. It was too crowded to wait inside, so we waited on the patio...in the 95 degree weather...and mass amounts of humidity...needless to say, we were excited and ready when our table in the air-conditioned restaurant was ready!
Auntie Sarah gave me some pennies to throw into the fountain while we waited. I'm a good thrower, and all my pennies made it right into the water!

This morning while Mommy and I were playing in another room, I disappeared for a minute and came walking back with my blankie. Mommy said, "where did you get that?!" You see, my blankie usually lives in my crib. So she went back in my room with me, put it back in my crib, and lo and behold, I reached through the slats in my crib to pull it out. I'm such a smart baby :)

Here I am playing with the bowls I like to get out of the cupboard in the kitchen. If you look closely, you can see my face through the bowl, and you can see that I'm having a lot of fun! Mommy and I were playing "wheerrre's Oliver?"
Here I am checking out the details of my friend Hudson's birthday party.
Playing tonight at dinner. This sippy cup doesn't allow me to get the last little bit of my milk with the lid on, so Mommy takes it off for me and lets me drink the last of it like a big kid. These days I like to hold the cup up with my teeth and make squealy noises. Mommy and I were having a lot of fun!
Milk goatee!
Cheeeeeese!!!

My new baby cousin Jack is here!! He was born on Friday morning, and he weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 inches long. Jack is my cousin Jamey's baby brother. Jamey is a big brother! Hopefully I'll get to be a big brother someday...I'll have to get Jamey to give me some tips. Here are a few pictures of Jack, and Jack with our family.



Mommy wanted to include this picture to brag on Dad a little. Mommy sang in church this morning, so she was gone even before I woke up! That means that Dad and I got to hang out all morning together, and he got me ready and took me to church. In this picture, Mommy had to give me a raisin to eat so I would hold still for the picture. But what she wanted you to see is the great outfit that Dad picked out for me to wear this morning! Mommy said I looked like a super cool guy. She's not sure if you can tell from the picture, but hopes my "coolness" comes across :) And by the way, I am a walking champ these days!

Tonight while Mommy was feeding me refried beans, I started getting whiny. Not really for any good reason. So, Mommy tried to get creative to keep me happy and let me "help" her feed me bites. Then she thought she might as well just let me try and see what happens. Well, I started feeding myself! This is how it started - almost hitting the target...