Discovery

Look what Lane discovered! The little chairs that become great little ladders for reaching and climbing everything. Jackpot this day. Tostitos and cheese dip. Why wouldn't he keep climbing them?

19 Months

This was on our way out the door to Lane's 18 month appointment.  I was just a couple of weeks behind on this one.  He is now 19 months, and WOW, I can't believe it.  He is just so handsome. 
Lane is doing so many fun things right now. 
This is one of my all time favorite ages. 

Here are some of the things he is doing and saying right now...

~ weighed in at 26.6 pounds

~ 33 inches tall

~ he is saying several words, Mama, Dada, hello, hi, bye bye, whats that? (which sounds like dada), Nana, Papa, Bubba, hat, hot, hot dog, cheese

~ he signs so many different things, ball, I love you, milk, eat, drink, hat, book, bird, dog, moon, tree, shower, and several more

~ he likes to torment, if something bothers Zackary or some of his friends he gets this little look in his eyes and will do it just a little more or will scoot just a little closer

~ he is sporting 2 new molars, 10 chompers total

Here is a picture of him saying "cheese."  Anytime he sees the camera lately he yells "cheese!"

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy.  He is such a good baby, with a great personality.  I absolutely head over heals in love with him.  He is so yummy!  We love you so much Lane!

Belts

I thought this picture was really funny. It was after we got home from a doctors appointment with Lane. Yes, I let him wear a "belt" as he calls it, but really it is an empty holster.

I love that he is passed out still wearing his belt. It made me laugh!

Park Brick

So I am fully aware that this is the most random post.  But one of my 'to dos' is cleaning up my pictures on my computer.  As I was deleting and moving files I cam across this picture.  I had totally forgotten that Aaron and I purchased this brick as Cosmo Dog Park in Gilbert.  As you may know, Aaron designed this park and has won several awards in the last few years for the design (I have to brag just a bit about my wonderful husband).  Any who, this is the brick Aaron created.  The date is our anniversary, we got Otis together a year before we got married and always would joke about how we had a dog out of wedlock.  This is our special family brick at the park.

Flagstaff

We spent the last weekend up at Aaron's parents cabin in Flagstaff.  It was such a nice break and some great family time.  I got to spend the entire weekend soaking up my babies without any worries.  We played, relaxed, went fishing, fixed plumbing leaks, drove into Flagstaff a few times (for coffee and pipe fittings), went for walks, and just enjoyed US. 

It is such a nice getaway for us, we are very blessed to have a place like this to go to and enjoy. 

Fishing

While we were in Flagstaff we headed out for a morning of fishing. I'm pretty sure the fishing lasted all of 30 minutes while playing with the worms lasted much longer.

Zackary felt the need to have me photograph each and every worm with him.

So I did, and here you have it, each one had their own photo shoot with Zackary.

My sweet baby Lane. Having a blast fishing and playing with the worms. The lower lip might make you think he was upset, but he wasn't, just focused. We will always know when he is tired or focused because the lower lip with make its presence.

Go!

Go! As Gilbert calls it. The flier for one of Aaron's famous openings said, there is a new place to 'Go' in Gilbert. Meaning the Grand Opening of a Restroom building Aaron helped design and did the Landscape Architecture for, but more on that later. We had a great Saturday night out for the celebration, dinner with friends at Liberty Market, then to the opening ceremonies for the toity, and to Water Tower Park for music, watermelon, and fun. So we head over to the park, which has several fountains and a splash pad (however Aaron calls it a water feature). This is what I look over to find. Yes these are my kids 'pants on the ground' he just dropped his britches and headed for the fountain.

After I see the pants on the ground, I look up to find this.

We had watermelon and enjoyed the evening at the park.

Painting

We have been doing a lot of painting this summer. I am working on more creative indoor summer activities. Zackary would play outside all day if it were up to him, but I have a different concept of summer heat. We have made several trips to the craft store looking for different things to paint. He loves it! He wants to paint everything in one sitting. I have to limit the items painted so we have activities for other days.

Gotta love the pink helicopter. We found several different little wooden toys to paint. We try to share with Lane, however, he enjoys eating the paint.

Reading

There is not much I can say about these pictures.  Aaron captured it while I was at work and I found it while uploading photos.  I love that they are interacting and love each other. 

Zackary loves reading to his baby brother.

Pantry Play

It seems as if our days are spent trying to keep Lane out of mischief.  He sure loves to spend time rummaging through the pantry.  For some reason I occasionally let him, however this is usually how it ends, then I wonder, "why do I let him play in the pantry?" 

I like to think of it as an 'educational experience' for both of us. 

Notice the Bisquick in the background, the other day I found both boys trying to make some pancakes.  The problem was that they were scooping it out of the box onto the floor and I never got pancakes out of it. 

Sometimes these 2 lovely items help get me through the day!

Powder

So I may be the only person that uses baby powder but I like it!  However this is the only problem with having it around.  It is REALLY fun to play with.  He was covered, the TV console was covered, and the carpet all around him was covered.  Aaron, Zackary, and I were even sitting right next to him and didn't realize what he was having so much fun doing. 

I just had to throw in the picture of him with the Mr. Potato Head glasses on. 

This is what the rest of us were playing with and apparently having too much fun!

The Sweetist Thing

These pictures just don't do this moment justice. I will never forget this. I was just telling Aaron the other night how I love that our 18 month old, Lane, loves to be rocked, snuggled, and given a bottle (a sippy cup with a soft spout) every time he goes down to sleep. This, actually is the only way he will take his milk. Rocking and snuggling, with one of us and his blanket. Tonight was the best, I had to have Aaron take a picture because I never want to forget this moment (unfortunately, I have a left droopy eye in pictures problem, and in a moment like this there are no redos). He had just finished his milk, I was saying prayers with him and stroking his hair and the side of his face and whenever I stopped he would sign more (this is why his hands are together) and would say is the softest, sweetest baby voice...mo.

I just couldn't get enough, so I kept stopping just to see him sign more and hear his precious little voice. 

After a few minutes of this he fell right to sleep.

 

Moments like this are the best part about being a mom.

Poppers

Look at my precious boys, I just can't resist them.  So this post is actually about poppers, you know the ones we used to buy at the Trading Post or Diamond Dot (for all of you readers from Queen Creek)?  Well, Aaron went out on our famous morning milk run before work the other day and came home with milk, coffee, and poppers.  Not just a couple of poppers but a giant box of poppers and confetti poppers.  Remember how fun it was to throw the little tissue paper ones on the ground, just to hear the popping sound over and over.  Well poppers and any sort of firework type of toy is music to Aaron's ears. 

He is really fired up that they might become legal here in AZ. 

These poppers seem to be our nightly routine lately.  The boys love them.  I actually have fun too, I just don't enjoy the clean up.  Does anyone else let their 3 year old and 18 month old play with poppers,

or are we just crazy?

Delish

This is a bit silly to blog about but we felt it was "blog worthy," as we say.  Aaron whipped us this phenomenal burger on Memorial Day before I had to head off to work  It had a portobello mushroom, feta cheese, cilantro, organic beef, and some crazy sauce he created.  It was amazing. 
This will definitely be revisited someday, probably soon.