Great Granny's 86th Birthday...

My grandma turned 86 this past weekend and the whole family got together to celebrate. There is nothing my grandma loves more than her great grandbabies! They bring such joy to her life, she talks about them all of the time. I am just so blessed and happy that she has gotten to be a part of Clayton's life! Here are some priceless pictures from her party...

Grandma and her 7 great grand children, and one on the way :)

Grandma and her children

Grandma and her 6 grandchildren (minus Annie :( ) I wish this picture would have turned out better, the light from the window made it dark

An Eventful Trip to the Zoo!

Look Mommy, Look!

He was obsessed with this fish..."fishy, fishy"

All the kiddos is the canoe...obviously they had enough pictures and were ready to get out!



We did get at least one good picture in the canoe

He was so excited about all of the animals! Here we were visiting Donna the Hippo

All the kiddos checking out the Jaguars...Clayton loved them...he was going on and on "talking" about them. The lady next to us said, "he has a lot to say doesn't he?" He kept saying, "oh no, oh no"

Brayden and Clayton checking out the Jaguars

We had this trip planned to the zoo for about a week. Some friends of mine from school and their children were all coming from Owensboro for a playdate. We met at my house and off we headed to the zoo. We had made it most of the way through the zoo with an overcast, but the weather wasn't too bad, just a little humid...by the time we came out of the building with the Hippo, the sky had turned black and thunder and lightening were upon us. We ran, yes ran, back towards the Amazonia exhibit. By the time we got there the skies had let loose! I mean it was pouring ran. So we busted out the Capri Suns and Smarties and waited it out for about an hour in the Amazonia with about a daycare field trip, and many other families. The kids didn't seem to mind, we let them loose from their strollers and they had a big time!!! This might sound like a crazy day, but with friends, it was actually really fun and quite comical. We finally decided to just make a run for it and get some lunch at Subway. As I ran toward the entrance getting soaked, Clayton is squealing with delight at the fact that he is getting pushed fast and getting wet at the same time...what could be better! As we are eating our lunch at Subway, the girl announces that we can finish eating our lunch but she was going to lock us in because they were experiencing plumbing issues. We had to ask to be let out...seriously!

It really was a great day, and Clayton was so fun to watch. He noticed the animals last time we were there, but he didn't really get all that excited about them. This time he would run to the exhibits and point and go on and on about what he was seeing. He would say "Oh No" at the jaguar exhibit, and as the ducks flew away he would hold that hand out in a questioning manner and say "go?" He was so excited about every animal he saw. We are taking him to the Newport Aquarium and the Cincinnati Zoo in a couple of weeks and I am so excited to see his reaction!

16 month review...

It seems like every time I turn around another month has flown by. Clayton continues to amaze us as always, and he makes our lives so full of joy and love it is beyond words. Here are a few of the many new accomplishments he has achieved over the last month. He makes us so proud, without doing anything at all, but here is the icing on the cake :)

*He now says please and thank you at the appropriate times...and he will also repeat your welcome after we say it

*Pushes cars and trucks around the floor, he knows what to do with them now

*Tells us when he "Poo Poos" in his diaper!

*Knows when there is something in each hand he has two, he will tell you "Two"

*When looking in a book or magazine, all women are "Mamas", men are "Dada", and he always points out the babies

*LOVES to put things together, but gets very frustrated when it doesn't go together just how he wants it to!

*He can find where puzzle pieces go on his own

*He is putting two words together...one example, I always say 1,2,3 Go when I get him out of his high chair, so now he says 2, Go! He also says, where go?, and many other phrases are developing daily

*He can push himself forward on his riding toys

*He loves to go to the pantry and pick out his own "nack"

*Can put animal sounds with animals

*Knows the remote controls the TV and asks for Elmo most of the time

*Continues to LOVE water...he is definitely a water baby!!!!

*Is so aware of his surroundings now, very observant and inquisitive

*Constantly saying "Op" because he wants you to open something

*Loves to brush his teeth, but won't let you brush them...LOL

*Has this hilarious "serious look" when concentrating on something, which you can see below in the first picture

*Says "cheese" now whenever he sees the camera...hmmm wonder if that is because mommy is always taking pictures?

*There is so much more, but those are just a few of the highlights

Serious Look

Being Silly


Popsicle Time

He fell asleep on my lap like this one afternoon, and we couldn't resist getting a picture

Peek A Boo!

Mr. Independent...

Clayton is now to the stage where he wants to do everything by himself, even if it is something he can't do! He wants to drink out of mommy and daddy's cup with no lid without our help, he wants to feed himself with a big spoon the yogurt that gets absolutely everywhere, but hey that's how they learn. As big of a mess as it sometimes makes we just have to suck it up and let him do it, and despite those messes we get lots of laughter and memories out of those very moments.

Here lately we caught him in some very independent moments that were unbelievably cute!

Eating yogurt all by himself

"Sweeping" the floor

Putting laundry in the dryer...even though he was taking clean clothes from a basket and putting them into the dryer :)

Stay at Home Mommy...

After making it, barely, one school year, I am now officially a stay at home mommy and I couldn't be happier! Yes, I will miss the job that I love and it was a tough day that last day of school, but I am so happy with the decision I made! I am also so very thankful to Scott for allowing me this opportunity. Other than my babies, it is truly the best gift I have ever been given. I am so happy to be the one to be here for all the little moments, boo boos, laughter, and even the tantrums. Two of my very best friends got me a book on my last day at school entitled Let's Go On a Mommy Date by Karen Kingsbury, which was so incredibly appropriate for the moment. The book talks about all of the places they will go together like the zoo and the circus, but in the end they are on the couch together reading a book and the mommy says, "Hey wait, you're here beside me now, is this our Mommy Date? Never mind the other places. Here we are. Why wait? One day we'll go to the park , the circus, farm, and zoo, but for today let's cuddle with this book, just me and you. See, time will take you far from here; you're growing way too fast. All I want is Mommy time to make the moments last. Something we'll remember so that come some far-off day, you'll know how much I loved you 'cause we took the time to play." That pretty much sums it up, I have the best job in the world and couldn't be more thankful to have it because I know that one day when they are all grown up I will have all of these "Mommy Dates" to look back on.

Summertime fun...

Playing in the swimming pool

Taking a ride on the deck

Peek a boo

Yummy!!!

Look at that face, how could you resist!

That's a boat from his watertable in his mouth :)

Hey mom this is fun!

Playing in the watertable

Trying to blow bubbles, he knows what to do, he just can't quite do it yet!

Since finishing the new deck and the weather warming up, we have been outside playing more and more. I am convinced that Clayton would live out there if I would let him! He loved the water last year, and the trend continues. We got out his inflatable pool he got for his birthday and filled it up on Memorial day. Boy did he have a ball, splashing and squealing with delight. He doesn't mind water in his face at all. He did go under a couple of times and that scared him, but probably scared mommy even more. Daddy put him right back in after we calmed him down so that he wouldn't be afraid of the water, and he wasn't at all.

We also bought him a water table. He loves to splash around in it as well, and probably gets as wet playing with the water table as he would getting into the swimming pool!

We just love to watch him explore, he is always thinking. He notices things like birds and bugs and will tell you all about them. When he hears a puppy barking in the neighborhood, he stops and listens and says, "pup pup".