He's 2! Part II: Birthday Party!

" IT'S THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE! COME INSIDE, IT'S FUN INSIDE!"

Dylan's favorite thing for the past 6 months or so is Mickey Mouse. So, I knew that would be perfect for his 2nd birthday party! Here is a look into the party in pictures:

Aunt Janell once again flew in from Atlanta to spend a long weekend with us and celebrate with Dylan. She was a such a big help! Love you Janell!
Uncle Craig and Aunt Carole got Dylan his very own work bench, with a custom tool belt! He LOVES it!

What is more fun than balloons?!
A look into the food, and decorations:







Opening gifts was a little bit overwhelming! He wanted to open each toy and it was a little bit confusing for him to have to move on to the next present. I would love to hear tips on how to make this a less stressful experience!
On to the food! We had "Hot Diggity Dogs" for lunch!
Mama's boy :-)
Getting ready to sing!
He wasn't sure what to think with all of his guests singing Happy Birthday to him!
Great picture my mom captured!
Guests:

Uncle Bob!
Dylan's Great Grandparents!
Cousins! Tanner,
Dustin and Logan
A shout out to Dustin's girlfriend, Velvet! She carried my camera all morning long and got some great pictures! My mom and Velvet were troopers! Thanks for all the great pictures! Couldn't have captured the memories without you two!
Love this picture so much! My parents with their 4 grandsons! Look at all these faces!
Yes, we did enjoy some fabulous cake!
Opening his goody bag at the end of the party!
Brady checking out his new Mickey Mouse ball!
Porter digging in to the loot!
This is the only way we could get a picture of 3 two year olds at once! Sit them down, and give them something to open!
The party was lots of fun! Stay tuned. Part III: His actual birthday-day next post!

He's 2! Part I: Swing Set!

Dylan's birthday weekend begins! The grandparents went together and got him a swing set! It was delivered and put in place Friday night. This little boy had the TIME. OF. HIS. LIFE. helping the big boys "wok hard" (work hard) fixing it just right!
Pop and Pawpaw assembled it at the shop in 3 big pieces, then brought them over on a trailer to assemble in the backyard.
This little solemn face sure does melt my heart!
Dylan seemed to enjoy hanging out in the trailer most of all! He kept calling it the "tractor."
As you can see, he had to be in the middle of putting it together. He carried around a shovel, screwdriver, and anchor bolt.
Testing out the monkey bars with Pawpaw. He will have to grow into this part, but he has already mastered the little rock climbing wall that gets him to the wavy slide!
Dylan overseeing Pop's work! Haha!
He sure does love his Pop and Pawpaw. Thanks to Pop, Mawmaw, Pawpaw, and Nana for the AWESOME swing set. It fits perfectly in our backyard, and Dylan loves it! I can't wait to spend many days out there once the fall weather rolls around! Mommy and Caleb can watch Dylan play! We are truly blessed to have such great parents and for Dylan to have such special grandparents!
Part II: Mickey Mouse Celebration, next post!

OH SO CLOSE 2 TWO!

Dylan has definitely been showing me lately that he is an almost 2 year old! Oh my! He has started testing us a little. He wants to know his boundaries and if they are going to be the same every time! I guess that is a lesson we all must learn, I am just trying my hardest to be consistent (way easier said than done)!

Here are his milestones, favorite things, etc....

-GOLF! I know it has been mentioned before, but he loves to watch it, read about it, and play it!

-NURSERY RHYMES! He loves to read about them, listen to CD's, and recite them himself.

-Favorite:"Baa, baa, black sheep, ha di wool, yes sir, yes sir, pee (three) bag full. And you mastu (master), and you dame, and you lil' dame-dame-dame (boy that lives down the lane)"

-Other favorites: Old Mac Donald had a farm, Humpty Dumpty

-NO! He just knows what he wants and doesn't want! What can I say, sometimes it is nice, sometimes not so much. :)

-GROWTH SPURT! He must be in a growth spurt! He is napping longer and he is a great little eater! We try to give him 2 choices of entrees for breakfast and lunch so HE gets to choose. He ALWAYS knows what he wants! Lol! Favorites right now: yogurt, spaghetti, chicken pasta, beans, corn, fruit, oh and chocolate chip cookies! Thanks Matt and Lana for the pizza and cookies, the chocolate goes great in my hair!!!!

-WOODY! We have discovered Toy Story and Woody. Oh man, what awesome movies! He loves Woody and Buzz! "To finit (infinity) and bond (beyond)!"

-EVERBODY, EVERDARE (EVERYWHERE)! Basically this means "someone else's". For example: "Everbody, everdare's mowing" "Everbody, everdare woking" So funny!

-ALL DAY! He uses this phrase all the time! "Daddy's woking (working) all day!

-POTTY! He pee pee'd in the potty for the first time on June 24th. He showed interest, so I sat him up there. He was so proud of himself. However, we haven't progressed past the occasional success. He isn't ready, and I am not going to push him.

-DO SELF! Oh this phrase shows so much independence! He wants to do most things by himself!

-ME-NAC DONALD'S! Or as we refer to it: McDonald's. He is in love with pancakes and sausage for breakfast. It is usually a Saturday morning treat from Daddy!

-SO CITING! (So exciting!)

-DELISUS! (Delicious) We cracked up when he said this!

-He speaks in sentences and has great comprehension with stories!

-The complexity of sentences he says is increasing:

"Go eat chicken nuggets at Daddy's wok (work)!"

-If I ask, "Who is in Mommy's belly?" He says, "CALEB!" He also felt Caleb move for the first time July 31st! He jerked those hands back toward his body, and looked at us like WHAT IN THE WORLD??!!!

-He took his first 9 hole ride on the golf course with Daddy and Mommy! He did great! We are teaching him about golf etiquette!

-RAIN-IN-TAIN! (orangutan)

Gearing up for his 2nd birthday! It is almost here!

A dAy in tHe LiFe oF....

Mommy and Dylan!

A friend whose blog I follow had a great post recently. She wanted to capture the memories from an "ordinary" day at home with her kiddos. I loved the concept of remembering those days, instead of the special outings, because sometimes those days are the most special. This is how we spent our Tuesday....

We enjoyed our morning cartoon time as usual. His choice strayed from the normal Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and he wanted to finish watching Toy Story 2 that we had started the day before. Notice our new friend?? That's Rusty. He is the new companion/friend/bedtime buddy of Dylan. He has been sitting on Dylan's bookshelf since he was born. It was actually my "Jonathan doll" that I had sitting on a shelf all through college. (Notice the resemblance?) Dylan spotted him the other day and asked, "Who's at?" I told him it was Rusty and every since then Rusty comes with us different places. Rusty even has to have a "dink a milk" before bedtime!
After cartoons and breakfast, we went straight to golfing! Let me tell you... this boy has quite a swing! He has watched his daddy so many times, he even mimics his pre-swing routine. He now can make the ball go airborne so watch out! We also went with daddy and played 9 holes for the first time over the weekend. He LOVED it!
We had to take a break for some basketball! SCORE!
He loves playing in his room these days. I got out some of my old stash of beanie babies (I knew I kept those for a reason :-) and we played with those for a while.
He took a fabulous nap (as did Mommy) and then woke up for a strawberry yogurt popsicle! New trick I heard: If you buy the small Dan-a-nino kids yogurt cups, you can turn them into popsicles in a flash! Poke a spoon through the paper top and set them in the freezer. They pop out easily, and are the right size for a toddler! Good for you too!

Hey! We made it out of our pajamas! What fun! On to stickers!!!!! He loves all kinds of arts and crafts. I haven't braved paint yet, but maybe one day soon! These are Curious George reusable stickers. Hard to find, but oh so good when you do!
I did manage to cook supper for the night. No picture there. I believe the menu consisted of Taco Casserole, Green Beans, and Fresh Peaches n Cream Corn. We had a great day. It is one that I want to remember because it was perfectly ordinary. We never left the house. We didn't spend a dime! We just had fun. I soaked up the time with my almost TWO year old, just doing what he likes to do.

I had to include the following movies. Did I mention his golf obsession? Well, I had to video Dylan and Daddy reading his fav book! We have read it so many times, he doesn't have to see the pages to know what is next! It is also helping us teach him golf etiquette and he really is putting it into practice when we go to the golf course with Daddy!

Dylan has a permanent draw to his golf swing. Look at that set up and follow through for a 23 month old little boy! No, we haven't been teaching him with words. He is learning by watching Dad!

Our 4th Weekend!

I apparently had LOTS of pictures that I wanted to share from the weekend...

We were very low-key for this holiday weekend and it was a nice change of pace for us!

At the lake.... our little firecracker!
This is his new wind-up anytime he jumps. Hahaha!
Yes, I did cut his head off, but I still loved the "action" of the picture!
Dylan did not want his picture taken, at least he wasn't trying to get down...
What 4th of July isn't complete without cupcakes, and...
homemade ice cream! Yummy! My dad makes the BEST vanilla ever!
Playing in his new giraffe pool from Pop and Mawmaw!
My boys in their holiday red!
Oh what a silly mess, love this one!
We also had to get in some "fimming" time!! And, of course, anytime you swim, you must have at least one snack break!
"Are watchin' Dad?" One of his absolute favorite sayings. This was right before the wind up and the jump~
What a fun, and mostly relaxing 4th weekend! We spent time with both of our families and of course our little boy. Hard to believe that he is almost 2! Time gets away from us pretty quickly! We are blessed with wonderful family, friends, and freedom!

My God is so BIG!!!

Dylan learned this while we were on vacation. His Pawpaw taught it to him. The video is classic Dylan. He had to take a moment in the middle of the song to flex his muscles. Oh, the busy mind of a little boy!

Dylan is showing me that he is almost two! I can't take my eyes off of this 22 month old for more than a second or something like this happens:

(Mommy goes in to get Dylan out of his crib after a long nap)

Mommy: "Hi Dylan! You slept so well!" (I proceed to pick him up and notice a naked back-side)

Mommy: "Dylan, where is your diaper?"

Dylan: "In da bed."

(Mommy goes to look, and there is the diaper, and the bed is soaking wet....)

No more naps in just a diaper!!!!!!! RASCAL!

He has also started referring to me as Mom in a slightly Northern drawl. "How 'bout dis one, Mom?" or "Are watchin Mom?" He does this with Dad too..... FUNNY BOY!