jumbo elephant

Dennis had his first piano lesson and look what he can play already! Thanks Nonnie for the great song book... he seriously loves it... especially flying around like an airplane.

stunt man

In Utah Dennis loved to jump on the trampoline and land on his bum. Well, he still does it without the tramp. ouch. And, if you couldn't tell... that's him counting before he jumps. He also does this before taking bites of his dinner. What a nut.

4 years ago

we got married. It's been a great 4 years. I am so glad that Ryan decided to marry me. He is such an amazing guy and we have such a beautiful life together. I wouldn't want my life to be any other way.
Ryan has been working the night shift at the hospital and gets home after I leave in the morning. So, he surprised me by bringing flowers to school! I was so shocked that I almost started to cry! Now I have this beautiful bouquet on my desk. Thank you sweetie.

obsession (warning)

would be an understatement for Dennis' fascination with the toilet these days. I swear I spent all afternoon in the bathroom. Dennis is constantly on and off the toilet. Right when I thought our session in the bathroom was over and I had gotten comfortable in front of the bookcase, Dennis comes running in and pulling me frantically... hmm... let me guess... potty? Sure enough, we got there just in time for him to score a slam dunk. Then he wouldn't put his diaper back on- so I was a bit daring and put some undies on him wondering how long it was going to last. Never leaving the bathroom, Dennis plays around and climbs up and down the toilet. Later, I find his undies wet. We are sad together and go to the potty to sit- to my surprise I find his puddle right on top of the toilet seat. Close.... so close. Close enough for me to put on another pair of undies. We will see what is next. 5 minutes later toilet paper party in the toilet. again. obsession.

hot summer

This year has been an unusually hot summer here in St. Louis. I hate being outside. ever. 7am I am sweating carrying all of my things and Dennis to the car. 8am 90 deg. bleh. I have found my renewed connection with the sprinkler for those days that Dennis wants to go out. We picked the perfect day to go to Grant's Farm because it was raining. I'm sure everyone could see through my clothes because I was soaked. But I wasn't hot. We had a great time and will have to return during a cooler time of year to enjoy the bird and elephant shows. Frozen treats are delish. We invested in a popsicle mold and made orange juice treats. LOVED THEM. Especially from the comfortably cool bathtub. Going outside even to eat a popsicle is too much for this northern chick.

Dear "Match Deciders"- please don't send us to some southern location in 2 years. I don't think I would survive. I would probably melt. - Rita

meiji yan yan

WARNING: this may be too much information!

In the past two days Dennis has gone potty 1 & 2 50% of the time. We are so happy for him. This morning he wasn't at all interested in it so I bought him a treat for the next time he went. The title of this post is the name of the treat. As soon as he saw it, he wanted it. I explained to him that he could get it after he went potty. So immediately, he wanted to try. Well... he succeeded. I was surprised. He can do it on command. #2.

sunday best

My handsome boy this past Sunday.

opinions

Dennis is extremely independent and opinionated these days. It seems as though he has an opinion about every little decision during the day. He doesn't want help down stairs, getting out of his car seat, getting in the car, washing his hands, or brushing his teeth. He wouldn't wear the outfit that I picked out for him. Instead, he chose the blue truck shirt and bright yellow pants. Going to bed has been extremely difficult lately (I'm glad that he hasn't figured out how to climb out of his crib yet). But tonight he was fine.... because he got to sleep with his dad's bath towel wrapped around him. ??? No questions asked... he is going to bed... that is good.

New words: (2 syllables!)

-Yellow

-Towel

5:45 am

I heard Dennis crying. I thought it would go away... but it didn't. I got up to see what was wrong and his diaper was off. Dennis says, "poo". Which means he wants to go in the potty. I ask him if that's what he wants and he says yes. I set him on the little toilet and wait sleepily. He loves to just sit on the toilet but this was new in the middle of the night. I feel pee on my feet! Dennis used the toilet! WOW-I wasn't expecting that. He got most of it in the toilet too. Was I dreaming?

more of my little man

I tried to get him to dance but he did some other cute things too. When he sees the camera he says, "cheese".

my project

Well, I'm motivated! I had my visiting teacher over right before I left for Utah and showed her my kitchen project and she decided that she needed to paint her kitchen cabinets white too. Well, I went to her house last week and her cabinets are done! It hit me that over a year is too long.... way too long. So, this week I decided to do the project myself while Dennis takes his nap. Everyday I do just a little bit more. Here are a couple of pictures to show my progress... But I think it will take another 2 days before I am done and another day to put on the new hardware.
never mind the fact that my kitchen is a total mess...

find a grave

On my trip to Utah I spent some time at the family history library as usual. I was happy with my findings and loved my time spent searching for more information about my family. But this time I found some information that would benefit everyone.

www.findagrave.com

This website has millions of graves and pictures of them. If there is not a picture of the grave you are looking for you can request that a picture be taken. Then a volunteer will go out and take a picture of it for you. I signed up to be a volunteer and took pictures of my first grave today. When I came home, I found out that my file is too large. I will have to go back-at least I know where the graves are now.

Check it out for yourself.

Eckert's Peaches

This was our first time to Eckert's orchard and it is probably the hottest day of the year. (heat index 120ish) So we went at 8:00 when they open and still were too hot and sticky that we picked as quick as we could and only ate a half a peach each while picking. The tracker driver told us that we couldn't leave until we all ate a peach- well, I didn't tell him that I only ate a half. Next time we will pick a cooler day.
"Look mommy, a perfect one right there!"


What was once lost- is now found- thanks to my sweet boy Dennis who found it under the keyboard.

phone pics

So, I lost my camera... for good, I think. Ryan thinks I did it on purpose since I was eying Katrina's camera at Bear Lake. But, let's be honest. I would much rather wait until a holiday to get a new camera. So, all my updates for now are going to be from my phone camera.

Dennis and I went to the zoo today and had so much fun (the pics are in reverse order). At the end, Dennis got to run through the fountains! It is such a HOT day... we were both sweaty.
Especially because Dennis worked so hard on the farm. And, he wanted me to help... I figured that if I wanted him to help when I work, I would have to help when he did.

And we got to see the river otters! They were so cute and came right up to Dennis.

what can I say... I have a tasty kid.
And, since I am cleaning out my phone camera- here are a couple pics from this week. Dennis regularly will get a stool and pull it up to the drawers... he loves to explore all those tools~ in this pic he has skewers.
And one day he used a whole roll of TP.
And a couple pics from a long time ago... This one is in utah. His first shave ice. He was so sad when it spilled.
gotta love the straw
are you jammin'?