leavenworth

Summertime Fun.

Swimming pools, slides, and 4 wheelers make for a fun summer.

Hanging out with Auggie

We rented a cabin in Leavenworth for the weekend with Jake,Katy, and Auggie.

Stuey and Auggie had a blast with the oversized bathtub in the cabin.

Summer fun.

Stuey is loving the days in Seattle that actually have sun

Florida!

We took a trip to North Captiva Island, FL in early May for my sister, Angie (Cakers)'s wedding to Chad Baldwin. We had a blast playing (and posing) in the surf (refer to Ben's model shot above), playing on the beach and toolin' around the island on a golf cart (Stuey drove, of course!). We were delighted to be there to celebrate with Angie, Chad and the kids Taylor and Colton. We were also delighted to have our own quiet little house away from both families (they all stayed in one big house together--chaos!) to come home to at night. Ha!

All our love to Angie & Chad as they embark on their new lfe together.

ABC's and 123's

Stuey counted to 8 this morning! Big deal. or Big BOY as he would say. He's also been working on his ABC's, demonstrated by the video. I especially like the end of the ABC's song, where the tune is right but the words become nearly impossible to understand and it ineveitably loops back into ABC again. It's fun to watch what he takes interest in. Drumming is a favorite passtime, as is anything related to music (dancing, singning). Balls are still his life though. Today we forgot to bring a ball to the park and ended up with 2 within 10 minutes of being there--stolen from friends, of course! I will say, he's exceptionally good at kicking the ball (especially into the street for Mommy and Daddy to chase after). OK, I'm goating and possibly have some unrealistic expectations of his future as a professional soccer player, but really, those dribbling skills are all his own doing!

Work & Play

Lots of playing the past couple of months, as you can imagine. The most fun new toy is a train table with tracks and trains to keep us all busy for hours...er...10 minute stretches! Stuey wakes up at 6:30 in the morning and says something like "chains" (translation: trains). Ah, the joys of toddlerhood. We also do a lot of singing and dancing (sometimes in nothing but a diaper and a froggy hat...why not, right?!) and the new favorite is dancing with scarves. Very fun! And we do get outside, as you can see. Sidewalk chalk is a hit! and why draw with one color when you can draw with two at the same time?

Lastly, the work. Yes, the household work training continues. Stuey now does the dishes (note, also wearing froggy hat. It's a staple!). We're very proud : )

Where's your...

Belly button?! He's also very good at nose, eyes, mouth, ears, knees and many more! We're working on "head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes" but so far no patience for that!

Fun at home

Stuey's been very "helpful" lately at home. He gives his baby a bath (left) and "helps" Mommy bake cookies (right). His favorite task is finding the tiniest pieces of ? on the floor and saying "uh oh!" and then bringing it to the garbage! I like where this is headed!

Fun with "Rah Rah" and Annabelle

One of Stuey's favorite friends is Annabelle. Auntie Rah Rah (Stuey's current name for Sarah) nannies for Annabelle too and sometimes they get the chance to play together. Can you tell they have fun? Funny how Stuey always wears pink when he's with Annabelle! Wonder why that is? And this time she got him in a tu-tu and pink Uggs too! So sweet.

Fancy Pants

Just had to add a picture of Stuey's Christmas outfit because it kills me with cuteness!

Christmastime

We had a great trip to MN over Christmas this year. Stuey had lots of time to play with friends and family. The top picture is him and his friend Molly Hockett. This is the best shot I could get before they scattered! They had fun playing together, wish they could do it more often!

This was the first year Stuey had the joy of opening his own gifts (with a little help from Grandma, of course!). He has lots of new toys and books to play with...and some much more chatty (aka: louder!) toys than he had before. Hmm...how did that happen? : ) Also, had to add in the family shot in front of the stockings because we're all actually looking at the camera! Amazing!

Stuey missed the major gift-opening extravaganza at great Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house again this year. His 7:00 bedtime cuts into those party animals' tradition. The picture above is about the time I was trying to shake some of the sleepy-whining out so we could at least make it to the family photo!

Really though, he did amazing with all the new people and places this trip. We did a mini-roadtrip the first few days in MN in some areas surrounding Minneapolis/St. Paul. We had the pleasure of staying with some of my cousins: Mandy and Chad in Chaska where Stuey got to play with his second cousins? Laila, Abigail and Lydia (see Stuey and Laila having dualing breakfasts above!) and with BJ and Stef (pre-Carson era!) in Red Wing. It was lovely to spend time with everyone!

Gamma, Dampa

Well, I'm a blogging slacker! So much has happened between my last post and now. Stuey's saying lots of words, he repeats a lot which you can see in this video. He doesn't walk anymore, he runs. And runs. And runs. Give the boy an open space and he'll run. He's also very into balls. He has somewhere between 6-10 balls in the house and probably says "ball" around 50 times per day. He's such a blast and a handful at the same time!