Proof my son gets up WAY too early!

 This is the scene I woke up to this morning.

Without it I might have been a little more grumpy.  I guess getting up early has some perks.

Preston had a lot of fun playing with rocks and running to the street when I wasn't looking.

So I guess I can say thanks to Preston for starting our day out right, even if it was at 6:00 a.m.

The Strawberry Farm

Okay, so I'm still VERY behind in my blogging and it might be silly that I'm still trying to catch up, but there are some things that I want to remember... like our trip to the strawberry farm back in June, especially since it won't be there anymore next year.

We got to ride on the train around the farm.  Our playgroup filled up the entire thing!

There's the nice farmer man who reminded us continually to keep all of our limbs inside the train car.

More of the play groupies.

Everyone enjoying the landscape.

Preston took it all in...

The pirates cove...

The grasslike fields...

and the big machinery.

After the train ride we all made our way over to MacDonald's farm.

Where the kids fed the goats grass.

Preston wasn't quite sure about it.

He kept "woof woofing" at the goats (he thinks anything that's black with fur is a dog)

and tried to pet them.

He was so excited when he finally touched one.

After we washed his hands thouroughly we took a ride on this baby

To the long awaited strawberry fields!

Preston always knows what to do with food.

He even picked a few of the berries himself.

Before he dug right in.

Yum!

What's this stuff all over my hands?

Oh well, it's still yummy!

Even with the dirt mixed in.

Hmmm... I don't see anymore around here...

Darn it mom, I don't want to clean up and go home... and quit taking my picture!

We definately had so much fun that we didn't want to go home, but we were tired... and I was ready to clean up my pants that Preston had painted with strawberry juice.  I'm glad we got to go, I just wish we could do it again. :(

A Day at the Playground

Yesterday some friends in our ward met up at a community playground. The kids had a lot of fun playing on the equipment. See for yourself!

Tessa loved to pose for the camera.

Derek liked to growl at the camera.

Sawyer hung out on the swings

and looked off into the distance.

Fia loved the camera too!

But Derek wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Crazy Tessa

Oh so cute!

Sweet Fia.

Jackson liked hanging around.

The moms and babies hung out

and laughed and cried.

Don't hate me for this Amy, you look BEAUTIFUL! Plus we couldn't leave Rigdon out.

Preston sure had a good time even though it doesn't look like it here.

Sawyer was faster than lightning.

Alisi was sleepy

and Jackson kept climbing

While Tessa twirled.

Chloe charmed us all.

Kaho is the one climbing now...

that Jackson has taken over the slide.

As you can tell we all had a great time! Well, most of us at least. :)

P.S. The colors show up darker here than in photoshop, darn it. Maybe if you click on the picture to enlarge it they'll look better.

Boys Will Be Boys

Silly Boys playing at the playground.

Even with all that fun play equipment they decided to sit and pile wood chips on top of themselves.

Of course after thse two pictures Sawyer was done with this silliness and Preston was all alone with his wood chips.  I guess boys will be boys and get nice and dirty no matter how old they are.  I'm pretty sure I found some wood chips in Preston's diaper too.  I'm not exactly sure how those got there. :)

My Little Man is 14 months Old

*photo was taken today after church, on his actual 14-month birthday

New accomplishments in the last month:
- Giving mommy and daddy kisses! He gets really excited when he sees us kiss and wants one too! (Sorry if you didn't want to hear that)
-Throwing any kind of ball as far as he can and "yelling" bao bao (ball ball) every time he sees anything round. He can also put a basketball into a little hoop.
-Holding the remote up to the TV and going uh uh because he wants to watch baby einstein. Then he cries because he wants to play with the toys and kids he sees on TV. He always waves at the kids and says hi hi. For some reason he repeats every word twice. I think it's because he always says woof woof when he sees a dog.
-He'll tell me the animal noises if I ask him what a dog, monkey, lion, sheep, cow, or cat says.
-He'll show me his head, nose, and belly button.
-He's become obsessed with sitting on everything like it's a chair. These things include the edge of the fireplace, stairs, toys, stuffed animals, and daddy's head. We finally got him a little chair of his own that he likes to jump on.
-Putting everything in compartments and putting the lid on. He uses my pots and pans and the garbage can most often. He now has his own set of toy pots and pans.
-Throwing up real food for the first time in his life. Three times in one week, it was pretty gross.
-Building towers and knocking them over.
-Going up and down and up and down the stairs.
-Climbing and playing on playgrounds! Just in time for the rain to start. :(
-Getting his shoes and trying to put them on while crying at the door to go outside.
-High fives!
-Walking up to me saying hi hi and when he's almost reached me turning around saying buh bye buh bye while waving.
-Saying a duh (all done) when he's finished eating.
-Saying der do (there you go) when he gives me things.
-Saying de dow (thankyou) when I give him things.
-I'm sure there's a lot more that I can't think of right now, he's learned a lot this past month!

What he’s doing right this very second:
-Sleeping in his crib with his blanket, dog, and two horses while wearing his full tux tie and all because he fell asleep on the way home from church.

Teeth Count:
-He has fourteen. One for each month of his life! Four top, Four bottom, Four molars, and top Eye Teeth or Canines whatever you want to call them.

What he’s wearing:
-18 month onesies
-12-24 mos. tops and bottoms - I put him in clothes when they're too big and keep him in them until they're a little bit too small. That way he has more variety.
-24 mos. socks
-size 5 shoes
-size 4 diapers, at night he has to wear overnight diapers because he'll wet through otherwise.

How he’s sleeping:
-Around 12 hours at night - sometimes waking up once though, so I hold him for a few seconds and let him touch my hair then I put him back down. I can't complain though because a few weeks when he was sick he was getting up screaming every night and refused to let me put him down. This is a HUGE improvement.
-2 one and a half hour naps during the day or 1 close to three hour nap a day.
-Preston is turning into such a big boy, he's always suprising us! :)

Do you ever...

Look at people in nearby cars as you drive down the highway? As an addicted people watcher (is that possible?) I find myself doing this constantly whenever we're going somewhere as a family and I don't have to drive.

I remember as a teenager driving places in my dear friend Krysta's car (she was one of my bridesmaids by the way) and constantly watching people, trying not to draw attention to myself. Unfortunately with teenage boys on the loose we would sometimes find a car full of them and smile and flirt through the windows. Weird I know. These are the kinds of things I really should keep to myself. We would also look at people and try to guess where they were going, what their names were, what they did for a living etc. Of course this is standard procedure in all people watching situations. County fairs in Indiana are probably one of the best places I've ever found for finding interesting people to watch, but that's another story.

Anyway, today as I was driving down the road enjoying watching how other people work I saw a BIG man in a LITTLE car. Do you ever wonder how people decide what kind of car they are going to drive, and why some people really look like they fit in their cars, and others like this poor fellow look utterly ridiculous? Do you think he was driving his dream car but it just didn't quite fit him? Or was it more likely that it was a gift from his Grandma who can no longer drive. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks about weird things like this. That's about it, the end of my thought... I just thought I'd share.