Memorial Day Weekend

We headed down to the lake of the Ozarks for Memorial day- we left Thursday night when Zach got off work hoping that Sawyer could sleep most of the way there. I kept him up that afternoon so he would be extra tired and he fell asleep before we even pulled out of our developement. He slept for about an hour and then was up and hungry so we made a pit stop and ate and after that he slept about the last 2 hours of the trip. We spent the whole day in the pool on Friday- Sawyer LOVES to swim so he was thrilled. We took him on the jet ski and he loved that as well, until he fell asleep! Guess he was relaxed :) The next day when Sawyer saw Zach go on the jetski without him he cried "daddy vroom vroom, daddy vroom vroom!" So daddy had to take him for another ride. And he loved that! Val got him a blow up jet ski and he scooted around on it all over the living room and would smile when I told him "you are just like daddy!" He made motor noises and looked proud. He is his fathers son!

Sawyer is quite the little water bug and a pretty darn good swimmer! We could barely get him out of the pool! We even let him swim in the lake- he was thrilled to be big like daddy. Every time I tried to get him out of the lake he would throw a fit. Finally I took him out and he didnt cry and I asked him "are you done" "yea," he said "im done" Its so fun to hear him use his words like that! He must have been worn out!

We spent most of our time the whole weekend in the pool, and taking boat rides. We also went to a neat winery where and old insane asylum had been. It was GORGEOUS though- it was up on a bluff overlooking a river that runs into the lake. The weather was perfect- warm but not too hot, sunny with a nice breeze. We def. got lucky!

Is it summer yet?

It has felt like it lately here- and we are enjoying every minute of it! We have been keeping very busy at the park with friends and playing in the yard- so busy that it is hard to believe that May is very close to over! I had a wonderful mothers day- Zach and Sawyer got me a massage and I am so excited about it! What a great present for a mom with a 27 pound toddler that loves to be held! We spent the day with both of our families and it was great!

We are still spending most of our time outside in the yard. Sawyer loves to play in his baby pool - the ducks seem to think it looks pretty great too but luckily they cant quite make it in! Our garden is looking pretty good so far as well. Zach planted 40 tomato plants that we started from seeds! We are already getting pretty good sized radishes out, and green onions as well. This past weekend we spent the day in the yard- I was weeding the strawberry patch and Zach picked a nice ripe strawberry for all of us to try- the first ripe strawberry of the year. Sawyer LOVED it. He then noticed that there were a few other almost ripe strawberries as well- which he immediatly picked and shoved in his mouth just as quickly as we could clean them. He would point to them and say "that that that!!! (dat) "numm numm! Numm numm, mommy numm numm!" How can you not give in the that? When all the ripe strawberries were picked and eaten- he picked a yucky white, unripe strawberry and tried to eat that too.... not quite as tasty. Zach had a big green onion picked, and Sawyer found it and at the whole thing- he even said "numm numm!" I think he just likes to eat things from the garden...

Tulip Time and Mothers Day

Seems like we have really been on the go this spring. This past weekend was Tulip Time and we stayed busy the whole weekend. Wednesday Sawyer had his 15 month check up. He was 26lb 80z and 31.5 inches but I think he is actually a bit taller than that- the top of the measuring thing was pushed back a bit and he is outgrowing all his pants! He got his last round of shots and now we are free until he goes to school! What an amazing feeling! He did great as usual. He is an awesome kid.
That night we walked in the Klompen Classic with a bunch of friends. It was a blast and some pretty good excercise considering we had to keep jogging to get ahead. Somehow we managed to line up DEAD LAST and for a while no one was behind us except for the paramedics...yikes. We had to kick it into high gear and jog to get out of the shameful spot. We finished in 53ish minutes. It was fun, but it didnt start until 7 so it was 8 by the time we got done and 9 something by the time we got home- needless to say Sawyer didnt end up in bed until 10 and then slept until 11 the next day! Turns out that was great though because then he was cheerful on Thursday for Tulip Time!
Thursday the weather was actually very nice and Sawyer and I scrubbed streets and then walked in the baby parade with Zachs mom and sister. Sawyer loved scrubbing streets- we gave him his own little brush and he pushed it all around before we started walking- once the actual street scrubbing started it was a different story. He didnt want to walk, he just wanted to play with his brush and the water. So Beth ended up carrying him- I tell her that is why her arms are so strong- because I always pass Sawyer off to her if he wants to be carried for a long time, up stairs, and other hard tasks. Anyway Beth carried him and told him to "wave to all the people in the grandstands" which he LOVED. He would wave and all the old people would wave back. Im sure hundreds of strangers now have pictures of him...odd. He enjoyed the baby parade as well. We also took Sawyer to the night parade and he really loved the bands. He would dance to the music and the next day we saw him pretending to march in a band and play a trombone. What a ham! He liked the bright lit up floats a lot too, and the horses, tractors... pretty much everything!
Friday was FREEZING cold but last minute my friend Lindsay and I decided to walk the parade anyway. Sawyer had 4 layers on top and bottom AND his bundler on his stroller. He stayed nice and toasty. We bundled up quite a bit too! Lindsay also gave Sawyer his first "real" haircut. I have actually cut this boys wild mop 4 times, but last time I HATED the way it looked and decided not to mess with it myself anymore. We left it long and "surfer boy" look, because I like it a lot that way and honestly the boy has a great head of hair- basically she just gave it a better shape, and evened things up. We were both SHOCKED how much hair she was actually able to trim off while still keeping the lenght about the same. It looks SO SO much better now. He looks a bit more grown up, but in a good way. His hair has less poof now which was what I wanted. That afternoon I managed to break my little toe... I wasnt even doing anything crazy, i hit it on our ottoman and bent it the wrong way. By the end of the night half my foot was purple and I could barely walk...but I didnt let that ruin my fun :) Friday night Sawyer got to ride with Nana Val and Mrs. Iowa in the night parade. Val was Mrs. Iowa in 1988 so she hosted this years Mrs. Iowa at TT. Sawyer loved Mrs. Iowa and Mrs. Iowa adored him! Sawyr had a great time waving from the convertible with nana when nana asked him today "what did you do in the parade?" He waved. We had friends over on friday night and it was great to catch up. Thats my favorite part of TT!
Saturday was still cold, so we bundled up again. I participated in the world record breaking dutch dance-broken toe and all! I had 5 layers on top and 3 on the bottom and I wasnt hot... We even got Zach into a costume on Saturday! We scrubbed streets with his family and then walked in the baby parade again- we even convinced Zach and his dad to come with us! I think they had fun :) We brought Sawyer to my grandparents so they and my aunt and cousins could see the little cutie all dressed up. Saturday night we watched the parade...yes, again. And, we got to see a high school friend we hadnt seen in 3 years! He didnt even know that we had gotten married and had a baby!
Sunday we enjoyed mothers day with both of our families- my parents we on the road headed to NC to the siblings so we ejoyed time with my Grandparents and Aunt, uncle and Cousin. Zach did a good job and got me a massage for mothers day and I can not WAIT to use it! Carrying around a 26 1/2 pound kid is KILLING my back.

for some reason blogger isnt letting me upload photos tonight, but I have all the pics up of FB anyway. Heres the link for those of you without facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023498&id=79700095&l=9ad35ecb58

I had a short meeting today at work, and my dad watched Sawyer while I was gone. After I was done, we put Sawyer in his Dutch Costume and walked to the park about a block from their house to try to get some pictures before all the Tulips die. Sawyer had fun at first stomping in his fun wooden shoes, but it was near nap time, so the novelty wore off when he found out he was not allowed to go swimming in the pond. He was a HUGE hit with the tourists that were in the park though. Old ladies were taking his picture and telling him he was their favorite thing they had seen all day. Everyone was amazed that he could walk so well in his wooden shoes- it IS rather funny! His wooden shoes were Zach's when Zach was a baby! While we were taking pictures some ride on lawn mowers showed up and Sawyer was pretty well done for after that, he just wanted to watch the lawn mowers cut the grass.

What have we been up to?

It should be more like what HAVENT we been up to! We have been busy! With all the nice weather we HAD been enjoying Sawyer and I have been packing our days full of playdates with his friends. One day we had 13 kids over to our house- we had all the mommies from work and their kids over to play! That was a BLAST and it was a gorgeous day outside so the kids had fun running all over the yard! Sawyer thought everyone needed an ice pop before they left so he found a bunch and brought them to me- it was hilarious, but a great idea. He is quite the little host. I try to plan as many playdates as possible each week, Sawyer and I both love them!

We have also spent lots of time running around the park. Sawyer loves other kids, especially boys that are just a little older than him- he found a random 2 year old boy at the park when we were there last week with his friends and they ran and chased eachother and Sawyer thought it was the funniest thing! He really loves to swing and slide- I think he would play in his swing all day if we would let him! And the slides at the park are great because mommy can go down them too. Really he just loves to be outside. He will point outside and then run and get his shoes and bring them to me. We spend 90% of his waking hours outside and he is perfectly happy just running around the yard playing with a stick or finding flowers to pick and smell. We have geese that always fly over our house many times and day so now Sawyer can honk like a goose like an old pro.

I stalked craigslist and found Sawyer a little tikes pool with a slide for our yard. I really wanted a thicker plastic pool so we didnt have to keep getting new pools every summer and it turns out they dont make them anymore so you have to get them use. It wasnt very warm the day I got it but I put a little water in the bottom and he went crazy for it! Since we had him in swimming lessons this winter he loves to "swim." He lays on his belly and kicks his legs. And now he loves to float on his back too as long as mommy or daddy is there to hold his head for him. He has gotten so good at blowing bubbles in the water also. I think he is going to be quite the swimmer this summer! I got him a new life jacket last month and when we tried it out at the baby pool two weeks ago when we went with our friends he could practically swim around the pool by himself and he LOVED that.

The ducks are getting SO big! They are starting to get feathers now istead of just fluffy down. They still follow us all around the yard, and we let them swim in the little creek for the first time a few weeks ago. They were in duck heaven splashing all through the water! Zach has started building them a duck house/chicken coop so they no longer live in our garage in a cage. We got all the materials and zach started building and we thought, this is so big for just 4 ducks.... SO we added 6 chicks to the mix on "the farm." We got egg layers in hopes that we will have some fresh eggs eventually! Between that and our "food plot" garden we can really live off the land especially since last summer we learned how to can our harvest! :) Being green is so much fun for us! Speaking of our garden, its off to a great start. Our tomatoes have grown huge already and are looking great. We have pepers and onions started inside as well that are flourishing and radishes and green onions outside as well, and i think carrots too. Our strawberries from last year have spread which is GREAT because who dosent love fresh strawberries and we have 6 raspberry bushes planted and I hear those will spread a lot as well.

I also celebrated my entry into the quarter century club this weekend. Yep, I turned 25 on Saturday- I remeber when 25 was old, but truthfully I still feel about 17, or maybe 21 because I can drink.... I dont feel mid twenties. My birthday was great. I love birthdays but I think from now on Ill just turn 25 each year :) Now we are looking forward to Tulip Time! The tulips looks great right now so who knows how they will look by may 6! Rumor has it your should check out the datebook from the DM register on the Thursday of TT to see a certain little dutch boy pictured, but more on that later.

Happy Easter!

We had a nice time celebrating Easter with family. Sawyer liked seeing the "balls" and carrying his basket around, and once he figured out that the eggs contained treats- oh man, he loved it. Zach's cousin had a big egg hunt set up for Sawyer and it was adorable watching her help him find the eggs and then teaching him that the eggs had fruit snacks and jelly beans inside- Im sure you can imagine that Sawyer LOVED that part the absolute best.

Oh Huck, its a Duck!

WE GOT DUCKS!

Sawyer, and Nana and I brought home 4 darling ducks this afternoon. I named them Huck, Finley, Webster, and Daisy and they are adorable! They followed us all around the yard today and we had so much fun. The plan is for them to eat the bugs out of our yard rather than using any chemicals to kill bugs. Its part of my now long road to being "super crunchy" Sawyer seemed to like them, he laughed at them and was pretty curious about what they were doing. I dont think think that he has touched any of them yet.