Fun Outside

This morning while J and I attended a wedding, Aunt KiKi came over to hang out with the Nut.  As can be seen in the pictures below, they had a grand old time at the park and then playing with his water table (which, coincidentally was given to P for Christmas by Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear).  Thanks for the great morning, Aunt KiKi! :)

 Yes, the yogurt containers follow us to the park, too.

 He loves to go "weeeeee!" :)

 

Playing in the wood chips is a favorite past-time, although it usually ends in him trying to eat one...or four.

 I love my child.  That is all.

Back in Time, Pt. 3...March 13

Have I mentioned on this blog that I love my family? :)  It's hard not to...they are so great, and they love to spend time with the Peanut, which makes me so happy.  My two youngest cousins are a freshman in college (or, as I'm writing this post, a sophomore!) and a sophomore in high school, and they called me during their spring break to see if they could come and hang out with P.  I would like to point out that I don't think this is what the typical high school or college student would do on their spring break, but these cousins of mine are not typical, and I love them for that!  P really seemed to enjoy hanging out with them...now I'm just hoping they'll be atypical this summer and want to hang out some more, because nothing says "summer" like hanging out with your 18 month old cousin in the pool! :)

 Having a snack with Kaitlyn.

 Blake showing P how to build a car with his blocks.

 Just hanging out.

 Admiring Blake's hair...

 Seemingly stacking things on Blake...you know, why not?

 Practicing the piano.  You can't tell from this face, but P really does like to play and goes over several times a day on his own to show off his piano-playing skills.  He especially likes the low notes.

 Following Aunt Debby's lead, we learned how to play the monkey song on the piano, and apparently, the monkey watches over us to make sure we don't miss a note.

 How many puffs can I shove in my mouth?  "I love chubby bunnies..."

 Group photo.  P really did have fun with his cousins!

 P trying to escape after his mom made him take "just one more" picture...

 Hooray for my cousins!  I love you!

Back in Time, Pt. 2...March 8

In case you didn't know, Thursday is pizza day.  I don't think it's actually written down anywhere to make it "official," but it might as well be.  My mom, P, and I go to see my grandparents every Thursday, and for lunch, we each get a slice of pizza from the little store downstairs. (And while P doesn't get his own piece right now...I have a feeling that it won't be too long until he does - that little boy really likes pizza, and I like it enough that I'm not going to be willing to share as much as he will want to eat in the not-so-distant future!).  It's become quite the tradition, and now that I'm staying at home, I love that we're finally able to take advantage of living so close and that I get to spend quality time with my Grammy, Grandpa, and Mom and that P gets to spend time with his GiGi, Gramps, and his Grammy Share on a weekly basis.  Someday soon I will need to document pizza day in pictures, but until I do that, here are a couple of Peanut faces from a Thursday not-so-long-ago.  Enjoy. :)

 

 

Back in Time, Pt. 1...March 3

My dad is one of five kids.  Except for one of his sisters, everyone (including his mom) lives within about 15 minutes of each other, so when we have a family get together with that side of the family, there tends to be a lot of people there.  It's something that I feel like I take for granted most of the time...and then, there are moments of clairvoyance when I realize that this is not everyone's "normal," and that I need to really appreciate it and be grateful for it.  I took my camera with me to my dad's 59th (!?) :) birthday party this year, and when I was looking through the pictures, I had one of those moments, and I was so thankful to have pictures to look back on years from now of what our family get-togethers  looked like.

 Hanging out with Cousin Kaitlyn and Aunt Sandy.

 

Yogurt cups make very good hats...and sippy cup holders.

 

 Here we all are.

 I'll give you one guess as to why everyone is circled around...notice the yogurt container in the bottom right corner...and if you guessed that everyone is watching the yogurt container, guess again.

 Grammy Share and P.

 Kind of rockin' a country bumpkin feel with our monster truck pjs and our mullet. :)

 Let's play again.  Who are my dad, Aunt Becky, and J looking at?  Based on their faces, I'm hoping it's P.

 Mr. P. (as his Aunt Sandy calls him).

 I love this sippy cup.

Deep in conversation with one of his favorite people in the entire world, his Aunt Debby.  I love how my grandma is lovingly looking on...makes my heart happy.

Peanut meets his newest cousin!...on March 17th

I just realized that I somehow never posted these pictures of Peanut's newest cousin!  Never mind that his newest cousin is now 8 weeks old...these pictures are worth the wait.  When we first met Baby L, he didn't have a name.  This was his fault because he showed up early, and his mom and dad thought they had more time. :)  The nurses started calling him "B.B." for Baby Boy, but he soon got a wonderful name of his very own.  We are pleased to have recently found out that he has taken to the nickname "Pickle." :)  Now we just need sweet little girl cousin in California to start going by a food nickname that starts with a "P"...Pomegranate? Parsnip?  Peach?  Pumpkin? All real possibilities...

So without further ado, meet Baby L...and check out his RED hair!  (Between P and his 2 cousins we have a platinum blonde, a red head, and a brunette.  Genetics are awesome.)

Snuggling with his dad.

Love his red hair and his dad's black hair. 

Stats.

Sweet, tiny hands.

Baby L does have an awesome mom, but I was respecting the fact that when we went to visit she had yet to have a shower since birthing this precious little boy. Just following the unwritten "Mom Law" here.

 

P meeting his newest cousin.

The "Blue-eyed Boys Club." :)  

P, Peanut's Pops, his Uncle Jim, his dad, and his cousin all have killer baby blues.

Still lovin' the hair...and the precious smooshed face.

Hangin' out with dad in the hospital room.

Being entertained by dad in the hospital room...who doesn't like being hoisted up by their armpits and thrown into the air?  (J often points out that if anyone was to do this to him, he would A) really not like it and B) be really upset at the person doing such a thing to him.  P has obviously not gotten the message yet that it's socially awkward for someone to do such a thing to you.)

And since this post is so belated...here's a picture of "Pickle" :) that his mom posted on FB yesterday (thanks for letting me steal it off your page without permission, Rebecca!) :o/  I can't wait until the next time we see this little guy in person so I can squeeze those cheeks!!!

We're Walking!

It only took the kid 16 months, but Peanut's finally decided that walking upright might not be such a bad thing after all.  It really happened pretty quickly, which, if you've been reading this blog, is not surprising.  P was getting pretty good at cruising around the house and at a pretty decent clip...as long as he was able to hold onto something, and then something happened.  A week ago as I was standing in the kitchen cutting up some fruit, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  My child, who was playing in the next room, was WALKING towards me.  This was the first time he had ever walked on his own without any prompting or coaxing or pleading...you get the picture. :)  And from that day on, every day he's been willing to take a few more steps, and man, are they cute steps!  He walks with his little legs apart and his little hands up to help him balance. I hadn't been able to capture him on video...(he was like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot!) until today! :)

Now, I won't say that we're an official "walker" yet, as he is still crawling a decent amount, but each day that percentage gets smaller and smaller.  Oh how our world, and his, is about to change!  And we will finally (and it always seems to come back to this) get to move up to the next room in the church nursery!  Woo hoo!  Bless P's heart.  He's been hanging out with all the little ones who have just learned to sit up on their own, while his friends his age have been partying it up - walking around to their little hearts' content - in the room next door.  It's an exciting milestone.