balls ...

The kid LOVES balls. we have a variety of toys for him but most of the time he just loves to throw balls around, run after them, throw them to (or AT!) you, hold them, look at them, say the word ball over and over and over... husband swears he's going to be a ball player for sure (i was hoping for chess and the honors society but - hey maybe both?! haha)

Here he is with one of the many different balls he plays with and throws... Posing:)



this was an outfit aaron's friends gave us - thanks Cliff and Marty! We have been SO lucky with gifts (thanks to many of you!), hand me downs (thanks to colleen, vicki, kimberly, etc), and hitting up some great second hand sales... we've bought very few things new which makes me happy. I love second hand clothes, especially for the kid when he grows so quickly out of things!

Most Recent Picture

i just feel so bad about being so behind on my posts that i had to put up a pic of abram made tonight!

here he is after getting home from daycare today - cute as a button in a new outfit - posing with his car and then running like a wildman!

finally - july 4th pics!

finally, here are some july 4th pictures... almost two months late i know but ... better late than never!

first i read the newspaper with mamaw...


then i helped her balance the books ...


went on a quick hike with big daddy...


and we picked some apples!


my first corn on the cob at my first picnic...


and some playtime too!




then onto a hayride with my new friends (and mom!)






my mom with her papaw...


the holiday was exhausting to me so i napped with papaw...


then we went on another walk together:)


soon i'll follow up with some RECENT pictures of abram!!! i promise:)

update on no update...

I have an update. The update is that there is no actual update. Really, since returning from our roadtrip to Tennessee, the kid and i have been plugging along here in PA and going about our usual. Daycare, Work, tending to the house and dogs, all while husband rests up. Mono at 32 - not fun. Husband got sick the day after graduating. and still is. He's slowly getting better but its very slow. so some of our summer plans have been postponed and some altogether canceled.

I've been tackling some chores that i haven't done since before i was pregnant, ie mowing, weed pulling, bush trimming, tree trimming, hauling lumber, getting attacked my bees (husband was in on that one too, lucky him ha), pushing things in a wheelbarrow, throwing things into a dumpster, poop scooping, and more work of the great outdoors. husbands done more of the inside work since its not as physical and he can do it at his pace as he feels up to it.

He's turning the corner we believe - and maybe our summer won't be so - lost. We're planning a few fall activities for the kid (and dogs, and us!) that involve his first trip to the shore (Delware here we come!) and his first camping trip too... (Vermont here we come!). We've even been talking about working on a few house projects - some basic stuff like getting all our doorknobs to actually match and maybe replacing the 1980 window shades, more time consuming tasks like painting (ugh), and more adventurous talk about flooring...

The kid. To sum it up in one word - NonStop. He goes nonstop. He wakes at 6am ready to do. There is none of this, I need a moment to wake up crap. He wakes up and hits the ground running. He's mowing the living room by 6:02am while mom barely has the sleepy out of her eyes, much less even started the coffee pot. He's pulled out all his toys by around 6:15am, and decided that "OUT!" is much better than in... So i'm pushing his car thru our neighborhood as early as 7am with coffee in hand, trying to think of one other time in my life i was ever out walking at 7am... was there ever such a time? ever? maybe at 4-H camp... but even thats doubtful. i didn't sign up for anything physical that was going to occur before lunch. so probably not.

The kid is chatting it up with his favorite words currently as "Uh-Oh" and "Ball". He can spot a ball or balloon a mile away. And he's literally obsessed. Yesterday he practically crawled out of the shopping cart at whole foods, desperate to grab one of the gorgeous orange balls from the massive stack of orange balls in the fruit section. That took about 2 seconds of me looking at the dried cranberries and to see oranges hitting the floor in my peripheral vision to realize he was attacking the orange 'balls'. He also rolled the big green heavy 'ball' all over the dining room before i snatched it up, and chopped it to bits much to his dismay. come on - we wanted some watermelon!

Other fun things the kid has learned:

When you bite at daycare, they write you up, (everytime!)and mom puts it in the baby book.

when i want a chocolate doughnut, i'll just take it from someone elses plate even though mom sends me fruit.

when you hit your eye, it can turn black.

when you mash your finger really hard, the fingernail falls off.

skinned up knees happen so darn easy.

getting your head stuck in the banister (just last night actually) is not a big deal because dad comes and saves the day.

I can swallow a cherry seed (we think thats where it went).

a bloody lip can make dads eyes getting really big and scared looking.

how to climb ON the bed and sliding off is a cinch.

when you stand on things with wheels to get to something else, it's shaky ground.

when i run, i fall a lot more but who cares.

how to pop a balloon.

when you mash food really hard in your hand, juice usually runs down your arm which is great.

throwing food is awesome too.

how to open the back door to the deck.

not everything i put in my mouth tastes good.

there are tons of balls at the grocery store. orange ones, red ones, green ones, yellow ones, peach ones, tiny purple ones. I say ball over and over as i see them. and if you move a few in the stack, they all fall!

chasing the dogs is a lot of fun!

dumping over their water bowl or throwing things in it is a blast too.

If I hang on the oven door and pick my feet up off the ground to try and climb UP the stove, the door comes open, dropping me back to the floor. very counterproductive obviously.

I can dance just like the backyardigans by spinning in circles!

mom does NOT like when i Throw wet toilet paper out of the toilet onto the floor. i like the splash. she doesn't seem to.

I'm only allowed on the bottom step. So boring compared to the high ones.

Maple Syrup is a great styling gel. as is marinara sauce!

A final note from mom here - TO CONCLUDE a few more firsts. the kid went swimming in a real pool for the first time a week or so ago and actually loved it:) I was surprised because he's a bit funny about water sometimes but he had a blast! Thanks Kimberly and Cody, for sharing your pool:) Oh, and tooth #7 has made an official appearance, with #8 almost poking through... and i'm mentally thinking already about his costume for halloween. Husband voted for an amish boy. i was thinking scarecrow. other suggestions?

Another first - first night in a Hotel:)

For July 4th, the kid and i hit the road. Roadtrip to TN:) I hadn't been home since Christmas and was anxious to have a visit for the holiday. husband stayed behind to work and hold down the fort (aka chill at home without the kid and i) and tend to the other kids, nelly and sammy (yes dogs but we love them:)). the kid and i hit the road at 7:30pm on wednesday evening after work, and drove to Strasburg VA to stay at Fairfield Inn and Suites. Strasburg wasn't quite halfway but it gave me a great jump start on the drive, leaving just about 5 hours for the next morning's drive. We got to the hotel about 11pm (slightly delayed due to heavy rain for the first hour of the drive). Abram was SOO into our hotel room. the bed. the bathroom. the dressers. the nightstand. the remotes. the tv. the phonebook. the heater unit. the curtains. all at midnight.

Whats this say?? Where are we??


Free Breakfast?!? Sweet!!! Hope they have bananas...


Ohhh, whats that?? curtains I can reach?! YES!!


The pack n play i requested wasn't setup or put together when i got in the room - and it was so late. i didn't even have the energy to put it together so i just thought, i'll just keep him in bed with me, no big deal. Pft. No Big Deal - yea right! I am not accustomed to having him in bed with me and it was a restless night for both of us! he tosses, and turns and i felt like i woke up every 15 minutes haha...

And his fascination - and NOSEYNESS if thats a word - continued the next morning...

Whats in here?? Hhmmm...


Oh wait! is that a phonebook ...? lots of Fun thin pages for me ... yes!


and he barely ate breakfast with all the action and hustle/bustle of people and families and food... we hit the road shortly after breakfast and headed on down to TN to see the fam!!

It's Pool Time ...

For his birthday, the kid got a super cute 'pool' for the yard ... i love it because its very very shallow and has sprayers that stream water up so the kid can run thru it, play in the streams, and have a little mini pool too! its super cute and i was so anxious to try it out. we had it for weeks before we finally had a SUNNY nice day to break it out !!

And - he just wasn't sure what he thought about it... there was a lot of pointing and gibberish said...



But he wasn't so thrilled the closer he got ... especially if I wasn't right there by him ... which makes it hard to get photos, when you're in a pool with streaming water haha...



I got him to venture in and sit on his own in basically a puddle of water, once i turned the streams off...



so he splashed and played and finally started to relax and enjoy it... (after screaming about the streams of water lol)



and he's been enjoying it ever since! the more we've used it, the more adjusted he is to the water streams and sprayers and loves to play with it actually on now! But definitely still wants us right there in it with him. Husband does better on that than me, i do NOT deal well with cold water. ever. even if its 100 degrees outside! i'm such a wimp. i'm not a watergirl - never have been. i hated swimming lessons as a kid and remember those mornings of getting in the icey city pool for the dreaded lessons ugh. and i never learned a damn thing i was so cold! lol. So when we get in, i'm saying to the kid, come on its fun, see mommy LOVES it... in between my yelps when the cold water hit my skin lol... i'm not that convincing. i think i actually scare him haha. daddy does better;) MUCH better;)