First Time to "Cook"

With all the blueberries and blackberries Mommy brought back from her trip, we had to start cooking. This was Dax's first time to help "cook". He loved it. Now, he wants to cook all the time. Maybe because he thinks everything he cooks will turn out like the blueberry cream cheese coffee cake. It was pretty darn amazing. We also made a blueberry freezer pie, a blueberry pie, and a blackberry pie. It's a happy, blueberry world! :)

Stirring in the sugar and flour


Whoa! That is cool!
\

Using a sifter for a first baking experience? Pretty impressive.

Blueberry cream cheese coffee cake

Dax enjoying the coffeecake and eggs from the farm

Blueberry freezer pie

The blueberry and blackberry pies were De-Lish!

Mommy's Girls' Weekend

Mommy's friend, Kateri, planned a girls' weekend at a farm up close to Texarkana. We picked blueberries and blackberries, we relaxed, we talked (shocker!), and we ate (a lot). It was a wonderful break for Mommy and some fun bonding time for Dax and Daddy.

Our cabin on the lake at Greer Farm


Mrs. Greer's warm, homemade bread, waiting for us at check-in


Kateri, Jaelyn, Karen, & Robin enjoying the blueberries

In total, left with 6 pounds of blueberries. Yumm!

Actually relaxing and reading


Robin's homemade focaccia with homegrown tomatoes and basil

Eggs straight from the chickens


Does it get any better?

A perfect morning (view from my cabin)

When it's 97 degrees at 10:00am...

...only a snow cone can save the day

Mobile Loaves & Fishes

My Mom's group from church volunteered to help out at the Mobile Loaves & Fishes ministry. Normally, they deliver meals to the homeless around Austin. But during the summer they also deliver sack lunches to kids that normally get free lunch at school. We moms felt that feeding hungry kids was something we could get behind, so we pitched in. Most of us made the lunches and loaded up the truck, while a couple others corralled all the kiddos. Dax enjoys any project, and this was no exception. We're hoping that by doing projects like this, he'll learn the value of helping those less fortunate.

Dax helping load milk and juice cartons


Loading up the truck


Some of the moms: Cindy, Jennifer, Julie, Karen


The whole crew

Myself!

Dax is very much into doing things "myself". A common expression is, "No! Dax do it!" We love his growing independence. It was just budgeting the right amount of time for projects that took some adjustment. Here's one of his latest "successes". Pretty good for a first time.

First time to put shoes on "myself". They don't feel the same as when Momma does it, but "I did it!"

Beating the Heat

Trying to beat the heat with some juicy watermelon and as few clothes as possible. It's almost working.

Dax's 2nd Birthday Party with Friends

Dax's actual birthday is today, Monday, which is our usual "playdate" day. So, to keep things simple, we hosted playdate and provided cupcakes. We played with bubbles and ran in the sprinkler. We were very excited to have such good friends join us for Dax's day.

He got this candle on the first try


Payton and Hollie enjoying a cupcake


Even Avery joined us!


Benjamin with his Grandma (Mommy was at the hospital getting ready to deliver his baby sister)


Kaylee is a water baby!


Miles and Payton checking out the sprinkler


Ethan is more of a golf man


Payton getting in to the bubbles!


Payton, Miles, & Ethan


Dax liked this skeleton at the doctor's office. He's sharing his cracker with it.

Big Boy Bed - Part 2

So bedtime tonight took over 2 hours before Dax fell asleep. He again pulled his many stunts to show us that he can indeed get out of his big boy bed. My absolute favorite was when he came out in to the hall, made loud fake snoring sounds, then ran back to his room. It was so hard not to laugh! I'm sure he was convinced that we "bought it" and thought that he really was asleep. What a funny kid.

Duane's favorite moment was actually pretty sweet: Duane was rocking Dax in the chair, and a very sleepy 2-year old, looked up and said, "sorry, Dadda". I guess he knew he was supposed to stay in bed, but he just couldn't control himself, and he was sorry.

Maybe there's hope the next few nights will get better. Luckily, Duane and I are keeping our patience, and our senses of humor. For now. ;)

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day, we all went to breakfast at the 1886 Cafe (the cafe at the Driskill Hotel). Duane and Karen stayed at the Driskill after the wedding and had breakfast at the cafe the next morning. So, it's a special place for us. And the food is amazing! Today,Dax was very well behaved and helped make Dadda feel extra special by sharing his fruit with him.

We then walked around the Capitol building. It was Dax's first time. He enjoyed running in circles in the rotunda. And he would wave at the security guard every time he ran by. Luckily, the officer thought it was amuzing.

At church, Dax colored a necktie for Dadda. The rest of the day, we relaxed as a family. Duane is such a caring and loving husband and father; we are truely blessed to have him in our lives.

It's tradition to lay on the floor of the Capitol rotunda and look up

Ready..Set..Run around in circles!

Dax and Momma

Kisses for World's Greatest Dadda

First Night with Big Boy Bed

After Dax's birthday party, we hoped that he was so tired that he'd go "right to sleep" in his new big boy bed. Boy were we wrong. He was so fired up about it. Here's the play-by-play:
7:15pm - finish stories and prayers, explain that big boys stay in bed, kisses night night, close door
1- Dax climbs out of bed over the end (where he used to climb out of the crib), racks himself. Dry tears. "Stay in bed."
2- Dax gets up, opens, then closes door, runs back to bed. We explain he needs to "stay in bed"
3- Dax climbs out of bed over the end again, this time falls down between wall and bed. Dry tears. "stay in bed"
4- Dax claims he needs to go potty. Take him to potty. He actually does have a wet diaper. Put on dry diaper. "Stay in bed."
5- Dax claims he needs to go poop. Tell him "too bad. stay in bed."
6- Dax again claims he needs to go poop. When I go in, he asks for yellow blanket to cover him (and the lamb and the baby)
7- Hear noises, Dax is on floor and has emptied 1/2 of a large bottle of hand sanitizer all over the floor, his lamb, his baby, his blanket, and himself
***note: by this time we aren't talking to him***
8- Dax yells for yellow blanket to be rearranged. Wants to hold momma's hand
9- Hear noises, Dax has pulled every single wipe out of the wipes container and spread all over the floor.
10- More calls for yellow blanket arranging
11- Now he wants the white blanket; had pulled one of the wipes out the trash and is using it as a blanket for the lamb
12- Dax comes out, stands in hall with "sheepish" smirk (mom almost loses it), he runs back in, yelling for the blue blanket. tell him thru the door to "stay in bed"
***quiet for 5 minutes, check and he's awake, reading a book in bed
13- comes out again, wants momma to read the book. no.
14- hear noises, thru the door say "lie down and stay in bed."
***quiet for 5 minutes, check and he's in bed awake, cuddling with the lamb
8:40pm - an hour and a half later, he's alseep. mom and dad are exhausted.

Textbook, right? :)

Family Birthday Party

Dax's birthday is on Monday, and Father's Day is on Sunday, so we decided to celebrate Dax's birthday with the family on Saturday. We had Aunt Kay and Jenna come in from Houston (the boys are at camp), plus all the Rouses: Grandma, Uncle Travis, Aunt Hollie, Payton, and Uncle Craig. We relaxed, opened some presents, ate some bbq, and generally enjoyed each others' company.

The cake had a train on it, because he gets pretty fired up about trains. BTW - my little soap box here - but, WHY is it SO HARD to find a regular, old train that is NOT a "Thomas" train? Does everything have to be licenced? Sheesh! Anyway, the cake had a regular train on it (from the same bakery that did the Brown Bear cake for us last year). It took Dax a few tries, but he eventually blew out the candle.

He's been practicing holding up two fingers and he's really good at it now.

We are truly blessed to have such a special, loving, fun, (I could go on and on) son. And we are so happy to have extended family that loves him as much as we do.

Making monkey faces with Jenna

New Trike!

Singing "Happy Birthday"


He worked really hard to blow out that candle, but he did it!

I'm TWO!

Big Boy Bed

Well, I couldn't find any crib tents (Babies R Us doesn't sell them anymore), so we decided to bite the bullet and convert Dax's crib into a "toddler bed". We know this won't help with the "getting out" of bed part, but, hopefully it'll help with the injury potential, and maybe we'll be able to convince him that big boys stay in big boy beds. I can dream, right?

The first time Dax slept in the big boy bed, he didn't even know it, because he fell asleep in the car before his nap. So, we moved him in and he slept great. When he woke up, he was a little surprised, but he really liked the bed. He's been talking about "Momma Dadda Bed" for a while, and he loves to get in to our bed. So, we figured he'd like it. The real test will be tonight.

First time in his "big boy bed"

Checking out the new bed

Things That Go "Bump" In The Night

Dax has a new trick. He's climbing out of his crib. A LOT. He used to be pretty good about laying down and going to sleep once we put him in his crib. Lately, though, he's been climbing out and then running out into the hallway shrieking with laughter. So, we put him back in, explain that it's time to go "night night" and to stay in bed, etc, and that works OK (not great, but OK).

The other night I heard him making noise in his room about 30 minutes after I put him to bed, so I went to check on him. As I was walking down the hallway, I saw 5 little fingers sticking out from under the bedroom door. I flipped on the hall light and he froze. About 10 seconds later they s.l.o.w.l.y. disappeared behind the door again. It was all I could do not to laugh.

He's pretty adept at getting out (he's quiet about it, too), but he has fallen a couple times. A few nights ago he fell out and when we ran to his room, we threw open the door and accidentally smacked him with the door. Talk about insult to injury!

Last night though, we woke up at 4:30am to the sound of a door being shut. We opened our bedroom door to find the dog sitting there, which was a little confusing, especially thru the sleep-fog, but a second later, around the corner comes Dax saying, "Hi, Dadda!" Apparently, Dax had decided it was not only time to get up, but also to let Badger out the bathroom (where she sleeps). Grrr. We did manage to get him back in bed, but we decided we're going to have to take some drastic steps to get this under control.

Chance and Aunt Kay Visit

Chance is attending a basketball camp at UT, so we went to watch him play some games. He got to stay in the Jester dorm, but Aunt Kay stayed with us. She even joined us for an outing to play on the cows at the Arboretum. A fun weekend, for sure.

Does my smile look "natural"?


Ready to roll


Look! I can ride a cow with no hands!


Is the heat starting to wear him out?


What? Did you say "ice cream"? I'm full of energy again!

At the Lake with Grandma

Uncle Travis, Aunt Hollie, and Payton joined us on the boat for a morning of fun. We always have fun with them, but this time was even more fun because, for the first time ever, Grandma came too! Uncle Travis and Daddy did some wakeboarding, while the kids and ladies enjoyed the ride. When it got hot, we just jumped in the water to cool off. Dax is completely fearless and will jump off the back of the boat whether you're ready to catch him or not. Unfortunately, the adults learned the hard way that "waterproof" sunscreen, isn't really waterproof. :( Luckily, the kids didn't get burned, though. Grandma said she enjoyed being on the boat with us and that she actually hopes we invite her again. A definite success of a trip!

Ready to ride: Grandma, Dax, and Payton


Dax and Daddy having some laughs in the water


Fun with noodles


Payton got her first driving lesson