bookworm

So my son's favorite thing these days are books!  Book Books Books.  It's the first thing he pulls off the shelf in the morning.  He grabs a book, crawls over to me on his elbows while holding the book (because he still isn't walking) thrusts it towards me and says "mah mah mah" (more more more).  So we read the book.  Then we read it again.  And again.  And again.  Then I convince him to choose another book so I don't loose my mind reading the same book over and over.  And he does.  Rinse lather repeat.  Before you know it, half an hour has gone by and all we've done is read books.

And when Daddy comes home he becomes the book reader. 

We stopped at the Goodwill store in town a few days ago and picked up some new books for $.50 and Brooks loves them.

Apparently Charlie does too :)  I love my little bookworm.  Let's just hope this loves of books continues.

1 year later

Exactly one year ago we took this picture.  It was a Sunday, SD pheasant opener to be exact.  And our little peanut was only 4 months old.

Well, here he is one year later.  It was pheasant opener again and Brooks wore his flannel shirt for the occasion ... again.

Isn't he just he most handsome little boy you've ever seen??  He wasn't donning any camoflauge this year because ... well, we don't have any camo that fits him (ahem, Dad).

This is his infamous "cheesey smile".  What a goofy kiddo!  And if you look real close, you'll see his front tooth that he chipped a few weeks ago.  Yeah, he's all boy.  Now I have to wait 5+ years for that tooth to fall out and a normal one to replace it.

Anteater Eater

As we were playing in Brooks' room before bed last night we discovered the mini beanie babies.  I pulled out the puppy and he signed "puppy".  I pulled out the bird and he signed "bird".  Then we pulled out the anteater and he did this .....

He stuck the whole nose of that anteater right in his mouth!  And then he carried it around that way for the next five minutes.  And it struck me so funny that I laughed out loud!!!

Oh yeah, he played with other toys and crawled all over the place with that thing in his mouth.  Then this morning after I changed him and got him dressed, he found that goofy anteater and did it again!!

"Here mama, you try it."

I love my little anteater eater.

Summer heat ... in October???

On Friday the high temp in Sioux Falls reached a whoppin' 85 degrees.  Yep, 85.  It's October!!  And this weekend has been more of the same.  October is supposed to be when you dust of the hooded sweatshirts and warm up apple cider and put away the flip flops.  But not this week.  I actually pulled all my sandals back out and even some shorts.  It's crazy.  But I'm not complaining.  If this weather means postponing the nastiness of winter, then bring it on!!

So because of the nice weather, we naturally took advantage of it and went outside and colored with chalk.

Even Charlie was hot.  We actually only spent about 15 minutes outside because Brooks was still dealing with croup and the heat seemed to make his cough worse.  But it was fun getting out while we could.

Then on Saturday Augustana College had their homecoming parade.  And since it was only 1 block away from our house, we decided to walk down and take in the festivities.  My favorite part, of course, were the marching bands.

Brooks' favorite would have to be this ...

A blue sucker.  With every parade comes candy, and Brooks wanted a part of it.  So he had his very first sucker.  And boy was he a mess!

Look at that blue tongue :)

Oh yeah.  He ate the whole thing.  Then he started working on the paper stem too ... until I took it away, that is.  What a perfect day for a parade. 

And despite the hot weather I snuck in a few baking projects too.  I actually canned my first jars of applesauce.

It wasn't as hard as I thought and suprsingly enough, they actually sealed!!!

I think I'll be making more in the near future ... now that my fear of the jars exploding has been releived.  And because I have so many apples still left, I made this beautiful pie. 

Betty Crocker ... eat your heart out!!  That's a homemade crust, homemade pie filling, lattice top and (sort of) fluted edges.  Are you impressed, mom??

This week it's supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's again so it looks like we'll be spending more time coloring with chalk, swining on swings and going for walks.  So HA!  Take that winter!

croup de croup

By the grace of God (and by him alone) I can count on one hand the number of times my little boy has been sick. And even when he's sick it's a low grade fever or an annoying cough, but never anything serious.  And so the story goes today.  This week my little fella came down with croup.  Well, I think it's croup because I never took him to the doctor; but instead played "all knowing" doctor myself with a little help from webMD.  Yep all the symptoms are there.  A bark-like cough, wheezy breaths, and a low grade fever.  The kiddo has croup.  Bummer.  So we've laid low and taken it easy, just like we're supposed to.  There's a humidifier in his room and last night I rubbed Vicks on his feet (because all my experienced mom friends said that's the thing to do)  And it makes me said to hear him cry or even to hear him laugh because both sound the same with his raspy, wheezy voice.  Poor guy.  And yesterday we laid in the recliner downstairs, put in a girly movie Chris would never watch and we snuggled!  Yep, he laid his head on my chest for an hour (a whole hour!!) and snuggled.  And as much as it pains me to see him sick, I'm reassured knowing this thing will be gone in a few days and he'll be back to himself again, ripping the toilet paper off the roll and flinging dirt onto the floor from my house plants. 

Ah Fall

I love fall.  Have I mentioned that before??  Because I do.  I live for the cooler weather and changning leaves and apple cider and picking apples and carving pumpkins.  Because before you know it the sharp bitter winds of winter will rear their ugly head and we will all have to hunker down like hibernating mama bears till the spring thaw comes.  So on this beautiful day, Cole and I decided to rake the leaves for the sole purpose of jumping in them.  (B was taking his nap, but don't worry, he gets in on the action later)

It's hard work, as you can see.  But our labor was not in vain.  Because once our little pile was in place it was ready for .....

JUMPING!!!!

Oh what fun!  Then Jeff and Drew showed up.  And Drew in all his articulate-ness asked "Do you think that I may jump into that leaf pile?"  Umm, YES!  So he did.

Cole captured it right there.  That's what fall is about, baby!  Speaking of which, Brooks finally woke up from his nap so we brought him outside to enjoy the beauty of the day.  I sat him next to the pile, just waiting for him to dive right in!

And he crawled away.

So I put him IN the pile (and caught a sneeze too :) 

And he crawled OUT.

And all the way ...

.... back ...

... to the house.

Bummer.  I guess our first leaf jumping experience wasn't as successful as I had hoped.  But to give him credit, they were pretty dry and scratchy.  Oh well.  This may have been the first, but will certainly not be the last time we jump in leaves.  I love fall!!!