Prayers

When we tell Eli to bow his head for prayers before dinner this is what he does. So cute.

Monogram Wall

Just an idea I got for another blog I read. This is in the living room above our couch. I love it. Probably should have done something like this a long time ago. The blank frames are going to be filled with some family pictures and the existing pictures will be replaced with newer ones (just liked the idea of our kids on the wall as opposed to the weird pictures the frames always come with).

Peek a boo, adapted

Me: Oh no! Where did binger go?

(Eli giggling uncontrollably in the background)
Eli: Train (pronounced chain)

Me: You're under the train?

Eli: Uh-huh

This is when I pull the shirt off of his head and he loses it, hence the blurry photos:). And of course, I usually throw in a really good tickle fit too.


Eli: More!

So glad the little things in life haven't lost their fun to him yet. Life doesn't get much better than a good ole' game of peek a boo!

6 Months

I can't believe this little rugrat is 6 months old already! I've said it every month, but it's still true, so I'll say it again......time flies! It's so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this little joy has been a part of our family for 6 months. It doesn't seem like it's been that long already but at the same time, it seems like it's been so much longer. She looks like a little butterball, but Kamdyn is still a petite little thing. The dr. walked in and saw her and said, "wow, she looks so much bigger than her measurements indicate!"

Height: 24 1/4 in (10th percent)

Weight: 14.14 (25th percent)

Head Circumference: 16 3/4 in (50th percent)

Kamdyn,

You bring us so much joy everyday. Your smile and laugh is so infectious and at just 6 months, you have the capacity to brighten up the worst of days. You already show such a love for life that just draws everyone to you. I look forward to many many more months and years with you doodle bug.

Love,

Mommy

Osage Park

So a couple of weeks ago (ok, probably more like 3 or 4) we took Eli to Osage Park. He loves the water so much I thought he might enjoy a park full of fountains. He didn't hate it, but he didn't really love it. He wasn't real sure about all the fountains. He's so used to just splashing in the pool and not actually running under water. Besides, there were too many other kids to watch. Eli has always been the little observer of our family, just like his mommy. Whenever we are someplace with a lot of people he just watches them. We haven't made it back yet this summer, but I have every intention of going back again and giving these fountains another shot.

Mmmmm, green beans

I've had every intention of starting Kamdyn on baby food for a couple of weeks now. But, I want to TRY to make our baby food this time around, and I just kept putting actually making the food off. Well, I finally got myself together this week and got some baby food made. Yay for me! It was super easy to do and didn't take as long as I thought it would with the processor. There is definitely much more work involved, and I'm sure I would much rather just open a jar of already made baby food, but I'm going to do my best to stick with it. Like I said, it's not hard, and it didn't take too long, it's just a matter of getting it done. I started Kamdyn with quite possibly one of the grossest foods out there in a baby's mind (and I'm sure many adults)....green beans. Eli got a lot of the fruits first and consequently totally hates vegetables, so I'm starting at the other end this time. Don't know if it will make any difference at all, but it can't hurt to try. So far she doesn't seem to mind them; I wouldn't say she totally loves them, but she doesn't know anything better:) She is still a total mess when she eats, but she is slowly starting to get a little bit better. Maybe by the time she's 5 she will be able to manage getting the majority of her food in her mouth:)

All of our delicious canned green beans drained and rinsed ready to go in the food processor for the first time.
Kamdyn was a big help. Eli was in his room playing with his Uncle Ross and his cousin James. They were much too busy destroying Eli's room to care much about what I was doing in the kitchen.
Yummy.....processed green beans!
5 cans of green beans gave us two trays and about 4 jars of baby food. Not too bad. As little as Kamdyn eats right now, one "green bean ice cube" is about one meal for her so it's perfect.
First taste of the green goodness
Not entirely sure what the heck I spiked her rice cereal with. Thinking..." this doesn't taste the way I remember!"
Kamdyn was more interested in being the dinner entertainment for our friends Mike and Lucy who were over for dinner that night.
Good eating....fistful of rice cereal and green beans.

4th of July

We had a good 4th of July over here at the Hutton household. We were originally supposed to go down to the farm to ride four wheelers and shoot off some fireworks, but the rain all day kept us home instead. We figured we didn't want to go mudding on the four wheelers (Brian and I got stuck in the mud 6 years ago on the 4th when we were at the farm, right after we got engaged. I had to get off and walk so we could get the four wheeler out:)). So instead of the farm, everyone came over to our place and we ate dinner and did some fireworks from the driveway. We didn't have anything too crazy, just some smoke bombs, sparklers, and poppers. Eli was definitely not sure what to think about the fireworks. He wasn't really into it at first. We kept trying to get him to step on the poppers, but he wouldn't do it. Our nephew was the complete opposite. When Brian started lighting sparklers, Eli moved as far away as he could back by the cars. After watching his cousin stop the poppers without fear, he eventually warmed up and started stepping. Kamdyn enjoyed the evening because she got lots of attention. She got to see the fireworks from lots of different arms so she was in heaven. She

loves when people come over and she gets spoiled!

This was Eli's face for about the first 20 minutes we were outside with the sparklers and smoke bombs. He backed up as far as he could and wouldn't go closer with any of us for a while.

James and Eli watching the sparklers.

Kamdyn was very excited about the sparklers and poppers.
Finally decided the little poppers were pretty cool.
Looks like I had James in a headlock:). Really, we were just trying to get a cute picture because he kept crawling up on my lap. He's such a little wiggle worm! These boys have SO much energy.

Great Plains Transportation Museum

Last weekend we took Eli to the Great Plains Transportation Museum downtown. Eli is so crazy about Trains I thought he would go crazy. I found a coupon for one free admission, so I thought we better get ourselves the the museum before it expired. I don't think Eli was quite sure what to think. On one hand I think he loved the trains, on the other, I think they were so huge (these things were massive!) that they kind of scared him a little bit. He's used to seeing the remote control train at Granny and Papa's or trains from the car, nothing quite so big, so close. He enjoyed exploring the trains for a while, but I think it was just too much for him. Besides, it was blazin' hot outside, so I think that contributed to some of his uncertainty. It will probably be a while before we go back again....for one thing, they are only open on Saturdays (Sundays part of the year), but secondly, he threw a monster of a fit when we were leaving. Eli has thrown plenty of fits before (he rarely gets what he actually wants), but I have never seen one like this. These wheels were HUGE! Eli looked so little standing next to them. I knew trains were big, but this thing just seemed even more massive than I would have ever thought.
Kamdyn enjoyed the trains from the shade of the stroller. She had the best spot the whole morning. It was so hot in the sun, but great in the shade with a wonderful breeze.

Eli checking out the tracks behind him. We got to see a train pass by behind us once. Eli enjoyed watching that train go by so close.

4th of July pictures to come!

I'm bringing him up well

I gotta say, for me, one of the greatest things about having kids is watching their little personalities evolve. Watching how they deal with situations, their temperment, their quirks, and likes/dislikes is so much fun (most of the time). Not only that, but its fun to see the little quirks they pick up from you.

I just gotta say....I'm raising him well:) I'm not talking about how he deals with things, because at 2, his methods kind of stink. I mean seriously, throwing that fit doesn't get you want you want (one of these days (maybe in 18 years) he will figure this out for himself!). What I'm talking about is the things he picks up from me and Brian. I love how Eli has adopted Brian's love for life; his love for fun and play and his passion for things he loves. Truly amazing. I'm not so sure I like the stubbornness he's genetically received from his mommy and daddy, but you gotta take the good with the not so good:) From his mommy......he's learned so many things.....good things too:) When Eli spills or makes a mess on the floor, he runs into the kitchen, grabs the dishtowel, and "cleans" up his mess. Makes me smile every time. That's my boy:) He also LOVES the vacuum. We don't usually let him actually vacuum, but I bet he would willingly if we let him. He walks all through the house with the little vacuum just cleaning up the floors. Now, I don't actually really like vacuuming, but I do love clean floors, so the vacuuming is necessary. I can always count on Eli to help me out. He's a boy after his own momma's heart.

I gotta say, one of the greatest things Eli's gotten from me is his sweet tooth:) Probably would be better for him if he was more like his daddy on this, but I'm sure glad I have a partner in crime. Eli will never turn down a good sweet; ice cream, cookies, cake...you name it. I had some cake in the house a couple of weeks ago and every time I asked him what he wanted to for breakfast he told me "cake". Sorry buddy, not gonna happen...but it was still cute. I can always count on Eli to eat a cookie with me when I get the craving (who am I kidding...get a craving... I could eat cookies everyday!) for sweets. Since it's summer, we've been big on ice cream around here. Ice cream sandwiches are the best this time of year. A couple of weeks ago Eli got to have his first ice cream sandwich all to himself (usually stuck sharing with me) by the pool. Life can't get much better than that.

Papa was there to supervise and help out when he needed. The nice thing about being by the pool is that I could care less if he gets messy. This was the first time he was allowed to hold his own sandwich too. I think he was pretty pumped to not have to share and to be able to hold it all by himself to control the amount of ice cream going into his mouth:)

Last HUGE bite that he wanted to fit all in his mouth. It was just too good to take two bites.
This is the only way to clean of a messy ice cream sandwich face. Much easier than a washcloth!