Oh Rainy Days

My Laundry Helper

Talking with some people the other day the topic came up of thorns and roses. A family in our ward goes around the table before dinner and before they can eat, each person shares their rose (best part of the day) and their thorn (the not so best part). In thinking about mine last week my thorn would have to be the rainy weather. We are going on about 5 days of rain and while I love the cool weather that first accompanied it, it has since turned muggy,  my little man and I are going stir crazy! I always forget how hard it is to spend the whole day indoors when we are used to spending at least 2 or three hours outside. When we do go outside it results in extra laundry, a bath, and drying shoes. It's a good thing Tate's fan runs all night long so it can dry his shoes each day too. Every time I try to talk myself out of the mess Tate will be making outside I remember the mormonad by President Ucthdorf, Moments that Matter Most. Definitely one of my favorites. Anyway here are the moments captured by Josh's phone camera. So much fun!

Love the footprints

First ice cream on a stick.

The "Shoes" Face

So for the last couple weeks Tate has been making the best face every time he says shoes. I have been trying to catch it for weeks and finally succeeded. He is going to be so grateful someday when we have these pictures for his wedding video!

Tonight he was such a little character. I took his shirt off so he could play in a water bucket. When I let him out of his chair he started rolling on the linoleum like a little worm. Then Josh got out his table and Tate though the arm handles were the perfect steps to climb on to allow for standing on the table. He is so funny! I love it when he eats all of his food. It makes him so silly.

Another precious Tate moment I don't want to forget. Yesterday Tate had his 18 month apartment. While at the doctors he decided to peruse in my purse as I tried to fill out all the pile of paper work they had for me. I don't understand how they expect you to keep a curious kid out of unlocked cabinets while filling out papers. Anyway the doctor came in and Tate promptly opened my wallet, took out some money, and gave it to the doctor. Then he headed to the door to leave. She told me that had never happened before... My child already tries to pay off the doctor. After that he was such a good boy for the visit and didn't even cry for his shots. What a funny little man I have. 

18 Months of Mostly Wonderful

This week has been filled with fun. On Tuesday Josh and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It's crazy to think we have been married so long, sniff. It only gets better. We celebrated by cooking steaks. My skills have a long way to go, and my one day grill will do them more justice, but they turned out pretty delicious. Thanks to Lindsay and Kyle for the steaks! Josh's chiropractic table also arrived on our anniversary. Tate loves the box and Josh loves the table so it was a win win purchase. We went out to dinner to celebrate some more on Thursday to Hu Hot Mongolian grill and the food was ok but the company was awesome. It is so fun to have a babysitter and be able to eat my whole meal without feeding or sharing with my little man. The conversation keeps getting better the longer we are married too. 

Yesterday Tate turned 18 month s old. It's hard for me to believe my baby is so big. He's picked up so many words this week and seems to add more every day. I am amazed at his understanding. He is still as busy as ever, and never wants to stop. We went to a church function on Friday and he found a new love for balloons. They are on my shopping list for the near future because they bring him so much joy. To celebrate 18 months we bought Tate a container of blueberries. He was in heaven. He goes to the fridge, asks for entrance, and then promptly finds the blueberry container and brings it to me to open and deliver the goods. He would eat the whole thing in one setting if I let him!

Today has been a wonderful Mother's Day. I got a box from my mommy with chocolates and a book for me that I love as well and treats for the whole family. Tate loves boxes! Tate was an angel at church for me and stayed in nursery the whole time. I was so proud. I'm always amazed what I can accomplish at church without my child with me. Josh made me a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. I forgot how much Tate loved the meal. Watching him eat it was the best mother's day gift ever. I love my family!!!!

Oh the Garden

 Tonight for FHE we decided to learn about gardens. We read from President Kimball's talk on planting a garden and then we practiced saying the names of the plants we had planted. We also practiced being gentle with the plants and playing only in the dirt. Earlier today Tate decided the plants were as beautiful as flowers and promptly picked one of my tomatoes. It was heart breaking and led to a lesson on caring for the garden. After our lesson we drew pictures with side walk chalk of all of the delicious foods that come from gardens. Tate had about as much chalk on him as the sidewalk did, but it was fun! After cleaning up the chalk Tate went back to examine the garden one more time and snap like a monkey out of a tree another of my tomatoes was out of the ground. I've replanted both and hope to see them blessed and producing some day! What a little bug!

Family = Fun

This week Tawnie was able to come into town. It was so fun to have family here! I look forward to the day we live closer to enjoy it more often. We went to the zoo, the museum, the caves, and the grocery store. We even got my garden planted. It is silly how much a kiddy pool full of dirt can make me so happy. I love just looking out the window each morning and seeing how much it might have grown. The highlight was Maquoketa Caves. It was the perfect weather and we were the only hikers there. Tate was in love. He would get so easily distracted with rock and stick collecting he would forget to watch his step. We saw 2 snakes (disgusting), a tree with 7 huge hawks in it (don't worry I disclosed the snake locations to them and told them to get to work), 5 deer, and many squirrels. Tate walked over a mile, took only a 20 minute nap in the car on the way home, and only slept in an hour later the next morning. I need to figure out his energy secret. Tawnie taught Tate to say cool cool and loves his new puzzle from his awesome aunt. We miss her already!

His rock was HUGE!

Ready to go bright and early. Notice he found my wallet and keys.

 Tonight we called Talmage to wish him happy birthday. Tate sang happy birthday the rest of the evening as he played with his cars. It is amazing how many words he is picking up daily. He has even improved his jump this week. Now both feet get off of the ground 70% of the time. Such a fun age!