Last but not least for today...

I'm actually posting on the day that something happened!!! :)

DAWSON STARTED CRAWLING!!!! YAY!!! We are soo very excited! It's so cute and he knows it too. He's becoming much more mobile and it's great! We've been patiently waiting for this day to come! Something I never thought I'd be saying, hehe!

On another note, he is getting 5 teeth in...two of them are his one year molars :( He's doing really well for them coming in. He's a strong boy -- they don't seem to bother him all that bad; but can definitely tell he's teething -- he always has something in his mouth (i.e. fingers or blanket).

Next weekend is Dawson's 1 year birthday. I just cannot believe how fast it has gone! I will post some photos after his little celebration of digging into his cake :)

Kylie's First Trip to Valleyfair

Last Sunday, August 3, 2008, I had my company family outing at Valleyfair and I thought it would be a great experience for Kylie to go (especially because we didn't have to pay for it). :) Dawson stayed with our friends, Jamie and Brian, while we had a day with Kylie. The rain seemed to hold off for us and it wasn't super hot, it was great because the park wasn't real busy either. Below are a few pictures of Kylie having TONS of fun!

Dave and Kylie on the hot air balloons!

Kylie on the "MILD THING" (in the black shirt). She went on this roller coaster 3 times in a row! She loved it!

Kylie and Jen on the ferris wheel -- this was the last ride of the day!

Dawson's First Bike Ride

Dawson took his first bike ride in the bike trailer! I don't think he really knew what to think...he was quite quiet the entire time riding. But Kylie on the other hand, enjoyed riding instead of biking herself -- as she would say, "if I biked a really long ways, my legs would get tired" and we did go for a long bike ride that day, so decided to have her give her brother some company. Dave got the big workout by pulling the bike trailer!

Kylie's started soccer

Kylie started soccer a couple weeks ago and is really liking it...it keeps her moving at all times and this girl has so much energy that soccer actually makes her tired afterwards! :)

Dawson digging in!

Dave was gone one night last week and I totally let Dawson dig into his dinner -- which usually does not happen if Daddy is home! Check out these photos, he had a blast and of course, it was a messy one -- spaghetti!!!

Saturday at Como Zoo

This last Saturday, we had a very fun filled day at Como Zoo. Kylie goes every year and still has soo much fun and this was Dawson's first year and he also seemed to really enjoy it or at least enjoy everyone's company :) We brought my godchild with us -- it was her 11th birthday on Friday, so I thought it would be a nice treat to have her join us. Kylie's cousin Brynn also came with with her Grandma; so we had a nice little group and had tons of fun!

I've been to Como Zoo every year for the past 3-4 years and I've never seen the Butterfly Exhibit. It was really cool and the kids didn't know what to think...but the butterflies really loved Dave. They kept landing on his head or his back.

Dawson too really loved the butterflies. He didn't know what to think at first, but kept trying to grab at them! It was really cute! I swear this child is not afraid of anything! :)

Finally after looking at everything in the Zoo (it was Sparky the Seal's birthday too) including Kylie's favorite, the giraffe's:

we headed over to Como Town and rode some rides! Yes, this Mom got onto the "Dragon" rollercoaster! Kylie definitely enjoyed it more than I did -- in which I was completely surprised! She had a blast! Dave and Kennedy also rode a ride with Kylie and it flew in the air and spun by them turning the little table in the middle...no thank you! I wouldn't have made it through that ride! There must be something about having two kids and not being able to handles the rides anymore :)


While in Como Town they had a thing called "Bear Express". Very similar to Build a Bear Workshop...but the "Express" version...so the kids picked out an animal to stuff and an outfit to put on their animals/bear. Kylie and Brynn got the giraffe and Kennedy got a bunny -- both very cute! :) Kylie's giraffe and outfit (cheerleader outfit) were a odd but cute combination...hehe!

We ended the fun filled day with a little BBQ outside the park. Grandpa brought his little gas grill and we cooked up some brats and hot dogs and hung out for an hour or so before we took off for the afternoon. The kids were exhausted by the end of the day and took naps when we got home!

That evening, we had a bonfire with smores of course! It was a great evening for it, until the mosquitos decided to come out around 9:30 - 10 p.m.

Look Alikes?

Daddy, sorry, but there is no denying these kids!

Let's put a mustach on Dawson!

They may have a "smidge" of Mom in them :)

Jamie's "Friends" Baby Shower

Elizabeth and I had a friends shower for Jamie on July 13. She came out with some really good things that will be a great help for her with baby Lydia! :) Our friend Rachel was in town from Seattle, so we were able to arrange the shower around the time she was planning on being in town. It worked out perfect! It was nice to get all of us girls together to chit chat and visit, with our busy schedules these days, it's very hard to do! As for the shower, they "I think" enjoyed playing the "poopy diaper" game! We melted different kinds of chocolate and put them in a diaper and the guests had to guess what kind of chocolate it was...some of them (most of them) were pretty disgusting...HA! It was quite hilarious though!

Rachel, Angie (expecting at the end of Aug.) and Jamie

Jamie and the soon to be Grandma Lisa

Dawson and a freezee

So Sunday night, Dawson tried a freezee and after those first few bites, he loved it and ate almost the entire thing!! Check it out :)

"Hmmm...my teethers are cold"

"This is COLD"

I LOVE THIS FACE!!!

"Now, this is good (but still a little cold)"

Long 4th of July Weekend!

Wow, where do I start -- what an extremely long weekend!! My weekend started out last Wednesday (while Dave worked) -- woohoo! I got to spend a couple days with the kids (as daycare was on vacation) and I loved it! I don't usually get days with the kids by myself, but I totally enjoyed it and the weather was perfect in all ways for us to spend a lot of time outside!



Friday, the 4th of July, Dave and I and my parents and my cousin Scott went on a motorcycle ride! The week before Dave bought a Harley! It is soo much fun! We had an absolute blast and the weather was great. I actually ended up getting sun burned, thinking aww...I'll be fine and not thinking this was my first real long time in the sun. Unfortunately, I do not believe in sun screen for myself, so I guess I'll pay the consequences! Then Friday night we went over to our friends, Jamie and Brian's house for a little get together and a BBQ with a little bean bag toss and a few UNO games and on our way home, we stopped on the side of the road to watch fireworks. We couldn't figure out why all these people were stopped on the road (the fireworks hadn't started yet), so we're like what the heck, we'll pull over too and then shorter after, they started booming...they were pretty as Kylie would say!

Then on Saturday, my parents had a BBQ, so we headed down there in the afternoon and hung out with the family for a few hours! It was a good time and Kylie spent most of the time playing with her two cousins she doesn't see a whole lot and swimming :) Dawson went swimming for the first time and didn't know what to think! He would stand up in the pool, but wouldn't sit -- I think it was cold on his tummy and it scared him a bit. Then when we got home, the neighbors were having a bonfire ("firecamp" for Kylie), so Kylie and I headed over there for smores. It was definitely a very exhausting day!

Sunday, we literally laid around all day -- I "attempted" to clean the house, but unfortunately didn't get too far...Dave and Kylie cleaned her room and I got the kitchen floor cleaned and that's about it. We went for a walk later in the evening and it was still soo darn hot out, I broke a sweat at 6:30 p.m. It was just gross!

But all in all, it was a great 5 days off. I needed that time and can honestly say, I enjoyed every day!