Saturday, July 10, 2010

Mother's Day and Andi's Birthday Party








Mother's Day was fun since we had four moms to share it with this year. We had a beautiful and delicious meal as usual up at Grandma and Grandpa Guida's. My mom had the kids make potted pansies in the garage as a gift and I barely managed to get them all in one shot--even Clyde! We made some more progress on the boat, and silly Daddy pushed Will around in his diaper box car.

Miss Andi wanted a swimming pool for her birthday so Nana and I went out and found one, but Will was the only one who seemed interested in jumping in...shoes and all! It quickly became a dog water bowl for Clyde, Doyal, Baby and Penny, but Will didn't seem to mind. His sweet cousin Nick brought out just about every toy he had that would float for him, and we finished up with ice cream sundaes....mmmm!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Grandma's birthday party








We celebrated my mom's birthday at our house this weekend and had a great time! While it wasn't warm enough to eat outside, we managed to squeeze everyone in for enchiladas and pecan pie. Will was thrilled to see NIck and Andi again and had been saying Nick's name for days. Nony came too, and we watched the kids chase each other all around the house. When it was over Will slept for 3 full hours! Terry and I continued our work on the ship, and later Will played dress up with my things. Terry was thrilled...

Proud moments










I made Will proud when I graduated with honors last weekend with my Associate's Degree from Weber State University. Nana, my mom, Chris and I make up three generations of Weber graduates! It has taken forever, but the next one will hopefully come sooner now that I've finally picked a program! Unfortunately (for me, not them) Mom and Dominick were in Greece at the time, and Chris and Shelly were unable to attend, but Nony, Nana, Terry, Will, and my friends Teresa and Vanh were there to cheer for me. That made it even sweeter! Add to that my recent weight loss and new wardrobe shopping spree, and I was feeling pretty great!

Afterward, Will came home and walked around in Daddy's shoes for a while. Now I understand why Bigfoot pictures are always blurry! He clomped around for a while before taking them off to begin running! He's a quick little bugger now! He's even going downstairs upright just holding the railing! It gives me a heart attack every time I watch, but he just looks so proud! He decided he wanted to walk the dogs now too, so we did several laps around the yard with great success. I'm pretty sure the dogs were less than thrilled about it, but they behaved, and he just beamed!

His vocabulary was at about 70 words, but it's skyrocketed in the last two weeks! I was so proud this week when he conjugated a verb! He normally says, "Where'd go?" but now also says, "Where going?" (He's been speaking similar complete sentences for months now. I'm sure he's a genius. Just sayin'...) And he authoritatively tells the dogs (and Daddy) to stay out of the kitchen and off his favorite chair.

We had planned a sandbox project for the short break between spring and summer semesters, but it quickly evolved into a more elaborate plan, as you can see. Not bad for only a few hours of work, aye? Terry and I make a sweet construction team! We decided we can handle that cabin in the woods ourselves. Will's pirate ship playhouse/sandbox will help us "build" the skills we'll need! I look forward to posting updates of this project, and would appreciate any suggestions for a name for the boat. I'm thinking about "Sandy Duncan".

Cousins for the weekend





Chris and Shelly took a trip away and Will got to play with his favorite cousins all weekend! Except for a few symptoms of the mild stomach flu we had a great time. We went to visit the Treehouse Children's Museum but forgot the camera! Mostly we jumped on the trampoline and giggled a lot. Will also rode his new ATV (mostly Smooth Cement Vehicle) that Daddy is totally rebuilding from junk! As you can see, he really likes it! I'll post updates as Dad continues to modify it, fulfilling my dream that he build his own one for our son. We love projects, and Daddy can do anything!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Mischief





Sorry for the lack of photos to update, but the boy moves so fast that most of them just come out blurry!

I titled this entry mischief because that seems to be the theme of the whole month! Our little stinker now has to be locked upstairs or down (depending on where we are) because he likes to roam away now! Where I used to be able to sneak away and change the laundry before he even noticed I was gone, now I turn around and he's right there at my feet trying to feed the dogs! He enjoys feeding them very much, and now he can even reach the treat jar, open it and give them tiny fistfuls of duck jerky! Not to worry though, our pitties are very well-behaved and wait patiently for him to decide when to hand them over.

He's spent a few nights with G&G Guida and he now carries my childhood "I'm going to grandma's" suitcase with him when he goes. It's adorable, but we may have to modify it and turn the little girl into a boy. He loves his time there because he has so many cupboards to rummage through, rooms to wander, fake flowers to smell and doors to open (he can manage their handles, but not our knobs yet, thank goodness!). And of course we know he enjoys the food there!

He quickly learned a new word: "coo-kie!" after a trip to Costco when he was so well-behaved we got a big box of chocolate chip to share. When they were finally gone he watched Terry throw the container away, then promptly dug it back out and brought it into the living room saying, "coo-kie, coo-kie, coo-kie!" So now he likes to dig in the trash for potential treasures! He often uses that word in unrelated activities, possibly hoping that Mom might take the hint and fetch one for him.

The garbage has become such a problem that Dad found a clamp to keep it shut, but Will figured it out in one afternoon! He came waltzing into the living room with it and began to terrorize Baby, who thinks it too closely resembles the nail clippers. He had a riot when he realized that she was running away from him, and he cackled loudly as he chased her several times around the coffee table!

Feeding himself is going well, despite this particularly hilarious photo. He does seem to manage to ruin every pair of pants that Daddy wears to the dinner table though...

He has perfected "bye-bye" finally and uses that at random as well. He does pick up on people ending conversations on the phone and leaving the house, but he usually waits until they are gone to say it.

That's all for now, hopefully I can catch my little blur once in a while to add some more updates!

Happy birthday, Nana!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year!












Grandma and Grandpa Guida watched Nick and Andi overnight on New Year's eve so we took
Will up to play with his cousins while Terry and I had dinner out together. (Will's had several new teeth erupt this week, and quite frankly, we needed a break from his misery!) We knew some time with his favorite cousins would cheer him up for a while.

We had a very nice dinner, some lovely New Year's and past year's toasts, and time to talk (something we miss) at Iggy's in Ogden. It's one of our favorites. Then we headed back to find Will still up and plucking ornaments off his grandparents tree. It was almost 10:30 already, and he was quite punchy and adorable. He gave us a big smile and went right for us for hugs. It was a very healthy break for all of us, thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

He fell asleep on the ride home, of course, and we got him in bed and went downstairs to watch the ball drop a short while later. When we finally did go to bed, Terry and I laid there talking a laughing for almost another hour. And though we didn't get to see any of our friends, or got to any parties, it was one of my best New Year's eves. Not bad for people who've spent nine years together!

New Year's day we woke up to snow, and decided to pack up our sledding gear for dinner at Grandma and Grandpas. We made our favorite chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies, and Dominick made prime rib and creamed spinach. Will and I made a couple trips down a small hill with Nick and Andi before dinner, and even Clyde got to romp in the snow!

After our delicious dinner Chris, Shelly, and the kids headed home to beat the impending weather, and we watched "Julie & Julia" with G & G while Will had a late nap. It was better than we thought it would be, and made us hungry despite the gourmet dinner we'd just eaten!

When Will woke up he cuddled with Grandpa and had fun listening to Grandma on the phone even though she was sitting right next to him! He's discovered listening to the phone (not talking, mind you), and he loves to put it up to his (or your) ear. He even carried around the remote control for about five minutes the other night, listening to a very important imaginary conversation. Maybe he plans on working in intelligence some day...

Silly Willy










Mom finally got the nerve to allow Will to feed himself, despite the horrible mess that she knew would ensue, as well as the terrible fits that would occur when he wasn't allowed to do it every time thereafter.

Despite those concerns, it's been going very well, and every day it gets a little less messy.

One of Will's favorite things to do lately is stop and smell the flowers. I take him to the flowers at the grocery store, and now he's spotting them everywhere! He even smells the fake ones at Grandma's house!