He's at it again...

Place: Petsmart
Time: 10am today
Reason:  Background music.  Feet that can move.  What more do you need?



At the end of this clip you hear, "Mommy I'm all done dancing."  Yes, Topher, but for how long?  I know you too well.  And the next time we're in Kohl's and Justin Bieber comes on, I think we both know what's going to happen.

--KC

Whose child IS this?

It was a typical grocery run to Walmart. With our typical detour through the toy section. But some suppressed rhythm in my son refused to be squelched any longer. And so it broke free.

--KC

Birthday Weekend

Topher and I decided that TJ needed a whole weekend of low-key celebration for his birthday this year. Here are the highlights:

Thurs:

Before TJ came home from work, Topher and I decorated the house and made a 3-layer cake for him. Even though his birthday was really on Saturday, this was the only day we could surprise him (since he was taking Friday off of work.)

His gift was a new bike seat and handlebars for his favorite bicycle. Topher helped with the installation.

Then we had to try that cake. The bottom layer is a homemade brownie, topped by two layers of strawberry cake. Scrumptious.

That night we grilled talapia and yellow squash. We also made coleslaw and wild rice. It was so good, and we discovered that our boy LOVES fish.

Fri:

We went to the zoo in the morning before the worst of the heat wave hit. It only takes an hour for us to literally see every animal in the zoo AND play in the zoo playground. This is the benefit of a tiny zoo.

Then it was off to TJ's parent's house where we celebrated with another grilled fish dinner and a chocolate pie. Topher helped blow out the candle.

Sat:

TJ had received a giftcard to Menards from his parents and bought a new miter saw with it. Saturday morning he took off to the lumber yard and came home with a car full of wood. Topher promptly wanted to sit in the back of the car with all the lumber.

TJ said he was going to build a workbench along this empty wall in our garage. I was a little dubious to say the least.

But he wasn't kidding.

Just two hours later he was finished. I might have exclaimed, a little too emphatically, "I didn't think it would look that good!" So sorry honey.

Happy birthday to a husband and dad who continues to surprise and delight us. We love you so much.

Love, your little monkeys

--KC

Waterworks

Topher woke up sick the morning of July 4th. He has a knack for getting sick on that holiday. This happened the same weekend last year. Poor baby. Luckily it was just a quick bug and by evening, he was pretty much back to normal. Since we didn't want to keep him up late, though, we substituted fireworks with an afternoon of water balloons. They both explode, they both make people smile and squeal. They are both extremely dangerous in careless hands. It was a lot of fun. And since this has occured two years in a row, I think we have found our family's official 4th of July tradition--getting sick and then getting wet. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! May God bless all our soldiers who have served and continue to serve in order to keep us free. --KC

Family Reunion 2011

Well yee-haw! This year my family reunion (my mom's side) was no disappointment. Every single person made it, totaling 56 in all. We have these reunions every other year and this year it was held in Branson, MO. My family has been going to Branson since before I was born, so the good ol' fashioned fun of Silver Dollar City is in my blood, I suppose. TJ had to warm up to it a bit, but I think he's on-board now. If you'll remember, our last reunion was held in Bear Lake, UT when Topher was 9 months old and it was a miserable--sorry, I mean memorable--trip for us to say the least. This year was SO MUCH BETTER.

Our condo was amazing. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a laundry room, a living room and a deck all to ourselves, as did every family unit. Where we were frustrated in Bear Lake because the whole family stayed in one gigantic house and we could never get our baby far enough away from the fun and commotion, this year was a whole different story. If anything, we were too removed from everyone else. But it was gorgeous so I'm not complaining at all. I mean, just look at the view from our deck!

We made it to Silver Dollar City three days in a row. (This is how I know my husband loves me, by the way.) Topher tried a lot of rides, including the Carousel, Fire-in-the-Hole, the Flooded Mine, the Kiddie Coaster, the Flying Elephants, the Huck Finn boats, and more.

Oh, and he started embracing his roots in the gift shop. Please meet Davey Crockett as a toddler, learning to shoot with his cork-popping gun.

Two nights in a row we went out with family to do the bumper boats. Topher was skeptical and a little scared at first, but after awhile he really got into it, even when we got soaked.

The reunion lasted 3 nights and each night the family gathered in the main lodge and had food catered so we could all see each other at least once a day. This room was also home to our family talent show, family meeting, and swearing in of new family members (yep, there's an official oath). It is such a wonderful feeling to be gathered with everyone you love and to feel so complete.

Night two of bumper boats and Topher couldn't wait to pick out his boat and go "bumper" everybody.

After a change of clothes it was off down the Branson Strip for some Andy's yogurt.

The next morning we had to say our goodbyes. This picture is extremely near and dear to my heart. This is my grandad, the head of the family and the reason we're all here.

After checking out of our condo, we made one more stop in Silver Dollar City. On the Flooded Mine ride, Topher somehow managed to shoot two of the targets! I was amazed.

Then Topher was identified as the outlaw that he is and got locked up by the local sheriff.

One more milkshake in the sweetest little ice cream shop in SDC and we were ready to go home.

Then it was off to Ozark, MO to see my bestest bestie, who just bought her own house. I love you, Katydid!

And how did we fare after 5 days away from our own bed and living out of suitcases and driving way, way too much? Well we made it, but just barely. :)

--KC

First Theatre Experience

I don't know why I spell "theatre" the French way, I just do. It's fancier. We've noticed lately that Cars 2 commercials are everywhere. Mater and Lightning are on our cereal boxes. A new section of our Target is devoted to new Cars 2 toys. So we thought that maybe this would be a good opportunity to take Topher to his very first movie-theatre movie. I bought the tickets early in the day yesterday, and I'm glad I did. Apparently you don't mess around with a newly-released Pixar production. We had to wait in an obnoxiously long line to be seated while trying to explain to Topher exactly what was going on. I think the gist of it was that we were going to see our Cars friends on a very big TV in a dark room. Topher wanted to know if there would be a table in there for his nummies. Maybe next time we'll take him to a dinner theatre. Luckily we ran into some good friends right before the movie who gave us this little treasure of advice: take the carseat in with you. It's genius really. The child is more comfortable, sits a little higher, and anything he drops (ie his new Cars toy) stays nearby and doesn't make a ruckus hitting the floor. When we got in there, Topher even asked us to buckle him in. Maybe he thought the experience would be more interactive. (TJ found the flash to be a little much in the dark environment.) Everything would have been okay, we like to theorize, if the movie had started on time and not 10 minutes late as they tried to get everyone seated. Then if we could have skipped through the 15 minutes of previews, we just might have made it to the end. As it was, we only made it about an hour and a half before Topher got out of his seat and started wandering. He finally told us he wanted to go and so we left Lightning in there, still mad at Mater and the championship still hanging in the balance. But it was a good first try. And in another two years when we try it again, Cars 3 will surely be the new must-see. --KC

Member's Night

Being a zoo member has its perks, and at the end of last month we were able to preview the new dinosaur exhibit before it opened to the public. Topher was talking about it all week. Note to moms: don't mention something exciting to a toddler until the day you are going to do it.

Topher has been into dinosaurs ever since daddy showed him some clips from Jurassic Park. (I was not there for that decision.) Later, when I heard about it I thought Topher would be scared but instead he was grinning from ear to ear and telling me that the dinosaur says "Rawr!" And so a love of dinosaurs was born.

We also got a voucher for some free popcorn, so we took an intermission from the fun to snack and feed some eager blackbirds.

Then we saw some animals. It's a tiny zoo but it's the perfect size for toddlers. Then, as the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, we told Topher he could ride the train. He's never been on a train before but he's talked about it many, many times.

It was a really fun night. Topher keeps asking if we can go back and see the dinosaurs and ride the choo-choo again.

If it means seeing that grin on his face again, you already know what my answer is to that.

--KC