What the?!

Of course when there is silence in our house I know Danny is up to something. Yesterday, after a brief stint of silence, Danny came padding into the kitchen looking like this. I laughed so hard and snapped a picture. How in the world did he manage this?!

School is in session

Danny loves school buses. I'm serious. There is nothing more exciting than seeing the school buses leaving the elementary school near our house. We walk to school, hit the playground, and then say hi to the buses, making sure to check out the HUGE Whees (huge wheels).

So, when I came home from Costco with a nice box that Danny immediately crawled into I knew it was time to make a bus.

I love buses!

We spent 30 minutes making the perfect school bus for Danny. Gluing, drawing, cutting...

Let's go for a spin!

And, about 20 seconds after we finished, Danny crawled into our creation, took a ride, and then promptly destroyed it.

This is too tempting, mom. It's like peeling off huge stickers!

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Danny tweets

Of course Danny isn't on Twitter! We just went to the pet shop and Danny sang along with the birds.

Catch!!

Daniel is so in love with his Daddy! There is nothing better than when Daddy comes home. He brings fresh energy into our evenings and comes up with the greatest games, like this round of catch. Catch a ball? Naw! Let's catch a baby!

Weeeeeeee!

Night Night Doggy

This morning we spent a bit of time playing with Danny's silly singing dog. First we played hide and seek. Mommy hid the doggy, Danny counted to five (with prompting, of course) and then Danny would giggle and run to see where I put the doggy. Lots of laughter with this game, folks!

Soon, however, Danny determined that the doggy was tired and needed to go night night. Kyle tried tucking the doggy under a blanky on the couch. Nope. Danny swiped up the doggy and ran into his bedroom. Soon I heard lots of struggling and frustration in Danny's voice. I went into his room to see what was happening. Danny was trying to climb into his crib with the dog. He was stuffing the dogs ears between the slats and trying to push the pup's huge head between the slats. It was so cute! I lifted up Danny and put him in the crib with the doggy and soon, with the help of mom, Danny had neatly tucked doggy into bed.

"Ni ni, dog."

Sleep tight!

After about 30 seconds Danny decided it was time to change the doggy's diaper. He swiped a diaper from his changing table, opened it up and chucked it into the crib! I had a pretty good laugh over that one.

Time for a quick diaper change!

It is so fun to see what a little helper Danny is becoming. Who knows... maybe tomorrow he'll help me change his own diaper.

Rooooaaaarrrrr!

Lions are the coolest!

Despite the rainy weather, we hit the Seattle Zoo this weekend. We had a great time with Zach, Cristen and Kaimana. The boys walked all over the grounds and were wonderful adventurers. Among the favorite animals were the Jaguar, the Giraffe, the monkeys, and the Lion!

Poor Duckies!

Danny was on a mission today... a mission to scare the living daylights out of a thousand ducks.

Mission Accomplished!

We went to the park and managed to beat the cold by running and running and running after ducks. We chased them up the hill. We chased them down the hill. We chased them into the river. We chased them to the play structure.

And then we went down the slide.

And down the slide.

And down the slide.

And finally, when Mommy could take no more, we went home. That is, we headed home after a massive toddler tantrum. *sigh* I suppose I'll never win!

New Year's Resolutions

This year I've made quite the list of resolutions. I've done an okay job thus far of following them... here's part of the list. I'll let you know how I do throughout the year!

1. Wake up at 6 am on weekdays. Or at least a little while before Danny gets up.
2. "Dress Up" twice a week... and by "Dress Up" I mean don't wear jeans. Break free from the mommy uniform!
3. Invite someone over to dinner once a week.
4. Run a 5k and a 10k and think about a half marathon. (Totally dependent on ye old knees.)
5. Be able to do three pull ups. A far cry from my pre-pregnancy 10, but it's a start! I can't do any now, so please don't dangle me from a rooftop.
6. Read 12 books -and some have to be non-baby related.
7. Only buy clothes that I love. Read: No more getting wooed by the clearance rack price tags.

18 Months!

Kyle and Danny playing in the snow.

Can you believe that Danny is 18 months old? He's quite the whipper snapper these days. Every day he learns multiple new words. He tries so hard to jump. He scales furniture and stairs faster than I can blink. Daniel can be a charmer and a major stinker depending on his mood. He nearly hyperventilates when he sees cats or dogs. His current favorite words are DUMP and FLY. Shouting "DUMP," Danny goes around the house dumping everything he can get his hands on, from crayons to food to juice to toys. He flaps his arms wildly, spinning around the room yelling "FLY! FLY! FLY!" until he crashes to the floor. The kid has major energy!

Perhaps this major energy is why he's only in the 10th percentile (still) for weight. He's 50th percentile for height and 80th for head size. Smarty pants.

Other favorites include heavy machinery and sledding and trains. Lots of trains. And throwing things. At your head. Such a little boy!

Let's go sledding! But not too fast...

Dad... I am so excited right now!

Stomp! Stomp!

Just another day in the orchards.  Kyle and Danny practice their snow stomping.