Spring Activities

I am totally behind in blogging, but before I blog about our summer activities, and our big trip to Disneyland, I want to document some of the fun times we had this Spring.  Keep in mind that Spring here was rainy, even snowy!,  and freezing.  We have finally got a taste of warmer weather just the last couple of weeks!  It has been interesting trying to find things to entertain the boys!  

   

Rainy, dreary days don't keep Jack down.  He just busts out his Spiderman umbrella and loves to stand in the rain.  Doesn't he look happy in these pics?  I also love that Zander is staring longingly out the window wishing he could join Jack outside in one of the pictures!   

I have taken the boys to the rec center swimming pool a few times, but this was the only time I remembered the camera.  I seriously have two little fish!  They both absolutely love being in the water!  

We love to go to the library and Jack loves to have me read stories.  Each week we check out a huge stack of books to read together.  Sometimes we end up with some really lame ones, but we have also found a few treasures.  One of those fun books was, "Cook-a-doodle-do."  It's about a hen who recruits some clueless friends and together they make a strawberry shortcake.  It is so cute and actually includes a recipe for strawberry shortcake.  So one day Jack and I read the book and made strawberry shortcake along with the characters in the book!  (As you can see, while Jack and I had fun baking, Zander whined and got into the trash.)

Here is Jack making a weird face and modeling one of the jungle animal tattoos he got from one of Grandma Hansen's packages.

My boys just LOVE being outside.  So even when it wasn't that warm, if it was nice enough, we headed to the park.  We love going to the park.  The boys loves to swing, play in the sand, eat wood chips, etc!  Here is one of our visits, and it wasn't warm!  Notice the boys all bundled up, but having fun anyway!  

Just wanted to include this because I love this picture!  It is Jack and Daddy walking back from getting the mail.  Doesn't Jack just look like a mini Dustin?  

One Saturday we headed to Cheyenne for some shopping and to eat somewhere different.  We promised Jack we would stop at a park, and in some roundabout way, we discovered this amazing Children's Village park.  I am excited to go back sometime this summer now that it is warmer and in full operation and see all the fun stuff there!   

One day I heard that the circus was in town.  I love the circus, so I decided I would take Jack on a Mommy/Son date.  We had a great time!  Jack couldn't believe his eyes with all the animals, colors, lights, etc!   We shared a snow cone, snuggled, and we loved seeing all the animals, cool tricks, and interesting acts!  I love the picture of Jack looking so worried about the man balancing on the stack of chairs!   

Here are the boys loaded in the double stroller.  We love going for bike rides and enjoy going on a walk as a family when Dustin gets home from work at night.  

It's always fun to play with Legos and make marble towers!  (And Daddy is SO much better at it than this Mommy!) 

On Memorial Day (I think it was) we went to Fort Collins and met our good friends who also have two boys close to Jack and Zander's ages to go do some shopping, eat at the OG, and go to a drive-in movie.  We had a great time!   We love our friends, and Jack loves his best buddy, Phoenix.  Here we are enjoying a yummy dinner at Olive Garden.

Then we headed to the drive-in.  I have never been, so it was an exciting new adventure for our whole family.  We saw the cute movie, "Kung Fu Panda 2."  The boys loved jumping around in the back of our friend's truck before the show started.  It was fun to snuggle in the back of our car with Z for the movie.  (Although Z was a little stinker but finally did sleep through part of it.)  Jack's buddy fell asleep, but he lasted through the whole movie, stuffing his face full of treat after treat after treat! :)

One night Jack and Dustin had a little sleepover on the air mattress in our living room!  

Here is a trip to the park on a warmer day and Daddy even got to come with us!   I love the looks of pure joy on both boys faces as they swing!    

Oh and Dustin and I even got to go on a date in there somewhere.  I planned a date for us to go to dinner and to the musical "Chicago" on campus.  It was pretty dang awesome!  I love that dirty little show!  

So we had some good times this Spring.  I am glad to have summer here though now!  Besides our amazing trip to CA we are having fun going to the park, the splash pad, the wading pool, the swimming pool, playing with friends, and going on bike rides, walks, and just being outside.  It has also been nice to have Dustin home a little more!  Gotta love summer time!  :)   

All About Zander

So I know I am slow, but I definitely need to document what our little Zanderman is like at 1 year and share his 1 year stats.  He is still small, but at least he is growing.  His personality and temper, on the other hand, are anything BUT small!   So here are some pics of our little man, and a little about him!

SO our little "Made in Montana" man has been growing and flourishing here in Wyoming now for the greater part of his days....


His 1 year stats:
*Height 30 3/4 = 77th percentile
*Weight 17'12" = 0 percentile (not on charts because he is too small....)
*Head Size 18 inches =29th percentile (He does not have a big noggin like his brother and dad!)

A bit about him:
*He LOVES to eat!  (You would think he would be bigger...)  He will eat ANYTHING that I give him....except baby food.  However, he WILL NOT be fed anything different than what we are eating.   He wants what we have and he won't be fooled.  The picture below is what happens when I let Jack help feed Z.

*He loves to smile and laugh.  He cracks himself up, but he also laughs at his brother a ton!  He has such a cute laugh and smile.  It brightens up our days.

*On the other hand....he cries quite a bit.  Wait. No, he doesn't cry.  He screams and sqwuaks like a pterodactyl.  (I call him my bipolar baby!)

*See this picture:
He looks all sweet giving you that wide-eyed innocent look, but really the little man is so stubborn, tempermental, and sassy.  He already doesn't listen and loves to do exactly what we tell him not to do.  For example, he loves to climb up onto chairs, the dishwasher, the train table, stairs, toys, anything really.

Climbing under the picnic table.

*He taught himself to go up and down the stairs all by himself.  It is pretty cute seeing him speed down on his tummy.  

 

*  He is into EVERYTHING: garbages, toilets, dog food, dishwasher, laundry, toys...anything left laying on anything will eventually be chucked to the floor.  

If you need more proof, check out the blog about how he spent his birthday...getting into everything! 

*He loves bath time and would stay in there for hours if I let him! 

 

*He started mobility with a speedy army crawl.  He did that from about 7 months to 11 months.  He finally started crawling on his knees and is now quite speedy at that too.  He loves to cruise along furniture, but will not even attempt to walk on his own.  He rarely will even do it with a push toy.  We actually caught a picture of it one of the few times he has done it.  

*He LOVES his Daddy, but he is a serious MAMA'S BOY too!  (Though I have like no pictures of us together recently...)

He likes to snuggle with Dad

Do tricks

And wrestle.  He loves to jump on us, pillows, blankets, fall down on the bed.  Pretty daring.  

*He is NOT a good sleeper.  But look how angelic he looks when he is asleep!  

He still wakes up usually once a night, but will occasionally sleep through the whole night.  He still needs to go to bed with a bottle.  He will occasionally fall asleep in the car, but anywhere else instead of sleeping, he will just scream if he is tired.  He needs his ideal circumstances to sleep, which are all shown in the picture below.  

*He absolutely LOVES Jack.  (Fears him, but loves him just the same.)  He wants do do EVERYTHING Jack is doing: eating, drinking, playing.  At night they keep each other awake playing and yelling.  Z will stand at the end of his crib at night and in the morning yelling, "JACK! JACK!"  trying to wake Jack up!  We even found his socks on Jack's pillow cuz he had taken them off and had thrown them at Jack to try and wake him up!

Aren't they cute? (And no, I do not always dress them alike as these pictures make it appear!)

*Loves to play Peek-a-boo.  He can also wave, blow kisses, and give high fives!  

*He loves to play basketball and is lately really loving playing with all balls and his toys.  He will just sit and play with toys all by himself.  (Those are some great moments!) 

*He loves to go to the park, for bike rides in the trailer, for walks in the stroller, playing in sand, and swinging on swings.  He loves to be outside, and is finally overcoming his dislike/fright for grass.

*He seriously is one of the cutest kids ever.  I might be biased, but really those eyes, the blonde hair, the skinniness.  He can melt me, that's for sure.

*He doesn't talk much yet or clearly I should say.  The words that he attempts to say, but doesn't say very well are Jack, mama, dada, more.   

Here are a few parting shots of our cute little guy!  

 Isn't he handsome in his new outfit from Grandma Enslinger! I absolutely love this picture of him!

 Can't get enough of this face!  

 Bring on the second year of this crazy boy's life!  We sure do love him! :)