For Tawna

This last Saturday we did a fun run for Zander's pediatric nurse, Tawna. While we have only known her for a few short months, I have come to just love her! She was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer a few months ago. It has spread throughout the rest of her body including her brain. Doctors are giving her a couple of years, but she doesn't think she even has that long. I was so sad to hear the news. She has since had to quit her job, so the other nurses and staff put together a fun run and carnival to raise money for her medical bills. We did the run/walk and came back later for the carnival. There really wasn't anything for us to do because they were mostly bounce houses, but we wanted to donate and show our support for Tawna. We are going to miss her.

Mischief Managed

The next day while Stephen was at work Zander and I were downstairs playing but I had to go upstairs for a few minutes to pay my drywall guy. While I was up there I decided to make Zander some lunch, but I got this feeling I should go downstairs and check in on him. Well, I found him in daddy's Father's Day stash. He had gotten a hold of the bag and ripped it to shreds, then got a hold of the bag of Reeses Pieces and ripped that bag. He was playing with the candy, so its a good thing I got there before he choked on a piece of candy! Then he decided to eat one of daddy's dirty socks, haha. Silly boy--so mischievous!

First Father's Day

It was Stephen's first Father's Day this year. I made his gift a few months ago and have been dying to give it to him! I made him a "man's apron" for him to wear while he cooks because he gets so messy and refuses to use my "girly" aprons. I also made a card with mine and Zander's thumb prints on it that says "Thumb-body Loves You" I think that was Stephen's favorite thing he got.

Happy Father's Day to the sweetest, best cook we know!! Zander and I love you!

Father's Day Dinner

 Loren and Debbie invited us over for a Father's Day dinner where we had ribs and steak. He took Zander from me so I could finish eating my dinner and decided to give Zander a bite of ribs. He thought those were pretty tasty!

Activity Days With Heather

I had to show these off. Heather invited me to her activity days while I was in Twin last week. They were doing a Cake Boss edition and these are some of the cute cupcakes Heather made. How cute are they?! My favorite were the spaghetti and meatball and the chicken dinner cup cakes. I had to make myself some to take home for mom and dad.

More Elba Adventures

Man, I'm behind in my posts. I visited Twin again two weeks ago to work on some sewing projects and take another trip to Elba. Stephen was in Georgia for two weeks for a training for work, so I thought it was an ideal time to go. I got to Twin to help Heather and her sisters make cupcakes for a baby shower and then Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and I left for Elba for the weekend. I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to going back to Elba since the week prior we all contracted the plague while we were there over Memorial Day weekend, but this trip was one of the best! I'm so glad I got to go.

We went to the Outpost for dinner that night. Grandpa and I split a steak and Dutch oven potatoes. I decided I'd give Zander some to try....he ended up throwing them up all over and right after decided to have a blowout while he was at it. What a mess!

Friday morning I made breakfast while Mom and Dad caught the horses. Dad and I went for a ride around Castle Rocks which was a two hour loop. It was gorgeous! The mountains and desert were vibrantly colored with all sorts of wildflower fields from red and yellow to purple and blue with a bright blue sky. Dad was in lead with Misty while I followed suit on Libby. One of the best horse rides I've been on--so relaxing. We saw a few owls and woodpeckers along the way, and then stopped to look at the inside of the lodge on our way out.

When we got back to the cabin we had lunch and Mom, Dad, Zander, and I went for a ride up the canyon on the four wheelers. Grandpa stayed behind to paint his bird houses he brought for the blue birds. We strapped Zander in the razor and off we went. We saw two baby moose, a snake, and more wild flower fields on this trip. This was my first time ever seeing moose in the wild, so I was pretty excited. Since I had to take the razor Zander and I got pretty dirty. I covered him in a blanket to keep out as much dust as I could, but we were covered in dust from head to toe. We ended our trip at the overlook by Oakley.

That night Zander didn't sleep too well. He was up from 1:00 to 4:30 so we didn't get much sleep and apparently neither did Dad. He caught the plague and was throwing up all night. I wished Stephen could've come with us on this trip; it was so much fun and he could've seen Elba in all its beauty.

Peek-a-boo!

I was talking to Mom on the phone one night while Zander was playing on the floor. He started to fuss a little bit, but I kind of ignored him for a few minutes. When I looked at what he was doing he had rolled off his play mat, picked it up and put it on top of him and chopped on it. It was so hilarious! I know this is one of those things that you had to be there to think it was funny and it was only funny because it was my baby, but he makes me laugh all the time. I was laughing while on the phone and couldn't talk for a couple seconds. Love him!

Soaking up the Sun

My yard has been really overwhelming this year trying to get it all weeded and planted. I have to wait for Zander to take a nap and then I go outside for a bit and do as much as I can, but that's usually only for about 45 minutes--not enough time to weed even one flowerbed. So I was on pinterest the other day and saw that someone had used a pack n play with a fitted sheet over the top and I thought that was so ingenious! Why didin't I think of that?! We have no trees in our yard therefore, no shade for me to take Zander outside for a time just for me to weed; that's why I have to wait for him to take a nap. Anyway, a thank you to whomever thought of this idea. Zander had shade, a comfortable place to play, and even took a cat nap. I got over four flowerbeds weeded that day!

Zander Update

Zander is six months old. I don't even know how it got here so quickly, but he is a hoot and half. He has become a rollie pollie all over the floor so I have to keep a sharper eye on him now. He moves and wiggles all night in his crib so when I go get him up in the mornings I usually find him squished up against the side of the crib or flipped upside down. He laughs at anything and everything. Last night he was a little grumpy so Stephen grabbed him and put him on his lap, but Zander kept crying until I looked at him and he just laughed and laughed. I'd look away and he'd start sobbing again, and I'd look up and he'd laugh. He did that for a while until he was too tired and fell asleep.

He is getting a tooth on top! I'm pretty excited about that, but at the same time not looking forward to all the whining and fussiness. Zander weighs 17 pounds and is 28 inches tall. He loves eating so he's getting to be a chubster which means I squish his legs all day long. He is such a happy boy and loves to go outside with me to see new things.

He squeals and screams (a happy scream) All. Day. Long. It's better than him crying, but he loves to exercise those lungs of his and they are getting louder every week it seems. He loves to suck on his toes and is getting better and better at sitting up on his own.