Lovin' the summer weather!

We had awesome weather this weekend...which means POOL TIME!! Here's Drew SOOO happy in his pool.

And contemplating his next move...or maybe posing for the camera. Mom and Dad, notice the plants in the background - that's the bulbs we planted in April!

And here he is exactly a year ago...with a similar pose and the same hat!

It's always fun to be a monkey in the pool!!

After pool time, we head to the deck to play some golf while drying off.

Here's a video of Drew showing off his dance moves that his grandpa taught him - fast feet! And his new thing is to fall down, so he does that on video too.

Last week, we met some friends at Monkey Joes and he kept jumping and landing on his rear (on purpose!) and the other kids thought it was pretty funny. And then this weekend, he discovered it's really fun to do it in the pool and make a splash! AND, he and Daddy sing Ring Around the Rosie and fall at the end...and he cracks up!! So, "falling" is his favorite right now.

We've been working on catching a ball, and here's a couple videos of Drew in action.

We went to the park this morning and then let Drew swim in his pool - and he took a 3 hour nap!! Then we went to a cookout at our neighbor's house (they have a son just 2 weeks older than Drew), and he played outside the whole time. He had a busy day, but I can tell he is loving summer already!!

more sounds from Drew

Drew has been on one of his learning kicks where he's trying to repeat everything he hears and trying to copy all our actions. Grandpa taught him how to dance this past weekend...and he whipped out his new moves in public today!! uh oh! I'll have to capture that on video! Here he is saying his name and a couple animal sounds. I'll have to get a video of some of his new words too.

We finally planted the flowers that we dug up from my grandma's yard in Indiana. I will get a picture of them soon. Here's Drew "helping" by trying to pick the flowers we already had!

Drew must have watched his cousin Olivia's blog video, b/c he is now trying to climb up onto the couch! He's gotten up there on his own a couple times and then jumps likes it's a trampoline! oh boy! He is also really getting the hang of swinging his baseball bat. I think a baseball tee will be our next purchase! Drew is continuing to eat and color with his left hand and then throw with his right...interesting!

trip to Indiana

We had another great trip to Indiana! On the 9 hour drive there, he only slept about 1 hour! Drew loves my parents' yard and all the things to see. He also liked all the people that were always around and the cousins that were there to play with.

While the adults played a little homerun derby, Drew pushed around the motorcycle.

Tim pulled the little guys in the wagon. Here's Drew, Parker and Will.

Will (or Little Willy, as Parker calls him) loves his pool!!

Parker showed off his new swimming skill - he jumps in and goes under!

Drew swam for a little bit before taking a nap. He loves the water, but doesn't understand why he can't do it by himself. I'm looking forward to taking him to the shallow baby pool at the Y where he can be more independent in the water.

Luke's birthday party

Drew's buddy Luke had his first birthday party a week ago, and i just got a couple cute pictures from his mom Jessica. Jessica and her husband lived in Hawaii for a long time (and want to end up back there someday!), so the party had a Hawaiian theme. Here's Drew with his lei (not sure on the spelling) right when he arrived.And here's all the kids in the pool! They had a great time!! Drew was the last one outta the pool! And Chad and I got to enjoy some great Hawaiian food - thanks Jessica and Nick!

He's learning so much!

Drew's been talking away this past week! A lot of it is jibberish, but he's definitely gotten a few new words down. His new words are: uh oh, bussss (emphasis on the ssss), yeah, Elmo, eye... and he will repeat a lot of words after us when we're talking to him. He likes to be a snake and will "sssss" for us! And he still does his other animals, the monkey and elephant. He doesn't do the turkey on command any more...but he does like to walk around with his hands behind his back, looking all proper! He will also growl when he plays with his dinosaurs. When he takes a sip of his drink, he likes to go, "ahhhh." He will point out our eyes and noses, but not his own yet (he points to his forehead for eye). If we mention anything about upstairs (blankie, bath, stairs, etc.) he runs to the bottom of the stairs and waits. If I say "let's go bye bye" he goes to the front door and waits for me. Pretty much, after we use a word or phrase a few times, he understands - it's so amazing to watch! I still think of him as a baby, but he's becoming a big boy really fast! I will try to get some of these things on video and post them soon!



He got a couple boo boos this past weekend (which he likes to point out boo boos on his and my legs...and my freckles). On Friday, Drew and I were hanging out with some friends in the neighborhood, and he fell on their deck steps and busted his lip open pretty good! There was lots of blood, so it was a little scary, but he was alright and forgot about it soon after. Then the next day we were at a big neighborhood cookout and Drew stepped on a ball and landed on his nose on the concrete! He had a bloody nose and a big scratch on top of it! Ouch! But as soon as I quit messing with it and trying to clean him up he was back in the action. He met several other toddlers at the cookout and had a blast! We were happy to meet so many people too - there were at least 35 plus people there, and tons of kids. I'm hoping they have another one soon!

Sunday was a rainy day, and we got sick of being cooped up in the house, so we took Drew to play some basketball at the Y. He "shot around" for a little bit - which means that he picks up a ball and says, "dunk" and waits for Chad to lift him up.

But then he was more interested in pushing the ball cart around... maybe he's striving to be the team manager instead of the team captain!

Here he is coloring with his new "thick and hard to break" crayons... we'll find out how true that is soon enough!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a great Mother's Day. We met Chad's parents for an early lunch and then went to a park where I got some good pictures of the family.

Then Chad threw Drew in the lake... no, he's just playing!

Drew posed with Granddad and Grandmom on the swing.

The swing made him sleepy.

Nana pushed him on the swing.

He looks so long and skinny (and a little scared) in this picture on the steps in our backyard.

We tried to teach him how to swing a golf club.

But he soon realized it's easier to just set the ball in the hole.

Watch out Tiger Woods - here comes Drew!

Playgroup...in the lake!

Our plan for playgroup today was to meet at the park so the kids could play in the sand... well, they went swimming! None of us had their swimsuits (or swim diapers!), but there was no keeping them out of the water - and I think they had a blast! Sofia and Reese were daring and waded out deeper, but Drew liked to watch the water and sand go over his feet. He did step down deeper and fall in a couple times, which upset him a little - not sure if the water was cold or if he was getting frustrated. I think he's going to have a blast this summer at the beach!

Look at that belly!!

Then it was snack time!

Wet, saggy pants!

Enjoying Spring!

Before I get to the pictures and video, I wanted to announce that Drew is eating chicken nuggets!! This is so exciting to us!! We've been trying to get him to eat "real food" for a long time now, and this is even meat! I'm hoping it will lead to him trying other stuff too!

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather this past week!! Drew LOVES being outside...but unfortunately, it makes his allergies go nuts and he's pretty sneezy. But I don't think he minds too much. We took the top off the Jeep last Friday and had it off for 6 whole days before there was a chance of rain!
A Discovery Place KIDS is getting ready to be built here in Huntersville. They had a little festival to celebrate the kickoff for construction last Saturday. Here's Drew playing with the water toys...just before he started splashing all the other kids around us! He got a little upset when we left this station!

Then he showed his rhythm and joined the drum circle.

He got up in a firetruck with Daddy.

Drew had his first popcicle! He tasted it a few times and then decided it worked better as a drumstick and beat it on the deck. But it still tasted okay. :)

Drew and I went to the park last week. I was trying to take some decent pictures of him to replace the winter pictures we have around the house. I didn't get too many good ones - but I'll try again soon. He, at least, had fun playing in the sand. I think he's learned to ignore his photo-crazy mama!

It got up in the 90s, so we got Drew's pool out. He got really excited when we got in there with him!

Here's a couple more pictures from another day when I started snapping pictures while Drew was playing outside. I really want to get a couple that we can consider "professional quality" and I'll get some copies out to the family since we skipped one year pictures. This one looks like a school picture with the "outdoor background."

I love his eyes!

We had a garage sale this morning (disappointing turnout!), and it wore Drew out!! He enjoyed greeting our customers and trying to run down the drive into the road. He carried a hanger around and tried to hand it to random people. ...and then he napped a GOOD nap! Tomorrow we're going to do something to celebrate Chad's birthday!