Dexter is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby boy, Dexter!  It's hard to believe he is already a year old.  His smile is like sunshine and his giggles like gold.  He makes us all smile. 

He is a busy guy and loves to do his funny crawl with his "dead leg", but he's super fast.  He has learned how to climb the stairs (in similar "dead leg" fashion) and is practicing going down the stairs as well. 

He loves to eat, especially fruit.  So for his birthday I made him his own smash cake with blueberry frosting, blueberries, and Hot Wheels cars.  He didn't exactly smash it, but when I cut him a slice, he ate it :) 

 
 
For his birthday, we went back to MN so we could celebrate with family.  We hosted a pizza party at Gammy & Grandpa's house.  Guests included: G-ma & G-pa, Uncle Mike, Uncle Jesse, Uncle Brad, Aunt Heidi, Meier cousins, Kevin & Jessi Wisdom & family, Kathy & Terry Brueck, Sheila, & Courtney.  It was a beautiful MN summer day and it was so fun to see everyone. 

While back in MN we also enjoyed a day at the Great Minnesota get together - the State Fair!  We ate our way through.  Anora and I rode the giant slide.  Anora and G-pa rode a rollar coaster.  Our favorite food was the Bacon fluffernutter sandwich.  We checked out the animals and watched some newly hatched chicks. 

Back in Seattle, we let Dex open his gift from Anora.  Little People!


Let us not forget it was our dear Papa's 34th birthday as well!  We made sure to celebrate him with a tool belt, Gardhettos, Hydroflask and ice cream cake!

Dexter's 1 year Stats:

Height: 2' 5.75" (45.55%)
Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (47.98%)
HC : 46 cm / 18.31" (62.65%)

Utah Trip & Lexi's Baptism Aug 2017

Our family of four flew to Utah at the end of July to stay with my sister, Amy, and her family in Utah.  My parents and brother were there too.  We had so much fun!  We got to do lots of water play - going out in the boat twice, visiting a rope swing, kayaking, and playing on the beach.  The kids were tuckered out by the end of each day, but sure loved being together.

The adult kids even got to venture out a bit while Gammy & Grandpa did some babysitting.  We went to the Lagoon, an amusement park, and rode rollar coasters!  It was the best.  

 We also made sure to have some good eats along the way like Waffle Love, SWIG, and Mexican.  And snag some deals at LT.  Always a fun time with our Utah Family!

 

 The weather was true, hot, desert weather, so we even found ourselves walking through the freezing cold waterfall!

 And the whole reason for the trip, was to see our sweet niece, Lexi, get baptized!  A beautiful morning before we flew back to Seattle.

VIDEO: Camping 2017

Here is a video Ben put together of our camping trip!

Dexter is 10 months & Anora's school moved for the summer!

Our sweet baby is looking more and more like a little boy.  He is now 10 months old and is learning and growing so much.  In the last few weeks, he sprung his first tooth!  It is still carving its way through, but it's showing more and more. 

Here he is in his cute tank top one piece - To The MOON!

Dexter is so anxious to be on the move.  He is so frustrated lately as he is trying to learn and figure out how to crawl and walk.  He can't decide which he wants to do first.  To speed up the learning process, he has taken to using one nap time to practicing his moves rather than sleeping!  He can pull up and stand and if you hold his hands, and he will move his legs to walk assisted.  He can scoot as well as lean and reach.  This gets him on all fours, but then he doesn't quite know how to move his legs to crawl.  By next month I'm guessing he will be crawling. 


We took him on his first camping trip just before the 4th of July and he did great. We bought a huge tent for the 4 of us, and all ended up sleeping in less than half of the space on one air mattress.  Anora was in the sleeping bag with Ben, and I was with Dexter.  Although we didn't get much sleep, I sure relished the time cozy-ed up with my crew.  They bring me so much joy. 

The next day was the 4th of July and we hit up the West Seattle Kids parade.  Both kiddos enjoyed it, and next year Dexter will be riding his own bike I think! 

Anora's school has switched to a new location for the summer.  She has transitioned with out issue and seems to be enjoying the new playground especially.  She is resilient as ever, and amazes me with her coping skills when facing challenging moments in her life (like singing to calm down).  She loves her family and friends fiercely and with every ounce of love she's got.  I love it about her. 

Anora is getting good at "reading" - she often memorizes books we read to her.  She likes reading to her little brother.  She enjoys making art, singing and dancing (especially to Mo'ana).  She reminds us of the beauty in the simple things and also challenges us to be better humans and parents.  We love our sweet Anora.