Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...well at least Reuse

So our street's 10th annual yard sale happened this weekend. I was too busy taking pictures and playing with those pictures to actually organize anything for a yard sale...so we purchased things instead!

Ian is now the proud new owner of...

A sandbox (that will probably hold water instead of sand if we can get him to give it up as a bed)

A slide/house combination thing

An indoor mini slide

A very loved basketball hoop and slowly deflating ball

Not bad for $25 -- I love our neighborhood!

Failed?!

I've failed to post in a while not because I've been working so hard or taking Ian to the park every moment or organizing my desk or cleaning my house or washing my car or paying bills or working out or volunteering my time or taking phone calls or designing training programs...

No...I've been addicted to all things Photoshop. I can't stop myself. I can't get up out of this chair. I can't breathe fresh air. I can't do anything but resize, adjust hues, crop, create new layers, rinse and repeat. I'm addicted. My poor child!

But I am a real mom now...I bought a laminator on ebay.

Looking Back

I'm ignoring the fact that Ian is playing with Shea's dvd player...probably breaking it beyond repair to upload this! I'm really enjoying getting Ian's babybook together. Laundry? Clean house? Who needs it?

One Year Ago...

Ian crawled for the first time! He's come a long way since then!

Rocking Chair Test

Found this today...I hope I can remember it and pass it on to Ian.

This I Believe

Remember

I hope I can always remember the great things about Ian at 20 months old.

• the funny way he neighs like a horse
• the squishy hand gesture that is his wave
• his delight at seeing me when he hasn't for a while
• his lion roar
• his tiger roar
• his dinosaur roar
• his pig moo
• the way he talks to himself in what must be little stories that only he can understand
• waking up at 6am and immediately saying "book"
• his cute little steps and his funny little run
• automatically adding "y" to words creating daddy and justy on his own!
• "what's that"
• "bye-bye"
• "hi"
• "uh-oh" after he's deliberately thrown something on the ground
• his excitement when he hears a plane, or sees the moon, or can see the garbage truck out our front door
• "e-i-e-i-e-i" when he plays with his barn
• "night-night" to let us know he's sleepy

Rediscovered

Yeah! I'm finally progressing on Ian's Scrapbooks. I'm working on his baby book and his current book at the same time to try to catch up! This was from over the weekend. He just cracks me up with the funny things he does lately. Something new everyday!

BTW -- Auntie Sarah got a job! She won't be leaving town! YEAH!

He Amazes Me!

We bought Ian several "I Spy" books at Beers Bookstore a few months ago. He has always loved to look at them with us. We point out things and ask him where things are and he finds them most of the time. This morning he was playing quietly with one while I called the dentist (ahhh another blog post).

I looked over and he was pointing from the picture on the right hand side to it's match on the left hand side! Over and over page by page!

He just amazes me...everyday he is learning something new.

Miles of Eggs

swinging with Taylor

After driving about 200 miles each of the last 4 days, we're all pooped! Ian was a good sport and actually seemed to enjoy his car time. On the way to Exeter he talked a lot and pointed to every truck, bus, and motorcycle that went by. He refused to sleep though until we were about 40 minutes from Mumzy & Gramps' house. After an afternoon of dying eggs, playing with Taylor, Kylie and Lainie, and of course "practicing" for the real egg hunt he crashed for the night! Yeah! We got an uninterupted night of sleep.

Then began his three days of instantly falling asleep once he was in the carseat.

We headed to Morro Bay on Easter Sunday where Ian got to meet many of his "second" cousins for the first time. This time he was ready for the egg hunt and only needed a little guidance to run and grab them before tossing them into his bucket. He had a great time playing with everyone!

Next morning back in the car for the trip back to Exeter for a quick family dinner and little rest before the next mornings final car trip for the week. Back to Sacramento...again sleeping even while his somewhat psychotic mother experienced the jitters of riding in the car after drinking her fully caffeinated "decaf" latte. Silly SB... don't they know I haven't had caffeine in about 5 years?

If you've made it this far...my apologies for such a boring post!

Finally!

I was inspired today and finally finished the first page of Ian's Baby Book!

What do you think?

Pre Easter...Eggs

What a great weekend! The weather was perfect and EVERYONE was in a great mood! We spent part of Saturday at an Easter Egg hunt -- Ian's first since last year he slept through all the festivities!
He made a cute little bag to carry his eggs in complete with 4 yellow chickens that Uncle Justin said it needed. Dying eggs was enjoyable for him although a little nerve racking for the 4 year old whose eggs he kept stealing and throwing into the yellow dye. I think he died his fingers more than any eggs.

The actual hunting of the eggs was a little more successful! He found one and was quite content with it. He just stood shaking it as we all watched. He ended up with a few more but one was all he really wanted! I bet that changes next year.
He topped off the day with a yummy cupcake...and a nap! Should be good practice for next weekend.